Introducing... Maiday

Maiday’s voice will probably be disarmingly familiar. Guesting on vocals for Jakwob’s radio hit ‘Fade’ back in 2013; the fledgling artist is poised for chart domination. As a writer and producer she’s cut her teeth working with Naughty Boy, Girls Aloud and Wretch 32, honing her craft and understanding of the industry. New track ‘You’ from her forthcoming debut EP ‘Anatomy’ (due out in summer) is an intriguing, about the all too human experience of coming across a past lover who’s moved on. She breaks new ground through subversion of worn pop tropes, blending sharp wit into effectual soaring vocals, along with the incredibly clean production making it feel accessible without compromise.

 Listen to 'You' below and let us know what you think!



- Ethan Weatherby

Nick Mulvey plays two secret shows in Cambridge

Photo by Ethan Weatherby

Off the heels of a huge UK tour culminating with a show at London’s Roundhouse, alt-folk troubadour Nick Mulvey played a duo of solo acoustic gigs in his hometown of Cambridge.

Photo by Ethan Weatherby

Announced the day before on his social media, the event was first-come, first-served; demand becoming so high that the night was divided into two sessions, taking place in the intimate basement setting of exotic boutique ‘Nomads’, owned by a close friend of the musician. Mulvey said it was a place that he frequented as a teenager, describing the Bohemian décor and patterns as having “Fuelled my wanderlust.” The bulk of Mulvey’s set was made up of crowd requests from his Mercury-nominated debut ‘First Mind’, and in the first session he worked in covers of Bjork’s ‘Bachelorette’ and Gillian Welch’s ‘Look at Miss Ohio’.

Words and photos - Ethan Weatherby

Album Review... Young Fathers - White Men Are Black Men Too

Operating as a unit for over 13 years, Edinburgh trio Kayus Bankole, Graham Hasting, Alloysious Massaquoi comprise Young Fathers. Between them they’ve got a broad spectrum of cultural heritage which they channel through a collision of DIY rock’n’roll and leftfield hip-hop. Their puritanical approach to the industry has led to a press relationship akin to that of a bull being circled by a matador, exacerbated by their cool reaction to winning the 2014 Mercury Prize for debut album ‘Dead’; an album dynamic and exciting as it was felt like more of a creative playground than a cohesive record.  As a follow-up White Men Are Black Too is a vast listening experience, weighing in at 12 tracks that are challenging and seemingly abstract for the first few listens. It takes a while to acclimatise to the arching tones and elliptical structures, but there’s a wealth of deft writing and beautiful modern soul and gospel on this record.  

Despite some recent class comments, the overriding theme is humanism. Obviously race is the main discussion point, but it feels like something Young Fathers are actively trying to deconstruct; Feasting’s maniacal cry of “I can buy you a new language, ” and the ‘John Doe’ character suggests an erosion of preassigned identity; joy in anonymity. The best songs tackling the matter of race focus are the double-tap of ‘Old Rock N Roll’ and ‘Sirens’ – fury and sorrow back-to-back. The former is an incendiary exploration, bristling with statements such as “I’m tired of playing the good black…/…I’m tired of blaming the white man,” played out over a ramshackle beat skinned with sitar twangs. ‘Sirens’ is gentler but sobering, focusing on the racially motivated police violence that’s been pervasive in the media recently. The beats are warped gunshots and heartbeats; death knells for a generation of young black men. Hastings, who usually exudes passive-aggression in his delivery, has this tired clarity in his voice trying to envisage an end to the institutional racism “Police are on cocaine/And they want to know my name/Said they’ll love me all the same.” Kayus wearily acknowledges that he could be a target and there’d be no justice, and it’s crushing.  

WMABMT certainly finds power in darker source material, but can quickly flip into raucous warmth, exercising what Young Fathers call their “interpretation of what a pop album should be”. ‘Nest’ has these huge handclaps and clanging piano strokes and direction on Shame comes from dense electric fuzz and bursts of soul from the Leith Congressional Choir. Lead single ‘Rain Or Shine’ is their best work yet and the closest thing to an anthem WMABMT has, propelled by a rattling organ sample and a dense bass line where tangential effects blossom and mutate before fizzling out. It’s a sound without borders, but this freeform nature could have easily backfired – it’s firmly not a conceptual album, but this isn’t easy listening. From the go its audio chaos - anyone who can enjoy the fidgety structure of a Passion Pit album will be on more familiar ground here as it lurches between blizzards of electric blips and gospel cries. 

Yeah there are heavy amounts of pain and anger, but as Everything Everything’s Jonathan Higgs put it, “I think you'd have to be blind and deaf to have lived through 2014 and not shed a tear.” With their sophomore albums Kendrick Lamar and Run the Jewels tried to open a dialogue - instead this is a stream of consciousness; raw emotion and aspiration crystallised in a time of social and political upheaval. ‘Dead’ was pretty badly lacking the frenetic energy that Young Fathers bring to their live show;  so it’s satisfying to see them injecting that ‘let’s get fucking mad in front of a microphone’ ethos into WMABMT. Everything is bigger here and more concise, bound together by brotherhood and has the potential to be not only a postmodernist great, but one that redefines the boundaries of pop. 

Rating: 9/10

Words - Ethan Weatherby

Introducing... Strange Names

Hailing from the Minnesota Twin Cities, Strange Names are currently focused on New York, but with  such a polished style the trio are poised to make the transatlantic jump with debut album “Use Your Time Wisely”.  Judging by the lead single, the band have tightened their sound from hazy indie into precise, angular pop with the help of rising production star Andrew Maury. ‘Ricochet’ is a titan of neon melodies, sitting comfortably between the Hoosiers’ sophomore material and the supercharged pop of Human League.

Despite their vibrant disco sensitivities the trio keep hard work as their core ethic. Initially finished in Minneapolis, the album was scrapped and rerecorded in New York; “We wanted to get it right; we had to" the band said.

Check out their single 'Ricochet' below and let us know what you think!



For Fans Of // Friendly Fires, Hoosiers, The Wombats

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Words - Ethan Weatherby