We recently spoke to Eveyln, who records under the stage name HappyHappy, about her latest album Psych Ward Chess Champion. Covering what is means to make music about mental health, her recent move from Rapid City, South Dakota to Indianapolis, Indiana, and whether being out as a trans woman will change anything. How is your... Continue Reading →
During lockdown last year Philippa ‘Phil’ Tomlin signed up for Inktober. When the drawing challenge gave her the word ‘Cheers’ as a prompt, she found herself having an idea that would eventually lead to her art show – ‘My Place in the Crowd’ – centred around the last gig she attended before Covid-19. “I wanted... Continue Reading →
CW: This article discusses intimate partner violence in detail. In the last year, I’ve gotten more into the music of Taylor Swift than I ever did when I was a teenager. As much as I loved crying to The Way I Loved You at age fourteen, my tears ricochet hits deep at age twenty-one. The... Continue Reading →
Carsie Blanton’s music is an exuberant mix of folk, jazz, swing and pop. Her enthusiasm for pretty much anything (except for Trump, fascists, and sexual shame) is infectious, her grin unforgettable. I first came across Carsie’s joyful sound as a swing dancer, where her song ‘Baby Can Dance’ was very popular. Carsie ran a swing dance in... Continue Reading →
Save the Senate Festival began with Resistance Revival Chorus, a collective of women and non-binary singers who take the Toi Derricotte quote “joy is an act of resistance” to heart. They open with ‘Ella’s Song’, a beautifully simple chant laid over photographs and videos of Black Lives Matter protests and actions. “We who believe in... Continue Reading →
Like many of us, my favourite Christmas song is ‘Fairytale of New York’ by The Pogues. From the very first lines its sentimentality is grounded in a hard realism, “It was Christmas Eve babe / In the drunk tank / An old man said to me, won't see another one / And then he sang... Continue Reading →
The WayWORD Festival, a student-led creative arts festival run by the WORD Centre at the University of Aberdeen is without a doubt, summed up with the expression “maximum effort, maximum reward,” in terms of the time and energy it took to get it all together, and the obstacles we overcame. The tagline we chose, “unconventional... Continue Reading →
Stars: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ All the way through lockdown, I’ve been listening to the album Failure is Inevitable by synth-pop duo Spray. The band consists of siblings Jenny Mclaren and Ricardo Autobahn. They’ve been my favourite band for a couple of years, I even own one of their T-shirts which currently for sale on Bandcamp. Below I... Continue Reading →
A secretive new collective has sprung up! The Underground Rooftop Collective (or URCollective) held their first performance this autumn in a secret location in Dundee city centre - performing to an audience of none in line with the Covid-19 restrictions. On a rooftop overlooking the Tay, Katherine Allan & Haig Massie, Cheryl McGregor, Chloé Segall,... Continue Reading →
Stars: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ After the first two singles from Alanis Morissette’s new album, ‘Diagnosis’ and ‘Smiling’ turned out to be absolutely spot-on in terms of her signature confessional style. I must admit I was nervous about the album, after so long,could she live up to the legacy of Jagged Little Pill – currently celebrating 25 years... Continue Reading →
Artificial Womb 