It's not often that you see bands come together across various cities, let alone various countries, but synth-pop trio Render Ghosts have really taken working from home to heart. Based across London and Utrecht, Tamara van Esch, Tom Wilson, and Iain Chambers came together in 2020 to form Render Ghosts, releasing their compelling electronic-led self-titled debut album earlier this year.
Words: Rajan Lakhani
I’m doing things a bit differently this year and writing a general review of the music I listened to in 2021, instead of doing short reviews of my top 10. Rest assured, you can still see my top 10 below, and I’ve curated a best of 2021 playlist that starts with songs from my top albums before moving into my favourite songs from the year.
Words: Saam Das
There are moments when reading the LinkedIn profile for Jessica Weiss where my initial reaction is that Spiderman-pointing-at-Spiderman gif, although the comparisons quickly stop - particularly with regards to their musical repertoire. Having entranced us through their work in Brighton's Fear Of Men, as well as having been a touring member of The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart', Weiss has now unveiled their new solo venture - New German Cinema. Listen to debut single, 'I Become Heavy', below.
Words: Saam Das
"Everything you do, it's been done, done, done before." PC Music head honcho A.G. Cook nailed some of the core pandemic vibes of apathy and despair with '2021', originally released on their 2020 debut album, '7G'. Not content with releasing a 49(!) track long album, Cook subsequently released another album ('Apple') just weeks later, which was followed in 2021 by a remix album reflecting on the two aforementioned releases, 'Apple vs 7G'. Charli XCX collaborator umru took the reins for the latter's '2021' remix, which you can hear below alongside the original.
Words: Rajan Lakhani
It was so tempting given the challenges of 2020 to only listen to music that you know and love, to provide some comfort and reassurance while the pandemic was changing our daily lives. And that’s of course absolutely justified. But my favourite moments listening to music have been discovering something new, the first time hearing a record and how you can’t wait to hear it again. So here are my favourite albums of 2020, and hope you find something that you enjoy that you hadn’t heard before.
Words: Saam Das
Having already skipped past the whole of 2020 for our recent top tracks list of 2019, we figured we'd compile a bonus list of more pop-led offerings from the same year that you may well have missed. Again, we've tried to mix in some of the more well known acts such as Carly Rae Jepsen and Charli XCX with some lesser known ones, opting for an alphabetical order approach.
We're a collaborative British music, film and TV blog. "Trying to find the perfect match between pretentious and pop."
