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Best UK Music Blog & Promoters

Obsidian Cane & Gizella Eased the Friction of a Wearied Reality with Their Soul-Fuelled Electro Release, Crazy World

Posted on 30 April 2025

Crazy World saw producer Obsidian Cane and vocalist Gizella join forces once again through unflinching determination to better the world through sound. As we become wearied by the weight of the world, it can almost feel impossible to find a guilt-free reprieve, but that is exactly what you will find in the soul-infused electro anthem. With vocals tempering the frenetic pulse of the breakbeats which feed drum n bass rhythms into the leftfield tropical house atmosphere, there’s no denying that the symbiotic collaborators orchestrated a hit as authentic as their creative connection. As your rhythmic pulses get rhythmically delivered shots of adrenaline, your mind won’t escape the catharsis of knowing that there are others out there praying for peace to stand in place of the lack of humanity and friction which gets more corrosive day by day.

As one of London’s most boundaryless beatmakers, Obsidian Cane – whose career has spanned producing for major label acts and scoring for British TV – has never bowed to formula. With Crazy World, he once again rewrites the rules. After producing for Gotcha! Records, Gizella earned her stripes as a vocal chameleon, traversing the UK Garage and Drum n Bass scenes with her singular range and emotive command. Their latest release expands their sonic synergy and marks them as artists unafraid to make their art mean something in the age of desensitisation.

Crazy World is now available to stream on all major platforms, including Spotify. 

Review by Amelia Vandergast

The Gillies Shattered Stirred Scarred Souls with Americana Folk Reverence in ‘It Hit Me Like a Bullet’

Posted on 29 April 2025
It Hit Me Like A Bullet by The Gillies

There’s no escaping the arcane aura of It Hit Me Like a Bullet, the latest release from the award-winning contemporary Americana folk duo, The Gillies. Through shimmering organ tones that swell around the arrangement and seraphically panoramic vocals, the single welcomes Americana Folk home on London’s streets. The Gillies – Susan Turner and Mark Evans – have long been revered for weaving steel-strung and tenor guitars into haunting odes to love, loss, and tangled relationships. True to their reputation for creating ‘music for your graveside’, they set raw emotions free without straying into needless theatrics.

It Hit Me Like a Bullet is salvation in sound, an invitation to tend psychological wounds no matter how raw. The imagery the cinematically intimate arrangement conjures transcends the more than a thousand words phenomenon, unchaining the soul, giving it permission to feel as free as the breezy melodies within the track.

If you know how it feels to find your feet after life broadsides you with perpetually unravelling perplexity, find your peace in the authentic euphony of It Hit Me Like a Bullet. The Gillies, whose previous works like ‘6am’ earned accolades such as Best Single in the GSMC Music Awards 2023 and selections for Fatea Magazine’s showcase sessions, continue to affirm why their understated melodies and timeless themes resonate on both local and international stages.

It Hit Me Like a Bullet is now available to stream on all major platforms, including Bandcamp. 

Review by Amelia Vandergast

John Arter & the Eastern Kings Built a Red and Blue Striped Monument to Resilience in ‘The Many Ways’

Posted on 29 April 2025

The Many Ways by John Arter & the Eastern Kings, which wound its way onto the airwaves on April 24th, is steeped in Americana reverence, puts the emotive vocals front and centre, and carries the timbre of a roots-deep Eddie Vedder through the instrumental arrangement as it crescendos through overdriven guitars and a percussive pulse that keeps you anchored in the eye of the affecting storm.

Clearly an outfit who have learned the art of intricate arrangements that visualise the pain manifesting through the lyrics and vocals, John Arter & the Eastern Kings are so much more than a breath of fresh air; when it comes to the real deal, they hold all the agony-streaked cards. As an anthem of resilience that allows pain to permeate every sonic pore, The Many Ways is a testament to the trials we all endure as we follow our thorned paths.

John Arter leads Eastern Kings with a voice that floods rooms and leaves an indelible mark. Together, the band orchestrate a sound built on cinematic energy, layered emotionality, and a rare synergy, brought to life with rousing guitar solos and the haunting textures of live violin arrangements. With their fusion of country, folk, and classic rock spirit, Eastern Kings are proving that while trends come and go, raw authenticity remains a vital force.

The Many Ways is now available to stream on all major platforms, including Spotify. 

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Gbogboade Sculpted a Soulful Monument to the Frequency of Love’s Fragility with ‘Where Do We Go?’

Posted on 28 April 2025

With the organic percussive textures tapping against the iridescent synth lines, in all of its questioning, Where Do We Go? is an instrumental study in contrasts as Gbogboade exhibits how his passion and adoration remain unflinching in the face of uncertainty. With expressions of jazz and spoken word recordings which run just as smooth as his harmonies, the track is a complete exposition of what it means to love in the presence of doubt, not letting it slip through fear of loss, but instead, allowing your soul to remain steadfast in the presence of limitless possibilities.

Drawing on his Nigerian roots and his London experiences, Gbogboade pours his dual heritage into his sonic signature. Known for his seamless infusion of soul, jazz, hip-hop, and Afro-rooted rhythms, he creates sonic worlds that pulse with lived reality. Influenced by D’Angelo, Solange, Kendrick Lamar, and Burna Boy, his music refuses to shy away from vulnerability, strength, and the tension that pulls between the two.

Where Do We Go? serves as the centrepiece of his forthcoming EP, a three-track reflection tracing love, uncertainty, and transformation. By anchoring the composition with 85 BPM rhythms and layering in analog warmth, Gbogboade offers a rich, emotionally charged soundscape that honours both his Lagos upbringing and his diasporic evolution.

Where Do We Go? is now available to stream on all major platforms, including Soundcloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Big C brought the house down with his grime anthem, Work Out

Posted on 27 April 2025

There’s workout music, and then there’s the adrenalising anthem Big C cooked up with ‘Work Out’. Dropped on April 10th with an official video already pulling in over 10,000 views, Big C delivered a grime-charged pulse-pounder that throws motivation straight through the speakers. With all the viral potential of ‘Put a Donk on It’, Big C has every chance of becoming the Blackout Crew of this generation.

The UK-based artist, who splices grime, rap, and house into fresh, high-energy fusions, tailored ‘Work Out’ for fitness fanatics, gym warriors, and anyone needing a sonic caffeine hit. If you’re struggling to find the motivation to pump the iron, stick this on your playlists and get hyped by the vibe that sneaks motivation around the anthemic dance-worthy beats.

Big C quite literally brought the house down with this grime anthem. The body-moving basslines don’t just fire up your muscles — they light a fire under your ambition. Every verse punches with the precision of a heavyweight fighter, while the beat races ahead like it’s got something to prove.

For anyone seeking a track to sweat, stomp, and smash through limits to, ‘Work Out’ is the pure sonic adrenaline your playlists have been crying out for.

‘Work Out’ is now available to stream on all major platforms. For the full experience, stream the official music video on YouTube. 

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Zach Hodges Bottled an Atomic Glitch in Jazz Fusion Form in ‘Nuclear Muskrat’

Posted on 26 April 2025

Zach Hodges let chaos reign in Nuclear Muskrat and conducted it with a conductor’s cultivated touch and a mad scientist’s curiosity. The 19-year-old Midlands-based musician, composer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist may be early in his career, but through his LP, Baby Landmark, he’s already proven that genre loyalty is a concept best left in the past.

Hodges, known for his work as a theatre musical director for String Cheese Theatre, his position behind the kit in Midlands jazz trio Head to Head, and his international touring experience, funnelled every inch of his multidisciplinary pedigree into this 7-minute experimental tour de force. Nuclear Muskrat isn’t content to sit still—within its frenetic framework, it flexes polka funk motifs, indietronica laced with avant-garde effects, funked-up disco grooves, blues-drenched riffs, erratic polyphonic keys, and incendiary synth bursts.

While it could have been easy for this to feel like a pure act of self-indulgence, it’s easy to go along with the ride with Hodges as he demonstrates the malleability of sound in a way so seamless it is as though all of the textures, tones and tempos have always been complementary pairings. It’s as though the contemporary history of music has been condensed in the explorative mind-melter that continually pulls the rug and lays down a different one before the last footstep can land.

If you’re always on the hunt for music that challenges mediocrity, Nuclear Muskrat is the ultimate contender.

Nuclear Muskrat is now available to stream on all major platforms, including Spotify. 

Review by Amelia Vandergast.

Cinema Painted Dusk with Unconditional Indie Folk Pop Affection in ‘When the Sun Goes Down’

Posted on 26 April 2025

With a title that frames the dimming light as more than a shift in the sky, ‘When the Sun Goes Down’ by London-based indie pop artist Cinema sinks into dusk with the kind of melancholia that only surfaces when you’re caught between the tendrils of longing. Through emotive vocal inflections, Cinema transforms a quiescent lo-fi folk-adjacent soundscape into an affecting invitation to feel the claws of compassion as you listen to the diehard romantic candour.

There’s no sleight of hand behind the heart-stirring honesty—just the kind of stripped-back introspection that sharpens with every whispered syllable and picks its battles with silence. With the same evocative intimacy as Cultdreams tied in with more mainstream indie folk pop appeal, Cinema has scored the ultimate formula to break out of the mainstream. The production refuses to rush, giving space to each aching note to stretch and settle under your skin, proving that emotional weight doesn’t need orchestral theatrics to be devastatingly impactful.

In the same way Frightened Rabbit disarms you with the artful agony, Cinema, with When the Sun Goes Down, takes the sum of its parts and calculates it into a profoundly moving sensory experience. If you needed any proof that there’s beauty in vulnerability, it’s in black and white in the kaleidoscope of unflinching confession of unconditional love which veers away from cliché, hitting all the right chords to attest to the striking sincerity with which it was composed and performed.

When the Sun Goes Down is now available to stream on all major platforms, including SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast.

Riding the Whip of Want: Emdee Puts Lust on a Leash in ‘Tame’

Posted on 23 April 2025

With a teasing prelude that feels more like foreplay than an intro, Tame defies its title as Emdee fuses fetish with soul, sonic seduction with salaciously sharp aphrodisiacal elements. With pop and contemporary RnB serving as his playroom, Emdee is in his element in Tame, which utilises playful teasing staccato rhythms until the momentum of the single starts to flow around guitar lines amplified to leave the listener hot under the collar.

With his mix of light and dark, it’s clear that Emdee knows how to bring the rough with the smooth while never being vanilla; his butter wouldn’t melt vocal lines and the tension built in the guitars is enough to leave the airwaves on its knees in submission.

After carving out his name in rap and drill, the Birmingham-born, Coventry-based artist strips it all back to lean fully into melody and desire. There’s nothing tentative about this transition—it’s a controlled burn into sultry new territory, driven by his taste for the provocative and his instinct for sonic balance. Influenced by the likes of The Weeknd and Ginuwine, he’s taken the slow jam blueprint and scratched his initials into it with slick rhythmic restraint and a vocal delivery steeped in self-possession.

Now or Never is set to push this evolution further, but Tame already signals the leash has snapped—and Emdee’s instincts are on full display.

Tame is now available to stream on all major platforms, including Spotify. 

Review by Amelia Vandergast.

Promise by ADZii BOii: A Hip-Hop Plea Forged in Fragility

Posted on 21 April 2025

ADZii BOii, the hip-hop titan who knows exactly how to bring the hammer down in every bar, delivered his most intimate blow with Promise. Blazing leagues away from his contemporaries, he brings a rare sense of vulnerability to the track, laying all of his insecurities and idiosyncrasies bare while tenderly requesting acceptance in the moments that are in the wake of perfection.

His Scottish vocals are a striking juxtaposition to the polyphonic, playfully retro Afrobeat instrumentals in the bitter-sweet hip-hop and pop hybrid. All of the experimentation and daring to stand alone as an innovator without falling in line with trends only amplifies the sentiment of the lyrical underpinnings by sonically asking for understanding, even when you need to discover new vestiges of what you thought you already knew.

There’s no bravado here—just raw prestige, candour, and the opportunity to strengthen your empathy for anyone who falls outside the mental health mould.

As an artist, ADZii BOii wears his temperamental streak and emotional depth like armour, and Promise proves nothing is off limits. With previous acclaim for ‘Let’s Go’ on Netflix’s Sprint, and ‘Colours’ airing during BBC Radio Scotland’s Mental Health Awareness Week, ADZii BOii’s bid to redefine Scottish rap isn’t wishful thinking—it’s already in motion.

Promise is now available to stream on all major platforms, including Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast.

The Sonic Slaughterhouse of Industrial Despair – A Circle of Teeth Rips the Veneer in ‘Bovine’

Posted on 15 April 2025
The Beast Who Eats Everything by a Circle of Teeth

With a title like The Beast Who Eats Everything, the UK powerhouse, A Circle of Teeth, didn’t set the bar for subtlety with their 2025 LP—but no one with an appetite for industrial metal should expect a delicate serving. The standout single, Bovine, is the most ferociously emblematic track from the UK-based architects of mechanical disquietude, who’ve spent the past two years carving a visceral soundtrack from the wreckage of chaos, grief, and internal collapse.

Clearly, A Circle of Teeth have honed the ability to make a titular impact to the nth degree, and nothing in the album lets the intensity slip. After a filmically eerie prelude, the guitar amps start to warm before the instrumentals rampage through the production, tumultuously razing it to the ground as the hell-hath-no-fury-like industrial metal vocalist screams cut through the atmosphere with caustic volition.

The crushing weight of the sound design is matched only by the brutality of the lyrics, which lacerate without restraint. Bovine launches an all-out attack on the sociopathic puppeteers of the modern psyche—the manipulators whose influence pollutes everything they touch. Place your own protagonist in the firing line of A Circle of Teeth and feel the catharsis take over the rage. This track wasn’t made for background noise; it is a conduit for fury, forged for those who need to scream without lifting their own voice.

Bovine is now available to stream on all major platforms, including Bandcamp.

Review by Amelia Vandergast.