Entertainment

By Jasmine Stephens, Family Editor The 30th March marks the start of the 7th annual National Young Writers' awards.  The competition encourages children between the ages of five and 14 to explore their imaginations and submit a 500 word story on this year's theme of 'Strange Events and Peculiar Happenings' to try and win a holiday to Disneyland Paris and £500 worth of books for their school. Entry is free and stories can be submitted online at www.explorelearning.co.uk/youngwriters To celebrate the...

By Milly Cooper With a band that is Nashville born and bred expectations are high and The Apache Relay are certainly up to the challenge. With two albums under their belt already they’re gearing up to release a third in April and there are an awful lot of people excited to hear it, including us. We were thrilled when singer Michael Ford Jr took the time to chat to us about the upcoming album, the artistic vision for the band,...

By Alex Jones (@alex_jonze) It’s rare a band comes to the stage of releasing their seventh album and still has the world eager to hear what it will sound like. By now artists have usually laid their cards on the table for all to see, genres explored and boundaries well and truly pushed. And whilst this is certainly true of Muse, the stadium-sized trio still has the eyes (and ears) of the music world upon them. Their new record is...

By Daniel Mackenzie (@EkcaLiena) The pathways to drone are mysterious and numerous, rooting themselves in metal – in the case of doom stasis heavy hitters SunnO))); electronic music – like Loscil; a history of abstract sound in the case of Brian Eno or Tangerine Dream. It's not a surprise that a celebratory showcase of the genre would take a very specific core and break it open into its spectral histories. Le Guess Who? Festival, based in Utrecht, premiered the beautifully...

By Will Bateman (WillBateman6611) “Punk rock and indie’s dead, you know? How are we going to make money any more? I mean, the private jets won’t pay for themselves”, The Cribs' bassist Gary Jarman recently joked on the band's return to pop-indie affections. Ryan is quick to clarify that the Wakefield brothers aren't shying away from their melodic side on  new album For All My Sisters. Pop isn't a “dirty word” word in The Cribs camp and their poppier sensibilities have rarely worked to the...

By Declan Roberts (@declanmr) After five years you'd expect some change of sound in a band, and that's exactly the case with Mini Mansions. Their self-titled debut focused on dream-pop melodies and Kinks inspired lyrics. 'The Great Pretenders' is a darker and fiercer affair that casts a shadow over their previous form. The backing vocals on lead single 'Death Is A Girl' echo with a sinister nature and the aggressive drops on 'Vertigo' make for an exciting listen. 'Freakout!' is...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor Passarella Death Squad, the Anglo-Japanese fashion label has created 16 exclusive artworks for the iconic American adult brand ‘Penthouse’. Each image has been photographed, cropped and doctored by designer Danny Passarella to achieve the effect. Danny says, "While considering this project I was especially compelled by the allure of the hidden, so I wanted people to look a bit deeper than they normally would at a Penthouse image. "Normally it’s the figure and the nudity...

By Rob Foster @futuresinfinite In 1995 Will Hutton’s “The State We’re In” entered the bestseller lists and encapsulated a moment of change for Britain’s politics. Following the end of Thatcher’s reign and the fracturing rancour of John Major’s term as Prime Minister, Hutton’s diagnosis of need for a radical shift from Thatcherism to “stakeholder capitalism” captured (fleetingly, at least) the prevailing mood that would bring Tony Blair’s New Labour to power. It was a rare example of a work of...

By Grant Bailey (@GrantDBailey) Escaping a really dire Christmas party - This was the premise under which Conor (guitar), Steve (guitar) and Jonathan (drums) first went into a rehearsal space and made simultaneous loud noises. With material Conor had been writing since his previous band ended the trio began creating fledgling pieces of music that would eventually become the songs that comprise debut EP "LTKLTL”. The addition of bassist Ali happened several months later after Steve had asked him if...