Friday, January 31, 2025

Music

Five Hip-Hop Gems You Missed in 2024

A year dominated by the Kendrick Lamar-Drake beef, 2024 made it all too easy to let underground hip-hop slip through the cracks into obscurity. Whilst many alumni of the...

Hot springs: why Iceland is a breeding ground for musicians

Whilst for many, Iceland is associated with plane-grounding volcanic eruptions and sweeping landscapes, it...

Back to the Future: Are 2010 Throwbacks the Soundtrack of 2025?

The early 2010’s occupy a curious space in cultural memory, neither distant enough to...

Oxford’s first Hip-Hop Society breaks it down

As Oxford's newest musical society explores ways to facilitate a much-needed space for hip-hop music, only one question springs to mind; where have they been all this time?

Talkin’ ’bout a Revolution: The Sound of Protest Art

Tracy Chapman’s appearance at the 1988 Nelson Mandela tribute concert transformed her career. The political turmoil surrounding Apartheid was transposed onto Chapman’s performance; songs...

Coldplay heating up

The death of being embarrassed about playing Coldplay in the shower

Lust for Life: Lana Del Rey

A genre in herself, Lana’s sleepy Hollywood aesthetic and tragic love songs have earned her success in the indie pop scene. Under her...

NoFriendz: “Show up next time Oxford, you bastards”

Meet NoFriendz - they may not be your favourite band yet, but they probably deserve to be.

August’s Here Already

Newly formed supergroup August Greene use their music to bring to life the African American experience.

Cambridge carnage creators conquer Oxford

Cellar continues to be a goldmine of underground musical talent

David Bowie: The art of getting on a bit

The life of Ziggy defied expectation.

Death and the maiden

An exploration of Verdi and the orchestra

Listening to Music on Repeat

Why shuffle is simply no longer an option

Math Roberts discusses his new song cycle ‘What Comes After’

How did 'What Comes After' come about, is it a new piece or have you had it in the pipeline for a while? The idea...

Fame, fortune and failure

Debunking the Unk: the curious tale of Curtis Adams

Music and the Comeback Kids

Molly Innes discusses the art of the comeback, the “reunion” cash cow, and throwback culture

The rise of lo-fi

What makes imperfections so attractive?

Review: Shostakovich 7 with the Oxford University Orchestra

Peter Stark conducts a moving performance of Shostakovich 7 with the Oxford University Orchestra

Interview: renowned opera singer Iestyn Davies

Cambridge, choirs, colleges and everything else

Classical music’s illusions

Lauren Hill discusses the captivating, and yet illusory effects of performing music at a point where music education is under threat

Review: Eugene Onegin at St John’s College Auditorium

The People's Opera's production of Eugene Onegin is a great achievement against the odds

Cracked Actors: Invention and Reinvention in Music

A change of persona can yield new creative space and energy.

The Forgiveness Arc

Here are some of the best musical theatre songs centred around forgiveness

Sexualisation in music: liberation or objectification?

Art and creative expression have always made up our social and sensitive nature, from telling stories, to performing primal dances, to painting scenes of human experience on cave walls.

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