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Music

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?

The sounds of student protest

Their monopoly on the sonic space means that they are in charge of disseminating information to the public. In other words, they were not walled off. 

Ticketmaster hurts student concert culture

Competitive, difficult, and opaque. All words associated with the Oxbridge admissions process. More recently, however, they have been used by disappointed Oasis and Coldplay fans in relation to Ticketmaster.

2024 was for the girls: The rapid success of female artists

The last nine months of pop can perhaps be summed up in one word:...

The beauty of bedroom pop

The bedroom can feel like an inner sanctum, a personal hideout away from the public. Therefore, there seems to be a contradiction in bedroom pop becoming...

A love letter to Oxford’s music scene

In a city of dreaming spires, where casual magic hangs in every cobbled lane at golden hour and each paradisal quad in bloom, I...

Cherwell’s albums of the year so far

Ten albums that we've judged to be among the best of this weird, weird year so far

Review: Phoebe Bridgers’ ‘Punisher’

with each song, the world becomes blurrier, as if drunk, only to be immediately sharpened again with the piercing nature of Bridgers’ lyrics

Review: Khruangbin’s ‘Mordechai’

Part of Khruangbin’s marketing campaign for Mordechai features an update to their online playlist curator, AirKhruang. The 2015 website allowed listeners to create playlists for their...

In defence of minimalism

People like being right about things - they like being in control.

Now That’s What I Call… Poetry?

Somebody once told me there are a lot of bad song lyrics out there. Imagine, for every subtle, elegant song you hear, there’s bound...

Has ‘Over the Rainbow’ been overcooked?

As ‘We’ll Meet Again’ rang through the streets of the UK on VE Day on Friday 8th May, with echoes of the previous night’s ‘Somewhere Over...

Notes on Improvisation

Improvisation is a strange topic to think about. On the surface, it seems to be fairly simple: know the chord progression to follow, choose...

Album Review: Lady Gaga’s ‘Chromatica’

Promoting her latest album on Twitter, Lady Gaga told fans: “listen from beginning to end, no need to shuffle, this is my true story.” Indeed, Chromatica...

how i’m feeling now: Hyper-Pop Masterpiece for the Lockdown Generation

Charli XCX’s lockdown productivity is putting us all to shame. On the 6th of April she announced to fans via a public Zoom meeting that...

Review: The 1975’s ‘Notes on a Conditional Form’

Notes on a Conditional Form, the fourth studio album by The 1975, has created its own chaotic history even before its release. The band’s latest record...

Historical Opera: A Primer

The ancient Greeks were so moved by music that in their mythological conception, the father of songs, Orpheus, could move even the rocks. In less fanciful...

Songs of a Pride Cancelled

Pride 2020, which was supposed to be a celebration of our place in the world looking forward to liberation for even more LGBT+ people...

Streaming and the seismic shift in music release formats

Like many of us quietly fascinated with Matty Healy’s prolific output, I recently put in a shift to listen through The 1975’s sprawling new album Notes...

Live Album Review: Vulfpeck at Madison Square Garden

Madison Square Garden, NY, late 2019. A packed house. We see a stage, empty save for Woody Goss...

‘Don’t Walk Away in Silence’: Ian Curtis Remembered

Monday 18th May marked forty years since Ian Curtis, the lead singer of Joy Division, took his own life by hanging himself in his...

The New Music Celebrity

The glossy pages of the likes of NME and Rolling Stone were pored over by music aficionados in the past, hoping for a snippet of the intent of...

“Ladies, ladies, ladies, ladies” – the women at the forefront of lockdown releases

My initial self-isolation playlist contained what I thought I would want to listen to during this indoor period - wistful folk-rock and simmering ambient, the types...

“It’s Not a Phase, Mom!” – In Defence of Teenage Clichés

“I’m not like other girls,” comes the mocking cry from my little sister across the kitchen table – a phrase I’m pretty sure I’ve never actually...

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