Author: Jan Kobal


  • The Ultimate Croatian Festival Guide

    Croatia, the little country that could, and did, become one of Europe’s leading festival destinations this year. 2012 marked the year when I first realized the potential Croatia had in becoming such a festival powerhouse, due in large part to my attendance at the inaugural Dimensions festival, INmusic festival, and the second iteration of Terraneo […]

  • Preview – Dimensions Festival 2014

    Festival season is slowly getting into full swing in Europe and this year Croatia is putting on display one of the most eclectic and full-bodied series of festivals in the entirety of the continent. Offering up a plethora of events including INmusic festival, Electric Elephant, Outlook, Terraneo and Unknown, Croatia is becoming the place to […]

  • Mac DeMarco – Salad Days

    I first had an experience with the music of Mac DeMarco when he was a rather odd fellow from Montreal slinging seemingly surreptitious lyrics in a hushed and mellow croon back when he was preparing to release his first EP, Rock And Roll Nightclub. During this stage his music was always accompanied by a guitar […]

  • Oxfam Music Store Benefit Concert at The Cellar (28/03/2014)

    Our records editor Jan gives us the lowdown on the Oxfam Music Store Benefit Concert.

  • Beck – Morning Phase

    Beck, one of the most artistically mercurial and prolific alternative artists of the last two decades, has finally released Morning Phase; his self-professed follow up to 2002’s expertly restrained and utterly beautiful Sea Change. Esoteric and arcane are two things this album is not, much like Sea Change, the themes explored on this album pertain […]

  • St. Vincent – St. Vincent

    Annie Clark has managed to continuously mesmerize me for several years. Apart from her startlingly competent football control and presence on quirky shows such as Portlandia, she utilizes her phenomenal guitar prowess to weave joyfully experimental music. Every LP Clark releases observes St. Vincent exuding a certain personal trait. Frailty seemed to prevail on her […]

  • Mac Demarco – ‘Passing Out Pieces’

    A listless hangover, jittery relaxation, the nicotine-fueled reminisce of a debauched memory, these are all feelings Mac Demarco has consistently managed to evoke through his work. Such feelings permeate this track from forthcoming LP Salad Days as a sun-soaked, Beach Boys-esque, synthesizer allows itself to wash over us. Accompanying Demarco are his now almost trademarked […]

  • Angel Olsen – ‘Forgiven/Forgotten’

    Angel Olsen is a Jagjaguwar alumnus that is better known for her introspective bedroom style, often acoustic in nature. It is because of this that the new single from her forthcoming album Burn Your Fire For No Witness has caught me off guard. Her sultry voice no longer occupies a fragile space with her acoustic […]

  • Death Grips – Government Plates

    Death Grips have become an entity synonymous with organised chaos, both in the studio and in everyday bureaucratic life. Having released The Money Store to critical acclaim on the Epic label, the art-punk/hip-hop/noise act decidedly went a little off the rails. What occurred was possibly one of the most mundane sequence of events ever witnessed […]

  • Arcade Fire – Reflektor

    Another three years have passed and Arcade Fire have returned to bestow us with a work that is undeniably good, yet fundamentally frail. Drawing influences from a recent visit to Haiti by Win Butler and Régine Chassagne, the first half of the ambitious double LP charms with its Rara and Twoubadou tinged excursions. These musical […]

  • Darkside – Paper Trails

    “Paper Trails” is a cerebrally seductive offering from Nicolas Jaar and Dave Harrington, it will feature on their forthcoming LP Psychic, which can be streamed in full here. The track sees a contemplative Jaar croon in an introspective and lugubrious manner over Harrington’s adroit instrumentation. The two artists truly bring out a scintillating quality in each other […]

  • Lady Gaga & Steven Tyler lined up to honour Carole King

    Huge name artists like Lady Gaga and Steven Tyler are lined up to honour Carole King.

  • Julia Holter – Loud City Song

    Julia Holter’s new LP Loud City Song retains a celestial atmosphere but is driven by an ever-present rhythm

  • Sziget – The Island Of Freedom

    Jan reviews the European festival Sziget