Hot on the heels of winning the Fulford Arms Battle of the Bands a few weeks ago Pick The Flowers have released a new single, “Peace”. It is haunting and ethereal with a dark vocal from Chloe that seeps deep into your soul. The track feels cinematic in scope and ambition. The production has a cut glass clarity and with added orchestration this is the kind of song that would make a classy James Bond theme. I thought Chloe might have peaked with her last single, “Wednesday”, but with “Peace” she proves that she is willing and able to go even higher! Get Pick The Flowers on your playlists now, you will not be disappointed. Also keep a look out for an interview with Pick The Flowers on these very pages very soon.
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Grape have released a rather fab Christmas song. It starts out with a lovely, unassuming jolly vibe and then the magnificent hook and full band come crashing in perfectly after 70 seconds. But not only is it a good song it is raising money for St Mungo’s, a charity whose purpose is to end homelessness and rebuild lives after homelessness. Grape is a veritable supergroup made up of members of Alt-J, Gang Of Youths and Tellison. You can stream the track for free, but why would you do that when for just £1.50 you can download it and contribute to a great charity. Check out more details on Bandcamp here. Alternatively you can donate direct to St. Mungo’s here. If you can spare even the smallest amount it will help a great cause.
Gus Unger-Hamilton who is a member of Alt-J and also a St Mungo’s ambassador said this about the release “I am extremely proud to be an ambassador for St Mungo’s and, as Londoners, we in GRAPE all feel an acute desire to help people sleeping rough as much as we can. With this song’s lyrical themes of a difficult life in the process of being rebuilt at Christmas, it felt like a no-brainer to release this song in support of the charity.”
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The revelation of Mayhem’s Top 50 Albums Of 2025 is now past the halfway point. In past years it has only ever been a top 20, but it was hard to whittle the original list of 60 down to 20, so we kept 50 of them! So far we have given you part 1 and part 2 which cover positions 31 through to 50. Now we reveal the numbers from 21 to 30 in part 3.
Have your favourite albums made the Mayhem cut? Check out the list below and check out parts 1 and 2. Parts 4 and 5 which will reveal the rest of the top 50 very, very soon! Are you looking forward to the countdown? There will be a 50 song play list when Part 5 arrives! Here comes numbers 21 to 30.
21 The Passionate Ones – Nourished By Time – “Baltimore-born artist Marcus Brown, via his alter ego Nourished By Time, continues to search for the meaning of life with this astonishing album” 22 Can’t Lose My (Soul) – Annie and the Caldwells – “I am still an atheist, but this stunning gospel album perhaps brought me closer to a God than I have ever been” 23 Showbiz! – MIKE – “Modern hip-hop at its best. This album has jazz, weirdly wonderful samples and loops and it oozes with emotion” 24 Who Is The Sky? – David Byrne – “An incredibly uplifting album from the genius that is David Byrne” 25 Getting Killed – Geese – “This music sits at the cutting edge of exciting, exhilarating, experimental rock. A sonic masterpiece” 26 45 Pounds –YHWH Nailgun – “Post Punk, Funk and so much more blended to create a towering rock album” 27 Lux – ROSALÍA – “This is a true opus that is cinematic in its ambition and scale. It makes all of those classic rock operas look a little insipid” 28 Golliwog – Billy Woods – “Horror, ambient jazz and droning noise brought together to create an unsettling and powerful record” 29 Only Dust Remains – Backxwash – “Rap/ Hip-hop but with electronic, industrial, orchestral, gospel and rock elements. A hauntingly magnificent album!” 30 I Feel The Everblack Festering Within Me – Lorna Shore – “Deathcore metal at its finest. Intense, dark melodic metal”
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So tell me, are you on the nice list or the naughty list? Either way may I say a big hello to all the nicies and all the naughties! The annual Christmas messages from bands and artists took a year off last year. These are the bands and artists we have featured or reviewed throughout the year. But they are back baby! For the first one we have a message from a York band that is most definitely on the rise, Vagabond. Look out for them in 2026 and be ready for them to blow your mind
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The revelation of Mayhem’s Top 50 Albums Of 2025 is underway. In past years it has only ever been a top 20, but it was hard to whittle the original list of 60 down to 20, so we kept 50 of them! Last week we gave you part 1 which included positions 41 through to 50. Now we reveal the numbers from 31 to 40 in part 2
Have your favourite albums made the Mayhem cut? Check out the list below and check out parts 1, 3, 4 and 5 which will reveal the rest of the top 50 very soon! Very soon! Are you looking forward to the countdown? There will be a 50 song play list when Part 5 arrives! Here comes numbers 31 to 40.
31 ‘A Paradise In The Hold’ – Yazz Ahmed – “Telling wondrous stories via her middle eastern heritage with an injection of gorgeous jazz“ 32 ‘Essex Honey’ – Blood Orange – “Dev Hynes a.k.a. Blood Orange delivers and ethereal, emotional, melancholy masterpiece” 33 ‘EUSEXUA’ – FKA Twigs – “Twigs the wonderkid strikes again with an album that combines, pop, dance and what the mainstream media calls ‘adult themes’!” 34 ‘DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS’ – Bad Bunny – “I knew nothing about him until the Super Bowl furore. This album is infectious and is the definition of perfect rhythms” 35 ‘Addison’ – Addison Rae – “Sensual, confident and perhaps the introduction of a future superstar” 36 ‘THE BPM’ – Sudan Archives – “Sublime electro R & B, Sudan Archives continues to grow” 37 ‘Like A Ribbon’ – John Glacier – “More spoken word than rap, Glacier holds the torch for great British music. This is an album that could only come from the UK!” 38 ‘That’s Showbiz Baby!’ – JADE – “A supremely confident debut album from a former member of Little Mix that makes Pop cool again” 39 ‘The Bad Fire’ – Mogwai – “Deep, dark, stunning, synth soundscapes that in my opinion should only ever be played at maximum volume!” 40 ‘A Complicated Woman’ – Self Esteem – “Anthemic superior sounds and songs from an entertainment and artistic polymath”
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This would be the sixth time that I have seen Absolute Bowie perform since my first experience back in 2017. Regular readers will know that I have never been a huge fan of covers bands, however there are always exceptions and Absolute Bowie are not just the exception they are exceptional. I have seen two other Bowie tributes, David Live, is slightly closer to the Dame vocally and the Bowie Contingent are better than all the competition musically. However John O’Neill’s Absolute Bowie blow everyone away for entertainment value. You get the costumes, the costume changes, the make up, a superb very tight band and the huge talent and charisma of O’Neill himself. Tonight’s set once again began with a Ziggy Fest with the main man making all the right Ziggy moves and rocking through some seventies classics.
The band kicked off with a wonderfully dark take of “The Man Who Sold The World” and delivered some classic audience sing along moments with “Starman”, “All The Young Dudes”, “Changes” and “Rock n Roll Suicide”. The latter was apparently included after many requests from fans online. Did no one request “The Laughing Gnome”? 🙂 The band wigged out and showed just how good a rock band they are as they stormed through an extended instrumental work out on “Moonage Daydream” while O’Neill took time out for a costume change. The band behind O’Neill are Andy Marr on guitar, Telegram Sam on bass, Danny Mattin on keyboards and Alex Face on drums.
For the second set they returned without the 70s wigs and glitter while O’Neill sported a jacket that kind of took us back to the 1974 American tour and he performed “Cracked Actor” and “Fame” back to back with an immense and superb sonic assault. After he dropped that jacket we were transported to the superstar pomp of the Serious Moonlight period. Inevitably “China Girl” and “Let’s Dance” were given an airing, but for me the stand out song of the second set was a hauntingly good “Ashes To Ashes”. The band returned for the now obligatory encore and stepped up another gear and set the scene with a fine take on “Space Oddity” before raising the roof with the double punch of “Heroes” and “Rebel Rebel”. If, like me, you are a Bowie fan with an aversion to Bowie tribute acts just put away you negativity, put on your red shoes and dance the blues to the magnificent Absolute Bowie!
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David Bowie’s handwritten lyrics fetched £89,000 after they were sold at Omega Auctions in Uxbridge, west London on 28th November 2023. (Incidentally that is where I grew up). The lyrics sheet contained the late singer’s corrections, drafts and notes when creating his tracks “Rock n Roll Suicide” and “Suffragette City”. Both tracks in the sale featured on Bowie’s 1972 classic album ‘The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars’. That album has always been seen as a full on concept album. I don’t think that it is, how about you?
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When I first started getting into music as a kid back in the late 60s it was via the UK pop charts and shows like Top of the Pops. I soaked up everything I heard at that time; bubblegum, rock, soul, Motown and reggae. My first exposure to reggae was probably Desmond Dekker, but later it was the voice of James Chambers a.k.a. Jimmy Cliff that drew me even further into the heart of this fabulous style of music. I was saddened to hear of the passing of Jimmy Cliff a few days ago and I have been playing my way through his varied and incredible back catalogue since then. So many of his songs carried a hopeful positive message, particularly “Wonderful World, Beautiful People” and “You Can Get It If You Really Want”. The latter was not a chart success for Cliff but contemporary Desmond Dekker took it to number two in the UK chart in 1970. “Vietnam” was a minor hit for Cliff in 1968. It was this song that Bob Dylan called the best protest song ever written.
Jimmy played the leading role of Ivan “Ivanhoe” Martin, in the Jamaican film “The Harder They Come” in 1972. It was the first major film release to come from Jamaica and make forays into cinemas across the world. Half of the twelve songs on the soundtrack album were written and performed by Jimmy Cliff, including the title track. The film and the soundtrack helped give broader worldwide appeal to this hypnotic music from a small Caribbean island. As well as a canon of great self penned songs Jimmy made some stunning covers of other peoples songs, notably Cat Stevens’ “Wild World” and Johnny Nash’s “I Can See Clearly Now”. His career spanned six decades and he released at least thirty albums. His first single release was “Hurricane Hatty” in 1962. He went on to have hits in many countries across the world including two top ten hits in the UK.
He won many honours including the prestigious Order of Merit, one of Jamaica’s highest recognitions for service in arts and culture. At the time of his death he was the only living reggae artist ever to hold that honour. He is also one of only two Jamaicans to have been inducted in the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall Of Fame, the other being Bob Marley. I only saw him play live once, I wish it had been more. That was at the O2 Academy in Leeds back in August 2014. That night he played for nearly two hours including three encores. Jimmy Cliff’s passing deprives the world of a wonderful talent and a beautiful human being. Now Jimmy has crossed his final river, rest in peace Jimmy Cliff and thank you for making music!
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On this day, November 26th, in 1976 the Sex Pistols released the single “Anarchy In The UK”. Originally issued in a plain black sleeve, the single was the only Sex Pistols material released by EMI, and reached No.38 on the UK Singles Chart before EMI dropped the group on 6 January 1977.
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Here it is, we are finally ready to reveal Mayhem’s Top 50 Albums Of 2025. In past years it has only ever been a top 20, but it was hard to whittle the original list of 60 down to 20, so we kept 50 of them! This is part 1 which covers positions 41 through to 50. Have your favourite albums made the Mayhem cut? Check out the list below and check out parts 2, 3, 4 and 5 which will reveal the rest of the top 50 very soon! very soon! Are you looking forward to the countdown? There will be a 50 song play list when Part 5 arrives! Here comes numbers 41 to 50
41 ‘The Sky, the Earth & All Between’ – Architects – “A metalcore masterpiece from Architects, one of the finest bands in the UK” 42 ‘Music Can Hear Us’ – DJ Koze – “DJ Koze creates music that takes you to a wonderful happy place with some help from his mates!” 43 ‘The Collapse Of Everything’ – Adrian Sherwood – “The Doyen of Dub and the Master of Mixology delivers his opus!” 44 ‘Sad And Beautiful World’ – Mavis Staples – “86 years old and making some of the finest music of her career. I hope I age that well!” 45 ‘Metalhorse’ – Billy Nomates – “An immaculate return to form for Billy Nomates“ 46 ‘A Fine African Man’ – Knucks – “A sizzling sophomore release from ace London rapper Knucks” 47 ‘Faux Animaux’ – Blue Violet – “Their music has a dark and mysterious pop rock style and is loaded with great hooks.“ 48 ‘Lost In Good Intentions’ – Fishing 4 Compliments – “A band that state their intent with passion and fire“ 49 ‘Dreaming In Stereo’ – Jellybricks –“Everyone needs some Jellybricks in their life. Why not build your music house out of Jellybricks?” 50 ‘Naked Truth’ – Autumn Dawn Leader – “If Jim Steinman had ever decided to produce a more considered and less bombastic album than the type he did with Meatloaf and Bonnie Tyler and employed Philip Glass and Brian Eno it might have sounded a little like ‘Naked Truth’.“
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