Looks like there’s a new Adenuga on the way Congratulations appear to be in order for Skepta who today posted a pregnancy scan via his Instagram. The rapper, real name Joseph Adenuga, posted the sonogram which read ‘Baby Adenuga’ this afternoon prompting congratulations from friends and fans alike. The scan suggests that the pregnancy is […]

8 years ago

The Mercury Prize shortlist was announced last week and one name left off in particular surprised a lot of people Shame are one of the most unique, authentic and exciting bands out right now. They’re a post-punk group of misfits from South London that mix both the punk of yesteryear with a new age rock […]

8 years ago

If you’ve not been to Standon Calling you absolutely should Up until this year I had never been to Standon Calling. I had heard a lot about it but I’d never found the time to venture over to the family-friendly, dog-friendly and overall people-friendly festival in the middle of Hertfordshire. Let’s just say that when I […]

8 years ago

Now this is a flight we’d have liked to have been on Stormzy celebrated his 25th birthday by flying a group of friends and fans out to Spain earlier today on a customised #MerkyAirways flight. Joining celebrity friends Mo The Comedian, Krept & Konan, Not3s, Lethal Bizzle, Big Shaq, Drake’s new best friend Shiggy, his girlfriend […]

8 years ago

It’s that time of year again The 2018 Hyundai Mercury Prize ‘Albums of the Year’ have been revealed. Announced this morning at a launch event hosted by BBC Music’s Huw Stephens in the stunning ballroom of London’s Langham Hotel, we were present to hear firsthand which albums would be battling it out for the prestigious […]

8 years ago

Now here’s some seriously exciting news for real music fans JMSN is coming to town! The multi-talented artist hailing from Detroit announced today via his Instagram that he would be embarking on a European tour starting November 7th with three stops in the UK and one in Ireland. Titled the Velvet European Tour Pt. II, if […]

8 years ago

You know James Bay, right? He sings “Hold Back the River”. You’ve heard that, yeah? He won the Brit Awards Critics Choice award in 2015 and the Brit Award for Best British Male Solo Artist in 2016. That rings a bell, right? Surely you know him as the guy whose album Chaos and the Calm […]

8 years ago

Have you ever been up a mountain to watch a festival? I have Not only that, I didn’t get home from said festival until around 6 o’clock every morning because the Spanish don’t ever want the party to end. Referring to Northern Spain’s Bilbao BBK Live, if you’ve never been before you might want to […]

8 years ago

2000 AD fans rejoice The much lauded award-winning British comic book that brought us Judge Dredd will soon see one of its greatest characters come to the big screen. Acclaimed filmmaker Duncan Jones, the man behind movies such as Moon, Source Code, Warcraft and Mute, is to bring genetic infantryman Rogue Trooper to life is an as-yet-unnamed picture. […]

8 years ago

Welcome back music fiends The JOE Music Quiz is back for its 14th week and there’s a lot going on so naturally I’m making sure there’s healthy helpings of music trivia for you to test your knowledge on. The sequel to the insanely popular Mamma Mia! movie is out right now and to celebrate I […]

8 years ago

Quiz time because NOW 100 is finally here! What a milestone. NOW That’s What I Call Music has reached 100 volumes (listen here) and it’s going as strong as ever before. Don’t believe me? Last year it sold 3.2 million copies – that’s more than what Ed Sheeran sold and he’s currently the UK’s biggest […]

8 years ago

The Vamps are a boy band, are they not? “It depends on what you clarify as a boy band,” says Brad Simpson, the band’s lead singer and guitarist. When you Google the term boy band you often come up with bands such as The Jacksons, The Osmonds and then of course Take That, Backstreet Boys, […]

8 years ago

We’re alllllllllllllllllllllllright In July of 1995 Brit Pop dominated the UK airwaves. You couldn’t go anywhere without hearing music by the likes of Oasis, Blur, Pulp, Suede, Cast and many more. But there was one song in particular that shaped British youth culture more than any other at the time and it was by alternative […]

8 years ago

YOU SHOULD KNOW | 004 “He’s Banx, I’m Ranx.”  That’s the answer I get when I ask the production duo from Montreal, Canada, responsible for the summer smash “Answerphone” featuring Ella Eyre and Yxng Bane, which of them is Banx and which is Ranx. Sounds pretty simple, right? Wrong. The answer didn’t come from one […]

8 years ago

They say 13 is unlucky for some, not for you though That’s right, you’ve got another week of music questions put to you by yours truly as part of the JOE Music Quiz. HOORAY! It was less than 24 hours ago that I got back from Bilbao BBK Live and by the time I stepped […]

8 years ago

Let’s be honest, we’ve all done it, right? You go on vacation, pop in your earphones and just drift off into your very own cinematic universe where you’re the star of the show. The movie you’ve manifested in your head is soundtracked by whatever it is blasting through the tiny speakers in your ears, and […]

8 years ago

Wireless Festival is over for another year With perfect weather, England’s World Cup quarter final match being shown on the big screen, another stellar lineup and also a little surprise in the form of a Canadian by the name of Mr. Graham coming out in place of DJ Khaled to close the festival on the […]

8 years ago

It looks like Childish Gambino is enjoying his summer Just when you thought today couldn’t get any better with England’s semi-final World Cup match with Croatia incoming, Childish Gambino aka Donald Glover drops two new songs on us. Announced via his Instagram, the Atlanta creator has dropped off something he’s calling Summer Pack featuring two […]

8 years ago

Fear not, the music quizmaster is here I may be about to head out to the final day of Wireless Festival but I wasn’t going to leave you guys hanging now, was I? London is on fire right now. We’ve got Wimbledon, Pride, the World Cup, and Wireless Festival – which is going to be […]

8 years ago

Things in the festival world are changing Did you know that a bi­annual study of festival lineups across the UK and Europe by Female:Pressure, showed that in 2017 women only accounted for 19% of festival headliners? Looking to tackle this type of gender inequality head-on this year at Wireless Festival, the team behind Smirnoff, with […]

8 years ago

Kanye West never seems to be too far away from controversy One of the rapper’s most recent stunts saw him purchase Whitney Houston’s infamous “drug den” photograph for $85,000 and then proceed to use it as the artwork for Pusha T’s DAYTONA album, which West produced. Aside from having some choice words for Kanye, Houston’s […]

8 years ago

A lot has changed since I first started buying music I can remember saving my money from the paper round I had and every couple of weeks getting on a bus to Exeter and heading straight to either Our Price or HMV to spend it. First there were cassettes (of which I still have some), […]

8 years ago

Germany, Spain, Argentina and Portugal all might be out but the JOE Music Quiz is still in Music continues to give the World Cup a run for its money with so many artists in town doing shows, festivals popping up all over the country and new music by some of the world’s biggest names dropping […]

8 years ago

Festival season is in full swing and Isle of Wight Festival might have just proven itself the best… so far There’s always been something quite majestic about the Isle of Wight Festival. It’s a UK festival that feels like it’s in a far away distant land, even though in reality it’s just a one hour […]

8 years ago

Drake starts off his new album by stating: “My Mount Rushmore is me with four different expressions.” This is exactly why I fuck with Drake. For the first time in his career he’s been on the losing side of a battle, his back’s against the wall. He’s been a punching bag for not only Pusha […]

8 years ago

Drake has confirmed that he does indeed have a son Rumours that Drake had fathered a son began last month during a lyrical feud with Pusha T. On his diss track, “The Story of Adinon”, the G.O.O.D. Music rapper accused Drake of having a baby with a porn star. On the track Pusha T rapped: “You […]

8 years ago

Happy Drizzy Drake day! Drake’s new album, Scorpion, has finally arrived and I’m sure by now you’ve listened to it at least 10 times and already know which lyrics you’re going to use for your next Instagram caption. Is the album everything you hoped it would be? Does it erase the fact that Pusha T […]

8 years ago

We made it! Week 10 I’d like to thank my manager, my friends, the man upstairs… okay, perhaps I don’t need to be quite that dramatic but we’re now 10 weeks deep. Thanks for sticking with us. It’s been a busy couple of weeks and therefore there’s been a lot of music news to cram […]

8 years ago

“I look at it like this: I need it” That’s what Nile Rodgers said yesterday after I asked him whether or not the world needed new music from him and his band Chic. Speaking to him backstage at this year’s Isle of Wight Festival, on the same day Chic’s new single “Till the World Falls” […]

8 years ago

What an incredible week of music Last week I travelled out to Bergen, Norway for the city’s much lauded Bergenfest music festival. Now in its 25th year (if you include when it first started under the name OleBlues) I wan’t sure what to expect having never been there before. Was it going to be big? […]

8 years ago

Guess who’s back, the JOE Music Quiz is back I know the World Cup has started but surely you’re still here glued to the screen waiting on the JOE Music Quiz, right? Regardless on whether you are or aren’t the show must go on. The focus this week is, of course, is the Carters, JAY-Z […]

8 years ago

“Insane in the membrane” Multi-platinum Hip Hop group Cypress Hill have announced a major UK tour this coming winter, the band’s first in over two years. Announcing new album Elephants On Acid, which is due to arrive later this year, the band’s supporting tour will start off Friday November 30th at the Manchester Academy and […]

8 years ago

Did you know that antidepressant use in England doubled between the years 2003 and 2013? Yeah, me neither. But thanks to Southend indie foursome Asylums I’m a little bit wiser. Open for interpretation, the band’s new song “Millennials” is an anthem for a generation defined by a marketing demographic. Questioning  the sweeping generational generalisation that […]

8 years ago

Do you take Big Shaq to be your lawfully wedded husband? That’s right, ladies, you’re too late, you missed the boat. Big Shaq is off the market. The man being the viral hit “Man’s Not Hot” is now a husband. Giving fans a look at the wedding of the century in the video for his […]

8 years ago

You’ve got to be quick though

8 years ago

If there were ever any doubts on whether or not Guns N’ Roses still had it then these doubts were dismissed this past weekend at Download Festival Year after year Download Festival continues to prove that it really is the true home of rock and heavy metal music in the UK.  Every time I’ve been […]

8 years ago

Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! You’ll have to forgive me as I’m coming down off of a high after seeing the original Guns N’ Roses lineup in the flesh at Download Festival last night. What a moment. I thought I’d seen it all, but then I saw both “Sweet Child O’ Mine” and “November Rain” played live, right in […]

8 years ago

Back 2 Back In the early hours of this morning the Golden State Warriors were crowned NBA champions. Completing a sweep of 4-0 on the road in Cleveland, the Bay Area team coached by former Chicago Bulls guard Steve Kerr beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 108-85. This is the third title in four years for the […]

8 years ago

Kanye, what is with these seven track projects? Seriously bro, I’m asking. What is so significant about the number seven? Is it because it’s a holy number? A lucky number? Or is it just a number you picked out of a hat and hoped it would stick? Or perhaps you’re a conspiracy theorist that believes […]

8 years ago

Until last night I don’t think I’ve ever seen a beer thrown in the air at the Royal Albert Hall After all it’s a pretty swanky joint, right? So to be at a show and see multiple pint glasses full of beer thrown 20 feet in the air in the middle of a crowd in […]

8 years ago

Hip Hop fans rejoice, Lil Wayne is finally free According to court documents obtained by The Blast, the rapper’s ongoing legal battle with Baby, aka Birdman, and Cash Money Records is over. Emerging victorious in the longstanding dispute that has stopped him from releasing music since 2014, Lil Wayne is reportedly now $10 million richer and […]

8 years ago

Being in the presence of a legend can sometimes be intimidating But sitting down with Tiësto feels like that catch up with someone you haven’t seen in a long time; it’s as if the gap between now and the last time you saw each other never actually happened because of how easily the conversation flows. […]

8 years ago

Drake isn’t the only rapper from Canada with clout No, there’s been quite a few. Whether you go back to the likes of k-os, Choclair, Kardinal Offishall and Saukrates, or you look at some of the new dudes coming through like Nav, SonReal, Preme and ShaqIsDope, Canada has and always will produce some of the […]

8 years ago

R.I.P. Ol’ Dirty Bastard This coming November will mark 14 years since the passing of Ol’ Dirty Bastard, one of music’s most animated and much loved characters. To me it seems way longer than that. I can remember hearing the Wu-Tang Clan’s debut album, Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), for the first time and falling […]

8 years ago

YOU SHOULD KNOW | 003 With all my years of experience as a music journalist I didn’t think I’d ever interview an artist who’d walk two hours just to meet with me, that is until the day I met Sandro Cavazza. Choosing to pound the concrete instead of hopping in an Uber on a recent […]

8 years ago

Guess who’s back Week 7 and we’re still here, unlike various of my favourite TV shows that have all been cancelled as of late – who in their right mind would cancel Designated Survivor? Have no fear for the JOE Music Quiz will be here forever, or at least until I run out of things […]

8 years ago

Kanye West’s new album has finally arrived It’s his eighth studio album and it’s probably one of Kanye West’s most anticipated, not because of the music necessarily but because the public are hoping to get some answers from it. Does he address his recent support of Donald Trump? Does he give a reason for claiming […]

8 years ago

Kanye West last night debuted his brand new album for a select group of people in an outdoor listening session in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Think back to Kanye West’s Life Of Pablo playback at Madison Square Garden in 2016, where he combined a listening session with the launch of his Yeezy 3 fashion line. It […]

8 years ago

There are thousands of music-related books in the world that you’ve either read or at least heard of. This list isn’t about them. As a music journalist of 15 years and a music fan ever since birth I can definitely say I’ve read my fair share of music books. I’ve read the popular ones, the […]

8 years ago

Things just got interesting It’s been the talk of the town this week and things just got even more heated between Drake and Pusha T following the former Clipse rapper’s response to Aubrey’s “Duppy Freestyle”. The beef between Drake and Pusha T has been going on for years. It started off as Pusha T vs. […]

8 years ago