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In 2018, there was one album I’d been waiting for: Anderson .Paak’s Oxnard. Dre was producing, “Tints” had the funky verve I’d been praying for. His live performance on SNL exuded polished and restrained swagger. Clearly he was someone who knew they were about to serve a rare and bloody steak to a blindfolded lion. […]
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Lacuna Common, alongside contemporaries Self Help and the Easter Island Statues, find themselves at the vanguard of a flourishing Oxford scene that has been rather busy of late producing punchy, lyrical and upbeat guitar music. Having recently received attention on the back of their new single ‘Lack of Knowledge’ – a gritty 3-minute slice of […]
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Image credit: Connor Thirlwell. Description: Hinds at the Bullingdon. I’m embarrassed by the number of times people have remarked that my oxblood DMs look new. Clean boots are no claim for pride. This is my belief. The more worn, torn yet crucially intact the footwear, the more authority and experience you will exude, and the […]
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Image credit: Jockstrap. Of all the new releases this year, only one band has really stood out for me: Jockstrap. This London-based duo sit somewhere between Stereolab and SOPHIE in musical style, the songs a fusion of Bossa Nova, 1930s Disney-esque orchestra, and coarse electronica. This is what makes them so refreshing; finally we have […]
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Images courtesy of Sports Team/Nice Swan Records/Holm Front Records. Description: indie sextet Sports Team, posing. By the time I meet up with Sports Team at the Cowley Retreat ahead of their last support slot on tour with the Magic Gang, they have only been professional musicians for two months. That these bunch of Cambridge graduates […]
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Image credit: Connor Thirlwell. Description: Cirkus on George Street. Picture the scene… you’ve spent the whole day in the library, you’re sick of writing notes on spiders’ sexual behaviour, your eyelids are drooping, then somebody suggests to you: “Burning Down the House? Cirkus?” So, reluctantly, you are persuaded to down a double vodka cranberry and […]
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Image credit:Canvasback. Description: album cover of REDUXER. Hmmmmm. It’s like drugged-up sex with a condom on. This isn’t to say that your drug of choice won’t add to the experience, only the high isn’t a compensation for the loss of sensation your £1 insurance policy provides. This is how I feel about alt-J’s Reduxer, the […]
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Image Credit: Fiona Lin. Description: Superorganism live in performance. Why is Oxford always the end of the road? The Magic Gang finished their tour here earlier this month. IDLES played their last UK date here last night before Superorganism concluded their own touring stint at this wondrous city of the dry-heaving spires. The boring answer […]
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Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra Mary Bevan – soprano David Stout – baritone Rowan Atkinson – narrator The Choir of The Queen’s College Owen Rees – conductor Image credit: PublicDomainPictures Attendees of the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra’s Remembrance Day concert were treated to a thoughtfully crafted and magnificently performed programme to mark the centenary of the First World […]
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Image credit: Paul Hudson. Description: Public Service Broadcasting in performance. For those of us still reeling from Every Valley, getting news of Public Service Broadcasting’s new EP was like a punch in the face from the muse herself. White Star Liner is PSB’s second EP and tackles the Titanic, both semi-literally and metaphorically. It’s undeniable […]
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Featuring: Boy Azooga, Self Help, The Lovely Eggs, Gently Tender, Husky Loops, Nadine Shah, Cassels, Ghost Poet, LICE, Gaz Coombes All photos by Connor Thirlwell, unless otherwise stated. Featured photo: Gaz Coombes in performance For the second year now, a clutch of the UKs brightest alternative rock acts invaded Oxford’s Cowley Road in a host […]
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Image credit: Black Peaks/Rise Records. Description: album cover of ‘All That Divides’. Black Peaks’ first album Statues, released in 2016, was one of the best debuts in rock music for at least a decade. Songs including Glass Built Castles and Saviour brought an explosive energy that, paired together with the band’s talented technical ability, made […]
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Image credit: Alexander Kellner. Description: Tom Grennan in performance. Finally. There’s some autumnal chill in the air, and that weird mildness has gone. I only fully appreciate this once my glasses steam up instantly upon entry to a packed O2 Academy that’s brewing in body heat. This show has been sold out for months. Tom […]
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Image credit: Paul Hudson. Description: B from Superorganism performing live on microphone. Ahead of their headline show at the O2 Academy Oxford at the end of the month, we catch up with B from Superorganism on the phone to discuss technology, band politics and performing live. “There’s something so affecting in the reflections on my […]
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Image credit: Bill Ebbeson. Description: Damon Albarn performing in 2010. Japanese culture considers it rude for someone to greet the day’s weather with impractical choices of clothing. Who knows if Damon Albarn is comfortable offensively sweating it out in a long-sleeve omelette yellow sweater and jeans on a sluggish, sultry evening in the Tuscan city […]
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It’s not like I was blown away or anything. It wasn’t as if my sense of self was uproariously dismantled and reformed by the hollering beauty of guitars and drums raining down from the heavens. You know, those ol’ “that gig changed my life” cliches. It’s just that The Magic Gang are good. Very good. […]
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Freshers’ week is a whirlwind of new experiences (some to be remembered forever, others perhaps forgotten as quickly as possible), so to help you break into the noise of ‘societies to sign up to’, places to be, things to do, the OxStu have put together a short run-down of just a few of the many […]
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“So, you have one section of the farm there, one section of the farm there, one here and one here and one here…and then there’s ropes that are over-hanging on the water that are buoyed down and they go on forever…bangbangbangbangbang…” The Australian-born Ruby Boots has just finished her set at the Oxford O2 Academy […]
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Featuring: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Queens of the Stone Age, Jack White, Gorillaz, The Killers, Arctic Monkeys, The Vaccines, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, Courteeners, The Script, The Kooks Flight Facilities, David Byrne We say we go to festivals for the acts. (‘The line-up looks sick, honestly mate. Noel’s there. Got any papers?’) […]
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