Julie Campbell, who operates as Lonelady, hails from Manchester. You can certainly hear it in her music, which references the northern post-punk sound that birthed a Certain Ratio and Joy Division. Yet Lonelady’s second album Hinterland is far more than just a retread of her home city’s past. Campbell adds 80s pop melodies to the mix on Groove It Out, and a striking cello line runs through the title track. The various influences take what could have been a series of stark sonic landscapes and transform them into vibrant, danceable creations.It’s already one of our favourite albums of 2015. Have a listen, and let us know your thoughts.
Willie Nile's style has never been monochromatic, either as a songwriter or a performer, but over the course of a recording career that was launched in 1980, two things have been consistent – the guy clearly loves rock & roll, and he sure likes guitars (Nile even released an album called House of a Thousand Guitars). So was anyone out there expecting Nile to make an entire album of contemplative, midtempo acoustic numbers built around the guy playing piano? In many respects, If I Were a River upends the average fan's expectations about a Willie Nile album (especially after 2013's decisively rockin' American Ride), although the dramatic force of Nile's songwriting and the passion of his vocals should be more than familiar to anyone who has been listening to his music over the years
Level 10 is a new Trans-Atlantic Metallic alliance between powerhouse vocalist Russell Allen (Symphony X, Adrenaline Mob) and the charismatic bassist/producer/writer Mat Sinner, one of the real flags of German Heavy Metal music.