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Darren Howells ensured he would be the last of the CUTA team to see Little Fish in their original line up, check out what he thought…

Darren Howells braves a Cardiff nightspot where the drinks are flowing to check out the Leeds based indie-rockers

It may be twenty years since the release of their seminal album, Levelling The Land, but the majority of this relatively older crowd threw themselves (literally) around with the kind of overly excited gusto that suggested this was a more recent chart mainstay and they were a fair few years/pounds lighter as the band launched [...]

Darren Howells checks out The Go! Team’s unrelentless live showings!

Darren Howells set out to answer the question of how good Band Of Horses are live. Where better to check out the alt.Country behemoths than the “UK’s most musical city”?

A peculiar greatest hits and rarities set from a petulant to humble Damon Gough, who after ten years-plus showed he has his grouchy, slacker persona down to a tee (cosy)

With support act Suckers leaving much of the audience scratching their heads, it was wise for Yeasayer to open with the highlight from new album Odd Blood

An overly excited Josh Ritter came bounding onto the stage at Bristol’s St. George’s, and his broad smile and obvious joy became infectious over an animated and eventful set pushing 2 hours, as he played the whole of new album So Runs The World Away, as well as dipping into his back catalogue to please fans…

After years in lo-fi obscurity, Matthew Houke, a.k.a. Phosphorescent, increased his profile with a fairly dramatic shift from plaintive folk to produce a fuller sounding Willie Nelson covers album, endorsed by the country icon himself. Immersing himself in the great man’s music has clearly made an impression…

Approaching your thirties makes it difficult to relate to songs such as Growing Pains and I’m Not Your Toy, with lyrics like “this isn’t another girl meets boy,” but still, La Roux’s self-titled debut album had enough great pop to transcend the generation gap – In For The Kill, for example, a mainstay on commercial [...]