It’s hard to believe now, but Mike Skinner never intended to rap over the beats he was producing in his bedroom studio. It was due to a need for creative clarity that the Birmingham raised musician ...

“Neil’s a strange energy. He brings a darker edge and a more realistic edge to our music…It did fit, though. Déjà Vu is a pretty fun album.” – Graham Nash, Music Radar There was a time when an ...

It’s a safe bet to assume you haven’t heard many albums that weave robots, kung-fu and a young Japanese woman into their central theme. To be frank, it’s a concept that just shouldn’t work. But in the ...

Radiohead’s second album The Bends was released on the 13th March, thirty years ago. It is generally considered to show the remarkable evolution of their sound, which soon made them one of the most ...

As the 1980s drew to a close, hip hop had reached a pivotal moment. Whilst a potential for empowerment in mainstream rap had so far remained largely un-tapped, in favour of escapist music built for ...

How Jeff Mangum became inspired by Anne Frank's 'Diary of a Young Girl' and turned it into a modern classic. Brownswood head honcho Gilles Peterson digs deep into the cosmos and shares his Top Five ...

This revelation was frustrated by the intractability of Joyce’s estate, which repeatedly refused Bush permission to use the words as her lyrics on ‘The Sensual World’. She was forced to rebuild from ...

This week’s episode of Behind The Counter season 7 features Roan Records in Teddington. “While I was in Australia, I came across a record shop – a small shop with a coffee bar. I was like, maybe ...

Life in Queensbridge, NY, was always going to be the beating heart of Illmatic. Although still in his late teens, Nas had already experienced more than his fair share of traumatic, life-changing ...

In this interview, Classic Album Sundays founder Colleen ‘Cosmo’ Murphy will be joined by Incognito band leader Jean-Paul ‘Bluey’ Maunick to celebrate the 30 th anniversary of 100° and Rising. The ...

Van Morrison’s Astral Weeks stands as an ethereal masterpiece that transcends the boundaries of traditional music. Released in 1968, this seminal album takes listeners on a transformative journey ...

CAS founder Colleen ‘Cosmo’ Murphy and British indie-dance trio Saint Etienne explore their debut album ‘Foxbase Alpha’ in this podcast in an interview recorded at a Classic Album Sundays event at The ...