Clash Magazine

Welcome to Clash, a music and fashion magazine based in the United Kingdom. The latest news and tickets in the music industry.

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Featured Writers

James Kilpin

Content Manager, Copywriter, B2C/B2B Marketer and occasional music journalist, mainly exploring the world of live events and festivals.

Gemma Cockrell

Cal Cashin

UK-based music critic and historian, exploring weird and beautiful guitar music.

Derek Robertson

Freelance writer and editor: Guardian, Independent, NME, VICE, Timeout, The Quietus, The Face

Darren Loucaides

Writer in Barcelona/London. WIRED, Financial Times, the Guardian, Slate

Julian Roberts-Grmela

I'm a freelance journalist based in New York City. My reporting has been published in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Chronicle of Higher Education, City & …

Latest Articles

Live Report: Dua Lipa - Wembley Stadium, London

Dua Lipa’s sold-out Saturday night show at Wembley Stadium wasn’t just a concert; it was a coronation. Ten years on from her first London show, the Radical Optimism world tour arrived at the UK’s biggest venue with a bang (and several dozen fireworks), cementing her status as a bona fide …

By Aimee Phillips
23rd June 2025 • Clash Magazine

Next Wave #1133: PUNCHBAG | Next Wave | Clash Magazine Music News, Reviews & Interviews

If your current music cycle is feeling a little beige, PUNCHBAG are the perfect remedy to shake things up. The South London sibling duo are made up of Clara Bach and her brother Anders. Their fluorescent brand of energetic pop is infectious. Pair this with their pertinent lyrical focus on …

By Jamie Wilde
9th May 2025 • Clash Magazine

Cloth - Pink Silence | Reviews | Clash Magazine Music News, Reviews & Interviews

There aren’t many bands like Cloth. The Glasgow duo – made up of twin siblings Rachael and Paul Swinton – have a knack for being simultaneously dynamic and intimate. Soft vocals, gritty guitars and abstract rhythms pepper across their previous 2023 album ‘Secret Measure’, released on Mogwai’s Rock Action label, …

By Jamie Wilde
25th April 2025 • Clash Magazine

"I Just Needed To Live My Purpose" Emma-Jean Thackray Interviewed | Features | Clash Magazine Music News, Reviews & Interviews

Few modern figures in UK jazz can compare their rise in stature to that of Emma-Jean Thackray. Her individualistic versatility sprawled across her 2021 debut album ‘Yellow’. Its widespread critical acclaim came as no surprise, with appearances on the likes of Later… With Jools Holland soon following and her position …

By Jamie Wilde
24th April 2025 • Clash Magazine

Live Report: Rose Gray - Colour Factory, London | Live | Clash Magazine Music News, Reviews & Interviews

There’s something about a packed-out, school-night club gig that makes a pop star in the making feel inevitable. Rose Gray’s sold-out headline show at Colour Factory last night – a sweaty oasis in the otherwise desolate intersection of Hackney and Stratford – was just that. Held upstairs but carrying a …

By Aimee Phillips
21st March 2025 • Clash Magazine

Divorce - Drive To Goldenhammer | Reviews | Clash Magazine Music News, Reviews & Interviews

Divorce are defying the conventions of what a band can be. Their innate balance of humour and heart-on-sleeve sentiment is magnetic. A sense of otherness in their binary-less band environment provides the beat to their diverse heart. Most importantly, their songs are sensational, and their debut album ‘Drive To Goldenhammer’ …

By Jamie Wilde
6th March 2025 • Clash Magazine

Next Wave #1210: Varas | Next Wave | Clash Magazine Music News, Reviews & Interviews

When it comes to music and fashion, cycles of what’s come before tend to repeat themselves, but with a newer, modern edge. With his latest EP ‘Eaten by Worms’, Swedish alt-pop artist Varas is bringing back the effortless cool of the late 90s / early 00s. Think of the dark …

By Jamie Wilde
21st February 2025 • Clash Magazine

No Full Stops, Just Semicolons: Biig Piig Interviewed

At its core, ’11:11′ is about time—how it moves, how it stills, and how time is a necessity to let the music breathe. And while Biig Piig describes the album as a moment of self-discovery, its release is not an endpoint but a new beginning—not a full stop but a …

By Aimee Phillips
10th February 2025 • Clash Magazine

Audio Inception: 25 Artists Who Could Define 2025

With big labels, DSPs and an unregulated internet monopolizing audiences and splintering attention spans, it’s harder for emerging musicians to delineate their own space and make an impact. More than ever before, tastemaker lists feel essential; a considered, curated selection of artists, bands and collectives pushing genre conventions into thrilling …

By Gemma Cockrell
30th January 2025 • Clash Magazine

Rose Gray - Louder, Please | Review

Rose Gray’s sweaty, euphoric dance floor record, ‘Louder, Please’, is a 12-track homage to dance music and club culture, filled with hedonistic tales of all-in nights out, love lost, and love found.

By Aimee Phillips
15th January 2025 • Clash Magazine

TSHA: CLASH 129 | 20th Anniversary Edition

TSHA’s album 'Sad Girl' captures the complexities of the human experience; that pain and joy can coexist, that they are both important in shaping who we are, proving that evolution—both personal and musical—comes from embracing it all.

By Aimee Phillips
13th January 2025 • Clash Magazine

Ela Minus - DÍA | Reviews | Clash Magazine Music News, Reviews & Interviews

Opening up is never easy – especially for artists. But more often than not, those who have the capacity to scrutinise and share their most personal facets, are those who resonate with listeners on a level of authenticity that matters most. Colombian singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer, Ela Minus, reckons …

By Jamie Wilde
13th January 2025 • Clash Magazine

Next Wave #1197: CATTY

“Did I just really wish that my ex couldn’t go to see her favourite artist because I was the support act? Yes. Yes I did.” In the aftermath of an EP-inspiring breakup, rather than go to the gym (“I wish it was, but it could never be me”), London-via-Caernarfon singer …

By Caitlin Chatterton
12th November 2024 • Clash Magazine

Halsey - The Great Impersonator

Throughout their career, Halsey has been lots of different things to different people. She was the blue-haired 19-year-old singing about her Brooklyn boyfriend and lilac skies (‘Badlands’); the 23-year-old offering an elaborately stylised ‘Romeo and Juliet’ concept album (‘Hopeless Fountain Kingdom’); the 25-year-old navigating the blurring lines between Halsey, the …

By Caitlin Chatterton
24th October 2024 • Clash Magazine

Live Report: Sŵn Festival 2024

Each year, as the leaves turn to amber and rust, and your whimsical light-weather jacket puts in its final shifts before Big Coat season, Cardiff is transformed into a metropolis of music’s up, coming, and already mighty acts from far and wide. Across three days and nine stages, artists from …

By Caitlin Chatterton
21st October 2024 • Clash Magazine

Charli xcx – brat and it’s completely different but also still brat

Charli xcx’s sixth studio album hit 2024 like a runaway train. It was supposed to remain a cult classic: 2022’s ‘Crash’ was Charli’s extravagant bid for the mainstream; ‘brat’ was a return to the club. The now-iconic chartreuse cover was even a budget-conscious decision, made on the assumption that few …

By Caitlin Chatterton
11th October 2024 • Clash Magazine

Son Estrella Galicia Spotlights New Music At Paper Dress Vintage | Live | Clash Magazine Music News, Reviews & Interviews

Son Estrella Galicia’s showcases have been abundant of late – and for good reason. They’re not just about great food, music and (of course) beers, their ethos spreads much wider; focussing on what it is that brings people together through music...

By Jamie Wilde
16th September 2024 • Clash Magazine

Next Wave #1192: Murdo Mitchell | Next Wave | Clash Magazine Music News, Reviews & Interviews

Cutting your teeth as a new artist is far from easy. Glaswegian singer songwriter Murdo Mitchell is certainly aware of this. An endearingly honest musician, his home city’s burgeoning troubadour scene has been something of a phenomenon of late, spawning the likes of Scottish superstar Gerry Cinnamon and more recently …

By Jamie Wilde
16th September 2024 • Clash Magazine

The Dare - What's Wrong With New York? | Review

A ‘Party Rock Anthem’ record for the Indie Sleaze renaissance, The Dare’s hedonistic and uninhibited debut album, ‘What’s Wrong With New York?’ wears an unapologetic attitude towards desire and penchant for feral behaviour.

By Aimee Phillips
5th September 2024 • Clash Magazine

Mal Not Bad – This Is Your Life | Reviews | Clash Magazine Music News, Reviews & Interviews

Mal Not Bad (aka Theodora Mallory Fleming-Hauser) is an endearing artist in all true senses of the word. They may seem relatively low-key, but that makes discovering Mal’s music all the better...

By Jamie Wilde
13th August 2024 • Clash Magazine

Next Wave #1179: NATI. | Next Wave

Scotland may be relatively small, but its five-and-a-half million inhabitants sure know how to use their voice. From the inimitable rasp of Paolo Nutini to the chart-topping melodies of Lewis Capaldi – or even those twin brothers from Leith who havered about walking 500 miles – Scottish artists have some …

By Jamie Wilde
16th July 2024 • Clash Magazine

Camille Jansen – The Loose Screws | Reviews | Clash Magazine Music News, Reviews & Interviews

Being a distinct artist is becoming harder than ever among today’s saturated pool of musicians. But French-British artist Camille Jansen knows a thing or two about standing out. With Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen soundtracking the road trips of her youth, her innate blend of folk, country, and experimental rock …

By Jamie Wilde
4th July 2024 • Clash Magazine

Margo Raats | Next Wave

Margo Raats strives for profound connection. For the past two years, the alt-pop singer-songwriter has been working hard on her debut EP, ‘Paper Paradise,’ unwaveringly dedicated to building her own universe, all while studying and working several jobs to make ends meet. Having moved from a ranch in the Belgian …

By Aimee Phillips
25th June 2024 • Clash Magazine

Hermanos Gutiérrez – Sonido Cosmico | Reviews

Instrumental music always invites the listener to engage in acts of imagination. With guitar-slinging duo Hermanos Gutiérrez, the canvas teems with possibilities...

By Jamie Wilde
18th June 2024 • Clash Magazine

Martha Skye Murphy - Um | Reviews | Clash Magazine Music News, Reviews & Interviews

The soft caress of the breeze, delicate whispers in your ear, ‘Um’, the debut of Martha Skye Murphy is pop music by way of a collage of the tender, soft, fleeting sounds that make up the human experience. Regularly, her soaring voice entwines with lilting, wafting ambient pop to make …

By Cal Cashin
14th June 2024 • Clash Magazine

Next Wave #1172: Pem | Next Wave

Turning life’s dark moments into cherishable art is one of music’s most powerful qualities. Bristol-based singer-songwriter Pem is acutely aware of this. Her new project ‘Cloud Work’ teems with the pain she experienced after the passing of her father last year. The depth of vulnerability she showcases on the EP …

By Jamie Wilde
5th June 2024 • Clash Magazine

Oto Sound Museum Offers Something Unique | Live | Clash Magazine Music News, Reviews & Interviews

Always have I lived my life romantically in pursuit of novel, brave and beautiful art. Sound, cinema, etc, etc. It’s why I, and surely everyone else, get outta bed every morning, what makes things worthwhile. This weekend, this pursuit brings me kicking and screaming to Zürich, an utterly charming city …

By Cal Cashin
28th May 2024 • Clash Magazine

Live Report: Jalen Ngonda - KOKO, London | Live

It’s rare to find a modern artist who embodies all of the talent and soul of the legends who came before them. Jalen Ngonda belongs in this rare breed. From the raspy howls of Marvin Gaye to the tender melodies of Al Green, Ngonda’s voice is extraordinary. His debut album …

By Jamie Wilde
23rd May 2024 • Clash Magazine

Shellac - To All Trains | Reviews | Clash Magazine Music News, Reviews & Interviews

‘To All Trains’ is the swansong of Steve Albini: The Musician, the final word on the muscular, misanthropic brand of rock music that he purveyed for so long. The fact that Shellac remained – and it pains me to use the past tense – such an incredible force for thirty …

By Cal Cashin
20th May 2024 • Clash Magazine

Ghostly Kisses – Darkroom | Reviews

Without sounding too esoteric, when you think about it, music is all about bringing people together. It’s easy to forget this sometimes, whilst we’re living amidst the most saturated time in music making history; the points of connection closer than ever, yet somehow feeling ever further apart. But when projects …

By Jamie Wilde
15th May 2024 • Clash Magazine