strand

Five years after their first release, the band returns with More Time More Speed, a beautifully evocative album that explores the concept of time with warmth and subtle ambition.

Photo by Jonny Nolan Before Black Country, New Road became one of the most distinctive and unpredictable bands to emerge from the South London scene, drummer Charlie Wayne was a Classics student at King’s College London, spending his evenings playing shows and his days immersed in ancient texts. It’s a split life that makes surprising sense for someone whose musical instincts were born long before university: as an eleven-year-old sneaking every lunch break to the school drum

Photo Courtesy of Universal Music Group Lily Lyons has always lived between places. As a teenager, she spent eight-hour drives shuttling between London and Somerset, tracing the stretch of motorway. Those journeys became her earliest classrooms. In the backseat, headphones on, she absorbed the softness of Simon and Garfunkel, Nick Drake, Nora Jones, and Joni Mitchell, finding in their tenderness a version of herself that didn’t yet have space in her day-to-day world. Since r

Image by Pearl Murphy courtesy of French Press PR The Grace, long one of my favourite London venues, carried a familiar sense of anticipation that only an intimate venue of its kind can summon, where every note and movement is entirely magnified by proximity. Located in Islington, the iconic music venue has been celebrated for hosting the city’s greatest emerging talents as they find their footing; its past guests only underline the venue’s well-deserved reputation, with arti

Ben Parkin comes to techno from a rather unique position. Despite only being 21, his musical background has influenced him from the get-go; using this to understand conventional genres whilst creating something distinctively his.

The Life of a Showgirl provokes a debate rooted in the emergence of reboot culture and “nostalgia baiting” – two villains against authenticity, serving instead as a magnifying glass on the industry’s dependence on marketing and repetition.

For over half a century, Channel One Sound System has carried the fire of the Caribbean sound system movement: reviving dub and reggae whilst passing the culture's communal spirit onto new generations.

Photo by Steve Gullick courtesy of After Hours PR My Thursday evening during reading week was not spent reading, but rather spent following The Wytches around on the final night of their UK tour at The Dome . As this was my first interview with Strand’s Music column and the Northern line was predictably unpredictable, my solo journey to Tufnell Park was undeniably chaotic. Between frantic texts to co-editor Mahak about my ETA, I received a casual message from the band’s mana

A conversation with Isis (guitar/vocals) and Jonty (bass) from British Indie band 'Lemondaze'

Carol Wheeler by Normski Before the bright lights of television and the desks of London’s underground parties, Normski was already capturing culture in motion. Born Norman Anderson and raised in a Jamaican household in North London, he built his first darkroom at twelve years old, teaching himself to develop film before most kids his age had even picked up a camera. Music and photography became his parallel callings. From early days at the London Rock Shop in Chalk Farm to be