Manchester’s Matthew Halsall is a community-minded musician.  Not content to play, produce, DJ, and compose, the trumpet player also founded Gondwana Records in 2008 to promote local talent. Releasing his debut, Sending My Love, on Gondwana in 2008, he has continued to put out albums under his own name and with the Gondwana Orchestra since.  His latest project with the legendary singer Dwight Trible, entitled Inspirations, was released in 2017. The Guardian hailed the project

French native Hervé “RV” Salters works under the name General Elektriks. And work he does, as a keyboardist, singer, composer, and producer, creating his own music and working with many others in the realm of funk, hip-hop, and pop. Making San Francisco his home since 1999, he has worked with Blackalicious, Pigeon John, Femi Kuti and Mayer Hawthorne. He formed Honeycut in 2003 with singer Bart Davenport and drummer/programmer Tony Sevener, a trio with whom he has toured and r

With a moniker like Tenderlonious, you’re sure to raise some eyebrows. The London saxophonist, composer, producer, and bandleader connects his exploration of jazz with genres like electronica, hip-hop, and afrobeat to create a compelling soundscape. The frontman for Ruby Rushton, Ed Cawthorne as he is also known, is also co-founder of the indie collective, 22a Music. He recorded three albums with Ruby Rushton, Two For Joy in 2015 and Trudi's Songbook: Volumes One and Two in 2

If Iggy Pop says a band is going places, people should stop what they're doing and take notice. False Heads is that band, providing a much needed shot in the arm for real rock and roll. This trio of rockers hails from East London, and their songs are punchy, punky, and rumble around in the brain long after the last note fades. Like many English bands, these gents met at school. Luke Griffiths (guitar and vocals), Jake Elliott (bass) and Barney Nash (drums and vocals) formally

A growing phenomenon known as the “sisterhood of the saxophone” has brought attention to a new generation of female sax players. And now, a new star is emerging from the epicenter of a rebirth of the cool, the revitalized jazz scene flourishing in the UK, bandleader and composer Nubya Garcia. Growing up in a musical family, her first instrument was a violin. She also played the recorder, a woodwind many of us remember from childhood.  Garcia also tried the clarinet and the pi

English dream pop group Anteros is an eclectic ensemble known for their edgy, dream pop stylings. Vocalist Laura Hayden grew up in Barcelona with her Spanish mother and English father, started out as a DJ and MTV Spain personality. Bassist Joshua Rumble was a graphic designer. He and Hayden first got together in 2014 and released a single before adding guitar and drums to the line-up. The current band also includes Jackson Couzens on guitar and drummer Harry Balazs. The gr

Khruangbin was born in a barn. The Texas trio sounds like they should be from San Francisco, yet they first teamed up in the tiny town of Buxton, TX, jamming in a local barn. Guitarist Mark Speer met drummer Donald “DJ” Johnson while playing in a gospel band at a Houston church. Adding Laura Lee, a former math teacher, on bass, this unlikely triad created musical alchemy. With Lee’s funky basslines along with Speer’s bluesy psychedelic guitar (channeling Jorma Kaukonen) and

Barely out of high-school, Lindsey Jordan has already released her first album. Lush, under her stage name Snail Mail, is Jordan's debut. The singer/songwriter/guitarist first unleashed her songs on the EP Sticki in 2015. After a short tour in 2016, another EP followed. Habit, on Sister Polygon Records, got the attention of Pitchfork, which added the opener "Thinning" to its Best New Track series, as well as Matador Records which signed her in the fall of 2017. Another tou

South London born and bred, Jamie Issac is among a new breed of crooners in the UK. Melding jazz beats with ambient soul, he crafts songs with tuneful electronics, a bit of R&B, and smooth vocals. A classically trained vocalist and former choirboy, he honed his craft until he got a deal with Marathon Artists, a London-based indie label. In 2013, he unleashed I Will Be Cold Soon, the first of two EPs. Blue Break followed in 2014. Joining the many indie artists who have taken