Niall Logue

London-based singer-songwriter Niall Logue embarked on a solo career in 2025. Logue used to front the criminally underrated Lacuna Bloome in the ‘10s and lit up shows for us at the New Cross Inn and This Feeling at Nambucca.

image credit: Scot Hall

He has been working closely with Bess Atwell producer Michael Smith on his upcoming debut album ‘The Oh So Sonic Sound-Wave’.

Let’s see what he has been up to:

 From the Heart

Older and wiser, Logue professes “I don’t wanna turn back time” but his ability to turn a paisley guitar groove remains prominent.

Reflective, melancholic, and with the woozy spoken word of James Yorkston now infiltrating his songwriting, Logue’s new sound pulls from a much richer tapestry.

Out of Hand

Church organs lend this melody a joyous, soaringly righteous sonic. Logue serves up twists and turns a galore on this elegant moonlit slice of majesty.

Peace of Mind

Big in heart like Embrace but with the introspective precision of Andy Bell and the thoughtful nodes of Low.

Bendricks

Bendricks are a four-piece from Barry in Wales. They’re made up of Mitch Griggs (lead singer / rhythm guitar), Dom Griggs (lead guitar / backing vocals), Rhys Greening (bass), and Aaron Abraham (drums).

Formed just over a year ago, Bendricks began as a spark of inspiration from lead singer Mitch, whose passion for songwriting led him to recruit close friends. Greening was instructed to join the band and ask for a bass for Christmas despite having zero experience. It wasn’t until Mitch’s brother joined on lead guitar that band was fully realised. Now, where have we heard that dynamic before?

Let’s see what they have been up to:

Listerine

The early playfulness of Blur is injected with aggression on this firesome single. Hints of early Kasabian ooze through Mitch’s vocal whist Greening’s basslines groove to a place between the recent wave of post-punk and early 00s US indie.

Missile Talk

Mitch Griggs’ vocal cadence has found its feet here. From the poetic to the spiteful, Griggs wraps his distinct delivery around his brothers’ guitars with a unique guile.

Brother Dom’s skill set has also expanded. His solo on ‘Listerine’ was raw; now, it's intensely divine!

Laughter

Laughter are a five-piece from London. They’re made up of Frank (guitar), Lou (guitar), Mai (vocals), Marky (bass), Roddy (drums).

The band began when Frank and Lou started experimenting with Ableton, creating beats before transitioning into rock music and eventually forming the band.

Let’s see what we’ve been up to:

The Wheel

MBV meets Tame Impala on this mesmerising slice of shoegaze. Everytime they threaten to spin off into MBV’s crushing fog, Kevin Parker’s influence drags toward the light with Mai’s eloquent vocals.

The guitars from Lou and Frank in the closing stages bring the best of Black Keys to the equation, giving their rock-cum-shoegaze the magic ingredient.

Group Bonding

The leather-clad rebellion of BRMC locks horns the distorted visions of Working Mens Club as shades of light and dark collide.

Mai’s vocal seeps into the soul with the restorative and life-affirming charm of Miki Berenyi. Effortlessly graceful!

Slumber

Slumber is a band based in East London. Alex (also known as Standish – vocals), Luke Whorriskey (guitar), Isabella Eggen (synths), Bailey Heslop (guitars), Pip Russon (bass), and Sam Meredith (drums) met after attending gigs and realised their shared sense of isolation and unique optimism could lead to better things.  

*image courtesy of the band

Let’s see what they have been up to:

Days Like These

What Wunderhorse started, Slumber look set to catapult further. Graceful pop instincts, chaotic dirge-ridden guitars and teenage angst lyrics catch fire on this divine outsider anthem.

1993

Whorriskey, Heslop, and Egan serve up distorted guitars and warped keys, allowing Alex’s Tony Wright-esque (Terrorvision) vocal to give them their most radio-friendly single to date.

Julian Casablancas (I Wanna Rock a Pair Like)

A joyous ode to a time when bands rocked skinny jeans and converse with a fag in one hand and a red strip in the other!

Their lo-fi garage-cum-indie rock has the carefree abandon that can only come from youth and tight friendships. Loose, knowing, and freeing, they seem to be on to a sure thing!

The Sophs

The Sophs are a six-piece from LA made up of Ethan Ramon (vocals), Sam Yuh (keyboards), Austin Parker Jones (electric guitar), Seth Smades (acoustic guitar), Devin Russ (drums), and Cole Bobbitt (bass).

They recently signed to Rough Trade Records, having been personally courted by Geoff Travis himself.

*banner image credit: Eric Daniels

Let’s see what they have been up to:

Sweat

The lo-fi indie of Grandaddy and Electric Soft Parade’s debut ‘Holes in the Wall’ trips along, joyously aimlessly, until the explosive rage-fuelled climax.

Death in the Family

Tinged with EMO and Grunge, they lean into the melodic howls of Weezer. Parker-Jones’ guitars shed the lyrical pain with almost euphoric blasts.

For The First Time

Their most urgent song. The guitars flitter from the innocence of The Libertines to the wayward souls of Pavement, but it is frontman Ramon’s vocals that steal the show. Bedding in between Hull’s Matt Edible and Seafood’s David Line. His raw but poetic delivery strikes a powerful coming of age tone with which to legions of fans will soon go into battle for!

 Click the image to buy the hit debut novel from Wrestletalk’s Oli Davis.

Lydons

Lydons formed in Midlands in 2023 and consist of Finlee, Liam, Dyan, Joshua, and Sonny.

They’ve been championed by John Kennedy and members of Wunderhorse, and were recently supported by Pastel in Birmingham.

Let’s check out the debut single produced by the legendary Gavin Monaghan (The Twang / MOSES / Rosa Caelum) at the Magic Garden Studio in Wolverhampton.

Tongue

A guttural beast of a single! The brutal vocals range from gut-wrenching howls to intense spoken words; both are blessed with the essence of ‘4 Real’ that most bands profess but lack.

The gothic tinges of the guitar lines cut through the angst-ridden fog with an adroitness of touch that’s way beyond their fledgling status.

Masi Masi

Masi Masi is a Bradford-based solo artist. On his latest single ‘The Rain’, he was joined by James Kirk on drums and Adrian Padilla on guitars and producer duties.

*image courtesy of CDP Radio PR

Last month, he took the Isle of Wight Festival by storm on the This Feeling stage and is set to do the same at this month's Beat-Herder Festival.

Let’s see what he has been up to:

The Rain

Brooding with attitude, they take indie classicism down a warped path fraught with danger and eerie encounters.

She’s Trouble

Lo-fi but luscious. introspective but welcoming. The dual vocals intertwining themselves as one with the ease of the first throes of falling in love with the the one.

Marketplace

Marketplace are a five-piece band from Hartlepool. They’re made up of Evie Rhodes (vocals/guitar), Joel O’Beirne (vocals/bass), Jack Purcell (guitar), Matthew Short (synth/vocals), and Ross Dixon (drums).

*Photo Credit Rob Irish

In May, they completed a UK tour which included The Great Escape festival and in July, they made their way to Y Not Festival.

Let’s see what they have been up to:,

Gooey Eyes

The lush sun-kissed indie joy of Camera Obscura is given an injection of urgency to conjure a sound worthy of everyone's attention this summer!

Ethereal guitars chime alongside Rhodes’ heart-crushing vocals to announce Marketplace as indie-pop's next stars.

Contact Sports

Taken from the same EP as ‘Gooey Sports’, this offering soars like Desperate Journalist and tumbles like Fightmilk, but instead of punk and gothic-tinged guitars, they use joyous pop.

Standard Sound Project

The former Institute's frontman and melody maker, Reid Currie, is back with his new band Standard Sound Project. The band are based in Coventry and consists of Reid (vocals & guitar), Ryan (guitars), Danny (bass), and Ben (drums).

*banner image courtesy of the band

They’ve supported The Rifles and Marseille in their short time together, so let's check them out:

Demon Mind

As urgent a guitar record as you’ll hear in 2025. Reid Currie’s vocals are blessed with great drama; he allows the weight of the world to come crashing down before his and Ryan’s guitars begin to fight back.

The solo, a mammoth release of emotion, pulls from the forlorn intoxication of War on Drugs and the ecstatic defiance of All The Young.

Forever Now

Their debut single was a natural bridge from Currie’s work with The Institutes. Big breezy vocals search for euphoria whilst the guitars kiss the sun. Tinges of Blossoms’ pop sensibilities infiltrate their expansive sound, providing a joyous clash of styles.

An Gof

An Gof are a four-piece from the Cornish town of Penzance. They’re made up of Jamie (drums), Rave (bass), Joe (guitar/words), and Jack (words/guitar).

*image credit: Iris Tanner

With punk's DIY ethos coursing through their veins, this band boasts, without question, the best Spotify bio out there.

Let’s see what they have been up to:

Heath/Cliff

The thudding basslines and stomping drums of Soft Play’s (Slaves) are contrasted with the melodic howls of Shame’s debut album. Playful yet bullish, punk blends with rock ‘n’ roll, as An Gof obliterate two seemingly separate scenes into one, theirs!

Hello, World!

Crying the Neck

The purity of Mick Jones’ Carbon/Silicon oozes from this stripped-back opening before they launch into a riotous affray. The haunting backing vocals signal a band yearning to be more than just another post-punk band. There’s a sense of destiny to An Gof’s musicality. The kind that knows it belongs on main stages.

Acetate

Acetate are a four-piece band from Leeds. They’re made up of Ryan Megson (vocals & lyrics), Oscar Bigger (guitars), Ethan Faulkner (bass), and Luke Burgess (drums).

*image credit: Char Bartle

Last week they released their new single ‘Know Best’ and b-side ‘Mine For The Take’, let’s check them out:

Known Best

A furious blast of raw uncompromising indie-punk indebted to power of the Arctic Monkeys debut album. ‘I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor’ may loom large, it's Faulkner’s crunching basslines and Megson’s ability to take his vocal from venomous to wayward in a couplet that leaves the lasting impression.

Mine For The Take

A defiant struggle to break free from melancholy to euphoria. Megson’s vocal lands between Hutch Harris (The Thermals) and Jamie Boyle (The K’s) and carries you from the dark to light with a deftness way beyond his years.

Formal Sppeedwear

Formal Sppeedwear are a three-piece hailing from Stoke-on-Trent. They consist of Beck Clewlow (bass, vocals, & synthesisers), Charlie Ball (guitar & synthesisers), and Connor Wells (Drums, guitar, & synthesisers).

*image credit: Jacob Sweetmore. Courtesy of Melodic Records.

Let’s see what they have been up to:

A Dismount

The glory days of Yeasayer and Little Comets reimagined through the warped prism of Gary Numan.

Awkward and awry, but like MGMT, they make it cool af and something the mainstream is going yearn to be a part of sooner rather than later!

Bunto

Slick basslines build the foundation for Clewlow to unfurl a divine David Byrne-esque vocal. Meanwhile, Ball and Wells drums have a bowed muscularity, which makes Mick Ronson sound like he was in Devo.

The Good Water

The Good Water are a three-piece 60s tinged psyche band from the Midlands made up of Rob Clements (lead vocals/guitar) Tom Fisher (vocals/ drums) Stuart Webb (vocals/keyboards).

*banner image credit: Emma Jones

They released ‘Set It On Fire’ and ‘Firmament’ in 2024, let’s see why 6music icon Steve Lamacq has been championing them:

Set It On Fire

Clements vocals strike a chord with the melodic psychedelia of James Skelly of The Coral and the robust defiance of Tom Meighan circa ‘Empire’ and ‘West Pauper Lunatic Asylum’. His delivery.

The heavy fog of the Kasabian era and the charm of The Pretty Things swell with a potency that Clements’ devil blows away, sent solo. The bluesy licks preceding walk a tightrope straight into a Black Keys themed hell.

Firmament

Janes Addiction’s confrontation and Hendrix’s flair ooze from Clements alongside Webb’s spellbinding ode to Ray Manzarek conjure a startling foray into psychedelia in 2024.

Muscular, abrasive, and dripping with machismo are not words all male bands have longed for in recent years. However, through their sprawling exploration it’s impossible not to yearn for rock stars clouded in smoke once again.

Sunwheel

Sunwheel are a five-piece made up of Mark Gould (vocals & percussion), Bobby Manners (lead guitar & backing vocals), Andy Richardson (guitar & backing vocals), Matt Shaw (bass guitar), and John Middleton (drums & Percussion).

*image courtesy of the band.

Although not new as such, they were initially formed in the 1990s, the band went on hiatus and after twenty-four years, returned last summer.

Let’s see what they have been up to:

Ocean Dust

If Thousand Yard Stare were to be fronted by Miles Hunt, then this folk-tinged spirally psychedelic beauty would be its sumptuous offspring.

Subtle psyche and hints of grebo soar with integrity and tumble with infectious delight.

Northern Lights

The enriching innocence of The Real People’s early days links arms with The Wonder Stuff’s carefree abandon to reimagine the heady days of ‘88 to ‘92 for the modern world.

Casino Club

The Casino Club is a four-piece band from Wigan, comprising Marcus Grimshaw (vocals, rhythm guitar), Alex Porter (lead guitar), Mike Grimshaw (bass), and Stee Grimshaw (drums).

*banner image credit: Jen Cliff-Wilcock (@lens_of_a_wool).

To date, they have recorded with Gareth Nuttall (The K’s / The Rolling People / Rolla) and played the Y Not and Isle of Wight festivals. Let’s see why:

Begging You

Porter’s guitars are so desperate to escape, it's enough to make you quit the day job and give him a lift!

Marcus Grimshaw’s vocals deliver one of indie’s finest pop hooks of recent memory. The rapid-fire ‘begging you / begging you’ summons almost forgotten memories of bands gatecrashing the singles charts and amassing legions of fans.

Lose Control

The band's tone is more reflective. They are searching for life's bigger answers. In doing so, they’ve allowed each other space to breathe and proved that indie classism is still something worth striving for.

The ‘ooooo’s give instant appeal, Grimshaw’s vocal building their mystique with its brooding intensity, and Porter’s solo the righteous pay-off it richly deserves.