With his deep baritone, blues-tinged grime beats and lyrics bursting with romance and pain, rapper Joe James has been a cult figure in the UK underground – but now, with his debut album, he’s ready to break through.
This year, Knocked Loose defied expectations with their latest album, ‘You Won’t Go Before You’re Supposed To’, becoming torchbearers of a genre and introducing a new generation of fans to the cathartic delirium of hardcore.
André 3000 stunned everyone last November. His first album in 17 years is a jazz-inspired flute odyssey – and a reflection of his own spiritual awakening. Now, at 49, the lifelong innovator has uncovered a different kind of creative freedom.
On her latest album, ‘Charm’, the American musician, songwriter and vocalist is mining a deeper, inner well of interpersonal love and sonic confidence.
On their fourth album ‘Romance’, Fontaines D.C. are shedding their image as literary post-punks in favour of fantasy, love and extremity that defies over-analysis.
On ‘Fearless Movement’, the saxophonist’s first full-length in six years, he finds inspiration in earthly pleasures: family, connection and the act of living.
Flowdan is a giant in the U.K. underground. As part of Roll Deep, he steered the influential grime crew to murkier places. Alongside The Bug, he pushed dub and dancehall to its limits with his uncompromising flows. In February, he became the first ever British MC to win a Grammy for Rumble – the Skrillex-featuring hit that shook dancefloors as much as it did TikTok. Where does the east Londoner go from here?
Adrianne Lenker has turned tenderness into an artform. On her latest solo album, the completely analogue ‘Bright Future’, the Big Thief leader is moving through life with a heart wide open
Vegyn’s transportive music resonates with a generation of listeners who are equally curious and overwhelmed. Ahead of his second album, the London producer connects with Emma Garland for our February issue
Intentionally or not, Bar Italia have cultivated an air of inscrutability with their approach to being a rock band that, depending on your POV, is standoffish, wry or just the right side of pretentious. As they bid the underground goodbye, the time is apt to find out who they really are
As 2023 draws to a close, the world more broken than ever, Anohni is unequivocal: we must face the truth, however hard that may be. Read the landmark December cover story
TraTraTrax has taken the global underground by storm. The Colombian label is leading a Latin American dance movement where diasporic traditions merge with UK bass and techno. But with recognition often comes tokenisation – and they’re resisting
Starting off as a grime DJ in her teens, Shy One has since become a luminary in UK nightlife. Gearing up for a second album, she’s never sounded more sure of herself. Read the October issue cover story
The music of Oneohtrix Point Never cleaves to a dream logic. For a glowing tenth album, pop’s resident disruptor and the Weeknd collaborator is revisiting past selves. Sasha Geffen learns more for the September cover story
This year has been a trip for LSDXOXO. The custodian of queer and kinky club music has launched a label, DJ’d for Beyoncé and even roused the ire of techno’s gatekeepers. Now, emboldened by a period of artistic risk-taking, the game is on. Meet our August cover star
Not content with releasing one of the year’s most exciting tapes, rapper-producer Jim Legxacy has co-produced the UK’s song of the summer. This is the story of an artist from Lewisham, and how he came to create a sound that’s as vibrant and complex as his home
PJ Harvey: musician, poet and iconoclast. A new album, the first in seven years, captures a moment of creative renewal as she explores the ambiguities of worlds both real and imagined. Crack’s Editor-in-Chief, Louise Brailey, learns more
World builder. Eartheater. The experimental provocateur, label head and fashion muse is readying her next phase the only way she knows how: devouring everything
The audio version of our Issue 142 cover story, featuring Jam City
Jam City’s 2012 debut album rerouted UK club music, but a series of stylistic heel-turns and A-list collaborations defined the years that followed. Now, the producer is returning to his roots to celebrate the transcendent quality of a messy night out
The audio version of our Issue 140 cover story, featuring Caroline Polachek
Always positive. Always moving. Blockbuster hitmaker Popcaan has one objective – to keep pushing dancehall forward. For the March issue cover story, Tshepo Mokoena learns how
Caroline Polachek is no stranger to drama. Guided by her breathtaking voice, the experimental pop artist has written operas, earned a Grammy nomination and even inspired a TikTok dance craze. Now, she’s ready for her next chapter
Duval Timothy’s meticulous musical practice reverberates with humanity. Now, he’s ready to embrace life in all its messy shades.
Ethel Cain, the Southern Gothic alter ego of Hayden Silas Anhedönia, inspired devotion like no other artist in 2022. But with the first chapter of her sprawling epic ending in tragedy, where does the cult of Cain go from here?
As Sudan Archives, Brittney Parks brought the innovative instrumentation of East and West Africa to the experimental R&B world. Her latest reinvention, girl-next-door Britt, reveals the person behind the art
The history and future of Hessle Audio, a label which came to define an era of UK club music
In the aughts, Yeah Yeah Yeahs were the chaos agents who upended sterile rock conventions. Two decades on, the storied New York band are still raising hell – and hoping for a revolution
The Nigerian superstar’s career has been coloured by controversy. But where a conservative society sees a troublemaker, its youth find a new idol. Naira Marley is our Issue 133 cover star
The audio version of our Issue 132 cover story, featuring Grammy-winning composer and vocalist Arooj Aftab
