Toro y Moi often describes his albums as a world for his songs to fit into. The artist’s seventh LP, Mahal, is a sunshine-soaked homage to pre-digital days – lost in the muzzy frequency of a west coast radio station.

Chaz Bear, better known as Toro y Moi, is a South-Carolina born artist of Filipino heritage. Bear’s prolific output, drowned in a boyish demeanour and an understated swagger, has charmed listeners for over 12 years.

In 2009, Toro y Moi was signed to Carpark records. Since then, he

Alt-J transgressed from student-songwriters to mercury prize-winning mavericks in the glorious mist of their debut album An Awesome Wave. A decade on the band has fine-tuned their eccentricities and constructed a mature new sound.

Ahead of the release of their fourth album, The Dream, I sit down with the band’s drummer, Thom Sonny Green, to talk album making in the midst of a pandemic and what the future has in store for the Leeds-based outfit.

The Indiependent: Hi Thom, Alt J’s new album The

Amidst a career spanning two decades, Blockhead has released sixteen studio albums and produced for the very best in underground hip hop. In November, he teamed up with long-established collaborator and hip hop heavyweight, Aesop Rock, for their first full-length LP together – Garbology. Listen to the album here.

The NYC-born artist catches up with the Indiependent to discuss the reception to the new record, almost being banned from Instagram and a second Free Sweatpants?

The Indiependent: Hey

Orgies at Five Guys, stealing Corvettes and fishes performing cunnilingus. Welcome to the wacky and wonderful world of Remi Wolf, whose latest album Juno was released on 15th October.

From singing in a barbershop-style collective to skiing at two junior Olympic games, Wolf is a talented extrovert with a restless rationale for fun. Her new album Juno is a bizarre vignette of psychedelic poetry and multi-coloured melodies.

The 25-year-old Californian burst onto the music scene in 2019 with her E

For years, the pendulum has swung back and forth in James Blake’s music, from beautiful ballads to bass-heavy beats. Friends That Break Your Heart will still leave the listener unclear on his overall direction but say what you will… Blake is a generational jack-of-all-trades and a songwriting master.

As we age, friendships become difficult to manage. Jobs move us miles away from our nearest and dearest. People change. Responsibilities outgrow notepads and planners.

In 2015, Blake moved to Los

For this year’s Cultural eXchanges Festival, we asked some of our Journalism students to write up accounts of several events. Here Will Millar reports on a talk by Scarlett Westbrook.

Teenage activist Scarlett Westbrook inspired audiences at De Montfort University (DMU) with a talk on the power of the individual to make real political difference - no matter what their age.

At the age of 16, Scarlett has already seen her work debated at the top level of Welsh politics, become the youngest perso