The Levellers formed in Brighton, England in 1988. Mark Chadwick, Alan Miles, Jeremy Cunningham, Charlie Heather and Jon Sevink forged an alternative, punk-folk-rock sound – releasing their debut album ‘A Weapon Called the Word’, in 1990. 
After Simon Friend replaced Miles, the platinum selling ‘Levelling the Land’ was released in 1991 and its follow up, ‘Levellers’ entered the UK charts at No 2 in 1993. ‘Zeitgeist’ followed in 1995, going on to become the band’s first and only number one album and 1997s ‘Mouth to Mouth’, provided them with their biggest hit to date in “What A Beautiful Day”
 Fast forward more than 20 years and the their most recent studio album, ‘Peace’ entered the UK chart at Number 8 making it their best performing record since the band’s heyday. 
 Meanwhile, 2021 sees their ‘The Lockdown Sessions’ album and film released.

Heroes and villains. Bad-ass bitches and dead-end deserters. Love, lust, hate and all that's in between. Ever since Black Honey stomped onto the scene in a head-rush of grit and glitter, the Brighton quartet have set about building their own incendiary, inclusive universe from the inside out. 

It's one that's seen the band swell from intriguingly anomalous newcomers, infusing every early release with bold, theatrical videos and increasingly iconic artwork, to one of UK indie's most singular outfits. They've travelled the world and released a Top 40 album; graced the cover of the NME and become the faces and soundtrack of Roberto Cavalli's Milan Fashion Week show; smashed Glastonbury and supported Queens of the Stone Age, all without compromising a shred of the wild, wicked vision they first set out with. If their 2018 self-titled debut saw the band, in Phillips' words, “cherry-picking things from our favourite eras and lassoing them all into one narrative”, then this time they've got their targets set more succinctly, with a no-nonsense bullet shot of an album that knows exactly what it wants and how to get it. “Album Two is about having a fire in you to kick ass. Girls are well overdue a perspective where they can be the protagonist, and the boss bitch with a complex narrative."

With "Afrique Victime" the prodigious Tuareg guitarist and songwriter rips a new hole in the sky ­– boldly reforging contemporary Saharan music and “rock music” by melding guitar pyrotechnics, full-blast noise, and field recordings with poetic meditations on love, religion, women's rights, inequality, and Western Africa’s exploitation at the hands of colonial powers.

The music listeners are the beneficiaries of the staggeringly powerful do-it-yourself musical ethic of Mdou Moctar – the man and the band – who’ve worked so hard to bring the spirits of families and communities in Niger to the West. Afrique Victime sounds and feels like a Tuareg hand reaching down from the sky, and we are very lucky for this chance to get lifted.

Over the last decade, DIIV have established themselves as one of rock music’s most fascinating bands, exploring new textures while pushing their songcraft forward in a way that continues to draw in larger audiences worldwide. They combine beauty and noise to the point of approaching a lush oblivion—a searing sound building on elements from dream-pop luminaries like My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive, and Smashing Pumpkins. It’s becoming increasingly hard to establish a distinctive approach within popular music in general, and yet throughout their discography, DIIV’s sound and emotional tenor are unmistakably theirs. 

Emerging from the fertile early-2010s Brooklyn DIY music scene, DIIV quickly proved themselves as one of the city’s most prominent live acts and have since widened their aesthetic with every successive release. Over the course of three albums, they have incorporated the driving gait of British guitar pop, the minimalist structures of German psychedelia, metal’s lush fury, and the sonic immersion of shoegaze into their inviting world of sound. 

Possessing a bracing and immersive live presence, DIIV are firmly situated within a deep legacy of boundary-pushing rock bands as they continue charting their own path. Their influence can be felt across a new generation of artists pursuing their own punishing bliss, and has left its mark on shoegaze and guitar-driven music as DIIV themselves continue to cement their legacy as one of North America’s most formidable rock acts.

Since his earliest self-produced CD-Rs, Philadelphia psych-pop master Kurt Vile has referred to himself as "Philly's Constant Hitmaker"—and while he gave himself that name with a sly wink, he was also nodding toward the songwriting prowess that would result in him becoming one of his home city's most celebrated rock artists. "I’m always thinking about catchy music, even though it’s fried, or sizzled, out," he says. "It's my own version of a classic thing—it's moving forward and backward at the same time." On his latest album, (watch my moves), Vile pulls his talents as a singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer in unexpected directions—and the result is a vibrant, yet meditative album propelled by Vile's laid-back charm and curious spirit. Every lyric has been chiseled down into an aphorism, every bloom of distorted guitar or murmuring synth helping create that "fried" pop. "It's about songwriting. It's about lyrics. It's about being the master of all domains in the music," he says of his ninth album and first in partnership with a major label, Verve Records. (watch my moves) comes from a period when Vile, whose touring and recording schedule during the 2010s was seemingly constant, stayed in one place. His mind was always swirling, though, puzzling out pointillistic lyrics, dreaming up spit-shined choruses, and checking in on other dimensions.

Formed in the late '90s, indie folk-rock act Fruit Bats grew from the four-track recording project of songwriter Eric D. Johnson into a touring band with an ever-shifting lineup. Constant are Johnson's warm vocals and melodic sensibility, both of which often seem to split the difference between Lennon and McCartney (stated influences include the Byrds, the Kinks, and Supertramp). The project existed in a steady but mercurial state throughout the 2000s and 2010s as Johnson divided his time between scoring movies, playing with other bands, and working on Fruit Bats albums. Their debut, Echolocation, arrived in 2001, leading to a string of albums for Sub Pop including 2005's Spelled in Bones and 2011's Tripper, the latter of which reached the Top 15 of Billboard's Heatseekers chart. A solo release under the initials EDJ appeared in 2014 before Johnson returned to Fruit Bats in 2016 with Absolute Loser. Released in 2019, Gold Past Life marked Fruit Bats' debut for Merge. Coinciding with the 20th anniversary of Echolocation, eighth album The Pet Parade saw release in 2021.