Ljubinko Zivkovic

Looking (and listening) from the outside, it might seem to a casual observer (listener) that working and reworking elements of certain rock (sub)genres is not such a hard thing to do. You pick up the elements, put them in a certain order (or re-order) and presto!

BEN VAUGHN MAGNETIC EAST: THE DEER TICK SESSIONS YEP ROC RECORDS There are rock veterans and then there are rock veterans on today’s music scene. Ones just keep on treading stale music waters (let’s not name names here), while others keep on trying something new or stick to their original concept guns but keep on […]

SARAH METH SOMETHING SHAMEFUL WISHBONE RECORDS For those outside a certain music scene, in Sarah Meth’s case it is a big one, London England, it might be a bit hard to catch on immediately on a great talent in this age where so much new music is instantly available. Yet, for the last few years, […]

DRIVEWAY CEILING DEATH OF THE WALDEN NEWSPAPER CO. INDEPENDENT PROJECT RECORDS (IPR) Is there a college rock revival going on? It might be a question for a more detailed response. But if the revival of some of the best artists that originated during the college rock prime time season in the 90s (the new Olivia […]

MICHAEL NAU POPFLY SUICIDE SQUEEZE RECORDS So many artists are currently getting into that kind of languid musical stream that crosses a number of musical borders and PR people and critics attempting ease of use, label it as singer songwriter. Yet quite a number of artists that have been (and still are there) and deserve […]

FENNE LILY WIN WIN NETTWERK MUSIC GROUP Brooklyn via Bristol, England singer-songwriter (whatever that term implies these days) Fenne Lily is no newcomer. With four albums under her name (Win Win being the latest) and quite a number of collaborations, she has been building a name for herself, with over 250 million streams as a […]

Release date: October 23, 2026 Label: NNA Tapes

BOY GOLDEN BEST OF OUR POSSIBLE LIVES (DELUXE EDITION) SIX SHOOTER RECORDS When we reviewed the original edition of this album back in February, we subtly posed a question whether this album on the edge of country, pop, Americana, rock (and pop again) will catch traction due to a cowboy hat and a country singer […]

DARREN HAYMAN I’M YOUR TEAM AUDIO ANTIHERO Darren Hayman, who to many eccentric pop fans is probably best known for his work with left field pop-rockers Hefner, just might be currently one of the most prolific musicians around. Besides Hefner and his own solo work, he runs and collaborates with about a dozen other musical […]

SO FAINT SO FAINT BEETLE BOMB RECORDS A chance studio meeting and 10 years of friendship that ensued this time around produced a seemingly unassuming, but quite an empowering album, that is So Faint. That chance meeting in a Vancouver studio was between Broken Social Scene’s Hannah Georgas and Lyn Heinemann, at that time a […]

EXPLODING FLOWERS ALPHABET WINDOW MERITORIO RECORDS You don’t have to invent (or re-invent) the wheel, in this case, a microphone, guitar or any music related thing for your music to be good a truly listenable. You possibly just need to pick up the right elements and arrange or re-arrange them in a way that suits […]

ELLA THOMSON TRIUMPH AND SADNESS MR BONGO RECORDS A great, brilliant sound never goes away, and the one that characterises the classic deep soul of 60s and 70s is certainly among them. Not many artists today either venture (or sometimes have the capabilities) to reach the level of that iconic sound, so the fans in […]

BILLBOARD STYLE PULL OF THE MOON GOOD ENGLISH RECORDS Very often, side projects turn into vanity projects, with all involved trying too hard to sound different than they usually do. Brooklyn’s Billboard Style is a side project of Ben Guterl (Forth Wanderers) and Dan Howard (Victoryland), who together have come up with Pull of the […]

Release date: October 16, 2026 Label: Bar/None

Release date: October 9, 2026 Label: NNA Tapes

REUBEN AND THE DARK IF YOU KNOW ME, YOU KNOW MY BROTHER PULLING UP ARROWS RECORDS Calgary’s Reuben Bullock and his Reuben and The Dark have never been easy to categorize, even though quite a number of critics have been comparing them with War on Drugs, with high quality of music up front. Yet, the […]

TEENAGE FANCLUB DO NOT DARE TO DREAM MERGE RECORDS Being decades on the music scene, with fans needing extra fingers to count your albums, your music is bound to change, with one question being essential there – is the quality changing for better or worse? These facts and questions don’t escape a single artist or […]

GROWING PAINS DANIEL LOVES MANDY FOREVER PHOTO FINISH RECORDS Labeling band’s music has become a very hard job for PR people, as artists and bands these days keep crossing the strictly formulated terms that are supposed to describe the music in any new release. That just might be the only problem Portland, Oregon’s Growing Pains […]

Release date: October 9, 2026 Label: 10K Global

TONY FLETCHER – POW! WHEN UK PUNK WENT POP 1980-84 TROUSER PRESS BOOK REVIEW BY LJUBINKO ZIVKOVIC The number of music books seems to be proliferating which at the same time means that there is quite some divergence in their quality. It can go from fan-like adulation biographies to detailed and sometimes too serious academic […]