Sound Mouth.

January may now be almost over, but I couldn't let the month pass without finally sharing my picks for my favourite albums of the preceding year. Given how strong and varied 2019 was for music, it was difficult to limit this list to an easily-digestible ten record selection, so there's also a few honourable mentions towards the end. Some picks may surprise you or seem out of place alongside each other, but that's part of the fun. Let's get to it... 10 . The Darkness - Easter is Cancelled  This may seem like an unexpected start to a 'serious' year-end list, but hear me out on this one. I went back and forth on this choice more than any other, debating whether this sixth LP from the glam rock revivalists really deserved a top 10 spot or would be a mere honorable mention. However, recently returning to the album left me with no doubt. Easter is Cancelled is comfortably The Darkness' best effort since their still-brilliant 2003 debut Permission to Land, seei...

The 2019 edition of Truck Festival is happening this week and I couldn’t be more excited! In anticipation of what will actually be my first-ever festival experience (yes, really), I’ve chosen six of the acts I’m most eager to see and, if you’re going, who you should be sure to see too! This ranges from well-established headlines to future stars and underground favourites, showing why the stacked line-up is perhaps the very best any UK festival has to offer this summer. Wolf Alice Given the mix of indie, hard rock and alternative pop across the Truck bill, Wolf Alice are the perfect choice for a headliner. The indie quartet have enjoyed a meteoric rise in their young career, releasing two critically-acclaimed albums so far, with 2017’s sensational ‘Visions of a Life’, being one of my favourite albums of recent years. Few bands are able to pull off as diverse a sound as Wolf Alice, relaxing you with dreamy indie-pop one minute and slapping you in the face with high-energy punk roc...

Welcome back to the SoundMouth weekly rock chart round-up, where I take a look at how rock's biggest names and brightest prospects are faring across the UK music charts. The big story this week is Yonaka 's debut album Don't Wait 'till Tomorrow, which has broken into the UK Albums Chart at number 38. Considering that this is their debut LP, this is not a bad result, although I did expect it to place slightly higher considering how much their fanbase has been growing recently. Still, the band have several gigs and festivals coming up this summer, including Truck and 2000 Trees , so the Yonaka gospel should continue to spread far and wide and see the album do even better. The real point of contention for me is the Official Charts Company's bizarre decision to not count Don't Wait 'till Tomorrow in the rock album chart. Presumably this is down to the band's embracing of pop and indie sounds in their music. If OCC were a little more open-minded w...

Music award shows can often seem like superficial affairs, with industry big wigs congregating to pat each other on the back for winning awards chosen by an elite group of voters. However, the Kerrang! Awards flies in the face of this tradition, with its nominees and winners being determined by fan votes. These awards may not be as globally revered or capture as much mainstream attention as the Grammys or even the Brit Awards, but their status remains high in the rock community, with the fan voting adding an extra air of legitimacy and excitement. The 2019 Kerrang! Awards ceremony is just over a week away, so in anticipation of the biggest awards show in rock , I thought I would share my picks of the nominees. Architects have the most nominations this year (Photo credit: Ryan Johnson) The most interesting category for me this year is Best British Breakthrough , which is genuinely hard to predict. IDLES seem a safe bet, given that they have amassed a very impressive foll...