Higher Plain Music

Alt rock band Big Thief still believes in websites, newsletters, and creating their own corner of the internet. It is something many musicians would do well to cultivate, as a social media follow is cheap. In their recent newsletter, they highlighted a fantastic live archive project they’ve been working on. The aim is to expand their collection of live recordings into a playl...

I’m always on the lookout for interesting websites that open the gateway for budding musicians to learn instruments and their craft. Tonalics is a free website that has MIDI-style instruments laid out inside the web browser so they can be played using your mouse, keyboard, or touchscreen. Each ins...

Piano-alt-pop with an operatic, quirky flair.

In 2006, Charlotte Martin released one of my favourite albums of all time. ‘Stromata’ was Charlotte’s second official album release and the first as an independent musician after leaving RCA Records. It was a bold swing and hit ...

Gia Margaret is a singer-songwriter from Chicago, Illinois, and she’s been out promoting her 2026 album ‘Singing’. This included a fabulous performance on the ever-amazing and diverse Live on KEXP. The album was born from sustaining a vocal injury and losing her voice as a result. It’s taken several years to recover, and during that time, Gia Margaret released instrumental am...

Medieval arcane darkness, with a glint of light in the distance.

The last studio album release from Arcana came in 2012, before Peter Bjärgö focused on releasing music under his own name, but Arcana has never truly been over. The band perform at special events and, in the case of ‘Magna Sile...