Music analysis: After crossing oceans - Ichiko Aoba’s busy year continues
Fresh off tour, Japanese folk singer-songwriter Ichiko Aoba returns with a new single, an animated film soundtrack and another run of live performances.
For most artists, completing an international tour would be the perfect excuse to slow down, but not for Ichiko Aoba.
Aoba recently wrapped up her Across the Oceans tour, appearing in cities across Europe and North America before taking the City Stage at the Asian Pop Festival in South Korea.
After months of travelling and performing for her audiences in different countries, the singer wasted no time moving into her next creative chapter, writes Music News Blitz’s Victoria Bruwer.
Music opinion: How Tame Impala has influenced an entirely new genre of music
Unlike typical artists who rely on melodies and instruments to define their sound, Tame Impala’s signature sound is created solely through production.
With lyrics more as the accompaniment of the rhythm, the layers and psychedelic waves come together to create a distinctive and unconventional sound that has become the soundtrack for 2026.
So, how has this unique blend become so popular amongst Gen Z audiences? Music News Blitz’s Emma Corrigan explores.
Music analysis: Nostalgia and cultural influence of FIFA soundtracks
With every new edition of a FIFA game, a new soundtrack containing diverse, energetic and underground music arrived with it.
These playlists solidified the bridge between football and music in a way nothing else has.
Among the overwhelming sense of dissatisfaction with the direction Electronic Arts (EA) have taken the FIFA franchise down, the soundtrack behind the games remained a constant success every single year.
From its first soundtrack on FIFA ‘98 which featured Blur’s iconic ‘Song 2’ up until more recent editions in the early 2020’s – the songs behind the videogames have become as influential as the game itself.
But how was this created and why is the nostalgia behind FIFA songs so strong?
Music News Blitz’s Gabriel Mills shares his thoughts.
Mitski’s Nothing’s About to Happen to Me: The female and feline intersection
Every few years, Mitski returns to my Spotify feed with a new body of work for me to unpack and internalise as she discusses, in sometimes horrifically accurate levels of detail, feelings of melancholy and sorrow in a way few other artists are able to replicate.
2018’s “Be the Cowboy” was an uncomfortable assessment of desire and the want to be desired, a testament to the tempestuous feelings that love can bring and the negative effects it can have on one’s sense of self, writes Music News Blitz’s Isaac James.
2023’s “The Land is Inhospitable and So Are We” was a sorrowful commentary on love as a force for transformation and the desolation we often tolerate, simply attributing the horrors of modern life to industrialisation and population expanse.
So, what is “Nothing’s About to Happen To Me” a testament to?
Cats. The human perception of cats, and how their suffering can mirror our own.
Is Wunderhorse’s rise spearheading a return to the UK’s indie-rock era?
A stellar debut album, steady progression and an electrifying sound are exactly how the Cornwall-based band will become a household name in the near future.
Blending aspects of rock and grunge, the sound created by the band feels like an old school throwback sewn together with modern ideas, writes Gabriel Mills for Music News Blitz.