Ian Stewart

New to Me: Pyncher

2026-10-02T00:00:00Z

It's always nice to hear of a good thing coming out of COVID lockdowns, Pyncher are one of them. They're a Manchester based alt-rock quartet made up of Sam Blakeley, Harvey O'Toole, Britt Dewhurst and Jack Rainbow. I found them during my searching of the local listings, playing at SOUP on 12th December 2026.

You can find them here on Instagram.

Favourite track

Oh Boy from the I Really Mean It This Time EP struck me the most. I love the bass line and general distortion on the whole thing. Also warmed towards it more when I read it's born from the writer (Sam Blakeley) feeling disconnected from people a lot, which ironically connected me to it!

Newest release

Love You Better, a single with Phoebe Green.

Catch them live

The Jacaranda, Liverpool, 15 Oct 2026. Then a UK headline tour ending at SOUP, Manchester, 12 Dec 2026.

Sources: Claude did the digging in these places

Wikipedia · Pyncher on Bandcamp · Louder Than War · Songkick

And you can find out more about me on my link tree.

New to Me: samxemma

2026-09-11T00:00:00Z

I am so bored with being fed songs I already know via Spotify algorithms that I decided to do something about it. With a bit of help from Claude I've made a scouting network helping me find new bands and artists that I like the sound of and that are playing real gigs to real people! Winner.

This Weeks New to Me is samxemma. Manchester based, electropop (Claude says hyperpop, but I don't really know what that is..too many genres!). By the time I found them they already had loads of songs out; sold out a headline show at YES; played The Great Escape, Kendal Calling, Latitude AND stockpiled over 70 unreleased songs! Plenty to go at.

You can find them here on instagram.

My favourite so far is Simple Solution, from the Us Forever EP. The opening lines about running resonate with me!

Newest release

The newest release I could find is a remix of i still think about the band by Coupdekat which is also great!

Sources: Claude did the digging in these places

readdork.com interview, Aug 2025 · samxemma Instagram

And you can find out more about me on my link tree.

Built Not Born: Hi Sienna Remix

2024-01-15T00:00:00Z

Built Not Born is my artist project and a creative outlet for the music I write and for the remixes I do.

I originally got into music through my love of dance music. My goal has always been to release records of my own, albeit a secret goal for much of my life.

My first foray into this is my remix for a band I worked with for a few years called Hi Sienna.

It took me ages to release this first one. I'd worked on it just for fun and didn't intend to release it, the band didn't even know I'd done it. I was crapping it to send to them if they didn't like it or didn't want to release it. But they did and it's now out.

My music theory knowledge has always been a part of my skills that I wanted to upgrade and this really forced me to work on that part.

I started by looking at what keys most dance tunes were made in and there is an overwhelming lean towards the simplest keys to play so A minor being the easiest with no black notes. So I set about stripping the session completely of everything except the vocals and then transposing them.

After that I looped the chorus and started fitting a new chord structure to it and trying out a few different loops to see what sort of thing stood out to me. I think I chose the tempo again from another song that I liked the feel of, I honestly can't remember what that was now.

The rest of it came together relatively quickly as the structure was already there to follow. The bit that takes the longest for me is the sprinkles on top like the risers and production bits that help but aren't necessarily obvious on a first listen.

Oh and not to mention the endless playing it to myself and thinking will they/won't they like it!

Anyway here it is..