Ikenna Offor

Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom

Writer at NARC.

Cranky, caffeine-addled dad.

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Articles

ALBUM REVIEW: Little Simz - Lotus

5 days ago | narcmagazine.com | Ikenna Offor

AWALReleased: 06.06.25Image by Thibaut GrevetOn Lotus, Little Simz doesn’t just open up, she offers a hard won blueprint for survival. After a near-breakdown and consequent crisis of confidence, the Islington-born rapper returns with her sixth studio album, a radically sincere emotional excavation that’s as stylistically fearless as it is soul-baring – an astoundingly personal reckoning with despair, self-doubt and the glimmering possibility of renewal.
ALBUM REVIEW: Aminé - 13 Months of Sunshine

3 weeks ago | narcmagazine.com | Ikenna Offor

10K ProjectsReleased: 16.05.25Monikered after a mid-century Ethiopian tourism slogan, Aminé’s latest offering is no mere course correction – it’s a spiritual homecoming that draws from his heritage and personal history with intentionality and grace. Where 2016’s Caroline introduced a buoyant, hook-happy MC, this is Aminé grown up: reflective, exacting, even elegiac.
ALBUM REVIEW: Viagra Boys - viagr aboys

1 month ago | narcmagazine.com | Ikenna Offor

Shrimptech EnterprisesReleased: 29.04.25Raucous and unflaggingly wry, Viagra Boys’ fourth LP deliver a heady jolt of subversive grit and absurdist humour suffused with the Stockholm sextet’s potent post-punk swagger. Ever the pawky wit, frontman Sebastian Murphy aptly forgoes the overt agitation of 2022’s Cave World for a darkly playful, if no less searing, prism.
LIVE REVIEW: Squid @ Northumbria University SU, Newcastle (21.02.25)

Feb 27, 2025 | narcmagazine.com | Ikenna Offor

Image by Harrison FishmanArmed with a winningly unshowy verve, Squid spiritedly kick off the proceedings, launching straight into the sublime menace of Crispy Skin. The gaggle of now-amped revellers barely get a breather before the Brighton quintet spiral into Building 650’s hypnotic cacophony, frontman Ollie Judge’s frenetic drumming and yelped vocals setting the tone for the night — restless, protean and utterly gripping.
ALBUM REVIEW: Hemlock Ernst - Studying Absence

Oct 14, 2024 | narcmagazine.com | Ikenna Offor

Tygr Rawwk RcrdsReleased: 16.10.24For those in the know, Hemlock Ernst – the rap moniker of Future Islands frontman Samuel T. Herring – usually evokes Kerouacian lyrics kicked over jazzy breaks, recalling the heady witticisms of Aesop Rock circa ’01. Although this latest offering totally eschews soulful boom-bapery for angular soundscapes, the bars remain as incisive and freewheeling as ever, steeped in autobiographical cryptograms that veer from aporia to indubitability and back again.
ALBUM REVIEW: Yaya Bey - Ten Fold

May 6, 2024 | narcmagazine.com | Ikenna Offor

Big DadaReleased: 10.05.24Buoyed by an intoxicating blend of soulful reflexivity and sonic exploration, Yaya Bey‘s sophomore album Ten Fold charts an immersive journey through the complexities of love, identity and self-discovery. Armed with crystalline vocals and arrestingly nuanced lyricism, Bey deftly weaves relatable tales steeped in vicarious emotionality, inviting listeners into her world with sincerity and acuity.
ALBUM REVIEW: Khruangbin - A La Sala

Apr 5, 2024 | narcmagazine.com | Ikenna Offor

Dead OceansReleased: 05.04.24Although notably more subdued than its predecessors, Khruangbin‘s fourth LP – their first in almost five years – still packs a breezily infectious wallop. Conjuring the mildly stoned haze of languid summer days, A La Sala serves up a vibrant yet mellow cocktail of mesmeric polyrhythms, bolstered by swirling guitars and cascading drum breaks. Expressive without labouring the point, each track unfolds like a controlled freefall into cathartic resonance.
ALBUM REVIEW: Gotts Street Park - On The Inside

Oct 9, 2023 | narcmagazine.com | Ikenna Offor

Blue FlowersReleased: 13.10.23On the strength of two well-received projects over the last five years, Gotts Street Park have inarguably established themselves as staunch stalwarts of the post-grime scene. Pulsing with warm grooves and infectious rhythms, the Leeds-based trio’s retro-modern sound keenly merges electronic and organic elements in a canorous blend of vivid melodies and ingenious loops, proffering an evocative aural experience steeped in vibey catharsis.
ALBUM REVIEW: Yussef Dayes - Black Classical Music

Sep 4, 2023 | narcmagazine.com | Ikenna Offor

Brownswood RecordingsReleased: 08.09.23Given its ostensibly univocal title, you’d be forgiven for expecting Yussef Dayes‘ solo debut to be a somewhat staid affair. What’s on offer instead is an expansive yet precise weft of influences – from sinuous African polyrhythms to bombastic Caribbean grooves and intoxicating Latin inflections – dexterously woven into a captivating fusion of nostalgic reverie and neoteric revelry.
ALBUM REVIEW: Damon Locks & Rob Mazurek - New Future City Radio

Jul 24, 2023 | narcmagazine.com | Ikenna Offor

International AnthemReleased: 28.07.23On their debut collaborative LP, Damon Locks and Rob Mazurek rekindle an endearing chemistry honed over years of creative collusion. Armed with both Locks’ idiosyncratic penchant for collagic interpolation and Mazurek’s bewitching electro-kissed grooves, the Chicago duo deliver a bombastic set that boasts an undeniably vibey aural experience.