As alternative culture infiltrates the upper echelons of the mainstream – platinum pop icons like Billie Eilish and Post Malone are quick to profess their love for punk and metal, packaging much of that aesthetic into their mass-marketed product – rock representation for real outsiders feels like an increasingly precious commodity. Newcastle Upon Tyne quintet Groundculture are out to address the deficit. Their rousing debut LP How Well Do You Really Know Yourself? is a record that reaches with open arms to the black sheep and underdogs of our world, encouraging them to cherish the differences within – and it’s all the more gleefully rough-edged, unapologetically awkward and breathlessly intriguing for it. Full-throttle opener Life Won’t Wait initially wrong-foots us. An archetypi...
