sat 28/06/2025

New Music Reviews

Le Tigre, Barrowland Ballroom, Glasgow review - letting out their emotions while having a party

Jonathan Geddes

There was a youthful tinge to the jubilant chorus of “here we, here we, here we f****** go” that greeted Le Tigre arriving on stage.

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Music Reissues Weekly: Heavenly - Le Jardin de Heavenly

Kieron Tyler

“It takes a real effort to sound this small, this timid; to resist the effort to rock out and kick pedal. Singer ‘Amelia’ (oh yeah, I bet that’s her name) has spent her entire adult life pretending she doesn't menstruate. The rest of her band, too, look like the sort of fanzine autistics who still wear dungarees at 30”.

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Disney 100 - The Concert, OVO Hydro, Glasgow review - a slick tour of the Magic Kingdom

Jonathan Geddes

There are a few perils to saying supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, as Janette Manrara discovered on this opening night of Disney’s anniversary arena jaunt. Trying to divide the Glasgow crowd into sections to sing the song, Manrara tripped over who was to sing what, something only notable because the rest of the evening was possessed of an almost overpowering slickness.

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theartsdesk on Vinyl 77: Scuba, Dannii Minogue, Tito Puente, ABBA, The Undertones, Oracle Sisters and more

Thomas H Green

VINYL OF THE MONTH

Rahill Flowers at Your Feet (Big Dada)

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Jaminaround, Ancient Technology Centre, Dorset review - music in the round that delights

mark Kidel

The circular form of the large turf-roofed round house at the Ancient Technology Centre in Cranborne, Dorset, is tailor-made for music in the round. The latest in the series of Jaminaround concerts made the most of the intimacy that the venue provides, with music that engaged the audience in a way that conventional staging makes difficult.

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Music Reissues Weekly: Folk, Funk & Beyond - The Arrangements Of John Cameron

Kieron Tyler

Donovan’s “Sunshine Superman” was the UK’s first explicitly psychedelic record. Although there were delays with it hitting shops, it was recorded in December 1965. A large part of its impact came through the instrumentation and arrangement. Jazz players were on board, playing in a folky way without abandoning their core musical sensibilities. The ground-breaking arranger responsible was John Cameron.

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Gretchen Peters, Cadogan Hall review - writer and performer of exquisite gems

Liz Thomson

It’s 27 years since Gretchen Peters released her debut album, The Secret of Life, championed by Bob Harris and the late Terry Wogan, whose morning-tide enthusiasms also helped propel Eva Cassidy and Beth Neilsen Chapman to success - the term “Americana” hadn’t yet been invented!

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Jim Jones Allstars, Hare & Hounds, Birmingham review - veteran garage punkers turn up the soul

Guy Oddy

Jim Jones has been around the block a few times, plying his garage/punk/rock’n’roll schtick – most notably with his last couple of outfits, the Jim Jones Revue and Jim Jones and the Righteous Mind. Back in the ring with his new crew, the Jim Jones Allstars, however, he’s subtly changed the template to bring some serious old school rhythm and blues to the party as well.

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Father John Misty sings Scott Walker, Barbican review - edging towards the supernatural

Kieron Tyler

A standing ovation part-way through a concert is unusual. Conductor Jules Buckley gestures to the members of the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the BBC Symphony Chorus that they should rise. Beside Buckley, Father John Misty stands looking from the conductor to everyone else on the stage, to the audience. Seemingly, in the midst of this, he’s thrown.

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Music Reissues Weekly: Cock Sparrer - The Decca Years

Kieron Tyler

“This is a record company’s idea of new wave. Clichéd heavy metal riffs and someone shouting in a cockney voice. This is a con and I hate it”.

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