New Music Reviews
Foo Fighters, Bellahouston Park, Glasgow - communal singalongs and career highlightsSunday, 18 August 2019
Foo Fighters are an unlikely candidate for one of the biggest bands in the world. There’s nothing workmanlike about the sheer joy with which Dave Grohl and drummer Taylor Hawkins approach playing live. Read more... |
Pram, Hare & Hounds, Birmingham review - a fine hometown return for the psychedelic oddballsSaturday, 17 August 2019
While Pram could hardly be described as representative of the UK psychedelic scene, it would be hard to imagine South Birmingham’s favourites being birthed by any other sub-culture. Read more... |
Josienne Clarke, Green Note review - world-class melancholia hits its markFriday, 16 August 2019
It’s been a period of upheaval and change for singer-songwriter, and compelling interpreter of traditional ballads, Josienne Clarke. These days she’s a Rough Trade artist, now sailing solo seas away from her long-time musical partner, producer and arranger Ben Walker. Read more... |
CD: Frank Turner - No Man's LandWednesday, 14 August 2019
Frank Turner’s compendium of extraordinary female lives, from the “impudence” of a Byzantine princess to his mum via Mata Hari, is admirably ambitious and historically intriguing. The arena-playing folk-punk digs deeper into factual byways than he has any career need to, insisting on his own wayward course. |
theartsdesk in Oslo: Øya Festival 2019 reviewSunday, 11 August 2019
The timing seemed odd. Sigrid is internationally successful. She’s Norway’s highest-profile musical ambassador since a-ha. Yet instead of headlining at 2019’s Øya Festival, she hits the stage at 6.45. Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Come On Let's Go!Sunday, 11 August 2019
The core paradox with powerpop is that most of those who sought to create the perfect guitar driven, hook-laden pop song failed to score hits. Come On Let's Go! – Power Pop Gems From the 70s & 80s is stuffed with the classy and memorable, but under a third of its 24 participants had any sort of chart profile. Read more... |
Johnny Marr, Royal Festival Hall review - rock royalty having the time of his lifeFriday, 09 August 2019
Nile Rodgers, the beaming, beret-sporting curator of this year’s splendidly eclectic Meltdown, strolls on to the Royal Festival Hall stage tonight to introduce his “dearest friend in the world”. Read more... |
The National, Kelvingrove Bandstand, Glasgow review - rapture, catharsis and jokesThursday, 08 August 2019
With their claustrophobic melodies and cryptic lyrics, The National are not the most obvious of choices for a summer evening. But then, The National of 2019 are not the same band. On recent album I Am Easy to Find, frontman Matt Berninger’s signature baritone is often on the periphery, while female voices take the lead. Read more... |
Wilderness Festival 2019 review - marvellous misbehaviourWednesday, 07 August 2019
The thing about Wilderness is that it’s just so jolly decent. Acres of decadence, sprawled safely over the yawning magnificence of Cornbury Park, Oxfordshire, combine to create a scintillating country fair reverie – a heady mix of good music, high end food, luxury outdoorsyness and companionable folk. Read more... |
Nile Rodgers and Chic, Royal Festival Hall review – great band, shame about the soundMonday, 05 August 2019
There is every reason to celebrate Nile Rodgers. For his contribution to music as arranger, producer and performer over more than four decades. And also not least because he’s still around and still performing: he has, after all, pulled through after two bouts of serious cancer in 2010 and 2017. Read more... |
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