rock
The Sisters of Mercy, Roundhouse review - hits delivered from the darknessMonday, 23 September 2019
While bands such as The Birthday Party, Siouxsie and the Banshees and, especially, Bauhaus had a hand in inventing goth music at the start of the Eighties, it was The Sisters of Mercy who defined it. Their combination of black clad cowboy shtick,... Read more... |
CD: Rachid Taha - Je suis africainSaturday, 21 September 2019
Rachid Taha, sadly felled by a heart attack just over a year ago, has come back from the dead! He could not sound more lively than on this vibrant posthumous offering, definitely not something cooked up from tasty leftovers, but a well thought-... Read more... |
Muse, 02 review - bombastic Brit-rock with a sci-fi themeMonday, 16 September 2019
For a band mostly known as a brilliantly ludicrous cocktail of other’s people’s sound-styles, the Simulation Theory tour is proof that Muse have become musical legends in their own right.Yes, their progressive rock is the combined conglomeration... Read more... |
Pere Ubu, Bush Hall review - terminal AmericanaMonday, 16 September 2019
Pere Ubu are much like The Fall in their dauntless explication of one man’s vision, and commitment to an individual, primal rock’n’roll, initially called punk, but pushing far past its limits. Where Mark E. Smith’s alcoholic dissolution hampered his... Read more... |
CD: Mudhoney - Morning in AmericaSaturday, 14 September 2019
Mudhoney’s new album Morning in America is a strange beast. Made up of outtakes from last year’s Digital Garbage, a cover version and rerecorded versions of limited edition 7” singles, one look at the track listing suggests a second CD that might... Read more... |
Michael Rother, Jazz Cafe review - classic Krautrock from the Neu! and Harmonia legendThursday, 05 September 2019
Neu!, Neu! 2 and Neu! 75. For many a committed collector of rock’s more interesting corners, these three albums are the motherlode of 1970s Kosmische Musik, or Krautrock, the fruit of an intense and far-out focus on musical essentials, combining... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Creedence Clearwater Revival - Live at WoodstockSunday, 25 August 2019
Apparently, Creedence Clearwater Revival drummer Doug Clifford’s snare drum broke during the first song of their set at Woodstock Festival. On the new double album Live at Woodstock, it’s impossible to detect this happening. As “Born on the Bayou”... Read more... |
Eels, Hammersmith Apollo review – dark, swampy and endlessly entertertainingThursday, 22 August 2019
"Would you mind if I jammed on my new... castanets?" We’re halfway through Eels’ triumphant set at Hammersmith's Eventim Apollo and this is the kind of question we’ve come to expect from frontman Mark Oliver Everett, AKA "E". Expect the unexpected,... Read more... |
CD: Sleater-Kinney - The Center Won't HoldThursday, 22 August 2019
This album’s title began as a reaction to fractiousness under Trump, but gained more intimate meaning when drummer Janet Weiss quit Sleater-Kinney shortly before release. With production by St Vincent’s Annie Clark pushing these knotty indie-rock... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Phil Manzanera - Diamond HeadSunday, 18 August 2019
Diamond Head was Roxy Music guitarist Phil Manzanera’s first solo album. Released in May 1975 and recorded the previous December and January during a lull in his parent band’s activities, it hit shops between Roxy’s Country Life and Siren albums.... Read more... |
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. They’ll play the hits, sure, but they’ll stick... Read more... |
The Hold Steady - Thrashing Thru the PassionThursday, 15 August 2019
At recent live shows, Hold Steady frontman Craig Finn has taken to describing the band’s current lineup as the best it’s ever been. Boosted to a six-piece by the return of Franz Nicolay on keyboards, the Hold Steady of the band’s latter-day London... Read more... |
