New music
Albums of the Year 2023: Foo Fighters - But Here We AreWednesday, 03 January 2024
Where 2022 threw a personal surprise Album of the Year with Maggie Roger’s dancey indie-folk blend on Surrender, 2023 was more of a return to business, with a range of my regular listens all popping up with solid-to-supreme listens.From Queens of... Read more... |
Best of 2023: Music Reissues WeeklySunday, 31 December 2023
In the Light of Time - UK Post-Rock and Leftfield Pop 1992-1998 was unexpected. Collecting 17 tracks, it brought a fresh perspective on a particular aspect of the UK’s independent-minded music. This ground-breaking, agenda-setting release was... Read more... |
Albums of the Year 2023: Jim Legxacy - HNPMSaturday, 30 December 2023
In 2023 Dave and Central Cee had the longest running number one UK rap song ever with "Sprinter", a song about the logistics of being very rich. The real star of the show, however, was the spritely, luxurious instrumental which was partially... Read more... |
Albums of the Year 2023: Bokanté - HistoryFriday, 29 December 2023
Is it just me, or has the task of getting hold of basic information so that we as writers can tell colourful and reliable stories about music – rather than being dutiful recyclers of marketing blurb – become increasingly difficult in 2023?... Read more... |
Albums of the Year 2023: Baxter Dury - I Thought I Was Better Than YouWednesday, 27 December 2023
Just like our current government, I’m terrible at long termism. Fortunately, my inability to know what the future holds doesn’t cost lives as it largely concerns fashion, paint colours and music. Over the decades, there are songs I’ve loved with a... Read more... |
Music Reissues Weekly: Hawkwind - Space RitualSunday, 24 December 2023
As Britain headed towards the end of 1972, pop fans had fair cause to scratch their heads about a single which first charted in July. In mid-August, Hawkwind’s “Silver Machine” peaked at number three behind Terry Dactyl and the Dinosaurs skiffle-... Read more... |
Albums of the Year 2023: Scott Dunn with Claire Martin and the RPO - I Watch You SleepSaturday, 23 December 2023
A flawless song list comprising Richard Rodney Bennett originals plus some of his favourite standards, stunning arrangements by conductor Scott Dunn, plus the mellifluous vocals of Claire Martin magically aligned in my Album of the Year, I Watch You... Read more... |
The Loveless, Castle & Falcon, Birmingham review - a proto-punk Xmas from Marc Almond’s new bandFriday, 22 December 2023
Back in those halcyon days of 2017, before the pandemic, Marc Almond did a tour of large concert halls, singing songs that had influenced him over the years. Needless to say, there was something of a focus on glam and proto-punk tunes from the likes... Read more... |
Albums of the Year 2023: Rhiannon Giddens - You’re the OneFriday, 22 December 2023
My CD player died some time ago, that is to say it sticks or skips whatever I do to clean it. Dismantling the fancy stack in which it sits and installing a replacement is a hassle, but even so it would once have been unthinkable that I could survive... Read more... |
Albums of the Year 2023: Cécile McLorin Salvant - MélusineThursday, 21 December 2023
If Mélusine is encountered without knowing its background or themes it would still be remarkable. There is no need to know anything about what frames this journey through Chanson Française, electronica, jazz and show-tune sensibilities with lyrics... Read more... |
Albums of the Year 2023: PJ Harvey - I Inside the Old Year DyingWednesday, 20 December 2023
PJ Harvey never fails to deliver – much as I hate that over-used word, the go-to assurance from politicians who promise the earth and dump nothing but shit. With Polly Harvey, she reaches into the unknown, true to her creative impulses, and... Read more... |
Albums of the Year 2023: Janelle Monáe - The Age of PleasureMonday, 18 December 2023
It was a year of bleak and brutal conflict, ugly and stupid imposition of power, overt Fascism in the mainstream public sphere, decay of infrastructure and apocalyptic weather. So what better than a record of total pleasure? And Janelle Monáe’s... Read more... |
