New music
Le Tigre, Barrowland Ballroom, Glasgow review - letting out their emotions while having a partyThursday, 08 June 2023
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. The band may have not released any new material in well over a decade, but the Glasgow crowd gathered for this... Read more... |
Album: Christine and the Queens - PARANOÏA, ANGELS, TRUE LOVEThursday, 08 June 2023
Tony Kushner’s early 1990s play Angels in America is an epochal, mystical, political, state-of-the-nation address, revolving around the AIDs epidemic. By no means straightforward, its narrative runs the gamut from New York’s gay scene to God’s own... Read more... |
Album: Janelle Monáe - The Age of PleasureWednesday, 07 June 2023
There’s been a good deal of discussion on “the socials” about how much Janelle Monáe’s sexy image is a new thing or a big deal.Casual viewers, still stuck on the suit-wearing image with which she crashed into public consciousness in 2010, have acted... Read more... |
Album: Foo Fighters - But Here We AreMonday, 05 June 2023
In 1995 Dave Grohl returned with a new project and album, called Foo Fighters, following the death of Nirvana band-mate and close friend Kurt Cobain. Given his close connection with Kurt, and his avoidance of the media spotlight, this new album was... Read more... |
Music Reissues Weekly: Heavenly - Le Jardin de HeavenlySunday, 04 June 2023
“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,... Read more... |
Album: King Krule - Space HeavySaturday, 03 June 2023
At first, I misread the title of the lead single “Seaforth” from King Krule’s fourth album, Space Heavy, as “Sea Froth”. It felt like a fitting title, combining the watery motif that runs through all of Archy Marshall’s music with a grimy image... Read more... |
Disney 100 - The Concert, OVO Hydro, Glasgow review - a slick tour of the Magic KingdomFriday, 02 June 2023
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... Read more... |
Album: Dream Wife - Social LubricationFriday, 02 June 2023
Five years ago, breaking dry January a few days early, I joined a throng of folks amongst the merch boxes and strip lights of Rough Trade East to see Dream Wife. The London-based trio has come a long way since those small-scale shows in the backroom... Read more... |
Album: Baxter Dury - I Thought I Was Better Than YouThursday, 01 June 2023
This is a slight album in terms of length (under half an hour) but not in emotional insight. It’s absolutely haunting. Here we have the characteristic all-consuming melancholy that oozes from Baxter Dury but without the menace of Prince of... Read more... |
Album: Rufus Wainwright - FolkocracyWednesday, 31 May 2023
"This album is almost like a recorded birthday party and birthday present to myself. I just invited all the singers that I greatly admire and always wanted to sing with." So says Rufus Wainwright, a brilliant and compelling performer – and one, you... Read more... |
theartsdesk on Vinyl 77: Scuba, Dannii Minogue, Tito Puente, ABBA, The Undertones, Oracle Sisters and moreTuesday, 30 May 2023
VINYL OF THE MONTHRahill Flowers at Your Feet (Big Dada)Rahill Jamalifard’s debut solo album somehow transmutes autobiography into gorgeous slow-pop. Of Iranian-American origin and best-known as singer of the band Habibi, she and FKA Twigs producer... Read more... |
Jaminaround, Ancient Technology Centre, Dorset review - music in the round that delightsTuesday, 30 May 2023
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... Read more... |
