New music
Nick Mulvey, Chalk, Brighton review - cult star shines brightSaturday, 25 March 2023
Welcome to the church of Mulvey. The sold-out venue is packed with a svelte crowd, mostly ranging in age between about 30 and 45. Nick Mulvey is playing a new number which has an air of lockdown-inspiration about it, with its lines about “missing... Read more... |
Album: Leveret - FormsSaturday, 25 March 2023
Ten years ago, three leading young English folk musicians got together in a room and swapped some tunes – Rob Harbron, whose English concertina graced the likes of The Remnant Kings and Emily Portman’s albums; melodeon player Andy Cutting, a three-... Read more... |
Album: Lana Del Rey - Did You Know That There's a Tunnel Under Ocean BlvdFriday, 24 March 2023
Compared to her peers, Lana del Rey is mightily prolific. This is her eighth album since her breakthough 11 years ago (her ninth in total). Her last album appeared 15 months ago. There’s still much she wants us to hear. Did You Know That There’s a... Read more... |
Suede, Symphony Hall, Birmingham review - a messianic performance from Britpop's originatorsThursday, 23 March 2023
“Why do we come to concerts?” asks Brett Anderson, Suede’s ringmaster and vocalist, before launching into an acoustic version of “The Wild Ones” from the stage of Birmingham’s Symphony Hall. “We come to concerts to feel something together, for a... Read more... |
Album: Depeche Mode - Memento MoriThursday, 23 March 2023
Depeche Mode’s Andy “Fletch” Fletcher, who died in May last year, was generally held to contribute to the dynamic of the band more than the music. The only member of the band without songwriting credits, his contribution as peacemaker and “... Read more... |
Robert Forster, Lafayette review - élan, spontaneity and thoughtfulness from the former Go-BetweenWednesday, 22 March 2023
“Learn to Burn” generates the loudest and most sustained applause. As it was originally the opening track of Robert Forster’s 2015 album Songs to Play, the response is unexpected. It’s preceded by a version of his old band The Go-Betweens’ “Spring... Read more... |
Album: Black Honey - A Fistful of PeachesWednesday, 22 March 2023
There’s a disconnect on the third album by Brighton rockers Black Honey. The music is rousing post-grunge indie rock, tuneful, full of vim, but the lyrics speak of someone deeply troubled. The mood is, perhaps, best summed up by “Rock Bottom” which... Read more... |
Album: Cécile McLorin Salvant - MélusineMonday, 20 March 2023
In European folklore, mélusine are woman from the waist up and fish or serpent below. The fabled character is first known in the 13th century. Mélusine dwell in inland water – rivers, wells and such.For the concept driving US composer/singer Cécile... Read more... |
Music Reissues Weekly: Duffy Power - Innovations, Live at the BBCSunday, 19 March 2023
Sometime in early October 1963 John Lennon and Paul McCartney encountered The Rolling Stones and offered them one of their songs; one which became the London blues aficionado’s second single. “I Wanna be Your Man” was duly recorded on 7 October 1963... Read more... |
Album: 100 gecs - 10,000 gecsSaturday, 18 March 2023
If popular music is dead and done and there’s nowhere left to go, rising duo 100 gecs, from St Louis, Missouri, are here to prove there’s still deranged fun to be had cannibalising the corpse. The second album from the pair, both in their late... Read more... |
Album: U2 - Songs of SurrenderFriday, 17 March 2023
U2 are better than their many critics make out. Their Stakhanovite work ethic in creating huge sonics, not-a-bolt-out-of-place songwriting and stagecraft that could reach every corner of the biggest venues long before the days of giant LED screens... Read more... |
Album: Islandman Feat. Okay Temiz and Muhlis Berberoğlu - Direct-to-Disc SessionsThursday, 16 March 2023
Turkish traditional music lends itself for marriages with other genres, not least rock and jazz: something about rock’s deep roots in African trance music and Turkey’s soul connection to the shamanic music of Central Asia.Although at times, the... Read more... |
