New music
Album: Goat - MedicineFriday, 06 October 2023
Prior to the release of Goat’s last album, Oh Death, it had been six years since our favourite Scandi shamen and women had treated us to any new tunes. Less than 12 months later, however, Goatman and his band of hipsters and tripsters are back with... Read more... |
Album: Nils Petter Molvær - Certainty of TidesThursday, 05 October 2023
With beautiful playing from the Norwegian Radio Orchestra conducted by Ingar Berby, sumptuous arrangements which hint at everything from the great jazz orchestrator Gil Evans to the haunting "night music" of Béla Bartók, and – at its heart – the... Read more... |
Album: Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers - I Love YouWednesday, 04 October 2023
Canberra band Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers continue the recent tradition of Australian indie bands having unwieldy comedy names. However, their music, as laid out on their debut album, has higher aspirations, bridging their scuzzy punkin’ roots... Read more... |
Album: Sufjan Stevens - JavelinMonday, 02 October 2023
Sufjan Stevens, so we’ve heard, has just been struck down with a rare and immobilising disease – the Guillain-Barré syndrome. With characteristic courage and faith, he has thrown himself into physical rehabilitation. That he should be so reduced and... Read more... |
PJ Harvey, Roundhouse, London review - incandescent perfectionSunday, 01 October 2023
London’s Roundhouse is a very special venue. For decades the circular shed, with its elegant ironwork supporting structures has hosted a wonderful and varied series of performances. Like a great cathedral, the space has a hallowed feel about it. The... Read more... |
Music Reissues Weekly: Bowes Road Band - Back in the HCASunday, 01 October 2023
The acronym “HCA” in the title stands for Hornsey College of Art, the North London college which, in late May 1968, was occupied by its students and a few staff in a high-profile protest which went on into that July. What was wanted were changes in... Read more... |
James Blake, Alexandra Palace review - victory lap for North London nativeSaturday, 30 September 2023
James Blake’s sold-out show at Ally Pally is his only UK stop this tour and it feels like a homecoming of sorts – while Blake now lives in Los Angeles, he is from Enfield, only up the road. “I can’t explain how meaningful this is” he said half-way... Read more... |
Album: Ed Sheeran - Autumn VariationsSaturday, 30 September 2023
Towering drums, seering and furious guitars, vocals that are powerful and often throat-scorching; metal, hard rock, and all their intertwining sub-genres are by far the ones that fit most naturally for this writer. It may be a surprise then to be... Read more... |
Album: Jorja Smith - Falling or FlyingFriday, 29 September 2023
Jorja Smith said she named her new album Falling or Flying to describe the uncertainty she’s felt about her career following the success of her debut, the Mercury Prize nominated Lost & Found. Would her career fall to earth or keep flying higher... Read more... |
Album: Oneohtrix Point Never - AgainThursday, 28 September 2023
The music of Daniel Lopatin – AKA Oneohtrix Point Never – exists at the sonic/electronic vanguard. Were the likes of avant-gardists such as Iannis Xenakis, George Antheil and Edgard Varese around today, maybe even Stockhausen, they might dig... Read more... |
Album: Steven Wilson - The Harmony CodexWednesday, 27 September 2023
Steven Wilson has merged various genres – metal, shoegaze, pop, dance, jazz – in his solo career without shrugging off the prog label he considers reductive. He hasn’t exactly jettisoned it with his seventh album The Harmony Codex, a collection of... Read more... |
The National, OVO Hydro, Glasgow, review - commanding arenas with easeTuesday, 26 September 2023
There remains something disconcerting about seeing the National as arena rockers. Perhaps it’s the nonchalant stage entrance as they stroll on, a far cry from the pyro heavy displays this Glasgow venue usually witnesses. Maybe it’s the unassuming... Read more... |
