New music
Album: Susanna Hoffs - Bright LightsSaturday, 06 November 2021
It’s been almost 10 years since Bangles’ front woman Susanna Hoffs has released any original tunes, preferring instead to go for unexpected songs by reasonably well-known artists.This is a pity, as she’s had a hand in writing more than a few... Read more... |
Album: ABBA - VoyageFriday, 05 November 2021
Immortality is reserved for monotheistic religions and Marvel superheroes, but in the material world, we also know Abba’s songs are ageless and will not die. After all, they have their Abbatars; we have our abattoirs.Their songs from the Seventies... Read more... |
Album: Diana Ross - Thank YouThursday, 04 November 2021
In an ideal world, we would want the flashbulbs of fame that have been focused on Diana Ross for virtually her entire life to reveal a figure who is not just regal but also ageless. We would want her to be able to connect with us emotionally through... Read more... |
Album: Electric Eye - HorizonsWednesday, 03 November 2021
Bergen’s Electric Eye’s pithy description of themselves is “psych-space-drone-rock from Norway.” They also say they “play droned out psych-rock inspired by the blues, India and the ever-more expanding universe.” Horizons is their fourth studio album... Read more... |
Portico Quartet, St John at Hackney review - softly beautiful discordancyMonday, 01 November 2021
Composed entirely of their 2021 release, Terrain, Portico Quartet’s Friday night concert at St John at Hackney was a beautiful performance, albeit slightly marred by a low stage and a chatty audience.The crowd itself was a cross-section of fans from... Read more... |
Album: Ed Sheeran - =Monday, 01 November 2021
It’s hard to navigate the gap between Ed Sheeran’s ordinary songs and the rarefied air of his career’s stellar orbit, which he now breathes with Adele and Chris Martin - the rump aristos of a once ruling rock culture. The image of him as a modern... Read more... |
Music Reissues Weekly: The Sun Shines Here - The Roots Of Indie-Pop 1980-1984Sunday, 31 October 2021
The Sun Shines Here - The Roots Of Indie-Pop 1980-1984 is three-CD set in a clamshell box with 74 tracks. The opener is “Better Scream”, January 1980’s debut single from Wah Heat! The closing track was issued in November 1984: The Jesus And Mary... Read more... |
Black String, Grand Junction review – storm-force intensitySaturday, 30 October 2021
If you were looking for a word to describe Black String in performance at Grand Junction in Paddington, before the high altar of the church of St Mary Magdalene, itself a pinnacle of Victorian neo-Gothic bravura, then that word would be “intense”.... Read more... |
Album: Katy B - Peace and OfferingsSaturday, 30 October 2021
“Flashbacks / driving in your car volume pushed right up to max / all those late nights I’d try to drink them back” These are almost the first words you hear on this record, coming in as South London Afrobeats producer P2J’s bass tones roll in on... Read more... |
Album: Billy Bragg - The Million Things That Never HappenedFriday, 29 October 2021
Like a more genuinely earthed Springsteen, Billy Bragg’s middle-aged, Dorset years have offered somewhat self-conscious wisdom and awareness of his singer-songwriter status. He’s grown up and into himself, diligently expanding both his craft and... Read more... |
Sports Team, SWG3, Glasgow review - entertaining, but not always originalThursday, 28 October 2021
It may go against rock n’ roll cliché, but occasionally there is merit to good time keeping for a band. Lucia and the Best Boys saw their support slot in their home town of Glasgow reach an ignominious ending when they were cut off a song early,... Read more... |
Album: New Age Doom & Lee 'Scratch' Perry - Lee 'Scratch' Perry’s Guide to the UniverseThursday, 28 October 2021
It seems totally appropriate that Lee “Scratch” Perry’s last recorded album before his death earlier this year, is a collaboration with a Canadian experimental noise outfit and that it is several musical lightyears away from his legendary 1970s... Read more... |
