New music
Martha Reeves and The Vandellas, Dingwalls review - What's going on? Good questionTuesday, 27 August 2019
There’s something truly sad and dispiriting about listening to an artist trash their back catalogue and absolutely totally ruin their greatest song, especially when that song has acquired anthemic status and been chosen to be preserved by the... Read more... |
CD: Ezra Furman - Twelve NudesMonday, 26 August 2019
“This is our punk record,” says Ezra Furman of Twelve Nudes in its PR bumpf. In practice, the punk slant is manifested through distorted guitars, hell-for-leather tempi and howling vocals. The edgiest moment is the 55-second “Blown”, a close... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Creedence Clearwater Revival - Live at WoodstockSunday, 25 August 2019
Apparently, Creedence Clearwater Revival drummer Doug Clifford’s snare drum broke during the first song of their set at Woodstock Festival. On the new double album Live at Woodstock, it’s impossible to detect this happening. As “Born on the Bayou”... Read more... |
Edinburgh International Festival 2019: JARV IS review - Britpop legend still deliversSaturday, 24 August 2019
”Cunts Are Still”. Well, that got your attention, didn’t it? Not my words, merely the title of one of JARV IS’s new tracks. In case you didn’t get it, JARV IS is a play on words and the name of given to Pulp frontman and founder Jarvis Cocker’s... Read more... |
CD: Taylor Swift - LoverSaturday, 24 August 2019
If there's a central motif to the sprawling, 18-track opus that is Taylor Swift’s seventh release - and it’s an album that references both Drake and Springsteen, so it's hard to pin down - it first emerges in track three, the title track. Stripped... Read more... |
CD: Tanya Tucker - While I'm Livin'Friday, 23 August 2019
When Johnny Cash and Rick Rubin released the former’s stripped back, soul-bearing American Recordings in 1994 the impact was massive. Not only did it show a way that country music could cross over to a much wider audience, the alt-rock crowd, for... Read more... |
Eels, Hammersmith Apollo review – dark, swampy and endlessly entertertainingThursday, 22 August 2019
"Would you mind if I jammed on my new... castanets?" We’re halfway through Eels’ triumphant set at Hammersmith's Eventim Apollo and this is the kind of question we’ve come to expect from frontman Mark Oliver Everett, AKA "E". Expect the unexpected,... Read more... |
CD: Sleater-Kinney - The Center Won't HoldThursday, 22 August 2019
This album’s title began as a reaction to fractiousness under Trump, but gained more intimate meaning when drummer Janet Weiss quit Sleater-Kinney shortly before release. With production by St Vincent’s Annie Clark pushing these knotty indie-rock... Read more... |
CD: Gard Nilssen Acoustic Unity - To Whom Buys a RecordWednesday, 21 August 2019
To Whom Buys a Record roams through 12 crisply recorded pieces confirming that jazz which isn’t shy of acknowledging its heritage can still have an edge. Though structured and tight, each composition is defined by an attack positing this as an... Read more... |
CD: New Model Army - From HereMonday, 19 August 2019
Justin Sullivan, the last remaining original member of Bradford post-punkers New Model Army, has always given the impression of taking things all a bit seriously. After all, he did go by the name of Slade the Leveller and wear wooden clogs for the... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Phil Manzanera - Diamond HeadSunday, 18 August 2019
Diamond Head was Roxy Music guitarist Phil Manzanera’s first solo album. Released in May 1975 and recorded the previous December and January during a lull in his parent band’s activities, it hit shops between Roxy’s Country Life and Siren albums.... Read more... |
Foo Fighters, Bellahouston Park, Glasgow - communal singalongs and career highlightsSunday, 18 August 2019
Foo Fighters are an unlikely candidate for one of the biggest bands in the world. There’s nothing workmanlike about the sheer joy with which Dave Grohl and drummer Taylor Hawkins approach playing live. They’ll play the hits, sure, but they’ll stick... Read more... |
