New music
Graham Fuller
Steven Wilson’s cinematic concept album The Overview is named for the cognitive shift required of astronauts and others who’ve observed Earth from space and been humbled by both its beauty and its – and their – inconsequentiality. Wilson’s grappling with the existential questions raised by what he calls “cosmic vertigo” evidently inspired him musically. The eighth solo record by the Porcupine Tree frontman consists of two infectiously melodic tracks, “Objects Outlive Us” (23 minutes) and “The Overview” (18 minutes). Each is comprised of sub-tracks that give the LP a stop-start Read more ...
Ellie Roberts
The Father of Make Believe is the latest instalment in the cinematic fantasy world that Coheed and Cambria have meticulously crafted over the last 30 years. It’s openly more personal in nature than previous albums but The Amory Wars storyline and Sci-Fi emo prog rock atmosphere that the band are known for are still as present. The catchy, anthemic tracks that are scattered amongst both the delicate and spacey, and the heavier prog metal that make up the rest of the album, are some of the strongest moments. “Goodbye, Sunshine” and “One Last Miracle” in particular stand out as highlights Read more ...
Liz Thomson
I come to this album from a week or so spent among the denizens of the New York and Boston folk revivals, including a key figure from Tulsa and the Guthrie Center, and a concert (Judy Collins, marking 85 years of music and activism).They were a reminder (if one were needed) of how much the music of Woody Guthrie, his children and grandchildren, still means in a country heading back at full throttle to one that Woody and his confrères would recognise all too easily: one of poverty and prejudice and life-altering climate change. But this time around there is no FDR, no New Deal, and right now Read more ...
Kieron Tyler
What happens after the spotlight is directed towards another target? In the case of Liverpool and the Merseybeat boom – which, in terms of chart success, peaked in 1963 – the question is addressed by Liverpool Sunset: The City After Merseybeat 1964–1969. The city’s musicians carried on, despite record labels looking elsewhere for the next big thing, and despite the Liverpool tag no longer ensuring an automatic interest.The final (identifiably) Merseybeat bands to debut on the charts were The Escorts, with “The One to Cry” in July 1964, The Undertakers, with “Just a Little Bit" in April 1964, Read more ...
joe.muggs
Just the other day I overheard one of my kids watching a YouTuber called Nathan Zed and was instantly gripped. It was called “How Trying Became Cool Again,” and focused on pop cultural moments like Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl show, Doechii’s Tonight Show performance, Chappell Roan’s giant pink pony at the Grammys and Tyler, The Creator’s… well, just about everything.His thesis is that in an era defined by laziness, whether in dating apps or AI generated art, people going the extra mile to express themselves matter more than ever, and this is why suddenly “theatre kids” are back on Read more ...
Tom Carr
Within the loud realm of metal, it often exists happily unbothered by the mainstream. And although a metal band going mainstream isn't always well received in the subculture, it is still exciting when a band feels on the cusp of shattering through to something bigger. Spiritbox, the Canadian metalcore band hailing from Victoria, British Columbia, are one of those bands who feel inevitable and that momentum is behind them.Formed by husband-and-wife Mike Stringer and Courtney LaPlante in 2016 after leaving their previous band, Spiritbox have since emerged as one of the most captivating modern Read more ...
Kieron Tyler
Cultural references run up the flagpole on Ghost Palace include Deep Purple’s “Space Truckin’” buskers covering Lynryd Skynyrd and Ed Sheeran, Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome and The Ramones’ Leave Home album.Album opener “Celebrities in Cemeteries” encounters Jim Morrison in Père-Lachaise, the do-it-yourself funeral ceremony for Gram Parsons at Joshua Tree and a cemetery in Oklahoma reserved exclusively for circus performers. Contemplating this travelogue, The Burning Hell’s hopeful Mathias Kom sings “They’ll all come see me where I’m buried, Once anonymous and nameless, I’ll be posthumously Read more ...
Nick Hasted
Forty years ago, Chuck Prophet was the Keith Richards-like guitar hotshot in Green On Red, peers of R.E.M. and among the raw country-punk architects of what became Americana. Now he’s 61 and playing in a sold-out pub back-room in Hassocks, a downland commuter village near Brighton, still giving his all during two hours of humour and humane passion as if this is the biggest stage, and this crowd a community clearly worth serving.Green On Red proved to be a youthful waystation of high times and burnout, on the road to a greater career spent reinvigorating rock’n’roll’s essential language with Read more ...
Guy Oddy
Chapter III: We Return to Light is an unashamedly gentle and soothing escape from a hectic world. The last in a travelogue triptych which has so far incorporated Anoushka Shankar’s influences from living in Europe and then California – this album returns to the source of her music and inspiration.Chapter III, however, is resolutely not buried in the traditional Indian sounds which were first brought to the attention of Western audiences by Anoushka’s father, Ravi. That said, there certainly are some classical Indian raga sounds in the mix with more modern melodies and tones, which rub up Read more ...
Graham Fuller
Folk rock has long been one of Jethro Tull’s strongest suits. Ian Anderson’s integration of Anglo-Celtic folk influences goes all the way back to the band’s second LP, Stand Up (1969), which drew also on Eastern and Eastern European music to affirm Tull wasn’t going to be hidebound by the blues rock sound of This Was (1968). Curious Ruminant, their 24th studio album, is their folkiest since Stormwatch (1979), which followed Songs From the Wood (1977) and Heavy Horses (1978) to complete the band’s inspired and – given the era, counter-intuitive – folk-rock trilogy. Though the hard-rocking Read more ...
Kieron Tyler
“German space rock group is already shooting up the charts with their debut US LP. One of few continental groups able to make this musical mode attractive in the US.” That, in full, in its 1 March 1975 issue, was US music business paper Billboard’s review of the single of Kraftwerk’s “Autobahn.”Three weeks later, with the single at 75 on its charts, Billboard went into it a little more. “With all the German avant-garde groups knocking vainly at US doors for the past five years, Kraftwerk is the first to make it. The extra ingredient appears to be the hypnotic prettiness of its synthesizer Read more ...
Tom Carr
Brighton metallers Architects have weathered various tribulations in their almost 20-year career. Formed by twins Dan and Tom Searle, after various line-up changes and a devasting, personal loss, the band now consist of long-time vocalist Sam Carter, Dan on drums, rounded out by Ali Dean on bass and Adam Christianson on guitar.Their path hasn't been straightforward, as the band themselves admit it wasn't until four albums in that they started to achieve wider renown. But they are now one of the foremost UK metalcore bands – that genre which blends the thrash of metal with the ferocity of Read more ...