New music
CD: The Darkness - Last of Our KindSaturday, 30 May 2015
The Darkness, despite their current sober lifestyle, claim to be back with music that makes “women weak at the knees and men shit their pants”. If only. The lorry loads of booze and cocaine may be a thing of the past, but also, it seems, is their... Read more... |
When Pop Ruled My Life, BBC FourFriday, 29 May 2015
A long time ago I went out into the field to research a feature about the three ages of obsessive fandom. At the entry level was a bog-standard legion of young teenage girls who simply hung around outside the mansion block in Maida Vale where one or... Read more... |
Fleetwood Mac, Reunion Tour, O2 ArenaThursday, 28 May 2015
To begin at the very bizarre ending. Fleetwood Mac, finally reunited as a five-piece with Christine McVie stage right on luscious vocals and keyboard, had just thrashed out a show of great finesse for two hours. It had all gone peachily. McVie was... Read more... |
CD: Jamie xx - In ColourThursday, 28 May 2015
There has never been any doubt of Jamie xx’s skill as a producer. Since he first appeared with the spectral, soundscaped atmospherics of The xx, he has remixed artists such as Adele and Eliza Doolittle but his work on Radiohead and Four Tet, as well... Read more... |
Common People Festival, SouthamptonWednesday, 27 May 2015
Perhaps it was after Bestival 2008 that its organizer, Rob da Bank, made his pact with the ancient gods. That year the Robin Hill Country Park site was reduced to a cold, sleet-raked, tornado-blown mire. The event truly lived up to every overuse of... Read more... |
CD: Major Lazer - Peace is the MissionTuesday, 26 May 2015
When producers Diplo and Switch released their collaboration Guns Don’t Kill People… Lazers do under the guise of Major Lazer in 2009, it gave the electronic dance scene a much needed kick up the backside. Dance grooves, ragga beats and lively MCs... Read more... |
CD: Man Power – Man PowerMonday, 25 May 2015
The mysterious figure of Man Power has been making waves for a while now. A series of mixes and remixes and frankly jaw-dropping EPs have seen his star rise, though his actual profile has remained obscured – largely by his hand in a series of promo... Read more... |
Carleen Anderson: A Tribute to Sarah Vaughan, Theatre Royal, BrightonSunday, 24 May 2015
Carleen Anderson’s range of vocal scales and styles is matchless in contemporary pop. Where she aims those enviable resources is the only issue anyone could have with her, a matter of taste she’ll eventually make irrelevant tonight with a flood of... Read more... |
CD: Pokey LaFarge - Something in the WaterSunday, 24 May 2015
At gigs by Irish blues-rockers The Strypes or Dutch swing fanatic Cara Emerald, what’s shocking is how old and staid their audience often is. Mums and dads – even grannies and granddads – turn out to hear younger voices express dynamic rehashes of... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: The DamnedSunday, 24 May 2015
The Damned: Go! 45At the end of 1979, Britain’s first three 1976-born punk bands were in very different situations. The Sex Pistols had imploded in early 1978 and John Lydon, their front man, was back with Public Image Ltd’s challenging dub-... Read more... |
Mark Knopfler, O2 ArenaSaturday, 23 May 2015
For many, Mark Knopfler will forever evoke a golden age of Eighties' soft rock. His headband might have been easy to mock but his blistering, finger-picking was undeniably thrilling. Latterly, though, Knopfler has travelled a less commercial path.... Read more... |
10 Questions for Musician Pokey LaFargeSaturday, 23 May 2015
Pokey LaFarge (b. 1983) is a singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and American history enthusiast. Based in St Louis, Missouri, but frequently on the road, he self-released his first album Marmalade in 2006, a well-received foray into American... Read more... |
