New music
Lisa-Marie Ferla
GAGGLE (n.): According to the Oxford Dictionary the collective noun for a flock of geese - or, less formally, a disorderly group of people - actually finds its root in the noise that a goose makes. It’s a fact that raises a smile as one attempts to create a back story for Deborah Coughlin’s 21-member all-female choir, as they stare out from the mysterious, brightly-coloured promotional shots with black eyes and tightly-set, blue-painted lips.The bird references carry over to From the Mouth of the Cave; whether in the form of titles, sound effects or a perfectly-choreographed cacophony Read more ...
Lisa-Marie Ferla
There seems to be a perverse trend among bands these days to give themselves names that render them near-invisible to the modern search engine. Hot on the heels of US boy duo Girls comes BOY, a pair of Hamburg-based female voices whose infectious hooks and rapturous harmonies have already caused a bit of a stir in their native Germany and Switzerland – as well as on YouTube, to the tune of about four and a half million views.The duo take on harmonious ground already well-tread by the likes of First Aid Kit and American sister duo the Pierces, infusing it with unexpected instrumental twists at Read more ...
Adam Sweeting
Back in Britain for the first time in 13 years, Tom Petty and his indestructible crew seemed delighted to be playing at the Albert Hall, and taken aback by the frenzied reception from the audience. They have a soft spot for Blighty, since this was where their debut album first started making waves in 1977 after being initially ignored in the States, but their long absence seemed to have had the effect of turning them into long-lost legends. Peter Bogdanovich's epic documentary about the band, Runnin' Down a Dream, has probably played its part too.Petty himself, now bearded and almost Read more ...
joe.muggs
It's a nervous beginning. This is the first ever presentation of the first proper album by one of the lynchpins of British underground music, and the soundsystem isn't right. Record label personnel and friends are flung across Paris to requisition new loudspeakers, while the invited audience drinks mojitos. After all this, it would be deeply embarrassing if the record turned out to be bad.Spoiler warning: once the right speakers turn up, the record proves not to be bad. In fact it is stupendous. It was never guaranteed, but the project did have promise. The idea of one of the founding fathers Read more ...
Thomas H. Green
Joe Walsh is one of classic American rock’s guitar heroes. For the solo at the end of The Eagles' “Hotel California” alone, he earned his place in those ranks, but he’s done a whole lot more in the 44 years he’s been a professional musician.Born in Kansas in 1947 and raised in Ohio and New York, Walsh first gained profile in the heavy rock trio the James Gang before moving on to his own band Barnstorm then going solo. His combination of technical skill, tight riffs and wry lyrics garnered US appeal and when he joined The Eagles in 1975, he gave their sound a steroid edge, co-writing “Life in Read more ...
Russ Coffey
If, stripped-back and acoustic, a rock singer’s worth may be judged, then last night the Palladium sure had the opportunity to measure Chris Cornell. And, although these days unplugged can just mean the addition of a couple of steel-stringed guitars, that wasn't how Cornell played it. One man with a six-string and a microphone. That was it. And, blimey, for a man who over the years has given audiences every permutation of rage, angst, and torment, he showed that when he wants he hasn’t half got a sweet set of pipes.This was unlikely to have come as news to anyone in the crowd. They all seemed Read more ...
Kieron Tyler
The moment you reach “I Call This Home”, the third track of Saint Saviour's debut album, it’s obvious this is an album to stick with. A pulsing rhythm beds guitars that reverberate like vintage Cure. The voice is quavering, anguished. Then it opens up. Suddenly driving and tense, the dramatic, shimmering song sounds like an anthem in waiting – albeit one with a maverick sensibility akin to that of Fever Ray, Goldfrapp and Marc Almond. It fits that Saint Saviour has played live with Hurts.Saint Saviour is Becky Jones. Formerly with the electropop outfit The RGBs, she then sang with and fronted Read more ...
Kieron Tyler
“This is such fun”. Martin Horntveth, Jaga Jazzist’s drummer, can’t contain his excitement. Standing up behind his kit, he radiates joy. Considering that he and his band are Norwegian, typically not given to overstatement, what he describes as fun would be off the pleasure scale by non-Nordic standards. The meeting of Jaga Jazzist and The Britten Sinfonia was an unqualified success, one of those rare one-off concerts where band and their temporary collaborators seamlessly connect.The Norwegian instrumentalists and the British ensemble came together at The Barbican last night as part of the on Read more ...
Lisa-Marie Ferla
Best Coast has always been the quintessential California band, an identity the duo has embraced so fully that the artwork for their latest album features the bear that is the state’s mascot. It would be clichéd to remark on the unsuitability of the band’s sun-kissed fuzz-pop for the sort of damp, drizzly evening that soaks through three layers, so it was a relief that frontwoman Bethany Cosentino did it for me. “We thought we’d bring you some sunshine,” she said, introducing “Summer Mood” from buzzworthy 2010 debut Crazy For You, “but I guess not. We like it though.”But then, that’s the Read more ...
Thomas H. Green
Apparently Cheryl Cole is now “the nation’s sweetheart”. These days that doesn’t mean broadcasting sung radio support to a besieged island while the Nazis plot our demise 21 miles across the English Channel. No, instead, all it requires is smiling dutifully behind the gnome-like ancient Queen beside a load of passive, botoxed old pop stars while Madness’s saxophonist goofs about as if he were the only actual human being left in the entertainment industry. And then there’s this, her third album.Do we really have to talk about the music? Surely that’s not the point of Cheryl Cole? Or “Cheryl Read more ...