guitar
Dream Wife, St Lukes and the Winged Ox, Glasgow review - an exhilarating reminder of live music's powerThursday, 24 March 2022Rakel Mjöll has a nice line in understatement. “We released this album in July 2020”, she said at one point, referring to her band’s sophomore record “So When You Gonna...” before adding, dryly, “which wasn’t the best time”. Finally, nearly two... Read more... |
Album: Metronomy - Small WorldWednesday, 16 February 2022Metronomy have gone all out to knock off their quirky corners here, and goodness, it’s worked. It’s quite a move from a band whose eccentricity has always been part and parcel of their image – and they really haven’t done it by halves, in fact they’... Read more... |
Albums of the Year 2021: Katherine Priddy - The Eternal Rocks BeneathWednesday, 22 December 2021Katherine Priddy’s debut album came out in the summer, and it’s remained a high point for the rest of the year as 2021 plays out to the sombre drums and drones of resurgent pandemic warnings, fresh lockdowns, closed venues, silenced auditoriums. Her... Read more... |
Paul Weller, Barrowland, Glasgow review - Modfather holding back father time with old and new tricksWednesday, 01 December 2021There was a brief lapse in this lengthy set when Paul Weller stood up from the piano, walked towards centre stage and then pivoted back the way he came, having realised he was moving a song too early. “That’s the trouble with getting old, you forget... Read more... |
Album: Justin Adams & Mauro Durante - Still MovingFriday, 26 November 2021Adams has long been Robert Plant’s guitarist in bands including the Sensational Space Shifters, as well as working with fellow Space Shifter Juldeh Camara in the band JuJu. He is steeped in American Blues as well as its West African and Desert Blues... Read more... |
The Jesus and Mary Chain, Barrowland, Glasgow review - Scottish siblings still the loudest gang in townTuesday, 16 November 2021There is unquestionably a more mellow side to the Jesus and Mary Chain these days, even when reviving their most ferocious glories from the past. Prior to launching this two-halved set, comprising their 1987 classic Darklands to begin with and a... Read more... |
Album: Susanna Hoffs - Bright LightsSaturday, 06 November 2021It’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: Alan Vega - Alan Vega After DarkThursday, 05 August 2021Following in the slipstream of wide critical acclaim for posthumous album Mutator, released earlier this year, comes Alan Vega After Dark by the former Suicide frontman. It’s a starkly different album to its predecessor, swapping concrete collisions... Read more... |
Album: The Grid & Robert Fripp - LeviathanThursday, 24 June 2021With his band King Crimson laid up, the only chance to check out Robert Fripp's guitar prowess lately has been in the Robert & Toyah's Sunday Lunch videos that husband and wife post on YouTube. Their popular weekly assaults on classic rock hits... Read more... |
Album: Julian Lage – SquintSaturday, 12 June 2021Expectations are high with Julian Lage; they always have been. The guitarist is one of the special ones: born on Christmas Day (1987)...appearing with Carlos Santana at age seven... a documentary made about him at eight...clocked by Gary Burton at... Read more... |
Album: Wolf Alice - Blue WeekendFriday, 04 June 2021When Wolf Alice appeared a decade ago, you’d have to have been a soothsayer of Merlin-like proportions to predict the career trajectory they’ve had since. Certainly, prior to their debut album, this writer took them for just another female-fronted... Read more... |
Sean Shibe, Wigmore Hall review - a bewitching hourThursday, 20 May 2021Last time I was in a Wigmore audience for a Sean Shibe recital, his electric-guitar second half had many regulars fleeing the hall (he later said that the amplification had been meddled with – it was too loud, though the work in question, Georges... Read more... |