guitar
Echo in the Canyon review – California droopin'Saturday, 13 June 2020
Echo in the Canyon is a lamentably thin documentary about the vibrant folk-rock music scene that flourished in the bohemian Los Angeles neighbourhood of Laurel Canyon from 1965 to 1967. Though it features priceless vintage footage of the Beach Boys... Read more... |
Album: Larkin Poe - Self Made ManThursday, 11 June 2020
Larkin Poe are an American blues-rock band fronted by the Lovell sisters, Rebecca and Megan, both mainstays of the US Americana scene since their teens, at the start of this century. Best known in Europe for their fired-up gigs and festival... Read more... |
The Shadows at Sixty, BBC Four review - pop's age of innocenceSaturday, 02 May 2020
Back in the day, the weekend started with Ready Steady Go. Now Friday evenings are once more essential viewing, and not just because we’re all locked down. While the endless ToTP reruns are often no more than bad-taste wallpaper, the music... Read more... |
Album: BlackLab - AbyssSaturday, 02 May 2020
Abyss is the second disc by Osaka’s self-proclaimed “dark witch doom” duo BlackLab, but their first album proper, and it certainly delivers the monster sounds that were only hinted at by the compilation of impossible to find, early releases, Under... Read more... |
Sean Shibe, Wigmore Hall review - mesmerising journey from light to darkSaturday, 07 March 2020
"All true spiritual art has always been RADICAL art": thus spake the oracular Georges Lentz, composer of the pitch-black odyssey for electric guitar that took everyone by surprise last night. In that vein, why not add that all the greatest... Read more... |
Album: Pat Metheny – From This PlaceSaturday, 15 February 2020
From This Place (Nonesuch) is a complex, meticulously produced and many-layered album which demands concentrated and repeated listening. In many ways, it is all the better for it. Pat Metheny himself has written an essay or “Album Notes” of no... Read more... |
CD: Tennis - SwimmerSaturday, 08 February 2020
There is something deliciously normal about Tennis, the Denver husband and wife team of Alaina Moore and Patrick Riley. Steeped in the best pop of a bygone age, the couple’s lyrics seem so simple and yet unpack hidden depths on repeated listening.... Read more... |
My Baby, Concorde 2, Brighton review - Dutch three-piece deliver trance dance powerSaturday, 07 December 2019
“Trance boogie,” states My Baby frontwoman Cato van Dijck before submersing herself in the rising tribal rhythm of “Sunflower Sutra". Trance boogie is, indeed, what My Baby do. The song is decked with floating flecks of glissando guitar from... Read more... |
Is this Jimi Hendrix’s greatest posthumous release? Producer Eddie Kramer talks about a legendary live albumFriday, 22 November 2019
This week, one of the finest gems in the entire Hendrix catalogue finally sees the light of day in its full unedited glory – Songs for Groovy Children comprises all four sets from the Band of Gypsys New Year’s Eve 1969-70 residency at the Fillmore... Read more... |
Two Door Cinema Club, O2 Academy, Glasgow - lively but risk averse party songs for the weekendMonday, 07 October 2019
The onstage arrival of Two Door Cinema Club was heralded by a tongue-in-cheek video countdown that reached zero and then flashed up an error message, before asking the crowd to “try again”. In truth, the band’s own performance was never likely to... Read more... |
CD: Babymetal - Metal GalaxyMonday, 07 October 2019
There’s something in the dichotomy of Babymetal that I just can’t fathom. Cutesy J-pop meets heavy metal. Sheeny bubblegum-bounce dance routines to thrash. Sweet teen vocals over shredding.It’s like something that would get the audience vote on X... Read more... |
Rodrigo y Gabriela, Eventim Apollo Hammersmith review - fiery flamenco rockSaturday, 05 October 2019
Rodrigo y Gabriela are no longer the youthful metalheads that once spawned an organic fan movement from the muso grapevine, via rigorous gig schedules and world tours.They are grown up now, having been in the game for 20 years – something Rodrigo... Read more... |
