pop
CD: Molly - All That Ever Could Have BeenThursday, 11 July 2019
The first thing you notice when listening to the debut album from Austrian duo Molly (Lars Andersson and Phillip Dornauer) is that it is a collection lit with the glow of confidence. Introducing themselves with a delicately paced 15-minute Mogadon-... Read more... |
Janelle Monae, SSE Wembley Arena review - strong in both sound and sentimentThursday, 04 July 2019
Janelle Monae says her show is all about making memories. She tells the crowd: “I hope that I can become a memory for you that you access when you’re feeling down – a memory that’s rooted in love and freedom.”Themes of #loveislove, courage to... Read more... |
The Killers, Cardiff Castle review - The Man arrivesMonday, 01 July 2019
With the fabled fields of Glastonbury on the horizon, The Killers chose the equally mythic Cardiff Castle as their practice run. While Stormzy was making history on the Pyramid Stage, the Welsh capital played witness to a precision-engineered pop-... Read more... |
CD: Mark Mulcahy – The GusThursday, 27 June 2019
On his last album, 2017’s acclaimed The Possum in the Driveway, singer-songwriter Mark Mulcahy presented a collection that seemed almost anthological – a series of vignettes each with a strong sense of individual identity, sewn together in a... Read more... |
CD: Ingrid Michaelson - Stranger SongsWednesday, 26 June 2019
Eight albums in, you can imagine why a singer-songwriter in the confessional vein of Ingrid Michaelson might be ready to look elsewhere for inspiration - and inspiration for new album Stranger Songs came from a curious place. Each of the album’s 11... Read more... |
CD: Hot Chip - A Bath Full of EcstasyWednesday, 19 June 2019
Nineteen years, seven albums and untold side projects into their career, Hot Chip have for the first time enlisted outside producers: Rodaidh McDonald and French disco/house don Philippe Zdar. And it's worked. Over the course of the previous albums... Read more... |
Backstreet Boys, SSE Hydro, Glasgow review - 90s boyband showcase grown-up new materialSaturday, 15 June 2019
They showed up with a 30+ song setlist, four costume changes and a floating platform, but the strongest moment of the Backstreet Boys’ tour was when they dispensed with all of that for an a cappella version of “Breathe”, from new album DNA.“Like we... Read more... |
CD: Avicii - TIMThursday, 06 June 2019
Sadness abounds in Avicii's posthumous third album. In context, even the plaintive single syllable of the title is full of pathos. It reminds of the real person, the Swede Tim Bergling who as a teenager discovered he had an unerring ability to hit... Read more... |
CD: Fujiya & Miyagi – FlashbackWednesday, 29 May 2019
Over the past two decades, Brighton’s Fujiya & Miyagi have managed, without fanfare or fuss, to amass an enviable back catalogue of linear, krautrock driven grooves dresses in slinky, drop-shouldered pop melodies. It’s a formula that has... Read more... |
CD: Carly Rae Jepsen - DedicatedThursday, 16 May 2019
Carly Rae Jepsen is a brilliant pop star. Her music pure and unashamed radio pop, full of the excitement of living and loving, but her status with her audience and relationship with them are a bit more like what you'd expect from a cult indie act.... Read more... |
The Specials, Margate Winter Gardens review - ska legends passionate and on-pointWednesday, 15 May 2019
Here they come again – the band most adept at capturing the mood of an era in catchy, critical three-minute songs. Just at the very point we need them most, the original ska-punk popsters surface and their message is as deeply relevant as it was... Read more... |
CD: Lizzo - Cuz I Love YouWednesday, 15 May 2019
Cuz I Love You starts with a big, bold, black-and-white soul moment, an album title hauled from the heavens via the lungs of an extraordinary pop star. It’s a stunning rush of feeling from Lizzo, the Minneapolis-based singer and rapper, alone in the... Read more... |
