pop
CD: Squeeze - Cradle to the GraveSunday, 27 September 2015
The album of the sitcom. You don’t get a lot of those, and technically – beyond the title song – you don’t get one here either. “Cradle to the Grave” is the theme tune for Danny Baker’s autobiographical comedy currently on BBC Two, based on his... Read more... |
Florence + the Machine, Alexandra PalaceTuesday, 22 September 2015
There’s a new book out called Red: A Natural History of the Redhead, which gets to the heart of what it is to have the ginger gene, be it Boudicca or Jessica Rabbit. It says coppertops are more prone to bee stings, and perfume gives off a different... Read more... |
CD: Tame Impala - CurrentsSaturday, 18 July 2015
There’s been a real sense of expectation surrounding Kevin Parker’s new offering, with rumours of a disco album from the saviour of psychedelia after a conversion to the joys of the Bee Gees while on mushrooms. That sounded an interesting... Read more... |
CD: Ezra Furman – Perpetual Motion PeopleMonday, 06 July 2015
“I’m having too much fun, my arms around the toilet like a long-lost chum, I’m kneeling at the throne…I’m learning what it means to really pray.” Four tracks into Perpetual Motion People, on “Haunted Head”, Ezra Furman paints a picture which must be... Read more... |
Taylor Swift, Hyde ParkSunday, 28 June 2015
While most contemporary entertainers rely on a little of the old smoke and mirrors, no pop culture phenomenon requires the same suspension of disbelief as the 21st-century pop concert. When you pay your money, it is with the understanding that,... Read more... |
Glastonbury Golden Greats, BBC FourSaturday, 20 June 2015
Sunday afternoon at Glastonbury is an odd time. For some it means carrying on carrying on, trying to wring the very last drops out of the weekend and putting off the inevitable, stomach-churning lurch that will signal a nosedive into a colossal... Read more... |
Does anyone know the way to blockbuster?Saturday, 06 June 2015
There’s a lot of Seventies revivalism in the ether. Fleetwood Mac are back as a famous five after many years asunder. 10cc have on at the Albert Hall, although one astutely remarked that they really should have been billed 2.5cc. In When Pop Ruled... Read more... |
CD: Muse - DronesSaturday, 06 June 2015
Almost a decade ago, I went to a disappointing festival in Holland. Driven to distraction by the crowd – a sixth-form disco stuck between the third and fourth circles of Dante's inferno – I, on the advice of a friend, went to see Muse. Their... Read more... |
CD: Death and Vanilla – To Where the Wild Things AreThursday, 07 May 2015
Back in the Seventies, in between keeping an eye out for the unwanted attentions of radio DJs and waiting for punk, the internet or colours to happen, there was real beauty if you knew where to look. By which I mean telly, of course. From the... Read more... |
CD: Skip&Die - Cosmic SerpentsMonday, 13 April 2015
Most people like new music to sound as much as possible like music they’ve heard before. At the very least it should adhere to core genre tenets that don’t force listeners from their comfort zone. Music that’s regarded as brave by a conservative... Read more... |
CD: Blancmange – Semi DetachedWednesday, 18 March 2015
After waiting a quarter of a century for Blancmange’s last album, 2011’s Blanc Burn, this new offering, effectively a Neil Arthur solo project, almost feels like a rush release. There’s a much changed visual aesthetic – gone is the stylised, Fifties... Read more... |
Boys on Film: Duran Duran's '84 tourTuesday, 09 December 2014
In 1984 Duran Duran were at the height of their fame. Seven and the Ragged Tiger, the band’s third studio album, became their first (and only) number one soon after its release in November the previous year, and announced a sharper, more dance-... Read more... |
