New music
Thomas H. Green
It’s disquieting, as a bloke, to hear 2000 female voices singing about the sexual frustration caused by premature ejaculation. A noisy chorale, heartfelt, behind Lily Allen’s 2009 hit “Not Fair”, cascades from two tiers of balconies. “And then you make this noise, and it's apparent it's all over.” Lily Allen isn’t even on yet. Just this celebratory femme-centric congregation around the joys of dating a one-minute man.It’s the first half of the show – and make no mistake, this is a show, touring theatres, not a gig – and it’s a simple set-up. Three female cello players, clad in black, Read more ...
Thomas H. Green
Phil Campbell, guitarist for Motörhead from 1984 onwards, died on Friday 13th March after a "long and courageous battle in intensive care following a complex major operation". He was 64. While Motörhead's "classic line-up" is often eulogised, Campbell was their riffing heartbeat for over three decades, longer in the band than anyone but Lemmy himself. He played amped-up rock as well as any rocker out there but was, at least in later life, a quiet-spoken, unpretentious and down-to-earth man. Below, is a piece I wrote in 2013, presented as it was then.Phil Campbell (b 1961) has been guitarist Read more ...
Jonathan Geddes
Juanita Stein had a simple request for her bandmates. “Don’t fuck this up”, she joked, before the Australian group played a song from their new album for only the second time ever. You could understand the concern, however lightly it was expressed. These are still early days in the band’s reformation, with this year’s “Strange Days” offering the first material in 11 years.Hence the trio, augmented to a foursome here, were back in what Stein called a home away from home – the cramped surroundings of King Tut’s. It is a familiar haunt for the group, while also indicative of the fact that Read more ...
Guy Oddy
Once upon a time, albums of cover versions were something of a “go to” (along with hastily assembled live records or compilations with one or two new tracks) when an artist’s creative juices were running a bit dry. In recent times though, these stop-gaps seem to have been replaced with the remix album – because who really wants to give away all that lovely publishing income?However, it seems that the covers album might be making something of a comeback in 2026. Already this year, the Damned have put out Not Like Everybody Else and even Willie Nelson has released Last Leaf on the Tree. The Read more ...
Kieron Tyler
Although the bulk of the 20 tracks collected on Eternal Journey - The Arrangements and Productions of Charles Stepney were originally issued between 1967 and 1971, the period evoked by this compilation dedicated to the titular musical polymath is not limited to the late Sixties and the early Seventies. There is an early Nineties character too.That was when a lot of what’s heard on the compilation reached a fresh listening audience. Twenty or-so years after they were first released, Terry Callier’s “What Color is Love,” Minnie Riperton’s “Les Fleur” and Marlena Shaw’s “California Soul” Read more ...
Thomas H. Green
The best of Ladytron should be on everyone’s playlists. Over 27 years, the Liverpudlian synth-pop act have established themselves as a well-loved international cult act. They’re heading for (underground) heritage status, despite a quarter of the band leaving three years ago (Reuben Wu departed to focus on his successful photography career). The good news is that, on their eighth album, they’re still up for exploring new musical pastures.On Paradises, the trio revel in retro-Balearica, indie-goes-house songs redolent of Brits-on-hols-on-Doves groovin’, mostly sung by Helen Marnie and Mira Read more ...
Kieron Tyler
“Jazz,” exclaims an audience member just after Plantoid launch into “Ultivatum Cultivation,” tonight’s second song – also the second song on the band’s recent second LP Flare.He’s got a point. What’s emanating from the stage at East London’s Moth Club is more a candidate for a description as jazz rather than the math rock – or even the prog rock – tags often cropping up when trying to pin down Plantoid. Jazz: in this case a take on the genre fusing a Miles Davis Bitches Brew sensibility with, in contrast, softer things; things suggesting a familiarity with Gary McFarland’s Sixties Read more ...
Thomas H. Green
It’s the first date of Manchester rockers Witch Fever’s European tour and things are off to an iffy start. Drummer Annabelle Joyce has food poisoning. It was touch’n’go whether the band would play. But they do. Singer Amy Walpole advices us that Joyce may need to leave and puke at any point. But the crop-haired drummer’s made of sterner stuff. They hold their own. The band shaves two songs off the set but it matters little. Witch Fever rock.But let’s rewind. Support act Cowboy Hunters have a buzz growing. It’s easy to see why. The Glasgow duo are an original. They appear to an initially Read more ...
Guy Oddy
After a career of constant line-up churn, the video for recent single “Profane Prophecy” would suggest that the Black Crowes are now down to brothers Chris and Rich Robinson and whatever session musicians might be required for the moment. However, nothing much else seems to have changed on the band’s 11th album – which like all of their previous discs, sounds like it could have fitted in snuggly with the release schedule of 1973 and headed straight for the Hot 100.That said, Black Crowes fans clearly aren’t looking for anything particularly innovative when they press play on any of their Read more ...
Joe Muggs
For anyone to create a whole, new, recognisable – and kick-ass – musical style in this day and age is no small achievement. To do so as you enter your 70s is pretty mind boggling. Yet somehow, that’s what sometime Sonic Youth-er Kim Gordon did on her second solo album The Collective in 2024. She’d already made a huge splash with No Home Record in 2019, where she smashed all kinds of dance, electronic and hip hop elements into distorted alt-rock with uncommon panache, but The Collective tightened the focus, building a whole language around mutations of the modernist drum patterns and bass Read more ...
Guy Oddy
In recent years, noisy Canadian experimentalists, New Age Doom have shown themselves to be unafraid to engage with musical genius from all parts of the sonic pallet and have collaborated with the likes of Norwegian singer/songwriter Tuvaband and, on one of his final albums, the great Lee “Scratch” Perry. This is as well as having been remixed by musical mavericks from South Africa’s BLK JKS to US post-hardcore types, Quicksand.Their new disc, however, sees them go directly to the source and team up with the mighty HR, long-time vocalist of US hardcore punk originators Bad Brains – a group Read more ...
Jonathan Geddes
When David Byrne made a mention of heroes and superheroes, one audience member could not resist. "Like you" they yelled out, and while the former Talking Heads singer might not be able to leap buildings in a single bound, his current creative hot streak is a nifty power indeed. Several years on from his terrific American Utopia tour, and Byrne is back on the road with a 12-piece backing band and a seemingly empty stage. To begin with, he was joined by only three musicians for a pared back "Heaven", the Talking Heads track from 1979, but it wasn't long until more and more started arriving Read more ...