Last time we heard from Blackburn heavy rockers Sky Valley Mistress, they were a four-piece who'd recorded their 2020 debut album in the Mohave Desert (strong hints at their musical motivation lie in their name, drawn from Welcome to Sky Valley, an album by Kyuss, Josh Homme’s pre-Queens of the Stone Age outfit). They return as a duo, with the album Luna Mausoleum, laid down in Leeds. While it retains the riffological poundage of their origins, it’s an invigorating leap forward in terms of sonic invention and songcraft.Now consisting of singer Kayley “Hell Kitten” Davies and guitarist Max Read more ...

It’s no coincidence that synth heavy 1980s AOR is one of the first genres to generate significant online hits. Not just because its structures are formulaic – every genre is to one degree or another – but because its textures are so slick, even down to the multitracked vocals, that sounding synthetic is a feature not a bug. One has to wonder if this means that it is a threat to some of the biggest stars: after all, in the post-Taylor Swift world, that tidily arranged soft rock vibe is very much the chassis of so much. Indeed, when I first put this album on, flicking through opening tracks “ Read more ...

A new look and new vibe for Grant-Lee Phillips at this pared-back performance, part of the Celtic Connections festival that takes over Glasgow for a couple of weeks every January and February. The fresh vibe was due to this being Phillips first tour entirely seated, as he put it, sitting down and armed only with an acoustic guitar, while the 62-year-old is now more hirsute, having grown a beard.There was little else beyond simple performance here, for Cottiers' converted church setting does not exactly lend itself to any onstage gimmicks. If the plastic chairs of the auditorium gave it all Read more ...

The term “post-punk” is much overused to describe music, not least by we music writers. It usually covers anything with punk’s outsider attitude but boasting an arty, tricky musical ambition beyond 1977’s spit’n’roar. Not all music described thus sounds as if it might have bothered the indie charts between 1978 and 1984, but Dry Cleaning do. Their third album’s bubbling combination of musical scratchiness and impassively delivered spoken word is pure post-punk. It’s also an intriguing and likeable listen.The rhythm throughout is a groovy plod, guitars wilfully relishing atonal skronk, coming Read more ...

“Ace tribute to The Doors” is what the poster says. And after The Fire Doors stroll on stage and blast into “Break on Through (to the Other Side),” Jim Morrison and Co’s January 1967 debut single, it’s instantly clear this band has the chops.The bass – played left-handed on a keyboard balanced upon a Crumar Mojo 61 Hammond-organ style synth – pumps relentlessly. The spikey guitar penetrates. The drumming swings, jazzily. The keyboard fills are baroque, filigreed. The singer, though he doesn’t look exactly like Jim Morrison or attempt to, inhabits the persona of The Doors' frontman Read more ...

“The wonderful Mirra exists in its own space.” Back in August, that was the conclusion of my review of Benedicte Maurseth’s then-new album. Living with this “stunningly intense,” “haunting, intense evocation of Norway’s uplands and its wildlife” hasn’t changed this impression. Moreover, over the ensuing months, the impact of this exceptional collection of eight interrelated compositions has increased. Benedicte Maurseth is Norwegian. Her main instrument is the Hardanger fiddle – with its second set of sympathetic, drone-generating, strings. This, together with Mirra’s concern with Read more ...

My musical year isn’t primarily made up of albums – there are so many other ways of enjoying “New Music” – not to mention the classical which I follow too. Bon Iver’s SABLE fABLE, offered delightful acoustic-driven sounds, that trod familiar ground, but the best of a wonderful album demonstrated how open he is to collaborations, in this case with artists such as vocalist Dijon, and producer Jim-E Stack, both of whom discoveries for me, and whose own work led me down so extraordinary sonic rabbit-holes. I have returned to this album a great deal, and the inventiveness and emotional power Read more ...

VINYL OF THE MONTHManduria Bite Me (Wild Honey) Image The debut from Milan punkers Manduria is a six-tracker haemorrhaging rock’n’roll cheek and sass. They riff and fuzz and bang about without a care in the world, shouting and revelling in reverb mess, howling like Screamin’ Jay Hawkins while cranking up the amps like The Cramps, the rhythm section indulging in a mono-stomp that penetrates the inner brain like Joe Pesci’s vice. There’s a track called “I Hate to Think” and you don’t need to. On “Buongiorno” they slow things down for a dip Read more ...

Yes, I know. Maybe everything bitched about them is true; an eye-watering marketing push, cynically calculated, monied, etc. Maybe it is not. I’ve no real idea.But, but, but, the second album by this London five-piece is my most listened-to of 2025 – and it only came out in October. In the end, all that will be left is the music, the rest history. Just think of The Monkees. The cool kids loathed this manufactured TV group in the 1960s, but who listens to “Daydream Believer” today and froths with the same indignation?From the Pyre is a gem, start-to-finish, a perfect balance of Sparks-like pop Read more ...

Towards the end of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club's run-through of their old album Howl, bassist Robert Levon Been told the crowd the "pain was nearly over". By BRMC standards that's a wisecrack, referencing the gloomy, pared-back tone of that 2005 release, but some of the Glasgow audience seemed to have experienced it for real, having headed for either the bar or exits as the set progressed.That is partly on them, given the show was clearly advertised in advance as a 20th anniversary revisitation of Howl. However, it is unquestionably an album that was an odd pick to play in full, lacking many Read more ...

Of all the problems a band could face, fighting for room onstage with a Christmas tree must be far down the list of possibilities. Yet there was David "Jaff" Craig struggling to find room to move around, while avoiding knocking over the decoration next to him with an errant swing of his bass. It was the Futureheads own fault though, as both their current album and tour have a festive theme, hence the choice of two large trees on either side of the band.Some of the crowd had taken this theme to heart, with Christmas jumpers and Santa hats worn, suggesting a works night out had wandered into Read more ...

 According to legend, Glasgow can be a tough place for a support band a crowd do not warm to. Therefore brotherly duo Faux Real were perhaps taking a risk when they elected to bound into the audience during the first number in their Wet Leg support slot. It was greeted with mostly puzzlement from early attendees, but when they repeated the trick 30 minutes later - finding space and sprinting towards each other before jumping into the air with high kicks - the reaction was much more enthusiastic. The pair had mixed up synth-heavy pop of varying quality with relentless, hard working Read more ...