New Music Reviews
Suede, Symphony Hall, Birmingham review - a messianic performance from Britpop's originatorsThursday, 23 March 2023
“Why do we come to concerts?” asks Brett Anderson, Suede’s ringmaster and vocalist, before launching into an acoustic version of “The Wild Ones” from the stage of Birmingham’s Symphony Hall. “We come to concerts to feel something together, for a sense of community. So, if you know the words, please sing along.” Read more... |
Robert Forster, Lafayette review - élan, spontaneity and thoughtfulness from the former Go-BetweenWednesday, 22 March 2023
“Learn to Burn” generates the loudest and most sustained applause. As it was originally the opening track of Robert Forster’s 2015 album Songs to Play, the response is unexpected. It’s preceded by a version of his old band The Go-Betweens’ “Spring Rain,” and this London show follows the February release of his most recent album The Candle and the Flame – which would be an assumed focus of attention. So would an old favourite. This is a dedicated, attentive audience. Read more... |
Album: Cécile McLorin Salvant - MélusineMonday, 20 March 2023
In European folklore, mélusine are woman from the waist up and fish or serpent below. The fabled character is first known in the 13th century. Mélusine dwell in inland water – rivers, wells and such. Read more... |
Music Reissues Weekly: Duffy Power - Innovations, Live at the BBCSunday, 19 March 2023
Sometime in early October 1963 John Lennon and Paul McCartney encountered The Rolling Stones and offered them one of their songs; one which became the London blues aficionado’s second single. “I Wanna be Your Man” was duly recorded on 7 October 1963 and released on 1 November. Thanks to The Beatles, the Stones charted for the first time. A Liverpool-London, north-south divide had been breached. Read more... |
Kreator, Chalk, Brighton review - an invigoratingly relentless assaultTuesday, 14 March 2023
Mille Petrozza is roaring into the mic, teeth gritted, black hair flailing. Behind his growl-screeching a triumphant martial riff is holding the “tune” and behind that, never-ceasing drum beats, an exercise in pure velocity. Read more... |
Ladytron, SWG3, Glasgow review - synth stars show time hasn't diminished their relevanceMonday, 13 March 2023
It is a sign of Ladytron’s longevity and relevance that their support acts are now performers clearly inspired by the quartet. Elisabeth Elektra, here picked for opening the night in her home city, may not have the icy cool of the evening’s headliners, but the lineage of her buoyantly loud electro pop was clear. Read more... |
Music Reissues Weekly: Heavy Metal Kids - The Albums 1974-76Sunday, 12 March 2023
The booklet coming with The Albums 1974-76 notes Johnny Rotten saw Heavy Metal Kids live and that the Sex Pistol “ripped off” their frontman Gary Holton. It's an assertion in keeping with a default option where the HMKs are referred to as a precursor band to punk – one helping to lay the table for it. Read more... |
Lucia and the Best Boys, SWG3, Glasgow review - a celebratory homecoming for rising starSaturday, 11 March 2023
Jessica Winter is clearly a hardy soul. The Portsmouth singer made a point of shedding her jacket and top as her support set went on, a bold choice given the typically unpredictable Glasgow weather was serving up freezing snow outside at the time. Read more... |
Album: Fever Ray - Radical RomanticsMonday, 06 March 2023
According to the press release for Karin Dreijer’s third album as Fever Ray, its completion was preceded by many hours of therapy with the result new things are known. Amongst them that Dreijer “can be struck by despair but also by the big feeling of love and awe”. Dreijer declares “I know what love is and I want to show you”. Radical Romantics is the result of these realisations. Read more... |
Music Reissues Weekly: Jon Savage's 1980-1982 - The Art Of Things To ComeSunday, 05 March 2023
Jon Savage's 1980-1982 - The Art Of Things To Come continues a series which began in 2015 with 1966 - The Year The Decade Exploded, a compilation springing off from Savage’s book of the same name. A follow-up looked at 1965, but after that the series has marched forward chronologically. Read more... |
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latest in today
Suede, Symphony Hall, Birmingham review - a messianic perfor...
“Why do we come to concerts?” asks Brett Anderson, Suede’s ringmaster and vocalist, before launching into an acoustic version of “The Wild Ones”...
First Person: Donatella Flick on why the conducting competit...
What are the qualities that make a great conductor? It’s...
Album: Depeche Mode - Memento Mori
Depeche Mode’s Andy “Fletch” Fletcher, who died in May last year, was generally held to contribute to the dynamic of the band more than the music...
The Chevalier, St Martin-in-the-Fields review - virtuoso jou...
Shimmeringly urbane, shifting effortlessly from intricate agility to muscular intensity, the music of the 18th century composer Joseph Bologne is...
First Person: Anna Clyne on composing collaborations, not ba...
Collaboration fuels a lot of my music – I love the interaction that takes me outside of my natural tendencies – it’s a source of...
Robert Forster, Lafayette review - élan, spontaneity and tho...
“Learn to Burn” generates the loudest and most sustained applause. As it was originally the opening track of Robert Forster’s 2015 album Songs...
Album: Black Honey - A Fistful of Peaches
There’s a disconnect on the third album by Brighton rockers Black Honey. The music is rousing post-grunge indie...
Turandot, Royal Opera review - spectacle and sound wow in th...
Nearly 40 years old, Andrei Serban’s Royal Opera Turandot feels like a gilded relic (I felt like a relic myself on learning that my...
Osborne, RSNO, Chan, Usher Hall, Edinburgh - cinematic sweep...
Two women featured prominently in this programme; the one a composer and the other a conductor.
To the composer first. Long before she hit...
The Beasts review - a countryside idyll loses its charm
The Beasts (As Bestas) is all of two hours and 17 minutes long, and yet to look away is never an option. ...