mon 09/06/2025

New Music Reviews

Bob Dylan, London Palladium - busy painting his masterpiece

Tim Cumming

It’s the second night of a four-night run at the London Palladium of the Rough and Rowdy Ways World Tour – no other Dylan jaunt has taken an album for its title – and it begins with a blast of symphonic violence from the first movement of Beethoven’s Ninth. The house lights fade to black, the symphony segues into a modal tune-up on stage, Dylan and his four-piece – second guitarist Bob Britt is not here tonight – barely visible in silhouette.

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Let's Eat Grandma, Patterns, Brighton review - odd-pop duo remain a contagious one-off

Thomas H Green

At the start of the song “Two Ribbons” Rosa Walton and Jenny Hollingworth of Let’s Eat Grandma do a brief schoolyard pat-a-cake hand-game. The song is a guileless ode to female friendship, love even, a paean to their own bond, which was strained at one point by the travails of a music career.

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The Orb, Hare & Hounds, Birmingham review - ambient house duo celebrate 30 years of UF Orb

Guy Oddy

Ten minutes before The Orb got on stage at the Hare & Hounds, Alex Paterson was standing in the building’s courtyard with a big old spliff in his hand “clearing his head” and getting ready for action. So, it was good to know that some things don’t change.

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Angeline Morrison, Cecil Sharp House - a ballad-maker for our time

Liz Thomson

Among those making her Cambridge Folk Festival on the diminutive Club Stage back in the summer was Angeline Morrison, a Birmingham-born singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist who these days makes her home in Cornwall, drawn at least in part by its folk music.

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Bonfire Radicals, Hare & Hounds, Birmingham review - un-traditional folkies unveil their new album

Guy Oddy

Folk music? It’s all old blokes in shapeless clothes wailing on about ploughmen and fishermen, isn’t it?

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Beabadoobee, Barrowland, Glasgow review - teenage kicks provide a familiar feeling

Jonathan Geddes

Rarely will the bar staff at the Glasgow Barrowland have had an easier night. The crowd for Beabadoobee was so youthful that the vibe felt more like a school disco at times, right down to clusters of parents at the back and on the sidelines alternating between keeping a wary eye on proceedings and burying themselves in their phones. Their offspring, meanwhile, were racing to the front eagerly, leaving the usually busy bar areas deserted.

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Music Reissues Weekly: Maha - Orkos

Kieron Tyler

Orkos was originally released in 1979 on cassette. The only album by Egyptian singer Maha seems to have been little known. The liner notes for its first-ever reissue say “it was not a success when it was originally released. While nobody remembers the exact numbers, sales must have been very limited and the project was quickly forgotten about and no follow up release was produced.”

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Machine Gun Kelly, OVO Hydro, Glasgow review - fire and fury from pop punk convert

Jonathan Geddes

If ever a moment summed up the spirit of a gig perfectly, then it is the segment in this arena showcase where Machine Gun Kelly is confronted by the internet, represented by what appears to be a blow up statue with a monitor for a head. As it demands the American rap rocker should be pigeonholed into one genre, he strikes on a solution which involves a helicopter flying in to shoot it.

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Music Reissues Weekly: Trip On Me - Soft Psych & Sunshine

Kieron Tyler

The Candy Company. Evergreen Tangerine. The Lollipop Fantasy. The Pretty People. The Primrose Circus. “It's a Groovy World.” “Meadows and Flowers.” “Summer Flower (She's on my Mind).”

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Jaminaround, Ancient Technology Centre, Cranborne review - contemporary sounds in an archaic setting

mark Kidel

The most unlikely venue: an extraordinary, authentic-as-can-be replica of a large Iron Age roundhouse. There’s a turf and grass roof, and the structure, made of immense roughly carved oak trunks, defies belief.

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