fri 08/08/2025

New Music Reviews

Music Reissues Weekly: Andwella - To Dream

Kieron Tyler

Original pressings of Love And Poetry sell for up to £2,800. Copies of the August 1969 debut album by Andwellas Dream can sometimes also be found for £700, a relative bargain in the context of the upper limit of the prices the collector’s market has settled on.

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The Great Escape Festival 2024, Brighton review - a dip into day one and the elephant-in-the-room

Thomas H Green

Before reviewing The Great Escape, we must first deal with the elephant in the room. Or, in this case, the room that’s crushing the elephant, like the trash compactor in the first Star Wars film.

THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM BIT

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Laufey, Royal Albert Hall review - fans in heaven

Sebastian Scotney

In many ways, Laufey’s emotionally charged, sold-out Royal Albert Hall debut was a masterclass.

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Hidden Door 10th Birthday Party, St James Quarter, Edinburgh review - going underground

Miranda Heggie

It’s hard to imagine that The Arches – a string of stylish glass-fronted units in prime city centre location, housing boutique bars, high-end eateries and stylish salons – were once a bunch of old storage units which were opened up a decade ago by a volunteer-run, grassroots arts festival calling itself Hidden Door.

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Conchúr White, St Pancras Old Church review - side-stepping the past to embrace the future

Kieron Tyler

If there’s a feeling of déjà vu, it isn’t detectable. Conchúr White played St Pancras Old Church in April 2016 with County Armagh’s Silences, the band he fronted. This evening, a mention of having been here before is absent. Nothing in the body language suggests any familiarity with where he’s playing.

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Pop Will Eat Itself, Chalk, Brighton review - hip hop rockers deliver a whopper

Thomas H Green

By midway, things are cooking. “Can U Dig It?”, a post-modern list-song from another age (Ok, 1989), boasts a whopping guitar riff. Keys-player Adam Mole, his ushanka cap’s ear-covers flapping, leaps onto his seat, waves his synth aloft.

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Music Reissues Weekly: Little Girls - Valley Songs

Kieron Tyler

The name, Caron and Michelle Maso explained to Los Angeles radio DJ Rodney Bingenheimer, was a literal description. “We’re both like five feet. We’re all grown up, but we’re still little.”

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Music Reissues Weekly: West Coast Consortium - All The Love In The World

Kieron Tyler

West Coast Consortium’s first single was July 1967’s “Some Other Someday,” a delightful slice of Mellotron-infused harmony pop which wasn’t too far from The Ivy League’s “Funny How Love Can be” and The Rockin’ Berries’ “He’s in Town” – each of which were hits in, respectively, 1965 and 1964. All three bands were on the Pye label and its associated imprint Piccadilly.

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CVC, Concorde 2, Brighton review - they have the songs and they have the presence

Thomas H Green

The joy of CVC, when they catch fire, is the zing of gatecrashing a gang of cheeky, very individual personalities having their own private party. There’s a moment tonight, for instance, midway through the evening, when guitarists David Bassey and Elliot Bradfield, close in on each other, lock eyes, and spar clanging notes with spine-tingling precision. This band are tight, tight, tight.

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Mitski, Usher Hall, Edinburgh review - cool and quirky, yet deeply personal

Miranda Heggie

It was her 2018 album Be the Cowboy which saw Mitski propelled to stardom status. Laurel Hell, which followed in 2022, saw her continue on the popstar trajectory with synth-heavy songs, so the more laid back folkiness of last year’s release, The Land is Inhospitable and So are We came as a bit of a surprise.

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