pop music
Elvis Costello and Steve Nieve, Bristol Beacon review - so much more than a retread of the master's hitsMonday, 23 September 2024
Apart from being one of Britain’s greatest songsmiths of the past 50 years, Elvis Costello – from the early adoption of the rock’n’roll King’s first name – has produced a form of naked self-expression, blurred by intricately-tailored pretence.... Read more... |
Music Reissues Weekly: New Jill SwingSunday, 22 September 2024
As the name of a music genre, new jack swing was coined in an issue of the Village Voice dated 18 October 1987. Writer Barry Michael Cooper was profiling producer, songwriter and member of the R&B trio Guy, Teddy Riley when he created a tag... Read more... |
Here comes the flood: Bob Dylan's 1974 Live RecordingsWednesday, 18 September 2024
Lighters at the ready, because here comes the flood. Drawn from 16-track tape, 1/4in reels and lo-fi sound board cassettes that are now a half century old, the 27 CDs of 431 performances, 417 of them previously unreleased, of Dylan and The Band’s... Read more... |
Album: The Waeve - City LightsWednesday, 18 September 2024
Real-life couple Graham Coxon and Rose-Elinor Dougall are both musicians of some profile in their own rights. The former, especially, for his work with Blur. Their band The Waeve is a relatively recent development but they’ve thrown themselves at it... Read more... |
Album: Joan as Police Woman - Lemons, Limes and OrchidsMonday, 16 September 2024
You don’t need me to tell you that this particular law enforcer has served up yet another meaty helping of genius. It’s what we expect. So here she is, over-delivering again on her 12th album. A salve for the soul, Joan Wasser’s... Read more... |
Music Reissues Weekly: Sean Buckley & The BreadcrumbsSunday, 15 September 2024
Although Dagenham’s Sean Buckley & The Breadcrumbs are less than a footnote in the story of beat boom-era Britain, appearances on archive releases have prevented their name from vanishing.In 1986 “Everybody Knows,” the B-side of their lone... Read more... |
Album: Snow Patrol - The Forest is the PathThursday, 12 September 2024
Contrary to popular belief, not all music journalists get off on being snide about the same old easy-to-slate bands. When something like this album arrives in my review schedule, my instinct is to seek the good, to stick two fingers up to my... Read more... |
Girl in Red, Barrowland, Glasgow review - rarely has vulnerability been so giddyTuesday, 03 September 2024
Marie Ulven had not even stepped onstage and her fans were in raptures. Such was the level of excitement for her second night in Glasgow that sing-a-longs to Chappel Roan and Sabrina Carpenter were ringing out almost as soon as support act... Read more... |
Album: Cassyette - This World Fucking SucksThursday, 22 August 2024
The music of Brit alt-rocker Cassy Brooking, AKA Cassyette, comes from the emo school of pop-metal. Her 2021 debut single was, appropriately, called “Dear Goth”, she’s much-hyped by Kerrang, and has been tour support for both Bring Me the Horizon... Read more... |
Music Reissues Weekly: Having a Rave-Up! - The British R&B Sounds of 1964Sunday, 18 August 2024
“The Rollin' Stones are probably destined to be the biggest group in the R&B scene if it continues to flourish. They aren't the jazzmen who were doing trad 18 months back and who have converted their act to keep up with the times. They are... Read more... |
Stevie Van Zandt: Disciple, Sky Documentaries review - the New Jersey rocker with many strings to his bowMonday, 05 August 2024
The music scene on the New Jersey shore in the late Sixties and early Seventies must have been a thing of wonder, a kind of Merseymania-on-Sea. Its mix of soul, R&B and primitive rock’n’roll fuelled countless groups, not least Southside Johnny... Read more... |
Album: Blues Pills - BirthdayWednesday, 31 July 2024
Swedish-American four-piece Blues Pills are new to this writer but have been around since 2011. Their fourth album makes me wonder why.Of its 11 songs, judged purely on sheer pop-rock chops, nine have real legs. If a friend had put Birthday on and... Read more... |
