pop music
Olly Murs, 02Saturday, 01 April 2017
Olly Murs seems to have monopolised the market on teenage girls and their middle-aged mums - the ultimate X-Factor audience that's followed his journey from the show eight years ago. Doe-eyed kids and their over-zealous chaperones at the O2 are... Read more... |
CD: Take That - WonderlandSaturday, 25 March 2017
One tries not to conflate the man and the music too much. Getting overly tangled up in questions of authenticity is a fool's errand, songs are ultimately public property, and in general, short of Gary Glitter-level crimes, dislike of a pop star's... Read more... |
CD: Goldfrapp – Silver EyeThursday, 23 March 2017
Silver Eye is Goldfrapp’s seventh long-player in an 18-year career that has taken in electronica sounds of all stripes. It sees the duo make a stab at melding together the club-friendly electropop and the witchy rural folk-noir sounds of their... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Chuck BerrySunday, 19 March 2017
When a skiffle group called The Quarry Men played live in 1959, their repertoire included covers of Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode” and “Sweet Little Sixteen”. The folk-based skiffle was becoming rock. In 1960, when the same band became The Beatles... Read more... |
CD: Zara Larsson - So GoodThursday, 16 March 2017
For many, music is simply background, blurring tinnily from phones, sense-candy to “Like”, swipe and scroll alongside Pokemon and Snapchat. Music is content, filling digital space in the same way Polyfilla fills dents in walls. Zara Larsson... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Guy DarrellSunday, 29 January 2017
In the last week of September 1973, Guy Darrell peaked at number 12 on the British single’s chart with the catchy blue-eyed soul pounder “I’ve Been Hurt” and performed on Top of the Pops. His was a grassroots-driven success. “I’ve Been Hurt” was... Read more... |
CD: Japandroids - Near to the Wild Heart of LifeThursday, 19 January 2017
It may be five years since their last album, Celebration Rock, and the world may have turned several somersaults of late, but Japandroids’ love of tasty power pop songs that suggest Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ bar-room rock with a hefty dose of... Read more... |
Albums of the Year: Sia - This Is ActingWednesday, 28 December 2016
I am an official Sia wanker. If you tell me you love "Titanium", I’ll be all like “Yeah, I prefer her early work with Zero 7”, and if you tell me about a major Coachella gig you saw recently, I’ll tell you about when I was basically the only one in... Read more... |
Albums of the Year: Beyoncé - LemonadeSunday, 18 December 2016
When, back in October, Donald Trump sulked that his political opponent was being a “nasty woman”, little did he realise the cultural impact it would have.Those two words – a fit of pique that was impressive even amidst an ever-lengthening line of... Read more... |
CD: Rachael Yamagata - Tightrope WalkerMonday, 14 November 2016
Rachael Yamagata likes to take her time. Tightrope Walker comes a full five years after the American songwriter’s last release, and it’s an album that demands to be listened to with as much care as clearly went into its creation. Like the French... Read more... |
CD: Robbie Williams – The Heavy Entertainment ShowThursday, 03 November 2016
“My main talent is for turning trauma into something showbizzy,” said Robbie Williams in an interview to plug this, his 11th studio album. While a point immediately apparent to anyone with a passing knowledge of his work, it also speaks volumes... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: The UndertonesSunday, 23 October 2016
Although the reformed Undertones, with Paul McLoone replacing original singer Feargal Sharkey, have been a popular live draw since 1999, John Peel’s anointing of “Teenage Kicks” from their debut EP as his favourite recording suggests this is what... Read more... |
