Reviews Index
by Max Pilley
Complaining about rainfall at a music festival held in the Brecon Beacons is no better than screaming at the passage of time. Much better to…
Some of the best gigs are those that are greater than the sum of their individual parts. This was certainly the case with the show...
January 2019. It was a tweet that came from nowhere, and made a lot of people very excited. A photograph of Annie Clark aka St...
Two years after releasing their first post-reunion album, Ride are back with an even better one, This Is Not A Safe Place. It’s been quite...
Who wrote the rule that pop acts should release albums every year or two? Whoever it is did not tell Friendly Fires, who have undergone...
It’s fair to say that Thrashing Thru The Passion is the album that some The Hold Steady fans doubted they’d ever see released. When keyboardist...
Introduced on stage by Meltdown curator Nile Rodgers as one of his favourite producers, whose music he called “didactic” and “primal”, SOPHIE confirmed with this...
As formal genre and sub-genre structures become increasingly impractical in the internet-dominated 21st century, there are artists that revert to nostalgic sounds – seeking an...
It’s been three years since Aleksandra Denton, aka Shura, released her debut album, Nothing’s Real. It was one of the best albums of that year,...
Like others in the ‘mopey vanilla’ school of indie-folk, especially Fleet Foxes, Bon Iver have always threatened to become the boring caricature of mid-2000s soundtrack...
It would be easy for Johnny Marr to sit back and rest on his reputation as one of the best guitarists of his generation but...
It’s fair to say that Jungle have had a good year. They’ve played shows across four continents (North America, South America, Australia and Europe) including...
There was a time when bassist Stephen Bruner was best known for collaborating with other artists such as Erykah Badu, Flying Lotus and Kendrick Lamar...
One of the most charming things about East London’s Visions Festival is its lack of showiness. Year after year it quietly goes about its business...
Mabel arrived on the scene with the infectious Finders Keepers, a sleek R&B tune featuring Kojo Funds which dominated urban radio, and followed this with...
Indietracks always feels special: the annual takeover of a heritage railway centre features owls, real ale, steam trains, and a packed line-up of indie pop...
All music festivals may be partly about escapism and adventure but each year WOMAD seems to outdo itself, offering an abundance of opportunities to immerse...
Here he is in earthly form, the flannel clad sprite of modern malaise. Clad in the requisite thick acrylic glasses, and stood scruffily beatific behind...
The lights go down, a familiar rhythmic patter strikes up, and the chords of Save Me, the opening track on k.d. lang’s once ubiquitous Ingenue...
On playing London’s Brooklyn Bowl back in 2016, Lucinda Williams had seemed somewhat perplexed. “Whawwwt is this dive?” she enquired in her distinctive southern drawl....
You certainly can’t accuse Lloyd Cole of resting on his laurels. It would be easy for Cole to play the nostalgia game, churning out remakes...
Festival Review: Green Man 2019
Prom 45: Mississippi Goddam @ Royal Albert Hall, London
Prom 44: London Symphony Orchestra / Rattle @ Royal Albert Hall, London
Aidan Moffat & RM Hubbert @ Omeara, London
Sleater-Kinney – The Center Won’t Hold
Ride – This Is Not A Safe Place
Prom 40: Queen Victoria’s 200th Anniversary @ Royal Albert Hall, London