Reviews Index
by Steven Johnson
The UK is a troubled, disaffected, oppressive place to be right now and it weighs heavy on Giants Of All Sizes, the eighth album by…
With such a significant back catalogue behind him, it’d be all too easy to assume what a new Mark Lanegan album would sound like. Over...
It has been a long 16 years since Des’ree’s last album Dream Soldier. During this time, she has steered her creativity down other artistic avenues,...
As anyone who has experienced grief knows, it comes in waves. That initial tsunami, seemingly all-consuming at the beginning, slowly ebbs away, but those waves...
Hideousness and beauty are contained within each other. One may complement or contradict the other, but in no circumstances can they cancel each other out;...
A Korean celebration event at UKC’s Gulbenkian Theatre was treated to a combination of film, food and music which all built up to a celebratory...
There’s a moment in Jim Cain, one of Bill Callahan’s most popular songs, where he sings “I used to be darker, then I got lighter,...
In a stuffy venue in Hackney, in the middle of a thunder storm, Kristin Hayter is strung up between the lighting rig and a speaker...
Memories and music can be an incredibly powerful combination. Avid listeners and lovers of music can chart their entire lives by songs or tracks experienced,...
Obverse, Trentemøller’s first album since Fixion of 2016, began life as an instrumental work. Its author’s aim was to use his studio as the biggest...
Penguin Cafe frontman Arthur Jeffes is no stranger to ambitious ideas when it comes to making music. Second album The Red Book featured two songs...
For their seventh album, Moon Duo are embracing the concept of the dance. Through their previous six long players there has always been an element...
One Hundred Billion Sparks, Max Cooper’s album from last year, portrayed an artist interested in music informed by the possibilities of scale and volume and...
Serafina Steer may be known to more recent gig goers as a bass guitarist, but the harp is her main discipline and true love. After...
Gigs rarely get as atmospheric as those at night at Union Chapel. The candles, the coloured light projected on to the surrounding architecture, the overhead...
CHRISTEENE is not used to such a grandiose palace as the Barbican. But then, of course, the Barbican is not use to such a grandiose statement as CHRISTEENE....
When Pixies re-formed in 2004, delight was mixed with concern that their legendary status would be tarnished. After all, the seminal Boston alt-rockers who’d had...
Any long-term DFA disciples out there will know just how far John Maclean has come as an artist in the last 15 years. From the...
In an era of streaming where algorithmically selected playlists provide background music and the internet provides an abundance of opportunities to listen casually, ambient music...
One of the key elements behind the success of Metronomy’s breakthrough album The English Riviera was Joseph Mount’s ability to take a concept and stitch...
Every so often an important and distinctive new voice arrives in rap music, shifting the goalposts and planting a marker of intent. It is one...
Elbow – Giants Of All Sizes
808 State’s Graham Massey: “When rave came along, I felt culturally and technologically equipped” – Interview
Un giorno di regno @ Cadogan Hall, London
Mark Lanegan Band – Somebody’s Knocking
Des’ree – A Love Story
The Silver Lake @ Hackney Empire, London
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Ghosteen