Pop
The death of touring
Touring’s not what it used to be. When I were a lad, even big bands would do 30 or 40…
Silly, moving and imaginative: Steven Wilson’s The Overview reviewed
Progressive rock never died. Whenever some grizzled punk soldier next appears on a BBC4 documentary relaying their version of that…
Finneas has little to offer without his sister Billie Eilish
No truth is more self-evident than that there are those whose best emerges only when they are paired with others:…
Shades of Berlin Bowie and Ian Curtis: Hamish Hawk, at Usher Hall, reviewed
I am a regular attendee at the Usher Hall, Edinburgh’s most ornate and venerable concert venue. On more than one…
Lauren Mayberry is terrific – but it’s not music for middle-aged men
There are nights when one realises quite how much effort the business end of showbusiness must be. On a bitterly…
The art of the anti-love song
Tracey Thorn released an album in 2010 titled Love and Its Opposite. When it comes to songwriting, it’s the ‘opposite’…
A cheaper, shinier, more processed Chris Stapleton: Brothers Osborne reviewed
If you were a frequent viewer of Top Gear in its Clarkson/Hammond/May era, there is a particular laugh you will…
FKA Twigs is the most interesting pop musician we have right now
Grade: A Hell, there’s a lot not to like, or even to be a little suspicious of, with this young…
The maudlin, magical world of Celtic Connections
Is it possible to find a common thread running through the finest Scottish music? If pushed, one might identify a…
A new solo album by a former Beatle that – astonishingly – demands repeated plays
For artists lacking any obvious feel for the style, ‘going country’, similar to mainstream white artists dabbling in reggae in…
The problem with Paul McCartney is he wrote too many good songs
Don Bradman, the greatest cricketer of all time, was once asked if he reckoned he could have maintained his batting…
We’re wrong to mock Do They Know It’s Christmas?
‘I hope we passed the audition,’ said an alarmingly youthful Bob Geldof at one point in The Making of Do…
Kneecap are basic but thrilling
It was Irish week in London, with one group from the north and one from the south. Guinness was sold…
Perfectly imperfect: Evan Dando, at Islington Assembly Hall, reviewed
‘Can I have a photo with you, please?’ It’s the most embarrassing question you can ask of someone you’re interviewing.…
Goodbye to MC5, the holiest of rock’s holy cows
Grade: D+ Ah, the original Linkin Park, except even more spavined. MC5 came outta Detroit in the mid 1960s and…
Terrifically good value: Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds reviewed
A few years ago, I received an early morning phone call from Nick Cave’s former PR, berating me for not…
Nick Cave’s right-hand man Warren Ellis on AI, Gorecki and staying young
In the next few days Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds play Leeds, Glasgow, Manchester and London. There are still…
Chrissie Hynde remains outstanding: the Pretenders, at Usher Hall, reviewed
A few hours before the doors opened for the Pretenders’ Edinburgh concert, Chrissie Hynde posted a message on her social…
I agree with pop’s war on iPhones – but King Canute might want a word
Before each show on the recent The The tour – reviewed in these pages last week – the pre-recorded voice…
At Las Vegas’s Sphere I saw the future of live arts
Does Elon Musk have a good eye for the aesthetic? Earlier this month, the Tesla magnate took a break from…
The world is on fire – yet navel-gazing still reigns in pop
There is no better cultural weather vane than pop. It’s not that pop singers possess incredible analytical skills – they…
How some of the most derided bands of all time are making a comeback
The fate of the pop musician – at least the pop musician below the top tier of stardom – has…
The ethics of posthumous pop albums
‘At the record company meeting/ On their hands – at last! – a dead star!’ Back when Morrissey was more…
The rise of soapy, dead-safe drama: The Band Back Together reviewed
The Band Back Together is a newish play, written and directed by Barney Norris, which succeeds wildly on its own…
Elvis Costello remains the most fascinating songwriter Britain has produced in the past 50 years
Song for song, line by line, blow for blow, Elvis Costello remains the most consistently fascinating songwriter Britain has produced…
