The Heckler

Mike Leigh (Canadian Press/Rex/Shutterstock)

There’s nothing radical about Mike Leigh’s films

10 November 2018 9:00 am

So there I was in Soho Square on a cold and rainy morning, nibbling my complimentary almond croissant and eagerly…

Sacha Baron Cohen isn’t funny – especially when he’s mocking the powerless

28 July 2018 9:00 am

Sacha Baron Cohen’s latest series Who Is America? isn’t funny. But then, nor was his terrible 2016 movie The Brothers…

Antony Gormley’s art works better in theory than in practice

30 June 2018 9:00 am

Antony Gormley has replicated again. Every year or so a new army of his other selves — cast, or these…

Detail of Cantata ‘Es ist das Heil’, BWV9

I don’t get why people worship Bach

16 June 2018 9:00 am

I don’t get Johann Sebastian Bach. I mean, I get that he was good — no Mozart, sure, but definitely…

Rattle’s hall

28 October 2017 9:00 am

Even in a Trump world where reality is what you say it is, the London Symphony Orchestra’s announcement of a…

St Vincent (image: Getty)

St Vincent: Masseduction

21 October 2017 9:00 am

Grade: A The old Tulsa sound was a rather agreeable low-key, shuffling, blues-inflected rockabilly — primarily J.J. Cale and Leon…

The Factory (image: OMA/Factory)

The Bilbao effect

21 October 2017 9:00 am

Twenty years ago I wrote of the otherwise slaveringly praised Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao: I’m in a minority of, apparently,…

LCD Soundsystem: American Dream

23 September 2017 9:00 am

Grade: B+ Number one. Everywhere, just about. You have to say that the man has a certain sureness of touch.…

The National: Sleep Well Beast

9 September 2017 9:00 am

Grade: A– There are plenty of websites where fans try to discern, without any success, what in the name of…

Arcade Fire: Everything Now

26 August 2017 9:00 am

Grade: D+ Well, this is truly awful. Perhaps the worst album by a major band since Mardi Gras by Creedence…

Album cover

England Lost/Gotta Get A Grip

12 August 2017 9:00 am

Two songs in which Sir Michael informs us that he is distressed by both Brexit and Donald Trump. Released with,…

Beethoven: Missa solemnis

29 July 2017 9:00 am

When you first encounter it, Beethoven’s Missa solemnis can sound like the Ninth Symphony with more singing but no tunes.…

Jay-Z: 4.44

15 July 2017 9:00 am

Grade: B – All criticism is pointless, I suppose, given the sheer magnitude of the Shawn Corey Carter machine —…

Beth Ditto: Fake Sugar

8 July 2017 9:00 am

Boy is she fat, and getting fatter. I realise this is something we’re not meant to mention when talking about…

Gustav Mahler

8 July 2017 9:00 am

When I began listening to music seriously, in about 1950, I had read about Mahler but wasn’t able to hear…

Peter Perrett: How The West Was Won

24 June 2017 9:00 am

Much though I loved it at the time, not a great deal of lasting worth came out of that fervid…

Snoop Dogg: Neva Left

10 June 2017 9:00 am

The problem Calvin Broadus has is persuading the rest of us that he still a baaaad muthafucka. Snoop is now…

National Army Museum

3 June 2017 9:00 am

I used to love the National Army Museum in Royal Hospital Road, Chelsea, which was crammed with the memorabilia of…

PWR BTTM: Pageant

27 May 2017 9:00 am

How about some queercore garage punk? PWR BTTM — the name means something empowering to do with buggery — are…

Blondie: Pollinator

13 May 2017 9:00 am

Ah, Blondie. Those happy days of glorious power pop, chilly disco and rich, fruity vocals — Debbie Harry yearning away…

Ray Davies: Americana

29 April 2017 9:00 am

There is some surprise that after all these years Ray Davies has turned his attention to America. He is the…

Bob Dylan: Triplicate

8 April 2017 9:00 am

Having seen Bob Dylan play live a few years ago, I’m pretty sure he is not the first person I…

Sleaford Mods: English Tapas

11 March 2017 9:00 am

It’s all beginning to wear very thin indeed. Ten years ago this already addled Nottinghamshire duo captured the attention with…

Sleaford Mods: English Tapas

9 March 2017 3:00 pm

It’s all beginning to wear very thin indeed. Ten years ago this already addled Nottinghamshire duo captured the attention with…

Sleaford Mods: English Tapas

9 March 2017 3:00 pm

It’s all beginning to wear very thin indeed. Ten years ago this already addled Nottinghamshire duo captured the attention with…