Pop
The thrill of Madra Salach
Madra Salach did a good chunk of my work for me at the Electric Ballroom. I’d been wondering how I…
The problem with the Beatles
A pungent sentimentality has taken hold of their legacy
Status Quo are a much better band than people think
Some years ago a concert promoter called Alan Day explained to me how he had revived the touring fortunes of…
A rough and exhilarating ride with Bill Callahan
It’s as difficult to pin down exactly what Bill Callahan does as it is to explain what makes it so…
Ian McCulloch’s still got it
No one ever joined a rock band because they didn’t want to be recognised. Being adored matters to stars, sometimes…
Fairwell to Saint Etienne
There are many ways for an established act or artist to call it a day. Some implode mid-tour in a…
What a great band Geese are
It’s a measure of Geese’s rise – their flight? – that, on Thursday night, the social media accounts of End…
Billy Strings’s extraordinary and exhilarating new album
It’s easy to get the wrong idea about bluegrass – to imagine that this flinty shard of American traditional music…
Festivals are destroying London’s great parks
You could have been forgiven for mistaking Hackney for the site of an El Alamein reunion the other Sunday. Victoria…
When did the Cure become universally beloved?
My, how other so-called legacy acts must envy the Cure. There are plenty of bands of 40 or 50 years…
The joy of Toto’s ‘Africa’
There comes a point in most bands’ lives at which their appeal has become too selective for them to sell…
A joyous opening to Edinburgh
The title of the opening concert of the Edinburgh International Festival is also the thesis statement for this year’s entire…
The court music of the ruling class
It would be difficult to do certain shows in the courtyard of Somerset House. One can’t really host anything too…
Is this really the best Charli XCX can do?
Of the three creative pursuits that give Charli XCX’s eighth album its title, the English pop star seems least interested…
Wet Leg have become a proper rock band
Everyone uses the word ‘indie’ to describe a style of music. And Pulp and Wet Leg are two bands that…
Confessions II gets thrillingly close to vintage Madonna
There comes a point in the career of any established artist when looking backwards seems to be the only possible…
The slipperiness of Harry Styles
For the first time at a gig, I spent much of Harry Styles’s show thinking about the maths. He’s cunningly…
It’s impossible not to be impressed by Metallica
The intensely ritualised choreography of the standard summer stadium show has one inbuilt structural issue, which is especially obvious when…
Is there anything sadder than a Scots Gaelic lament?
Sad songs hit harder, I find, when their meaning hangs just out of reach. Aside perhaps from the exquisite ache…
The liberating delights of Aldous Harding
The first thing I did after getting home from the Barbican the other week was google ‘Aldous Harding neurodivergent’. It…
None of McCartney’s new songs will trouble his setlist for long
On 30 May 1966, the Beatles released ‘Paperback Writer’ – a fortnight after ‘Paint It Black’ by the Rolling Stones…
The perfect jazz song to play at your funeral
The prospect of the new Paul McCartney album does not set my pulses racing, still less that of the Beatles…
The appeal of doom, stoner and sludge metal
It was odd, walking around Camden Town during Desertfest – the annual weekend-long celebration of doom, stoner and sludge metal…
Joy and melancholy from Tame Impala
About 15 years ago, I spoke to a relatively unknown neo-psychedelic musician from Western Australia called Kevin Parker. It was…
Rosalia’s O2 show was a landmark concert
If Olivia Dean is the girl next door, Rosalia is the girl next planet. Their shows in successive weeks at…
