Pop

A redemption song, conventionally sung: Sky's Tina reviewed

1 May 2021 9:00 am

It has never been easy for women in the music industry. Once upon a time the evidence was largely anecdotal.…

Moments of pure wonder: Folk Weekend Oxford reviewed

24 April 2021 9:00 am

Has any musical moment extended its tendrils in so many unexpected directions as the English folk revival of the mid-1960s?…

Demi Lovato makes Taylor Swift resemble Dostoevsky

17 April 2021 9:00 am

Grade: Z If you wish to experience the full hideousness of Now, of our current age, condensed into one awful…

The songs are still as fresh and appetising as a hot loaf: The Lightning Seeds livestream reviewed

10 April 2021 9:00 am

One thing about a streamed festival is that the toilets are better than at the real thing. The other thing,…

Riveting and heartbreaking: Sound of Metal reviewed

10 April 2021 9:00 am

The multi-Oscar-nominated Sound of Metalstars Riz Ahmed as a heavy-metal drummer whose life is in freefall after losing his hearing.…

Reminiscent of Roxy Music’s cocktail sound: The Weather Station reviewed

27 March 2021 9:00 am

One of the unforeseen consequences of the rise of streaming was a change in the very structure of the pop…

The mystery and romance of the cassette tape

20 March 2021 9:00 am

May the gods of Hiss and Compression bless Lou Ottens. As head of new product development at Phillips, the Dutch…

The triumph of bedroom pop

6 March 2021 9:00 am

A short history of lo-fi, by Robert Barry

'I like upsetting people': Steven Wilson interviewed

27 February 2021 9:00 am

Michael Hann talks to the cult rock star Steven Wilson about why it’s harder to write a pop song than prog

Epic prog rock without the widdly-woo solos: Mogwai at the Tramway reviewed

20 February 2021 9:00 am

You very possibly know the music of the Glaswegian band Mogwai, even if you don’t think you do. You might…

Makes me nostalgic for an era when music was more than a click away: Teenage Superstars reviewed

13 February 2021 9:00 am

In Teenage Superstars, a long and slightly exhausting documentary about the Scottish indie scene of the 1980s and ’90s, there…

A criminally underrated songwriter: Matthew Sweet’s Catspaw reviewed

6 February 2021 9:00 am

Grade: A– The early 1990s were a lovely time for rock music: Beck, Sparklehorse, Sugar, Green on Red and Royal…

Proudly ridiculous and wholly glorious: KLF's Solid State Logik reviewed

30 January 2021 9:00 am

Grade: A What a miracle the KLF were: an elaborate practical joke at the expense of the music industry, seemingly…

As pretty as anything he’s written in four decades: McCartney III reviewed

23 January 2021 9:00 am

Grade: A-   The greatest songwriter of the 20th century, or just one of the top two or three? Who…

'We knew there was greatness in these songs': Steve Diggle of the Buzzcocks interviewed

16 January 2021 9:00 am

Graeme Thomson talks to Steve Diggle, front man of Buzzcocks, about orgasms, boredom and Pete Shelley

Meet the front man of ‘the most revolting band in the world’

28 November 2020 9:00 am

Michael Hann talks to Corey Taylor, front man of ‘the most revolting band in the world’, about PTSD, Donald Trump and life after alcoholism

Like much jazz, it might have benefited from being less solemn: BBC4's Ronnie's reviewed

21 November 2020 9:00 am

Ronnie’s: Ronnie Scott and His World-Famous Jazz Club was like the TV equivalent of an authorised biography: impressively thorough, often…

I’ve heard worse things — the death rattle of a close relative, for example: Kylie’s Disco reviewed

14 November 2020 9:00 am

Grade: B– Uh-oh. Might have to be careful here, pull my punches a little bit. The editor is a big…

One of the few genuine British visionaries at work today: Richard Dawson at the Barbican reviewed

31 October 2020 9:00 am

How hard must it be to make music that sounds like no one else? And how unrewarding, often, as well?…

There’s a magic to hearing music in such small audiences: Divine Comedy reviewed

24 October 2020 9:00 am

Three shows in a week! Why, it was just like the first week of March. There was, however, little of…

The sound of pop eating itself and throwing up: A.G. Cook’s Apple reviewed

3 October 2020 9:00 am

Grade: A The future, then. The sound of pop eating itself, throwing up into a bag and then getting a…

More mimsy soft rock from Cat Stevens: Tea for the Tillerman 2 reviewed

26 September 2020 9:00 am

Grade: B– Time has been kind to Cat Stevens’s reputation — his estrangement from the music business and rad BAME…

Virtuosic but slight – always prog’s problem: The Pineapple Thief's latest reviewed

19 September 2020 9:00 am

Grade: B– Of all the various subdivisions in that wheezing and crippled phenomenon that we call rock music, prog has…

There's scarcely a dull track: Deep Purple's Whoosh! reviewed

15 August 2020 9:00 am

Grade: B+ Less deep purple than a pleasant mauve. Ageing headbangers will note a lack of the freneticism that distinguished…

'Cocaine addiction is time-consuming': the rise and fall of Kevin Rowland and Dexys

8 August 2020 9:00 am

Michael Hann talks to Kevin Rowland about Dexys, insecurity and the cocaine years