NME Tour review – indie new kids carry the flame
Clean Cut Kid, Peace and Will Joseph Cook are on the bill as a night of robust tunes and bellowed choruses revives glimmers of the guitar glory days
The Magnetic Fields: 50 Song Memoir review – quirky and joyous
In his years as The Magnetic Fields, US songwriter Stephin Merritt has not shied away from concept. Following sprawling works such as 69 Love Songs, and an album of songs beginning with the letter i, the 52-year-old left-field troubadour has … Continue reading
Sleaford Mods: English Tapas review – Brexit, BHS et al
(Rough Trade)
Holly Macve: Golden Eagle review – hard-luck songs make like the delta blues
Singer and songwriter Holly Macve was raised in Galway and Yorkshire, but you could be forgiven for assuming the 21-year-old is from the Mississippi delta or the Appalachian mountains. The shimmering guitar on Heartbreak Blues and the doom-laden piano chords … Continue reading
Bush: Black and White Rainbows review – proficient mid-tempo stadium rock
Bewilderingly popular in 90s USA, Gavin Rossdale’s post-grunge outfit never got much of a foothold in their homeland, were savaged by critics and largely overlooked by a paying public otherwise occupied by Britpop. Now, though, with the sudden exposure provided … Continue reading
Circa Waves: Different Creatures review – still stuck in skinny jeans
You wouldn’t know it from the hordes of producers, MCs and experimental R&B singers about at the moment, but the influence of the 00s indie explosion continues to echo throughout UK music – not just in the scene’s survivors but … Continue reading
The Magnetic Fields: 50 Song Memoir review – Stephin Merritt’s richly observed life
Eighteen years after the epic 69 Love Songs, Stephin Merritt has crafted an autobiography in 50 songs, one for each year of his life. The singer-songwriter rifles through twice that number of instruments as his lugubrious baritone drolly documents pivotal … Continue reading
Hurray for the Riff Raff: The Navigator review – Latin Americana and flamethrower polemics
“I feel that the soul of New York is under attack,” Americana songwriter and Bronx native Alynda Segarra recently said. Her sixth album as Hurray for the Riff Raff pushes back against gentrification and, more broadly, Trumpification; alongside that, Segarra … Continue reading
The xx review – maximalist extravaganza amps up the fun
A beefed-up sound and a beautifully accomplished stage show signal a more outward looking approach from a band with a few tricks up their sleeve
Stornoway review – stirring farewell from the folk-pop foursome
Ten years together come to a celebratory end with moments of unplugged intensity, beguiling melodies and a rowdy Simple Minds cover
Frànçois & the Atlas Mountains: Solide Mirage review – indiepop gets political
Despite song titles such as Apocalypse à Ipsos, non-Francophones might struggle to find the political edge in Frànçois & the Atlas Mountains’ fourth album. It’s supposedly “a response to recent world affairs”, but their fey, dainty indiepop could just as … Continue reading
Grandaddy: Last Place review –Alt-rockers amend their sonic palette
Way We Won’t, the opening track on Grandaddy’s fifth album, has a chugging, Weezer-style fuzz guitar and faux-naive riff that recall their best-known song – AM 180, from their debut album Under the Western Freeway, now 20 years old. But … Continue reading
Temples: Volcano review – heaped spoonfuls of psychedelic sugar
With opener Certainty’s trilling keyboard pitched halfway between OMD and an ice-cream van chime, Temples’ second album sets its stall out early. With the exception of Roman God-Like Man’s appropriation of the melody from Pink Floyd’s Grantchester Meadows and the … Continue reading
The Divine Comedy review – victory for the little guy
Neil Hannon’s literate, underdog indie is as winning as ever, 20 years after his band’s commercial peak
Los Campesinos!: Sick Scenes review – undimmed indie energy
Raw-nerved, bare-souled and sharp enough to draw blood with those glockenspiels, Los Campesinos! were one of the keepers of the mid-2000s indie glut. As they enter their uncertain 30s, the former tweecore enfants terribles continue to grow up disgracefully, balancing … Continue reading