2024

Michael Rother: Barbican, London – Live Review

Pioneering krautrock legend Michael Rother performs selections from his solo works and influential albums with Harmonia and Neu! to an appreciative sell-out crowd in London.

The Pheromoans are new to me and I’m willing to wager they’re new to you. Yet this peculiarly British band has been ploughing its lone furrow for 18 years.

(more…)

Here is the MC5’s infamous hometown performance by a Detroit highway in July 1970.  Thirty-four years later I finally got to see them play for myself.

(more…)

Phosphorescent – Revelator

26th January 2024 · 2020s, 2024, Music

One of my favourite Americana artists is Matthew Houck, a native of Athens, Georgia, who makes music under the nom-de-plume Phosphorescent.

(more…)

This collab between two London rappers of West African origin is a hymn to their families’ mother continent… and the women they find there. But it’s the music as much as the sultry vocals that really catches my ear, with its shuffling rhythms, lazy swing and joyful, jazzy undertones.

(more…)

This record, championed by my fellow music scribe Ged Babey, sounds so familiar, touching so many bases from my punk past, yet also sounds fresh. And that’s because, while it’s true that these musicians are no spring chickens, this is a new release.

(more…)

Poor Things (2023)
Director: Yorgos Lanthimos
Starring: Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo, Willem Dafoe, Ramy Youssef, Hanna Schygulla
Writer: Tony McNamara (based on Alasdair Gray’s novel)
Running Time: 2h 21mins
UK Release: 12th January 2024
 

Poor Things is a filthy feminist comedy from Greek film-maker Yorgos Lanthimos, a hilarious twist on the Frankenstein story with Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo and Willem Dafoe.

(more…)

Grandaddy – Watercooler

5th January 2024 · 2020s, 2024, Music

Grandaddy are a unique group whose characteristic blend of swirling synths and psychedelic guitars has been wrapping fans in a warm blanket of beauty for the ears for more than 30 years.

(more…)