The Clean are one of the most important indie bands to ever come out of New Zealand. Their EP ‘Boodle Boodle Boodle’ (1981), recorded on a four-track, had an instant lo-fi appeal and became the Flying Nun label’s first major success. They were shaped by the likes of Syd Barrett, Velvet Underground and The Stooges and have gone on to influence the likes of Pavement and Yo La Tengo. The band were on hiatus for the majority of the 80s, but came back to release three albums in the 90s and two in the 00s. This is their second album and the first time this title has been in print on vinyl since its initial release.
With more budget to record than when they were cutting their teeth in the early 80s, it’s a higher fi record and of their post-reunion releases, this is the closest in feel to their early material. ‘Linger Longer’ is a haunting piano-led cut full of poignance and psychedelic feel. ‘Secret Place’ shines a spotlight on The Clean’s iconic stripped back drum style and ‘Something I Need’ has a Lou Reed and Mick Jagger feel to the vocals as folk-y acoustic instrumentation prevails beautifully underneath. A staggering band.
“Cutthroat” is Shame at their blistering best. An unapologetic new album with Grammy winning producer John Congleton at the helm; it’s souped up and supercharged. It’s exactly where you want shame to be. Still in their twenties, the five childhood friends – Charlie Steen, guitarists Sean Coyle-Smith and Eddie Green, bassist Josh Finerty and drummer Charlie Forbes – have grown Shame exponentially, with ambitious sonic ideas and the technical chops to execute them. Having proved themselves several times over with legendary live shows and three critically-acclaimed albums under their belts, Shame went into “Cutthroat” ready to create a new Ground Zero.
“This is about who we are,” says Steen. “Our live shows aren’t performance art – they’re direct, confrontational and raw. That’s always been the root of us. We live in crazy times. But it’s not about ‘Poor me.’ It’s about ‘Fuck you’.” Crucial to this incendiary new outlook was producer John Congleton (St. Vincent, Angel Olsen). From their initial meeting, Congleton’s no-bullshit approach became a guiding force to streamline the band’s ideas.
Stamped throughout with Shame’s trademark sense of humour, the album takes on the big issues of today and gleefully toys with them. Casting a merciless eye on themes of conflict and corruption; hunger and desire; lust, envy and the omnipresent shadow of cowardice. Musically, too, the record plays with visceral new ideas. Making electronic music on tour for fun, Coyle-Smith had previously seen the loops he was crafting as a separate entity to the things he wrote for Shame. Then, he realised, maybe they didn’t have to be. “This time, anything could go if it sounded good and you got it right,” he says. The result is an album that revels in the idiosyncrasies of life, raising an eyebrow and asking the ugly questions that so often get tactfully brushed over. “I’m not here to answer the questions, I’m a 27-year-old idiot…” Steen caveats with a self-effacing chuckle. But the one answer that “Cutthroat” gives with a resounding flourish is that, right now, Shame have never sounded better.
MAC’s one-day music festival, Ryland Caravan, rolls into the Outdoor Theatre for the third year with a brilliant line-up of indie legends. Co-headlining this year are shoegaze icon Miki Berenyi Trio (Lush), UK’s new hottest band The Tubs and indie fan favourite Stuart Murdoch (Belle and Sebastian). Hosted by Birmingham’s favourite alternative cowboys Independent Country.
Miki Berenyi Trio offer a richly layered mix of dream pop and shoegaze, fronted by Miki’s instantly recognisable vocals. “A barrage of gorgeous hooks” . Miki Berenyi Trio are Miki Berenyi on vocals/guitar (Lush), Kevin ‘Moose’ McKillop on guitar (Moose) and Oliver Cherer (Gilroy Mere, Aircooled). MB3 was originally formed to promote Miki’s Sunday Times Books of the Year memoir – Fingers Crossed: How Music Saved Me From Success(2022) – accompanying her live book events with Lush covers. But touring in the UK, Europe and US throughout 2024 and 2025 has built momentum. They offer a richly layered mix of dream pop and shoegaze, fronted by Miki’s instantly recognisable vocals. “A barrage of gorgeous hooks”
The raucously melodic Tubs are “Your new favourite band” (Mojo) and “The Best British Indie-Pop in a generation” (The Guardian). Catch them while you can!
Stuart Murdoch, lead vocalist, songwriter, and founding member of the legendary indie band Belle and Sebastian is joining us for a rare acoustic set plus Q&A, Stuart will also be reading from new novel Nobody’s Empire’. More acts to be announced…
Dinosaur Jr.’s “You’re Living All Over Me” is noisy, melodic, and utterly unforgettable. Released in 1987, it came out just before indie rock became cool and was mostly ignored by mainstream radio.
Jagjaguwar Records vinyl repress of the second Dinosaur Jr album from 1987 that was originally released on SST Records. one of the great albums of the late-1980s us indie scene, 1987’s ‘You’re Living All Over Me’ is a pre-grunge guitar rock masterpiece. clearly as influenced by, say, Black Sbath as the nascent Seattle scene was at the same time, guitarist J Mascis, bassist Lou Barlow (whose ‘Poledo’ is the album’s weirdest song), and drummer Murph temper the sludgy guitar roar with speedier tempos, better melodies, and more incisive lyrics than most of the Seattlites could ever master. The result is spellbinding, and, unlike most indie albums of its era, this record doesn’t sound the least bit dated. ‘Raisans,’ ‘Little Fury Things,’ and the aptly-named ‘Sludgefest’ are the archetypal tracks, but there’s not one dud to be found here. a classic.
The album’s fuzzy guitars, wild solos, and J Mascis’s laconic vocals carved out a new soundscape for alternative music. Critics at the time didn’t quite know what to make of it, but its influence grew as bands like Nirvana, Sonic Youth, and My Bloody Valentine cited it as a key inspiration.
In recent years, the album has been celebrated in retrospectives by Rolling Stone and Spin, both calling it a “sonic blueprint” for grunge and noise pop. As indie and alternative music have surged in popularity, “You’re Living All Over Me” feels more relevant than ever.
Los Angeles psych-punk shapeshifters Frankie and the Witch Fingers have spent the last decade mutating their sound into bold, electrifying new forms. Their latest release, ‘Trash Classic’ (via Greenway Records and The Reverberation Appreciation Society), plunges into a sewer-slick fusion of proto-punk venom, fractured new wave, and industrial grime. Brimming with wiry synths, angular melodies, and grooves that squirm and bite, it’s all delivered with a sly, playful wink. Fuelled by relentless global touring and a fierce DIY ethos, the band has shared stages with OFF!, Ty Segall, Oh Sees, Cheap Trick, and ZZ Top, cementing their place as one of the most unforgettable live acts around. Frankie and the Witch Fingers continue to morph, dragging listeners into whatever warped direction their experimental journey takes next.
Frankie & The Witch Fingers hit with similar impact. Self-identifying as “psych-punk shapeshifters” the Los Angeles-based quintet share more than a little of the Oh Sees’ restless creativity, and they’re an absolute blast, crashing through a thrillingly intense set largely drawn from 2023’s “Data Doom” album, with the cleverly-titled “Mild Davis” and the full-tilt “Electricide” among its highlights. The band have headline club shows in Brighton, London, Bristol and Birmingham this week before they head back across the Atlantic: go see them if you possibly can.
In the fifty plus years I’ve lived much of my life though the words and music of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, So on May 14th, 2025, the opening night of the Land of Hopes and Dreams Tour will forever represent a defining moment for my journey and easily one of the great concert experiences ever!
Bruce offered his full views in a commanding Tour de Force at Manchester’s Co-op Arena Live on how he views the United States of America of today. The show opened with Springsteen making it clear why he and E Street Band where in Manchester.
“The mighty E Street Band is here tonight to call upon the righteous power of art, of music, of rock n’ roll in dangerous times,” said Springsteen before the night’s first song, “In my home, the America I love, the America I’ve written about that has been a beacon of hope and liberty for 250 years is currently in the hands of a corrupt, incompetent and treasonous administration. Tonight, we ask all who believe in democracy and the best of our American spirit to rise with us, raise your voices against authoritarianism and let freedom ring. This is ‘Land of Hope and Dreams’.”
“Land of Hopes and Dreams” a song in part about never giving up was followed by “Death to My Hometown” – the theme for the evening was set Bruce’s America was dying. “Lonesome Day” a staple in the first two years of the tour followed. An audible from there, “My Love will Not let you Down“, moving away from the first two songs was next. “Seeds” was in the printed setlist, “Seeds” would have continued the evenings’ theme.
Up next the tour debut of “Rainmaker”, a song included in the “Letter to You” album but never performed live before. Speaking before the song, without mentioning President Trump’s name but offered his views on the Trump administration “”corrupt, incompetent, and treasonous”.”
“Rainmaker” who most believed when it was released on the “Letter to You” album was about Trump again was explosive!
“Darkness on the Edge of Town” was next, the song sounded so much angrier than the thousand plus version performed since the 1978 Darkness Tour, remember Bruce had clearly established his “message” for the night and Darkness took on tones of Darkness across America.
“Promised Land” another song from the 1978 Darkness album sounded hopeful and optimistic. It’s very clearly that Bruce loves and believes in America, he’s just very angry about today’s America. “Promised Land” was slotted perfectly in the set list.
Happiness continued with “Hungry Heart”, as determined as Bruce was to deliver his message the BruceSpringsteen we know, and love was determined to also offer that Bruce magic of unbridled joy. The next six songs returned to the central theme – the America Bruce Springsteen wrote and believed isn’t what his country is today.
Starting with “My Hometown“, this version had a tougher edge in Bruce’s voice. This wasn’t Bruce Springsteen taking his “kids” on a tour of Freehold, this was Bruce seemingly wondering if that version of his Hometown was lost and gone forever.
Up next were two songs back-to-back that were a part of the 1999 Bruce and the E Steet Band’s reunion tour, “Youngstown” and “Murder Incorporated“. Having visited “Youngstown” (on the eve of the Cleveland show at the start of the 2002 Rising Tour, while having nothing whatsoever to do with President Trump is a city destroyed by the American Dream. For many Springsteen fans who attended the reunion tour the two songs done back to back made for great memories
As Bruce had offered as an intro to “Long Walk Home”, the song serves a prayer for the America that Bruce still very much believes in. “House of a Thousand Guitars” was up next. This was an acoustic version and again very much angrier in tone last performed in 2023, is performed solo acoustic..
“My City of Ruin’s” has been a cornerstone for Bruce’s shows since the 2002 Rising tour. The song is Bruce’s reflections on Asbury Park, not Bruce’s hometown but the seaside city most associated with Bruce’s career. A lament to what was (and is well on it’s way back) to a city of falling apart and lost an forgotten.
It was at this point, Bruce shared his most powerful thoughts, calling President Trump an “unfit President”. Bruce was far from finished in his complete attack on Donald Trump, saying “In America, the richest men are taking satisfaction in abandoning the world’s poorest children to sickness and death. This is happening now. In my country, they’re taking sadistic pleasure in the pain they inflict on loyal American workers.”
Gone was the ode of Asbury Park, in its place Bruce’s view of the America that exists today. “My City of Ruins” the 14th song of the 27 song setlist really was the last Bruce’s theme for the night.
The rest of the show returned to the joy of a Springsteen and the E Street Band rock and roll classical concert.
“Letter to You”, “Because the Night”, “Human Touch”, “Wrecking Ball”, “The Rising”. “Badlands” into “Thunder Road”, more or less many of the songs in the order they were performed for the first 140+ shows on Bruce’s current tour which began in February 2023.
The encores the same: “Born in the USA”, “Born to Run”, “Bobby Jean”, “Dancing in the Dark” and “Tenth Avenue Freezeout”. The closing song for all but a few shows during most of the tour was replace by a full band version of the Dylan song “Chimes of Freedom” part of the 1988 Amnesty Tour.
Three of the songs that told the story Bruce wanted to share for most of the current tour, “Last Man Standing”, “Backstreets” and the finale “I’ll See you in my Dreams” (also the closing song on Bruce’s second Springsteen on Broadway show in 2001) where not a part of the Land of Hopes and Dreams Tour debut.
There are 15 shows left on the tour. It would appear this is the message Bruce wants to share. He’s changed the “Springsteen concert experience” completely. I realize and appreciate that a significant percentage of Bruce fans might not appreciate these last of shows, if that is how you feel, these shows might not be for you. Springsteen knows that many of the fans attending these last set of shows have likely attended several shows during the first 140 shows of the tour. Part of his rationale had to be offering a different show.
THE E STREET BAND: Bruce Springsteen – Lead vocal, electric and acoustic guitars, harmonica; Roy Bittan – Piano, keyboards; Nils Lofgren – Electric and acoustic guitars, backing vocal; Garry Tallent – Bass, backing vocal; Stevie Van Zandt – Electric and acoustic guitars, mandolin, backing vocal; Max Weinberg – Drums; Jake Clemons – Tenor saxophone, percussion, backing vocal; Charlie Giordano – Organ, keyboards, accordion; Soozie Tyrell – Violin, acoustic guitar, percussion
THE E STREET CHOIR & ADDITIONAL MUSICIANS: Anthony Almonte – Percussion, backing vocal; Ada Dyer – Backing vocal; Curtis King – Backing vocal; Lisa Lowell – Backing vocal; Michelle Moore – Backing vocal
THE E STREET HORNS: Barry Danielian – Trumpet; Curt Ramm – Trumpet; Ed Manion – Baritone and tenor saxophone; Ozzie Melendez – Trombone
There won’t be any American shows on this tour, how would the central theme of this show be received in America,
Surprise! Al Jardine, the beloved co-founding member of The Beach Boys, has returned with his first collection of new, original material since 2010. Titled “Islands in the Sun”, it’s a four-song EP featuring some truly special guests, as Neil Young, Flea (bassist of the Red Hot Chili Peppers) and Jardine’s Beach Boys band mate Bruce Johnston all lend a hand to the lively songs.
Here’s the title track, which features lead vocals from both Al Jardine and his son Matt Jardine, as well as Johnston on backing vocals and the help of a children’s choir from three different elementary schools.
The pleasant vibes of this one help it sound like the not-too-distant cousin of “Kokomo”:
A news release tells its story: Neil recorded his vocals at the same session that he recorded Postcard’s “A California Saga” with his old bandmates, David Crosby and Stephen Stills. In the song, Al and Neil share the same sentiment about sending our troops off to foreign wars. The track includes a portion of the melancholy military bugle call “Taps,” performed by Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, who laid down his contribution when he also provided bass for “Help Me Rhonda” for the Postcard album.
This new EP out in the wild, Al Jardine will reconvene with some of his friends from Brian Wilson‘s longtime touring band for a new run of dates, billed as The Pet Sounds Band.
Al Jardine’s “Islands In The Sun” from the 4-track digital EP “Islands In The Sun”, now available to buy and stream from Universal Music
Ty Segall has released a new album, “Possession”, via Drag City Recors. It marks the prolific singer-songwriter’s 16th solo album, following last January’s “Three Bells”. Segall collaborated with long time collaborator and filmmaker Matt Yoka on the lyrics for the record, which, per a press release, features “invigorated new sounds around every bend—glittering rhythm arrangements feature more of Ty’s own piano woodshedding than ever, joined in battle by sweeping movements of strings and horns. Rife with singing guitar leads and banks of Ty’s vocal harmonies, “Possession” features some of Ty’s most inspired songs to date.”
Ty hits the big sky trail of our good ol’ frontier empire, discovering non-stop bangers and inspired new sonics around every bend. With lyrics co-written by longtime collaborator, filmmaker Matt Yoka, Ty’s glittering rhythm arrangements move with fresh scansion, inviting in sweeps of strings and horns to further the charge righteously. You’re invited too! Don’t miss the trip – the country inspires awe from up on Ty’s high-octane ride.
released May 30th, 2025
Ty Segall – Guitar, Bass, Drums, Piano, Keys, Percussion, Voice Mikal Cronin – Saxophone Eric KM Clark – Violin Kaitlin Wolfberg – Violin Heather Lockie – Viola Emily Elkin – Cello Jordan Katz – Trumpet, Trombone
