The Killers review – Brandon Flowers thrills intimate venue with Vegas showman swagger | The Killers

Brandon Flowers.

Were a trend expert to examine the fortnight’s big gig listings, they might be forgiven for assuming that we’re in the midst of an early 2000s revival. My Chemical Romance are back and playing vast […]

The Smile: A Light for Attracting Attention review – Radiohead spinoff offers no alarms, some surprises | Music

The artwork for A Light for Attracting Attention

As with any side-project or solo album by a member of a celebrated band, the first question prompted by the Smile’s debut is: why? There are plenty of reasonable stock answers: an opportunity to do […]

Soft Cell: *Happiness Not Included review – synth-pop elders with an eye on the future | Pop and rock

Soft Cell: *Happiness Not Included album cover art.

Soft Cell: *Happiness Not Included album cover Forty-one years since their debut album, Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret, and 20 since their last album, 2002’s underwhelming Cruelty Without Beauty, Soft Cell return with an album that makes […]

Spiritualized review – Jason Pierce twists a simple idea into elegant new shapes | Spiritualized

Spiritualized in concert at the Brighton Dome.

It says something about Spiritualized’s latest album, Everything Was Beautiful, that even with nine musicians onstage, their live incarnation very much performs a bare-bones version of its contents. Frontman Jason Pierce more-or-less set out his […]