Tokyo Vice, Series 2, BBC iPlayer review - an exciting ride that stretches credibility

★★★★ TOKYO VICE, SERIES 2, BBC IPLAYER An exciting ride that stretches credibility

The return of Jake Adelstein, ace reporter

It’s entirely fitting that Jake Adelstein should have a poster for All the President’s Men on the wall of his Tokyo apartment, since it was the filmic apogee of the notion of journalist as superstar.

Pop Will Eat Itself, Chalk, Brighton review - hip hop rockers deliver a whopper

★★★★★ POP WILL EAT ITSELF, CHALK, BRIGHTON Hip hop rockers deliver a whopper

Eighties/Nineties indie-tronic dance mavericks take the roof off

By midway, things are cooking. “Can U Dig It?”, a post-modern list-song from another age (Ok, 1989), boasts a whopping guitar riff. Keys-player Adam Mole, his ushanka cap’s ear-covers flapping, leaps onto his seat, waves his synth aloft. Frontmen Graham Crabb and Mary Byker fly up’n’down the stage-front, launching airwards for chest-bumps, staccato-firing rapped lyrics about the Furry Freak Brothers, Renegade Soundwave, Bruce Lee, DJ Spinderella and, of course, how writer-magician Alan Moore “knows the score”.

Music Reissues Weekly: Linda Smith - I So Liked Spring, Nothing Else Matters

LINDA SMITH - I SO LIKED SPRING, NOTHING ELSE MATTERS An American musical auteur

The reappearance of two obscure - and great - albums by the American musical auteur

Three years ago, the release of Till Another Time 1988-1996 generated a thumbs up. A compilation of recordings by the Baltimore and/or New York-based Linda Smith it was, according to this column, “stunning” and “significant.” Until this point, knowledge of Smith had “largely been the province of the do-it-yourself world of music.”

Album: Nia Archives - Silence is Loud

★★★★★ NIA ARCHIVES - SILENCE IS LOUD Sweeping influences into a giddy pop rush

Sweeping up generations' worth of influences into a giddy pop rush

At 24, Bradfordian Nia Archives has already clearly marked out her musical territory.

While many of her Gen Z contemporaries have embraced the rave, jungle and drum’n’bass sounds of the early-mid 1990s, she’s done it more wholeheartedly than most: particularly rebuilding the rolling breakbeats and deep bass of jungle as a kind of British urban folk music, collaborating with older generations (original junglists DJ Die and Randall of Watch The Ride), and demonstrating how her natural Caribbean-influenced Yorkshire vocal articulation fits perfectly into that. 

MJ the Musical, Prince Edward Theatre review - glitzy jukebox musical with a superb star but a void inside

★★★ MJ THE MUSICAL, PRINCE EDWARD THEATRE It's a great song and dance evening, but the story is an empty one

It's a great song and dance evening, but the story is an empty one

In a secret chamber somewhere, the producers of MJ the Musical may be keeping a portrait of the King of Pop that has acquired all his scars, physical and psychological.

Foam, Finborough Theatre review - fascism and f*cking in a Gentlemen's Lavatory that proves short of gentlemen

★★★ FOAM, FINBOROUGH THEATRE Skinhead finds his feet (in a pair of DMs) then leads double life as street thug and gay cruiser

Infamous neo-Nazi brought to life in compelling drama

In a too brightly tiled Gentlemen’s public convenience (Nitin Parmar’s beautifully realised set is as much a character as any of the men we meet), a lad is shaving his head. He’s halfway to the skinhead look of the early Seventies, but he hasn’t quite nailed it  he's too young to know the detail.

Yoko Ono: Music of the Mind, Tate Modern review - a fitting celebration of the early years

★★★★ YOKO ONO: MUSIC OF THE MIND, TATE MODERN A fitting celebration of the early years

Acknowledgement as a major avant garde artist comes at 90

At last Yoko Ono is being acknowledged in Britain as a major avant garde artist in her own right. It has been a long wait; last year was her 90th birthday! The problem, of course, was her relationship with John Lennon and perceptions of her as the Japanese weirdo who broke up the Beatles and led Lennon astray – down a crooked path to oddball, hippy happenings.

Album: Black Grape - Orange Head

★★★ BLACK GRAPE - ORANGE HEAD Business as usual for the Mancunian rogues - and business is good

Business as usual for the Mancunian rogues - and business is good

Shaun Ryder is now known mostly for being Shaun Ryder, via any random TV programme that will pay him a couple of quid. In this light, his musical achievements have lost some of their shine over the decades. But, if given the chance, a couple of those Happy Mondays albums and the first Black Grape album still own the room.

Music Reissues Weekly: East Village - Drop Out

EAST VILLAGE - DROP OUT UK indie outfit whose profile should have been greater

UK indie outfit whose profile should have been greater

The album’s opening track is titled “Silver Train.” Built around a choppy acoustic guitar refrain, it features Hammond organ, spindly electric guitar lines, pattering percussion and has a vibe – with a gospel edge – suggesting a familiarity with Let It Bleed- and Sticky Fingers-era Rolling Stones. Or, in a different time, the Primal Scream of “Movin’ On Up.”

Best of 2023: Music Reissues Weekly

BEST OF 2023: MUSIC REISSUES WEEKLY When the past excites as much as a new thrill

When the past excites as much as a new thrill

In the Light of Time - UK Post-Rock and Leftfield Pop 1992-1998 was unexpected. Collecting 17 tracks, it brought a fresh perspective on a particular aspect of the UK’s independent-minded music. This ground-breaking, agenda-setting release was effectively the soundtrack to what has been written about post-rock.