Album: Two Door Cinema Club - Keep On Smiling

★★★ TWO DOOR CINEMA CLUB - KEEP ON SMILING An uneven return, but a passing grade for the electronic-infused indie trio

An uneven return, but a passing grade for the electronic-infused indie trio

Three and a half years on from 2019’s False Alarm, Keep On Smiling comes album number five from Northern Ireland trio, Two Door Cinema Club. Known for having more bounce to the ounce than your average band, their brand of guitar-flecked electro pop has won hearts, minds and sales in roughly equal measure.

Music Reissues Weekly: The Swinging Blue Jeans - Feelin’ Better Anthology 1963-1969

THE SWINGING BLUE JEANS - FEELIN' BETTER ANTHOLOGY 1963-1969 Go-gettin' Merseybeat

There’s more to the Merseybeat go-getters than ‘Hippy Hippy Shake’

In late August 1962, Liverpool’s Swinging Blue Genes were booked to play Hamburg’s Star-Club for the first time. At the opening show of their season, they were booed and the curtain was pulled across them. The audience took against their mix of skiffle and trad jazz. A musical rethink was needed.

Coldplay, Hampden Park, Glasgow review - a pop spectacle for all ages

★★★ COLDPLAY, HAMPDEN PARK, GLASGOW A pop spectacle for all ages

The indie band's transformation into wild stadium pop is complete

It is a testament to Coldplay’s capacity for reinvention that a good portion of this stadium crowd were not even born when the band first broke through over two decades ago. Such an age range in the audience clearly caught the eye of Chris Martin, who, in a rare moment of standing still, dryly noted that he owns trousers older than some of the people singing along.

Music Reissues Weekly: The Telstar Story, The Heinz Sessions Vol. 1

THE TELSTAR STORY, THE HEINZ SESSIONS VOL 1 Bounteous yield from Joe Meek’s for-real legendary ‘Tea Chest Tapes’

Bounteous yield from Joe Meek’s for-real legendary ‘Tea Chest Tapes’

“Telstar” was released 60 years ago this week. On 17 August 1962, British record buyers could purchase the second single by The Tornados, a band whose claim to fame until then was being Billy Fury’s back band – their March 1962 debut 45 was fittingly titled “Love and Fury.”

theartsdesk on Vinyl 72: Blondie, Joe Meek, Asha Puthli, Minions, Prince, Horse Meat Disco and more

TAD ON VINYL 72 Blondie, Joe Meek, Asha Puthli, Minions, Prince, Horse Meat Disco and more

The most extensive regular record reviews in the universe

This month’s reviews take in everything from New York new wave pop to apocalyptic electro to kitsch exotica. There are no genre boundaries at theartsdesk on Vinyl, just a constant desire to play music loud, whether new or reissues, then share what it felt like. Dive in!

VINYL OF THE MONTH

Congotronics International Where’s the One (Crammed Discs)

Music Reissues Weekly: The Beatles - Get Back

THE BEATLES - GET BACK Peter Jackson’s triumphant re-evaluation of the ‘Let It Be’ film's source

Peter Jackson’s re-evaluation of the ‘Let It Be’ film’s source material is a triumph

“At all times, the film-makers have attempted to present an accurate portrait of the events depicted and the people involved.” The on-screen statement beginning each of Get Back's three parts acknowledges that definitions of accuracy can depend on points of view.

Album: Jack White - Entering Heaven Alive

★★★ JACK WHITE - ENTERING HEAVEN ALIVE Playful, varied, relaxed and enjoyable new one from the former White Stripe

Playful, varied, relaxed and enjoyable new one from the former White Stripe

Jack White’s last couple of albums, Boarding House Reach from 2018 and Fear of the Dawn from April this year, were both driven by experimentalism, dipping into electronics, hip hop, noise and more. They were both, to differing degrees, admirable in intent, coming from an artist perceived as zealously retro, but they were also only partially successful.

Haim, OVO Hydro, Glasgow review - charismatic siblings personable as ever

★★★ HAIM, OVO HYDRO, GLASGOW Charismatic siblings personable as ever, complete with chat

The sisters kept the chat going but ran out of steam

Sweetness never lasts too long at a Haim gig. No sooner had Alana Haim, the youngest of the Californian siblings, finished a speech about her delight about being back in Glasgow by announcing she was going to “smell the f****** roses” then bass-playing elder sister Este piped up with “I’m smelling my armpits. They are ripe.” It summed up a chat-heavy show that at times felt like part gig, part stand-up comedy try-out.

Album: Beabadoobee - Beatopia

★★★ BEABADOOBEE - BEATOPIA Woozy bedroom indie-space-pop from Taylor Swift-endorsed UK singer

Woozy bedroom indie-space-pop from the Taylor Swift-endorsed UK singer

Many of her fans initially came across Filipino-born, London-raised singer Bea Laus – Beabadoobee – via the massive TikTok sensation “Death Bed (Coffee for Your Head)” by Canadian producer Powfu, which was centred on the extremely catchy chorus to her song “Coffee”.