Album: Agnetha Fältskog - A+

★★ AGNETHA FALTSKOG - A+ ABBA star's decade-old album reimagined to little useful effect

ABBA star's decade-old album reimagined to little useful effect

When ABBA split in 1982, Agnetha Fältskog went on to a solo career that was mostly overshadowed by the titanic popularity of her former band. By the 21st century ABBA’s status in pop, especially with the Mamma Mia phenomenon, had become iconic.

Album: Oneohtrix Point Never - Again

Magnificently deranged electronic futurism from US producer

The music of Daniel Lopatin – AKA Oneohtrix Point Never – exists at the sonic/electronic vanguard. Were the likes of avant-gardists such as Iannis Xenakis, George Antheil and Edgard Varese around today, maybe even Stockhausen, they might dig what he’s up to.

Album: Róisín Murphy - Hit Parade

★★★★★ ROISIN MURPHY - HIT PARADE Masterful and majestic

Masterful and majestic – this is Murphy's finest hour, controversy or no

Here’s one woman "of a certain age" who definitely isn’t invisible. But she’s in the middle of a media furore on which we’d rather not dwell. Sadly it might be the very thing that gets her the publicity she surely deserves. Remember when there was no such things as bad publicity? Vastly under-appreciated, she is a creative powerhouse. Innovative, daring and most of all unpredictable.

Mega Bog, The Lexington review - a synth-pop makeover is tempered with dashes of new wave

★★★★ MEGA BOG, THE LEXINGTON Synth-pop makeover tempered with dashes of new wave

Confirmation that the American experimental popster Erin Birgy won’t stand still

Introducing the fifth number in this evening’s set, Erin Birgy speaks to the audience for the first time. “This is our last song, thank you,” she says. Thoughts of early Jesus and Mary Chain shows instantly surface. Is this going to be a 20-minute wonder? A five-song digest of where Birgy – who records and writes as Mega Bog – is now, playing her first UK dates since the release of her seventh album The End of Everything? Is it the end of the show?

Album: Genesis Owusu - Struggler

Ghanaian-Australian continues his exuberant alt-pop mission with a unique swagger

There’s been a sense of anticipation around Ghanaian-Australian Genesis Owusu ever since his ebullient 2021 debut album Smiling with No Teeth. He won a bunch of Arias, Australia’s Grammys, but could he break internationally? He’s toured the US with Paramore and is due to hit Europe in the Autumn, including a stop at Berghain.

Album: OSEES - Intercepted Message

★★★★ OSEES - INTERCEPTED MESSAGE Hidden sophistication, primal power

Caveman synth-rock with hidden sophistication but primal power

On the face of it, this is an extremely simple record. It is big, stomping, party-monster neanderthal synth-rock.

Music Reissues Weekly: Autonomy - The Productions of Martin Rushent

Overdue tribute to the enabler of pivotal records by Buzzcocks, Human League, The Stranglers and more

Two producers named Martin worked with Buzzcocks and Joy Division. Martin Hannett was in the studio for Buzzcocks’ debut release, the Spiral Scratch EP, issued in January 1977, and also for the bulk of the tracks spread across their last three United Artists singles in 1980. He also shaped every studio recording Joy Division made for Factory Records.

Chvrches, Barrowland Ballroom, Glasgow review - homecoming provides only intermittent thrills

The second night of the trio's Glasgow shows relied on a bombastic sound

Of all the Scottish bands to be name dropped at a Chvrches gig, the Bay City Rollers would be far down the list. Thankfully singer Lauren Mayberry was only citing the 70s group in reference to her tartan outfit, and not a surprise cover of “Shang-A-Lang”, but the Glasgow trio do share another similarity, in that they’ve proved to have considerable staying power in the pop world.

Album: Christine and the Queens - PARANOÏA, ANGELS, TRUE LOVE

French star's new one is a concept piece, featuring Madonna, that's overlong but sometimes persuasive

Tony Kushner’s early 1990s play Angels in America is an epochal, mystical, political, state-of-the-nation address, revolving around the AIDs epidemic. By no means straightforward, its narrative runs the gamut from New York’s gay scene to God’s own sexual proclivities, via the ghost of executed Cold War spy Ethel Rosenberg, the fall of the Soviet Bloc and much else.