Album: Jono McCleery - Moonlit Parade

★★★★ JONO MCCLEERY - MOONLIT PARADE Warm, intimate songs that pull you close from the young English singer-songwriter

Warm, intimate songs that pull you close from the young English singer-songwriter

Jono McCleery has one of those voices that once heard, demands your attention, an instrument of richness and depth, and one that has earned him many fans. The likes of Vashti Bunyan and Tom Robinson helped to crowdfund his recording debut back in 2008, Darkest Light; he steered himself through London’s eclectic electro-acoustic underground music scene alongside the likes of Jamie Woon and the Portico Quartet, and released four more folktronic-textured releases with Ninja Tune.

10 Questions for Musician Jarboe

10 QUESTIONS FOR MUSICIAN JARBOE On collaboration and the secret to excellent hearing

'skin blood women roses', collaboration and the secret to excellent hearing

Jarboe is a singer and musician who first rose to prominence as a member of Swans from 1985 to 1997. During this time, she and her then partner and fellow Swan, Michael Gira, also released three albums as Skin (known as World of Skin in the USA).

Album: Linnéa Talp - Arch of Motion

★★★ LINNEA TALP - ARCH OF MOTION Swedish minimalist induces introspection

Swedish minimalist induces introspection

Contrary to the title’s implication, there initially seems to be little movement in Arch of Motion. A note is held on an organ. Then another note comes in and is also held. Chords build up gradually. Maybe one or two ascending or descending notes come and go. And that seems to be it.

Teenage Fanclub, Union Chapel review - pushing forward with gusto

★★★★ TEENAGE FANCLUB, UNION CHAPEL Line-up changes haven’t diminished the band's vitality

Line-up changes haven’t diminished the vitality of Norman Blake, Raymond McGinley and co

Teenage Fanclub open their set with “Home”, the first single from their last album Endless Arcade. It’s followed by the title track, “Endless Arcade”. The first was written by Norman Blake, the second by Raymond McGinley – the album’s sole songwriters.

Album: Bonnie Raitt - Just Like That...

★★★★ BONNIE RAITT - JUST LIKE THAT... Like all Raitt’s albums, this one gets under your skin

Top Raitt - after six years, a new album from the first lady of the blues

There aren’t too many musicians, male or female, who made it into Rolling Stone's list of the "100 Greatest Singers of All Time”, and "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time". Indeed, the former was overwhelmingly male, the latter included only two women, Joni Mitchell (discuss), and Bonnie Raitt.

Album: Spiritualized - Everything Was Beautiful

Jason Pierce brings a rainbow of influences to his Lockdown album

The Covid pandemic’s various lockdowns may have been a living hell for some, but there were also plenty of people who thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to distance themselves from society. One of those to thrive during this time was Jason Pierce, band leader and the only constant member of psychedelic space rockers Spiritualized.

Music Reissues Weekly: Saturno 2000 - La Rebajada de Los Sonideros 1962-1983

MUSIC REISSUES WEEKLY: SATURNO 2000 - LA REBAJADA DE LOS SONIDEROS 1962-1983 Revealed - the slowed-down world of Mexico’s sound systems

Revealed - the slowed-down world of Mexico’s sound systems

What’s in the groove isn’t necessarily the end of the story. Sound is fixed into a record when it’s pressed. Get it revolving on a turntable, dump the needle onto it and what’s heard is what’s intended to be heard. It’s fixed. Nonetheless, DJs realised a record can be part of the route to something else, something which becomes their creation.

Album: Swedish House Mafia - Paradise Again

★ SWEDISH HOUSE MAFIA - PARADISE AGAIN The EDM trio return. Swedish? Yes. Mafia? Doubtful. House? Definitely not

The EDM trio return. Swedish? Yes. Mafia? Doubtful. House? Definitely not

Returning with their first new music in almost a decade, EDM supergroup Swedish House Mafia (the producer-DJ trio Steve Angello, Axwell and Sebastian Ingros) deliver their debut album with a sense of vaulting ambition and anything-is-possible belief. In their own words, Paradise Again is a “sonic adventure” to a “new world, a world of free thoughts, limitless ideas and space for progression.”

Goldfrapp, Symphony Hall, Birmingham review - crowd-pleasing nostalgia for the fans

★★★★ GOLDFRAPP, SYMPHONY HALL, BIRMINGHAM Crowd-pleasing nostalgia for fans

Alison Goldfrapp returns to the turn of the century

Felt Mountain is not one of Goldfrapp’s most dynamic albums. So, what better venue to stop off in Birmingham to celebrate 20 years since its release than the iconic all-seater Symphony Hall? This the venue, after all, that is renowned for some of the best acoustics in the whole of Europe.

Album: Reef - Shoot Me Your Ace

★★★ REEF - SHOOT ME YOUR ACE Outrageous, unashamed retro heavy rock

Outrageous, unashamed retro heavy rock boosted by Andy Taylor, once of Duran Duran

I have a theory about Reef. In the mid-Nineties, when the Somerset outfit appeared, they were reviled by London music journalists. This was mostly because they sounded like a hoary, unreconstructed early-Seventies blues-rock band. Those same journalists, however, were excitedly touting bands who lamely emulated Kinks-ish Sixties-ness, faux new wave, or a mixture of both (ie Britpop).