Travels Over Feeling: The Music of Arthur Russell, Barbican review - a sublime evening undercut by tonal shifts

★★★★ TRAVELS OVER FEELING: THE MUSIC OF ARTHUR RUSSELL a sublime evening undercut by tonal shifts

Tribute to Russell brings together contemporary talent in an emotional concert

Last night’s Travels Over Feeling: The Music of Arthur Russell (a concert in part accompanying the recent publication of a book about his life by Richard King) was a brilliant way to honour the legacy of a fascinating, challenging, and sublime musician who, largely unrecognised in his lifetime, is now loved by many. The tribute was truly moving (reader, I cried twice), but a tonal shift towards the end, whilst enjoyed by many, was a little jarring.

Album: Richard Thompson - Ship to Shore

The master and commander of misery and despair casts off into the deep once more

Any Richard Thompson appearance comes with a hallmark guaranteeing quality produce – be that an album or a stage show. 

Indeed, Thompson's 75th birthday concert will land on 8 June at the Royal Albert Hall, with a dazzling range of musical guests to rival the same venue’s epic 70th birthday bash five years ago. Meanwhile, it’s been six years since his last album, 13 Rivers, an album he described on its release as “coming to me as a surprise in a dark time”.

Music Reissues Weekly: Jon Savage's The Secret Public - How The LGBTQ+ Aesthetic Shaped Pop Culture

JON SAVAGE'S THE SECRET PUBLIC How The LGBTQ+ Aesthetic Shaped Pop Culture

A significant release

Jon Savage's The Secret Public How The LGBTQ+ Aesthetic Shaped Pop Culture 1955-1979 accompanies the titular author/historian/journalist’s book of almost the same name. The Secret Public: How LGBTQ Resistance Shaped Popular Culture (1955–1979) and this 41-track double CD each track exactly what their titles say, drilling into what has often paralleled or underlain yet repeatedly influenced a constantly evolving mainstream.

Album: Jihye Lee Orchestra - Infinite Connections

A serious and important third album dominated by Korean 'han'

Brooklyn-based composer and bandleader Jihye Lee’s story really does take quite some telling. Having been an indie pop singer in her native Korea, she enrolled in 2011 as a Vocal Studies student at Berklee in Boston, also hoping to develop her composing skills. And then came the "coup de foudre".

Album: Isobel Campbell - Bow to Love

★★★ ISOBEL CAMPBELL - BOW TO LOVE Woozy, ultra laidback & sometimes delicious

The Scottish singer's latest is woozy, ultra laidback and sometimes delicious

Isobel Campbell has maintained a consistent career on the fringes of popular music for three decades. She's made a home in the area where indie, folk, rock and BBC 6Music merge. Aside from her 1990s involvement with Belle and Sebastian, she’s best-known for her trio of albums with the late Mark Lanegan, her gracefulness and crafted precision working well against his gruff world weariness.

Album: Samana - Samana

★★★★ ALBUM: SAMANA - SAMANA Hypnotic psychedelic folk from the Welsh valleys

Hypnotic psychedelic folk from the Welsh valleys

The final track of Samana’s third album is titled “The Preselis,” after the west Welsh mountain range – the place antiquarians suggested as the source of Stonehenge’s blue stones. The song’s opening lyrics are “The blue stones, they grow over me, Carved into mountains, the blood of need.” Later, the words “anima” and “animus” are repeated before the song ends with the recurring refrain “Lay the body down.”

The Great Escape Festival 2024, Brighton review - 12 hours on the musical frontline of Day Three

★★★★ THE GREAT ESCAPE FESTIVAL 2024, BRIGHTON Checking out gigs by Being Dead, Kneecap, Pip Blom, Looking Glass Alice and more

Checking out gigs by Being Dead, Kneecap, Pip Blom, Looking Glass Alice and more

If the weather’s good TGE Beach is a grand start to a day. As it sounds, it’s a purpose-built seafront space to the east of central Brighton, containing three stages as well as stalls selling vegan kebabs, Filipino street food and German sausage.

Album: Barry Adamson - Cut to Black

★★★★ BARRY ADAMASON - CUT TO BLACK The coolest Mancunian returns with a lesson in style

The coolest Mancunian returns with a lesson in style

Always looking dapper and always sounding cool, Barry Adamson is a man who nevertheless seems to be perpetually of another time. Giving off the vibes of a one-man Rat Pack with a dash of the legendary Lee Hazelwood, his music certainly doesn’t have much in common with mainstream tastes.