Gossip, SWG3, Glasgow - a reunion tour worth celebrating

Dance-punk trio bring pre-Pride party vibes to Glasgow

If there was a downer during the giddy, gleeful Glasgow stop of Gossip’s recent run of shows, it was only when front woman Beth Ditto introduced the band as being “not really together but we’re here”. The dance-punk trio - joined, for this short run of reunion shows, by pre-split touring members Chris Sutton on bass and Gregg Foreman on keyboards - were made to front sweaty rooms, with Ditto in particular a gleaming vision in a sleek black wig and metallic pink dress.

Reissue CDs Weekly: Jambú e os Míticos Sons da Amazônia

REISSUE CDS WEEKLY Jambú e os Míticos Sons da Amazônia - portrait of Brazilian city Belém

Top-notch aural portrait of Brazilian city Belém

Belém’s population is one-and-a-half million. Located 100km south of Brazil’s north coast on the east bank of the Amazon feeder river Pará, it’s the capital of the state sharing its name with the waterway. The city is only 160km south of the equator, an entry point into the rain forest and closer to Trinidad and Tobago than Brazil’s cultural magnet Rio de Janeiro.

CD: Avicii - TIM

★★★ CD: AVICII - TIM The soul of extreme musical populism bared, heartbreakingly

The soul of extreme musical populism bared, heartbreakingly

Sadness abounds in Avicii's posthumous third album. In context, even the plaintive single syllable of the title is full of pathos. It reminds of the real person, the Swede Tim Bergling who as a teenager discovered he had an unerring ability to hit the commercial sweet spot with his dance productions, and rocketed to global giga-fame.

Primal Scream, The Haunt, Brighton review - up-close, short, raucous and sweaty

★★★★ PRIMAL SCREAM, BRIGHTON FESTIVAL Frenetic small-scale gig is short and sweaty

Frenetic small-scale gig by the large-scale rock'n'roll band

Primal Scream have played in this city, in the recent past, at the 4,500 capacity Brighton Centre but tonight they’re in a venue which holds well under 400. A bananas atmosphere reigns when bands of their stature play intimate shows, and so it is tonight.

CD: Shy FX - Raggamuffin SoundTape

★★★★★ SHY FX - RAGGAMUFFIN SOUNDTAPE Decades of soundsystem culture in a tidy package

Staggeringly assured survey of decades of soundsystem culture in a tidy package

Everything about this mixtape oozes confidence. It crams 12 tracks plus interludes – all produced by Andre “Shy FX” Williams – into barely more than half an hour. It happily leaves “Roll the Dice”, the single which conquered club and radio and featured Lily Allen, until last.

Keith Flint, 1969-2019

KEITH FLINT 1969-2019 The Prodigy lose their punk brother, Keith Flint, aged only 49

The Prodigy lose their punk brother, Keith Flint, aged only 49

It is hard to absorb the news that Keith Flint of The Prodigy has been found dead at his home in Essex. Keith Flint! The guy with the double Mohican and panda eye-liner who terrified Middle America in the video for “Firestarter”. He was ever an integral part of The Prodigy’s unstoppable live electronic dance assault and, while it’s too early to ponder such things, it’s difficult to imagine them without him.

Reissue CDs Weekly: Sparks

Timelessness, prescience and beauty: 40th-anniversary reappearance of ‘No. 1 In Heaven’

Although American, Sparks’ initial commercial breakthrough was in the UK where their rococo art-rock chimed with ears attuned to, say, Roxy Music. Their sensibility has always been more European than American. In 2009 they issued an album titled The Seduction of Ingmar Bergman. Its theme was a flight of fancy which took the Swedish director to Hollywood. Later, in 2015, Sparks and Franz Ferdinand collaborated as FFS. As ever, Sparks were a bridge between Europe and the USA.