Sugababes, O2 Academy, Glasgow review - pop perfection hampered by sluggish sound

★★★ SUGABABES, O2 ACADEMY, GLASGOW Pop perfection hampered by sluggish sound

The reunited trio delivered some classic tunes, when you could hear them

Any younger Sugababes fans might have felt a little neglected here. “Who’s a 90s child?” yelled out enthusiastic DJ Shosh as she warmed up the crowd, followed soon after by a cry of “Who’s an 80s child?”, which received an even louder roar in response.

This was an audience seeking a nostalgic party all right, albeit a rowdier one than anything by the girl group during their chart-topping days, with even a pint glass sailing through the air during a lively opener of “Push the Button” that felt more like a rave than a pop gig.

Let's Eat Grandma, Patterns, Brighton review - odd-pop duo remain a contagious one-off

★★★ LET'S EAT GRANDMA, PATTERNS, BRIGHTON Odd-pop duo remain a contagious one-off

Musically restless originals bring acuity to their unique take on pop

At the start of the song “Two Ribbons” Rosa Walton and Jenny Hollingworth of Let’s Eat Grandma do a brief schoolyard pat-a-cake hand-game. The song is a guileless ode to female friendship, love even, a paean to their own bond, which was strained at one point by the travails of a music career.

Album: Simple Minds - Direction of the Heart

★★★ SIMPLE MINDS - DIRECTION OF THE HEART  Uneven, but still a cause for celebration 

The Scottish rock band's 18th album might be uneven, but it's still a cause for celebration

You’d be within your rights to imagine that Direction of the Heart, the follow-up to 2018’s patchy-but-decent Walk Between Worlds, would see the Simple Minds twin engine of Jim Kerr and Charlie Burchill pull on billowing white shirts and head for the nearest massive windswept stadium, filling it to the brim with widescreen synths, anthemic singalong choruses and a staggering extravagance of emotion.

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.

Album: Hot Chip - Freakout/Release

★★★ HOT CHIP - FREAKOUT / RELEASE Slick with delicious songwriting

Electro-pop perennials latest is slick but contains delicious songwriting

You know those people who claim to literally only like the very first music a band does at the start of their career, then kind “Meh” decades-worth of solid later stuff? Ridiculous, right?

Album: Beyoncé - Renaissance

★★★★★ BEYONCE - RENAISSANCE Musical life begins at 40: Beyoncé meets highest expectations

Musical life begins at 40 as Beyoncé lives up to the highest expectations

There’s polarising discourse and there’s polarising discourse, and then there’s Beyoncé discourse. On the one hand, there’s “the Bey Hive”: the very model of a furious modern fandom who will boost her and monster her critics at a microsecond’s notice. There are the commentators for whom everything she does is by definition profound, moral and important, regardless of any hypercapitalist excesses and hanging out with dicators’ offspring.

Bloc Party, Barrowland, Glasgow review - falling back on past glories brings a jubilant response

★★★ BLOC PARTY, BARROWLAND Falling back on past glories brings a jubilant response

The indie veterans took time to warm up

As Bloc Party singer Kele Okereke noted at one point in this gig, his band have now been visiting Glasgow for nearly two decades. Yet few of the shows played in that 18 year span, which have touched upon nearly all of the city’s main music venues, have been as contrasting as this one. By the night’s end, when the band blasted out a rare outing of their very early single “Little Thoughts”, the audience were a jubilant and sweaty throng, but it was hard work getting there.

Album: Neneh Cherry - The Versions

★★★ NENEH CHERRY - THE VERSIONS Esoteric set of multi-artist cover versions from the singer's back catalogue

Esoteric set of multi-artist cover versions from the singer's back catalogue

Initially, the weird thing about this is it’s being released as a Neneh Cherry album rather than a compilation of artists doing Neneh Cherry covers, which is what it is. That said, awareness slowly grows of a kindred sensibility to recent Neneh Cherry output, the esoteric jazzual spirit that’s imbued her last couple of albums.

MØ, Heaven, London review - snappy, sexy and energised

★★★★ MØ, HEAVEN The Danish pop star plays a tight set to a devoted partisan crowd

Danish pop star plays a tight set to a devoted partisan crowd

“I live to survive another heartache/I live to survive another mistake,” roars a sold-out Heaven. It’s a new song but everyone seems to know it. It’s not MØ’s most famous song but is the bluntest monster banger of the night, crunching four-to-the-floor club-pop that brooks no argument. It’s the last of the set (prior to an encore) and MØ is now a perspiring ball of energy.

Album: Everything Everything - Raw Data Feel

★★★★★ EVERYTHING EVERYTHING - RAW DATA FEEL Manchester indie art-rockers experiment successfully with musical AI

Manchester indie art-rockers experiment successfully with musical AI

Since their 2010 debut, Man Alive, Everything Everything have dissected the various structures of human relationships, from socio-political to interpersonal, but all in their own experimental art-rock sound.