LTW newsletter 53

Welcome warriors,

Here comes the sun!

Not the shit stirring tabloid of the same name but the nearly perfect ball of confusion and hot plasma heated to incandescence by the unimaginable nuclear fusion at its core that has warmed and energised our measly blue dot for millions of years!

That one!

And yet for all its wonder it’s just one of many trillions of exploding white dots across the universe each doing their own version of this radiating dance and each with their own teaming random systems of rocks and gas clouds and radioactive fields swirling around them - some even supporting and teaming with another version of life…doesn't that make you feel small!

In a week that has seen the UK bask in temperatures that are scorchio even for LA making life feel surreal and like we are on a permas holiday filling the streets full of loose wardrobes and strange items of clothing rediscovered in odd nooks and crannies of flats and mansions…we welcome summer in all its loose fit!

There is a cultural shift as well with gig season subtly shifting towards festival season and that usually means the rain will return to biblical proportions with Noah waving his staff at the mighty heavens and all sundry of indie bands being washed off the many stages…Glastonbury is next weekend and we will decamp there to host Billy Bragg’s Leftfield stage!

Menawhile old lags warm up for old lags festival! Generation Sex is the supergroup stitched together from the classic chassis of Cook n Jones from the Sex Pistols and Idol and James from Generation X. The Pistols were game changers and their engine room has always sounded fab - underrated if anything they are one of the great rock powerhouses and proof that for all his wily ways and brilliance at creating situations, Malcolm Mclaren may have not realised just how good the band really were. Generation X on the other had were often dismissed which was criminal as their short run of releases sound fab to this day. Combining for one last roustabout the band are sounding great and the run of UK shows will be a celebration of old time punk rock before they stagger into Finsbury Park for the Iggy Pop and Blondie bonanza.

Punk thrived on controversy but these days seems pretty tame compared to some the pillars of prog rock that were operating just before. Roger Waters is a complex character and his world view is much argued about. His current tour that sees the Pink Floyd bassist reaching 80 years old could well be his last and is a stunning audio visual experience full of question marks that are not always comfortable to answer - there has been much controversy over the content but what of the show?

Rap legends Wu Tang Clan have been bringing their martial art rap to the arenas and sounding as vital as ever. Some of the greatest music of the form came from the Long Island crew and their turbulent history seemed to have removed them form the narrative but they have returned and touring with another rap legend Nas and our curious reviewer celebrated their still enthralling musical bonanza.

You can’t get any more enigmatic than Aphex Twin - the Cornish brought up beat maverick who took electronic music on a unexpected and enthralling journey. Inventing beats and rhythms that seemed impossible and creating textures and atmospheres that were uttley original whilst retaining a mystic and aura by his down to earth attitude and flickering shadows of spooky videos, Aphex Twin is a true genius of the form. This new book attempts to unravel the mystery track by track.

WATCH! Erica Nockalls is the violin player from the Wonder Stuff and has her own brilliant project and has debuted a new song that explores the more twisted neighbourhoods of stark industrial…this is really good!

Sometimes its easy to forget just how popular Pink is but here she is doing a stadium tour starting at Bolton. There is a whole segment of pop now full of these big productions where the audience is more dressed up than the bands with the crowd going going full feather boa for a summer extravaganza - Pink is part of this world and the weather provided a perfect backdrop for this dressed up celebration of party pop. A hi tech show of full Day-Glo and very 2023 in its digital razzmatazz.

Gavin Friday is one of the key players in post punk. The former singer from Virgin Prunes talks to John Robb about punk rock, David Bowie, post punk, his Lypton Village gang with U2 that changed Dublin and Ireland from stuffy conservatism to its bright new future and ponders John Robb’s theory that with his job as being the creative visual driving force behind U2 that he turned the world’s biggest band into a stadium version of Virgin Prunes in U2’s Zooropa period.

Bat For Lashes introduces new songs, unveils a new emphasis on physical expression, and takes multiple other risks in her Meltdown performance. The result is a spectacle to remember.

Always controversial and always the start to a great pub argument! As we hit the mod point of the year its great to look at the 2023 albums of the year so far.

The return of The Prodigy last year saw a run of insane shows with every nook and cranny of the venues going crazy. There were poignant moments like the laser Keith that appeared during Firestarter and yet the band have never sounded better so we welcome them back for their autumn tour.

Bauhaus my finally be over after Peter Murphy jumped ship yet again but as consolation we have the wonderful Love and Rockets out for what could be their last ever tour. Never have the band looked and sounded better. The tour has been a triumph and sees the band slot neatly into the current tripped out new scene like the pioneers they were. Their light show is stunning and they look like 21st century tripped out glam gurus and sound even better - it’s great that Daniel Ash has his new project Ashes and Diamonds coming soon but is it too much to ask that Love and Rockets remain as a supreme side project as they are very much the sound of our alternative now…