LTW newsletter 45

Hail warriors

May the 4th be with you…

Today is my birthday. It only comes around once a year and it’s the perfect time. Spring has sprung and it’s the first proper sunny day of the year when you can actually sit outside and feel all Beltane in the spring-like vibes as the sap is rising and nature is in full bloom!

Bloom on!

Of course since I started writing this the Manchester skies have gone back to their trad grey!

I'm still in the middle of the never-ending book tour for my The Art Of Darkness - The history of Goth’ book which has been selling out every night. I’s been great to meet many of the LTW readers and subscribers as I work my way around the seething nation. Thanks to you all we have a thriving music portal in these tough times. LTW is one of the few places where independent writing still exists and remains a chance for young writers to express themselves unfettered by corporate interests!

Meanwhile ‘The Art Of Darkness - The history of Goth’ book has become a best seller! Thanks everyone. There are still copies available from…

Of course none of this would mean anything without the music and the soundtrack has been with us all week as our team of trusting beavers rushes around the local circuits constructing lodges of words to appreciate the spectacle in front of them!

The return of Siouxsie Sioux was the spectacle we were hoping for as she appeared from the ether for the first show on her world tour in Brussels. Watch Siouxsie return to the stage after ten years!

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Another Gothic elder Nick Cave has been trending on twitter all week over the story that he intends to go to the coronation. We could not work out what was more bizarre - Nick Cave going or someone in the royalty world asking for him to be there.

It's not all trad goth around here though! New generation raw energy noiseniks, Saint Agnes kick up a thrilling storm with their industrial rock that is laying waste the small venue circuit and threatening breakout. Charismatic and thrilling the band are fast track to big things and they have the intensity to match.

Former XTC main man and songwriting genius Andy Partridge has returned as part of a new project and a wonderful new song that songs like mid-period XTC - it’s is like time melting in front of your eyes and the song is as fresh and inventive as ever and proof that the parameters of pop can be pushed as far as you choose.

Well into her eighties folk legend Shirley Collins is about to release a new album. Anyone who heard her last release will know she is still fully capable of rekindling the fire and her indomitable age has only added to her wisdom and capabilities.

The Damned released their new Darkadelic album and it’s a great work of psyche garage rushes that has been going down a storm. In full Vanian mode the band are crooning their way through melodic masterpieces in their on going late period bloom.

The Flaming Lips returned to these shores creating a thunderous, emotional shockwave of love and appreciation that swept through Manchester on Saturday night as they brought their Yoshimi show to town complete with its theatrics. I remember seeing them in 1988 in New York when they were a tripped out post hardcore band playing to handful of souls in a beat up NYC bar. These days their live show is famously intergalactic.

The National have a new album out that is arguably their best and a culmination of their songwriting craft. First Two Pages Of Frankenstein is The National’s first album for four years.  It feels like the sound of a band actively rediscovering their mojo.

Another iconic singer, PJ Harvey, has come back to the frontline with a new album which she teased a track from with a video made by legendary former Sounds photographer Steve Gullick. I remember Steve Gullick’s first ever job for the music press when he was a mere young strapling who accompanied me to a 1988 interview with My Bloody Valentine. His video for PJ Harvey is a great, arresting work that really captures the feel of the song.

Former Fall reprobates House Af All are garnering great reviews and the album picks up from where the former mothership left off but with its own flavour. The band are now champs of that awkward space that was left when Mark E left the planet. There had been a scramble for the angular awkward crown but the former members have claimed it rightfully as their own.

These are times of rage and inequality and few bands dare to embrace this. LTW faves Benefits are making the best noise about bad times and their recent album is a big favourite. Their current tour has seen the fire kindled and the righteous anger turned into celebratory sweatshod events.

Meanwhile, at the other end of the scale from Benefits are Duran Duran who are very much pop royalty with a jukebox of hits to back them up. Their saunter around the arena circuit was a heady mix of nostalgia and effortless pop supreme.

There was so much more than this going on, of course and LTW has been reflecting this - so click onto the site now and catch up!