LTW Newsletter 43

Welcome warriors

As autumn sneaks in and cruelly wrestles summer’s warm hands from the tills and rudders of the day and night and we stagger like a headless intoxicated nation into the clutches of a cruel winter we yet again only have the music to salve our raw and soon to be shivering souls!

Praise the lords of noise! There’s been a lot of it about as our plucky team of cyber nuts, cyberbnauts and reviewers have been running amok on the live circuit seeking stimulation from the high decibel. The tail end of the festivals season saw a few of the outdoor gatherings get their last reviews as the signposted the dying of the light.

A time of the year that also saw the live circuit bracing itself for a tricky winter as it got back in action whilst our days were also peppered with new releases. There’s a lot out of it about missus ooh er etc and this summation is only a brief part of our adventures this week…

We were saddened yet oddly inspired by Bauhaus frontman Peter Murphy’s brave decision to cancel the bands up and coming American tour and go into rehab.

It must be difficult enough being on the rock n roller coaster treadmill and bearing all the responsibility for fans travelling to gigs and their travel and hotel costs and thinking the show must go on but enough is enough. Thankfully in these more enlightened times people allow for the frailty of the human spirit and are wishing him well. Get well soon Peter and hopefully you will come back healthy and invigorated to continue to lead the band’s brilliant revival which has seen a series of stunning shows.

Fellow dark pop mavericks Depeche Mode have felt proper loss recently with the sad death of core member Fletch. A new book is the first in-depth look at the making of their classic Violator album and its enduring legacy. Halo is a must read for anyone who likes their music taking a walk on the dark side.

Perhaps the crow king of the harbingers of the dark stuff, Nick Cave, has been on a triumphant European tour which closed in London last week. His astonishing run of live shows are the pinnacle of charismatic modern music and he somehow seems to have upped the ante even further with a preacherman workout and a volley of phrases and lyrical skree that genuinely saw an audience in ecstatic communion. Our reviewer came to worship the dark suited one.

The War in Ukraine has been dragging on but some culture survives in the war torn nation and this fascinating piece about the hip hop scene in the nation gives hope for any culture vultures.

Britpop pioneers and swaggering comeback kings Suede have a new single out that is the second instalment on their upcoming album which by the sounds of it could be yet another triumph in their surprisingly reliant career. Suede have grabbed victory from the jaws of defeat so many times and somehow retained a glorious stylistic ooze in their bohemian psychodrama pop noir…

A clutch of late August festivals signposted the end of the of the festival summer and we reverted them all here

Haldern pop festival

Krankenhaus Festival

Reading Festival

Subpop stalwarts Mudhoney were perhaps the key band in that scene and whose groundbreaking music was overshadowed by the tsunami that was Nirvana. Still intact and creative to this day they explain all here in the exclusive interview.

Still pushing the boundaries of just what pop music can do Bjork announced a new album.

Fast making name for themselves on the live circuit Starcrawler are LA Rock n Rollers with an added bite... A listen to their albums including their most recent, 2019’s Devour you, capture the look and feel of 1970s New York punk, think New York Dolls and The Ramones with a female lead and they delievr and explosive live show.