LTW Newsletter 96

Hello Warriors,

Festival season is almost upon us, and the gods of weather are already conspiring on what can be thrown at the outdoor revellers. As ever, the great gamble is over whether to wear wellies or not, or take the chance with the muddy fields of England. 

We here at LTW are strictly not wellies people, and one of the strict rules in our manifesto, which is posted on the office walls, is that no freelancer should ever be seen wearing a pair of gummy gammy gum boots…it’s just one of those things leftover from the old days of punk rock. ‘You cannot dress like one of the Wurzels…it is strictly forbidden…’ screams the statement! 

Of course, when you get to the festival and it's been raining for a week and the field is getting washed away, such fripperies and nonsense make little sense at all, and you may wish you had brought your mighty wellies…if you even have any.

In the meantime, there are still a bunch of dry solid ground gigs to go to, and we have been mighty busy this week writing about them and new releases on the site. 

Who would ever have thought that back in their firebrand youth, when they were only going to make one album and then gloriously implode, that the Manic Street Preachers would have turned into such trusty evergreen vets whose classic rock is so perfect for the vintage circuit. The band seem to get better with age and, like the fine old wines that they are, are in the middle of another glorious tour that mixes their greatest hits with their excellent new album, plus Nicky Wire still knows how to apply the eye liner!

There was a time when Irish glam punks Compulsion were seen as being the same kind of high IQ punk fused firebrands like the Manics and even supported them on tour once. They burst onto the scene with a couple of powerful albums that were sonically perfect and then disappeared. As ever in pop culture, the timing was what tripped them - a band like Compulsion would have an audience now but back then, they arrived in one of those perennial low ebbs for punky noise.  Since then, their guitar player, Jackknife Lee, has become one of the world’s most in-demand producers and after honing the band’s powerful, crystalline sound into perfection created a template for other bands to use. As a reminder of their birth pangs though they have rereleased their first two albums…

The latest wild action on the new band front are Bathing Suits who ooze a confusion of sartorial and musical styles and whose recent gig in London sees them as one of those bands to really keep an eye on. Are Bathing Suits the oddest, most confusingly brilliant, fucked up sounding band we’ve heard for a while? Keith Goldhanger has a new favourite band and seems to think so. 

Billy Idol always understood his place in the world. Generation X was one of those last glam bands that formed in time for the next big scene and was perfect for punk. Billy has worked his glam good looks for decades, turning himself into a disco punk Elvis to hit paydirt in the USA. Now 70, where does he go next? His new album sees a partial return to the eighties heyday…

Of the same vintage as Mr. Idol and a fellow Doors fan who actually went to see the early Doors play local LA bars before they signed is Michael Gira from Swans who last Thursday with Kristof Hahn sat down in London’s iconic EartH midway through their European tour for a rare performance of upcoming material and selected older works.

Heilung are the Danish take on the moody Wardruna neo Viking folk and have been selling out the Apollos with their swirling cloud dark forest intensity. The experimental folk band brought their mesmerising performance to Manchester as part of their final tour -Albion, Eiru ok Erop Ferdhast, before hiatus. Supported by musical virtuoso Eivor, together they forged a momentous and magical experience for a sold out 02 Apollo crowd.

We were shocked to hear that Alexander Hacke had left Einsturzende Neubauten after forty plus years of service for the German band. For many, he was the band’s musical director and in recent years still gave it everything on stage, adding a raw power to their engine room. The good news is that this will give him more time to concentrate on his project with his wife Danielle De Picciotto. 

Bratakus are a thrilling blast of punk rock from a Glasgow duo who guitar sound is a bigger wall of sound than Steve Jones at his prime but with an added twist of Riot Grrrl mic melting intensity.

Long term LTW faves Sextile have returned after some problems and their new album picks  up from where Push, their last album left off, yes, please. The new record ventures further into the acid-inflected realms of rave-punk attack their Sacred Bones debut threatened us with.

We had a great night out at The Anchoress gig that saw her classically fused songs create whole textures and atmospheres whilst being cloaked in eighties pop sheen. For sheer quality of songwriting and vocals she is supreme and the songs captivate perfectly. 

New York songstress Suzanne Vega mixes the urban and the spiritual on her 10th studio album, a life-affirming experience that runs the gamut from bliss to dystopia. Robert Plummer buckled up for the flight.