The Pictish Trail have made some of Scene Alba’s favourite music so there’s a touch of trepidation when confronted with a whole new album. Can it live up to previous records? Fortunately the answer is ‘Yes!’ and then some. 5 Stars Johnny Lynch has taken his psychedelic, electro-pop and focussed it on ‘Thumb World’ that’s not to say that he’s made it too commercial he would never be so pedestrian, what he’s done is hone his songwriting into something spectacular. You never know what’s coming next on this album, opener ‘Repeat Neverending’ is a slow starter to ease us into the record. Stuttering guitars and a low background beat guide Johnny’s vocals as the song opens up layer by layer it's a perfect track to begin with, so deceptively simple it unveils more and more on each listen. ‘Double Sided’ has a faster pulse and a gorgeous chorus, in fact this album is absolutely stacked with beautiful melodies it's a technicoloured embarrassment of riches all round. ‘Pig Nice’ has...

M Huncho - Huncholini The 1st 1/5 Second album from North London rapper M Huncho finds the usual money obsessed, misogynistic, macho bullshit that we really should be past by now. It's frankly dull, vocoder vocals over some pretty plain beats, a lazy call and response structure to almost every song, by track seven featuring Nafe Smallz there’s little to separate the tracks from each other. Pussy, money, violence. Rinse and repeat. He really needs to find different angles, even his rapping is sonically on one level, it makes for a very uninspiring listen. Of course it's reflective of M Huncho’s world and it is a world that’ll be very familiar to many but surely this genre has been to death and needs a massive shake up rather than regurgitating the same tales of sex, drugs, minor crime and money which has been done much, much better elsewhere a long time ago. It would be much more interesting to see M Huncho broaden his outward perspective to take in a bigger scope and see...

Marc Almond - Chaos And A Dancing Star ⅗ It's all about the drama with this one and 24th (Yes! 24th!) album ‘Chaos And A Dancing Star’ is no different. Imbued with Almond’s gothy, velvety tones which time has not tempered this album has the feel of the theatrical, but a frayed, aging theater which lends a dusty authentic-ness to the swooning torch songs. ‘Hollywood Forever’ is a great example of this theatricality but not bellowed over the top vocals, Marc restrains his voice and finds the right angle to present this tale of fading glamour and legends. It's lovely and as good as anything he’s done in the past. Elsewhere there are some beautiful balladry to be had. Both ‘The Crow’s Eyes Have Turned Blue’ and ‘Dreaming of Sea’ have a weary beauty stitched into their fabric and with some rather lovely backing vocals on the latter opens the song up to another level. Even though Almond loves to revel in stories of tragedy and star crossed lovers he finds the time to insert an ...

Pet Shop Boys - Hotspot ⅘ This is the fourteenth album from the legendary Pet Shop Boys. It is of course a selection of electro pop tunes with a sardonic raise of the eyebrow thrown in. Nothing too surprising, this is their third collaboration with producer Stuart Price and has the usual hallmarks of the Pet Shop Boys sound but with a beefier feel.  ‘Willow The Wisp’ (not based on the Kenneth Williams voiced cartoon unfortunately) has a pounding, driving beat and dispels any notion that the boys are slowing down or calming their sound in any way whatsoever. Neil sings about catching the sight of a former friend or lover he’s not seen for many years, as usual melancholy drapes itself over the song and continues into ‘You Are The One’ a surprisingly romantic tune full of optimism. Italio-house piano riffs lead the way through the stomping ‘Happy People’ whilst Olly Alexander from Years & Years pops in to dish out some vocals on ‘Dreamer’ and Bernard Butler lends his guit...

Scottish Opera – Nixon in China Theatre Royal, Glasgow – 20 February 2020 Kelvin Holdsworth *** * Do we make history or does it make us? Scottish Opera’s co-production of Nixon in China is a timely and intelligent piece that asks questions about things that many in the audience will remember yet provides no easy answers. This is not a simple morality tale, nor a love story, nor a tragedy. It is an opportunity for every audience member to reflect on the swirling currents of modern political life. It is a piece that is at once about how strange the past seems to b e and how even stranger , the present. The dominant theme in John Fulljames’s production is looking back. The whole story is told as a retrospective study of documents within an archive storage facility. Everything is either memory or historical record. This is an innovative staging making clever use of video throughout. Some of this is simply projected pictures. More interestingly though, much...

Aye Write is back in Glasgow from 12-29 March with all the best in fiction, politics, poetry, crime & thriller, memoir, history, music and more from around Scotland and the world.   Some of the lgbtq+ highlights are below we will have bring you  interviews with the writers and reviews of the their books over the weeks in the lead up to the start of Aye Write festival. Amelia Abraham, Queer Intentions 19th Mar 2020   •  6:00PM - 7:00PM  •  Mitchell Library Combining intrepid journalism with her own personal experience, Amelia Abraham searches for what it means to be queer in 2019. Combining intrepid journalism with her own personal experience, Amelia Abraham searches for what it means to be queer in 2019. With curiosity, good humour and disarming openness, Amelia takes the reader on a thought-provoking and entertaining journey. Join her as she cries at the first same-sex marriage in Britain, loses herself in the world's biggest drag convent...

Blossoms - Foolish Loving Spaces 4/5 This is an odd choice for Blossoms, they gone from a bland festival pleaser band to 80's flavoured pop trinkets. Strangely it suits them much more than their previous dull rock incarnation.  Synths and jaunty rhythms inform a lot of the songs on this rather sunshine blasted album, it's a bit like necking a can of Lilt after drinking sugarless coffee for months.  Very upbeat and positive, singer Tom Ogden has thrown off the turgid indie rock template for a more pop focused sound and the results are a very summery sounding record. Songs like 'Romance, Eh' have a lightweight, breezy feel to them almost designed specifically for a cheery montage of a couple (heterosexual, of course) falling in love. In fact 'Foolish Loving Spaces' sits happily next to the solid frothiness of the Monkees or The Partridge Family in terms of cheerfulness. Both 'The Keeper' and 'If You Think This Is Real Life' are glis...

Drive-By Truckers - The Unraveling 4/5 For almost 25 years Drive-By Truckers have been supplying alternative Americana to a fevered fan base so it's no surprise that this year's 'The Unraveling' has no big departures from their sound. However this may be their most political album yet. Opening track 'Rosemary With A Bible And A Gun' is a somber, aching affair regarding the narrator's true love in a world of decaying American infrastructures and cold patricical possessiveness, it has a weariness but it's misdirection as immediately we're catapulted into 'Armageddon's Back In Town' a roaring boot in the balls directed at the crotch of a particularly nasty, orange hued President. There's more political anger, albeit it jauntily angry, on 'Thoughts And Prayers' which is exactly what you think it's about. Frustration at the constant flow of insipid lip service that follows any number of the never ending shootings t...

In a year that has started off with devastating fires and war proclamations, Bombay Bicycle Club's Everything Else Has Gone Wrong seems like a fitting title for their highly anticipated fifth album. Their first since 2014's electro-pop masterpiece So Long, See You Tomorrow, it greets you like an old friend as you two sit down at a familiar table to catch up over a pint. Or two.  There are many artists whose legacy is tied solely to their ability to adapt and change, creating a persona that is malleable rather than recognisable . Bombay Bicycle Club is not one of them. Achieving something even more rare, their latest album signifies a musical evolution that feels natural—destined, even—while maintaining their humble signature. Lead singer Steadman's demure vocals have not changed much since their debut on I Had The Blues But I Shook Them Loose but the message that they carry has. Where their early work felt open and exploratory, Everything Else Has Gone Wrong reads lik...