LTW Newsletter 126

Welcome Warriors,

Our old mate Billy Shakespeare, who used to write reviews for LTW from the Midlands area of bands like the UK Subs before becoming a playwright, once wrote. ‘If music be the food of love, play on; Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting, The appetite may sicken, and so die….’

We kinda like this metaphor and the idea that it sparks that music can be a huge feast of complex flavours or it can be a quick hit of chips on a Saturday night and that both can be equally satisfying….one can be a prog rock opus or a prog pop opus like Rosalia and the other can be a dumb slice of pop or a gonzoid moment of punk thrash and they all work…that’s part of the eternal fascination of music and also why we all write about it - just trying to work out why some of this stuff works and connects with us even if there is no real rational reason why it should! 

The recent Manic Street Preachers and Suede love-in that started from touring last year now seems fully consummated to the extent that they have moved in together and announced another bigger tour that puts both bands into the big arenas for an indie glam package tour that will mix a lipstick nostalgia with a cutting edge energy that both bands somehow retain. That nineties thing seems to only be getting bigger and bigger as the years roll by, and the Britpop and fringe Britpop bands have become huge across the board in ways that many other generational scenes and bands just haven't.

From the same era, The Prodigy became one of the biggest bands in the world by creating their own genre! Somehow combining all the rebel musics of techno, breakbeats, underground dance, electronics, industrial, metal and punk into a unlikley world beater, they had a number one world wide album in the nineties and were recently back out on an arena tour that was as close to a full on riot as these enormodromes allow. Of course, it will never be the same without Keith but Maxim has stepped up from his role as MC and fills the space whilst celebrating his old comrade in arms. Far more groundbreaking than ever given credit for, the Prodigy are a law unto themselves and one of the greatest live acts on the planet, and we celebrate them here. 

Another band from that era who are still huge are James - they are like the silent assassin band from the Manchester scene - rarely mentioned in Manc documentaries and books but quietly getting huge on their own, treading lightly like ninjas and also retaining a creative curveball that sees them doing some of their best work deep into their career without having to become a mere jukebox of older hits. Their recent tour has received an ecstatic response and our reviewer was no different. They have been going for more than four decades, but instead of resting on their laurels, James continue to refuse to turn their latest celebratory tour into a predictable greatest hits rerun. Tom Parry sees them put on a masterful live show, blending old and very new and making the cavernous O2 arena almost intimate. 

Keeping up with this sudden love for all things from indie past Johnny Marr has just announced his biggest gig yet at Wembley Arena…

Music of course never stops, and there is plenty of new noise to get thrilled about. LTW faves the Dead Pioneers have been making some very timely punk rock that deals with the Trump thing like a modern day Dead Kennedys and the band’s gigs and albums are a thrilling twist on the form. Their new single with guest Aimee from the Interpreters is ahead of the imminent album Wagon Burner. https://louderthanwar.com/watch-this-dead-pioneers-new-single-never-alone-feat-aimee-interrupter/ (Si apre in una nuova finestra)

Another LTW fave is the multi-hyphenate multi-instrumentalist and polymath The Anchoress AKA Catherine Anne Davies, who returns with her first new music in six years. The track is an outstanding starter for ten for the upcoming album As We Once Were, which is due in the summer, it’s a springtime classic, says MK Bennett 

London art-rock outfit, Modern Woman, finally fulfil their mission to conflict noise and melody through the release of their debut album Johnny’s Dreamworld. It’s a collection of songs of truly immense stature in the way that it shapes a unique blend of theatrical indie folk, post punk art-rock and semi-rock opera into a whole new dynamic avant-garde art form with spectacularly vibrant results.

Somehow still breaking new ground and still retaining the ability to shock us into the future Peaches was back through town for her current tour and bringing her No Lube So Rude tour to Manchester’s O2 Ritz and delivering a career-spanning, politically charged spectacle that confirmed her status as one of live music’s most fearless and vital performers – Thom Sidwell was there to take in the show. 

Rockaway Beach festival announced have announced the first wave of the 2027 lineup – featuring a stack of artists we love, from icons to the next generation coming through.