MICK MCSHANE is roused by a band whose socialism laces every line of every song with commitment and raw passion
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Thunderously intense and utterly transfixing
New releases from Mountain, Soul Asylum and Michael McDermott
ALEX HALL is disgusted by the misuse of ‘emotional narratives’ to justify uninformed geo-political prejudice
SUE TURNER welcomes a thoughtful, engaging book that lays bare the economic realities of global waste management
JOHN GREEN welcomes an insider account of the achievements and failures of the transition to democracy in Portugal
SIMON PARSONS applauds an imaginative and absorbing updating of Strindberg’s classic
PETER MASON is enthralled by an assembly of objects, ancient and modern, that have lain in the mud of London’s river
WOMAD 2019
Charlton Park
IF WE are going to be gratuitously hermetic about it — and surely that is a writer’s job, after all! — we could say, emotionally speaking, there are essentially two types of music.
The music I have always been drawn towards is searching, questioning, slightly unsettling, disturbing even — but always reaching for transcendence.
This is the heart of modern music, perhaps best encapsulated by John Coltrane’s later period, or by all manner of electronic urban dance forms.
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GEORGE FOGARTY is stunned by the epic and life-affirming sound of an outstanding Palestinian musical collective
GEORGE FOGARTY is mesmerised by the messages made when jazz is played by people who grew up steeped in jungle and hip-hop
GEORGE FOGARTY applauds a show that punches down alt-right-friendly comedy
George Fogarty speaks to US Surrealist Blues poet AJA MONET
