Blog: Highway Five UK Music Blog

Beast Moans Swan Lake Jagjaguwar Swan Lake are a supergroup formed from various leading lights [...]

Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan – St Georges Bristol – 25th January. Isobel Campbell's soft tones are darting around the black hole of Mark Lanegan rasp as he sings "the flame that's burns'. The crowd is in rapture, clapping along with some spirited prompting from Isobel Campbell. It's a new composition for the crowd to absorb and the first signs of something stirring up on stage. A spark at last in evening that was threatening to hang suspended. Mired in good intentions but lacking soul [...]

The concept LP seems to have had a shot in the arm in recent years. From Magnetic Fields 69 Love Songs via Sufjan Stevens recent projects and the prog metal of Mars Volta the left field seems to have embraced the concept LP to its heart.Plague Songs is slightly different. A concept LP ? Sure, but from an arty and obscure genesis this collection was birthed. Ten songs, ten plagues and one of the most original and arresting anthology of music you will hear this year. The soundtrack to a live art installation of the ten plagues of Egypt set [...]

The first time I heard Billy Bragg sing was on breakfast TV. He ripped through a rousing version of It's Say Here and I dropped my school bag in shock: I had never witnessed anything like it. Punk rock folk music if you please. The sound of a cheap untreated electric guitar, a pin sharp eye for details and the spirit of The Clash without the rock 'n' roll posing. The self confessed big nosed bard of Barking shredding the idea of press freedom, the royal family and tabloid double standards in under three minutes. I had never [...]