This year will be our fourth Glastonbury in a row and, although there’s far too much to be excited about to list here, we’d probably pick our first Emeli Sandé gig as the thing we’re most enthused by at the sold-out event which runs from 22/6 to 25/6. Katy Perry’s new album Witness is out 9/6 and Lorde’s Melodrama 16/6 and they both also feature.
The final of the 62nd contest takes place in Kiev, Ukraine, on 13/5 at 8pm on BBC1 and the pre-contest publicity has been dominated by the host country’s banning of Russia’s entry. Check out the search box for our predictions for this year which include the contest’s most surefire winner: Occidentali’s Karma by Francesco Gabbani (pictured above).
WORTH A LOOK?: ***
OUT: 31/3/17
TRACKLISTING: Anymore; Systemagic; Tiger Man; Become The One; Faux Suede Drifter; Zodiac Black; Beast That Never Was; Everything Is Never Enough; Moon In Your Mouth; Oceans
We saw Goldfrapp at Camden Roundhouse this week and they played six of these 10 tracks there.
WORTH A LOOK?: ****
OUT: 27/1
Long-standing fans of this band have been aware for a while about how easily their more folk musings sit alongside the electro anthems that have propelled them to their most popular periods.
Sir Ian has long been one of our favourite actors and when he shared our BFI Shakespeare Q&A with him on his Facebook page in April our traffic went into meltdown. Pictorial evidence above.
It’s almost Christmas and what would the festive season be without some recognition of the best of 2016? Over the next fortnight we’ll shortlist five nominees in each of 12 categories for our Oscars, or monstas if you will, of 2016.
WORTH A LOOK?: ****
OUT: now
TRACKLIST: iT; Saint Claude; Tilted; No Harm Is Done; Science Fiction; Paradis Perdue; Half Ladies; Jonathan; Narcissus Is Back; Safe and Holy; Night 52; Here.
Breakout hit Tilted is A-Listed at Radio 1 and B-Listed at Radio 2 as we type. But it was quite possibly BBC1’s Graham Norton Show where you first encountered arguably the song of the summer.
WORTH A LOOK?: ***
OUT: 8/7
TRACKLIST: Mastermind; Pretty Gardens; Thoughts Wasted; Lip Service; Ten Miles High; Whatever; Romantic Comedy; Nervous Sleep; Sitting and Counting.
Fans of Moloko’s breakthrough 1999 hit Sing It Back would do well to approach Murphy’s fifth solo album with caution.
WORTH A LOOK: *****
OUT: 8/7
TRACKLIST: (I); Nothing’s Real; What’s It Gonna Be; Touch; Kidz’n’Stuff; Indecision; What Happened To Us; (II); Tongue Tied; 2Shy; White Lies; The Space Tapes.
It’s noon on Saturday the day after the Brexit result triggered David Cameron’s resignation and Shura is telling the audience at Glastonbury’s Other Stage that her entire set is about break-ups.
Super is our album of the year so far and the Boys’ only 2016 UK dates are during their four-date Inner Sanctum residency at the Royal Opera House. We saw Rufus Wainwright there a while back and it’s a venue Neil and Chris were born to play. Tickets have sold out but we’d check here for returns.
