REVIEW: ANGUS & JULIA STONE - CAPE FORESTIER

4/5

Cape Hope.

The London Eye, sometime in my mid-20s. Me and my good radio DJ friend John are checking out the view when we get talking to some lovely Australians, here in the Big Smoke from Melbourne. We hit it off with these guys and end up heading for dinner. The three of them say they'll be heading to Manchester in a few days, to which I, with pleasant surprise, tell them is close to my hometown and where my sister lives. "I'll show you around!" That's when they tell me they're going to a gig that I might be into. A brother and sister act from their native Down Under who they'd love to introduce me to, in concert that is, Angus & Julia Stone.

Since that show, it's been love and forever friendships too. The pair remain one of my favourite acts, and not just Aussie ones (although from INXS to The Jezabels all the best music seems to come from the best place for soap operas and heroes, from Heath to Hemsworth). As for the three friends. We keep in touch on social media. I almost formed a band with one (don't act like Harvey Marlan isn't an awesome name for a band), whilst another was here in Tokyo a few years back. Separate to all that, I even had my own 'Santa Monica Dream' in Los Angeles, California that, like Tom Hanks in 'Saving Private Ryan', is just for me. I've been waiting for a new album for as long as the fans now, and I also can't tell you how much 'Sitting In Seoul' resonates with my heart right now for a group that sings for the illuminating 'City Of Lights' neons like a Jezabel, 'City Girl'. After self-titled classics and ones like 'A Book Like This' and 'Down The Way', Angus Stone and Julia Stone are back with their first album since the 'Snow' of 2017. Although Angus had us last with the Dope Lemon of 'Kimosabé' last year, whilst the queen of the stone age of Julia released 'Sixty Summers' and 'Everything Is Christmas' in 2021. Now, with the lyrics of the titular 'Cape Forestier' ("Oh, start for the sea/I won't see you leave/With Southport (hey, that's the name of my hometown I was telling you about) from sight/Go to the rising light.") on the warm artwork (see above) of their new classic, it's so good that they are back together on the family sofa.

Issuing us with inspiration from the Lemon Rock of Cape Forestier, Australia itself, the singing and songwriting siblings bring us one of their best albums to bear. In matrimony with singles like the dum, dum, da, dum march of 'The Wedding Song', or the other side of the Yin with the 'Losing You' break-up ballad, together again, the family is well and truly back home. 'No Boat, No Aeroplane' could take them away like Rolling Stone 'Wild Horses'. But there is a beautiful cover of Bob Dylan's sweetest and most simple ode, 'I Want You' that will remind you of what Springsteen meant when he said those straight-forward lyrics of "I want you so bad" are the realest and greatest because of how they are delivered. Like us from evil, or fear with the hop of this heavenly Cape like Cod. 'Life Is Strange'. One minute you're writing the soundtrack for a video game. The next, you're signing, sealing and delivering your first studio album in the seal of seven years. Produced by Ben Edgar and "holding a really special place in (their) hearts", 'Forestier' forests such gems like 'Country Sign' and 'Somehow'. From heading 'Down To The Sea', to dropping 'My Little Anchor', it all sounds so beautiful like the instrumental curtains of 'The Wonder Of You' like a Sinatra swansong. It's like they say in 'Seoul', baring theirs, "I'll be coming home soon/We'll be lying on the couch/Telling each other stories," back again. This famous fifth album will be accompanied by a world tour from way Down Under to the Union Jack eyes of London, Manchester and more. Ending back home in Queenstown. So just maybe, off a 'Big Jet Plane', I'll see you again, my friends. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'City Of Lights', 'I Want You', 'Sitting In Seoul'.

REVIEW: KINGS OF LEON - CAN WE PLEASE HAVE FUN

3.5/5 

House Of Fun.

Their sex may no longer be on fire like their prolific popularity (glad they got that checked out), but Tennessee's own Kings Of Leon still put on a clinic when it comes to classic rock and roll music. From the country home of Nashville and their, 'Youth & Young Manhood' and 'Aha Shake Heartbreak' beginnings, they've always been one of the best bands before the 'Because Of The Times' and 'Only By The Night' platinum sound. Since then, they've tried to still 'Come Around Sundown', riding the 'Mechanical Bull', but with the 'Walls' closing in, their popularity hasn't been the same since it was almost (can you believe it?) a decade and a half ago. Still, don't say they've fallen off like 'The Simpsons', or J. Cole trying to diss Kendrick. One of America's most amazing bands are back with their first album since 'When You See Yourself' in 2021.

'Can We Please Have Fun' they ask for their ninth wonder of a studio album, and their first with LoveTap and Capitol Records. And it's an exclamation too, saying goodbye to RCA. Feeling fresh like Vietnamese food, all the way down to the vibrant album artwork in all caps for this declaration. Recording in Franklin, Tennessee's Dark Horse, with the great Kid Harpoon, the man behind the Styles of 'Harry's House', the Followill brothers of Jared, Nathan, Matthew, and of course, Caleb follow-suit in this family affair. Writing some sensational songs, spearheaded by the singles, 'Mustang', 'Split Screen', 'Nothing To Do', and 'Nowhere To Run' to that end. Continuing to cook with the States star's Great British bake off of the 'Live At Wrexham' bonus Racecourse set featuring classics like 'On call', 'Pyro' and the searing 'Cold Desert' for your island discs. Headlining a tour through North America, Ireland and the United Kingdom where they continue to be profoundly popular, the Kings have plenty to deal with their set-lists, coming out of the corner with the opening 'Ballerina Radio' that stings like a bee. All the way to the ends of 'Seen' like getting left on read, waiting for more. But it's the floating 'Rainbow ball' that shows them in all their colours, as Caleb croons, "Got my old friend back/He was gone quite a while/I won't stand for that/Good times/Were had/By all/At the rainbow ball/We took every ride/Never paid no mind/We held/Our breath/We crossed that line."

Please, please me, in the madness of this house of fun, there's more to come. Like rapid eye movements, the lyrics of "Jump to conclusion/Based on illusion/Everything is shaved ice/Fashion week's a blur/And everybody slurs/And feels out of style", gives your brain that numbing freeze like the aforementioned summer snack. The world is gone to the dogs that would rather troll celebrity and you and me, and then celebrate what everyone's wearing at the Met Gala, as they dress up their previous cat comments to walk it all back. There really is nowhere to run in this 'Split Screen' dream that has a sadness like a John Mayer record. But on 'Don't Stop The Bleeding', in this mad world, Leon just want to pour on the fun for your tears and fears. "Bombs away/Don't stop the bleeding/Why you always look so sad?/I think you're rad." We all need somebody to look at us like that in this digitally dark day and age. Tune into this 'M Television' for the 'Hesitation Gen' and these two rockers will show you how to do this, son. It's all about just feeling the fun amongst all this fear, taking a leap of faith that sounds like "Let's take this thing apart/Rebuild it with our hands/Modify the make and model/Patch it up and see what happens." With a harpoon in their side, these kids of Leon make a brand-new start that will ease you in like 'Ease Me On' that sounds so illuminating like the lights of a jukebox when you select said track in an amber and neon lit bar. Finding their sweet spot, between the stools and the sour limes you twist 'round the neck, the Kings are back. And it's all for the fun, kids. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'Ballerina Radio', 'Rainbow Ball', 'Mustang'.

REVIEW: GHOSTFACE KILLAH - SET THE TONE (GUNS & ROSES)

3.5/5

Tone Def.

Beef, like Ali Wong and Steven Yeun on Netflix, between Drake and Kendrick Lamar. What's it good for, like war? Absolutely nothing when it results in trespassing and harassment to spouses. And you don't need J. Cole bowing out of this big-three (not so) gracefully to see and say it again. Sure, if it's kept on wax, then what a time to be alive. But these three were keeping modern rap alive. In terms of hip-hop, it belongs to the likes of Nas, the Wu-Tang Clan and many more. Nas is no stranger to lyrical battles after ethering Jay-Z. And both he and my favourite member of the Wu, Ghostface Killah know all about the beef that took the lives of late greats Tupac Shakur and The Notorious B.I.G. Nasir Jones on the 'God Son's' 'Last Real N#### Alive' breakdown talking about Big biting purple tapes and borrowing styles that were only built for Cuban lynx. Here's to the 'Guns and Roses' like Axel and Slash.

Iron Man, Ghost was the guest star on that classic chef cooked Raekwon LP that even had a super sequel. When it comes to the face of this Killah, he's a scream. From signatures like 'Supreme Clientele' to 'Bulletproof Wallets', and later greatest albums 'The Pretty Toney Album' and 'Fishscale' (not to mention 'More Fish' in possibly his greatest, or any rapper's best runs). Let's not forget all the LP's from the W and compelling collaborations with Adrian Younge (the '12 Reasons' series), BADBADNOTGOOD (the sensational 'Sour Soul') and the face off 'Ghost/Doom' that could have been with the late, great MF DOOM. Now Toney will 'Set The Tone' with his first album since 2019's 'Ghostface Killahs', setting the table with some sweet guest spots. Of course, there's Nas on the red-hot single 'Scar Tissue' (the best feature you've seen since Jones' gutter 'Ghetto Dreams' with Common) and Kanye West, reuniting after his "she ordered the Kobe beef like Shaquille O'Neal" 'Back Like That' remix on 'No Face' for you Ghibli fans. Wu brethren of the 'Wu Massacre' Method Man on the 'Pair Of Hammers' that knocks and Raekwon on the rolling 'Skate Odyssey' with October London bringing big smoke. 'Wu Block' collaborator Sheek Louch for '6 Minutes' with Dipset's Jim Jones and Harl3y, who like a Davidson also rolls through on 'Cape Fear' (with not so Fat Joe), 'Plan B' and 'Shots' with Busta Rhymes and Serani. New artists never had it so good.

Setting the tone with collaborations across the board, not to brag, but let me tell you about the three times I met Ghostface Killah. The first was back in the early 2000s, visiting a friend in Leeds University where he was randomly playing a gig. I took a photo on a disposable camera, because back then, kids, our phones weren't so smart. But damn if I didn't forget to get his autograph. I made up for that a couple of years later at a Wu-Tang Clan reunion show. The last time I saw him, for a friend's birthday, there wasn't much else to do. So stupidly I showed him our photo now imported into my phone (because, family photos and all that) and he screwed up his face in response. All before breaking out the biggest grin you've ever seen and showing one of the members of Theodore Unit, "hey, you were wearing your purple sweater." Needless to say, the point I'm making is Ghostface may be one of the hardest rappers alive (who is rumoured to have thrown 50 Cent down the stairs, and broken Pastor Ma$e's jaw), but he's also one of the nicest. And as others wage war, he brings the rap GOATs to the fore like the Rushmore you best believe he's carved in. All the way to the banging bonus track with Terror Squad's Remy Ma ('YUPP!'). The Mass Appeal looking like a mixtape on this artwork as he calls up (like Chucky Hollywood on the 'Trap Phone'), Iceman for a 'Kilo In The Safe', Benition for the united colors of a 'Champion Sound', AZ and Bee-B 'Locked In', Shaun Wiah for the Mario sampling 'Touch You', and even Ja Rule on his comeback trail (can't wait for the new album) with Trevor Jackson over a 'Bad B####'. But I've still got a bone to pick with Tone. On his first 'Skit' he asks for your top five, dead or alive cereals, and Kellogg's Crunchy Nut Corn Flakes doesn't even get a spoon in. Unfrosted. C'mon, man. I know you've been to Leeds. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'Pair Of Hammers (Feat. Method Man)', 'Scar Tissue (Feat. Nas)', 'YUPP! (Feat. Remy Ma)'. 

REVIEW: WILLOW - empathogen

4/5

willow is a player.

Beyoncé. Taylor Swift. Norah Jones. Maggie Rogers. Sheryl Crow. St. Vincent last week...and on this album for the ruling love of 'pain for fun'. The big guns have brought out some of their best albums this year. But don't forget about Willow Smith. Daddy certainly doesn't, proudly posting her big Tiny Desk Concert powerhouse performance on his Instagram ahead of Willow's New Music Friday release of 'empathogen', going head-to-head with the legacy making likes of Dua Lipa and Sia. Uncle DJ Jazz Jeff getting in on the act, proclaiming that "she's a superstar" in the comments. She surely is, and before you throw Towns out the house, like the late, great Uncle Phil when he was wearing that one shirt Big Poppa would be proud of, for being obvious, just wait. She really is. Rocking and rolling with wicked wisdom, following her last two diverse, defiant and definitive albums ('<COPINGMECHANISM>'  and 'lately I feel EVERYTHING'). Raging hard against the nepotism machine, all whilst bringing the most famous family back from the brink like 'Bad Boys: Ride Or Die'.

Riding together, living forever, Willow generates more than a sense of empathy with her latest, and maybe greatest album. Set off by the kinetic single 'run!' and big records with Vincent (seamlessly sounding alike as they weave between verses in chorus) and the American symphony of Oscar and Grammy grabber Jon Batiste, coming 'home'. Classic like the amazing album artwork neo-soul's D'Angelo would be proud of to the grill, this is the bare truth, with emotionally naked ambition for the young star with a legendary legacy that is all her own to do exactly that with. Mastering her style and the full-width character of her 'b i g f e e l i n g s' like a Prince, or a Soulchild of Musiq like Maxwell would write it. This is bigger than Taylor. Better than Beyoncé's. Solange knows. Pop ain't playing. Willow wouldn't whip her hair again if you asked her. And now she doesn't need to...as if she ever did. By industry standards she's reset, the 23-year-old is already an 'ancient girl' as she sings for her legend, "Whisper softly the story of that ancient girl/Entranced with the elders in their caves/Drink sacrament, overflowing telling secrets/In the dark lies a story of that ancient." Poetic and powerful prose for the pros. It's just a 'symptom of life' you can't refrain from, singing "Feeling absence of time/Knowing all is decided/There's nothing here left to find/The story's all in my mind/Pushing and peeling the layers that cover my mind/Looking into the shadow, now I notice the light/Magic is real, when you see it inside, you decide," in beautiful black and white over the kind of artwork look that mama said looks like Lenny Kravitz at his early days best. Are you listening, Zoë?

Are you gonna go this way? Because "like a snake shedding skin/creating life to begin," Willow is here to stay, like the Disney + remake show of the same name should have. Hollywood may have tried to clear house with her father, but for the daughter of her own destiny, 'the fear is not real'. Just a 'false self' if you think that. Willow has already broken out, come of age, and all those other clichés. This is simply a star in her stride, striking with her most searing stroke. On 'no words 1 & 2' she gives you plenty, as she instrumentally plays. Then coming back out on 'down', she gives you more, "So far/Not sure who we are/Warm hands touch my heart/Make friends with the dark, see/I won't ever let you down/Down/Down/No more/Illusions control/My center unwavering/Let us see." Letting you know in just these few, that she'd do it all. Risking it like, "Sometimes I don't wanna try/To calm the chaos inside/And I just let out a sigh, I just sigh/Don't know why, but it feels right/Flowing free like the sea/I can just sit here and be/And only listen to me, it's just me/In this moment of the purest devotion," 'between i and she'. It all comes to a head on the penultimate, quotable 'i know that face'" like this one you'll never forget. "I know that face that you make when you're scared to see/All the shadows in your mind I know you're not facing me, endlessly racing/Let me show you what it's like to know/Light and dark is just a place called home." Recognizable like the nostalgia of memory. These songs and this singer as you sing along. The most powerful pathogen. Oneness that you can relate to without the communion of prescribed drug abuse. But something with a much stronger substance. One of great depth and feeling. Let's hope others connect and understand. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'run!', 'home (Feat. Jon Batiste), 'pain for fun (Feat. St. Vincent)'.

REVIEW: INCUBUS Live @ TOKYO GARDEN THEATER (01/05/24)

4/5

Rising Sun View.

There's nothing like the morning view in Tokyo...even if my old a## takes his sweet time to wake up and see it. You see, back in college, Incubus (don't Google the name) were one of my favourite bands. They still 'Jurassic Park' triceratops are. A halfway house between the fellow legendary likes of the Red Hot Chilli Peppers before them and Linkin Park after. No poor man's imitation, but their own individual band on the run of their own right. Calabasas' finest with classics for days. 'A Crow Left Of The Murder', 'S.C.I.E.N.C.E', which like its subject is so hard. And the absolute Californian classic, 'Morning View', which not so recently (it's about three years now) celebrated its 20th anniversary and next week will see a 'XXIII' re-recording. Way to feel old yet. Recreating that same beachside stone seating position like on their signature set, Brandon Boyd and co (with some new members like a Smashing Pumpkins) recreated their iconic album artwork like a BTS bench in South Korea. Bringing back memories of my first time in Los Angeles, walking Venice Beach, listening to said album. Seeing them on a television set singing 'Nice To Know You' in a Disneyland queue for a ride, the night before seeing, for the first time, the late, great Kobe Bryant and my beloved Lakers play the next day. Knowing I'd finally made it to the City of Angels.

That was back in 2006. The same time I last saw them for my best friend's birthday (like the penultimate classic I 'Wish You Were Here'. 'I Miss You' too...but I'll see you soon), bringing back even more beautiful memories and how quickly time passes into our most precious moment's nostalgia. Hitting me like the flash-bang as this was part of the 'Light Grenades' tour, maybe the band's last big album. Although the critically and cruelly underrated gems of 'If Not Now, When' and '8' were sadly missing off their tightly honed set-list. Like that same show, they began this gig falling into the same 'Quicksand' of the intro that poignantly puts it, "Some people fall in love and touch the sky/Some people fall in love and find quicksand". Right before breaking into 'Nice To Know You' with that same fever you always feel when you hear the Mike Einziger come into the play. All the way, just like the 'View', to the frog marching, beautiful end of 'Aqueous Transmissions' in the same way they've always done it live. After calling out their 'Warning' like her, to not "let life pass you by" with those same doomsday declarers, they end on a Budweiser like call and response, even if the ribbits had to be turned back on after ending abruptly. "I haven't felt the way I feel today/In so long it's hard for me to specify," Boyd sings on their bookending blockbuster. And before we said goodbye again, and that it was 'Nice To Know You', this whole show was better than watching Geller bending silver spoons. Michael's friend, not Rachel's love.

Witnessing newborn nebulas in bloom, Incubus, with their new muse on bass in Nicole Row (who has previously toured with Miley Cyrus and Panic! At The Disco) bloomed in the Tokyo Garden Theatre. One of the best venues in the city, so good to see again after seeing the chronicles of the great American songbook of the one and only, legendary Bob Dylan there around this time last year. After sweet support from Japanese big band Band Maid (that I regrettably missed, running late...I was on a date), Incubus brought out all the big guns, just like fellow Californian Beck did to begin last month in Roppongi's EX Theatre. 'Anna Molly', 'Sick Sad Little World', or the what goes around notion of 'Karma, Come Back'. Meeting us in outer space for 'Stellar', or cropping up with close encounter 'Circles' that really meant something with Richard Dreyfuss references. But for all 'The Warmth' that made yourself for iconic tracks, some who sleep have to be reminded of, like 'Pardon Me'. Or sitting down like Steven Yeun in 'Beef', in order to retake the wheel and 'Drive'. It was also these generational greats covering the classics that really resonated. From coming together over The Beatles, or giving some of Portishead's 'Glory Box' to their own 'Vitamin' supplement. Yet it was bridging their own greatest hit 'Are You In' with the fellow Los Angeles times of The Doors' 'Riders Of The Storm', or bringing out great Japanese artist and guitarist MIYAVI for David Bowie's Let's Dance' that was hard to top. Even Brandon said so himself. It was almost as unbelievable, like Anthony Kiedis of the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, who are here again next month (get ready to catch Flea's pop-up Harajuku guitar shop in Fender's new flagship), as the fact that Boyd is rounding a half-century. But best believe he is, you are...and they did. Don't let things like this in concert pass you by. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Set-list Picks: 'Nice To Know You', 'Are You In/Riders Of The Storm (The Doors cover bridge)', 'Let's Dance (David Bowie cover featuring MIYAVI)'.