Graham Parker & The Goldtops: Quality Footwear - Live At The Brook

On September 30, 2023 English soulful garage rocker Graham Parker played at The Brook in Southampton with his band The Goldtops, plus a few guest spots from The Ladybugs on backing vocals. Tapes were rolling with the prospect of releasing an "in concert" album in mind.

Fast forward to 2026 and it is finally here. Quality Footwear: Live At The Brook does not capture the full show - it would have been a double album then - but it will do as a summation of his career, with tracks from his first two records, a highlight from the overlooked Steady Nerves album (Black Lincoln Continental), plus four songs from his latest studio album Last Chance To Learn The Twist, which were received with the same amount of enthousiasm as for his signature hit single Hey Lord, Don't Ask Me Questions (oddly enough listed as "Don't Ask Me Questions").

Quality Footwear, named after an off the cuff remark between his cover of KC and the Sunshine Band's Boogie Shoes and Soul Shoes, before introducing his band mate Brinsley Schwarz from The Rumour to play lead guitar, is brimming with life. At 75 Parker shoes no signs of slowing down. Side note: the album's cover is rather nasty. An artist of his stature should not have to put up with that.

Taihr: Tortugas

German alternative progressive septet Taihr are a catch-all act who can mix up genres to create a spicy mix that can please both dancers and musos. Their new single Tortugas has elements of funk, indie pop, rock and fast-paced spoken word, with singer Génesis Trinidad Gálvez Jaramillo switching between English and Spanish without missing a beat. The video was made by David Zilz and Victor Andrzejak.

Tortugas is released via Tonzonen. Their album Allicanto will be available on June 19 (vinyl).

The Fierce & The Dead: "The 1234" video

English experimental rock band The Fierce & The Dead have made a video for their The 1234 single: "Its message is plain and simple: playing music may have saved their lifes and by sharing their art with the audience, it can make you feel a whole lot better as well. Alternating between full-throttled mayhem and tinkling short, post-rock interludes, they play a game of tension and release." It is the first tast from their fifth studio album, Regional Theatre, due for release in October.

Taxi Girls: Secret Handshake

Montreal based garage rockers Taxi Girls look back on a Summer fling with their new single Secret Handshake, the kind of love affair that ends when of the involved parties has to go back to the grind of every day life. All that's left is a bit of muscle memory and bittersweet thoughts of what could have been, knowing full that it was not supposed to last.

Words about music (839): Stephen Fry

Music is everything and nothing. It is useless and no limit can be set on its use. Music takes me to places of illimitable sensual and insensate joy, accessing points of ecstasy that no angelic lover could ever locate, or plunging me into gibbering weeping hells of pain that no torturer could devise. Music makes me write this sort of maundering adolescent nonsense without embarrassment. Music is in fact the dog's bollocks. Nothing else comes close.

Stephen Fry