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Michael Hann

Michael Hann

The Guardian

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Why garage punk is plainly the apogee of human achievement

How is it that a group that sounds like the Hives are selling out the Apollo? In a world configured according to expectation, the highlight of their...

18.04.2024 7

The Spectator

Michael Hann

Never admit that your band is prog – it’s the kiss of death

Sensible prog-rock bands try to ensure no one ever realises they play prog. What happens when you are deemed a prog band is that you are condemned to...

04.04.2024 7

The Spectator

Michael Hann

Pop / The horror of London’s music venues

There were headlines last month about the plight of live music in Britain. More than a third of grassroots venues are making a loss; more than 100 of...

22.03.2024 7

The Spectator

Michael Hann

The joy of meat-and-potatoes rock

‘Meat-and-potatoes rock’ is the pejorative term critics use when describing groups of white men with guitars who play loud, uncomplicated music....

07.03.2024 6

The Spectator

Michael Hann

He barely knows what he’s doing: Oliver Anthony, at the O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, reviewed

What does a chubby, bearded American feller wearing a plaid shirt and singing about his dog and truck have in common with a chic, sonically...

22.02.2024 10

The Spectator

Michael Hann

Monumentally good: John Francis Flynn, at the Dome, reviewed

John Francis Flynn is monumentally good. He’s kick-yourself-for-missing-him good. He’s so good that when he spoke between songs in the upstairs...

08.02.2024 30

The Spectator

Michael Hann

Without Pitchfork, bands like the Clientele would never have attracted any attention

The whole world might have been different had Alasdair MacLean, singer and guitarist of the delicate, pastoral, slightly psychedelic band the...

25.01.2024 8

The Spectator

Michael Hann

The confusing, overwhelming, exhilarating music of Jockstrap

Shall we get the pop predictions for this year out of the way first? Taylor Swift will continue to conquer the world; the charts will continue their...

11.01.2024 10

The Spectator

Michael Hann

Why I love the Hold Steady

Live music is thriving right now. According to the US trade magazine Billboard, Taylor Swift’s Eras tour has so far grossed an estimated $838m, and...

12.12.2023 7

The Spectator

Michael Hann

‘Stomp clap hey’ music / Noah Kahan, at O2 Forum Kentish Town, reviewed

I first heard of Noah Kahan in a cave in France this summer, when my 23-year-old daughter started wailing with distress at realising she had missed...

01.12.2023 5

The Spectator

Michael Hann

Gig of the year / Ezra Collective, at the Royal Albert Hall, reviewed

The American music website Pitchfork is the journal of record for alternative America. It has became this generation’s Rolling Stone, for both good...

18.11.2023 7

The Spectator

Michael Hann

Virgin on the astonishing: Madonna, at The O2, reviewed

When I was a kid listening obsessively to AC/DC and Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath, I despaired of music writers. How come none of them – except the...

19.10.2023 8

The Spectator

Michael Hann

An awfully long night for a band without any bangers: The National, at Alexandra Palace, reviewed

Over the past few years, the National have become the most important band in modern rock music. The strange thing is that this has happened at a point...

05.10.2023 9

The Spectator

Michael Hann

Fleetwood Mac decided to go their own ways. How do bands know when to quit, and shouldn’t more do so?

T hough Stevie Nicks has only now called time on Fleetwood Mac – there’s no point in continuing after the death of Christine McVie, she told...

04.10.2023 5

The Guardian

Michael Hann

If you can’t get something out of the songs of Shania Twain, you’re a lost cause

Pop critics routinely make the mistake of assuming the most important acts are the ones copied by the groups they like. So to a generation of writers...

21.09.2023 7

The Spectator

Michael Hann

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