The painting by Spanish artist Nieves Gonzalez was used on the cover of the singer’s latest album.
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Author Mia Ballard denies having used AI herself when writing the horror story Shy Girl.
Manchester postpunk outfit Witch Fever’s last visit to Cardiff, some five months ago, found them in the Utilita Arena – of all places – with metallers Volbeat and post-grunge legends Bush. Which is all fine and dandy, but the way to watch Witch Fever is when they are right in your face, close enough for the sweat to hit you in the eye.
As such, it’s fitting that tonight’s show will be in the bowels of Clwb Ifor Bach, where around 100 people will be able to witness to their aural assault from a few feet. Perfect. They stride onstage with the confidence of a band that know exactly how to churn a moshpit up – and proceed to do exactly that.
The Black Sabbath swagger intro of Dead To Me immediately ignites an audience brimming with excitement, followed up by the brooding Northstar. What’s immediately apparent is that the sound tonight is perfectly on point, with the hallowed walls of Clwb Ifor Bach proving to be an ideal setting for their sonic power.
Drank The Sap, the third track in a row from 2025’s Fevereaten album, veers between gentle shoegaze and downright violent doom, with the band all intently locked in to each other. They take it back to 2022 next, with the riffy Blessed Be Thy, providing no let up in the intensity, but make no mistake, Witch Fever are here tonight to showcase the new stuff.
So it’s back to that for the remainder of the set, with Burn To Hit and Safe given ample time to impress on the crowd, before the group wrap the whole thing up with Reprise and I See It. Still very much in the infancy of their careers, Witch Fever never fail to bring it, and this powerful set leaves much of tonight’s crowd aurally spent.
Witch Fever, Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff, Fri 13 Mar
words CHRIS ANDREWS
She was the Radio 4 programme’s longest-serving presenter, having left in 2020 after 33 years.
MCLUSKY
I Sure Am Getting Sick Of This Bowling Alley (Ipecac)
Mclusky albums are like buses. You wait ages (more than two decades), and then two come along almost at once. Plus they’re largely electric, stop and start unexpectedly, and are likely to leave you feeling grubby and misanthropic.
In truth, I Sure Am Getting Sick Of This Bowling Alley is more a minibus than a bus – an uneven six-track stopgap release put out to promote a US tour. But the album does boast I Know Computer, its killer bassline no doubt the reason it’s Damien Sayell’s favourite, and the clipped robo-rock of Hi! We’re On Strike.
Plus Andrew Falkous – when he’s not declaring things like “My wife says I am in Body Count / I am not / I don’t know how she got that idea” – remains a dispenser of impeccably warped wisdom. “Give blood / Then take it back”? This EP might be a surprise gift, but there are clearly limits to his generosity.
words BEN WOOLHEAD
The actor was known for Walker, Texas Ranger and The Way of the Dragon films – and numerous online memes.
Ben Benton’s self-imposed mission in All You Can Eat is to survey the nation’s gastronomic landscape and assess what, in 2026, constitutes a “British menu”. The chef and food writer certainly has the requisite enthusiasm and gluttony – but the book is frustrating in a number of ways. For starters, Benton continually ties himself up in knots in terms of grand theses, and attempts to draw conclusions based on what is at best a cursory whistlestop tour of the UK.
Brits are both praised for their culinary curiosity and admonished for their lack of it. Our impulse to adapt international cuisines is lauded for giving rise to innovations one minute and disparaged for spawning dismal bastardisations and “failed experiments” the next. What’s more, Benton insists he’s analysing “what we eat at home on a midweek evening”, yet spends all his time in restaurants and shops, never once venturing behind front doors and barely considering cost factors. And it’s baffling why someone who claims we’ve lost contact with our “agrarian roots” fails to formally interview any producers.
And yet there’s still merit to this part travelogue, part food diary – whether Benton is musing on the meaning of authenticity, lamenting our mystifying underappreciation of Caribbean cuisine or singing hymns to the humble parmo and pasty. The takeaway message is clear: our tastes are ever changing, shaped by geopolitical forces as much as by fads and fashions. All You Can Eat celebrates the rich and exciting diversity of foods available to us today – and, by extension, makes a compelling (and timely) case for immigration and multiculturalism.
The first episode of the British version of the American sketch show hits screens this weekend, and might face a tough crowd.
SON LITTLE
Cityfolk (Anti-)
A Grammy-winning collaborator with both Mavis Staples and The Roots, Aaron Livingston aka Son Little’s 2022 album Like Neptune saw him look inwards into his childhood, reflecting on both the sunshine and darkness he lived through. Cityfolk, its followup, finds Livingston teaming with Ben Tanner from rootsy rockers Alabama Shakes – credited as co-producer – journeying to the American South and taking a deep dive into his ancestry.
While Livingston and Tanner seem to have plugged into a fervent Muscle Shoals vibe, with Be Better a fine example of this, Cityfolk still retains Livingston’s genre-busting creative formula, with hip-hop, r’n’b and soul thrown into the equation. It’s a reaffirmation that Livingston is a strong songsmith whose deep, invigorating, soulful music deserves to be heard on a far wider scale. This guy is well worth checking out.
words DAVID NOBAKHT
SON LITTLE
Cityfolk (Anti-)
A Grammy-winning collaborator with both Mavis Staples and The Roots, Aaron Livingston aka Son Little’s 2022 album Like Neptune saw him look inwards into his childhood, reflecting on both the sunshine and darkness he lived through. Cityfolk, its followup, finds Livingston teaming with Ben Tanner from rootsy rockers Alabama Shakes – credited as co-producer – journeying to the American South and taking a deep dive into his ancestry.
While Livingston and Tanner seem to have plugged into a fervent Muscle Shoals vibe, with Be Better a fine example of this, Cityfolk still retains Livingston’s genre-busting creative formula, with hip-hop, r’n’b and soul thrown into the equation. It’s a reaffirmation that Livingston is a strong songsmith whose deep, invigorating, soulful music deserves to be heard on a far wider scale. This guy is well worth checking out.
words DAVID NOBAKHT