Jude Rogers
Jude Rogers began writing about music in the summer of 1994, when she would pick up the top 40 from her local Woolworths every Saturday, and type it up for the entertainment pages of the Llanelli Star. Then after a long hiatus – two universities, sundry jobs that involved no writing whatsoever – she founded Smoke: A London Peculiar in 2003, a quarterly fanzine-shaped love-letter to the city, with Matt Haynes, formerly of Sarah Records and Shinkansen. Jude began freelancing for The Word soon after, writing about music, films and books.
By Autumn 2003, she was on staff as Reviews Assistant to Paul Du Noyer; when he moved on to pastures new in late 2004, she became the magazine's Reviews Editor. She also began freelancing for The Guardian, The Observer and the New Statesman in 2005, and became a Mercury Music Prize judge in 2007 (she has been on the panel since then). Leaving The Word to freelance full-time in December 2007, she still writes and reviews regularly for her alma mater, and presides over the monthly "Word To The Wise" slot.
In 2008, she ran the daily women's pop culture website, The Lipster, and was columnist for The Guardian's Film and Music section for the next two years. Subsequently, she has also freelanced for the Times Saturday Review, NME, Wire, The Quietus, Sound And Music and the BBC Music site, broadcast for Radio 2, 5 Live and 6 Music, and contributed to documentaries on BBC2 and BBC4. She has also interviewed musicians and written features for Elle, Red and In-Style, and writes about walking and nature for Caught By The River.
Jude lives in Wales with her husband, Dan, far too many dusty pop cassettes, broken CD jewel cases, and scratched records.
207 articles
List of articles in the library
Review by Jude Rogers, bbc.co.uk, 19 November 2012
IN APRIL 1975, ABBA were worried that the heady days were over. 'Waterloo', their song about one girl's surrender in the battle of love, had ...
Profile and Interview by Jude Rogers, The Gentlewoman, Spring 2011
2011 saw a perfect start for Adele Adkins, a British singer with incredible international appeal. When her second album was released in January, it went ...
Adele: Why Adele Is The Pop Star We Need
Comment by Jude Rogers, The Quietus, 23 February 2012
Adele is a one woman cash vache! Get off her back losers, says Jude Rogers ...
Lily Allen: The Sound Of The (Garden) Suburbs
Interview by Jude Rogers, The Word, July 2006
Lily Allen makes urban music with a difference — she's had a life she can't complain about. And via MySpace and a daily blog she's built ...
Lily Allen, Joanna Newsom, Amy Winehouse: Year Of The Woman
Overview by Jude Rogers, New Statesman, 11 December 2006
At the beginning of 2006, the prospects looked bleak for strong, idiosyncratic female pop acts. Jude Rogers meets three remarkable artists who changed all that ...
Marc Almond: "I've had the chance to be subversive in the mainstream"
Profile and Interview by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 23 October 2016
With a career-spanning 10-album box set coming out, the Soft Cell star reflects on the '80s, Brexit and his fading love affair with London. ...
Animal Collective, The Beach Boys, Fleet Foxes, Grizzly Bear: The Lure Of The Beach
Report and Interview by Jude Rogers, New Statesman, 12 June 2008
A new generation of US bands cites the Beach Boys as a huge inspiration. Why now? ...
Review by Jude Rogers, New Statesman, 19 March 2007
MONTREAL'S ARCADE FIRE are the band of the moment. To the critical mob and clued-up music fans, they are the fresh-faced heirs to the epic-pop ...
Arcade Fire: Why the Arcade Fire are molten hot
Comment by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 20 February 2007
Two weeks until Neon Bible hits the shops and the hype has hit Arctic Monkeys levels. But where are the sceptical critics to keep the ...
Arctic Monkeys Make The Fastest-selling Debut Ever
Report by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 14 June 2011
23 January 2006: Number 48 in our series of the 50 key events in the history of indie music ...
Arctic Monkeys, Leona Lewis, Muse, Joanna Newsom, The xx: Schoolteachers of Rock
Interview by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 25 April 2010
What's it like to have taught someone who went on to be a pop star? The teachers of Alex Turner, Leona Lewis, the xx and ...
Interview by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 8 August 2007
Her mum was a heroin addict. Her dad kidnapped her from a foster home. But she conquered the chaos — and is now hitting the ...
Joan Baez: "Don't re-live the sixties"
Interview by Jude Rogers, The Word, May 2012
Martin Luther King support act, first folk superstar, Downton Abbey obsessive — Joan Baez offers a little steely-voice sagacity ...
Profile by Jude Rogers, The Daily Note, 6 December 2011
A group of outsiders left to their own devices, the BBC's Radiophonic Workshop took avant-garde electronics and strange new sounds into the nation's living rooms ...
Gary Barlow: Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool
Live Review by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 6 January 2013
"Everything changes but him": Gary Barlow, in a curious performance that included a duet with Peter Kay on the theme to Home and Away. ...
BBC Radiophonic Workshop, Delia Derbyshire: In Praise of Delia Derbyshire
Profile by Jude Rogers, Guardian Unlimited, 20 July 2008
Last week's news that lots of Derbyshire tapes had been found and digitised marked the latest stage in her recovery as a musical, and feminist, ...
The Beatles: You Never Give Me Your Money: The Battle For The Soul Of The Beatles by Peter Doggett
Book Review by Jude Rogers, New Statesman, 8 October 2009
BY NOW all of us should have recovered from our latest dose of Beatlemania, occasioned by the release of the Beatles' remastered back catalogue on ...
Retrospective by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 25 January 2015
From inner groove loops to absurd backmasking, artists have long found ways to embed secret songs, cryptic writings and coded messages in their albums. ...
Tony Bennett: Palladium, London *****
Live Review by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 4 October 2011
THIS IS HOW to do it. At 85, Tony Bennett scampers on to the Palladium stage in a perfectly pressed suit, a folded red hankie ...
Tony Bennett: "Legalise drugs!"
Interview by Jude Rogers, The Word, September 2011
Reformed doper, WW2 footsoldier, gilt-tonsilled balladeer — Tony Bennett takes a cable car to the top of Mount Wisdom ...
Beyoncé: Knowles' House Party: Beyoncé: The O2, London ****
Live Review by Jude Rogers, Q, May 2014
Pop superstar takes her Mrs Carter tour to the next level in London ...
Justin Bieber: Cash For Questions
Interview by Jude Rogers, Q, August 2012
Lock up your nieces, the Canadian teen-pop behemoth is over here and gagging to answer your questions on scary fans, fighting One Direction and whether ...
Interview by Jude Rogers, New Statesman, 27 March 2008
Independence Day: Björk's cry of "Tibet, Tibet" at a recent concert in Shanghai pre-empted the riots in Lhasa and outraged the Chinese authorities. It was ...
Interview by Jude Rogers, The Lipster, March 2008
BACK IN OCTOBER last year, in the misty early days of The Lipster, I e-mailed Björk's publicist, telling him about the plans for our website, ...
Björk: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 22 September 2016
The Icelandic star's electrifying voice and sense of fun transcend the conventional setting. ...
Björk: Medúlla (One Little Indian)
Review by Jude Rogers, The Word, October 2004
Stark spirituals, tortured hymns and schizophrenic requiems: Medúlla sees our favourite Icelander at her most ethereally eccentric ...
Black Midi: One to Watch: Black Midi
Profile by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 22 June 2019
This enigmatic young London four-piece are the most exciting new guitar band in Britain. ...
Black Box Recorder: Uncovering the Ballardian Universe of Black Box Recorder
Retrospective by Jude Rogers, The Quietus, 1 June 2010
Danger, death and British humour: it's all in a day's work for Black Box Recorder, says Jude Rogers, as she sifts through their back catalogue ...
The Black Keys: Attack and Release
Review by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 28 March 2008
IN THE SHADOW cast by the mighty White Stripes, blues-rock often lumbers between despair and excess. ...
Review by Jude Rogers, The Word, March 2005
Silent Alarm is a promising debut from this year's Franz Ferdinand ...
Blur: Maida Vale Studios, London
Live Review by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 5 August 2012
AFTER BLUR'S 6 Music gig – the first of two shows they're playing for BBC radio tonight, to begin what they have suggested may be ...
Blur: Who On Earth Are Blur? An Interview
Interview by Jude Rogers, The Quietus, 27 April 2015
Will the real Blur please step forward, asks Jude Rogers after speaking to them (individually) recently. ...
Blur, Oasis: Look Back In Anger: Britpop
Retrospective by Jude Rogers, New Statesman, 13 August 2009
Fifteen years ago, a teenage Jude Rogers was enchanted by a new pop sound and a new politics, both of which promised to change the ...
Bon Iver: For Emma, Forever Ago
Review by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 23 May 2008
HEARTBREAK OFTEN buckles sad records, turning sentimental confessions into whiny navel-gazing exercises. So thank heaven for Bon Iver's Justin Vernon, who avoids this problem beautifully. ...
Billy Bragg: "Boris was trolling me the whole time. We've got a wind-up merchant as PM."
Interview by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 29 October 2021
As the bard of Barking tours a new album, he reflects on modern politics, his scraps with the Daily Mail and why he could do ...
Vashti Bunyan: "My voice made me think of sorrow. I didn't even sing to my children"
Retrospective and Interview by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 18 March 2022
GROOMED TO BE A 60S POP STAR, the singer instead headed for the Hebrides in a horse-drawn cart and then withdrew from music for 30 ...
Review by Jude Rogers, New Statesman, 15 November 2007
To a different beat: With jagged, fragile soundscapes, the mysterious Burial has created a modern classic, writes Jude Rogers ...
Review by Jude Rogers, bbc.co.uk, November 2011
The sublime and the ridiculous: this is classic Kate. ...
Kate Bush, Leonard Cohen, Pet Shop Boys: When song lyrics become literature
Essay by Jude Rogers, New Statesman, 2 January 2019
From Pet Shop Boys to Kate Bush, pop stars are publishing their songs as books. What do their words reveal about them? ...
Glen Campbell, Tom Jones, Tony Christie: Crooners: The Second Coming
Overview by Jude Rogers, New Statesman, 23 October 2008
Inspired by Johnny Cash with his ring of fire, a slew of ageing crooners are pursuing their desires ...
Olivia Chaney: Shelter (Nonesuch)
Review by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 6 July 2018
FOLK ARTISTS stepping into singer-songwriter territory are often treated with suspicion, as if their egos must be propelling them beyond the small stories of smaller ...
Chapterhouse, Moose, My Bloody Valentine, Ride, Slowdive: Diamond Gazers: Shoegaze
Retrospective and Interview by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 27 July 2007
AT THE START of summer 2007 a supple, shimmery thread started darning itself through a long line of euphoric-sounding albums. From Maps to Blonde Redhead, ...
Live Review by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 18 June 2012
...
Euros Childs: Son of Euro Child
Review by Jude Rogers, bbc.co.uk, 7 September 2009
Childs' fifth album finds the ex-Gorky's man falling short of his best. ...
Retrospective and Interview by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 2 January 2008
SOMETHING PECULIAR happened at the dawn of the 21st century: eccentric folk music of the late 1960s became covetable again. ...
Shirley Collins/Alasdair Roberts/Trembling Bells: Cecil Sharp House, London
Live Review by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 1 November 2010
IT'S HALLOWEEN weekend in Camden, north London, and ghosts are rising at Cecil Sharp House. ...
Shirley Collins: "When I sing I feel past generations standing behind me"
Retrospective and Interview by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 31 May 2015
LEWES, EAST SUSSEX, is a lovely, slyly rebellious town. Pretty shopfronts and streets mask its political history: Thomas Paine wrote his first pamphlet here demanding ...
Shirley Collins: Five of her best songs
Guide by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 11 February 2014
One of England's greatest folk singers has performed live for the first time in over three decades. To mark her return, here are some of ...
Shirley Collins: With a guitar and a lipstick
Review by Jude Rogers, The Sunday Times, 6 November 2016
The radical folk pioneer has cut a bold new album – her first for 38 years. ...
Alice Coltrane: "It's like you're on top of the Alps": Alice Coltrane's spiritual jazz rediscovered
Retrospective by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 17 November 2017
This weekend sees a host of London jazz festival events revisit the work of Alice Coltrane, who broke the rules of jazz to blaze a ...
Cornershop's Tjinder Singh: "My dad said, 'They'll not always want you here'. That stuck."
Profile and Interview by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 2022
Three decades since the band formed, Cornershop's genre-defying political music is still making a stand. Ahead of a new album, we join them on a ...
Patrick Cowley's pioneering electronica
Retrospective by Jude Rogers, New Statesman, 30 October 2019
Today, Patrick Cowley is barely known outside record-collecting circles: but his ecstatic electronic disco left an indelible mark on the music scene. ...
Nadine Coyle, Girls Aloud: Girls Aloud's Nadine Coyle On Her Solo Debut
Interview by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 14 October 2010
Often hailed as the best singer in Girls Aloud, now Nadine Coyle is going solo — with a little help from Tesco's. So is this ...
Sarah Cracknell: 'I Like Being in a Gang. I'm in Safe Hands'
Interview by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 24 May 2015
Saint Etienne singer Sarah Cracknell on her new solo album and the pleasure of recording it with close friends ...
Cristina, Peggy Lee, Leiber and Stoller: Cristina's 'Is That All There Is?'
Retrospective by Jude Rogers, The Word, February 2011
HERE ARE TWO gutsy blondes, a million miles apart musically, turning people's heads with the same Leiber and Stoller song. ...
Evan Dando: Keep Off The Grass
Interview by Jude Rogers, The Word, September 2006
...unless you're Evan Dando, in which case the sex/drugs/rock & roll cocktail appears to be your ticket to eternal youth. He's done Bad Things, he ...
Richard Dawson: Anthems for a blighted nation
Interview by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 26 October 2019
Celebrated for his incredible voice and outsider-folk charm, the musician is stepping out of the shadows with his new album, 2020, a one-of-a-kind opus that ...
Richard Dawson: Anthems for a blighted nation
Interview by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 27 October 2019
Celebrated for his incredible voice and outsider-folk charm, the musician is stepping out of the shadows with his new album, 2020, a one-of-a-kind opus that ...
Denim, Felt, Go-Kart Mozart: "I Want Lou Reed To Kick Me Down The Stairs" — Lawrence Interviewed
Interview by Jude Rogers, The Quietus, 6 April 2012
Indie-pop outsider extraordinaire Lawrence — the Felt/Denim/Go-Kart-Mozart frontman who turned 51 last month — talks to Jude Rogers about sounding like Nicki Minaj and his ...
Jackie DeShannon: Return Of The Starry-Eyed Girl
Interview by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 1 May 2009
IT'S LUNCHTIME at Claridge's, and a glamorous blonde in sparkling stilettos shimmers out of the lift. No one bats an eyelid, but then she starts ...
Dizzee Rascal, The Klaxons, Amy Winehouse: The Mercury Prize: The agony and the ecstasy
Report by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 6 September 2007
How can you possibly choose just one winner from 233 albums? Mercury prize panellist Jude Rogers lifts the lid on the judging for the music ...
Judy Dyble and Andy Lewis: Summer Dancing
Review by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 24 August 2017
BURROW THROUGH folk-rock's foundations, and you'll find Judy Dyble, an early singer in Fairport Convention, with the Incredible String Band, and the group that burst, ...
Bob Dylan: The Philosophy of Modern Song
Book Review by Jude Rogers, New Statesman, 1 November 2022
In The Philosophy of Modern Song, 62 of the 66 featured songs are performed by men. Is the 81-year-old songwriter still intent on provocation? ...
Billie Eilish: "I've gotten a lot more proud of who I am"
Interview by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 4 December 2021
The pop superstar on her extraordinary year — the Bond theme, that Vogue cover, the success of her second album — and hosting Saturday Night ...
Elbow: International Arena, Cardiff
Live Review by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 27 March 2011
TONIGHT, CARDIFF'S premier gig-shed has turned into a family parlour. Five picture frames hang from the stage, gold and old-fashioned, each of them holding a ...
Estelle, John Legend: John Legend: Why His Name Is Legend
Interview by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 19 October 2008
Barack Obama is a fan of soul star John Legend, and Estelle was his protégée. Jude Rogers speaks to him in the UK for the ...
Florence and the Machine: Florence + The Machine Ceremonials (Island)
Review by Jude Rogers, The Word, December 2011
Fabulous theatre, preposterous lyrics, tribal rhythms — has Florence made the most overblown female solo album in years? ...
Florence and the Machine: The Q&A: Florence Welch
Interview by Jude Rogers, Q, December 2012
HELLO, Florence. Hello [trills gaily above extreme background noise] I am heeeeeeere! I am all yours. [Pause] Actually, who is this? ...
Florence and the Machine, Lady Gaga: On Music: Lady GaGa and Florence Welch
Comment by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 16 January 2009
Lady GaGa and Florence Welch have been hailed as the new queens of pop. But why pretend they're anything more than cheap imitations? ...
Fountains of Wayne: Sky Full Of Holes
Review by Jude Rogers, The Word, August 2011
Lost souls and unsung heroes still stalk the landscape for Fountains Of Wayne — but has the well of compassion run dry? ...
Frightened Rabbit in the headlights
Interview by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 11 March 2010
Frightened Rabbit's Scott Hutchison was so shy he was kept back a year at nursery — but now fame in American beckons, writes Jude Rogers. ...
The Futureheads: Grump Up The Volume
Interview by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 12 May 2006
The Futureheads have grown up and discovered how to write "classic tunes". But don't expect any airs and graces, says Jude Rogers ...
Peter Gabriel: "Don't try to be liked"
Interview by Jude Rogers, The Word, October 2011
Sage, musicologist, digital pathfinder, born-again dad — Peter Gabriel offloads his recyclable bag of wisdom ...
Peter Gabriel: So – 25th Anniversary Edition
Review by Jude Rogers, bbc.co.uk, 22 October 2012
An innovative album that slipped comfortably inside the '80s mainstream. ...
Noel Gallagher: Who Built the Moon?
Review by Jude Rogers, GQ, 28 November 2017
AS ROCK AND ROLL'S elderly hounds go, few are as fun to kick as Noel Gallagher. Bend the leg and let's go: he's the ultimate ...
Noel Gallagher: The Apolitical Party: Noel Gallagher Interviewed
Interview by Jude Rogers, The Quietus, 16 February 2015
The always quotable High Flying Birds frontman on politics in music, Sleaford Mods and getting pissed with Morrissey. ...
Rhiannon Giddens and Francesco Turrisi: They're Calling Me Home
Review by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 16 April 2021
RHIANNON GIDDENS' NEW ALBUM with Francesco Turrisi, her partner in life as well as music, explores two subjects that occupied them (and, frankly, the rest ...
Rhiannon Giddens With Francesco Turrisi: There Is No Other
Review by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 3 May 2019
FOLK MUSIC SHOULDN'T HAVE STARS, but Rhiannon Giddens' illuminating charge is hard to ignore. This February, she led the brilliant Our Native Daughters project, collaborating ...
Rhiannon Giddens: "I see this album as part of a movement to reclaim black female history."
Review and Interview by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 24 February 2019
The Grammy-winning artist's collaborative project Songs of Our Native Daughters puts poems and narratives about slavery to music. ...
Live Review by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 7 September 2008
Glasvegas are being touted as the new Oasis... with a twist. They're very polite to their fans ...
Goldfrapp: Manure Rather Than Manicure
Interview by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 25 January 2008
After past glam excesses, Goldfrapp are turning to nature for inspiration. Jude Rogers heads for their country retreat and hears why they are English eccentrics ...
Ellie Goulding: First Sight: Ellie Goulding
Guide by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 5 November 2009
WHO IS SHE? The 21-year-old future of pop, if you believe the hype. Born in Hereford and brought up in rural Wales, she now makes ...
Ellie Greenwich: Remembering Songwriting Legend Ellie Greenwich
Retrospective by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 27 August 2009
SHE CHANGED the shape of 60s pop by writing some extraordinary songs, including 'Be My Baby' and 'Da Doo Ron Ron' ...
Grizzly Bear: Freed From Captivity
Interview by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 27 May 2010
Grizzly Bear are the cult indie group that suddenly got rather big. Jude Rogers talks to their frontmen. ...
Luke Haines: 'I've Been Lucky All The Way Through'
Interview by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 18 November 2012
Former 'saviour of UK rock' Luke Haines has never followed the unwritten rules of pop, as a surreal concept album proves ...
Aldous Harding: The strange world of Aldous Harding
Interview by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 17 November 2019
THE NEW ZEALANDER can be an unnerving presence. She's also one of the most original songwriters around. She talks about Meat Loaf, Apocalypse Now … and ...
Françoise Hardy: Melancholy Bébé: Françoise Hardy: Tant De Belles Choses
Review by Jude Rogers, The Word, March 2005
Forty years on a new album reveals the mature mettle of the great Yé-Yé girl ...
Joan Jett, Kristin Hersh, Le Tigre, Throwing Muses: What Happened To Angry Female Music Stars?
Comment by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 25 March 2010
Are there any angry women left in rock and pop? Joan Jett, riot grrrl figurehead Kathleen Hanna and others talk about where it went wrong ...
The Hot 8 Brass Band: Basin Street Boogie
Profile and Interview by Jude Rogers, The Word, March 2008
The Hot 8 Brass Band are the missing link between traditional New Orleans jazz and hip hop. But three members have been shot dead along ...
Review by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 4 October 2020
Co-producer AG Cook strips back Jónsi's first album in a decade to a clever mix of crunchy electronica and floating vocals. ...
Journey: Why is Journey's 'Don't Stop Believin'' Back in the Charts?
Comment by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 5 November 2009
The 17th bestselling track in the country is the power ballad 'Don't Stop Believin'' from 1981. How did Journey get so popular? ...
Joy Division: The Right Way To Remember Joy Division
Essay by Jude Rogers, The Quietus, 9 July 2009
As Unknown Pleasures reaches its 30th anniversary, Jude Rogers looks behind the commercialisation and Paul Morley's jowls at Joy Division's eternal truth ...
Kaiser Chiefs: Off With Their Heads
Review by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 17 October 2008
THIS SUMMER, Mark Ronson brightly told us that Kaiser Chiefs' new album, their third in four years and the first on his watch, sounded like ...
Katy B: 'Success Wasn't Even On My Radar'
Interview by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 26 January 2014
She's the Peckham girl who won't dance to anyone else's tune: interviewed back on her old manor, Katy B proves the perfect modern British pop ...
Keane: On Music: Keane – A Successful Turnaround
Comment by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 5 September 2008
Keane are no longer soundtrack material for middle-class tantrums. They now have the sound of a band turning their frowns upside down ...
The Killers: Razorlight: Slipway Fires (Mercury); The Killers: Day And Age (Mercury)
Review by Jude Rogers, The Word, December 2008
Young Men In A Hurry: What's the verdict on those tricky third albums from Razorlight and the Killers? It's all a bit forced. ...
Report by Jude Rogers, Guardian Unlimited, 14 February 2007
LADIES AND gentlemen! Boys and girls! Pop spods and car crash-telly fans! The hour is at hand! Welcome, one and all, to the Brits blog! ...
King Creosote: It's the Wee Folk Hobbit!
Profile and Interview by Jude Rogers, The Word, December 2006
After 20 years, King Creosote — humble cottage-industry troubadour — has reached the Rivendell of a major label and a signing to Elton John's management. ...
King Creosote and Jon Hopkins: Diamond Geezers: King Creosote and Jon Hopkins
Report and Interview by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 30 August 2011
POP IS FULL of odd couples, but this year's Mercury prize shortlist contains a particularly compelling one. Jon Hopkins, 31, is baby-faced and fashionably dressed, the image ...
Kraftwerk: Why Kraftwerk Are Still The World's Most Influential Band
Retrospective by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 27 January 2013
Kraftwerk's fusion of art, beats and electronics has become a template copied by musicians everywhere. Now they plan to take London's Tate Modern by storm ...
Lady Gaga, Muse: Spectacles: Muse and Lady Gaga
Report and Interview by Jude Rogers, The Word, January 2011
Muse pushed the envelope of live spectacle, while Lady Gaga was oddly intimate. Who won? ...
Lianne La Havas: Effenaar, Eindhoven, The Netherlands
Live Review by Jude Rogers, Q, February 2013
YOU'RE 23 AND released your first single a year ago. ...
Mark Lanegan: "Heroin stopped me dying of alcoholism"
Interview by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 30 April 2020
His guilt over Kurt Cobain's death, his scrap with Liam Gallagher, his year getting clean ... the former Screaming Trees frontman reveals why writing his ...
LCD Soundsystem, The Pixies, The Zombies: Why Your Favourite Band Should Split Up
Overview by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 19 August 2010
From the Pixies to the Zombies, Jude Rogers talks to the bands who chose to burn out, not fade away ...
John Lennon, Yoko Ono: Not the only one: how Yoko Ono helped create John Lennon's Imagine
Retrospective and Interview by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 6 October 2018
A new book about the making of his 1971 solo album restores his artist wife to her crucial role in his musical life. She looks ...
Review by Jude Rogers, The Quietus, 22 February 2010
IT'S TIME we forgot about the myth of Manchester. ...
Lorde: Pure Heroine (Universal)
Review by Jude Rogers, New Statesman, 21 November 2013
THE BILLBOARDS glower on high streets in black and white, their closest visual neighbour in music being the artwork for Joy Division's final album, Closer. ...
Loudon Wainwright III: "Don't be an actor"
Interview by Jude Rogers, The Word, June 2011
Bounder, famously fallible patriarch, six-stringed self-analyst and chronicler — consider the dust-caked dictums of Loudon Wainwright III ...
Low: Royal Festival Hall, London
Live Review by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 22 February 2005
FOR THE DEVOTED fan, watching Low rock out must be like watching Bob Dylan switch on the amplifiers at the Manchester Free Trade Hall. ...
Madonna: Seen It All Before: Madonna, Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
Live Review by Jude Rogers, New Statesman, 11 September 2008
After 25 years of pop hits, Madonna's shock tactics are just embarrassing ...
Laura Marling: "My songs are not pretty"
Interview by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 4 February 2008
IN A RECENT POSTING on a music website, one of Laura Marling's growing army of fans described her output as "pretty folk songs about boys". ...
Johnny Marr, The Sex Pistols: Steve Jones – Lonely Boy; Johnny Marr – Set The Boy Free
Book Review by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 20 November 2016
Contrasting memoirs of life in the Sex Pistols and the Smiths from two charismatic working-class guitarists. ...
Mercury Rev: Snowflake Midnight
Review by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 26 September 2008
TEN YEARS after Deserter's Songs became a gorgeous Americana classic, Mercury Rev have made another masterpiece. ...
Mercury Rev: Oval Space, London
Live Review by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 28 November 2015
A COUPLE ARE slow-dancing next to the ladies' loos, moony smiles on their faces. Three similarly-minded women float out of the bathroom, swaying their hands ...
MGMT: Oracular Spectacular (Sony BMG)
Review by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 7 March 2008
THIS IS THE first great pop record of the year, a fizzing cherry-bomb that sparkles with energy, ideas and a huge love for music in ...
Profile and Interview by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 23 February 2007
Deep in Texas lies a town where everyone is a musician. So what's its secret? Jude Rogers tours Denton with its hottest property, Midlake, and ...
Kylie Minogue: The Abbey Road Sessions
Review by Jude Rogers, The Quietus, 30 November 2011
IN 2006, while in recovery from cancer, Kylie Minogue talked to Another Magazine about her love of Grey Gardens. ...
Interview by Jude Rogers, New Statesman, 27 March 2014
Jude Rogers talks to the pop princess about gay best friends, life after breast cancer and why she spent New Year alone. ...
Review by Jude Rogers, The Word, January 2004
TAKING THE ZEITGEIST by its shirt tails used to be Madonna's job — having hunches about cutting-edge producers and trends, placing a jazzily-painted nail on ...
Mogwai's As the Love Continues: A playback at Glasgow's Tramway
Review by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 20 February 2021
Glasgow's post-rock giants launch their 10th album with a thunderous filmed playback that cries out to be heard live. ...
Moloko, Roisin Murphy: Róisín Murphy: "Pop's about putting across the primitive parts of yourself"
Retrospective and Interview by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 21 June 2018
The former Moloko singer on the freedom and heartbreak that inspired her favourite tracks from her back catalogue ...
Bob Mould: Bob's Their Uncle: Bob Mould, Mean Fiddler, London
Live Review by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 11 September 2005
THE MEAN FIDDLER is thick with black T-shirts, shaven heads and heavy spirals of smoke — from onstage behind Bob Mould and the cigarettes being ...
Review by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 28 August 2009
WHEN IS MUSIC too much? I'm not talking about the torrent of songs that surround us every day – I've argued how we should work ...
Kacey Musgraves: Bristol Hippodrome
Live Review by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 24 October 2018
Despite a fantastic sound from her band, the Grammy-winning star is awkward on stage as her lyrics are lost in the dry ice. ...
My Morning Jacket: The Forum, London
Live Review by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 19 July 2008
KENTUCKY'S MY MORNING JACKET used to be the adventurous alt.country cousins of Flaming Lips and Wilco, making music as dusty and wild as their beards. ...
Interview by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 23 July 2020
The musician talks about missing Glastonbury, being inspired by Abigail's Party and turning the tables on music critics. ...
Joanna Newsom/Roy Harper/The Moore Brothers: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 1 October 2007
"CAN I GET the house lights on for a second?" Joanna Newsom rocks her harp on her heels, peers through her cameraphone at the raucous ...
Joanna Newsom: "Is It Time For A Glass Of Wine?"
Interview by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 9 May 2010
She models for Armani, enjoys a game of baseball and likes to stay out drinking cocktails. Jude Rogers meets Joanna Newsom, the outspoken singer making ...
Joanna Newsom: The New Kate Bush?
Profile and Interview by Jude Rogers, The Word, November 2006
Angelic voice, radiant songs about "flickering wastelands" and childhood trips to Folk Summer Camp. Meet Joanna Newsom. ...
Gary Numan with James Hogg: (R)evolution (Little, Brown)
Book Review by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 15 November 2020
IN DYLAN JONES'S recent oral history of the New Romantic movement, Sweet Dreams, Gary Numan stands out like a sore pale thumb. He fell into ...
Profile by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 4 December 2008
She inspired Dylan, was pals with Ella, and was due to play at Obama's inauguration: Jude Rogers on Odetta Holmes. ...
Review by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 13 July 2017
AS BAND-BUILDING chat-up lines go, "We'll be your Albion Dance Band" is certainly niche. ...
Mary Margaret O'Hara: Christmas wishes from Canada's psychic singer-songwriter
Interview by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 5 December 2008
DOWN THE WIRES from Canada comes Mary Margaret O'Hara, her voice as devastatingly delicate as shattering glass. ...
Oneohtrix Point Never: the warped genius behind Uncut Gems's spine-chilling score
Interview by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 27 October 2020
His soundtrack shredded audiences' nerves. Now producer Daniel Lopatin is using radio to bring Trump's America together. ...
Dolly Parton: Warmth, Wonder and Wisdom: Dolly Parton, O2 Arena, London
Live Review by Jude Rogers, New Statesman, 17 July 2008
The superstar country singer proves her worth as a feminist icon. ...
Dolly Parton: The Liberty Belle: Dolly Parton Speaks
Interview by Jude Rogers, The Quietus, 30 August 2011
Ever the showbiz professional, Dolly Parton leads Jude Rogers a merry dance during her allotted 20 minutes of chat about partners, Gaga, sexuality, The Lord ...
Katy Perry: On Music: Katy Perry — Voice of No Angel
Comment by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 8 August 2008
IT'S BEEN quite a week for sex, music and me. Take last weekend. There I was at the Big Chill festival, hot-browed and clammy-palmed, watching ...
Review by Jude Rogers, New Statesman, 26 March 2009
NEARLY 30 YEARS ON, the Gilbert and George of pop are still charmers. Like two Planet Pop missionaries sent to cheer us up in the ...
Pet Shop Boys: Neil Tennant: "Twitter Is Sickly"
Interview by Jude Rogers, The Word, January 2011
Social-network agnostic, high-church robe-fancier; supreme pop strategist — Neil Tennant casts a weather eye over the wind-lashed landscape of learning. ...
Pet Shop Boys: Format 1995-2009
Review by Jude Rogers, The Word, March 2012
Pet Shop Boys' later B-sides — now compiled into a titillating album — offer an alternative narrative to the last two decades. ...
PJ Harvey's White Chalk Is Genius With A Dark Heart
Review by Jude Rogers, Guardian Unlimited, 21 September 2007
As the tracks unfold, Jude Rogers finds herself acting as Polly Jean's agony aunt while listening to her wailing like a Kate Bush from hell ...
Robert Plant on Led Zeppelin, Alison Krauss and his endless wanderlust
Interview by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 2 November 2017
IN OUR SERIES where great musicians tell the stories behind memorable records from their back catalogue, the Led Zep frontman discusses his enduring love for ...
Live Review by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 14 January 2005
PLUSH'S LIAM HAYES isn't a man who does things easily. He released his first single in 1994, his first woozy LP in 1998, and didn't ...
Review by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 25 April 2008
PORTISHEAD'S THIRD album is initially more a record to admire than to love, its muscular synthesisers, drum breaks and abrupt endings keeping the tension high. ...
Report and Interview by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 17 June 2017
The band's new album, Every Valley, chronicles the destruction of the Welsh coal industry and how its legacy still resonates in these uncertain times. ...
Interview by Jude Rogers, The Word, August 2011
Leather-clad pop cat, amateur Soviet historian and Tony Hancock aficionado. Do not disturb between 4 and 6pm. * ...
R.E.M.: Michael Stipe's Last Stand — An R.E.M. Exit Interview
Interview by Jude Rogers, The Quietus, 12 November 2011
Michael Stipe wants to retire. Trouble is, Jude Rogers won't let him until he's been suitably debriefed… ...
R.E.M.: Shiny, Happy People: R.E.M.: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Jude Rogers, New Statesman, 10 April 2008
The veteran rock band have regained the passion that made them great ...
R.E.M.: Murmur (Deluxe Edition)
Review by Jude Rogers, The Word, March 2009
IT CAME FROM the South, as all the best American myths do: a strange collection of songs by a group named after a stage in ...
Gruff Rhys and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales: Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff
Live Review by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 12 June 2018
New album Babelsberg was well-suited to the grand occasion, with flavours of Glen Campbell among spacious melodies. ...
Rihanna: A Sorry State — Pop Marketing & Rihanna's Unapologetic
Comment by Jude Rogers, The Quietus, 20 November 2012
Provocation for Profit? Assault as a Marketing Accessory? Why the Rihanna PR Machine show sad signs of our times ...
Review by Jude Rogers, bbc.co.uk, November 2009
She's transformed into a revenge-hunting, firebrand diva — and it suits her. ...
Robyn, Röyksopp: "There's This Idea That You're An Oddball, Far Up At The Top Of The World"
Profile and Interview by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 5 June 2009
Love songs to robots, cement-mixer music, trios with houses on their shoulders… No wonder Scandinavian artists get noticed. Jude Rogers kicks off our Scandipop special ...
Henry Rollins: "Playing your hits is living a lie"
Interview by Jude Rogers, The Word, March 2012
Punk pugilist turned spoken-word turbo-philosopher, Henry Rollins puts the wanting world in a headlock ...
Review by Jude Rogers, New Statesman, 9 April 2007
POP MUSIC in 2007 is glorious – energetic, intelligent and glowing with life. Its master of ceremonies is Mark Ronson, a charismatic London-born New Yorker ...
Saint Etienne: "The 90s seem like yesterday": Saint Etienne on 30 years as pop auteurs
Interview by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 5 September 2021
SARAH, BOB AND PETE talk about recording their mesmeric new album via Zoom, the reality of the 90s and the oddness of pop parenthood. ...
Saint Etienne: London Conversations (Heavenly/Universal)
Review by Jude Rogers, The Word, October 2008
IT'S ONE OF life's lovely ironies that Saint Etienne, an English group named after a French football team, tell us everything there is to know ...
Retrospective by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 7 June 2017
In the early 90s, a trio from south-east England set out to fulfil pop's potential. Nearly 30 years later, they're still making bold, inventive music. ...
Scissor Sisters: Scissor Sisters
Review by Jude Rogers, The Word, March 2004
IF FIRST IMPRESSIONS were king, I would hate the Scissor Sisters. ...
Review by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 19 November 2009
Rather than treating them like national treasures, let's hope musicians stretch their prejudices about what older artists can do ...
Shakespears Sister: Songs From The Red Room
Review by Jude Rogers, The Quietus, 30 March 2010
WHY IS POP history always rewritten blandly, its quirkier corners streamlined into slick, glossy smoothness? ...
Shakira: On Music: Shakira – The She Wolf Bites
Comment by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 17 July 2009
Shakira's howling alter ego is properly, wonderfully strange, going back to the old rules of pop star alternate personas ...
Review by Jude Rogers, New Statesman, 22 January 2007
THE SHINS – four men in their mid-thirties from New Mexico who style themselves as "an American pop combo" – are the literate, intelligent music ...
Nancy Sinatra: Nancy Sinatra (Sanctuary)
Review by Jude Rogers, The Word, November 2004
Nancy Sinatra: our seasoned muse comes good, courtesy of Morrissey, Cocker and Bono ...
Live Review by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 22 April 2012
HERE THEY come — the tiger-print leggings, the vest tops, the T-shirts soon to be removed. It is 8.40pm. This 80-year-old art deco venue in ...
Slade: Dave Hill: So Here It Is (Unbound)
Book Review by Jude Rogers, New Statesman, 22 December 2017
THE EXCLAMATION mark in biography is a peculiar thing. It leaps from the page like a spark from a bomb, but it is jollier, perkier, ...
Elliott Smith: From A Basement On The Hill (Domino)
Review by Jude Rogers, The Word, November 2004
The posthumous album from the quiet American idol, written From A Basement On The Hill ...
Speech Debelle : Is Speech Debelle Really "Not Black Enough"?
Comment by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 31 July 2009
Speech Debelle seems to be yearning for another vision of blackness, rather than settling for being "urban" and making race redundant ...
Spice Girls: The Spice Girls: Never Mind The Bum Notes
Live Review by Jude Rogers, New Statesman, 3 January 2008
The Spice Girls: O2 Arena, London ...
Bruce Springsteen: Why Indie Nerds Love The Boss
Report and Interview by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 26 June 2009
Springsteen, a tweepop hero? ...
The Stone Roses: Hultsfred festival, Sweden
Live Review by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 15 June 2012
SO THIS is the Third Coming. Their first was at the much-mythologised tail-end of the 80s, when indie and dance music swaggered together, and the ...
The Strokes, The Vaccines: The Strokes: Angles/The Vaccines: What Did You Expect From The Vaccines?
Review by Jude Rogers, The Word, April 2011
Every few months, along comes another band ready to "save rock and roll". Who'll take care of it this time: the Strokes, back after six ...
Harry Styles: teen star turned serious player?
Profile by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 14 May 2017
He was boyband One Direction's most high-profile pin-up. But as his debut solo album proves, behind the marketing lies a smart young man ...
Interview by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 21 October 2010
Drugs, M.E. and despair sent the poor urchins of Britpop their separate ways in 2003. Now Suede have come roaring back to life. ...
Retrospective and Interview by Jude Rogers, Q, August 2013
Suede kick-started Britpop 20 years ago, but their arty glam-indie rock was soon overtaken by the more laddish likes of Oasis and Blur. Today, singer ...
Super Furry Animals: Roundhouse, London
Live Review by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 6 November 2007
THERE IS A theory tumbling around that the Super Furry Animals are the Welsh Beatles. ...
Review by Jude Rogers, bbc.co.uk, 14 January 2013
If magic in music exists, it is here, and never-ending. ...
Teenage Fanclub: "We were never famous, so we're still getting old"
Profile and Interview by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 4 September 2016
Indie survivors Teenage Fanclub and their sweet, sunny, smart songs still have a fervent following. So what has prompted the sadness on their new – ...
Richard Thompson: Gawsworth Hall, Cheshire
Live Review by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 12 August 2018
Half a century after his first gig with Fairport Convention, folk-rocker Richard Thompson is as cool and contemporary as ever. ...
Tracey Thorn: "I'd kill to be able to sing like Adele"
Interview by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 12 April 2015
The Everything But the Girl frontwoman, whose book about the art of singing is out this month, on Twitter, The X Factor – and why ...
Tulisa: How Did A Nice Girl Like This Become Britain's Most Ambitious Pop Star?
Interview by Jude Rogers, Q, October 2012
Tulisa Contostavlos is a new kind of pop star for whom success is measured by the volume of column inches and by brand positioning. Jude ...
The Von Bondies: Pawn Shoppe Heart
Review by Jude Rogers, The Word, March 2004
THERE'S SOMETIHG CLOYING about The Von Bondies' style-over-substance approach to garage. ...
Jane Weaver — Bring Down The Stepford Wives!
Interview by Jude Rogers, The Quietus, 10 June 2010
MY FAVOURITE ALBUM of this summer so far is an intoxicating, peculiar, heady, balmy thing. Full of eerie vocals, woozy synthesisers, urgent rhythms and drones, ...
Gillian Welch and David Rawlings: All the Good Times
Review by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 19 February 2021
THE PANDEMIC HANGS HEAVY in the long-term duo's first album to share joint billing, and thrives when Welch leads. ...
Paul Weller: "Be Mutton Dressed As Ram!"
Interview by Jude Rogers, The Word, April 2012
Curmudgeonly theorist, phone-hacked serial dad, raffish poster-boy for inquisitive middle age — Paul Weller gives himself a good talking-to ...
Review by Jude Rogers, bbc.co.uk, 19 March 2012
An emotional, experimental ride, Weller’s 11th solo LP is brilliant stuff. ...
Jim White: Drill A Hole In That Substrate And Tell Me What You See
Review by Jude Rogers, The Word, May 2004
Pumped full of drive — Jim White's off-kilter alt.country ...
Kathryn Williams: "Sylvia was a big shadow over my writing"
Interview by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 14 June 2015
Singer-songwriter Kathryn Williams talks about how Sylvia Plath inspired her new album, and why she is determined to rescue the poet from the 'sexy, depressing ...
Kathryn Williams: The Quickening
Review by Jude Rogers, bbc.co.uk, 22 February 2010
A soft soul with hard edges, who shows us how quietness can resound so loudly. ...
Robbie Williams: Writing Off Robbie Williams Is Unfair And Premature
Comment by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 22 October 2009
Expectations of immediate success are threatening to strangle Robbie Williams's comeback at birth, even when his single is selling well and the new album is ...
Bobby Womack: The Soundtrack of My Life
Interview by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 25 November 2012
BOBBY WOMACK'S career began in his teens in Cleveland, Ohio, when Sam Cooke mentored his family band, the Valentinos. In 1964 he wrote 'It's All ...
Robert Wyatt: His Greatest Misses
Review by Jude Rogers, bbc.co.uk, June 2010
A reminder of the palpable greatness of this Great British Eccentric ...
Robert Wyatt: Soundtrack of my life: Robert Wyatt
Interview by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 26 October 2014
The prog-rock pioneer on his love of jazz, falsetto singing, the thrill of meeting Bulgarian folk singers and why Pharrell Williams is as good as ...
The xx: xx — A Teen Band With A Difference
Interview by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 13 August 2009
The minimalist four-piece band from a Notting Hill garage are equally awed by Pixies and Aaliyah ...
The Zutons: You Can Do Anything
Review by Jude Rogers, The Word, July 2008
Epic yet humble, the third Zutons album shows the cosmic Scousers can do grandeur with a human face. ...
List of genre pieces
Comment by Jude Rogers, New Statesman, 13 November 2008
Radio 2, beset by scandal, is still the home of gloriously odd programming ...
BBC 6 Music: The Beauties and the Beast
Comment by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 27 February 2010
Passion, intelligence and wonderful tunes — 6 Music has it all, and found many fans despite its tiny budget. So why on earth is it ...
Electronic shock treatment: how dance music was born
Retrospective by Jude Rogers, New Statesman, 11 July 2018
30 years on from 1988's Second Summer of Love, a flurry of eye-witness accounts of the rise of electronic dance music are hitting shelves. ...
From Mod to Emo: Why Pop Tribes Are Still Making a Scene
Overview by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 25 February 2010
Like-minded music fans have been herding together for half a century — but are die-hard pop tribes now a thing of the past? Do today's ...
Girls Allowed? The Women On Top In The Music Industry
Report and Interview by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 26 October 2013
After Sinead O'Connor's open letter of concern to Miley Cyrus, sexism in the music business has never been more discussed. But what do the women ...
Mary Anne Hobbs: Things I Like
Interview by Jude Rogers, The Word, September 2011
Music-deprived teenager turned DJ, bikini motorcyclist, Raymond Carver fan. Reads Stuart Maconie on repeat. ...
Comment by Jude Rogers, House, Spring 2010
They may be sneered at by serious music fans, but boy bands have provided a gateway into womanhood for generations of young females… ...
Report and Interview by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 15 September 2006
SWEDEN'S INDIE BANDS are invading the UK, armed only with talent, style, ambition and government grants. Time to surrender, says Jude Rogers ...
Retrospective and Interview by Jude Rogers, New Statesman, 4 July 2019
How mythmakers shaped the music scene. ...
Comment by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 8 October 2009
INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC is the neglected child of rock and pop — but it's the absence of a human presence that can make it so interesting. ...
Profile and Interview by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 3 December 2009
In the last 10 years, The X Factor and its ilk have bucked record-buying trends and breathed new life into a dying industry. We talk ...
Overview by Jude Rogers, New Statesman, 10 December 2009
From accents to Auto-Tune, singers fought to stand out from the pack ...
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