RON JACOBS welcomes a timely history of the Anti Imperialist league of America, and the role that culture played in their politics
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Mad about the personal and political
Bob Oram talks to singer-songwriter MADDY CARTY about her great new single
STEVE ANDREW appreciates a passionate account of the Scottish Club during the ‘lost decade’
By telling the story of a lawless frontier town from the point of view of the Lakota, Chinese labourers, prostitutes and displaced prospectors, makes for a potted history of capital, suggests ALEX HALL
TONY BURKE speaks to Gambian kora player SUNTOU SUSSO
MARIA DUARTE recommends a British boxing biopic about the stormy relationship between Nazeem Hamed and his trainer Brendan Ingle
ANDY HEDGECOCK and MARIA DUARTE review Good Night, and Good Luck: Live from Broadway, Becoming Victoria Wood, Hamnet, and Song Sung Blue
CHRIS SEARLE speaks to Filipino-US saxophonist JON IRABAGON about the threat of AI in the time of Musk and Trump, and how an artist can respond
SUPERB singer-songwriters are a rare breed, especially those whose work effortlessly combines the personal with the political. Maddy Carty is one such, whether as a writer for other performers and labels or as an artist in her own right.
Her new single Make Me Mad is a slice of soulful pop brilliance. With a stripped-down but pulsing beat, powerful melodies and smooth, totally engaging vocals, she twists the narrative of turmoil in any relationship by celebrating the point between despair and overwhelming love with an intense sincerity.
The way she sings and emphasises “you” is the catchiest hook of the year in a song that everyone can empathise with at some point in their life.
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BRETT GREGORY speaks with TOBY MANNING, author of Mixing Pop and Politics: A Marxist History of Popular Music
With most of recorded history dominated by the voices of men, LYNNE WALSH encourages sisters to read the memoirs of women – and to write their own too
LEIGH CARRIAGE remembers Roberta Flack, a spellbinding virtuoso of musical interpretation
The Star's critic MARIA DUARTE recommends an impressive impersonation of Bob Dylan