Mondo Bizarre Magazine Concert Reviews, Concerts

Novos Românticos | Bastonada, RCA-Radioclube Agramonte, Porto 18/04/2026.

Novos Românticos © Mondo Bizarre Magazine/Vítor Neves

words: Paulo Carmona (freely translated by Raquel Pinheiro)
photos: Vítor Neves

Novos Românticos

A punch to the gut of the patriots. That’s what it is.

Any self-respecting lusitano, with a clear sense of their country’s history, recent or otherwise, will feel the almost unbearable weight of the stark, unvarnished reality served up by Novos Românticos. The silver platter is the sound, let that be clear.

This isn’t just music, it isn’t just musical aesthetics. It’s intervention, it’s agony, it’s the near-psychotic despair of someone who feels the weight of Portugalidade. Someone disillusioned with an Abril that seems ever more distant, with fewer and fewer reasons for pride.

Novos Românticos © Mondo Bizarre Magazine/Vítor Neves

David Félix is the man on duty, presenting himself to the audience as a kind of modern-day guru, fully prepared to press on the wound until it bleeds.

He carries an intrinsic ability to command attention: monochord vocal delivery, the sinuous movement of his body to the measured pulse of an electronic post-punk, hypnotic, corrosive, built on pre-recorded loops of guitar, drums, bass, keyboards, and samplers. He drifts across the stage, almost unsteady, faintly lascivious, but the message lands. That seems to be what drives them, and they achieve it with precision.

They performed material from across their repertoire, with a strong focus on their full-length work, Criptopátria. Worth highlighting are Pátria, Mesa Posta, and a very original version of the iconic Joy Division’s Love Will Tear Us Apart.

Bastonada @ Mondo Bizarre Magazine/Vítor Neves

Bastonada

Bastonada closed the night, delivering verbal and musical blows with their interventionist Electro Punk, edged with rap. It’s pure energy from beginning to end, without a moment’s respite.

They’re young, intense, sharp, and they fire off their songs as if the world were ending tomorrow.

The instruments are always front and centre, and their masked vocalist is a force of nature.

The insolent anger of their youth, combined with the level of competence in their instrumentation, points to a project with real substance and a great deal still to give. It will be interesting to watch.

Concert clips and photo galleries on our Instagram

Mondo Bizarre Magazine Entries, The Listening Room HQ

Why Sessions at The Listening Room HQ Matter

Flora Bowley – I Will Stand By You

Why Sessions at The Listening Room HQ Matter. Reading can open a door, but insight needs a place to live. The Listening Room HQ – my men’s practice – sessions offer men a rare space to speak freely and discover clarity through deep, attentive listening. You can book a session at: https://www.thelisteningroomhq.com/p/sessions.html

Mondo Bizarre Magazine Concert Reviews, Concerts of the Year

PAUS, Teatro Aveirense, 16.04.2026.

© Mondo Bizarre Magazine/Telma Mota

words: Telma Mota (freely translated by Raquel Pinheiro)
photos: Telma Mota

On 16 April, it was a ‘Happy Day’ at the Teatro Aveirense, with the funeral march of PAUS.

Having announced their end, the band made their fourth appearance of the year in Aveiro with impact and a certain sense of occasion.

They presented their final album in full, in an uninterrupted 30-minute crescendo. As they have accustomed us, this work entitled Enterro is marked by intense, hypnotic and innovative pieces that combine old-school experimental rock sounds, with complex and repetitive rhythms, with touches of indie vocal lines and the psychedelic textures of post-rock.

However, at this stage, arguably more refined and mature, they decided to stop and die in a florid and controlled manner, celebrating their own funeral with a tour that will symbolically end on 19 November 2026, the date on which they began their journey 18 years ago.

© Mondo Bizarre Magazine/Telma Mota

In a relaxed register, they made a few pauses at the beginning and end of the concert, between better-known older songs, in some way justifying that it is far more interesting to die and bury PAUS with dignity than to pass away in a disordered manner.

Happily for me, as I prefer the band’s earlier phase, more visceral, raw and unrestrained, PAUS opened this concert with Mudo e Surdo and closed with Pelo Pulso, both from their first EP É uma Água

They said goodbye in style, with the intense rhythm of the Siamese drum set played by Quim Albergaria and Hélio Morais, and the striking sounds of Makoto’s bass and Fábio Jevelim’s keyboard. I stood there, clenched my teeth and tapped my foot, wishing only to be somewhere more suited to dancing and exorcising my demons. It is not often one is invited by the dead to their own funeral, but for those present it was certainly a smiling experience.

And they were PAUS. Fare thee well.

© Mondo Bizarre Magazine/Telma Mota

Photo gallery on our Instagram Instagram

Mondo Bizarre Magazine Entries, The Listening Room HQ

Inconsistency, Trust, and What We Actually Do With It at The Listening Room HQ

Inconsistency, Trust, and What We Actually Do With It my new post on The Listening Room HQ, my men’s practice, The Polymath sister site – speaks of inconsistency in communication as a normal feature of how the brain works, shaped by memory, state, stress, and cognitive load. It does not automatically indicate a problem, but when patterns affect trust, clarity, or relational safety, they may need attention and understanding.

Inconsistency, Trust, and What We Actually Do With It explores how to distinguish between harmless variability and patterns that affect trust, clarity, and relational stability, and how to respond to those matters. It can be read at The Listening Room HQ site.

Mondo Bizarre Magazine Concert Reviews, Concerts

Modern Nature, Mouco, Porto, 17.04. 2026.

© Mondo Bizarre Magazine/Vitor Neves

words: Paulo Carmona (freely translated by Raquel Pinheiro)
photos: Vítor Neves

Modern Nature performed as a trio, with Jack Cooper on vocals and guitar, Jim Wallis on drums, and Tara Cunningham on guitar and vocals.
And for anyone who thinks a band operating within alternative rock / indie pop rock, in contemplative, nostalgic worlds and a slow-motion cadence, might deliver monotonous or dull concerts, they are completely mistaken.

© Mondo Bizarre Magazine/Vítor Neves

Modern Nature are an excellent example of the opposite. With simple lines, without any kind of embellishing effects on the instruments, and an almost static stage presence, they gain in subtlety, in melodic richness, in soft worlds and warm breezes. The voices of Jack and Tara complement each other perfectly and draw us into a sweet, comforting calm, almost hypnotic. The drumming of Jim Wallis is magnificent, always exactly where it needs to be, carrying the melodies like a cradle rocked by maternal, steady hands.

© Mondo Bizarre Magazine/Vítor Neves

They came to present their most recent work, The Heat Warps, and of course a range of tracks representative of their essence. From Pharaoh, Things, and Radio, with which they opened, through Jetty, Performance, Liverpool, and December, they maintained the audience in perfect alignment, with masterful control and a shared sense of sonic richness and delight.

After a demanding and intense week, it was exactly what I needed to reconnect with the universe, serenely.

© Mondo Bizarre Magazine/Vítor Neves

Concert clip and photo gallery on our Instagram

Mondo Bizarre Magazine Amazing Sounds & Other Delights, Radio Show, YéYé Radio, Raquel Pinheiro

Amazing Songs & Other Delights #95 – The Of Light & Gentleness edition at Yé Yé Radio, Monday 20th & 27th

The Lemon Twigs

My radio show Amazing Songs & Other Delights #95 –  edition is broadcasted Monday 20th and 27th 3-4pm (London time) on Yé Yé Radio: yeyeradio.com (or on the app).

Amazing Songs & Other Delights #95 – The Of Light & Gentleness edition is, as the title says, a programme that mostly revolves around light in different ways, and gentleness.

There’s grief, there’s groove, there’s dust, but the tone is mostly gentle and luminous. Even when the lyrics subject is heavier.

Tracklist:
01: José Gonzalez – The Light
02: The New Pornographers – Pure Sticker Shock
03: Francisco Fontes – Copiloto
04: Laurie Shaw – Chimney Breast
05: Kevin Morby – Badlands
06: Stone Dead – Plasticine
07: Bruce Springsteen – Rainy Night In Soho
08: Tinariwen – Imidiwan Takyadam feat. José Gonzalez
09: Butler-Black-Grant – Not Alone
10: The Lemon Twigs – I Just Can’t Get Over Losing You
11: Michael Weston King – Nothing Can Hurt Me Anymore
12: Red Sun Atacama – Sundown
13: Hanemoon – We Didn’t Know
14: Baby Suicida – Se Me Deixares, Eu Digo
15: The Dharma Chain – Clockwork
16: Special Friend – Isolation

All previous shows on mixcloud:
Yé Yé Radio mixcloud/ | Mondo Bizarre Magazine mixcloud

Mondo Bizarre Magazine Concert Reviews, Concerts

Tinariwen | Calcutá, Casa da Música, Porto,  13.04.2026.

© Mondo Bizarre Magazine/Ricardo Silva

words: Raquel Pinheiro
photos: Ricardo Silva

© Mondo Bizarre Magazine/Ricardo Silva

Calcutá, composer and multi-instrumentalist Teresa Castro from Porto, presented her debut album Soon After Dawn. Opening with
Fleeting Grace an infinitum drone in crescendo, from which, at a certain point, voice-sounds began to emerge.

There’s a mélange of baroque music, folk, and experimental in Calcutá’s sound, carried by eerie, hypnotic vocals. The voice is like another instrument moving through the music.

Calcutá is sparse, atmospheric, slow, drifting. Adjacent in texture to Tinariwen, but not in pulse, and, to me, closer to Sigur Rós in feeling.

The last song performed, Run Come Rally, had a different feeling. Almost a ballad, with a beautiful, more grounded guitar presence.

© Mondo Bizarre Magazine/Ricardo Silva

This year, Tinariwen came to present their new album Hoggar, named after the mountains in the Algerian Sahara.

Hoggar was recorded in Tamanrasset, Algeria, and features José González singing in Spanish on Imidiwan Takyadam, and Solafa Elyas singing in Arabic on Sagherat Assani, alongside Abdallah Ag Alhousseyni, who moves between Tamasheq and Arabic.

Both Imidiwan Takyadam and Sagherat Assani were played, as well as four other songs from Hoggar: Amidinim Ehaf Solan, Erghad Afewo, Asstaghfero Allah, and N’ak tenere Iyat.

Tinariwen started slow with Alkhar Dessouf, but by the second song, Imidiwan Takyadam, the audience was already clapping along.

Clapping, standing up to dance, even moving into the side steps of the aisles, all became part of the performance, as is common in their concerts.

Whether as a sextet or septet, the band marveled with their syncopated rhythms, chants, and extraordinary use of three or four guitars, depending on the song.

Tempering the set between faster and slower moments, including the almost spoken Erghad Afewo, Tinariwen were as compelling as ever.

As José González sings in Imidiwan Takyadam we are all “navegando bajo lo mismo sol”.

© Mondo Bizarre Magazine/Ricardo Silva

Imidiwan Takyadam (feat. José González) English translation:

Tinariwen in Tamasheq
Friends,
See what has befallen you.
You’re scattered across
So many different lands
That you barely exist.
Have you forgotten your sisters,
Who you left behind,
Living under a hellish tyranny
That scalds every living heart?
This life is ever-changing,
And it prowls around those
Who are still alive.

José González
Don’t forget your sisters
Nor the mothers nor the daughters
With eyes cast to the ground
Sharing the same sky

Friends, lift your gaze
What are our chains?
Asking who we are
Sailing under the same sun

Looking at the same sky
Sailing under the same sun
Looking at the same sky
We live under the same sun

Asking who we are
Living under the same sun

© Mondo Bizarre Magazine/Ricardo Silva

Calcutá setlist:
Fleeting Grace (Soon After Dawn,2026)
Weep Valley (Over Night, 2017)
Eterno Retorno (Soon After Dawn,2026)
Mountain Valley (Soon After Dawn,2026)
Background of Purpose (Soon After Dawn,2026)
Run Come Rally (Soon After Dawn,2026)

© Mondo Bizarre Magazine/Ricardo Silva

Tinariwen setlist:
Alkhar Dessouf (Elwan, 2017)
Imidiwan Takyadam (Hoggar, 2026)
Le chant des fauve (Elwan, 2017)
N’ak tenere Iyat (Hoggar, 2026)
Kek Aghlam (Elwan, 2017)
Sagherat Assani (Hoggar, 2026)
Imidiwan Win Sahara (Aman Iman, 2007)
Asstaghfero Allah (Hoggar, 2026)
Amassakoul (Amassakoul, 2004)
Amidinim Ehaf Solan (Hoggar, 2026)
Tahoult (Emmaar, 2014)
Assawt (Amatssou, 2023)
Erghad Afewo (Hoggar, 2026)
Matadjen (Aman Iman, 2007)
Matenam (Amatssou, 2023)

Encore
Sastanàqqàm (Elwan, 2017)
Chaygibou (Amassakoul, 2004)

You can read our May 2025 review of Tinariwen concert at Casa da Música, in Porto here.

Photo galleries on our Instagram

Mondo Bizarre Magazine Entries, Raquel Pinheiro, The Polymath

Aries New Moon – On Not Acting Too Soon

Aries New Moon – On Not Acting Too Soon my new post on The Polymath site is about not every impulse to act is true timing. The New Moon in Aries, the tension between action and restraint, and why the most accurate beginnings are sometimes the ones that wait. The Aires New Moon is the beginning of the Western Astrology New Year. You can read it on The Polymath site.