New releases on CD & DVD
CD: Black Grape - Pop Voodoo
Saturday, 29 July 2017
It’s a rather shocking 20 years since the somewhat unfairly maligned second Black Grape album Stupid Stupid Stupid was released, after which the band went into freefall before imploding.
DVD/Blu-ray: Der müde Tod
Friday, 28 July 2017
"Weary Death" – "Destiny", the English-language title, is weak by comparison – settles in a small German town, an impressive simulation constructed on a back lot of the Babelsberg Studio outside Berlin.
CD: Ben Lukas Boysen & Sebastian Plano -...
Thursday, 27 July 2017
The orchestral-electronic sounds which the Erased Tapes label epitomises exist balanced on a knife-edge of extreme tastefulness. Not quite fitting...
CD: The Isley Brothers & Santana - Power of...
Wednesday, 26 July 2017
In media coverage of Woodstock, Santana always seems to be overshadowed by the oft-mentioned cultural significance of Hendrix’s “Star-Spangled Banner...
Blu-ray: Terror in a Texas Town
Tuesday, 25 July 2017
Many of the best Westerns, that quintessentially American genre, are rooted in a Christian view of the world: the dark forces of Satan pitted against...
CD: The Fall - New Facts Emerge
The original and eternal post-punk Mancunian rumpus-maker returns |
CD: Lana Del Rey - Lust For Life
The queen of doomed, widescreen melancholia returns with an overdose of sultry slow-burners |
CD: Alice Cooper - Paranormal
Alice returns to give his theatrical stylings an alt-rock make-over |
DVD/Blu-ray: The Fabulous Baron Munchausen
Enchanting, surreal romp: one of the greatest fantasy films ever made |
CD: Arcade Fire – Everything Now
A joyous pop album that depicts a world in tragic freefall |
CD: Jupiter & Okwess - Kin Sonic
Congolese proverbs and exhortations to right living |
DVD/Blu-ray: Lola
In Fassbinder's 'The Blue Angel' remake, West German corruption equals Weimar's |
CD: The Vamps – Night and Day (Night Edition)
The Vamps' third album is overwrought, overcompressed and, thankfully, over quite quickly |
CD: Alan Broadbent - Developing Story
The pianist's orchestral magnum opus is packed with extraordinary things |
CD: Dizzee Rascal - Raskit
Pop is out, high-velocity lyricism is in, on a startling showcase of word play |
DVD: Cézanne et moi
From Provence to Paris, a lavish double biopic about a cultural friendship |
CD: Emma Stevens - To My Roots
Wanted - more light and shade! |
CD: Boris – Dear
Japanese noise-mongers mark their 25th year with a masterpiece of heaviness |
CD: Pete Fij/Terry Bickers - We Are Millionaires
Old school indie doyens' second album proves their debut was no fluke |
CD: Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah - Diaspora
New Orleans trumpeter goes in search of the African-American tradition |
CD: Melvins - A Walk With Love and Death
Doom, anger and grot from the still-abiding Seattle grindmasters |
DVD/Blu-ray: Stormy Monday
Mike Figgis's feature debut: visually arresting Geordie noir in a superb new print |
CD: Haim - Something to Tell You
The Californian sisters are back, but will they continue to charm as before? |
CD: Lucy Rose - Something's Changing
Music that manages to embody the spirit of travel and the importance of shared experience |
DVD/Blu-ray: Daughters of the Dust
African roots shimmer in resurrected black American masterpiece |
CD: Autarkic – I Love You, Go Away
Tel Aviv producer Nadav Spiegel's latest collection is a triumph of head and heart |
CD: Peter Perrett - How The West Was Won
One of Britain's greatest, least celebrated songwriters returns after two decades away |
CD: Calvin Harris - Funk Wav Bounces Vol. 1
Dance-pop kingpin has an easy-going time with his US megastar mates |
DVD/Blu-ray: Long Shot
The challenges of independent filmmaking beautifully satirised in a rediscovered treat |
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