new music reviews, news & interviews
Thomas H. Green |
Almost 20 years ago, Late Of The Pier were an exciting post-nu-rave band who injected synthesizer sparkiness into indie. They even had a Top 30 album. They were a breath of fresh air. One of their members, Sam Eastgate, went on to produce solo material as LA Priest.
Kieron Tyler |
“My Lost One”, Materia’s second track, is remarkable. Exemplifying the Julia Holter ethos to the max, it begins wispily with interweaving rippling electric piano figures, a whispered, echoey vocal and slippery acoustic bass. Gradually, grandeur is assumed: a sonic architecture soaring into and beyond the clouds, and outwards into the wider cosmos.
Peter Culshaw
The latest in Peter Culshaw’s occasional radio shows with a global music bent is a post-WOMAD chat with one of its originators, who suggested the…
Thomas H. Green
Like electronica, metal is an umbrella term that contains multitudes of micro-genres. How do you fancy sludge, blackened crust or funeral doom? And…
Jonathan Geddes
Just over 24 hours before Idlewild stepped out at the Kelvingrove Bandstand, the much ballyhooed solar eclipse had proved a damp squib for much of…
Help secure the future of arts journalism
In this era of algorithmic recommendation, opaquely sponsored content and AI slop, theartsdesk’s mission to preserve real journalistic and critical values has never been more important.
If you like what you see here, please join us in this mission.
Subscribing to the site will help us in our coming redesign and expansion.
If you do this before the 31st August this will be at our guaranteed founder’s rate:
your subs will never increase again.
Subscribe now for £5 per month.
or yearly for just £40.
Or if you simply want to support us with a one-off donation, you can do so here.
Kieron Tyler
Hitherto unknown tracks from the totemic British punks' earliest days with Stiff Records
Katie Colombus
A father mourned and a lover found, all in one extraordinary breath
Joe Muggs
A subtle, potent raging against the dying of the light from a low key great
Kieron Tyler
The US singer-songwriter offsets glacial shimmer with a dive into electric-guitar freakiness
Tim Cumming
The genre-crossing musician brings a New Age sheen to his solo piano tribute
Kieron Tyler
New York band’s blend of folk rock and psychedelia grabs attention
Joe Muggs
The London trio add toilet bowls and ugly crying to the hedonistic glamour
Thomas H. Green
Northern indie four-piece offer a vim-laden snapshot of disenfranchised Britain
Sebastian Scotney
Ladysmith Black Mambazo and Laura Mvula shine
Thomas H. Green
The most epic regular record reviews in the galaxy
Ibi Keita
Garage, French House and feeling collide in latest release
Camp Bestival 2026, Lulworth Castle review - where the daytime magic still outshines everything else
Katie Colombus
A creative, inclusive, endlessly imaginative festival for families
Guy Oddy
Prolific Aussie psychedelicists marry dance and prog sounds
Mark Kidel
Fiery crowd-pleasing jazz marred by excess
Ellie Roberts
A soaring fusion of atmospheric melancholy and energetic punk
Kieron Tyler
A hymn to when driving was an end in itself
Kieron Tyler
A breathless half-hour takes in screaming, stop-start song structures and the odd hint of reflectiveness
Guy Oddy
Punk veterans get decidedly trippy
Thomas H. Green
The American singer's eighth album is rife with downtempo ruminations on love
Joe Muggs
A thrilling blast of deep rooted culture and devout belief
Katie Colombus
Two decades on from Patti Smith and the original pink sheep, the anniversary edition proved again that Latitude's real headliners are rarely at the top of the bill
Thomas H. Green
From Korean bluegrass to gigantic Ugandan xylophones, the global diversity of musical life is here
Sebastian Scotney
Tawadros plays with astonishing clarity, resolve and intent
latest in today
Jonn Elledge has two main virtues as a writer of general interest non-fiction: an insatiable curiosity about the world, and an ability to…
Anyone who’s ever been to a movie set can’t help but struggle to reconcile the utter dismembered chaos of these workplaces with the smooth…
Almost 20 years ago, Late Of The Pier were an exciting post-nu-rave band who injected synthesizer sparkiness into indie. They even had a…
Supposing: ★★★★★Sally fell down a hole outside the local theatre. Since then, things have changed. She just… knows things that other…
Tom Read Wilson ★★★★Gilded Balloon MuseumTom Read Wilson has been plying his trade as an actor and singer for while but reality TV is where…
“My Lost One”, Materia’s second track, is remarkable. Exemplifying the Julia Holter ethos to the max, it begins wispily with interweaving…
After a century of trail-blazing Black musicians across every genre, it’s dumbfounding to discover that clarinettist Anthony McGill is the…
It’s been 35 years since Tony Kushner’s two-play, multi-hour epic gay soap opera-cum-spiritual meditation was first unleashed on the world…
The latest in Peter Culshaw’s occasional radio shows with a global music bent is a post-WOMAD chat with one of its originators, who…
It's a reviewer's unkind luxury to moan about having to sit through yet another performance of Elgar's Cello Concerto simply to hear a…
Most read
Ah, Benidorm… sea, sun, sand, sex, sangria and chips. In 5’s new six-part comedy drama, masterminded by Ian Jarvis, the popular Costa…
A startling one in 10 British adults apparently went to a music festival this year. Given that I’m a music journalist and I didn’t, maybe I…
Can the 1916 Prologue of Strauss and Hofmannsthal added to a revised version of a 1912 opera-within-a-play setting the backstage…
It’s been 35 years since Tony Kushner’s two-play, multi-hour epic gay soap opera-cum-spiritual meditation was first unleashed on the world…
Last night's BBC Prom was a celebration – of 40 years since the release of Paul Simon’s triumphant album Graceland in August 1986. Before…
Supposing: ★★★★★Sally fell down a hole outside the local theatre. Since then, things have changed. She just… knows things that other…
You’re not going to catch Alan Ritchson playing King Lear at Stratford or doing Noël Coward at Chichester, but as an implacable warrior for…
Anyone who’s ever been to a movie set can’t help but struggle to reconcile the utter dismembered chaos of these workplaces with the smooth…
So much has vanished from my memory of the time I had a half-season Arena Proms pass back in 1982, but not the performance of Berlioz's…
“My Lost One”, Materia’s second track, is remarkable. Exemplifying the Julia Holter ethos to the max, it begins wispily with interweaving…