new music reviews, news & interviews
Mark Kidel |
There is a jovial intensity about the Jeremy Ledbetter Trio. As they launch vivaciously into the second set of their visit to a packed Ronnie Scotts, they clearly enjoy playing together, as the many smiles and expressions of delight they exchange on stage make blatantly clear. There is a relentlessness, though, as if they’d allowed themselves to be a little too possessed by their virtuosity and high volume.
Ellie Roberts |
The staggering musical talent of Citizen has become more and more apparent with each album they have released, and Halcyon Blues continues the trend.
Kieron Tyler
“She said her life was like a motorway… dull, grey, and long.” The lyrics of “Like a Motorway,” from Saint Etienne’s February 1994 album Tiger Bay…
Kieron Tyler
The only break in the flow comes just before the last song, “Toppling.” There’s a need to tune the guitar, so what – until this point – is an…
Guy Oddy
These days, Alfie Agnew is a Maths professor at California State University Fullerton. Back in the 1980s, however, he was singer and guitarist with…
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.
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
Joe Muggs
A championing, but also perhaps a dilution, of South African innovation
Kieron Tyler
The return of a punk-era landmark of British art rock
Tom Carr
With a danceable rock feel she displays her burgeoning creativity
Liz Thomson
Leaves from a gilded songbook
Ibi Keita
The garage rockers don't do themselves justice on new album
Mark Kidel
Vibrant sounds from jazz and Indian masters
Kieron Tyler
Andy Dragazis’ musical alter-ego offers nods to legendary arranger and producer Charles Stepney
Thomas H. Green
The Canadian country superstar embraces her rhythm'n'blues side
Kieron Tyler
The welcome return of a foundational album of electronic minimalism
Liz Thomson
The Punch Brothers and a new sister: virtuosic
Joe Muggs
Surrealism, social observation and more muscular sound from the Leeds quartet
Kathryn Reilly
A powerful personal outpouring of joy and pain - with a great beat
Jonathan Geddes
The London quartet have taken to playing large venues with ease, as this career-spanning set showed
Ibrahim Maalouf
The Lebanese-French musician's father was behind a unique musical innovation
Ellie Roberts
The Philadelphia punk rockers continue to impress
Kieron Tyler
A partial account of how Brit-punk absorbed an aspect of reggae
Peter Culshaw
The Fez Festival Of World Sacred Music and the Fes Gathering bring the world together
Mark Kidel
Enchanted sounds from a haunted man
Thomas H. Green
Bristol band aren't happy but offer up the occasional sing-along
latest in today
One completely joyous moment has eclipsed all my other impressions of this Glyndebourne Entführung revival. By the end of Act 1 of the…
There is a jovial intensity about the Jeremy Ledbetter Trio. As they launch vivaciously into the second set of their visit to a packed…
At every turn in Matthew Bourne’s The Car Man, references to other stories pop up. There are the murderous sexual shenanigans of The…
Tom Holland is 30 now, and after a decade in the role his boyish Spider-Man muscularly comes of age in this fourth solo outing. A montage…
The staggering musical talent of Citizen has become more and more apparent with each album they have released, and Halcyon Blues …
“She said her life was like a motorway… dull, grey, and long.” The lyrics of “Like a Motorway,” from Saint Etienne’s February 1994 album…
What can you do with lots of big sheets of white paper, three rolls of Sellotape and a couple of torches? These are items from the “props…
Attending the tale of Sweeney Todd was my introduction to musical theatre. I was in my early 20s and a friend of mine had invited me to the…
Is this the near-future? The premise of Ann Droid is that in place of our over-stretched social services, before long we may find ourselves…
Saxophobia: Celebrating the Sax Craze of the 1920s Chad Smith (alto and C-melody saxophones), Sinfonia of London/John Wilson (…
Most read
Tom Holland is 30 now, and after a decade in the role his boyish Spider-Man muscularly comes of age in this fourth solo outing. A montage…
One completely joyous moment has eclipsed all my other impressions of this Glyndebourne Entführung revival. By the end of Act 1 of the…
Is this the near-future? The premise of Ann Droid is that in place of our over-stretched social services, before long we may find ourselves…
This is a show of such originality and inventiveness that I will struggle to convey just how much fun it is to watch a man perform sight…
There is a jovial intensity about the Jeremy Ledbetter Trio. As they launch vivaciously into the second set of their visit to a packed…
The urge to redesign a heritage ballet is a curious one, given not just the expense but the fact that the main draw of an old ballet is the…
What’s the perfect Glyndebourne opera? Mozart, of course, must have first and second places with Le nozze di Figaro – Michael Grandage’s…
At every turn in Matthew Bourne’s The Car Man, references to other stories pop up. There are the murderous sexual shenanigans of The…
The received opinion is that the music of the 2000s has been characterised by fragmentation, discontinuity, faddishness and a lack of…
Attending the tale of Sweeney Todd was my introduction to musical theatre. I was in my early 20s and a friend of mine had invited me to the…