New releases on CD & DVD
CD: Neil & Liam Finn – Lightsleeper
Wednesday, 22 August 2018
Once pleasingly described on the Flight of the Conchords radio show as ‘the King of New Zealand’, Neil Finn has a new gift for his subjects (and the rest of the world, happily) in the form of this new album, which sees him recording with son Liam for the first time.
DVD/Blu-ray: It Happened Here
Tuesday, 21 August 2018
Kevin Brownlow and Andrew Mollo’s It Happened Here surely deserves the acclaim often accorded it as “the most ambitious amateur film ever made”, and the rich supporting extras on this BFI dual-format release make clear why. Best of all is a 65-minute interview with Brownlow, in which he recounts how he set out in 1956, at the age of 18, to make this ambitious “alternative history” of England living under wartime Nazi collaboration.The development of the film – the 17-year-old Mollo came on...
CD: Jackie Oates - The Joy of Living
Monday, 20 August 2018
Birth and death are nowhere more entwined than in folk music, and the seventh album by Radio 2 Young Folk Award-winner Jackie Oates poignantly...
CD: Kate Nash - Yesterday Was Forever
Sunday, 19 August 2018
Kate Nash is no quitter. For years her heavy London accent and kitchen-sink lyrics made her an easy target for mockery. Nash always brushed it off....
CD: Ariana Grande - Sweetener
Saturday, 18 August 2018
This may be tempting fate, and minutes after publication of this she'll probably be arrested for stabbing a dog or something, but Ariana Grande seems...
DVD: Al Berto
A poet emerges in the sensuous aftermath of Portugal's 1975 revolution |
CD: Moskus - Mirakler
Fourth album from a Norwegian trio with little regard for genre constraints |
DVD: Arcadia
Weirdness celebrated and deconstructed: a poetic excursion into British nostalgia for a rural Eden |
CD: Oh Sees - Smote Reverser
Prog excellence that walks the line between mastery and excess |
CD: Slaves - Acts of Fear And Love
Kentish punks tread water with their third |
CD: Mark Lanegan & Duke Garwood - With Animals
Spectral union of America’s master of melancholy and the British multi-instrumentalist |
CD: Gorgon City - Escape
Fully functional, if predictable, return from pop-house duo |
Blu-ray: La Belle et la bête
Iconic, influential cinematic fairytale, perfect for children of all ages |
CD: Tom Baxter - The Other Side of Blue
After 10 years, Baxter breaks the silence |
CD: Jake Shears - Jake Shears
The Scissor Sisters' singer comes back solo at full fruity tilt |
Blu-ray: Mishima - A Life in Four Chapters
Paul Schrader's masterpiece: a life lived as a work of art |
CD: Death Grips - Year of the Snitch
Experimental hip-hoppers’ sixth album has plenty to chew on |
CD: Gulp - All Good Wishes
A Super Furry Animal and friends return with a blissful follow-up |
CD: Iggy Azalea - Survive the Summer
Australian-American good-times rapper sings the cultural appropriation blues |
DVD: Western
A German-Bulgarian joint venture with a very special cadence |
CD: The Proclaimers - Angry Cyclist
Tenth album from Scottish pair has poetic teeth, righteous attitude and solid songs |
CD: Dee Snider - For the Love of Metal
Over-the-top antics from one of heavy rock's hammiest old hands |
CD: Bansangu Orchestra - Bansangu Orchestra
Joyous noises and fascinating rhythms from remarkable band of London's finest |
CD: Echo Ladies – Pink Noise
A grown-up sound that perfectly encapsulates the problems of youth |
CD: Jah Wobble - Dream World
Punk-dub-experimental bass behemoth and inveterate experimenter in introspective form |
DVD/Blu-ray: Peter Rabbit
Frenetic Beatrix Potter update gives us a leporine the author could never have imagined |
CD: All Saints - Testament
Nineties pop queens return with unforced aplomb. And William Orbit |
CD: Skadedyr - Musikk!
Magpie-minded smörgåsbord from Norway’s self-declared musical ‘pests’ |
DVD: That Summer
Before 'Grey Gardens', Big and Little Edie Bouvier Beale welcome cousin Lee and friend |
latest in today
CD: Neil & Liam Finn – Lightsleeper
Once pleasingly described on the Flight of the Conchords radio show as ‘the King of ...
Proms at...Cadogan Hall 6, BBC Singers, Oramo review - excel...
Those of us schooled in the English choral tradition...
DVD/Blu-ray: It Happened Here
Kevin Brownlow and Andrew Mollo’s It Happened Here surely deserves the acclaim often accorded it as “the...
h 100 Awards: Publishing and Writing - other stories, other...
If history repeats itself, better hope that it corrects its mistakes as well. This year’s nominations for the...
theartsdesk at Itinéraire Baroque 2018 - canaries in front o...
Brits are the folk you expect to encounter the most in the rural-England-on-steroids of the beautiful Dordogne. In my experience they outnumber...
Roger Scruton: Music as an Art review - how to listen?
Hegel, Kant, David Hume, Nietzsche, Schopenhauer, Leibniz are all adduced, referred to, and paraphrased, and that’s just for starters. Add Rameau...
Reissue CDs Weekly: Teenage Fanclub
The cover images of the four albums Teenage Fanclub issued on ...
CD: Kate Nash - Yesterday Was Forever
Kate Nash is no quitter. For years her heavy London accent and kitchen-sink lyrics made her an easy target for mockery. Nash always brushed it off...
theartsdesk at the Australian Festival of Chamber Music - st...
North of Brisbane, south of Cairns and a short boat trip from the turquoise waters around the Great Barrier Reef, Townsville is the site of a...