New releases on CD & DVD
Blu-ray: The Cat and the Canary (1939) / The Ghost Breakers (1940)
Monday, 05 December 2022
Paramount added a late “old dark house” mystery comedy to Hollywood’s annus mirabilis of 1939 by teaming Bob Hope with Paulette Goddard in The Cat and the Canary, skilfully directed by Elliott Nugent. The death-trap mansion in the Louisiana bayous where family members gather to hear the reading of the deceased owner’s will – his niece Goddard inherits it – proved the perfect venue for Hope’s hilariously pusillanimous shtick.
Album: We Were Promised Jetpacks - A Complete One-Eighty
Monday, 05 December 2022
We Were Promised Jetpacks is a band name that seems off the cuff at first glance. This could be said for the Scottish indie-rock darlings' latest effort, an EP that reworks some of their record from last year, Enjoy the View - as remixed material may hold lukewarm appeal.
Album: Camilla Pisani - Phant[as]
Saturday, 03 December 2022
Want an antidote so forced seasonal cheer and the catchiness of Christmas pop? How about some almost entirely atonal drone, clatter and throb with...
Album: Olly Murs - Marry Me
Friday, 02 December 2022
Oh dear. 10 songs of very little consequence. And one which has sparked “controversy”. "I Hate You When You're Drunk" has generated more publicity...
Album: White Lung - Premonition
Thursday, 01 December 2022
In 2016’s abrasive album opener, "Dead Weight", frontwoman Mish Barber-Way laments over multiple miscarriages as her biological clock ticks away like...
Album: Leftfield - This Is What We Do
Progressive House progenitors refuse to follow trends but show no drop in quality |
Blu-ray: Son of the White Mare
Eye-popping Hungarian animated epic is a treat for the senses |
Album: Stormzy - This Is What I Mean
Heartbreak and hope: the rapper, singer songwriter bares his soul on his third album |
Album: Sophie Jamieson - Choosing
Disconcerting debut album from London-based singer-songwriter |
Album: Weyes Blood - And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow
Part Two of US musician's album trilogy gently holds its own |
Album: Micah P Hinson - I Lie to You
Cult Americana perennial lays out his glooms with aplomb |
Blu-ray: Dragon's Return
Taut Slovak fable about prejudice, superstition and mob rule |
Album: Carl Cox - Electronic Generations
One of the world's best-loved DJs returns with a set of techno-centric bangers |
Album: Jamie Lenman - The Atheist
UK Alt-rock cult hero Jamie Lenman returns, smoothed out yet still honest and full of charm |
Album: Christeene - Midnite Fukk Train
Boundary-smashing in-yer-face performer's third album hits musical paydirt |
Album: Craig Fortnam - Luna One - A-Sides - Full Moon Releases October 2021 - September 2022
An extraordinary outpouring from a wellspring of chamber psyche-pop |
Album: Neil Young with Crazy Horse - World Record
The singer returns with a collection of certified classics and frustrating misfires |
Blu-ray: The Trial
Sixtieth-anniversary, 4K restoration of Orson Welles' visually exhilarating take on Kafka |
Album: Dermot Kennedy - Sonder
The singer sticks to the plan on his second album of crowd-pleasing, high-polish pop |
Album: Larkin Poe - Blood Harmony
Sisters keep doing it for themselves: Megan and Rebecca Lovell are on song |
Album: Bruce Springsteen - Only the Strong Survive
The Boss serves up 15 soul classics |
Album: STR4TA - STR$TASFEAR
Somehow a perfect facsimile of the past sounds entirely fresh |
Blu-ray: The Owl Service
Unsettling, mesmerising mixture of teenage angst and folk horror |
Album: Xhosa Cole - Ibeji
UK jazzer takes a stylistic left turn with an album of saxophone and percussion duets |
Blu-ray: The Strange Door
Charles Laughton is a spectacularly fruity villain in this swashbuckling Gothic romp |
Album: Morton Valence - Morton Valence
Eighth album from London duo who excel at beautifully doomed country songs |
Album: First Aid Kit - Palomino
A soundtrack for growing up, moving on and riding off into the sunset |
Album: Laura Jean - Amateurs
Evidence that Australian singer-songwriter should breach her own border |
Blu-ray: The Count Yorga Collection
Hip, vicious Seventies vampire update sees a Gothic count stalk LA |
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This greatest of symphonies starts with what’s plausibly described as arrhythmia of the heart, so it shouldn’t have been surprising to find my own...
Blu-ray: The Cat and the Canary (1939) / The Ghost Breakers...
Paramount added a late “old dark house” mystery comedy to Hollywood’s annus mirabilis of 1939 by teaming Bob Hope with Paulette...
Album: We Were Promised Jetpacks - A Complete One-Eighty
We Were Promised Jetpacks is a band name that seems off the cuff at first glance. This could be said for the Scottish...
Three Minutes: A Lengthening review - superb portrait of a v...
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Directors the Dardenne brothers: 'To be living means to...
Belgian brothers Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne have made their home region of Liège the site of excruciating moral crises and crushing injustice....
Manchester Collective String Orchestra, RNCM, Manchester rev...
Manchester Collective’s string orchestra programme, opening last night at the Royal Northern College of Music and touring to the South Bank, Leeds...
Best of Enemies, Noel Coward Theatre review - opposites attr...
Opposition (and history) are the apparent mainstays of the ceaselessly busy...
Album: Camilla Pisani - Phant[as]
Want an antidote so forced seasonal cheer and the catchiness of Christmas pop? How about some almost entirely atonal...