New releases on CD & DVD
Album: Gary Barlow - Music Played By Humans
Thursday, 26 November 2020
Gary Barlow’s Music Played By Humans is, in all but name, a Christmas album. Mixing big-band jazz, Latin and pop, it’s an assortment box of bubbly, broad-based business bangers deployed by the Take That veteran with help from a host of showbiz pals. Michael Bublé, Barry Manilow, Chilly Gonzales, Alesha Dixon, Beverley Knight, James Corden… these are big boots to put on the ground
Album: Billie Joe Armstrong - No Fun Mondays
Wednesday, 25 November 2020
During the first lockdown in March, Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong took the time to reflect “on the things that matter most in my life: family, friends and, of course, music.” In this sentimental headspace Armstrong began recording covers of songs, releasing them once a week and calling this project No
Blu-ray: Waxworks (1924)
Tuesday, 24 November 2020
Stylistically, Waxworks (1924) was the apogee of German Expressionist cinema in that it was the last pure distillation of the form, in which visual...
Album: BTS - Be
Monday, 23 November 2020
EDM bangers? Check. Melancholic ballads? Why certainly. Great vocal arrangements which switch from rap to angelic falsetto in the blink of an eye?...
Blu-ray: Girlfriends
Sunday, 22 November 2020
Director Claudia Weill’s landmark feature debut benefits from Criterion’s high quality re-issue, which was made possible after the American Library...
Album: Kitchman/Schmidt - As Long As Songbirds Sing
Talented musicians, but trying too hard |
Album: Smashing Pumpkins – Cyr
Grunge veterans pump out a joyless dirge |
Album: Kali Uchis - Sin Miedo (del Amor y Otros Demonios) ∞
Rising Colombian-American star takes a likeable turn into beats-laden easy listening |
Album: Charles Webster - Decision Time
An extraordinary comeback - and hopefully overdue recognition - for a British underground music legend |
Blu-ray: The Painted Bird
Harrowing tale of wartime life on the margins |
Album: Cabaret Voltaire - Shadow of Fear
Dark and disorientating electronica at its best |
Album: AC/DC - Power Up
Veteran Aussie rockers rise, phoenix-like, to banish the 2020 blues |
Album: Paloma Faith - Infinite Things
A re-versioning of the self into more serious, sombre realms |
Album: Kruder & Dorfmeister - 1995
Horizontal herbal music from 1990s trip hop pairing is pleasantly zonked |
DVD/Blu-ray: Breathless
Avant-garde with a sense of history |
Album: Little Mix - Confetti
Sixth album from all-girl pop juggernaut breaks no new ground but has its moments |
DVD/Blu-ray: The Ladykillers
The last great Ealing Comedy, in a pristine restored print |
Album: Balothizer - Cretan Smash
Between rock and a roots place |
Album: Kylie - DISCO
Much-needed escapism from Australia's finest export |
Album: Dame Shirley Bassey - I Owe It All to You
The musical monolith bows out |
DVD/Blu-ray: Dementia
A short, sharp, sick Hollywood horror noir |
CD: Cunning Folk - A Casual Invocation
Thrilling album of spells, hexes and the great god Pan |
DVD/Blu-ray: Ghost Hunting
Striking, sobering semi-documentary |
Album: Barbara Dickson - Time is Going Faster
Bringing it all back home again |
Album: Sam Smith - Love Goes
A self-reflective break-up album that's the perfect sound for lockdown |
Album: Dizzee Rascal - E3 AF
Man back in the corner |
Album: Emma Ruth Rundle & Thou - May Our Chambers Be Full
Unexpected post-rock/sludge metal collaboration yields fine results |
Blu-ray: Lynn + Lucy
A small town and a lifelong friendship gone sour |
Album: Elvis Costello - Hey Clockface
Good songs, poor intonation |
latest in today
Album: Gary Barlow - Music Played By Humans
Gary Barlow’s Music Played By Humans is, in all but name, a Christmas album. Mixing big-band jazz, Latin and pop, it’s an assortment box...
Hillbilly Elegy review - misery in the heartland
Published in June 2016, J.D. Vance’s memoir Hillbilly Elegy became a best-seller around the time of that November’s presidential...
Album: Billie Joe Armstrong - No Fun Mondays
During the first lockdown in March, Green Day’s Billie Joe...
Extract: 'On Loneliness' by Fatimah Asghar, from...
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Ariodante, Royal Opera online review – stylish, but confined
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‘Our whole industry is supported by vulnerable freelance cre...
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Arena - Fela Kuti: Father of Afrobeat, BBC Two review - the...
There have been Felabrations, stage musicals, bands featuring his sons Seun and Femi that have continued the legacy. There has been the slew of re...