CDs/DVDs
DVD: CarolTuesday, 22 March 2016
I hope Todd Haynes isn't consumed with bitterness about the way Carol was ignored at the Oscars – mind you, a world where the dreary Spotlight can get Best Film probably isn't one he misses much – but the discerning filmgoer can be in little doubt... Read more... |
CD: Orlando Voorn - In My WorldMonday, 21 March 2016
Once upon a time, techno was the future, and Orlando Voorn was right at the heart of building that future. The Dutchman was in early on the late-1980s wave of Detroit electronic production – in which small groups of black Americans surrounded by... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: The KinksSunday, 20 March 2016
Although The Kinks’ world was turned upside down from the moment “You Really Got Me” hit the charts in August 1964, the band’s main songwriter Ray Davies still had songs to spare. Some of his compositions ended up with singers like Dave Berry, Leapy... Read more... |
CD: Richmond Fontaine - You Can't Go Back If There's Nothing To Go Back ToSunday, 20 March 2016
News that Richmond Fontaine were calling it a day with one final album and tour was not itself a surprise: across latter-day releases, from at least 2009’s We Used to Think the Freeway Sounded Like a River, the music had become progressively... Read more... |
DVD: Sleaford Mods: Invisible BritainSaturday, 19 March 2016
Back in the Seventies, Sniffin’ Glue kicked off a punk and post-punk trend for fanzines. By the following decade this had become a deluge, surrounding the burgeoning, self-consciously “alternative” indie music scene but also offering thousands... Read more... |
CD: Gwen Stefani - This Is What The Truth Feels LikeFriday, 18 March 2016
I love Gwen. I really do. She is a Queen. And I love that she's on a journey, falling in love with The Voice co-star Blake Shelton after what we thought was one of Hollywood's most stable marriages to Gavin Rossdale fell apart. But there is much... Read more... |
CD: Birdy - Beautiful LiesThursday, 17 March 2016
Despite her best efforts, Jasmine Lucilla van den Bogaerde aka Birdy is, probably, still best known for covering Bon Iver's "Skinny Love", aged 14. Like a John Lewis ad that never was, the song possessed a winsome sophistication that... Read more... |
CD: Underworld – Barbara Barbara, We Face a Shining FutureWednesday, 16 March 2016
After the release of 2006’s Barking, it was difficult to know what to make of Underworld. A couple of decent songs aside, collaboration seemed to have stripped away identity, leaving us with sketches on which a host of different producers had... Read more... |
CD: Damien Jurado - Visions of Us on the LandTuesday, 15 March 2016
Damien Jurado’s last album, 2014’s Brothers and Sisters of the Eternal Son, was, as theartsdesk noted, about “a man setting off in search of himself but never returning”. Its follow-up tracks the same unnamed character and his companion Silver... Read more... |
DVD: Steve JobsMonday, 14 March 2016
If you saw The Social Network, for which Aaron Sorkin wrote the script, you will recognise the type also on display here – a hugely driven, arrogant genius who is emotionally illiterate. In The Social Network it was Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Pure Hell, RexySunday, 13 March 2016
The variables which help records attain cult status are usually permutations of obscurity, patronage, rarity and perceived or received notions of greatness. This fluid formula can make an album the acme of grooviness, even if barely anyone cared or... Read more... |
CD: Bob Mould - Patch the SkySunday, 13 March 2016
No one could ever accuse Bob Mould of coming across like Mr Happy. Coupling lively melodies with punk heft and angsty lyrics has been his shtick for most of his 40-year career, first with hardcore punk rock titans Hüsker Dü, then ‘90s power trio... Read more... |
