CDs/DVDs
DVD: Sin City 2: A Dame to Kill ForTuesday, 23 December 2014
The Sin City comics were where their once brilliant creator Frank Miller’s development stopped. The high style of his graphic novel The Dark Knight Returns (1986), which inspired the Batman films’ noir grimness and the whole superhero movie boom,... Read more... |
Album of the Year: Against Me! - Transgender Dysphoria BluesMonday, 22 December 2014
There are, probably, two things standing in the way of Against Me! topping as many best-of lists as they deserve to this year: firstly, the January release date, which tends to lead to many fine records being abandoned for the newest and shiniest;... Read more... |
Album of the Year: Jason Moran - All Rise: A Joyful Elegy for Fats WallerSunday, 21 December 2014
Pianist Jason Moran's Grammy-nominated tribute to the legendary pianist, singer and composer, Fats Waller, effortlessly captures the joyousness and melodic beauty of the Harlem stride master's music. Joining Moran is vocalist Meshell ... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Millions Like UsSunday, 21 December 2014
Various Artists: Millions Like Us - The Story of the Mod Revival 1977–1989A “testosterone-fuelled youth movement” is how the opening paragraph of the introductory essay of this box set tags the mod revival. Aficionados of the “clean-cut,... Read more... |
DVD: The Kidnapping of Michel HouellebecqSaturday, 20 December 2014
There’s a wonderful drollery to Guillaume Nicloux’s wry and eccentric comedy The Kidnapping of Michel Houellebecq (L‘Enlèvement de Michel Houellebecq) which is quintessentially Gallic. Three years ago the enfant terrible of French literature... Read more... |
Album of the Year: Jack White – LazarettoFriday, 19 December 2014
Jack White (the former John Anthony Gillis) was born in Detroit and now lives in Nashville, a geographical progression you can hear in his music. He loves rude, dirty rock'n'roll but also has a fine instinct for country music, both of which... Read more... |
Album of the Year: Swans – To Be KindWednesday, 17 December 2014
We have been told for years by the media, the record industry and “taste-makers” everywhere that popular music is resolutely a young person’s game. Carefree youth is what it’s all about and any sign of ageing, maturity or artistry and most musicians... Read more... |
CD: Nicki Minaj - The PinkprintWednesday, 17 December 2014
The year 2014 has been dominated by this woman's arse. The furore surrounding the video for Nicki Minaj's "Anaconda" put the rest of the bewigged New York hip hop superstar's career in the shade. Her steamy twerk-fest and rejig of Sir Mix-A-Lot's... Read more... |
DVD: HockneyTuesday, 16 December 2014
Since David Hockney entered his eighth decade (he is now 77), we seem to have witnessed an accelerated output of major exhibitions, biographies and documentaries. The public appetite has never tired of this most tireless of artists, but it’s an... Read more... |
Album of the Year: D'Angelo and The Vanguard - Black MessiahMonday, 15 December 2014
Pity everyone who's already published their albums of the year lists. Like Beyonce in 2013, D'Angelo has just thrown the most humungous spanner in the works, and changed the year's musical landscape in a single day. Pity, too, everyone else who's... Read more... |
Album of the Year: Nick Mulvey - First MindSunday, 14 December 2014
2014 has been a juicy year for albums which places Nick Mulvey’s solo debut on an especially high pedestal. A straightforward review can be found elsewhere on theartsdesk, when I first thrilled to his music earlier in the year. In the meantime,... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: The CzarsSunday, 14 December 2014
The Czars: Best ofQueen of Denmark, John Grant’s first solo album, seemed to arrive from nowhere in 2010. Here was a singer-songwriter with a unique voice evoking disparate wellsprings Eric Carmen, Randy Newman and Lionel Richie. When taken with a... Read more... |
