CDs/DVDs
CD: Tricky - False IdolsThursday, 23 May 2013
Tricky left Massive Attack, the Bristol collective who provided tbe soundtrack to many a shopping therapy expedition, and went on to make one of the greatest albums of the 1990s, Maxinquaye. He was never a purveyor of easy listening or trippy-hoppy... Read more... |
CD: British Electric Foundation - Music of Quality and Distinction Vol 3: DarkTuesday, 21 May 2013
It took nine years between the first and second instalments of this series, and another 22 years to make the third. And that's one of the least strange things about this record. The production team of B.E.F. (aka Human League / Heaven 17 members... Read more... |
CD: Stooshe - London with the Lights OnTuesday, 21 May 2013
Stooshe are a manufactured London girl band. They were put together a couple of years ago by shrewd ex-girl-bander Jo Perry, a self-made London studio engineer and a songwriter for, among others, Peter Andre. Despite this prosaic, business-savvy... Read more... |
DVD: Chronicle of a SummerMonday, 20 May 2013
“Chronicle of a Summer” (“Chronique d’un été”) is one of the great documentaries of all time – and a work that could only have been made in France, home of the immensely influential Cahiers du cinéma and the constant ferment of speculation on the... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Scott WalkerSunday, 19 May 2013
Scott Walker: The Collection 1967-1970Few pop records possess a beauty taking them into the otherworldly, inexplicable realm where it’s impossible to understand the magic which coalesced in their creation. The Four Tops’ “Seven Rooms of Gloom... Read more... |
CD: Jamie Cullum - MomentumSunday, 19 May 2013
Jamie Cullum's sixth studio album is about as good a pop record as you'll hear all year. Newly signed to Island Records, the singer-songwriter has seemingly raided ideas from the entire history of pop music, such that low-fi vintage synth lines and... Read more... |
DVD: Phantom LadySaturday, 18 May 2013
The first of the Dresden-born Robert Siodmak’s eight film noirs, Phantom Lady (1944) was adapted from a Cornell Woolrich novel that typically endows its heroine with traditional masculine energy and guile while rendering its hero impotent and... Read more... |
CD: Daft Punk - Random Access MemoriesThursday, 16 May 2013
A wise man once said: DON'T BELIEVE THE HYPE. It's a simple concept, but it seems so very hard to grasp, even – or especially – in a supposedly media-savvy world. The oddest thing of all is that it seems to be the people who consider themselves the... Read more... |
CD: The National - Trouble Will Find MeThursday, 16 May 2013
It is no hyperbole to say that The National have made some of my favourite albums of all time. In every case, it has never been a decision I have reached lightly, or quickly. Those first few listens, you’re merely aware that your heart beats a... Read more... |
CD: Club 8 - Above The CityWednesday, 15 May 2013
Pop that summons the word “cute” has a tendency to nauseate. If executed with the correct ratio of candy to content, however, it may persuade. The Scandinavians have proved effective in this area and Jonas Angergård and Karolina Komstedt, from the... Read more... |
DVD: Les MisérablesTuesday, 14 May 2013
Fans of this bewilderingly popular musical, and they are legion, will not be disappointed. Director Tom Hooper knows how to tell a fast-moving tale that makes light of the final running time (originally 158 minutes, slightly shorter in this DVD... Read more... |
CD: Steve Martin and Edie Brickell - Love Has Come For YouMonday, 13 May 2013
Steve Martin has a number of strings to his bow: comedian, actor, playwright, novelist, screenwriter and – who knew? – banjo player. And if you need any convincing, his 2010 release The Crow: New Songs for the Five-String Banjo, won a Grammy... Read more... |
