CDs/DVDs
CD: Dignan Porch – Nothing Bad Will Ever HappenWednesday, 08 August 2012
Considering how over-stuffed Brooklyn is with music, south London’s Dignan Porch being issued by that locale’s super-hip Captured Tracks imprint smacks of coals to Newcastle. But they fit in a treat, sharing an outlook with Brooklynites Crystal... Read more... |
DVD: This Must Be the PlaceTuesday, 07 August 2012
Those familiar with Italian director Paolo Sorrentino’s elegant political feature Il Divo (2008), or perhaps the beautiful, cynical The Consequences of Love (2004) may find themselves struck (pleasantly) dumb by the direction of his latest. Inspired... Read more... |
CD: Karine Polwart - TracesMonday, 06 August 2012
The best music has the power to lift the listener out of whatever else she may be doing, to transport her somewhere else. I listened to Traces, fifth album from doyenne of Scottish folk Karine Polwart, in a cafe in Edinburgh in what for that city is... Read more... |
CD: Cut the World - Antony & the JohnsonsSunday, 05 August 2012
Antony & the Johnsons’ melancholy songs of love and loss, steeped in a contemporary classical aesthetic, lend themselves to the full orchestral treatment. There is also something theatrical about the singer’s delivery, not so much high opera... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Freedom Sounds, Marilyn Monroe, Modern Music, Samantha FoxSunday, 05 August 2012Various Artists: Trojan Presents Freedom Sounds, a Celebration of Jamaican MusicKieron TylerThree-and-a-half minutes in, a heavily reverbed drum suddenly rattles and the track heads off into outer space. Morse-code bass dominates, the hi-hat swishes... Read more... |
CD: Opossum - Electric HawaiiSaturday, 04 August 2012
Kody Nielsen is possibly best known outside his native New Zealand as the producer of singer-songwriter Bic Runga, but since her star shines very much brighter at home than in Europe, that isn’t necessarily an especially high profile. He has also... Read more... |
DVD: OrlandoFriday, 03 August 2012
The first time I saw Orlando, on general release in 1992, I was blown away by the beauty of Sally Potter’s homage to Virginia Woolf. Beginning in 1600 when Orlando (the suitably androgynous Tilda Swinton) is a young man, the film skips and hops... Read more... |
CD: Roller Trio - Roller TrioThursday, 02 August 2012
This debut album from Leeds-based Roller Trio epitomises the can-do, DIY approach of the younger generation of jazz musicians. With their achievements recognised by a prestigious Peter Whittingham Jazz Award last year, the band - James Mainwairing (... Read more... |
CD: Franz Nicolay - Do The StruggleWednesday, 01 August 2012
Describing the music of Franz Nicolay is a formidable task: it’s almost as easy to imagine the work of some of the bands he has loaned his considerable talents to in the past - most notably during his five years as a member of The Hold Steady - and... Read more... |
DVD: Le HavreTuesday, 31 July 2012
You’d have to have a heart of coal not to be moved by Aki Kaurismäki’s celebration of tolerance, redemption and the goodness that people can do. Le Havre isn’t quite It a Wonderful Life, but it’s not far short. The sensitivity with which the Finnish... Read more... |
CD: Various Artists - London's CallingMonday, 30 July 2012
It’s perfect timing for the release of this collection of cover versions of London-themed songs by multi-cultural London-based musicians. The big surprise is that some of the tracks could so easily have descended into cheesiness or simply not... Read more... |
CD: Conor Maynard - ContrastSunday, 29 July 2012
They're calling it "Conormania". One website says that unless you don’t “like things that are awesome” you should be developing a healthy obsession with him. He is Conor Maynard and his debut album is Contrast. Over the last three years, Maynard has... Read more... |
