CDs/DVDs
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... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Rodriguez, Benny Spellman, Rupert's PeopleSunday, 29 July 2012
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds: Nocturama, Abattoir Blues, The Lyre of Orpheus, DIG!!! LAZARUS, DIG!!!Howard MaleThere’s something just not right about having to reassess a bunch of Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds albums in August, just as the sun is... Read more... |
CD: The Flaming Lips: The Flaming Lips and Heady FwendsSaturday, 28 July 2012
If there was ever an album that could be reviewed on the basis of its track titles it is this one. "Helping the Retarded to Know God", "I'm Working at NASA on Acid" and "That Ain't My Trip" sound like they have been automatically generated via some... Read more... |
The Hawks and the Sparrows/ PigstyFriday, 27 July 2012
The tone of these two new Pier Paolo Pasolini's re-releases couldn't be more different. The Hawks and the Sparrows stars the Italian prince of laughter Totò and one of Pasolini's most popular Calabrian peasant-actors (and lovers) Ninetto Davoli, and... Read more... |
CD: Idjut Boys - Cellar DoorThursday, 26 July 2012
The Idjut Boys are a London DJ/production duo who, like peers such as Optimo, Ashley Beedle, Tom Middleton or DJ Harvey, are not corralled by the electronic pulse that rules dance music. Like many good DJs of their generation, they veer towards the... Read more... |
CD: Oberman Knocks - Beatcroff SlabsWednesday, 25 July 2012
Sometimes a record tells you whether you're going to like it before you've even hit play. With electronica this goes double: track titles like "Scanlon's Leaping Gore Pull", "Pneuquonsis on Return" and "Fewton Tension Chords" are either going to... Read more... |
DVD: Wonderful LondonTuesday, 24 July 2012
Long before the invention of digital technology and the birth of Keira Knightley, cinema shows in Britain contained not one feature, or two features, but also what the advertisements called a "full supporting programme". That meant newsreels, maybe... Read more... |
CD: Joss Stone - The Soul Sessions Volume 2Monday, 23 July 2012
On her sixth album Joss Stone does what she does very well so the only question is whether it’s worth doing. When she first appeared with volume one of The Soul Sessions, tackling songs such as Aretha Franklin’s “All the King’s Horses” and Carla... Read more... |
CD: Plan B - ill ManorsSunday, 22 July 2012
Coming off the back of million-selling soul concept album The Defamation of Strickland Banks, the third album of Plan B - who is soon to be seen as George Carter (the Dennis Waterman role) in the remake of The Sweeney - is a belated soundtrack... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Blur, Blancmange, The Smashing Pumpkins, Strange PassionSunday, 22 July 2012
Blur: 21Bruce DessauThe recent closure of Word magazine has been seen by some as linked to the demise of "Fifty Quid Man". Who can afford such a wallet-frightening splurge these days on the kind of music the monthly's writers wrote so eloquently... Read more... |
