CDs/DVDs
Album: Queens of the Stone Age - In Times New Roman…Saturday, 17 June 2023
Like his fellow (occasional) Queen of the Stone Age, Dave Grohl, the death of Taylor Hawkins (as well as those of Mark Lanegan and Anthony Bourdain) has hit Josh Homme hard. Not one for reflective ballads, however, Homme’s reaction to these and... Read more... |
Album: Sigur Rós - ÁTTAFriday, 16 June 2023
It’s easy to take Sigur Rós’s emotive force for granted. So ubiquitous has their 2005 “Hoppípolla” been on everything from talent shows to apocalyptic environmental collapse documentaries to lyrical scenes of birds in flight that it became the... Read more... |
Album: Jantra - Synthesized Sudan: Astro-Nubian Electronic Jaglara Sounds from the Fashaga UndergroundThursday, 15 June 2023
Synths has a special attraction in a world that aspires to modernity. Thirty years ago Algerian Rai, which combined elements of traditional North African music with rock, was characterised by the sweet and slight tinny sound of electronic keyboards... Read more... |
Album: Django Django - Off Planet: Parts 1 - 4Wednesday, 14 June 2023
Brit alt-indie outfit Django Django refuse easy categorisation and, as a result, during a decade-plus career, have never quite found their place with the wider public. Critical acclaim has come their way, and those who’ve kept an ear open know their... Read more... |
Album: Meshell Ndegeocello - The Omnichord Real BookMonday, 12 June 2023
From the celestial vocal harmonies of “Call The Tune” and insistent looped rhythms of “Omnipuss” (in which you feel the spirit of Miles’s On The Corner), to the Sly Stone-esque “Clear Water” and intensely vital “Vuma” (featuring South African... Read more... |
Album: Yusuf/Cat Stevens - King of a LandSaturday, 10 June 2023
Yusuf/Cat Stevens’ latest combines his apparently effortless immediacy at acoustic guitar songwriting with an orchestrated opulence that sometimes pushes the sound towards the realms of musical theatre. Lyrically, he’s in fine form too, but what... Read more... |
Album: McFly - Power to PlayFriday, 09 June 2023
When McFly returned to our loudspeakers in the summer of 2020 with Young Dumb Thrills, the record marked their first in a decade. The foursome, comprised of guitarist/vocalist Tom Fletcher, bassist/vocalist Dougie Poynter, guitarist/vocalist Danny... Read more... |
Album: Christine and the Queens - PARANOÏA, ANGELS, TRUE LOVEThursday, 08 June 2023
Tony Kushner’s early 1990s play Angels in America is an epochal, mystical, political, state-of-the-nation address, revolving around the AIDs epidemic. By no means straightforward, its narrative runs the gamut from New York’s gay scene to God’s own... Read more... |
Album: Janelle Monáe - The Age of PleasureWednesday, 07 June 2023
There’s been a good deal of discussion on “the socials” about how much Janelle Monáe’s sexy image is a new thing or a big deal.Casual viewers, still stuck on the suit-wearing image with which she crashed into public consciousness in 2010, have acted... Read more... |
Blu-ray: LaurinTuesday, 06 June 2023
Mario Bava and Dario Argento are cited as key influences on Robert Sigl’s debut feature Laurin (1989). British viewers will also be reminded of the series of MR James ghost story adaptations broadcast by the BBC in the 1970s; a glimpse of a murdered... Read more... |
Album: Foo Fighters - But Here We AreMonday, 05 June 2023
In 1995 Dave Grohl returned with a new project and album, called Foo Fighters, following the death of Nirvana band-mate and close friend Kurt Cobain. Given his close connection with Kurt, and his avoidance of the media spotlight, this new album was... Read more... |
Album: King Krule - Space HeavySaturday, 03 June 2023
At first, I misread the title of the lead single “Seaforth” from King Krule’s fourth album, Space Heavy, as “Sea Froth”. It felt like a fitting title, combining the watery motif that runs through all of Archy Marshall’s music with a grimy image... Read more... |
