CDs/DVDs
Blu-ray: Mystery TrainTuesday, 23 May 2023
Wandering the wrecked streets of Memphis in search of blues and rock history, two teenage Japanese tourists debate who and what’s better: Elvis Presley vs. Carl Perkins, the sleek ultramodernity of their hometown Yokohoma vs. the “vintage” charms of... Read more... |
Album: Steel Banglez - The PlaylistMonday, 22 May 2023
There is a truly fascinating story to be written about the hidden Punjabi influence on UK bass music. Maybe it’s natural for kids growing up with the huge booming sounds of dhol and tabla drums to gravitate to big bass speakers, but some of the most... Read more... |
Album: Lewis Capaldi - Broken by Desire to Be Heavenly SentSaturday, 20 May 2023
What a conflict of interests. I feel like Jean-Claude Van Damme in that Volvo ad, with the truck on the left hand side being my music editor who was recently name-checked by Lewis Capaldi after describing him as “a constipated Hozier”, and my... Read more... |
Album: Sleep Token - Take Me Back To EdenFriday, 19 May 2023
In the era of TikTok and Spotify playlists, it’s hard to gauge when an artist will reach the nebulous threshold and become popular. But for those who can ride this game of algorithms – the change can be sudden.Look no further than Sleep Token. The... Read more... |
Album: Kesha - Gag OrderThursday, 18 May 2023
Kesha is one of the 21st century’s most characterful pop stars. She’s regularly stepped out of the boxes people have put her in, musically and otherwise. But, even taking into account truly oddball songs such as “Godzilla” (from 2017’s Rainbow), or... Read more... |
Album: Paul Simon - Seven PsalmsWednesday, 17 May 2023
Paul Simon is an ornery bugger. Full of awkwardness and perversity as a person, seemingly hugely detached, but as an artist capable of as much tenderness and directness as just about anyone out there. Capable of making world-changing artistic... Read more... |
Blu-ray: Fill 'er Up With SuperTuesday, 16 May 2023
This almost forgotten, naturalistic 1976 road movie lets four young Frenchmen off the leash in a cross-country trip from Lille to Cannes.Car salesman Klouk (Bernard Crombey) is forced by his oppressive boss to ditch a promised weekend with his wife... Read more... |
Album: The Milk Carton Kids - I Only See the MoonMonday, 15 May 2023
Life is better together, and the beauteous sounds created by The Milk Carton Kids proves it. Kenneth Pattengale and Joey Ryan got their acts together in 2011, having each pursued solo careers that never quite gelled. Ryan pitched up at a Pattengale... Read more... |
Blu-ray: MorgianaSunday, 14 May 2023
The titular character in Juraj Herz’s Morgiana plays a peripheral though important role, some of the film’s most striking visual flourishes (courtesy of legendary cinematographer Jaroslav Kučera) being her point-of-view shots while she scurries in... Read more... |
Album: Tinariwen - AmatssouSaturday, 13 May 2023
Mali’s Tuareg superstars, Tinariwen have been burnishing their assouf desert blues sounds with the echoes of folk and country sounds from the rural USA for some time – most especially on their 2014 Emmaar and more recent Amadjar albums. However,... Read more... |
Album: Baaba Maal - BeingFriday, 12 May 2023
“Yerimayo Celebration”, which opens Baaba Maal’s brilliant and superbly paced new album, sets the tone: it starts in the mists of time, as it were, drawing deep on the minimal soul of traditional West African music: a plucked ngoni, and a haunting... Read more... |
Album: Fatoumata Diawara - London KOThursday, 11 May 2023
It’s been five years since the release of Malian musician and actor Fatoumata Diawara’s breakout album, Fento, and just short of a year since her magnificent headline appearance on the first day of 2022’s Womad Festival. So, it is with some... Read more... |
