CDs/DVDs
Album: Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit - Georgia BlueThursday, 25 November 2021
Jason Isbell is a bigger noise on the other side of the Atlantic than he is in the UK but his last three albums have, nonetheless, bothered the middle-regions of the British album charts. He’s built a critically lauded career with his band The 400... Read more... |
Album: Nell & The Flaming Lips - Where The Viaduct LoomsWednesday, 24 November 2021
Initially, it’s about the voice. Thirteen seconds into the first track, it arrives: close-to disembodied, delivering lyrics as if they were a psalm, yet still melodic. Just over a minute in, there’s a shift into an ascending-descending chorus. The... Read more... |
DVD/Blu-ray: Belleville RendezvousTuesday, 23 November 2021
Why Les Triplettes de Belleville was rechristened Belleville Rendevous in the UK is one of several questions left unanswered by this reissue. Along with what happened to French director Sylvain Chomet’s animation career, which seems to have fizzled... Read more... |
Album: Sunn O))) - Metta, Benevolence - BBC 6 Music: Live on the Invitation of Mary Anne HobbsMonday, 22 November 2021
Like most of the best things in life, it cannot be denied that the music of Sunn O))) is an acquired taste – and most certainly not for the faint hearted. Crushing and apocalyptic soundscapes dominate their largely instrumental drone metal, which is... Read more... |
Album: Adele - 30Saturday, 20 November 2021
For those of you who didn’t think it was possible for Adele to up her stakes in the game of soul-baring, think again. Her first album in six years is here and it is as raw as it is rowdy, as searing as it is silk, as relatable as it is enjoyably... Read more... |
Album: Elbow - Flying Dream 1Friday, 19 November 2021
A poet I know once went to a boarding school to deliver an open class on poetry. Part of the day consisted of the children producing poems of their own, which their guest teacher then looked over and discussed with them. Almost every one was about... Read more... |
Album: Deap Vally - MarriageThursday, 18 November 2021
Deap Vally’s debut album, Sistrionix was a breath of fresh air for the heavy blues rock end of the musical spectrum when it was released in 2013. Feminist anthems, like “Gonna Make My Own Money” and “Creeplife” blasted out like artillery salvos and... Read more... |
Album: Willie Nelson - The Willie Nelson FamilyWednesday, 17 November 2021
The Outlaw meets Jesus, at least on CD. The Willie Nelson Family finds The Red Headed Stranger singing some of country-gospel’s most celebrated songs, including Hank Williams’ “I Saw the Light”. It’s his second album of 2021 – the first, That’s Life... Read more... |
Blu-ray: One of Our Aircraft Is MissingTuesday, 16 November 2021
The fourth feature made by writer-director partners Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, One of Our Aircraft Is Missing is not as celebrated as the six consecutive masterworks with which they followed it. It’s nonetheless a remarkably atmospheric... Read more... |
Album: Robert Plant and Alison Krauss - Raise the RoofMonday, 15 November 2021
The collaboration of Robert Plant, Alison Krauss and producer T-Bone Burnett produced a masterpiece Raising Sand in 2011. Once again, and in spite of rumours about the artists falling out, they have returned with the same winning formula.With... Read more... |
Album: Rod Stewart - The Tears of HerculesFriday, 12 November 2021
Amid the spume of insults at the close of the song “The Great Rock’n’Roll Swindle” by Malcolm McLaren’s Rotten-less, end-game version of the Sex Pistols, Rod Stewart is a prime target. Sandwiched between abuse for David Bowie and Elton John, Rod is... Read more... |
Album: Damon Albarn - The Nearer The Fountain, More Pure The Stream FlowsThursday, 11 November 2021
Damon Albarn’s second solo album in a career otherwise defined by open-hearted collaboration confirms he sees operating under his own name as a chance for melancholic introspection. The deliberate austerity of its predecessor, Everyday Robots (2014... Read more... |
