sun 03/01/2021

New Music reviews, news & interviews

Reissue CDs Weekly: Lost Innocence - Garpax 1960s Punk & Psych

Kieron Tyler

An old saw relating to The Doors says their ambition when they formed was to be as big as Los Angeles-based garage-psych sensations The Seeds. After listening to Lost Innocence – Garpax 1960s Punk & Psych, it’s hard not to wonder where the bands heard were aiming.

Albums of the Year 2020: A.G. Cook – 7G

Harry Thorfinn-George

2020 marks the year when the PC Music label’s influence became undeniable. It’s easy to forget that, founded by A.G. Cook in 2013, it was once at the centre of a mini culture war. The label’s refusal to distinguish “between high and low, between Burial or Britney” felt exciting to some, but contemptuous to others.

Albums of the Year 2020: Joensuu 1685 - ÖB

Kieron Tyler

This breathtakingly lovely album opens with the aptly titled “Hey My Friend (We’re Here Again)”. Before the October 2020 release of ÖB and its...

Albums of the Year 2020: AC/DC - Power Up

Russ Coffey

2020 was, for many music fans, the year of cathartic singer-songwriters and their "surprise" lockdown albums. Not me. The last thing I craved during...

Albums of the Year 2020: Laura Marling - Song for...

Katie Colombus

Dropped a month into the year’s first lockdown, Laura Marling’s seventh album landed like a soothing tonic to an odd and chaotic time. The stripped...

Albums of the Year 2020: Fiona Apple - Fetch the Bolt Cutters

Lisa-Marie Ferla

Making space for the things we don't talk about in quarantine times

Reissue CDs Weekly: Looking back at 2020

Kieron Tyler

Kenny Carter, Game Theory, Norwegian jazz, The Stooges, Hank Williams and more

Albums of the Year 2020: bdrmm - Bedroom

Barney Harsent

A shoegaze debut that lifts its eyes, looks to the future and elevates the form

Album: Chilly Gonzales – A Very Chilly Christmas

Kathryn Reilly

Find this under your tree and you'll be a winner

Albums of the Year 2020: Steve Earle & The Dukes - Ghosts of West Virginia

Liz Thomson

In a year when we all dug deep, Steve Earle discovers a rich seam

Albums of the Year 2020: Bob Dylan - Rough and Rowdy Ways

Tim Cumming

Dylan pulls out the stops for this late-period masterpiece

Reissue CDs Weekly: Sumer Is Icumen In - The Pagan Sound Of British & Irish Folk

Kieron Tyler

Three discs seeking to evoke a ‘woodland peppered with invocations’

Albums of the Year 2020: Songhoy Blues - Optimisme

Guy Oddy

Mali’s unlikely musical superstars speak truth to power while moving hips and feet

Albums of the Year 2020: Cleo Sol - Rose in the Dark

Joe Muggs

A luminous highlight of a Brit soul renaissance

Albums of the Year 2020: Marius Neset – Tributes

Sebastian Scotney

The Norwegian saxophonist finds reasons to be cheerful

Albums of the Year 2020: Melt Yourself Down - 100% Yes

Thomas H Green

The music that kept spirits raised during the year of you-know-what

Songlines Music Awards - Cerys Matthews introduces a global line-up of winners

Tim Cumming

The World Music magazine celebrates its 12th annual awards

Album: Paul McCartney - McCartney III

Nick Hasted

Lockdown redemption for a rejuvenated master

Reissue CDs Weekly: Iggy & The Stooges - You Think You’re Bad, Man? The Road Tapes 1973-74

Kieron Tyler

Lo-fi box set cataloguing the live adventures of the musical saboteurs as they hit the buffer

Album: Carrie Underwood - My Gift

Katie Colombus

Have yourself a totally traditional Christmas

theartsdesk on Vinyl Christmas Special 2020: Donna Summer, Tom Sanders, The Kinks, Tru Thoughts, Spice Girls, Style Council and more

Thomas H Green

Reviewing the records that are ripe and ready for Santa

Album: Dolly Parton - A Dolly Holly Christmas

Joe Muggs

Seriously, how much kitsch can you handle?

Album: Calexico - Seasonal Shift

Guy Oddy

Tex-Mex rockers and their mates offer a cross-cultural seasonal celebration

Album: Jamie Cullum - The Pianoman at Christmas

Sebastian Scotney

An homage to the Big Band sounds of Christmases Past

Album: Chris Kamara - ...And a Happy New Year

Lisa-Marie Ferla

Unlikely second Christmas cracker from genial pundit

Reissue CDs Weekly: Scars - Author! Author!

Kieron Tyler

Expanded edition of the sole album from Edinburgh’s exceptional post-punks

Album: The Avalanches - We Will Always Love You

Barney Harsent

The Australian sample-stitchers return with an album of big themes rich in small detail

Album: Yungblud - Weird!

Thomas H Green

Pop-punky Brit singer's second album sounds fizzy and enormous but lacks rebel spirit

Album: High Contrast - Notes From the Underground

Joe Muggs

An elegiac take on rave revivalism from thoughtful Welsh superstar producer

Footnote: a brief history of new music in Britain

New music has swung fruitfully between US and UK influences for half a century. The British charts began in 1952, initially populated by crooners and light jazz. American rock'n'roll livened things up, followed by British imitators such as Lonnie Donegan and Cliff Richard. However, it wasn't until The Beatles combined rock'n'roll's energy with folk melodies and Motown sweetness that British pop found a modern identity outside light entertainment. The Rolling Stones, amping up US blues, weren't far behind, with The Who and The Kinks also adding a unique Englishness. In the mid-Sixties the drugs hit - LSD sent pop looking for meaning. Pastoral psychedelia bloomed. Such utopianism couldn't last and prog rock alongside Led Zeppelin's steroid riffing defined the early Seventies. Those who wanted it less blokey turned to glam, from T Rex to androgynous alien David Bowie.

sex_pistolsA sea change arrived with punk and its totemic band, The Sex Pistols, a reaction to pop's blandness and much else. Punk encouraged inventiveness and imagination on the cheap but, while reggae made inroads, the most notable beneficiary was synth pop, The Human League et al. This, when combined with glam styling, produced the New Romantic scene and bands such as Duran Duran sold multi-millions and conquered the US.

By the mid-Eighties, despite U2's rise, the British charts were sterile until acid house/ rave culture kicked the doors down for electronica, launching acts such as the Chemical Brothers. The media, however, latched onto indie bands with big tunes and bigger mouths, notably Oasis and Blur – Britpop was born.

By the millennium, both scenes had fizzled, replaced by level-headed pop-rockers who abhorred ostentation in favour of homogenous emotionality. Coldplay were the biggest. Big news, however, lurked in underground UK hip hop where artists adapted styles such as grime, dubstep and drum & bass into new pop forms, creating breakout stars Dizzee Rascal and, more recently, Tinie Tempah. The Arts Desk's wide-ranging new music critics bring you overnight reviews of every kind of music, from pop to unusual world sounds, daily reviews of new releases and downloads, and unique in-depth interviews with celebrated musicians and DJs, plus the quickest ticket booking links. Our writers include Peter Culshaw, Joe Muggs, Howard Male, Thomas H Green, Graeme Thomson, Kieron Tyler, Russ Coffey, Bruce Dessau, David Cheal & Peter Quinn

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Reissue CDs Weekly: Lost Innocence - Garpax 1960s Punk &...

An old saw relating to The Doors says their ambition when they formed was to be as big as Los Angeles-based garage-...

Albums of the Year 2020: A.G. Cook – 7G

2020 marks the year when the PC Music label’s influence became undeniable. It’s easy to forget that, founded by A.G. Cook in 2013, it was once at...

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