sat 05/10/2024

New Music reviews, news & interviews

Album: Goat - Goat

Guy Oddy

With the Pagan festival of Mabon and the Autumnal Equinox only just past us, it seems appropriate for Scandi psychedelic rockers, Goat to provide a soundtrack of celebration as we head towards the colder months. And, as expected, Goatman and his crew have not let us down with their completely wigged out set of funky vibes and transcendent rhythms.

Album: Coldplay - Moon Music

Tom Carr

From the very first chords of "Yellow" in 2000, Coldplay have been an ever present at the summit of popular music's hierarchy. Their uncanny knack of crafting sickly sweet melodies and soundscapes that dig deep and stay with you, willingly or not, has seen them through different styles in their now over 25 year long career.

10 Questions for Black String’s Youn Jeong Heo

Tim Cumming

The first K-Music festival landed in London for than a decade ago, and has brought an eclectic range of bands and musicians from Korea to the stages...

Album: Caribou - Honey

Joe Muggs

Dan Snaith’s career has been a joyous thing to watch. Almost a quarter of a century the Canadian started out as Manitoba (soon renamed to Caribou)...

Album: The Smile - Cutouts

Graham Fuller

The Smile’s second album Wall of Eyes, released in January, is a thrillingly discomfiting album by Radiohead alumni Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood...

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Music Reissues Weekly: Why Don’t You Smile Now - Lou Reed at Pickwick Records 1964-65

Kieron Tyler

Important collection focusing on the future Velvet Underground man’s period as a music business employee

Album: Lady Gaga - Harlequin

Thomas H Green

Surprise companion album to her new film is lively, enjoyable and in great voice

Album: Ezra Collective - Dance, No One’s Watching

Sebastian Scotney

A joyous celebration of dance

Album: Jaz Karis - Safe Flight

Joe Muggs

UK soul debut whose smooth surface conceals depth and complexity

Album: Van Morrison - New Arrangements and Duets

Tim Cumming

Van the Man starts to open up the vaults

Elvis Costello and Steve Nieve, Bristol Beacon review - so much more than a retread of the master's hits

Mark Kidel

A songwriter and entertainer in his prime

Frank Carter & the Sex Pistols, O2 Academy, Birmingham review - Reloaded Pistols are a shot in the arm

Guy Oddy

Original punks reignite with a new line up

Album: Alan Sparhawk - White Roses, My God

Kieron Tyler

After the death of Mimi Parker, Low’s other half comes out into the open

Music Reissues Weekly: New Jill Swing

Kieron Tyler

First-ever collection documenting new jack swing’s female counterpart

Album: Katy Perry - 143

Guy Oddy

Return of US superstar is a damp squib

Moby, O2 review - ebullient night of rave'n'rock'n'Johnny Cash

Thomas H Green

The millennial electronic star returns with his first European tour in over a decade

Album: Miranda Lambert - Postcards From Texas

Thomas H Green

On her ninth solo album, the US country star is still on peak songwriting form

Album: Jamie xx - In Waves

Joe Muggs

Get right on one, matey, with a glorious capturing of dancefloor dissolution of self

Here comes the flood: Bob Dylan's 1974 Live Recordings

Tim Cumming

Night after night: Sony's latest gargantuan release from the vaults

Album: The Waeve - City Lights

Thomas H Green

Second album from Blur-affiliated couple contains luscious moments

Album: Joan as Police Woman - Lemons, Limes and Orchids

Kathryn Reilly

A deep, delicious dive into the many facets of love by the master songwriter

Music Reissues Weekly: Sean Buckley & The Breadcrumbs

Kieron Tyler

Dagenham mod-beat band’s first recording surfaces - 60 years late

Album: Floating Points - Cascade

Joe Muggs

High energy techno and rave from the synth craftsman needs your best speakers

Album: Snow Patrol - The Forest is the Path

Thomas H Green

Struggling to find the good in this hugely successful band's lovelorn stadium plod

Album: Tindersticks - Soft Tissue

Guy Oddy

More poetic heartbreak from Stuart Staples' mob

Album: Juniore - Trois, Deux, Un

Kieron Tyler

Parisian trio showcase an elegant if deliberate retro-futurist garage-pop

Music Reissues Weekly: Lee 'Scratch' Perry and Friends - People Funny Boy: The Upsetter Singles 1968-1969

Kieron Tyler

Meticulous investigation of the early self-determined years of the eminent sonic architect

The Allergies, Hare & Hounds, Birmingham review - funky hip-hoppers fire up the weekend

Guy Oddy

Breaks, funky basslines, horns and plenty of dancing

Album: LL COOL J - THE FORCE

Joe Muggs

OK you can call it a comeback

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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