New Music Features

European Festivals 2010 Round-Up

ismene Brown Sunday, 06 June 2010

Istanbul, Turkey, 3-30 June

Fela Kuti, The One Who Emanated Greatness

Peter Culshaw Friday, 14 May 2010

With Fela Kuti's old band playing Brighton this evening fronted by his son Seun and on the same bill as Tony Allen, the drummer who co-created the increasingly influential Afro-beat sound, it seemed a good excuse to revisit the first interview I ever got published, which was with the great African pop star in 1984 (in Blitz magazine, also a version for the Observer).

Comment

Interview: Diane Birch Rises Up

Adam Sweeting Thursday, 06 May 2010

Diane Birch, a singer-songwriter with a classical and gospel bent

It's probably a bit early to start picking the best albums of 2010, but I would seriously consider a legal challenge if Diane Birch's Bible Belt isn't there or thereabouts when the votes are counted. Like a long-lost singer-songwriter classic, it accomplishes the trick of sounding instantly familiar, yet Birch herself doesn't sound quite like any other artist you've heard before. Her voice can be soft and supple, but it also has a raw, rasping quality that can saw through a song like "...

Interview: Rokia Traoré

graeme Thomson Tuesday, 27 April 2010

Rokia Traoré has always seemed most comfortable creating at trysting points, darting between different worlds without ever quite belonging to any one of them. The daughter of a Malian diplomat, as a child her favourite locations were airports, “this middle point between two places; the idea of leaving a place to go to another one was the most interesting part of my childhood”.

The Return of Metal Machine Music

howard Male Thursday, 15 April 2010

A self-portrait by Lou Reed, who is about to play some UK dates

With Lou Reed’s Metal Machine Trio landing on these shores this weekend, I found myself remembering one of the most memorable listening experiences of my life; the first time I heard Reed’s 1975 album Metal Machine Music. How do you get your bearings in music that comes at you like...

Breakfast with Laurie Anderson

Peter Culshaw Friday, 09 April 2010

Laurie Anderson's new show Delusion opens at the Barbican in London next week. Since the late 1960s she has been at the forefront of artistic innovation. From early pieces where she appeared in art galleries (wearing ice-skates in a block of ice that slowly melted), to her epic opera United States I-IV, she has carved out a niche as something between a poet, artist, technician, humourist, pop star and magician. We chatted...

Comment

Malcolm McLaren: 1946-2010

Peter Culshaw Friday, 09 April 2010

We have lost one of the great cultural catalysts of our time, a brilliant provocateur, a different kind of artist. Malcolm McLaren was a dear friend, who will be painfully missed – we spent, for example, Millennium Eve together with a few friends in France. When Malcolm hit on the “serious joke” of running for Mayor of London in 2000, he roped me into being his agent. It was a lost cause, of course, but at times it was a surreal and often comic adventure.

theartsdesk at Savannah Music Festival

Kate Connolly Wednesday, 31 March 2010

Over four days I've gorged on some world-class music. If you take a pretty city in the full swing of spring, add a dose of Southern US hospitality, some exquisite venues, and a music promoter able to garner the cream of musical talent from across the genres, you have arguably found the perfect ingredients for a top-class musical extravaganza - and a wonderfully restorative experience for a music-lover ready for anything.

Rufus Wainwright: Pop Star and Opera Star

Adam Sweeting Monday, 29 March 2010

To be born into the extraordinary Wainwright dynasty is to be born onstage, and Rufus has seized his birthright in a giant bear-hug. Mere weeks after the death of his mother, Kate McGarrigle, from cancer in January, the lanky, somewhat Heathcliff-like Rufus was back on the campaign trail with throttles wide open. In the pipeline for early April are his new album, All Days Are Nights: Songs for Lulu, and a new production of his opera Prima Donna at Sadler's Wells.

Birthdays on the Tube: 21-26 March

Peter Culshaw Saturday, 20 March 2010

Son House: Influential Delta Blues pioneer

A bumper week for blues and soul artists including some staggeringly good vintage videos from Solomon Burke, Aretha Franklin and Son House. Birthday composers are Stephen Sondheim, Michael Nyman and Bela Bartok. Then there’s Vivian Stanshall from the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band doing the “Intro and the Outro”. “Princess Anne on sousaphone. Adolf Hitler, looking very relaxed on vibes...

inside new music

Subscribe to theartsdesk.com

Thank you for continuing to read our work on theartsdesk.com. For unlimited access to every article in its entirety, including our archive of more than 10,000 pieces, we're asking for £3.95 per month or £30 per year. We feel it's a very good deal, and hope you do too.

To take an annual subscription now simply click here.

And if you're looking for that extra gift for a friend or family member, why not treat them to a theartsdesk.com gift subscription?