New Music Features
European Festivals 2010 Round-UpSunday, 06 June 2010
|
Fela Kuti, The One Who Emanated GreatnessFriday, 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). Read more... |
Interview: Diane Birch Rises UpThursday, 06 May 2010
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 "... Read more... |
Interview: Rokia TraoréTuesday, 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”. Read more... |
The Return of Metal Machine MusicThursday, 15 April 2010
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... Read more... |
Breakfast with Laurie AndersonFriday, 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... Read more... |
Malcolm McLaren: 1946-2010Friday, 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. Read more... |
theartsdesk at Savannah Music FestivalWednesday, 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. Read more... |
Rufus Wainwright: Pop Star and Opera StarMonday, 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. Read more... |
Birthdays on the Tube: 21-26 MarchSaturday, 20 March 2010
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... Read more... |
Istanbul, Turkey, 3-30 JunePages
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?
latest in today
CD: Sum 41 - Order In Decline
Sum 41 were one of those light-weight punk-ish bands in unfeasibly large pairs of shorts that washed up in the wake of Green Day’s early success...
Elbow and New Order, Lucca Summer Festival review – a meetin...
Thirty-three years ago, at the Festival of the...
Django Bates Belovèd Trio, Evan Parker, Wigmore Hall review...
"Genius" is a word to be used sparingly, but Django Bates surely is one. “A musical polymath and prodigiously gifted composer” went the citation...
Don Giovanni, Longborough Festival Opera review - Mozart in...
One of the features of the converted barn that forms the theatre at Longborough is a trio of statues that tops the front pediment of the building...
Bob Dylan and Neil Young, BST Hyde Park review - flat-out br...
It was billed as a moment of musical history: two of the great icons of rock'n'roll sharing a double-headline. A dream ticket. Except, of course,...
Robin Ince, Soho Theatre review - fun among the chaos
How to describe a show that by Robin Ince’s own admission doesn’t have a narrative strand, and for which he has written several pages of notes...
Florence + the Machine, BST Hyde Park review - mastering the...
It’s a rare thing that musicians sound better live than they do on Spotify. But Florence Welch sings a note perfect set – even when jumping up and...
CD: Sabaton – The Great War
It’s been 20 years since Sabaton’s formation in 1999, and the Swedish power...
Gina Apostol: Insurrecto review – a treacherous archipelago...
As in other countries born out of 19th-century uprisings against imperial power, the literary roots of the Philippines run deep. Executed by the...
theartsdesk Q&A: Lia Williams on the challenges of theat...
Lia Williams is not an actor who looks for easy options. Twice she has played two characters in the same production, switching between them for...