New Music Interviews
Remembering John Prine, one of the great American singer-songwritersWednesday, 08 April 2020
John Prine, who has died at the age of 73 from a Covid 19-related illness, was one of the great American folk poets. Having spent his early adulthood pounding the sidewalks as a mailman in Chicago, he never quite shucked that blue-collar aura of the working man's minstrel. Read more...
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10 Questions for Irina NalisThursday, 19 March 2020
Normally we'd put a descriptor - "cellist", "film maker", "techno producer" for example - in the title of this interview, but for Irina Nalis there isn't space. Like, "10 Questions for psychologist, ministerial adviser, festival founder, architectural consultant, digital humanism activist and techno veteran Irina Nalis" wouldn't fit across the page. But that's the multidisciplinary world for you. Read more... |
theartsdesk Q&A: musician Rick McMurrayTuesday, 03 March 2020
With them having famously been just teenagers when they released their debut single in 1994 it seems fitting – and not a little tongue in cheek – that the indie rock trio chose Teenage Wildlife for the title of their 25th anniversary compilation. Read more... |
10 Questions for Techno Musician Carl CraigSaturday, 23 November 2019
In the eight years since theartsdesk last spoke to Carl Craig, a lot has happened. He moved from his native Detroit for a sojourn in Barcelona (partly for ease of access to his summer DJ residencies in Ibiza), then recently returned. Read more... |
theartsdesk Q&A: Shakespears SisterThursday, 24 October 2019
When goth-pop duo Shakespears Sister split in 1993, the music press dubbed it the break-up of the decade. Partly it was because at the time they were one of the biggest, and coolest, bands around (their single "Stay" managed a record eight weeks at number one). Read more... |
10 Questions for musician Craig FinnSunday, 20 October 2019
As frontman and lyricist of US rockers The Hold Steady, Craig Finn specialises in vivid storytelling featuring larger than life characters. It’s a writing style that he has carried with him into his solo work too even if, as he says, the stories are “more vulnerable and maybe a little more personal” than fans of his other band may be used to. Read more... |
10 Questions for conductor Charles HazlewoodMonday, 23 September 2019
Charles Hazlewood (b. 1966) has worked across the gamut of orchestral music, his career showcasing the multitude of ways it can be perceived and enjoyed. Read more... |
Bob Dylan Special - theartsdesk Q&A: Scarlet RiveraTuesday, 11 June 2019
As Martin Scorsese’s new feature film, Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story, hits Netflix and cinemas, and a new 14 CD boxed set enters the official Bootleg Series, ... Read more... |
Chamber Music, Brighton Festival 2019 review - Wu-Tang Clan depths divinedMonday, 20 May 2019
Martial arts mayhem, Shaolin philosophy, a tribe of masked hip hop warriors emerging from the mist of Staten Island, a Funkadelic-Parliament collective sprawling through the music industry in the age of black mass incarceration: the Wu-Tang Clan were all these things, immediately.... Read more... |
10 Questions for Musician Soumik DattaTuesday, 30 April 2019
“I think we need to get rid of labels, certainly World Music,” insists Soumik Datta, who is both composer and musician, and has lived in the UK since the age of 11. “It is possible to be a musician in the Indian tradition, as well as an electronic musician, as well as a contemporary musician... Read more... |
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latest in today
Album: Elton John, The Lockdown Sessions - review
I always thought those celebrity duets albums, recorded across the miles – or sometimes with someone who had long since passed to the great arena...
Grenfell: Value Engineering, The Tabernacle review - bruisin...
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L'Heure Exquise, Linbury Theatre review - an exquisite...
Ballet dancers, even the greatest, don’t expect longevity. There are no Maggie Smiths or Helen Mirrens in the ballet world – there just aren’t the...
Dune review - awesome display of sci-fi world-building
I’d venture that Denis Villeneuve’s adaptation of Frank Herbert’s 1965...
Colin Currie Group, RFH review - Reich premiere explores fre...
Single-composer programmes can be a bit dicey and there was a bit of trepidation approaching this one as Steve Reich is not a composer of massive...
Dave Chappelle: The Closer, Netflix review - race and class...
Say what you like about Dave Chappelle, but if nothing else he's an equal-opportunities offender, as his latest Netflix special, The Closer...
Rufus Wainwright, London Palladium review - superb musicians...
Rufus Wainwright believes opera to be “the greatest art form that has...
Die ägyptische Helena, Fulham Opera review - mythological me...
So Helen of Troy arrives at a church in Fulham via Poseidon’s island palace and a pavilion at the foot of the Atlas Mountains. She’s trickier than...
Love and Other Acts of Violence, Donmar Warehouse review - s...
This is simultaneously a love story and an archaeology of hate, a...
Rice, Orange Tree Theatre review - whip-smart, but unsure wh...
“Careful, there’s a hole in the floor.” The warning’s an unusual one, passed along conscientiously by the stewards at the door of the tiny...