New Music Reviews
Taylor Swift, Hyde ParkSunday, 28 June 2015
While most contemporary entertainers rely on a little of the old smoke and mirrors, no pop culture phenomenon requires the same suspension of disbelief as the 21st-century pop concert. When you pay your money, it is with the understanding that, while everything you see may be staged, the sentiment is real. And, since most of us cannot afford to see the same artist twice on the same tour, the bargain holds. Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Dust on the NettlesSunday, 28 June 2015
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Sacred Imaginations, Kings PlaceSunday, 28 June 2015
This was one of the most crazily ambitious music projects of the year so far. Co-curators Sam Mills and Susheela Raman, with generous sponsorship, assembled their favourite musicians in different styles from Greece, Lebanon, Ethiopia and Russia under the title of Sacred Imaginations: New and Ancient Music From the Near East. Read more... |
theartsdesk on Vinyl: Volume 6 - Miles Davis, Giant Sand and moreMonday, 22 June 2015
It's becoming clear that the appeal of vinyl is two-fold. On the one hand there are older buyers who are returning to it as a validation of their own life journey though music and, on the other, there are young enthusiasts whose honeymoon with virtual music has tailed off and who enjoy vinyl's physicality. And then there's the whole dance music DJ subculture too. Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Peter ZinovieffSunday, 21 June 2015
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Seb Rochford and Co, Brilliant CornersSaturday, 20 June 2015
If you still haven’t been to Played Twice, a monthly jazz night held at Brilliant Corners in Dalston, I suggest you do something about it. The concept is simple. First there’s a playthrough of a landmark album on the venue’s top of the range analogue soundsystem – an anorak’s dream, all glistening valves and sleek silver turntables – and then a band reinterpret that recording live in the venue. Read more... |
Supersonic Festival, BirminghamTuesday, 16 June 2015
The Supersonic Festival of the weird and the wonderful may now be in its 12th year but it is still more than living up to its long-running tag-line, “For curious audiences”. This year, an eager audience was treated to sets by both the Will Gregory Moog Ensemble and post-metalists Liturgy, as well as most points in between. Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Lesley GoreSunday, 14 June 2015
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Perfume Genius / Jenny Hval, RFHThursday, 11 June 2015
Neither the name, the look, nor the recorded sound of Perfume Genius (*****) seems like the thing to set about a packed Royal Festival Hall with shock and awe, though there was plenty of both in last night’s show. The Seattle singer, known to his mum as Mike Hadreas, has developed a cult following for his ability to combine fragility and scorching power in lyrics of intelligence and versatility. Live, he displayed extraordinary vistas of emotional and techncial breadth. Read more... |
The Damned: Don't You Wish That We Were DeadThursday, 11 June 2015
What Wes Orshoski’s new documentary points out, above everything, is how much pop success relies on an ordered narrative and an easily understood package. First-wave British punk band The Damned, on the other hand, wrote as many great songs as their peers, but their career has been a mess of random creativity, changing line-ups and dreadful business decisions.... Read more... |
Various Artists: Dust on the Nettles – A Journey Through the British Underground Folk Scene 1967–72
Peter Zinovieff: Electronic Calendar – The EMS Tapes
Lesley Gore: California NightsPages
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