New Music Reviews
Māris Briežkalns Quintet, EFG London Jazz Festival 2018 review - a Rothko symphonyMonday, 26 November 2018
One part of the brain, they tell us, responds to visual art and another, quite different, to music; we can't cope adequately with both at once. Which is why I'm often wary of those musical organisations which think that what we hear needs to be livened up with more to see: mixing Debussy with so-called "Impressionists", for instance, or Stravinsky with Cubism. Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Kreaturen Der NachtSunday, 25 November 2018
The famous names on Kreaturen Der Nacht: Deutsche Post-Punk Subkultur 1980–1984 are Christiane F., Die Haut, Malaria! and Mania D. Committed collectors of German post-punk and those who there at the time might be familiar with Ausserhalb, ExKurs or Leben Und Arbeiten. Read more... |
Jazzmeia Horn, EFG London Jazz Festival 2018 review - searching for the unexpectedFriday, 23 November 2018
Aside from her incredible time feel, exceptional range and consistently beautiful timbre, what was most impressive about Jazzmeia Horn’s bravura performance at a sold-out Ronnie Scott’s was the sense of joyousness and vitality that coursed through her music-making. Read more... |
Brent Cowles, Thousand Island review – cornering the market in heartbreak and harmonyFriday, 23 November 2018
It’s a freezing cold, wet night in north London and Denver-based musician Brent Cowles is braving the grimness to play his first ever UK gig, at Highbury’s tiny, mirrorball-stuffed Thousand Island (the latest incarnation of The Garage’s upstairs venue). Read more... |
Orphy Robinson’s Astral Weeks, London Jazz Festival 2018 review - reimagining a masterpieceWednesday, 21 November 2018
After failing to make the charts on its release 50 years ago this month, Astral Weeks has long since passed into pop mythology, its unique amalgam of jazz, folk and soul influences inspiring musicians, writers and filmmakers... Read more... |
Kyungso Park, Near East Quartet, Purcell Room review - hot Korean contemporaryWednesday, 21 November 2018
The penultimate concert in the eclectic and impressive K-Music Festival of contemporary Korean music on Monday at the Purcell Room featured some of the most exquisite and affecting performances of the season, with the traditional Gayageum stringed instrument paired with an effects-laden, ambient-cum-exploratory jazz quartet featuring one of the most distinctive and arresting drummers... Read more... |
Gary Numan, Royal Albert Hall review - the best night of his lifeTuesday, 20 November 2018
There was barely a black-clothed, white-faced Numanoid in sight in the packed auditorium of the Royal Albert Hall as Gary Numan made his first ever appearance at the Victorian concert hall. Read more... |
EFG London Jazz Festival, first weekend review - Jeff Goldblum a jazz musician?Monday, 19 November 2018
The choice of what to go and hear in the London Jazz Festival can be bewildering: this first weekend of its 10-day run presented over 120 events. Read more... |
Florence + The Machine, Genting Arena, Birmingham review - flying the flag for a hopeful futureMonday, 19 November 2018
Many established artists, when out on tour, can get all a bit bashful about their new material. In fact, it’s not unusual for bands to hide a couple of new tunes in the middle of their live set with embarrassed mumbling about “you don’t really want to hear the new stuff anyway” before launching into a note-perfect rendition of a tune that was a hit several years previously. Read more... |
The Ballads of Child Migration, St James's Church, Clerkenwell review - into the heart of darknessWednesday, 14 November 2018
What adjectives best describe a performance of The Ballads of Child Migration? None of those you’d normally expect to see applied to an evening of superlative music-making, for the song cycle chronicles the deprivations suffered by child migrants sent from Britain over the course of one hundred years. Read more... |
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