New Music Reviews
theartsdesk at Glastonbury Festival 2015Thursday, 02 July 2015
Caspar Gomez stays offline at Glastonbury. This report arrived at theartsdesk two days later handwritten by fax with an accompanying preamble which said only, “This scribble has now suitably matured in the cider-oaked barrels of a pot-holed brain. I am Uncle Fuckle and I’m here to bring the pain. It began like this…” Thursday 25th June Read more...
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AmyThursday, 02 July 2015
“I don’t think I could handle it, I think I’d go mad.” It’s the sort of answer given by anyone asked how they’d react to fame. With the possibility looming of recognition beyond jazz circles, Amy Winehouse, who was then not so well-known, responded with something which could have appeared trite; the humble words of an aspirant not wanting to seem too big for her boots. Read more... |
The Man Who Sold the World, O2 Shepherd's Bush EmpireWednesday, 01 July 2015
Normally, if an album as good as The Man Who Sold the World had itself sold the sum total of sod all on release, it would have been lost, then found, before becoming a fêted rarity, exchanging hands for hundreds while bootleggers had a field day. Read more... |
Freedom: The Art of Improvisation Festival, The Vortex, DalstonTuesday, 30 June 2015
Freedom Festival, a new event curated by vibes player and electronicist Orphy Robinson and vocalist Cleveland Watkiss, is all about bringing improvised music out of the shadows and into the limelight. All the same, it felt strange going to the Vortex in broad daylight. Gigs here don’t usually get started much before 9 pm (I’d always assumed that improvising musicians only came out at night), and darkness seems to lend itself to the free jazz atmosphere. Read more... |
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... |
Various Artists: Dust on the Nettles – A Journey Through the British Underground Folk Scene 1967–72
Peter Zinovieff: Electronic Calendar – The EMS TapesPages
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