New Music Reviews
The Punk SingerFriday, 23 May 2014
“Somebody had to be Bikini Kill, otherwise we would have culturally starved to death.” The quote typifies the deferential The Punk Singer, a bio-doc on the driven Kathleen Hanna, the feminist front-person of the American bands Bikini Kill, Le Tigre and, most recently, The Julie Ruin. Read more... |
Peaches Christ Superstar, Theatre Royal, BrightonWednesday, 21 May 2014
It is only when Peaches turns into King Herod that she really becomes the Peaches the audience recognises. A cheer goes up as she jeers, “Prove to me that you’re no fool/Walk across my swimming pool.” She’s mocking, leering, puffed up in a gold coat, her hair shaved at the sides and swept into a giant bouffant on top. Read more... |
Chick Corea, BarbicanTuesday, 20 May 2014
Jazz pianist Chick Corea put a bomb under his reverential “rare solo concert” billing at the Barbican last night, with an outrageously showmanlike variety performance that seemed to take in everyone from Keith Jarrett to Gareth Malone. Corea’s two ECM albums, Piano Improvisations (1971 and 1972), blazed a trail for similar work, music that was cerebral, even austere, from Paul Bley and the arguably even more distinguished Jarrett. Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Philadelphia International RecordsSunday, 18 May 2014
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Katy Perry, LG Arena, BirminghamWednesday, 14 May 2014
As her rendition of “Double Rainbow”, from recent album Prism, draws to end, Katy Perry announces into her microphone that “It was the music that brought you here! You like the costumes and lights but the music brought you here!” The funny thing is that actually the music is the least of things in the Katy Perry live spectacular. Read more... |
Drive-By Truckers, Shepherd's Bush EmpireWednesday, 14 May 2014
“We're gonna hit the road harder than we've hit it in a long time… There's no bullshit going on.” So said Drive-By Truckers’ co-frontman Patterson Hood last February. From the grin he wore while he took to the stage last night, it was evident this had been no empty promise. Despite a sound quality that was decidedly meh throughout, the band succeeded in filling the Shepherd’s Bush Empire with the atmosphere of an Alabama roadhouse. Read more... |
Chaka Khan, Ronnie Scott'sTuesday, 13 May 2014
Did you know that Chaka Khan has her own brand of gourmet chocolate she calls Chakalate? Or that she recently extended a helping hand to the media's favourite punchball, Lindsay Lohan, after they spent some time in the same rehab centre (Chaka for prescribed meds following a foot operation)? Read more... |
Kelis, Brighton DomeMonday, 12 May 2014
When Kelis first walks onstage in a shimmering blue ball dress, a gigantic mane of black hair falling down her back, gay men all about me in the circle seats spring to life, some veering into “Go girl!” territory, others simply shrieking, and one in the row behind calmly saying to a neighbour, “She is just magnificent.” I'd not realised she was quite such a gay icon but this concert offered definitive proof. Read more... |
Zara McFarlane, The Old Market, BrightonMonday, 12 May 2014
Zara McFarlane’s exquisite synthesis of jazz and nu-soul, an intoxicating proposition on CD, breathes more freely live, we discovered, in last night’s Brighton Festival performance. A recent appearance on Later... with Jools Holland was mentioned discreetly, and has clearly buoyed her confidence, as she gave an utterly engrossing demonstration of why Holland, and before him, Brownswood Recordings’ Gilles Peterson are supporting her. Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Josef KSunday, 11 May 2014
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Various Artists: Philadelphia International Records – The Collection
Josef K: The Only Fun in TownPages
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