New Music Reviews
Edinburgh Fringe: Flap!, The Famous SpiegeltentTuesday, 14 August 2012
Towards the end of a ridiculously easy and enjoyable hour spent in their company, Flap!’s singer and ukulele player Jess Guille described “Rock in Space” as “jazz-folk-disco” – and, you know, it kind of was. A bawdy, slap-happy five-piece from Melbourne, their root note is pre-war American jazz, but to that foundation they add ska, gypsy music, blues, folk and flickers of more contemporary styles, mixing them all together with deceptive ease. Read more... |
Hal Willner's Freedom Rides, Royal Festival HallMonday, 13 August 2012
This was an odd duck of a concert for the final night of the Olympics. Elsewhere in London were the reformed Spice Girls and Blur and general partying, whereas this was at times a sombre show, curated by Hal Willner as part of Antony’s Meltdown Festival. It was inspired by the Freedom Rides, a turning point in the American Civil Rights movement. Read more... |
Blur, Hyde ParkMonday, 13 August 2012
Even as London partied, the talk was already about legacy. And as Blur took the stage on a Best of British bill that impressively included New Order and The Specials, the open secret that this may have been their last ever gig – “certainly in this country, for a long, long time” – gave a chance to assess the question of what the legacy might be of the band that unquestionably inspired a generation. Read more... |
Edinburgh Fringe: Rosie WilbySunday, 12 August 2012
Rosie Wilby: How (Not) to Make it in Britpop, Bongo Club ***
In the 1990s Rosie Wilby was lurking on the outer edges of Britpop with her band Wilby, whose giddy career highlights included opening for Tony Hadley (he evacuated the entire room for the soundcheck), being clamped outside the venue while supporting Bob Geldof, and getting their own plastic name tag in the racks of Virgin Megastore. Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: The KinksSunday, 12 August 2012
Kieron Tyler Read more... |
Lou Reed, Royal Festival HallSaturday, 11 August 2012
“I would cut my legs and tits off/ When I think of Boris Karloff." Those were Lou Reed’s opening lines at the RFH, taken from Lulu, his recent collaboration with Metallica and his most poorly received record since 1975’s Metal Machine Music. One critic called it a “contender for the worst album ever". Reed’s reply was that he does as he pleases. Last night that meant making it a third of his set . Read more... |
Edinburgh Fringe: Camille O'Sullivan/The Road That Wasn't ThereMonday, 06 August 2012
Camille O'Sullivan: Changeling, Assembly Rooms *****The Assembly Rooms may have reopened for this year's Fringe following a very swanky refurb, but someone obviously forgot to put sufficient thought into the practicalities of getting people in and out during the festival. Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Freedom Sounds, Marilyn Monroe, Modern Music, Samantha FoxSunday, 05 August 2012
Kieron Tyler Read more... |
Diamanda Galas, Royal Festival HallThursday, 02 August 2012
Diamanda Galas is a woman who once wrote a book called Sh*t of God and whose avant-garde screeching on subjects like AIDS and schizophrenia frequently takes gothic into an area where it could scare bats. Her CV includes stints as a research scientist, prostitute and drug addict. Unsurprisingly, she isn’t normally seen in context. But then there aren’t many line-ups quite like Antony Hegerty’s 2012 Meltdown, where for a month dissident singers rub shoulders with twilight artists. Read more... |
theartsdesk at Camp Bestival 2012Wednesday, 01 August 2012
FRIDAY 27 JULYWhatever happened to roughing it? Camp Bestival is, famously, more an upmarket middle England fete than a festival in the Hawkwind-play-Stonehenge sense but, still, why would anyone queue two and a half hours for the “Posh Wash” showers? Barring a below-waist hygiene disaster, surely Wet Wipes and water are sufficient for a weekend? Read more... |
The Kinks: The Kinks at the BBC
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