New Music Reviews
Wardruna, Symphony Hall, Birmingham review - Norwegian neo-pagans stage a triumphant return to the live arenaWednesday, 23 March 2022
It’s been 14 months since the release of Wardruna’s most recent album – Kvitravn. However, repeated waves of Covid have since prevented them from going a-viking and bringing their new show to live audiences around the UK. Read more...
|
The Coral, Barrowland, Glasgow review - pop experimentalists prove overly smoothMonday, 21 March 2022
Even blessed with youthful confidence, when the Coral first stepped out on the Barrowland stage 21 years ago to support the late, great Joe Strummer it’s hard to imagine they could have foreseen that they’d be able to return to the same stage over two decades later. Read more... |
Music Reissues Weekly: Theatre Of Hate - OmensSunday, 20 March 2022
During the first week of February 1982, Theatre Of Hate got as close to the mainstream as they’d ever get. They opened that week’s edition of Top of the Pops with a run through of “Do You Believe in the Westworld?” which was then at 40 in the Top 40 – the highest position they’d reach in the single’s chart. Read more... |
White Lies, SWG3, Glasgow review - indie veterans get their groove onThursday, 17 March 2022
White Lies began their set as many bands would end it, with a familiar hit ringing out and an explosion of confetti over the crowd. Such a tactic made you wonder if the three-piece would peak too soon here, mirroring the band’s commercial fortunes over a now lengthy career. First came a chart-topping album, then a series of mostly well regarded follow-ups that have slipped down the charts each time. Thankfully, and at times, surprisingly, the opposite was true. Read more... |
L'Impératrice, O2 Shepherds Bush review - delayed gratificationWednesday, 16 March 2022
Born in the bedroom of keyboard player Charles de Boisseguin, bathed in a sleek, quintessentially French tradition of electro-pop, L’Impératrice materialised on the darkened stage at the O2 Shepherds Bush, with glowing hearts beating in unison on their chests. Read more... |
Music Reissues Weekly: Broadcast - Maida Vale Sessions, Microtronics, Mother Is The Milky WaySunday, 13 March 2022
In 2000, Broadcast’s first album The Noise Made By People entered the UK’s mainstream Top 100 and claimed the top spot on the dance charts. Three years later, their second album Haha Sound was in the Top Ten of America’s dance/electronic charts. It also went Top Five on the UK’s dance charts. Read more... |
Music Reissues Weekly: Blossom Toes - We Are Ever So CleanSunday, 06 March 2022
In July 1967, a British band called The Ingoes changed their name. Up to this point they’d traded in R&B, blues and soul, and tackled some rock ’n roll covers too. Ingoes referenced the 1958 Chuck Berry song “Ingo”. As they’d just recorded their debut album, a rebranding was needed. It was psychedelic so their management came up with Blossom Toes. Read more... |
theartsdesk on Vinyl 69: Andrew Weatherall, Courtney Barnett, Wings, Los Bitchos, Popol Vuh and moreSaturday, 05 March 2022
As the year starts to rev up, theartsdesk on Vinyl returns with over 7000 words on new music on plastic, a smörgåsbord of the kind you will find nowhere else. This month we also have a competition for the dance music lovers among you, a chance to win a £50 gift card for the new app Recycle Vinyl (online stock of 10,000 records + 25,000 in their warehouse + 500 more added every week). Read more... |
Album: Loop - SonancySaturday, 05 March 2022
Seven and a half years ago, Loop frontman Robert Hampson retired the band's back catalogue in front of a live audience. “You won’t hear these old songs again,” he told the audience at Islington’s Garage. Read more... |
Melt Yourself Down, Patterns, Brighton review - ballistic double sax punk attackFriday, 04 March 2022
“As you’ve noticed, I’m really terrible at talking between the songs,” announces Melt Yourself Down singer Kushal Gaya, two-thirds of the way through the gig. He is. But it really doesn’t matter; the genre-uncategorizable London six-piece smash through their hour-and-15-minute set with a lean, giddy forward propulsion that brooks no pause. Read more... |
Pages
Subscribe to theartsdesk.com
Thank you for continuing to read our work on theartsdesk.com. For unlimited access to every article in its entirety, including our archive of more than 15,000 pieces, we're asking for £5 per month or £40 per year. We feel it's a very good deal, and hope you do too.
To take a subscription now simply click here.
And if you're looking for that extra gift for a friend or family member, why not treat them to a theartsdesk.com gift subscription?
latest in today
Help to give theartsdesk a future!
It all started on 09/09/09. That memorable date, September 9 2009, marked the debut of theartsdesk.com.
It followed some...
Death in Paradise Christmas Special, BBC One review - who ki...
Though Death in Paradise is an Anglo-French production filmed in Guadeloupe, in the French West Indies, the Frenchness seems to have...
The English Concert, Bicket, Wigmore Hall review - a Baroque...
Enough is as good as a feast, they say. But sometimes, especially at Christmas, you crave a properly groaning table. At the Wigmore Hall, The...
The Unthanks in Winter, Cadogan Hall review
A suitable place to find yourself out for the winter solstice, buttoning up for the longest night of the year, was at the Cadogan Hall off Sloane...
Albums of the Year 2024: Everything Everything - Mountainhea...
There are some years where my pick for album of the year is obvious; something stands out so...
Music Reissues Weekly: Hawkwind - X In Search Of Space, Dore...
One of last year’s major joys was the box set version of Hawkwind's Space Ritual, an 11-disc extravaganza which made the great live album...
Twelfth Night, Royal Shakespeare Theatre review - comic ener...
It is not just Twelfth Night, it’s Twelfth Night, or What You Will in The Folio,...
Blu-ray: Hitchcock - The Beginning
There's a tension in Alfred Hitchcock’s early films between misogyny and condemnation of...
Albums of the Year 2024: Samara Joy - Portrait
From placing first in the Sarah Vaughan International Vocal Jazz Competition in 2019 to being a triple Grammy winner, Samara Joy’s rise has been...