New Music CDs Round-Up 5

Critics' favourites for January - with Vampire Weekend as the Stinker of the Month

by TheartsdeskSaturday, 30 January 2010

Vinicio Capossela: As if Captain Beefheart was raised by Victorian nuns in Naples

January's most riveting CDs found by our critics includes those by Malian master-musicians Ali Farka Touré and Toumani Diabaté, an Italian surrealist, an Algerian rocker, British Big Band jazz, Northern chamber folk and some sparky veterans releasing their best stuff for decades including Sade, Massive Attack and Peter Gabriel. The CD of the month is by Vinicio Capossela. Stinker: the over-rated Vampire Weekend. Reviewers this month are Howard Male, Thomas H Green, Peter Quinn, Robert Sandall, Graeme Thomson, Sue Steward, Peter Culshaw, Russ Coffey and Joe Muggs.

Joe Muggs also recommends:

Explore topics

Share this article

The future of Arts Journalism

You can stop theartsdesk.com closing!

We urgently need financing to survive. Our fundraising drive has thus far raised £33,000 but we need to reach £100,000 or we will be forced to close. Please contribute here: https://gofund.me/c3f6033d

And if you can forward this information to anyone who might assist, we’d be grateful.

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?

more New music

Patrick Duff, The Mount Without, Bristol review - sacred music for the soul A dilapidated Bristol church brought back to vibrant life

Music Reissues Weekly: Sharks - Car Crash Supergroup The early Seventies blues rockers admired by prime movers in British punk

Fat Dog, Chalk, Brighton review - a frenetic techno-rock juggernaut The rising London outfit deliver a sweaty Cossack-rave hoedown

Album: Park Jiha - All Living Things Music and nature in synergy

Album: Rizzle Kicks - Competition Is For Losers Brass, beats, and pure fun: the UK has missed this

Album: Fantastic Twins - Suite of Rooms Dramas within dramas and rooms within rooms in this elegant little puzzle box

Northern Winter Beat 2025, Aalborg review - The Courettes, Dungen and Lubomyr Melnyk confront ideas of how to play Danish city hosts the festival imbued with a cool which doesn’t need expressing

Album: Manic Street Preachers - Critical Thinking Lots of words but not so many catchy songs

Bowling For Soup, Civic Hall, Wolverhampton review - nostalgic, celebratory fun Texan pop-punk legends filled the sold-out Civic Hall with pure joy

Cyndi Lauper, OVO Hydro, Glasgow review - still having chaotic fun after all these years The New York singer's personality was stamped all over her farewell tour.

Music Reissues Weekly: Beggars Arkive - The Lurkers’ 1978 John Peel session Vital components of British punk rock and what followed

Album: Squid - Cowards South-coast five-piece continue their fitful journey into rock experimentalism

Follow @theartsdesk