new releases on cd & dvd
Sebastian Scotney |

It’s been a long wait. More than five years have passed since Maria Schneider’s most recent "magnum opus", the double album Data Lords came out. That was in July 2020, and the album went on to win not only a sixth and a seventh Grammy for the composer/bandleader, it was also a finalist for the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for Music. And I can’t help noting with some pride that theartsdesk’s review of that album is extensively quoted on the Pulitzer Prizes website (link below).

Katie Colombus |

The first time I heard Wuthering Heights I felt a bit like I’d walked into the wrong room

Joe Muggs
One of the smaller but more passionately enduring subcultures in the world today is that around slow dance music. The core of its audience is a Gen X…
Guy Oddy
Jill Scott is neo-soul royalty, without any doubt whatsoever. In fact, her debut album, Who Is Jill Scott? remains a monumental release over quarter…
graham.rickson
The Straight Story is the slowest of road movies, its elderly protagonist crawling 240 miles from Iowa to Wisconsin at just five miles per hour.…

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Ibi Keita
A boom bap return that feels as personal as it is timeless
Sebastian Scotney
A look back at the long-gone world of the original songs
Thomas H. Green
Ten tracks that revel furiously in distortion and boundary-pushing
Joe Muggs
International stars flip art-pop classics into highlife, dub, Detroit electro and more
Kieron Tyler
Forethought, formal precision and the odd dive into linear rock
Tim Cumming
Powerful debut set of Anglo-Irish tunes and songs
Thomas H. Green
10 tracks of offbeat sounds that bubble with percussive heft
Joe Muggs
A sprawling epic of Arabic gothic ambition
Guy Oddy
French electro-hipster lays down pop hooks, woozy head-spins and mellow folktronica
Miriam Figueras
Latest film noir compendium shows a murky post-war Britain of racketeers, gold-diggers, and displaced soldiers
Ellie Roberts
A slightly clunky but impressive effort
Thomas H. Green
Deep-dipped in 1970s riffery but very much its own thing
Joe Muggs
The One Directioner's fourth album risks drowning out personal charm with 'woah woah's
Liz Thomson
Blue-collar righteousness from the Texas troubadour
graham.rickson
Harrowing, multi-layered period drama, brilliantly cast and directed
Ibi Keita
Fun, gritty and… jazzy?
Sebastian Scotney
A magnificent listening ethos and flow
Thomas H. Green
More melodic than of old, but Eighties Essen metallers still hammer hard
Thomas H. Green
London band offer offer pithy wordage and light musical skronk
Kieron Tyler
When less craft would add impact
Guy Oddy
East Midlands’ punk-funkers have plenty to say as the house burns down
Tim Cumming
Ambient Sufi songs for inner space
Graham Fuller
The Isle of Wight's finest flex their musical muscles
Ellie Roberts
All-consuming pop perfection

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