rave
theartsdesk at the Glastonbury Festival 2011Thursday, 30 June 2011
Thursday 23 JuneHaven’t left yet but someone sends me an email saying, "Not going to Glastonbury this year and feeling rather smug about it." What are they feeling smug about? The fact that they’re going to have a forgettable, normal weekend while... Read more... |
Showtime! - UK dancehall on the rise againFriday, 03 June 2011
This month sees an audacious attempt to showcase British dancehall music, when the Cargo venue in Shoreditch hosts the multi-artist revue Showtime!. The Heatwave collective have brought together vocalists from various UK underground scenes, linked... Read more... |
Singles & Downloads 13Tuesday, 31 May 2011
At one level the day of the single is gone - the 7-inch, the CD, the physical format - and yet, at another it's more relevant than ever. Sure, any track can now be downloaded from an album and hit the charts but singles, downloads - chosen... Read more... |
CD: Moby – DestroyedMonday, 16 May 2011
What is it with synthesisers and sadness? There’s something inherently melancholic about this instrument, a quality that’s been accentuated by its use in the soundtracks to dystopian movies such as Blade Runner. Moby is a man who has exploited... Read more... |
theartsdesk Q&A: Musician MobySaturday, 14 May 2011
Moby (b 1965) has been a presence on the dance scene and in global clubland for two decades. He is best known for the multimillion-selling 1999 album Play which, among other things, combined lush electronic orchestration with old field recordings of... Read more... |
Atari Teenage Riot, O2 Islington AcademyFriday, 13 May 2011
The last time I saw Atari Teenage Riot play was in a gig venue above a pub some time around 1999 and it was one of the most intense gigs I've ever experienced. Then-member Carl Crack – who would take his own life not long after – was clearly a man... Read more... |
CD: Africa Hitech - 93 Million MilesThursday, 12 May 2011
This is, not to put too fine a point on it, a masterpiece – but it could easily have been a bloody mess. The team-up of Mark Pritchard and Steve Spacek is the kind of thing that brings genre purists and scene snobs out in hives: Somerset-born,... Read more... |
Singles & Downloads 12Wednesday, 04 May 2011
Hip-hop soul, chart rave and Balearic beach-pop with a 1990s flavour, synthesiser-led space-rock, a localised Goth-electronic revolution, Kenyan Kamba beats, an eccentric attempt at bringing opera into pop, and vibrations from dubstep's deep roots.... Read more... |
CD: Britney Spears - Femme FataleWednesday, 16 March 2011
Googling for academic articles about Britney Spears is one rabbit hole I've managed to avoid falling down thus far, but one imagines there are reams of the things. From demonically driven Disney child star via pigtailed Lolita and sex-droid air... Read more... |
Opinion: Can we please kill off the guitar as cultural icon now?Tuesday, 15 February 2011
There's been a lot of waffle lately about rock'n'roll being dead. This is down to mainstream radio turning its back on guitar music in favour of a stew of electro-pop and R&B, and the fact that just three spots in the Top 100 UK bestselling... Read more... |
theartsdesk Q&A: Producer/DJ Carl CraigSaturday, 05 February 2011
Carl Craig is extraordinarily easygoing. Most dance producers of his seniority and level of achievement would come with at least a publicist in tow, but when we meet him in his London hotel, his only entourage is his nine-year-old son, playing... Read more... |
Year Out/Year In: Electronic Music Digs In and Spreads OutMonday, 03 January 2011
2010 saw some major shifts stirring up the UK club music ecosystem and unleashing some fascinating hybrids and variants of existing sounds out into the wild. As the hefty bass of dubstep muscled its way firmly into the heart of the mainstream,... Read more... |
