New music
Albums of the Year 2024: Kenny Barron - Beyond This PlaceMonday, 16 December 2024
Kenny Barron’s Beyond This Place is glorious. Whereas I’ve found some of the more talked-about albums of 2024 either been uneven or unfocused – as if attracting debate is more important than just setting out to make a great album –... Read more... |
The Unthanks in Winter, Cadogan Hall reviewMonday, 23 December 2024
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 Square, a former place of worship marking its 20th year as a concert hall. The Unthanks, too, are... Read more... |
Albums of the Year 2024: Everything Everything - MountainheadMonday, 23 December 2024
There are some years where my pick for album of the year is obvious; something stands out so clearly amongst the crowd, something that takes a hold and doesn’t relent for a sustained length throughout the year. For me, 2024 was not one of those... Read more... |
Music Reissues Weekly: Hawkwind - X In Search Of Space, Doremi Fasol LatidoSunday, 22 December 2024
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, originally issued in May 1973, even more great. Now the two studio albums which preceded it – X In Search Of... Read more... |
Albums of the Year 2024: Samara Joy - PortraitSaturday, 21 December 2024
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 nothing short of meteoric. Joy’s third album, Portrait – an astonishingly good collection which saw the... Read more... |
Albums of the Year 2024: Mercury Rev - Born HorsesFriday, 20 December 2024
Born Horses remains as inscrutable as it was when it was issued in the summer. While it is about the search for enlightenment through journeying into inner space, much of what’s described – the album’s words are largely spoken – is allegorical,... Read more... |
Albums of the Year 2024: Ca7riel & Paco Amoroso - Baño MaríaThursday, 19 December 2024
My Spotify Wrapped this year is somewhat at odds with my Album of 2024. My ‘Van Life Folie Americana’ phase of Spring (presumably due to the actual VW trip to the Costa Brava at Easter) followed by my ‘Cinnamon Softcore Art Deco’ moment in early... Read more... |
Albums of the Year 2024: Kneecap - Fine ArtWednesday, 18 December 2024
In many ways, 2024 has been a stellar year for New Music. There have certainly been plenty of albums released that could easily have gained “year’s best” status in recent times and would have buried those that actually did receive those plaudits.... Read more... |
Music Reissues Weekly: Vanilla Fudge - Where Is My Mind The ATCO Recordings 1967-1969Sunday, 15 December 2024
Vanilla Fudge could provoke a strong reaction. Writing about them in 1982, Tom Hibbert – then best-known for his contributions to Smash Hits – said of their February 1968 second album, The Beat Goes On, that “on one side of the bombastic concept LP... Read more... |
Albums of the Year 2024: Meemo Comma - Decimation of ISaturday, 14 December 2024
I don’t really want to talk about this year. Genuinely.It’s been so horrific on the macro scale with deranged Fascism and the effects of rampant and undeniable climate change looming everywhere you look – and on the personal level I’ve been been... Read more... |
Albums of the Year 2024: Amelia Coburn - Between the Moon and the MilkmanFriday, 13 December 2024
I’ve known for some time that Ariel Sharratt & Matthias Kom’s Never Work is my Album of the Year. This lividly witty, no-filler take-down of workplace servitude arrived on vinyl in May. The creation of two Canadian indie-folkies (from The... Read more... |
Jesus & Mary Chain, O2 Institute, Birmingham - Reid Brothers refuse to join the heritage industryThursday, 12 December 2024
The Jesus and Mary Chain may have been around for some 40 years (albeit on and off), but the Reid brothers clearly have no intention of setting up camp in the heritage music industry just yet. This was emphatically stressed this week, as they hit... Read more... |
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