New music
CD: IDLES - Joy as an Act of ResistanceWednesday, 29 August 2018
IDLES' debut album, Brutalism, exploded onto the UK post-punk scene last year, lauded by the music press (myself included) for its lyrical blend of charm, fury, and politics, and musically, for just being a refreshingly original and catchy punk... Read more... |
CD: Paul Simon - In The Blue LightWednesday, 29 August 2018
Paul Simon is currently traversing the globe on his Farewell Tour. His new album clearly accompanies that. It’s a thoughtful look backwards wherein Simon has plucked numbers from his catalogue he feels deserve another go-round, recording them with... Read more... |
CD: Madeleine Peyroux - AnthemMonday, 27 August 2018
Peyroux made her name by channelling the sultry sensuality and soul of Billie Holiday and breathing new life into well-known songs written by others - notably Elliott Smith and Leonard Cohen.She still brings enchantment to covers, but has... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: JapanSunday, 26 August 2018
In May 1981, Japan played two nights at London’s Hammersmith Odeon. For NME’s Paul Morley, the high-profile shows at the prestige venue were notable as “Japan can fill two nights at the Odeon and they're not yet a hit group.” Reviewing them, he said... Read more... |
CD: Anna Calvi - HunterSunday, 26 August 2018
This album starts on a slightly odd footing, thanks to the opener “As a Man” having phrases that sound by turns a lot like Propellorheads and Shirley Bassey's “History Repeating” and Grace Jones's cover of Flash And The Pan's “Walking in the Rain”.... Read more... |
h 100 Young Influencers of the Year: Lucie Wolfman vlogs at the BarbicanSaturday, 25 August 2018
Watch Lucie Wolfman's vlog review of Carl Craig's Synthesiser Ensemble at the Barbican. Lucie Wolfman studies English at the University of Sussex, and covers arts for the National Student. She is a Barbican Young Reviewer, creating vlogs... Read more... |
CD: Mogwai - KIN: Original Motion Picture SoundtrackSaturday, 25 August 2018
Following on from last year’s blistering blast of conviction, Every Country’s Sun, it’s tempting to view Mogwai’s latest offering – the soundtrack to a new sci-fi action drama from the producers of Stranger Things – as a continuation of this return... Read more... |
CD: Interpol - MarauderThursday, 23 August 2018
Over their past five albums, Interpol have crafted a strong sound that rests on the heavily reverbed, emotive vocals of singer Paul Banks, the subtly discordant guitars, and drums that pound along underneath it all. Although these can still be found... Read more... |
CD: Neil & Liam Finn – LightsleeperWednesday, 22 August 2018
Once pleasingly described on the Flight of the Conchords radio show as "the King of New Zealand", Neil Finn has a new gift for his subjects (and the rest of the world, happily) in the form of this album, which sees him recording with son Liam for... Read more... |
CD: Jackie Oates - The Joy of LivingMonday, 20 August 2018
Birth and death are nowhere more entwined than in folk music, and the seventh album by Radio 2 Young Folk Award-winner Jackie Oates poignantly honours both her father and her daughter, his unexpected death just five days before the birth of Rosie.... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Teenage FanclubSunday, 19 August 2018
The cover images of the four albums Teenage Fanclub issued on Creation Records suggest ambivalence. While Bandwagonesque’s title acknowledges the hopping onto trends endemic in pop, the graphic of a bag with a dollar sign recognises the related... Read more... |
CD: Kate Nash - Yesterday Was ForeverSunday, 19 August 2018
Kate Nash is no quitter. For years her heavy London accent and kitchen-sink lyrics made her an easy target for mockery. Nash always brushed it off. Even, last year, when her record label dropped her, she refused to take things lying down. So she... Read more... |
