New music
Reissue CDs Weekly: Shirley CollinsSunday, 01 April 2018
“When I was singing at my best, I was the essence of English song. And that was all I ever really wanted.” It’s said without pride and in a matter-of-fact manner. The speaker is Shirley Collins in the documentary The Ballad of Shirley Collins... Read more... |
News Exclusive: R.E.M. Announce Surprise New Studio AlbumSunday, 01 April 2018
R.E.M. surprised the music world this morning by announcing an imminent new studio album, Charged. It will be released on their own record label, Around The Sun, on Friday 6th April via Spotify and iTunes, as well as a vinyl version distributed... Read more... |
CD: Eels - The DeconstructionSaturday, 31 March 2018
The Deconstruction is the 12th album from Californian rockers Eels, written and co-produced as always by perennial frontman Mark Oliver Everett (“E”). With 2014’s The Cautionary Tales of Mark Oliver Everett garnering mixed reviews, The... Read more... |
CD: Owen Broder - HeritageThursday, 29 March 2018
An album that enchants and surprises in equal measure, Heritage sees US sax player and composer Owen Broder explore the full gamut of American roots music – from blues and Appalachian folk to bluegrass and spirituals – through the prism of modern... Read more... |
CD: Napalm Death - Coded Smears and More Uncommon SlursWednesday, 28 March 2018
Sometimes music reaches a point beyond which there's no point in going. Thus it is with Napalm Death who, 30 or so years ago, hit on a formula for furious noise generation, and though they've shifted line-ups many times since then, continue to make... Read more... |
CD: Mary Chapin Carpenter - Sometimes Just the SkyMonday, 26 March 2018
It rather surprising to note that Mary Chapin Carpenter turned 60 earlier this year, which means she’s been making records for half her life, around in ours for 30 years – but it seems like yesterday. She has wisely resisted the album-a-year... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: SpiritSunday, 25 March 2018
The press ad for Spirit’s debut album wasn’t shy. “Five came together for a purpose: to blow the sum of man’s musical experience apart and bring it together in more universal forms. They became a single musical being: Spirit. It happens in the first... Read more... |
CD: Josienne Clarke and Ben Walker - Seedlings AllSunday, 25 March 2018
I first saw Josienne Clarke and Ben Walker at the Green Note in Camden just as they released 2013's Fire and Fortune album. The room was packed and they were brilliant, their own songs mixed with traditional pieces and choice covers. What was... Read more... |
Beth Nielsen Chapman, Cadogan Hall review - Nashville chatsSaturday, 24 March 2018
There were empty seats at Cadogan Hall on Thursday night which was a crying shame, for Beth Nielsen Chapman was in town and she played a wonderful set, full of warmth and charm and powerful singing, her voice always true and expressive. Chapman is... Read more... |
CD: The Longcut - ArrowsSaturday, 24 March 2018
Manchester trio The Longcut’s latest album, their third, comes nearly a decade after their last one, but is rife with ideas and energy as if it's still riding the crest of their initial success. Their M.O. is twofold, either shoegaze-ish, jangle-... Read more... |
CD: Daphne & Celeste - Daphne & Celeste Save the WorldFriday, 23 March 2018
The last we heard of US duo Daphne & Celeste was 18 years ago, when they made their name with three hits, notably the nursery-rhyme playground chant bitch-offs “U.G.L.Y.” and “Ohh Stick You”. They famously performed under a hail of bottles at... Read more... |
CD: Baloji - 137 Avenue KaniamaThursday, 22 March 2018
The death of “world music” is a wonderfully reassuring thing. That is to say, with every year that passes, it becomes less and less possible for media and consumers to bracket together music from outside the US and Europe as a single thing, and... Read more... |
