New music
theartsdesk on Vinyl 36: Gary Numan, Wes Montgomery, Trevor Jackson, Propaganda and moreMonday, 29 January 2018
Vinyl matters. It matters to theartsdesk on Vinyl, clearly, as the name may hint. And it matters to many of you. But why? Why does it matter? We all have our own reasons for playing records, some practical, some sound-related, some personal, some... Read more... |
CD: Saxon - ThunderboltMonday, 29 January 2018
One complaint often made about contemporary music is it's either too worthy or too bland. Not Saxon. The vintage rockers have been around for 40 years and their latest effort is as red-blooded and full-fat as ever. Vocals screech and guitars crunch... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: How is the Air up There?Sunday, 28 January 2018
“I’ve been labelled as an angry young man / Because I don’t fit into the master plan / Under society’s microscope / I look funny but it’s no joke.I’m a social end product so don’t blame me / I’m a social end product of society / It’s not my fault... Read more... |
CD: Simple Minds – Walk Between WorldsSaturday, 27 January 2018
With the possible exception of Talking Heads, I can’t think of another band who had such an exceptional run of early albums as Simple Minds. After a promising but uneven debut, they released Real to Real Cacophony in 1979 and barely put a foot wrong... Read more... |
CD: Above & Beyond - Common GroundThursday, 25 January 2018
There's something oddly innocent, gauche even, about the US-based Anglo-Finnish trance trio Above & Beyond. They are almost implausibly huge – their weekly radio show, called "Group Therapy" after their 2011 second album, has some 25 million... Read more... |
theartsdesk Q&A: Musician Mark E SmithWednesday, 24 January 2018
Since releasing their first record, Bingo Masters Breakout, Mark E Smith (b 1957) has led The Fall through some of rock music’s most extreme and enthralling terrain, cutting a lyrical and musical swathe that few other artists can match. An outsider... Read more... |
CD: Django Django - Marble SkiesWednesday, 24 January 2018
On paper Django Django seem a perfect band. The four-piece, half Scottish, quarter English, quarter Northern Irish, boast an indie songwriting sensibility, but filtered through a natural pop suss, an engaging sense of psychedelia, a desire to rave... Read more... |
CD: Craig David - The Time is NowMonday, 22 January 2018
The Time is Now sees Craig David's career well into its Indian summer. The story of how he got here is well known: back in the early noughties a series of hits like "7 Days" made him the toast of the UK Garage scene. Then comedian Leigh "Bo'... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Television PersonalitiesSunday, 21 January 2018
How much of someone else’s despair is it possible to take? What are the limits on putting a sense of desolation or isolation into a song? Can such naked expression be mediated by a glossy production or crowded instrumental arrangements which... Read more... |
CD: Hollie Cook - Vessel of LoveSunday, 21 January 2018
If sunny tunes that put a spring in your step and a positive spin on the day are what you are looking for to blast away the Arctic-powered January Blues, then Hollie Cook has them in spades. Vessel of Love is the daughter of Sex Pistol Paul Cook and... Read more... |
CD: The Fiction Aisle - Jupiter, FloridaFriday, 19 January 2018
The third album from Thomas White under his Fiction Aisle moniker is a match for its delicious, under-heard predecessors. White remains best known for his output with The Electric Soft Parade and Brakes but the prolific Fiction Aisle (three albums... Read more... |
CD: Tune-Yards - I Can Feel You Creep Into My Private LifeThursday, 18 January 2018
Growing up with the music of David Bowie is probably not the best grounding for being a music critic because it raises expectations unreasonably high for every other adventurous musician one happens upon. When I first heard the intense, bordering-on... Read more... |
