New music
Bridgewater Hall 21st Birthday review - from voice and guitar to four pianosMonday, 11 September 2017
Every 21st birthday deserves a party, and the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester celebrated the anniversary of its opening with a weekend of fun and "access" events, ending with a recital by four pianists on its four Steinway pianos – playing them all... Read more... |
CD: Ringo Starr - Give More LoveMonday, 11 September 2017
The one-time drummer of the Beatles is all about peace and love. Even when he takes to YouTube to tell his fans to stop writing to him, he does so with peace and love. All you need, it would appear, is love. And peace. But mainly love – and more of... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: FJ McMahonSunday, 10 September 2017
Once heard, 1969’s Spirit of the Golden Juice is not forgotten. F. J. McMahon’s sole album is imbued with the heavy air of desolation. Its nine country tinged songs are also melodic and as good as those by Tim Hardin and Fred Neil, with whom McMahon... Read more... |
CD: Cat Stevens/Yusuf - The Laughing AppleSunday, 10 September 2017
When, in 2006, Yusuf announced his return to music, speculation was rife as to how he might now sound. At first, the music felt gentle and touchy-feely. Then came 2014's Tell 'Em I'm Gone – a strutting, blues record full of attitude. More... Read more... |
The Psychedelic Furs, Concorde 2, Brighton review - classy new wave pop ruined by bad soundSaturday, 09 September 2017
This is, in many ways, an underwhelming evening, but the fault does not primarily lie with The Psychedelic Furs. Things start well with support act Lene Lovich who gives a lively performance, in a black’n’red ensemble with striped sleeves and a... Read more... |
CD: Gary Numan - Savage (Songs From a Broken World)Saturday, 09 September 2017
Gary Numan famously has a devoted fanbase. For this album he had a live video feed that allowed them, for a small fee, to watch him in the studio, working on it from conception to completion. Unlike any of his peers from the post-punk years, he... Read more... |
CD: Ariel Pink - Dedicated To Bobby JamesonThursday, 07 September 2017
Dedicated To Bobby Jameson is Ariel Pink’s 11th album in almost 20 years and his first since 2014’s prog-pop pom pom. However, anyone expecting a mid-career lurch into the mainstream from LA’s musical magpie is going to be sorely disappointed.... Read more... |
Walter Becker, 1950-2017 - 'we play rock and roll, but we swing when we play'Wednesday, 06 September 2017
The death of Walter Becker last weekend brings to an end one of the great double acts of rock history. Becker’s partnership with Donald Fagen, with whom he created Steely Dan, has left a legacy of music which seems destined to be at least as... Read more... |
CD: Nick Mulvey - Wake Up NowWednesday, 06 September 2017
Nick Mulvey’s 2014 debut album First Mind may be one of the century’s best so far. Album number two, then, has the critical bar set high. On that opening record, the ex-Portico Quartet singer-songwriter majored in complex-yet-simple songs that wove... Read more... |
CD: Deerhoof - Mountain MovesMonday, 04 September 2017
With the wind behind them, the San Francisco-founded band Deerhoof are one of the greatest live experiences you can have. Two decades since their first album, they still have a relentlessly experimental hunger for sonic surprise, mixing... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Ólafur ArnaldsSunday, 03 September 2017
We’ve been here before. Not to exactly the same territory, but to a neighbouring space in the same time frame. Last year, theartsdesk looked at a reissue of 2007’s Room to Expand, the first widely available album by the minimalist pianist Hauschka.... Read more... |
CD: Tom Russell - Folk HotelSunday, 03 September 2017
Close your eyes and be transported. Not just to Greenwich Village, New York and America’s west, but to Copenhagen, Belfast and Swansea, from whence Dylan Thomas – dedicatee of “The Sparrow of Swansea” – set out on his adventures. The album was... Read more... |
