New music
CD: Eric Clapton - I Still DoSunday, 15 May 2016
Sometimes it seems that Eric Clapton’s versatility and musical range still remain underappreciated. How during the Slowhand era, for instance, he mixed elements of country with a fine ear for West Coast sensibilities. Then there was Unplugged, ... Read more... |
10 Questions for Musician Tinchy StryderSaturday, 14 May 2016
Tinchy Stryder (b. 1986) has had a successful pop career since 2009, including two chart-topping singles (“Number 1” and “Never Leave You”). Born Kwasi Danquah in Ghana, his family moved to London’s East End when he was nine and, in the early years... Read more... |
CD: Richard Ashcroft – These PeopleSaturday, 14 May 2016
The solo album can present a tricky prospect for many mature artists as they drift in and out of the public consciousness. Do they make a stab at a variety of styles to display their artistic depth; do they get on the latest bandwagon to show they’... Read more... |
CD: Kygo - Cloud NineThursday, 12 May 2016
The Norwegian DJ-producer Kyrre Gørvell-Dahll – AKA Kygo – rose to prominence a couple of years ago on the back of “tropical house”, a club sub-genre that, at its best, meant hazy, Balearic and/or indie-dance grooves, but on Kygo’s watch became... Read more... |
Brighton Festival: Laurie Anderson's Concert for Dogs, Open Air TheatreWednesday, 11 May 2016
"Wouldn't it be great if you were playing a concert and you looked out and everyone is a dog?" Laurie Anderson mused, almost a decade ago, waiting backstage with cellist Yo-Yo Ma. Anderson has realised her outlandish dream, creating a most unusual... Read more... |
2016 Parliamentary Jazz AwardsWednesday, 11 May 2016
Compered by Jazzwise magazine’s gregarious editor-in-chief, Jon Newey, the winners of this year's Parliamentary Jazz Awards were announced last night in the Terrace Pavilion at the House of Commons.Now in their twelfth year, the Awards, organised by... Read more... |
CD: Karl Blau - Introducing Karl BlauWednesday, 11 May 2016
The first reaction to Introducing Karl Blau is to wonder whether it’s an overlooked album from the late ‘60s or early ‘70s. It opens with a creamy smooth voice that’s close to cracking with emotion. The song being sung is a version of country singer... Read more... |
Album Special: Radiohead - A Moon Shaped PoolTuesday, 10 May 2016
In the whole of Britain there are only seven music journalists who are officially designated, card-carrying “Non-Fans of Radiohead”. In 2007 three of them were banished by the National Council of Music Writers to a small Crofting community in... Read more... |
Lush, The RoundhouseMonday, 09 May 2016
It's peculiar seeing any band come back together after a serious length of time, but when that band were part of your adolescence the cognitive dissonance is exponentially increased. Along with the likes of Ride and Slowdive, Lush were a band linked... Read more... |
CD: James Blake - The Colour in Anything / Skepta - KonnichiwaMonday, 09 May 2016
Skepta (aka Joseph Adenuga Jr) and James Blake provide a fascinating parallel as voices of the UK's “generation bass”. Both are from north London, and both have come from a grounding in the subsonic undercurrents of London's early 21st century ... Read more... |
Brighton Festival: Tindersticks, Brighton DomeSunday, 08 May 2016
Tindersticks certainly know how to instill a mood. Outside the Dome Concert Hall the start of the Brighton Festival is in full swing, with a proliferation of tents, parades and shiny happy tourists drinking in the sun. Inside, Stuart Staples is... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: The AssociatesSunday, 08 May 2016
Any appreciation of Scotland’s The Associates is coloured by the knowledge that Billy MacKenzie took his own life at age 39 in January 1997. More than his band’s voice, he personified their unique approach to music. Between 1979 and 1982, with... Read more... |
