New music
CD: Lightning Bolt - Fantasy EmpireSunday, 15 March 2015
Anyone whose attention was caught by Royal Blood’s recent explosion in popularity and who imagines the Brighton duo as rock innovators, with their bass and drum approach, may be surprised to hear that Lightning Bolt have been ploughing that... Read more... |
The Stranglers, O2 Academy, BirminghamSunday, 15 March 2015
Perhaps it’s because today’s economy often seems to reflect the nightmare of the late Seventies, but recent years have seen plenty of the original punks return to public attention with a renewed vigour. Whereas some, like support band The Rezillos,... Read more... |
CD: Boz Scaggs - A Fool To CareSunday, 15 March 2015
There is languor about the swamps of the Southern USA that’s reflected in the drawl of local speech and the slow-paced sensuality of the music. Boz Scaggs, indefatigable lover of American roots music, and one of the most consistently excellent US... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Simple MindsSunday, 15 March 2015
Simple Minds: Sparkle in the RainPlaying increasingly larger venues throughout 1983 had changed Simple Minds. “In places like that, 50,000 people, there’s just no room for subtlety, and there’s no need for it and there’s no want for it.” The... Read more... |
CD: Björk - VulnicuraSaturday, 14 March 2015
“How will I sing us out of this sorrow?" Björk wails over jagged cello arpeggios, six songs into her string quartet-led break-up album Vulnicura. Though heartbreak may be the theme most often stewed and chewed up by singer-songwriters, optimism - a... Read more... |
Paloma Faith, Brighton CentreFriday, 13 March 2015
Paloma Faith has been on the front pages lately. Winning the Brit Award for Best Female Solo Artist 2015, following two previous unsuccessful nominations, has done her profile no harm. A few songs in tonight she squats down behind the grand piano... Read more... |
Spandau Ballet, Brighton CentreThursday, 12 March 2015
Of course they had to end with “Gold”. It’s one of those songs which, once heard, even if you dislike Spandau Ballet, is impossible to remove from the brain, a bona fide Eighties classic. Lead singer Tony Hadley and guitarist Gary Kemp, the man who... Read more... |
CD: The Rezillos - ZeroThursday, 12 March 2015
There’s a particular sound that the best 1970s British punk rock has, scuzzy, scorched riffage emulating Chris Thomas’s multi-layered guitar production for the Sex Pistols. The Rezillos had it and they still have it. This is their first album since... Read more... |
'The Pain Swallowed Her Up' – Rebecca Ferguson Sings Billie HolidayWednesday, 11 March 2015
Platinum-selling singer Rebecca Ferguson has released two acclaimed albums, Heaven (2011) and Freedom (2013), though she broke through (in?) to the heart of the music-listening public on The X Factor (2010), when she came in runner-up behind... Read more... |
2015 Parliamentary Jazz AwardsWednesday, 11 March 2015
Compered by the velvet-toned broadcaster Moira Stuart, the winners of this year's Parliamentary Jazz Awards were announced last night in a packed Terrace Pavillion at the House of Commons.Now in their eleventh year, the Awards are organised by the... Read more... |
CD: Madonna - Rebel HeartWednesday, 11 March 2015
These days, reflections on Madonna’s 30 years at the top of the pop podium may only be framed in terms of the pagan Triple Goddess: maiden, mother and crone – or, at least, that’s what the global reaction to The Fall That Was Heard Around The... Read more... |
CD: Sam Lee & Friends – The Fade in TimeSunday, 08 March 2015
What was that about the difficult second album? If you thought Ground of its own, Sam Lee’s Mercury-nominated album of 2012, broke new and fertile ground for traditional folk music, then you’ll find The Fade of Time even richer, even more musically... Read more... |
