New music
Albums of the Year 2019: Sault - 7Friday, 20 December 2019
Music has never felt more important. While politicians debated our future, badly and in heated, farce-to-farce debates, the electorate went to war with each other – on social media mainly. The atmosphere is toxic and we’re surrounded by the bodies... Read more... |
Albums of the Year 2019: Terror Danjah - InvasionThursday, 19 December 2019
This is a bittersweet recommendation to make. On the one hand, it is simply one of the mightiest electronic albums of the year, an exemplar of how grime continues to be a vital part of the British sound palette long after it was pushed aside as the... Read more... |
Steeleye Span, Barbican review - party like it's 1969Wednesday, 18 December 2019
The Barbican, a week before Christmas, and it’s British folk-rock legends Steeleye Span’s last gig of the year, a year in which its vigorous seven-strong line-up – featuring a new recruit in the shape of former Bellowheader Benji Kirkpatrick –... Read more... |
Albums of the Year 2019: The Chemical Brothers - No GeographyWednesday, 18 December 2019
It was hard avoid bleak in 2019. Then the election hit and everything went off a cliff. Watching the world turn to a shit-bowl of ignorance and greed, the raging nihilism of the year’s key film, Joker, suddenly seemed appealing. The 2020s will be... Read more... |
Robbie Williams, Wembley Arena review - 12,000 people having a bawlTuesday, 17 December 2019
"The nice bloke-ness of Robbie shines through all he does,” David Baddiel commented in a tweet thanking the singer for dedicating his Wembley performance of “I Love My Life” to him. There is no denying it. Williams has that side to him which... Read more... |
Sinéad O'Connor, Shepherd's Bush Empire review - classics, with a hint of the newTuesday, 17 December 2019
The queues for Sinéad O’Connor’s first London show in four years curled around the outside of the Shepherd’s Bush Empire. Inside and throughout her performance, voices in the crowd shouted their love for a singer whose voice is astounding, at a... Read more... |
theartsdesk on Vinyl Christmas Special 2019Tuesday, 17 December 2019
Season’s greetings, vinyl junkies. It’s unfortunate things grew so stinky just as we headed towards the one time when Britain downs tools and disappears to the enjoy itself for a week or two. But let’s try for good will towards all. To help along... Read more... |
CD: Harry Styles - Fine LineTuesday, 17 December 2019
Not all One Direction solo albums are created equally, and after Liam Payne's public ostracization for LP1, all eyes are on Harry Styles. His self-titled debut earned some baffling comparisons to David Bowie, so what to expect next?Fine Line is akin... Read more... |
Darius Brubeck, Jazz Café review – a touching celebration of 'Time Out' at 60Monday, 16 December 2019
It is a very rare thing, as Darius Brubeck reflected, to “inherit a hit.” This gig by the pianist and his quartet marked the exact day of the 60th anniversary of the launch of Time Out by his father Dave Brubeck. Time Out was the first million-... Read more... |
theartsdesk on Vinyl 55: Peaky Blinders, Graham Coxon, 2 Tone, Redrago, Gary Numan, The Clash and moreMonday, 16 December 2019
Britain is unpleasant to look at right now, ugly and foolish, so why not lock down with some tuneage. Below is the best plastic that’s hit theartsdesk on Vinyl over the last month, all genres, all the time. Watch out for the forthcoming Christmas... Read more... |
Outer Limits, Studio 9294 review - quickfire sets and snowman dancingMonday, 16 December 2019
Whatever your office Christmas party was like, I can (almost) guarantee that it wasn’t as much fun as this Fire Records event. Running from five to midnight in Studio 9294, with lashing rain cutting across the River Lea just behind the venue, it was... Read more... |
Albums of the Year 2019: Angie McMahon - SaltMonday, 16 December 2019
Appearing on NPR Music’s legendary Tiny Desk Concert series back in autumn, Taylor Swift talked about how, in interviews over the years, she’d been asked a thousand variations on “what would you write about if you ever get happy?” “Would I not be... Read more... |
