New music
Jazz FM Awards 2019 - young guard triumphsThursday, 02 May 2019
Hosted by Jazz FM presenters Chris Philips and Jez Nelson, and taking place in the historic surroundings of Shoreditch Town Hall, this sixth edition of the Jazz FM Awards celebrated the dynamism, passion and vitality of the UK’s young jazz scene,... Read more... |
CD: Leo Sayer - SelfieThursday, 02 May 2019
For Brits below a certain age Leo Sayer is the curly haired middle-aged chap who swearily walked out of the Celebrity Big Brother house in 2007 and disappeared. However, for those around in the 1970s his diminutive dancing form, ever-ready grin and... Read more... |
CD: Vampire Weekend - Father of the BrideWednesday, 01 May 2019
Three albums in, and Vampire Weekend were due a shake-up. Enter Father of the Bride, by far their most ambitious record to date. It’s an 18-track behemoth featuring 14 musicians and six different producers, spanning from folk to jazz. It may be a... Read more... |
10 Questions for Musician Soumik DattaTuesday, 30 April 2019
“I think we need to get rid of labels, certainly World Music,” insists Soumik Datta, who is both composer and musician, and has lived in the UK since the age of 11. “It is possible to be a musician in the Indian tradition, as well as an electronic... Read more... |
Test Dept, Studio 9294 review - still furious after all these yearsMonday, 29 April 2019
Back in the early Eighties, Test Dept were the most radical musical force in London. Their live sound, never truly captured in its intensity on a series of early cassette recordings, built out of tape cut-ups and pulverising rhythms on salvaged... Read more... |
CD: Editors – The Blanck Mass SessionsMonday, 29 April 2019
Editors’ last album, the electronic-infused Violence, was hailed as a big departure for the indie rock band on its release a little over a year ago. It wasn’t really, it was simply the latest stage of a transformation that can be traced back to... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: CrassSunday, 28 April 2019
Abbey Road Studios and the anarcho-punk legends Crass seem an unlikely pairing. The new, vinyl-only reissues of The Feeding of the Five Thousand (The Second Sitting), Stations of the Crass and Best Before 1984 each bear a sticker saying “... Read more... |
CD: Amon Amarth - BerserkerSunday, 28 April 2019
Many groups have based their career focusing almost completely on one thing and evermore honing it. Bands ranging from The Ramones to the Cocteau Twins to the Black Keys to even the Foo Fighters could arguably be said to follow this remit. Swedish... Read more... |
Hall & Oates, Wembley SSE Arena review - bestselling duo still have the powerSaturday, 27 April 2019
Never quite the household names in Britain that they were in their native USA, Daryl Hall and John Oates can nonetheless claim to be the best-selling duo in the history of popular music. With 40 million records sold, six US chart-topping singles and... Read more... |
Nouvelle Vague, Islington Assembly Hall review - the dreamy bossa nova collective returnThursday, 25 April 2019
When you’re off to Islington’s beautiful Assembly Hall for an evening of slinky French bossa nova, it’s something of a surprise to find the Gallic groovers preceded by a droll Brummie singer who brings to mind a cross between Billy Bragg and Richard... Read more... |
Rodrigo y Gabriela, Roundhouse - sound and (new) noiseThursday, 25 April 2019
It was in the early 2000s in a tiny, gritty bar that I first saw Rodrigo y Gabriela live. Camden was less pretty then – a look was close to a glare and there were more spikes and kohl – the nineties were that much closer. I was right at... Read more... |
CD: P!nk - Hurts 2B HumanThursday, 25 April 2019
Look behind the lyrics of some of P!nk’s biggest hits, and you’ll see that those powerhouse vocals and big pop-rock choruses have always been used to distract from a certain vulnerability. But even by that standard, eighth album Hurts 2B Human might... Read more... |
