New music
Reissue CDs Weekly: Kankyō OngakuSunday, 10 February 2019![]() Of the 20-plus names gathered on the superbly packaged Kankyō Ongaku, it’s likely that only Yellow Magic Orchestra and their members Haruomi Hosono and Ryuichi Sakamoto are familiar to most non-Japanese listeners. Initially, it seems a big ask to... Read more... |
CD: LCD Soundsystem – Electric Lady SessionsSaturday, 09 February 2019![]() Jimmy Hendix’s Greenwich Village studios are the venue for LCD Soundsystem’s third live album, which features the most recent touring line-up playing a set heavy with songs from 2017’s American Dream album along with a smattering of covers. ... Read more... |
theartsdesk Q&A: Musician, writer and performance artist Cosey Fanni TuttiFriday, 08 February 2019![]() Cosey Fanni Tutti was born Christine Newby in Hull in 1951. She is a musician, performance artist and writer and is best known for her time with COUM Transmissions, Throbbing Gristle and Chris and Cosey. Her memoir Art Sex Music came out in 2017 and... Read more... |
CD: Kel Assouf - Black TenereFriday, 08 February 2019![]() Tinariwen and others have made taken the haunting sonorities and lolloping camel rhythms of the Sahara far and wide. Kel Assouf are the next wave, more deeply soaked in the rock energy of bands like Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath or Queens of the Stone... Read more... |
The Delines, Jazz Cafe review - small-town sadness with a whisky in handThursday, 07 February 2019![]() “You stop playing for three years and you double your crowd,” jokes Amy Boone at a sold-out gig at the Jazz Café in Camden. The reason for the Delines’ hiatus isn’t much of a joke: Boone was hit by an out-of-control car when walking in a parking lot... Read more... |
CD: Leyla McCalla - The Capitalist BluesThursday, 07 February 2019![]() Who doesn’t like the rolling swagger of a bunch of seasoned Louisiana musicians? And that’s what New Yorker McCalla has assembled here to create a wider sound pallet for her third album. But we don’t just get a dozen generic New Orleans jazz tunes... Read more... |
theartsdesk Q&A: Robert MacFarlane's Spell SongsWednesday, 06 February 2019![]() With books including Mountains of the Mind, The Wild Places, The Old Ways and Landmarks, Robert MacFarlane has established himself as one of the leading writers on landscape in the English language, continuing a literary tradition that contains... Read more... |
CD: Mercury Rev - Bobbie Gentry's The Delta Sweete RevisitedWednesday, 06 February 2019![]() The Delta Sweete was Bobbie Gentry's second album. Issued in February 1968 six months after her single “Ode to Billie Joe” topped the US charts, it did not make the US Top 100. Nonetheless, it is classic southern-gothic country and a peerless... Read more... |
CD: Better Oblivion Community Center - Better Oblivion Community CenterMonday, 04 February 2019![]() In recent weeks, you may have noticed signs for the Better Oblivion Community Center, from billboards to park benches, all displaying a mysterious helpline telephone number. This was not some new community support project, but a surprise... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Rainbow FfollySunday, 03 February 2019![]() Learning that your band’s demos are being issued as an album must be infuriating. Add to that the discovery that the deal to release the LP was made without your knowledge. Then, there was the further surprise that the record was to be released by... Read more... |
CD: Cass McCombs - Tip of the SphereSunday, 03 February 2019![]() Tip of the Sphere is a freewheeling blend of vintage sounds that evokes San Francisco in the early Seventies. To fans this will come as little surprise. McCombs has been moving in this direction for a while, and his new album draws heavily on... Read more... |
CD: Ian Brown - RipplesSaturday, 02 February 2019![]() Ripples may be Ian Brown’s first album in nine years but it gives absolutely no impression of a man grasping at straws to resurrect his career after the non-event that was the Stone Roses’ 2011 reunion. Baggy grooves, dancehall reggae vibes and... Read more... |
