New music
Loreena McKennitt, Royal Albert Hall review - making Celtic connectionsFriday, 15 March 2019
Having long been immersed in folk and world music and acoustically-oriented singer-songwriters, it’s a surprise to be given a CD of music by someone who’s never crossed your radar, especially when the artist concerned turns out to have sold some 14... Read more... |
CD: Stephen Malkmus - Groove DeniedFriday, 15 March 2019
Groove Denied’s keeper is “Ocean of Revenge”, a drifting Syd Barrett-tinged contemplation with a structural circularity and edge setting it apart from the rest of what’s credited as the first solo album from Stephen Malkmus since 2001’s eponymous... Read more... |
CD: UB40 - For the ManyThursday, 14 March 2019
Birmingham’s reggae veterans UB40 are a band who have often worn their politics on their sleeves, and the title of their new album is taken from Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party mantra. The parallels between the two have already been noted, of course.... Read more... |
CD: Cinematic Orchestra - To BelieveWednesday, 13 March 2019
A mere 12 years since their previous disc Ma Fleur came out, the Cinematic Orchestra have finally got around to releasing their fourth studio album. So naturally, there are expectations to meet and To Believe responds by demonstrating a re-energised... Read more... |
CD: Foals - Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost Part 1Monday, 11 March 2019
Foals have delivered a consistently top-notch series of albums (this is their fifth since Antidotes in 2008): guitar-led, high-energy, musically literate without being effete or pompous. Power pop elevated beyond the run-of-the-mill by a great deal... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: The ResidentsSunday, 10 March 2019
Writing in 1980, the musician and musical theorist Chris Cutler said that “without the support and patronage of the culture-establishment, The Residents were able to exist, continue to exist, grow, find their public, hold that public – and expand it... Read more... |
CD: Deafkids - MetaprogramaçãoSunday, 10 March 2019
Metaprogramação is the third album from Deafkids, the chaotic mass of hair and flailing limbs that put on a fine display at last summer’s Supersonic Festival, during a recent rare visit to the UK. As with the band’s previous fare, it’s a whoozy... Read more... |
I'm Every Woman, JW3, London - a musical celebration of International Women's DaySaturday, 09 March 2019
In one of the award-winning club’s forays from its Camden Town home, Green Note welcomed International Women’s Day with a special one-off concert exploring and celebrating the many ages and stages of being a woman. Three generations... Read more... |
theartsdesk in Zanzibar - behind the veilSaturday, 09 March 2019
Damn exotica. It has a habit of marshalling your gaze away from shabby Soviet-style apartment blocks and training it on white-washed palaces with ornate doors and latticed balconies; away from traffic jams of fume-spouting 4x4s and on to the old... Read more... |
CD: Karen O and Danger Mouse - Lux PrimaSaturday, 09 March 2019
As collaborations go, it’s a doozy. Karen O’s signature vocals over Danger Mouse’s production – it was always going to pique interest. And Lux Prima does much to meet expectations, gorgeous cinematic soundscapes that flit between haunting and... Read more... |
Jason Mraz, Royal Albert Hall review - a rare UK visit from the Grammy-winning organic farmerFriday, 08 March 2019
Jason Mraz… How can someone so big slip under so many radars. Mine, the muso with whom I trek to all sorts of gigs, and that of a wide range of friends, most of whom are pretty au courant with the scene.Then you hear it. Of course, the big hit –... Read more... |
CD: Sigrid - Sucker PunchThursday, 07 March 2019
You’d be forgiven for thinking, in the age of streaming, that the promotional single was a dying art. And yet there’s already something familiar about Sigrid’s long-awaited debut album. It’s almost two years since “Don’t Kill My Vibe” was the song... Read more... |
