New music
CD: Sam Smith - The Thrill of It AllSaturday, 04 November 2017
In a sense, the air of tedium that surrounds Sam Smith is a wonderful thing. This is a person who can talk about having fluid gender identity and make it sound as if he's simply unsure whether he prefers boiled or mashed potatoes: that is, he's... Read more... |
CD: The Burning Hell - Revival BeachThursday, 02 November 2017
“The Babysitter” tells the story of a Scottish spy embedded with the Nazis during World War Two who has come home. His sister tells him that Unity Mitford is convalescing at a nearby cottage. Visiting, he finds that it’s a maternity home. The... Read more... |
CD Special: Bob Dylan's Trouble No More review - he’d never sound betterWednesday, 01 November 2017
After more than 35 years of subterranean bootleg life, Bob Dylan’s incendiary gospel shows and sessions from 1979 to 1981 are seeing the light of day as volume 13 of the Official Bootleg Series. Trouble No More comes as a regular two-CD and deluxe... Read more... |
CD: TootArd - Laisser PasserWednesday, 01 November 2017
It’s impossible to discuss TootArd without digging into the history of their region. They’re a funky desert blues outfit but they don’t derive from Saharan Africa; they were born and raised in the village of Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights. This... Read more... |
Steely Dan / The Doobie Brothers, Bluesfest 2017 review - brilliant Dan, delicious DoobiesMonday, 30 October 2017
Following the recent death of the band's co-founder Walter Becker, it seemed faintly remarkable that Steely Dan went ahead with this O2 show at all – it was the closing night event of Bluesfest 2017 – but Becker’s absence wasn’t allowed to detract... Read more... |
CD: Mélanie De Biasio - LilliesMonday, 30 October 2017
Mélanie De Biasio is a Belgian jazz singer, an album-charting artist in her home country, and rising star elsewhere. She is not a woman who takes the straightforward path. No album of Nat King Cole covers for her. No Jamie Cullum guest appearances... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Paul Major’s Feel the MusicSunday, 29 October 2017
Dave Porter has a question. He wants to know where clouds go. “After they pass by, are they just like people, that go on and then die?” The figurative bit between his teeth, he wonders if small clouds “are lonely, like you and I? Do they just go to... Read more... |
CD: Squeeze – The KnowledgeSunday, 29 October 2017
When the songwriting partnership of Glenn Tilbrook and Chris Difford returned two years ago, it was with a renewed sense of vim and vitality following nearly two decades away. The Knowledge continues that revival with a collection of songs that... Read more... |
theartsdesk Q&A: Homer Flynn, spokesman for The ResidentsSaturday, 28 October 2017
An encounter with Homer Flynn is disconcerting as the extent of his involvement in The Residents is unclear. He acknowledges that he speaks for the eyeball-headed quartet whose identities are unknown. As he talks, it's clear he has intimate... Read more... |
CD: Goldie Lookin' Chain - Fear of a Welsh PlanetSaturday, 28 October 2017
Although primarily known for "Guns Don’t Kill People, Rappers Do", Goldie Lookin' Chain have actually been around longer than you'd imagine. The Welsh comedy collective was formed at the turn of the millennium, and Fear of a Welsh Planet is,... Read more... |
CD: Siinai - SykliThursday, 26 October 2017
The sensation evoked by Sykli is that it documents a voyage, one beginning with anticipation for what will come and then journeying through diffuse territory which could be an endless, mist-filled valley, anywhere beyond this solar system or within... Read more... |
CD: Baxter Dury - Prince of TearsWednesday, 25 October 2017
As son of the famous Blockheads frontman, Baxter Dury has always had big (new) boots to fill. Over the last 15 years though, he’s become distinguishable in his own right for his Chiswick accent and roughened-up pastoral music. Both are just as... Read more... |
