New music
Reissue CDs Weekly: RamonesSunday, 23 July 2017
Production gloss and deliberation are not notions immediately springing to mind while pondering the 1976-era Ramones. Even so, this new edition of their second album, the ever-wonderful Leave Home, reveals that careful consideration was given to how... Read more... |
CD: Lana Del Rey - Lust For LifeSunday, 23 July 2017
Lana Del Rey is hard to suss. Her cinematic plasticity is part of her appeal, yet it’s also what makes her difficult to love. One thing she cannot be accused of is laziness. For a star of her stature, she’s fairly pumping out music, with this... Read more... |
CD: Alice Cooper - ParanormalSaturday, 22 July 2017
The cover of Alice Cooper’s first album in six years shows the erstwhile Vincent Furnier with two heads. This, one assumes, is supposed to provide a neat little illustration of Paranormal’s musical content which is spread over two discs. On the... Read more... |
CD: Arcade Fire – Everything NowThursday, 20 July 2017
If you consider the fanciful notion that Arcade Fire are a kind of Canadian art house Dexys Midnight Runners who have substituted strained angsty soul for strained angsty rock, then the title track of their new album is their “Come On Eileen”. It’s... Read more... |
CD: Jupiter & Okwess - Kin SonicWednesday, 19 July 2017
Staff Benda Bilili and Kasai Allstars redefined the sound of Congolese dance music: the supremacy of the Rumba popularised by Franco and others, with its cascading guitar solos and instantly recognisable beats, was replaced by a host of other... Read more... |
CD: The Vamps – Night and Day (Night Edition)Monday, 17 July 2017
Watching the YouTube clips that accompany the release of the Vamps’ third album, Night and Day (Night Edition), it becomes immediately apparent how keen they are to come across as a "real" band. They talk eloquently about the writing process and are... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Anne BriggsSunday, 16 July 2017
The Time Has Come was issued in late 1971. Anne Briggs’ second album and her second to reach shops that year, it followed an eponymous set released that April. That was on the folk label Topic and produced by the pivotal A. L. Lloyd, who had... Read more... |
CD: Alan Broadbent - Developing StorySunday, 16 July 2017
Hearing the London Metropolitan Orchestra ripping a hole in the silence with the impassioned opening theme of the three-movement "Developing Story", I’m not entirely convinced that the New Zealand-born, US-based pianist, composer and arranger Alan... Read more... |
Enter theartsdesk's Young Reviewer of the Year AwardSaturday, 15 July 2017
The Hospital Club’s annual h.Club100 awards celebrate the most influential and innovative people working in the UK’s creative industries, with nominations from the worlds of film and fashion, art, advertising, theatre, music, television and more.... Read more... |
CD: Dizzee Rascal - RaskitSaturday, 15 July 2017
In the four years since Dizzee Rascal’s last album the landscape around grime has changed. In 2013 grime MCs were busy hooking up with as many pop stars as possible, fusing their machine-gun lyricism with Autotune-addled pap pop. A Dizzee single... Read more... |
theartsdesk on Vinyl 30: Moby, The Beach Boys, Napalm Death, John Coltrane and moreThursday, 13 July 2017
If there’s a downside to the resurgence of vinyl, it’s that all that’s left in most charity shops these days is James Galway and his cursed flute and Max Bygraves medley albums. Then again, there’s always new stuff coming in so it’s down to... Read more... |
CD: Emma Stevens - To My RootsThursday, 13 July 2017
What’s not to like about To My Roots, the third album by singer-songwriter Emma Stevens? That’s the problem. Not just her problem, of course, but the problem with so many DIY indie artists who release albums, often crowdfunded (as this was), pick-up... Read more... |
