New music
Reissue CDs Weekly: FJ McMahonSunday, 10 September 2017
Once heard, 1969’s Spirit of the Golden Juice is not forgotten. F. J. McMahon’s sole album is imbued with the heavy air of desolation. Its nine country tinged songs are also melodic and as good as those by Tim Hardin and Fred Neil, with whom McMahon... Read more... |
CD: Cat Stevens/Yusuf - The Laughing AppleSunday, 10 September 2017
When, in 2006, Yusuf announced his return to music, speculation was rife as to how he might now sound. At first, the music felt gentle and touchy-feely. Then came 2014's Tell 'Em I'm Gone – a strutting, blues record full of attitude. More... Read more... |
The Psychedelic Furs, Concorde 2, Brighton review - classy new wave pop ruined by bad soundSaturday, 09 September 2017
This is, in many ways, an underwhelming evening, but the fault does not primarily lie with The Psychedelic Furs. Things start well with support act Lene Lovich who gives a lively performance, in a black’n’red ensemble with striped sleeves and a... Read more... |
CD: Gary Numan - Savage (Songs From a Broken World)Saturday, 09 September 2017
Gary Numan famously has a devoted fanbase. For this album he had a live video feed that allowed them, for a small fee, to watch him in the studio, working on it from conception to completion. Unlike any of his peers from the post-punk years, he... Read more... |
CD: Ariel Pink - Dedicated To Bobby JamesonThursday, 07 September 2017
Dedicated To Bobby Jameson is Ariel Pink’s 11th album in almost 20 years and his first since 2014’s prog-pop pom pom. However, anyone expecting a mid-career lurch into the mainstream from LA’s musical magpie is going to be sorely disappointed.... Read more... |
Walter Becker, 1950-2017 - 'we play rock and roll, but we swing when we play'Wednesday, 06 September 2017
The death of Walter Becker last weekend brings to an end one of the great double acts of rock history. Becker’s partnership with Donald Fagen, with whom he created Steely Dan, has left a legacy of music which seems destined to be at least as... Read more... |
CD: Nick Mulvey - Wake Up NowWednesday, 06 September 2017
Nick Mulvey’s 2014 debut album First Mind may be one of the century’s best so far. Album number two, then, has the critical bar set high. On that opening record, the ex-Portico Quartet singer-songwriter majored in complex-yet-simple songs that wove... Read more... |
CD: Deerhoof - Mountain MovesMonday, 04 September 2017
With the wind behind them, the San Francisco-founded band Deerhoof are one of the greatest live experiences you can have. Two decades since their first album, they still have a relentlessly experimental hunger for sonic surprise, mixing... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Ólafur ArnaldsSunday, 03 September 2017
We’ve been here before. Not to exactly the same territory, but to a neighbouring space in the same time frame. Last year, theartsdesk looked at a reissue of 2007’s Room to Expand, the first widely available album by the minimalist pianist Hauschka.... Read more... |
CD: Tom Russell - Folk HotelSunday, 03 September 2017
Close your eyes and be transported. Not just to Greenwich Village, New York and America’s west, but to Copenhagen, Belfast and Swansea, from whence Dylan Thomas – dedicatee of “The Sparrow of Swansea” – set out on his adventures. The album was... Read more... |
theartsdesk Q&A: Musician Albert HammondSaturday, 02 September 2017
Albert Hammond might not be a household name but he's still, undeniably, one of the world's greatest living songwriters. His songs have sold 360 million copies, ranging from Starship's soft-rock classic "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" to Julio... Read more... |
CD: Kev Minney - Stories of the SkyWednesday, 30 August 2017
A striking and memorable debut made possible by a combination of crowd-funding and an Arts Council grant, Stories of the Sky combines 31-year-old Kev Minney’s twin obsessions, music and astronomy.Born in Northampton, and Brighton-based these last... Read more... |
