New music
CD: Laurie Shaw - Felted FruitMonday, 09 January 2017
Christmas came, and brought with it the usual silly-season headlines. "Vinyl outsells digital downloads" came the cries, bringing with them a vision of a plastic phoenix rising from the ashes. The truth was, of course, much more prosaic – digital... Read more... |
David Bowie: The Last Five Years, BBC TwoSunday, 08 January 2017
It’s been 12 months since the news guy wept and told us: David Bowie, ever out in front, became the first to depart in the year of musical mortality 2016. After the initial lamentations, the memorial tributes have been a mixed bag. Best was the... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Action Time VisionSunday, 08 January 2017
Sixty-eight tracks into the intriguing Action Time Vision, orthodoxy suddenly gives way to individualism. The two-and-bit discs so far have mostly showcased what passes for notions of punk rock: block-chord guitars, guttersnipe vocals, Ramones-speed... Read more... |
CD: Camilla George Quartet - IsangSunday, 08 January 2017
Through her work with Tomorrow's Warriors and the Nu Civilisation Orchestra and, more recently, Jazz Jamaica, alto saxist Camilla George has been an integral part of the UK jazz scene for over a decade. Apart from its melodic fecundity, subtle... Read more... |
CD: The Flaming Lips - Oczy MlodySaturday, 07 January 2017
Oczy Mlody is so weak it’s a wonder it makes the finishing line. The album’s 58 minutes are taken up with unfocussed songs, fragmentary arrangements, moments of grating novelty and such a lack of sense of purpose, it’s hard to figure out why they... Read more... |
Albums of the Year: Leonard Cohen - You Want It DarkerThursday, 05 January 2017
Popular music works best when it strikes a chord that goes beyond the beauty of the hook, the seductive quality of the melody, or the catchiness of the lyrics. The resonance can be personal or universal, or perhaps, in order to qualify as a critic’s... Read more... |
Albums of the Year: Anohni - HopelessnessWednesday, 04 January 2017
Much like the year itself, 2016's strongest albums tapped into a spirit of restlessness, defiance and disorientation. But unlike the punk explosion of 1977, there was no real sound or even genre that this mood of rebellion cohered around.Grime came... Read more... |
Albums of the Year: Radiohead - A Moon Shaped PoolTuesday, 03 January 2017
Context in rock is everything. Popular music is, after all, essentially a reaction to a moment in time. So, whilst in another year, an album like A Moon Shaped Pool may just have lurked in my top five, political... Read more... |
Albums of the Year: Paul Simon – Stranger to StrangerMonday, 02 January 2017
Paul Simon has always been as eclectic as anyone in popular music, tapping into latin music, gospel and reggae long before they dreamed up the term "World Music". Simon is now 74, but he's as restless and inquisitive as ever. For Stranger to... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Mikael TariverdievSunday, 01 January 2017
New Year’s Eve has its rituals and, in the Russian-speaking world, watching the 1976 film The Irony of Fate is core to ringing out the old and ringing in the new. A television staple, it has the seasonal status of It’s a Wonderful Life, The Little... Read more... |
Albums of the Year: Christine Tobin - PeltSunday, 01 January 2017
Despite all of the challenges – more venues going to the wall, scarcity of funding, lack of column inches, and more – jazz in 2016 showed its seemingly endless capacity not only to survive and thrive, but also to innovate and invigorate. As one of... Read more... |
Albums of the Year: Dolly Parton - Pure & SimpleSaturday, 31 December 2016
The unsinkable Dolly Parton turned 70 in 2016 and the new year marks the 50th anniversary of her debut album, Hello, I’m Dolly. Pure & Simple is her 43rd studio album, its genesis a brace of stripped-down concerts given at Nashville’s Ryman... Read more... |
