New music
CD: Alicia Keys - HereWednesday, 09 November 2016
When the world seems to be so politically off-kilter, fracturing before our eyes into a typhoon of misogyny and racism, Alicia Keys is singing out with a defiant voice, with positive songs about society and, in particular, women.Keys’ music is... Read more... |
Supersonic Festival Launch Party, Centrala, BirminghamMonday, 07 November 2016
Regular subscribers to the Arts Desk may have noticed a certain view from some of our number that the Glastonbury Festival is the annual musical and social high point of the year in the UK. On this subject, I would beg to differ and instead claim... Read more... |
CD: Honeyblood - Babes Never DieMonday, 07 November 2016
To anybody who was able to resist the girl gang siren call that was Honeyblood’s 2014 debut album, the Glasgow duo is upping their offer. Babes Never Die is both a motto and a call to arms, the words – apparently – tattooed on the ribcage of singer/... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Roy HarperSunday, 06 November 2016
Man & Myth, released in September 2013, was Roy Harper’s best album in two decades. The live shows which came on its back were stunning. Amongst this activity – instead of building on the momentum – he was arrested and charged with historic... Read more... |
CD: Cliff Richard - Just... Fabulous Rock 'n' RollSunday, 06 November 2016
It’s 58 years since “Britain’s answer to Elvis Presley” had his first top 10 hit and now he’s back, and back to his roots, with a new CD, Just… Fabulous Rock ‘n’ Roll, released by Sony with whom, at the grand old age of 76, he has signed a lucrative... Read more... |
theartsdesk Q&A: Musician Marc AlmondSaturday, 05 November 2016
Marc Almond (b 1956) grew up in Southport, on the Lancashire coast. He first achieved fame when Soft Cell, his Leeds Polytechnic art school electronic project with Dave Ball, much to both their surprise, had a huge global hit in 1981 with their... Read more... |
CD: Wolf People - RuinsSaturday, 05 November 2016
At 15 seconds in, it becomes obvious Ruins means business. A brief snatch of acoustic guitar lays the table for a hard-edged, groove-driven slab of melodic guitar psych immediately bringing to mind the heavier moments of Sun Dial’s classic 1990... Read more... |
CD: Robbie Williams – The Heavy Entertainment ShowThursday, 03 November 2016
“My main talent is for turning trauma into something showbizzy,” said Robbie Williams in an interview to plug this, his 11th studio album. While a point immediately apparent to anyone with a passing knowledge of his work, it also speaks volumes... Read more... |
CD: Esben and the Witch - Older TerrorsWednesday, 02 November 2016
Whatever you think of their music, it’s hard not to admire a band who wilfully make music as oppressive, uncommercial and solemn as British south-coast trio Esben and the Witch. They’ve been ploughing their unfashionable, gothic furrow for eight... Read more... |
CD: Dr John - The Musical Mojo of Dr JohnMonday, 31 October 2016
New Orleans icon Dr John (Mac Rebennack) epitomises that city’s diversely blended musical traditions. This release was recorded live in May 2014 at a New Orleans Jazz Festival celebration of his career, which began in the 1950s on the Los Angeles... Read more... |
CD: Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions - Until The HunterSunday, 30 October 2016
Until The Hunter is the third solo album by Mazzy Star singer, Hope Sandoval, and the long awaited follow-up to 2009’s Through the Devil Softly. It’s safe to say that the intervening time hasn’t encouraged any great stylistic leaps but to say that... Read more... |
CD: AYBEE - The OdysseySaturday, 29 October 2016
Berlin's electronic music world has been traditionally been very white. Sometimes, as with the inward-looking minimal techno of the 2000s, it could feel painfully so. Obviously a city can't really help the nature of its demographic, but monoculture... Read more... |
