New music
CD: Kaiser Chiefs - Stay TogetherTuesday, 04 October 2016
Kaiser Chiefs have been knocking out chart-aimed New Wave-ish guitar pop since 2004, and while they might have generally given the impression of leaning a bit more towards musical theatre than anything truly heartfelt, it hasn’t stopped them... Read more... |
Oasis in Their Own Words, BBC iPlayerMonday, 03 October 2016
Trying to pip the release of Mat Whitecross’s documentary Supersonic to the post, this brief hack through the BBC’s archive throws together a galloping overview of Oasis’s rise and fall, narrated by their own interviews and quotes. Arguably Oasis... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Les PantiesSunday, 02 October 2016
What should a band called Les Panties sound like? Melodic, Ramones-like pop-punk? Dirty garage rock a la early White Stripes? From the name, either surmise seems reasonable. In the event, what reverberates through this incongruously named Brussels... Read more... |
CD: Regina Spektor - Remember Us To LifeSunday, 02 October 2016
Regina Spector’s eclectic seventh album Remember Us To Life shows the Russian-born singer-songwriter’s brilliant knack for storytelling. Her style is stream of consciousness, melodic musings in poetic form which avoid extreme emotion in favour of... Read more... |
CD: Slaves – Take ControlSaturday, 01 October 2016
Slaves’ 2015 debut album, Are You Satisfied? was a breath of fresh air in a music industry which seemingly had very little to say about the state of the country, as it kicked back at Austerity Britain with quite some relish. Take Control may see... Read more... |
CD: Bon Iver - 22, A MillionThursday, 29 September 2016
Justin Vernon hasn’t put an album out under the name Bon Iver for five years but you wouldn’t necessarily have noticed. Falsetto-strained, bearded, lumber-jack shirted folk introspection seems to have spread through music like Japanese knotweed, its... Read more... |
Ana Moura, BarbicanWednesday, 28 September 2016
“If someone asked me what fado is,” says Ana Moura, in her introduction to “Lilac Wine”, “I would tell them that it means something like this song.” And with its notes of sadness, yearning and loss – fado means destiny or fate – this classic number... Read more... |
CD: Craig David - Following My IntuitionWednesday, 28 September 2016
Craig David’s comeback has been astonishing. Partly this is due to the reason his career stalled in the first place. Lampooning him was, famously, the core element of Channel 4 comedy show Bo’ Selecta!. That programme and his career wound down... Read more... |
Tubular Brass play Tubular Bells, Howard Assembly Room, LeedsMonday, 26 September 2016
Sandy Smith’s brass band transcription of Tubular Bells is an improbable triumph. He draws heavily on composer David Bedford’s 1970s orchestral arrangement, along with Mike Oldfield’s two recorded versions. Musically the work holds up very well. But... Read more... |
CD: Gruff Rhys - Set Fire to the StarsMonday, 26 September 2016
Super Furry Animals front man Gruff Rhys is a quietly prolific talent. Every few years or so, there’ll be another album, complete with the kind of thought-through concept that gives lift to his literate and expressive story songs and colours them... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: John FoxxSunday, 25 September 2016
In 1985, John Foxx released In Mysterious Ways: his fourth solo album since leaving Ultravox in 1979. In 1980, he had charted with “Underpass”, his first solo single. Subsequently, he charted a path where frosty, anomie-filled electropop gave way to... Read more... |
CD: Van Morrison - Keep Me SingingSunday, 25 September 2016
“In time, you’ll be mine,” sings Van Morrison in the opening song to his first new collection in four years. That line sets the tone for a warm bath of an album, a genial, reflective, though always finely honed stroll through the themes and styles... Read more... |
