New music
Brighton Festival: Laurie Anderson - Slideshow, Brighton DomeThursday, 19 May 2016
Brighton Festival’s guest director speaks in a sort of rapid-fire drawl, ideal for her debut as a stand-up comic, which she claims was tonight’s Plan A. This half-century veteran of performance art is more slippery than that, proffering a discursive... Read more... |
Brighton Festival: Laurie Anderson – Song Conversation, Brighton DomeThursday, 19 May 2016
The foyer of Brighton Dome for Brighton Festival director Laurie Anderson’s Song Conversation would have had a PR executive flummoxed; from punks in their 20s licking the rim of a plastic pint to a hobbling couple clutching programmes. The breadth... Read more... |
CD: Harleighblu - FuturespectiveThursday, 19 May 2016
It’s a foolish game to wonder who might fill the musical void left by Amy Winehouse’s passing. She was a one-off, after all. However, it’s natural to occasionally look about and ponder where there might be talent of a similar ilk. Not all the doomed... Read more... |
CD: Bob Dylan - Fallen AngelsWednesday, 18 May 2016
In his latest album, Bob Dylan once again interprets, in his own slightly ironic and yet lovingly respectful way, standards that Sinatra made famous. This is one of those moments when it feels like he's treading water, or perhaps allowing himself to... Read more... |
CD: Kate Jackson - British Road MoviesMonday, 16 May 2016
There was always something otherworldly about Kate Jackson, the voice of late, great Sheffield rockers The Long Blondes. Guitarist Dorian Cox, whose stroke in 2008 precipitated the premature breakup of the band, may have been its primary songwriter... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Bernard HerrmannSunday, 15 May 2016
“Ladies and gentlemen, in view of the controversy already aroused the producers of this film wish to re-emphasise what is already stated in the film: that there is no established scientific connection between mongolism and psychotic or criminal... Read more... |
CD: Eric Clapton - I Still DoSunday, 15 May 2016
Sometimes it seems that Eric Clapton’s versatility and musical range still remain underappreciated. How during the Slowhand era, for instance, he mixed elements of country with a fine ear for West Coast sensibilities. Then there was Unplugged, ... Read more... |
10 Questions for Musician Tinchy StryderSaturday, 14 May 2016
Tinchy Stryder (b. 1986) has had a successful pop career since 2009, including two chart-topping singles (“Number 1” and “Never Leave You”). Born Kwasi Danquah in Ghana, his family moved to London’s East End when he was nine and, in the early years... Read more... |
CD: Richard Ashcroft – These PeopleSaturday, 14 May 2016
The solo album can present a tricky prospect for many mature artists as they drift in and out of the public consciousness. Do they make a stab at a variety of styles to display their artistic depth; do they get on the latest bandwagon to show they’... Read more... |
CD: Kygo - Cloud NineThursday, 12 May 2016
The Norwegian DJ-producer Kyrre Gørvell-Dahll – AKA Kygo – rose to prominence a couple of years ago on the back of “tropical house”, a club sub-genre that, at its best, meant hazy, Balearic and/or indie-dance grooves, but on Kygo’s watch became... Read more... |
Brighton Festival: Laurie Anderson's Concert for Dogs, Open Air TheatreWednesday, 11 May 2016
"Wouldn't it be great if you were playing a concert and you looked out and everyone is a dog?" Laurie Anderson mused, almost a decade ago, waiting backstage with cellist Yo-Yo Ma. Anderson has realised her outlandish dream, creating a most unusual... Read more... |
2016 Parliamentary Jazz AwardsWednesday, 11 May 2016
Compered by Jazzwise magazine’s gregarious editor-in-chief, Jon Newey, the winners of this year's Parliamentary Jazz Awards were announced last night in the Terrace Pavilion at the House of Commons.Now in their twelfth year, the Awards, organised by... Read more... |
