New music
theartsdesk in Orkney: St Magnus FestivalSunday, 28 June 2015
Ebb of Winter felt about right. It’s one of Peter Maxwell Davies’s most recent works, a yearning for the brightness and warmth of spring at the end of an Orcadian winter, written in 2013 for the Scottish Chamber Orchestra’s 40th anniversary. And it... Read more... |
CD: Satoshi Tomiie - New DaySunday, 28 June 2015
Here's a funny one: used as an adjective, “lifestyle” has lately become a popular pejorative term for music (see, most recently, the kerfuffle over Jamie xx's debut solo album). It's taken the place of “coffee table”, which was the Nineties phrase... Read more... |
CD: Robert Glasper – CoveredSaturday, 27 June 2015
Robert Glasper has recently been making a name, and winning Grammys with his electronic fusion outfit, the Robert Glasper Experiment. After years of Casey Benjamin’s croaking vocoder on the Black Radio albums, the pealing acoustic notes of Glasper’s... Read more... |
CD: Rickie Lee Jones - The Other Side of DesireThursday, 25 June 2015
Since her gorgeous self-titled debut album in 1979, Rickie Lee Jones has been all round the houses. Her music has plotted a sinuous path through jazz, blues, pop, soul and straight up-and-down rock. Her fortunes have soared and dipped, and the... Read more... |
CD: Richard Thompson - StillWednesday, 24 June 2015
The songs of Richard Thompson have always been tinged with a hint of bitterness and anger, passions that are tempered by guitar paying of near-miraculous fluency. His new album, produced with brilliance and tact by Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy, is no... Read more... |
theartsdesk on Vinyl: Volume 6 - Miles Davis, Giant Sand and moreMonday, 22 June 2015
It's becoming clear that the appeal of vinyl is two-fold. On the one hand there are older buyers who are returning to it as a validation of their own life journey though music and, on the other, there are young enthusiasts whose honeymoon with... Read more... |
CD: Wolf Alice - My Love is CoolMonday, 22 June 2015
Do you remember Alisha’s Attic? The '90s sister-duo’s debut was the first album I bought, and it was full of pretty pop songs soaked in vinegar and malice. Wolf Alice, a grunge-pop four-piece from north London, remind me of Alisha’s Attic, at least... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Peter ZinovieffSunday, 21 June 2015
Peter Zinovieff: Electronic Calendar – The EMS TapesRoxy Music’s June 1972 debut appearance on The Old Grey Whistle Test found them miming to “Ladytron” from their debut album, released that week. A prime focus for the camera was Eno, in a... Read more... |
CD: Kurt Elling – Passion WorldSunday, 21 June 2015
Being on everyone’s list of top jazz singers isn’t always helpful. Elling’s eleventh album, a kind of musical travelogue inspired by his onerous touring schedule, is a compendium of international repertoire extending from traditional pieces such as... Read more... |
Seb Rochford and Co, Brilliant CornersSaturday, 20 June 2015
If you still haven’t been to Played Twice, a monthly jazz night held at Brilliant Corners in Dalston, I suggest you do something about it. The concept is simple. First there’s a playthrough of a landmark album on the venue’s top of the range... Read more... |
CD: The Parrots - Weed For The ParrotsSaturday, 20 June 2015
There’s way too much proficiency in music these days. There’s way too much interest in high production values. Also, half the people involved in popular music seem more interested in the business side, the branding and the online imprint. It is very... Read more... |
CD: The LaFontaines - ClassFriday, 19 June 2015
The LaFontaines are one of Scotland’s biggest new bands but have yet to make the same impact south of the border. There is, however, nothing about their debut album that’s parochial. To make a crude comparison, they sound, at first, like a grime-... Read more... |
