New music
CD: Polar Bear - In Each and Every OneWednesday, 19 March 2014
Seb Rochford’s five-piece Polar Bear is now ten years old, and the band's post-jazz amalgam of lugubrious saxophone phrases and scratchy riffs, scarified electronic soundscapes, and mesmeric, crackling drum and bass rhythms has matured. The giddy... Read more... |
10 Questions for musician Burnt Friedman - with video exclusiveMonday, 17 March 2014
Bernd “Burnt” Friedman is one of the most relentlessly questing of experimental musicians. In over 30 years of making music and 25 years of releasing it, he has specialised in researching ancient, hypermodern and as-yet-undiscovered methods of... Read more... |
CD: The War on Drugs – Lost in the DreamMonday, 17 March 2014
Lost in the Dream takes a while to make its presence felt. Four tracks in, with “An Ocean in Between the Waves”, it all falls into place. A frosted-glass take on the Bruce Springsteen of “I’m on Fire” washes out from the speakers and submerges the... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Jane Birkin, Françoise HardySunday, 16 March 2014
Jane Birkin: Mes Images Privées de Serge / Françoise Hardy: Message PersonnelThe bond between Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin still resonates. They met while on the set of the film Slogan in 1969 and were soon a headline-grabbing couple. Although... Read more... |
theartsdesk Q&A: Saxophonist Julian SiegelSunday, 16 March 2014
Julian Siegel’s urbane, generically layered voice has, as both reeds player and composer, forged a unique and revered position in the jazz world. He leads a quartet of pioneering drive and technique, featuring pianist Liam Noble, bass player Oli... Read more... |
CD: Sky Ferreira - Night Time, My TimeSunday, 16 March 2014
Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about Lily Allen, which you can call a victory for the omnipresent don’t-call-it-a-comeback PR campaign surrounding her forthcoming album. Specifically I’ve been thinking about how I was far less cynical in my early... Read more... |
CD: Kylie Minogue - Kiss Me OnceSaturday, 15 March 2014
Reinvention is the way of the 21st-century diva, cloaking in the latest bright sonic colours. Kylie, the Australian girl-next-door and occasional British national treasure, has a track record of trying on new styles to see if they fit and her career... Read more... |
CD: Black Lips - Underneath the RainbowThursday, 13 March 2014
Three years after the release of the Mark Ronson-produced Arabia Mountain, Black Lips are back in the ring with Underneath the Rainbow, a decidedly rawer take on their lo-fi, yet melodic, garage rock. This time, Patrick Carney of the Black Keys, has... Read more... |
10 Questions for Fringe Magnetic's Rory SimmonsWednesday, 12 March 2014
Trumpeter and composer Rory Simmons is one of the most innovative and diversely talented musicians on the contemporary jazz scene, genre-hopping with startling agility across its many cutting edges. Fringe Magnetic, Simmons’ acclaimed 11-piece band... Read more... |
CD: Lapland - LaplandMonday, 10 March 2014
Lapland is one bearded bloke called Josh Mease who lives in New York. He makes his music in his home studio. That’s the back story and it’s not a good one, especially in an age when a voracious variety of media demand a narrative to go with their... Read more... |
Tord Gustavsen Quartet, Milton CourtMonday, 10 March 2014
Revelling in the acoustic precision of the recently opened Milton Court concert hall last night, Norwegian pianist Tord Gustavsen showed once more why his quartet’s combination of tersely lyrical melodies and syncopated rhythms is so appealing. For... Read more... |
The New Arts Desk Radio Show 2Sunday, 09 March 2014
Welcome to the second of our new shows, brought to you in conjunction with MEATtransMISSION.In this edition, originally recorded and broadcast on Valentine's weekend, Peter Culshaw and Joe Muggs bring you romance and bleakness, Norwegian space disco... Read more... |
