New music
theartsdesk at Glastonbury Festival 2013Thursday, 04 July 2013
The smell is like a squidgy hash spliff marinated in hickory-smoked barbecue sauce. There’s an additional top note of tangy, excited human musk and a hint of vinegary organic waste. By the weekend’s end this Parfum de Glaston will have infused... Read more... |
CD: Darren Hayman & the Short Parliament – BugbearsThursday, 04 July 2013
Darren Hayman isn’t a chap who stands still. The former Herfner frontman’s last-but-one album, Lido, was a series of mood-music compositions inspired by open-air swimming pools. In 2011 came The Ship’s Piano, a collection of piano pieces. Rather... Read more... |
The Flamin’ Groovies, ScalaWednesday, 03 July 2013
“Off we jolly well go.” With that, The Flamin’ Groovies’s Chris Wilson announced the arrival of “Shake Some Action”, the band’s classic evocation of rock ‘n’ roll swagger. In 2013, 40 years after it was first recorded, it's still magnificent, a... Read more... |
Blondie, Usher Hall, EdinburghWednesday, 03 July 2013
Blondie are one of a handful of bands capable of producing a set list which renders rational critical argument all but obsolete. If they play the hits and they play them straight and true, there’s not really much to complain about. Last night in... Read more... |
CD: Emily Barker & the Red Clay Halo - Dear RiverWednesday, 03 July 2013
Every so often, an album comes along that reminds you why you love the medium: not because it’s a simple collection of individual songs, no matter how good they are, but because it’s a carefully curated statement of artistic intent. Taken... Read more... |
Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band, Hard Rock Calling, Olympic ParkMonday, 01 July 2013
"Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park" is a wonderfully grand name for the venue for this summer's Hard Rock Calling festival, but the reality doesn't quite match up. Rather than basking in the glory (and shiny new stadium architecture) of Mo and Jessica's... Read more... |
theartsdesk at the Glasgow Jazz FestivalMonday, 01 July 2013
“It was a bit leary,” Georgie Fame recalls of a 1960 visit to Glasgow. “They had these cast-iron ash-trays at the Empire...” Teddy boys offended by Fame’s starry effect on the local girls led to these being skimmed at the band, bisecting a cymbal,... Read more... |
CD: Maya Jane Coles - ComfortMonday, 01 July 2013
The part-Japanese Brit Maya Jane Coles displays elaborate asymmetric hair, interesting piercings and enormous tattoos in her moody photoshoots, makes sounds that are uniformly smooth and high-gloss, and has a sonic palette that takes in populist... Read more... |
'The Rolling Stones of Morocco' - Nass El Ghiwane's music of protestSunday, 30 June 2013
Fly into Morocco on Royal Air Maroc, and as in-flight entertainment on the overhead screens you’re treated to Charlie Chaplin shorts from the 1910s, still sharp as a tack, the little guy goosing authority, the law, the rich, the powerful. The Little... Read more... |
theartsdesk in Fes: Patti Smith and the SufisSunday, 30 June 2013
“The boy looked at Johnny – he was surrounded by white and blue tiles, in the medina.” Patti Smith was improvising on her classic album Horses in her first, compelling, gig in Morocco. Smith has a history of Moroccan connections: she knew the... Read more... |
CD: Harry Connick Jr - Every Man Should KnowSunday, 30 June 2013
What’s the point of Harry Connick Jr in a world where Michael Bublé exists? Twenty years ago Harry Connick Jr was the Bublé of the day. He was among the first to run a comprehensive and commercially successful update of swingin’ Sinatra schtick,... Read more... |
theartsdesk in Agadir: Berbers RisingSunday, 30 June 2013
“It’s a good way of letting of steam,” said Reda Allali, the lead signer from Morocco’s leading rock band Hoba Hoba Spirit, referring to the the Timitar Festival. “It’s a step in the right direction anyway – although there are many steps ahead.” The... Read more... |
