New music
Ray Davies, Royal Festival HallMonday, 20 June 2011
Tickets were like gold dust for this one and the stage was lit as if some of that dust had been sprinkled on the Festival Hall in a midsummer dream of a concert. The massed ranks of the Crouch End Festival Chorus, London Philharmonic Orchestra and a... Read more... |
CD: The Bo-Keys - Got to Get Back!Sunday, 19 June 2011
When I put together my book Rock Shrines, about places music fans go to pay tribute to their dead heroes, I was particularly struck by the story of Ben Cauley. He was trumpet player in Otis Redding's band, The Bar Kays, and the only person to be... Read more... |
theartsdesk in Montréal: Les Francofolies de MontréalSunday, 19 June 2011
Montréal natives The Arcade Fire sing in English. Yet 65 percent of the Québec city’s population have French as their first language. Les FrancoFolies de Montréal is Francophone Canada’s annual celebration of non-Anglo Saxon music. This year, big... Read more... |
CD: Duane Eddy – Road TripSaturday, 18 June 2011
Although Duane Eddy will forever be identified with his deeply twangy late-Fifties/early-Sixties instrumental hits like “Rebel Rouser”, “Ramrod” and “Peter Gunn”, he’s never gone out of style. His 1958 debut album was titled Have “Twangy Guitar” –... Read more... |
Ringo Starr, Hampton Court PalaceFriday, 17 June 2011
Sir Paul McCartney recently suggested that Ringo Starr missed out on a knighthood because the Queen was too busy dealing with Bruce Forsyth. At least Ringo got to go to the Palace though. Albeit the one in Hampton Court, where last night, as if by... Read more... |
CD: The Bookhouse Boys - Tales to be ToldFriday, 17 June 2011
It's fair to say that The Bookhouse Boys are not one of those bands who spotted a successful trend and thought, I know what, let's adapt our sound to that. The London nine-piece are often compared to Ennio Morricone but there are really only... Read more... |
Sónar 2011: Day 1Friday, 17 June 2011
“This is what Ibiza used to be like,” said the man dancing next to me. I've never been to the White Isle, so I have to take his word for it, but he presented a very convincing argument that the commercialisation of dance music's Mediterranean Mecca... Read more... |
A Tribute to Tony Wilson, Purcell RoomFriday, 17 June 2011
The Meltdown Festival's tribute to Tony Wilson was a lot like the charismatic post-punk legend himself: funny, eccentric, obscure, populist; all over the place but never dull. Wilson died in August 2007 and this event was a reminder of his... Read more... |
CD: Marilyn Mazur - Celestial CircleThursday, 16 June 2011
One of the great strengths of Manfred Eicher's ECM label is the way in which it has encouraged and documented many unlikely yet fruitful musical collaborations throughout its thousand-plus discography. First assembled for her season as artist-in-... Read more... |
Eliane Radigue/New London Chamber Choir, London Sinfonietta, James Weeks, Spitalfields MusicWednesday, 15 June 2011
What strange goings-on at this year's Spitalfields Music festival. One church is set ablaze by a female laptop trio; another is swamped by 17th-century collectivists; one man opens up a black hole with the back of his guitar; and a harpist becomes a... Read more... |
theartsdesk in Fes: The Festival and the Moroccan SpringWednesday, 15 June 2011
Strange portents – the weather is always dry and baking hot this time of year in Fes. This time it was like winter, with lashing rain and thunder for the first few days of the Fes Festival. But then things are strange in general here; events are... Read more... |
CD: Bon Iver - Bon IverMonday, 13 June 2011
Well, he’s certainly moved on from his log cabin. It’s three years since Justin Vernon’s group, Bon Iver, released For Emma, Forever Ago, the quietly powerful indie-folk album recorded during a bitter winter in his father’s remote Vermont cabin –... Read more... |
