New music
Reissue CDs Weekly: Hans-Joachim Roedelius - Tape Archive Essence 1973-1978Sunday, 26 April 2020
Even though nothing on Tape Archive Essence 1973–1978 was released at the time it was recorded, every track evokes material which was issued. Any fan of the German legends Cluster and Harmonia needs this album gathering extracts from tapes key... Read more... |
Album: Tom Kitching – Seasons of ChangeSaturday, 25 April 2020
Back in April 2018, English fiddler player and member of BBC Radio 2 Folk Award-nominated folk band Pilgrim’s Way embarked on an 18-month busking tour of England. He walked out of his home in Manchester to explore the country, from Berwick to... Read more... |
Album: Tom Misch & Yussef Dayes - What Kinda MusicFriday, 24 April 2020
We can all do with a dopamine hit right now, given the current lockdown, and those feel-good hormones kick in the instant you hear Yussef Dayes’ tight backbeat on the opening title track of What Kinda Music. A collaboration between drummer and... Read more... |
Now is the hour - 103 and trending: Dame Vera Lynn eight decades after her debutThursday, 23 April 2020
Last Sunday evening I was making lentil soup (words I never thought I’d type) when Radio 4’s discussion of wealth, or lack thereof, gave way to a profile of Dame Vera Lynn. She was “trending”, her NHS fundraising duet with Katherine Jenkins of “We’... Read more... |
Album: Ezra Furman - Sex Education OSTThursday, 23 April 2020
Netflix’s sweet but slightly strange drama Sex Education is already two series into its tale of teenage awkwardness in the face of growing up, with a third planned for when the Covid-19 plague is over. Yet it is only now that the soundtrack is being... Read more... |
New Music Lockdown 3: FKA Twigs, Janelle Monáe, The Breeders, Korn and moreWednesday, 22 April 2020
As we unwillingly become used to lockdown, most of us are regularly looking for juicy tidbits to pass the time online, so here's another selection that should be well worth a look. Dive in.Sea Change Goes OnlineSea Change Festival, run from Totnes... Read more... |
Album: Lucinda Williams - Good Souls Better AngelsWednesday, 22 April 2020
Few singers can channel bitterness, anger and pain as well as Lucinda Williams: she moves with ease from a fierce snarl to a sensual drawl, and from a naked show of vulnerability to a rocker’s raunch. As with Tom Waits, with whom she has sometimes... Read more... |
One World: Together at Home livestream review - all eight hours of it!Monday, 20 April 2020
What times. They cancelled Glastonbury. Festival season 2020 disappeared. Then certain potions and compounds associated with festivaling ran dry. Well, the latter exist, of course. There’s a fellow over the road who’s still selling talcum powder and... Read more... |
Album: BC Camplight - Shortly After TakeoffMonday, 20 April 2020
The out-of-control missile on the cover is emblematic. The actual takeoff in question is the flight Brian Christinzio was forced to board in 2015 following his deportation from the UK. What came next is the album title's "shortly after": an enforced... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels - Sockin’ It To YouSunday, 19 April 2020
How Mitch Ryder is seen depends on particular perspectives. The Detroit blue-eyed soul belter racked up a string of US hits on 45 in 1966 and 1967. He made many albums, became an oldies radio staple and a perennial live draw. In the UK though he was... Read more... |
Album: Fra Fra - Funeral SongsSaturday, 18 April 2020
Rituals of death call for music: to see the spirits of the dead off on their journey to the other side, to express the grief of those left behind or to celebrate the cycle of life and death. Fra Fra are a quartet from the predominantly Muslim... Read more... |
Album: Twinnie - Hollywood GypsyFriday, 17 April 2020
One thing with this whole lockdown business is that we’re all trying to be as nice as possible to each other. At the moment, we music writers aim to recommend material people can enjoy while stuck at home. Our knives are staying sheathed. What, then... Read more... |
