New music
New Music Unlocked 2: Nick Cave, Tomorrowland, The Prodigy, The Clangers and moreWednesday, 22 July 2020
Everyone keeps upping their game with what and how they’re presenting music in these unwelcome times, and this week sees a red hot selection on offer. Below is a cross section of the best that’s out there to see, hear and get involved... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Super Sonics - Martin Green Presents 40 Junkshop Britpop GreatsSunday, 19 July 2020
The gentleman pictured above is Martin Green. In 1995 he was a prime mover behind The Sound Gallery, a double-album compiling groovy British easy listening and library music from around 25 years earlier which until then had been (mostly) overlooked... Read more... |
Album: Shirley Collins - Heart’s EaseSaturday, 18 July 2020
Heart’s Ease is about more than the music. Through its songs, it also chronicles a life lived. Shirley Collins learnt “Barbara Allen” at school. She first encountered “The Christmas Song” when it was sung by her early influence and inspiration The... Read more... |
Album: Ellie Goulding - Brightest BlueFriday, 17 July 2020
Everything Ellie Goulding touches turns to pop gold: her first three albums were big hits. She is yet another of those miracles bred in the British provinces, in this case a Herefordshire village. Inspired no doubt by a string of power-women from... Read more... |
Album: The Chicks - GaslighterWednesday, 15 July 2020
I have had an obsessive-loop Dixie Chicks tune for every eventuality of my life so far – “Ready To Run” for a big break up; “Wide Open Spaces” for road tripping; “Cowboy Take Me Away” for whimsical love affairs; “Not Ready To Make Nice” for general... Read more... |
New Music Unlocked 1: Reef, Supersonic Festival, Elton John and moreWednesday, 15 July 2020
The lockdown which began in March is now noticeably easing, although in the realm of gigs and festivals things are still nowhere near operative. Nonetheless, theartsdesk is responding to the changes by ceasing our many weeks of New Music Lockdown... Read more... |
Album: Nicolas Jaar - TelasWednesday, 15 July 2020
The last experience that this writer had of Nicolas Jaar’s glitchy soundscapes was through his 2011 debut album Space Is Only Noise. Nine years and five discs on, as well as other releases under the Against All Logic alias, not much has changed.... Read more... |
Album: The Pretenders - Hate for SaleMonday, 13 July 2020
It is difficult to live up to your own legacy when you’ve reached an iconic status in rock’n’roll. It is even harder when you are a frontwoman in a “masculine” genre where age makes you increasingly invisible and/or viciously criticised. Like... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Dennis HerroldSunday, 12 July 2020
It’s been a long strange trip for Dennis Herrold. The Virginia-born rocker’s sole single, December 1957’s “Hip Hip Baby” / “Make With the Lovin’”, was a full-bore rockabilly two-sider. Yet it made no waves despite being reviewed glowingly by music... Read more... |
theartsdesk Radio Show 29 - Morricone, Moroccan psychedelia and Sudanese technoSaturday, 11 July 2020
Peter Culshaw’s periodic global music radio update is back, quicker than usual as there is some catching up to do. There’s a focus on Ennio Morricone, who died this week - with his amazing range from Westerns to lush soundscapes and experimental... Read more... |
Album: JARV IS – Beyond the PaleFriday, 10 July 2020
National treasure Jarvis Cocker recently claimed in an interview with the New York Times that lyrics really aren’t that important. He’s so very wrong. Within this very album – brief though it is (seven songs, 40 minutes) and long overdue (the band... Read more... |
theartsdesk on Vinyl 58: Joy Division, Alma, Prince, African Head Charge, Wargirl and much moreFriday, 10 July 2020
Lockdown’s easing and the record shops are opening here and there. So, to help vinyl junkies on their way, here’s 7000 words of reviews, capturing the best of the last couple of months’ releases on plastic. As ever, the sounds go everywhere, from... Read more... |
