New music
Album: Dion - Blues With FriendsThursday, 04 June 2020
As news bulletins compare events in America to 1968, the mental jukebox spins almost inevitably to “Abraham, Martin and John”, first recorded by Dion – the price of a new record contract after he‘d got clean and split from The Belmonts. It’s not the... Read more... |
New Music Lockdown 9: Chic, Laura Marling, Billy Bragg, Steel Panther, Wendy James and moreWednesday, 03 June 2020
For better or worse, the lockdown may be easing in the UK but there’s no sign of any gig action, even on the far distant horizon. So it’s back to our screens for all that, and here’s the latest, liveliest selection of concerts, conversations and... Read more... |
Album: Westerman - Your Hero is not DeadWednesday, 03 June 2020
Will Westerman is not afraid of sounding retro. It's clear his influences are diverse, from jazz fusion to the bedroom proto-house experiments of Arthur Russell. But in their final form, his high gloss production, highly literate songs and fretless... Read more... |
Album: Sonic Boom - All Things Being EqualMonday, 01 June 2020
Experiencing All Things Being Equal is akin to taking a trip through The Time Tunnel. Although the songs and the recordings on the new solo album from former Spacemen 3 man Pete Kember aka Sonic Boom are recent, they could have been lifted from his... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Edikanfo - The Pace SettersSunday, 31 May 2020
Ghana was visited by two British musicians in the early Eighties. One was Mick Fleetwood, who recorded the Visitor album in Accra during January and February 1981. The other was Brian Eno, who came to the country in late 1980 to attend the National... Read more... |
Album: Bab L'Bluz - NaydaSaturday, 30 May 2020
Bab L’Bluz are a Franco-Moroccan band, They’re the latest in a succession of musicians - going back to the pioneers Nass El Ghiwane, and the recently departed Rachid Taha - to have created a vibrant fusion of traditional sounds from the Maghreb with... Read more... |
Album: Lady Gaga - ChromaticaFriday, 29 May 2020
Lady Gaga proclaimed by Tweet that her sixth album represents her “absolute love of electronic music”. Chromatica features EDM names such as Axwell from Swedish House Mafia, French DJ-producers Tchami and Madeon, bro’step superstar Skillex, as well... Read more... |
New Music Lockdown 8: Take That, Moby, Kaiser Chiefs, Róisín Murphy and moreWednesday, 27 May 2020
From the biggest man band of all time to a rising Doncaster DJ, from the lofts of New York to the garage studios rooms of Scotland, the best of current musical lockdown life is here. Dive in!Take That/Robbie Williams: Meerkat Music ConcertThe big... Read more... |
Album: Protomartyr - Ultimate Success TodayWednesday, 27 May 2020
Joe Casey is the final refugee from the Detroit garage-rock scene which spawned The White Stripes. He has led this otherwise young band for five albums now, every one of which feels like an indignant last stand. Feeling under the baleful influence... Read more... |
The Songs of Coronavirus and Lockdown LifeTuesday, 26 May 2020
At the start of March an obscure alt-metal outfit called Cegvera released a concept album titled The Sixth Glare. The physical album featured the headline “DISEASE” alongside a photograph of a woman in a protective facemask, and the sleeve notes... Read more... |
Album: The Magnetic Fields - QuickiesMonday, 25 May 2020
In pop music, less is often more and it doesn't come much shorter-and-sweeter than Quickies, the new collection from New York songwriter Stephin Merritt. The tracks range in length from a brisk 13 seconds to a whisker over two and a half minutes,... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Keith Relf - All the Falling AngelsSunday, 24 May 2020
“Collector of the Light” is based around what sounds like a treated bass guitar. As the neck is moved up and down, multiple notes are plucked at once. The instrument’s sound is subaquatic, wobbly. Over this, a distant, echoey voice sings of being... Read more... |
