New music
Outer Limits, Studio 9294 review - quickfire sets and snowman dancingMonday, 16 December 2019
Whatever your office Christmas party was like, I can (almost) guarantee that it wasn’t as much fun as this Fire Records event. Running from five to midnight in Studio 9294, with lashing rain cutting across the River Lea just behind the venue, it was... Read more... |
Albums of the Year 2019: Angie McMahon - SaltMonday, 16 December 2019
Appearing on NPR Music’s legendary Tiny Desk Concert series back in autumn, Taylor Swift talked about how, in interviews over the years, she’d been asked a thousand variations on “what would you write about if you ever get happy?” “Would I not be... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Jim SullivanSunday, 15 December 2019
Hugh Hefner established Playboy Records in 1972 as an arm of his male-targeted business empire. Amongst the singles issued in its first year were seven-inchers by jazzer Bobby Scott, proto-yacht rockers The Hudson Brothers, singer-songwriter Tim... Read more... |
Albums of the Year 2019: Imperial Wax - Gastwerk SaboteursSaturday, 14 December 2019
No-one needs to be told that 2019 was a year which saw the UK, USA and many other countries looking somewhat at unease with themselves. Inevitably, this filtered down into much of the music that was produced under these conditions. Even Peter... Read more... |
CD: Josh Rouse - The Holiday Sounds of Josh RouseThursday, 12 December 2019
Nebraska-born singer-songwriter Josh Rouse made his name in Nashville and has spent the past 15 years living in Spain, and his latest offering gathers together elements of both sides of the Atlantic in a meandering, twinkling collection of Christmas... Read more... |
Mark Lanegan Band, Roundhouse review - rocking reiteration of Mr Gruff’s personaWednesday, 11 December 2019
It’s not about spontaneity. Bar switching the order of a couple of songs at the beginning and during the encore, the set was the same as a couple of days earlier in Paris. And, just-before that, in Turnout, Belgium. The first UK date on Mark Lanegan... Read more... |
CD: Robbie Williams – The Christmas PresentWednesday, 11 December 2019
Here’s some Christmas cheer for you – Robbie Williams now ties Elvis for the most number ones in a solo career. Take that in (pun intended). While there was a fleeting moment in the late Nineties when he could do no wrong, chart-wise, Mr Williams... Read more... |
Dido, Maida Vale Studios review - old hits bring unresolved ironyTuesday, 10 December 2019
She’s back. Dido stopped touring in 2004 and stayed away from it for 15 years. But since starting again in March of this year, she has gone at it with gusto and performed well over 50 concerts, with last night’s Maida Vale session for the series BBC... Read more... |
Dinosaur Pile-Up, O2 Institute, Birmingham review - grungy punk poppers end the weekend on a highTuesday, 10 December 2019
Dinosaur Pile-Up may have been around for more than a decade, but it would be fair to say that their career has been something of a slow burn. Indeed, while thanking tonight’s support acts, main man Matt Bigland claimed that they’d supported more... Read more... |
CD: Los Lobos - LLegó NavidadMonday, 09 December 2019
In a season awash with limp carols, dodgy glam-rock and schmaltzy jazz, all credit to Los Lobos for coming up with something different. LLegó Navidad (Christmas is Here) contains 12 festive folk songs, mostly hailing from Latin America.... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Dave Godin's Deep Soul Treasures Volume 5Sunday, 08 December 2019
“I was just released from the hospital…the doctor told me that the medicine can’t do me no good. They told me what I have is beyond medical science…he told me that what I have is more serious than cancer. He told me what I have is a very, very bad... Read more... |
Rick Wakeman’s Grumpy Old Christmas Show, Cadogan Hall review – solo piano and Yuletide nostalgiaSaturday, 07 December 2019
The cape, the banked-up synths and the glam have gone. Rick Wakeman’s Grumpy Old Christmas Show consists of just the man, his piano and his stories and jokes, mostly about Christmas and family. The music is partly from his new solo piano album... Read more... |
