New music
CD: Free School - Dancing on the DarkThursday, 05 November 2015
For those missing the glory days of pop-dance crossover acts such as Faithless and Basement Jaxx, Free School just might be the answer. Their second album bubbles over with euphoria and catchy tunes, shaded with a multiplicity of well-chosen... Read more... |
Funke and the Two Tone Baby, The Blues KitchenWednesday, 04 November 2015
The idea of being a one-man band usually has a double edge to it, the pluckiness of independence undercut by intimations of ramshackle loneliness. Dan Turnbull, performing as Kent nu-blues musician Funke and the Two Tone Baby, touring his second... Read more... |
theartsdesk in Paris: Peregrinations on the PigalleWednesday, 04 November 2015
Sometimes appearances can be deceptive. The frontman on stage looks as generic it gets. His scruffy beard, retro specs, baseball hat, shapeless jeans and the bulging outline of a mobile phone stuffed in his trouser pocket don’t add up to suggest... Read more... |
CD: Sara Bareilles - What's Inside: Songs from WaitressWednesday, 04 November 2015
A pop album drawn from a musical could be off-putting to some. Images of Glee spring to mind or a tweenypop version of Idina Menzel – both of which seem quite a departure from Sara Bareilles’ hugely popular hits "Love Song", "Gravity" or most... Read more... |
Esperanza Spalding's Emily D+Evolution, O2 Shepherd's BushTuesday, 03 November 2015
Until last night, critics had a clear view of Esperanza Spalding as the virtuosic jazz bassist and singer, whose prodigious composing, performing and bandleading made her one of a small and precious group capable of re-making serious and popular... Read more... |
CD Special: Bob Dylan, The Cutting Edge 1965–1966Monday, 02 November 2015
Can you have too much of a good thing? I ponder this as I scroll through the 109 watermarked MP3s of Bob Dylan’s recording sessions spanning 13 January 1965 to 16 February 1966, for Bringing It All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited, and Blonde on... Read more... |
CD: Syracuse - Liquid Silver DreamMonday, 02 November 2015
There's a current running through the underground club / electronic music of the 2010s that cares not a jot for progress – but neither is it retro as such. It's been called “outsider house”, which is a pretty lame name for stuff that is often... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: LevitationSunday, 01 November 2015
Levitation: Meanwhile GardensIf Meanwhile Gardens had been issued as it was meant to be in 1993, it would not have had an easy ride. The band itself was falling apart. Founder member and former House of Love guitarist Terry Bickers had said on stage... Read more... |
CD: Georgie Fame and the Last Blue Flames - Swan SongsSunday, 01 November 2015
While many of his contemporaries make the most of their grizzled old men’s voices, Georgie Fame sounds as young and fresh as he did when he first burst on the London scene in the 1960s. This is supposedly his last album, and it sounds, in many ways... Read more... |
Patti Smith, RoundhouseSaturday, 31 October 2015
It’s Patti Smith week. Her second memoir M Train is out. To mark its publication she spoke on Wednesday night at a Guardian event of her love of Morse, Lewis and George Gently. On Thursday she had an appointment with U2 at the O2. Last night (and... Read more... |
Girl in a Band: Tales from the Rock'n'Roll Front Line, BBC FourSaturday, 31 October 2015
For women making music, it’s probably a tough call to decide on what is more tedious: being asked what it’s like being a girl in a band, or being grouped with other female musicians, regardless of genre, for magazine features and documentaries on... Read more... |
CD: Jamie Woon - Making TimeSaturday, 31 October 2015
It’s been a while since we heard from Jamie Woon. 2011 to be precise. Back then his debut album Mirrorwriting was a critics’ favourite, a ghostly post-dubstep soul affair that had “music journo-friendly” written all over it. He remains an elusive... Read more... |
