New music
Adam Sweeting
We're packed into the basement of Madrid's Costello Nite Club, a kind of narrow brick-lined tunnel off the Calle Gran Via. It's the kind of place where you could imagine finding groups of earnest jazzniks nodding along to atonal pandemonium in 11/7 time.Not tonight though. Onstage, we find a stocky, bearded gentleman in a burgundy-coloured jacket and fedora hat. He's leading his all-American band through a selection of country-rock, bluegrass, hoedowns and swamp blues, played with a downhome country twang and a topping of scorching country fiddle by Erin Slaver. From the look of him, you Read more ...
Lisa-Marie Ferla
If you haven’t fallen for Emma Pollock by the end of the first two songs on In Search of Harperfield – you know, on the off chance that you have somehow been immune to the first lady of Scottish indie over the past 20 years – then there’s probably no help for you. In just two songs, Pollock perfectly showcases her dynamic talent: there’s the dreamy, ghostly “Cannot Keep a Secret”, as immersive a song ever written to fit Pollock’s husky, beguiling voice; and “Don’t Make Me Wait”, a catchy rocker that’s as insistent as its name.Five and a half years since 2010’s The Law of Large Numbers and Read more ...
Kieron Tyler
The nature of Europe, its administration, institutions and its porousness are hot topics. Sectors of Britain’s media and political class hyperventilate over trumped-up concerns while real issues which are just about impossible to address remain unresolved. In this climate, the European Border Breakers Awards are ripe for misinterpretation. Instead of being for those devising the shrewdest ways to slip in and out of countries, they are an annual European Union-sponsored award presented to pop musicians achieving success beyond their own borders.There are rules in this contest, one which no one Read more ...
Kieron Tyler
While Harpers Bizarre’s US Top 20 version of Simon & Garfunkel’s “The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)” will always be their single turned to by American oldies radio, its follow-up “Come to the Sunshine” defines their sound and musical attitude. Written and previously recorded by Van Dyke Parks, it captures an irresistibly effervescent Californian harmony pop which painted a sonic picture of the West Coast in 1967 as balmy, beautiful and seductive. In the same way as The Beach Boys’ early surfing songs, it was as much invitation as postcard, one which said: bring yourself into an Read more ...
Russ Coffey
There's something comforting about Turin Brakes and their psychedelic take on Seventies folk-rock. Partly it's their melodies. But there's also an inherent honesty in the duo's tight harmonies and dreamy rhythms. Indeed, once upon a time Olly Knights and Gale Paridjanian seemed the future of British acoustic rock. Instead we got the likes of James Morrison and Mumford and Sons. Still, Turin Brakes never went away, and Lost Property, their seventh studio album, is their best for quite a while.The record kicks off with "96" and "Keep Me Around", both of which are marked by an infectiousness Read more ...
Thomas H. Green
Welcome to the first theartsdesk on Vinyl of 2016. Last year saw vinyl go from a surprisingly successful retro underdog format to a profitable investment for major labels, notably Universal. This resulted in much grouching about bottlenecks of new indie material that couldn’t get onto vinyl because of pressing plants being hogged by endless cheapo repackages of old Queen albums and the like. 2016, however, should see the manufacturing end leap forward to meet the demand. Newbilt Machinery in Germany have copied the design of existing machines in old record plants, updating them with Read more ...
joe.muggs
Questions of what is authentic and what is retro get more complicated the more the information economy matures. Music from decades past that only tens or hundreds of people heard at the time it was made becomes readily available, gets sampled by new musicians, and passes into the current vernacular. Modern musicians play archaic styles day in day out until it becomes so worn into their musculature that it reflects their natural way of being. Tiny snippets of time that were once meaningless become memes that are shared and snared into the post-post-modern digital tangle.And in the thick of all Read more ...
Katie Colombus
All the tracks for Sia’s seventh studio album were pitched to pop stars like Rihanna, Katy Perry, Beyonce, Adele and Demi Levato, but didn't make the cut. To fashion an album out of rejection is so Sia – it’s tongue-in-cheek, playing a game by turning something on its head. It’s playful. It’s (among other reasons) why we love her.But while Sia might claim she’s acting in these songs that weren't written from her perspective, songwriting is a personal process and clearly the 40-year-old Australian has leveraged some of herself to get these tracks to where they are.This Is Acting is way Read more ...
Matthew Wright
Many jazz singers are known for an instantly recognisable tone. Billie Holiday or Louis Armstrong are known the moment they open their mouth, for a particular quality of delivery. Jazz singer and comedian Ian Shaw, who launched his 14th album at Pizza Express Jazz Club last night, works differently. His best performances are about the blend of comedian’s timing and musician’s tone, and once he’d warmed up last night, there were tears and giggles aplenty.His new album combines originals and an eclectic collection of covers, and they give the incredible versatility of his vocal range full rein Read more ...
mark.kidel
Tricky navigates a kind of penumbra, a fertile and ever-renewing source of inspiration in which his mixed-race, gender-fluid self can re-invent itself periodically, while staying true to his roots and his unique self-taught take on the world of electronics and beats.His latest album maintains the high standards he has established over the last few years. The restlessness that’s taken him to New York to Paris, back to London and now to Berlin, is reflected in the sombre edginess of the music, and in his willingness to experiment with collaborations, inspired by the creative presence of others Read more ...
Guy Oddy
Bloodsports, Suede’s 2013 comeback album after several years’ hiatus, was something special with its re-engineered sound, but one which stayed firmly within the familiar lyrical territory of death, love, anguish and despair. Never scared to try something new, Night Thoughts is an album that was conceived to accompany a film of the same name that received its debut performance last autumn at London’s Roundhouse. However, given that the music is only half of the project, listening to these tunes isn’t a totally satisfying experience on its own, but it does generate enough curiosity to seek out Read more ...
Kieron Tyler
A Coliseum Complex Museum is defined by its density. The Montréal band’s fifth album begins with a flurry of percussion which gives way to treated guitar and frontman Jace Lasek’s almost-falsetto vocal. Opening cut “The Bray Road Beast” is initially ethereal, with the space between each musical contribution suggesting a tantalisingly unfinished picture. By the time it finishes, after five minutes, layer upon layer of guitar, Mellotron, double-tracked vocals and more have been added. The result is a steamrolling assault on the ears.The Besnard Lakes’ favoured mélange remains a constant: Read more ...