New music
Jazz FM Awards 2015Friday, 12 June 2015
Hosted by self-confessed jazz nut John Thomson, a.k.a. The Fast Show's “Jazz Club” presenter Louis Balfour, the winners of this year's Jazz FM Awards were announced on Wednesday evening in the atmospheric setting of the Great Halls at Vinopolis.... Read more... |
CD: Giorgio Moroder - Déjà vuFriday, 12 June 2015
Giorgio Moroder has long been adopted by the cognoscenti. He’s the studio wizard who gave us key Seventies disco hits, iconic in the development of electronic music and club culture. The culmination of this archiving tendency was the tribute song on... Read more... |
Perfume Genius / Jenny Hval, RFHThursday, 11 June 2015
Neither the name, the look, nor the recorded sound of Perfume Genius (*****) seems like the thing to set about a packed Royal Festival Hall with shock and awe, though there was plenty of both in last night’s show. The Seattle singer, known to his... Read more... |
The Damned: Don't You Wish That We Were DeadThursday, 11 June 2015
What Wes Orshoski’s new documentary points out, above everything, is how much pop success relies on an ordered narrative and an easily understood package. First-wave British punk band The Damned, on the other hand, wrote as many great songs as their... Read more... |
CD: Maria Schneider Orchestra - The Thompson FieldsThursday, 11 June 2015
With slowly chiming piano chords, an impossibly high sustained note on the accordion, and a melody of the utmost loveliness on alto clarinet, the achingly beautiful “Walking by Flashpoint”, the opening track of The Thompson Fields,... Read more... |
CD: José Padilla - So Many ColoursWednesday, 10 June 2015
When International Feel label boss Mark Barrott moved from Uruguay to Ibiza, it was surely only a matter of time before he hooked up with Café Del Mar’s legendary sunset soundtracker José Padilla – inevitable even. The choice of producers to... Read more... |
10 Questions for Musician Kevin Martin (AKA The Bug)Monday, 08 June 2015
Kevin Martin is a musician, record producer and journalist. He is best know for recording and performing as The Bug, however, has been and continues to be involved in a variety of other musical projects including: GOD, Techno Animal, Ice, Curse of... Read more... |
CD: Melody Gardot – Currency of ManMonday, 08 June 2015
No one can accuse Gardot of stinting on the shoe-leather. For her previous two albums she has trotted the globe, drawing together samba, tango, bossa nova and calypso into a rhythmical pot pourri. This time, for the fourth album in seven years,... Read more... |
theartsdesk in Fes: Has the magic gone?Sunday, 07 June 2015
More than anywhere else, the Fes Festival of World Sacred Music has been the place where I have gone annually for most of the last 20 years to retune my ears, to find inspiration and connections, and to discover new international music. For fans, it... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: The MothmenSunday, 07 June 2015
The Mothmen: Pay Attention!On their 20-minute “Mothman”, Manchester’s The Mothmen took a trip fusing bendy Captain Beefheart-style guitar, dub, insistent percussion and a Krautrock sensibility. The side-long track closed their album Pay Attention!,... Read more... |
CD: FFS - FFSSunday, 07 June 2015
Being arty, in pop, is generally considered a good thing. When it comes to being clever, though, things are less clear. Three-minute songs are, after all, mainly about feelings: about how much you’ve lived rather than how much you've read. Which... Read more... |
Songlines Encounters, Kings PlaceSunday, 07 June 2015
The fifth Songlines Encounters Festival at Kings Place brought together artists from around the world, offerering a powerful cultural kick-back against all manner of extremist positions. The opening Thursday featured young Portuguese Fado singer... Read more... |
