New music
BB King: 'I play the way I'm feeling'Friday, 15 May 2015
B B King was the greatest blues guitarist of the age. Many contemporary rockers credit him as a formidable inspiration, from Mick Jagger to Eric Clapton to Bono. But when I met him in 2006, the then 83-year-old musician had a different perspective... Read more... |
theartsdesk on Vinyl: Volume 5Friday, 15 May 2015
The big vinyl storm in the US media over the last month has been a kerfuffle about VNYL, the service that hoped to do for vinyl what Lovefilm used to do for DVDs. The idea, backed by a hefty and successful Kickstarter campaign, was VNYL would send... Read more... |
CD: Emmylou Harris & Rodney Crowell - The Traveling KindWednesday, 13 May 2015
Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell first put out a joint album only a couple of years ago but their association goes way back, before either’s mainstream US fame. Crowell was working closely with Harris as long ago as the mid-Seventies, still within... Read more... |
Lambert & StampTuesday, 12 May 2015
“I fell in love with both of them immediately,” says Pete Townshend of Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp, the managers who took his band The Who to world-wide success. An hour into Lambert & Stamp, a documentary on the duo, the depth of that bond is... Read more... |
CD: Thea Gilmore - Ghosts and GraffitiTuesday, 12 May 2015
Almost two decades into a distinguished career, nobody would have judged Thea Gilmore for indulging herself with a greatest hits collection – indeed, it’s something that record labels have been bugging her about for years. Album number 15... Read more... |
GoGo Penguin, Corn Exchange, BrightonTuesday, 12 May 2015
It’s a shock to see the Corn Exchange’s hundreds of seats sold out for a jazz piano trio. When I first heard GoGo Penguin two winters ago, it was in an East London basement, where new recruit Nick Blacka’s thunderous double-bass was inspiring a few... Read more... |
CD: Todd Rundgren, Hans-Peter Lindstrøm and Emil Nikolaisen – RunddansMonday, 11 May 2015
Todd Rundgren is not known for sitting on his laurels and churning out the same old stuff year after year. Since Runt, his debut solo album from 1970, he has tried out a vast array of genres from heavy metal to prog rock, EDM and power pop, as well... Read more... |
theartsdesk in Aarhus: SPOT Festival 2015Sunday, 10 May 2015
There’s no doubt SPOT is Europe’s tidiest music festival. In hosting SPOT, Denmark’s second-city Aarhus turns the expectation of what a festival can be around. There’s no mud, no one takes a stage late and the sound is always immaculate. Underworked... Read more... |
Super Furry Animals, O2 Brixton AcademySunday, 10 May 2015
The timing of this tour, to celebrate the 15th anniversary of their self-released, lo-fi masterpiece Mwng, could not be more fitting. The album was inspired, in part, by Welsh language punk band Datblygu, and the left-wing political feelings that... Read more... |
CD: The Fall - Sub-Lingual TabletSunday, 10 May 2015
The Fall has always delivered great album titles, and Sub-Lingual Tablet is right up there with the best – Witch Trials, Hex, Caustic, Are You Are Missing Winner… The song titles, too, have a medicated, sub-lingual ring that no other... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Spooky ToothSunday, 10 May 2015
Spooky Tooth: The Island Years (An Anthology) 1967–1974After Spooky Tooth called it a day in 1974, various long-time members struck out in directions as unpredictable as their former band’s identity was hard to get a handle on. Drummer Mike... Read more... |
Squarepusher, Brighton DomeFriday, 08 May 2015
There’s an odd duality about Brighton tonight. Post-election, it’s a righteous oasis, a green and red bubble amid a sea of blue. Most of Britain may have chosen to systematically destroy the NHS and the education system but Brighton stands fast. The... Read more... |
