New music
theartsdesk Q&A: Musician Jim Reid of The Jesus and Mary ChainSaturday, 21 February 2015
With The Jesus & Mary Chain reformed and currently touring their epochal debut album, Psychocandy, theartsdesk reaches into its archives to offer up a rare and very extensive interview with lead singer Jim Reid from 2010.Jim Reid (b 1961) is... Read more... |
George Ezra, O2 Academy, BrixtonSaturday, 21 February 2015
Well, the vocals were certainly formidable...but what else would you expect? As a teenager George Ezra says he would listen for hours to his dad’s Leadbelly albums, whilst gazing at sleeve notes that read: “This voice is so big you may need to turn... Read more... |
Bob Dorough and Friends, Pizza Express Jazz ClubSaturday, 21 February 2015
Aged 91, and as frisky as a newborn puppy, the US singer, pianist and songwriter Bob Dorough is a sui generis stylist whose smart lyrics – delivered in an understated southern brogue – and nimble pianism which nods to both bebop and swing masters,... Read more... |
CD: Scorpions - Return to ForeverSaturday, 21 February 2015
The past few years have seen a glut of successful rock comebacks – in fact, acts like Judas Priest, Kiss and Saxon are rocking as hard now as they ever did. Unfortunately, for every group that has defied the years, there’s another who should have... Read more... |
Rebecca Ferguson, St. James TheatreThursday, 19 February 2015
Billie Holiday’s anniversary this year deserves much celebration, and British soul singer and X-Factor alumna Rebecca Ferguson last night got the party swinging. Her new album, Lady Sings the Blues, which comes out next month, is a tribute to... Read more... |
CD: Brothers of the Sonic Cloth – Brothers of the Sonic ClothWednesday, 18 February 2015
Those with long memories may remember Tad from the first wave of Seattle grunge. The band accompanied Nirvana on their first UK tour and released some lively metal-heavy records such as God’s Balls, Salt Lick and Eight-Way Santa, before disappearing... Read more... |
CD: Public Service Broadcasting - The Race for SpaceWednesday, 18 February 2015
The 1960s media's wild excitement about the space race is now almost forgotten. The era when every boy wanted to be an astronaut is ancient history. The period is, however, a goldmine for gloriously kitsch cosmic samples, a fact electronic... Read more... |
CD: Charli XCX - SuckerMonday, 16 February 2015
Had it not been for the fact that Charli “XCX” Aitchison had struggled to find a hit of her own until last summer’s Fault in Our Stars-soundtracking “Boom Clap”, I’d be convinced that she had tapped into some secret formula for producing perfect pop... Read more... |
CD: Carter Tutti – Carter Tutti Plays Chris & CoseySunday, 15 February 2015
There’s a danger in an artist having their work reinterpreted that the end result will be little more than a rough outline of the original. Look at Metallica’s axe job on the Velvet Underground for instance. Still, on the bright side, at least they... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Orchestral Manoeuvres in the DarkSunday, 15 February 2015
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark: Junk CultureOMD’s fifth album, Junk Culture, followed 1983’s Dazzle Ships into the shops. Where that was experimental, fragmented, wilful, used found sounds and, in places, eschewed melody and traditional song form... Read more... |
Steve Strange, 1959-2015Friday, 13 February 2015
The death of Steve Strange, aged 55, was both a surprise and not a surprise to me. His adult life in and out of the spotlight had been something of an unpredictable rollercoaster ride where anything could happen.I had followed his career since the... Read more... |
CD: Six Organs of Admittance: HexadicFriday, 13 February 2015
While much of Hexadic is a blast, the first album from Six Organs of Admittance since 2012’s Ascent offers much that’s familiar: the snail’s pace heaviosity and shifts between bone-crushing density and desiccated sparseness of Dylan Carlson’s Earth... Read more... |
