New music
The Prodigy, O2 Academy, BirminghamFriday, 08 May 2015
The over-full O2 Academy is already like a sauna, with sweat dripping down the walls and clouds of condensation drifting above the audience, before the Prodigy even take to the stage in Birmingham. However, when a fur-coated MC Maxim leads the band... Read more... |
Laura Moody, The Old Church, Stoke NewingtonThursday, 07 May 2015
The venues Laura Moody has played on this, her first national tour, have included a launderette, a lighthouse, and the philosophy section of a well-known Oxford bookshop – all, apparently, selected for their “intimate and unusual” quality. It's... Read more... |
CD: Death and Vanilla – To Where the Wild Things AreThursday, 07 May 2015
Back in the Seventies, in between keeping an eye out for the unwanted attentions of radio DJs and waiting for punk, the internet or colours to happen, there was real beauty if you knew where to look. By which I mean telly, of course. From the... Read more... |
CD: Chungking - DefenderWednesday, 06 May 2015
Chungking are Brighton's great could-have-should-have band. Appearing around a decade ago the trio, enigmatically fronted by singer Jessie Banks, offered up an opulent alternative take on the whole indie-dance thing. Songs such as “Stay Up Forever”... Read more... |
CD: Joe Stilgoe – New Songs for Old SoulsMonday, 04 May 2015
For someone apparently so suave, Joe Stilgoe feels uncomfortable in the modern world. His third album is an express journey - in an exquisitely furnished, authentic carriage - back to a pre-bebop era of bronzed, big-band swing, and witty pianist-... Read more... |
The Warlocks, Rainbow, BirminghamSunday, 03 May 2015
The Warlocks are a psychedelic band from LA who dress not unlike the Velvet Underground in their prime and are clearly not given to star-like behaviour. They slope onto the stage at Birmingham’s Rainbow, tune up and burst straight into “Red Camera”... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Eurovision 2015Sunday, 03 May 2015
Various Artists: Building Bridges - Eurovision Song Contest Vienna 2015Mind-bogglingly, Australia is a first-time entrant in Eurovision 2015. The nature of Europe may be a concern for some backwards-looking British voters in next week’s... Read more... |
theartsdesk Q&A: Musician Peter PerrettSaturday, 02 May 2015
Peter Perrett (b. 1952) is best known as the singer and songwriter of The Only Ones, a group who originally flared to brilliant life between 1976 and 1981. Born to an English policeman-turned-builder and a mother whose immediate heritage lay amid... Read more... |
CD: Mumford and Sons - Wilder MindSaturday, 02 May 2015
Mumford and Sons, world conquering as they are, still fall victim to various accusations. Some, for instance, loathe their blandness. Others detect a whiff of smug middle class about them. Perhaps a more interesting observation, though, is how the... Read more... |
CD: Palma Violets - Danger in the ClubThursday, 30 April 2015
“A lot of bands want to over-complicate their second album,” says Palma Violets bassist Chilli Jesson in the press release. “We know that we didn’t.” This is a manifesto they adhere to with results that are mixed. On the one hand, at a time when pop... Read more... |
San Fermin, Jazz CaféWednesday, 29 April 2015
San Fermin have enough brass to rock Mardi Gras and the vocal range to stretch an opera chorus, but they are, still, a pop group. The Brooklyn indie octet’s straight-through rendition of their second album Jackrabbit, released last week, inspired... Read more... |
CD: Django Django – Born Under SaturnWednesday, 29 April 2015
So, what I’m probably supposed to do when reviewing Django Django’s new album, Born Under Saturn, is mention the sleeper-hit success of their 2012 self-titled debut. I’m then definitely supposed to do a funny and find some suitable similes before... Read more... |
