New music
Say Yes To Another Excess - TWERK, Sadler's WellsSaturday, 07 March 2015
"The music will be loud," the slender usher warns on entry to altered natives' "Say Yes To Another Excess" – TWERK, as a Grime bassline shakes the flimsy theatre floor. She hands over a text-heavy programme and does not frisk me. This is no London... Read more... |
CD: Marc Almond - The Velvet TrailSaturday, 07 March 2015
Chris Braide is at the heart of the LA songwriting machine, knocking up tungsten-plated radio candy with Britney, Beyoncé, Sia and the like. A Cheshire lad transported to Hollywood (he also wrote the music for Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby), he’s... Read more... |
theartsdesk on Vinyl: Volume 3 - Nick Cave, Max Richter, Vessels, and moreFriday, 06 March 2015
Did you know there's a heated debate going on about “hot stampers”? As the resurgence in vinyl continues, there are those who wish to attribute value to their own knowledge and to their vinyl collections. In the e-consumer trenches, where... Read more... |
tUnE-yArDs, Royal Festival HallFriday, 06 March 2015
For the headliners of the Women Of The World Festival at London's Southbank Centre, there is less feisty feminism put on for show than you might expect. It's a nod to how far things have progressed - that other than the obligiatory thanksgiving for... Read more... |
Mari Kvien Brunvoll, Kings PlaceThursday, 05 March 2015
Mari Kvien Brunvoll - Norwegian improviser, singer and composer - enters the Kings Place stage more like a pianist's page-turner than the night's sole performer, and sits cross-legged at her pedals. Dressed in a neutral dark grey, she doesn't seek... Read more... |
CD: Fairport Convention - Myths & HeroesThursday, 05 March 2015
Fairport Convention might have been around for almost 50 years, but they still clearly know how to deliver timeless quality. Their new album, made up of all new tracks (a departure from the previous album By Popular Request which comprised re-... Read more... |
Spectres, The LexingtonThursday, 05 March 2015
I first saw Spectres last October at the 10th birthday celebrations for their label, Sonic Cathedral. That night, they struck me as noisy, spiky and fun. If that sounds like faint praise, it really wasn't meant to be – noisy, spiky fun is in my all-... Read more... |
CD: Jimmy Somerville - HomageWednesday, 04 March 2015
Disco was about the dancefloor: a music that delivered the goods in one-song bursts which made assembled revellers move. The album was not its natural home. Of course, the compilation thrives and albums with side-long tracks hit the right note, but... Read more... |
CD: Emily Saunders - Outsiders InsidersMonday, 02 March 2015
Emily Saunders has crafted a reputation for cool, sophisticated songs blending Brazilian themes and rhythms with a clean, precise, almost Scandinavian delivery. On this, her second album, she includes electronic sounds and distorted vocals, moulding... Read more... |
CD: Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds – Chasing YesterdaySunday, 01 March 2015
The enduring appeal of Noel Gallagher isn't hard to fathom. His music is brimming with resolution and resolve; it does what we expect it to with a rewarding honesty and an often admirable lack of pretence. This meant that, on 2011’s Noel Gallagher’s... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Bridget St. JohnSunday, 01 March 2015
Bridget St. John: Dandelion Albums & BBC CollectionPigeonholing Bridget St. John is gratifyingly difficult. Although generally categorised as folk, her early albums actually posited her as a singer-songwriter following her own path. Like... Read more... |
Jazz for Labour, BarbicanSaturday, 28 February 2015
Jazz and politics go way back. Throughout its history the music has been involved with underground resistance movements in Nazi Germany and Communist Russia. It was inextricably entwined with civil rights campaigns in the United States and it played... Read more... |
