New music
Album: Bolis Pupul - Letter to YuThursday, 07 March 2024
This album starts on an extremely literal note. The whole record is themed around Belgian born-and-raised Bolis Pupul’s explorations of the Chinese side of his heritage after his mother’s death in 2008, and his regrets at not having done so when she... Read more... |
Album: Norah Jones - VisionsWednesday, 06 March 2024
Here’s a question: do singer-songwriters produce their strongest songs in times of upheaval, as they seek to express a feeling of “this stuff is hard”? Or do more powerful creations emerge once the anguish has been overcome?Norah Jones’s Pick Me Up... Read more... |
theartsdesk on Vinyl 82: Human League, Hawkwind, Roberta Flack, Kid Acne, Photek, Rudimentary Peni and moreMonday, 04 March 2024
VINYL OF THE MONTHMito y Comadre Guajirando (ZZK)Mito y Comadre are Guillermo Lares and Shana Comadre, a Bogota-based pair of Venezuelans whose debut album is produced by Christian Castagno (a man who’s more likely to be found helming outings by... Read more... |
Album: Loreena McKennitt - The Road Back HomeMonday, 04 March 2024
It was one of those truly memorable evenings – a Royal Albert Hall concert by a someone with a long career (and record sales of 14 million), a woman I’d been introduced to only a few months earlier when a music-loving friend gifted me a CD.... Read more... |
Music Reissues Weekly: Mark Eric - A Midsummer’s Day DreamSunday, 03 March 2024
In June 1969, The Beach Boys released “Break Away” as a single. A month earlier, they had announced they were leaving Capitol Records, who they had been with since 1962. The split with their long-term label came after the band sued for unpaid... Read more... |
Album: Squarepusher - DostrotimeSaturday, 02 March 2024
Tom “Squarepusher” Jenkinson has covered a lot of ground over three decades, from dank cellar ambience to refined baroque composition, and from chirpy funk to monstrous noise. But his default mode is instantly recognisable: 170+ beats per minute... Read more... |
Album: Kaiser Chiefs - Kaiser Chiefs’ Easy Eighth AlbumFriday, 01 March 2024
Kaiser Chiefs’ appropriately named Kaiser Chiefs’ Easy Eighth Album is a collection of ten easy listening, but not particularly imaginative, tracks. That said, with nine Top 40 singles and a comfortable legacy under their belt, perhaps imaginative... Read more... |
Album: Liam Gallagher John Squire - Liam Gallagher John SquireThursday, 29 February 2024
Those who were around to witness the release of the Stone Roses’ Second Coming album will no doubt remember how a record-buying public were generally left shaking their heads in disbelief when, instead of a raft of tunes echoing the magnificent “... Read more... |
Album: Yard Act - Where's My Utopia?Wednesday, 28 February 2024
The best popular music tunes into the zeitgeist. It can reflect cultural currents, encourage them, or enable the public to turn away and just party. At a time when the future of humanity feels more uncertain than at any time since the height of the... Read more... |
Album: The Bevis Frond - Focus on NatureMonday, 26 February 2024
Musically, the assured Focus on Nature knows exactly what it is. Fuzzy, psychedelic-leaning, folk-aware pop-rock with an emphasis on guitars about captures it. And what tunes – this 75-minute double album’s 19 songs are immediate, instantly... Read more... |
Music Reissues Weekly: Blank Generation, Just Want To Be MyselfSunday, 25 February 2024
“I hate it, so I guess Eater have succeeded.” NME’s March 1977 appraisal of the debut single by UK punk's teen sensations was direct. In his trailblazing British punk fanzine Sniffin' Glue, Mark Perry was equally forthright when contemplating “... Read more... |
Album: Everything Everything - MountainheadSaturday, 24 February 2024
There are few bands who can claim to operate in a similar visionary style as Everything Everything. Since their 2010 debut Man Alive, the Manchester group have played in a space all their own, dissecting the structures of human relationships from... Read more... |
