New music
CD: Damien Jurado – Brothers and Sisters of the Eternal SonMonday, 20 January 2014
Damien Jurado last surfaced as one of Moby’s collaborators on the Innocents album. From the sound of Brothers and Sisters of the Eternal Son, Beck might have been a more logical musical partner. Texture-wise, Jurado’s new release sits alongside Sea... Read more... |
CD: Ed Harcourt - Time of DustSunday, 19 January 2014
Ed Harcourt – with his vulnerable tenor vocals – treads the knife-edge between melancholy and self-indulgence, romantic yearning and comfort-zone sentimentality. At his best, he delivers literate songwriting, with poetic imagery that is... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Small FacesSunday, 19 January 2014
Small Faces: Here Comes the Nice - The Immediate YearsWhen theartsdesk last covered Small Faces’ reissues in May 2012, the review concluded “the Deluxe Editions are probably (who knows what might lurk in obscure archives?) the last word on... Read more... |
CD: Mogwai - Rave TapesSaturday, 18 January 2014
It is almost 20 years since Mogwai emerged into the post-rock scene with their particular brand of ambient art rock. In recent years, they have also dipped into producing soundtracks for French television’s Les Revenants (which appeared in the... Read more... |
CD: James Vincent McMorrow - Post TropicalThursday, 16 January 2014
It was almost a decade ago, when that Mercury-winning Antony and the Johnsons album was everywhere, that I learned that there was no such thing as critical consensus. The writers who raved about the album were correct in that Antony Hegarty’s voice... Read more... |
Extract: Cher - Strong EnoughWednesday, 15 January 2014
Cher was the multi-platform performer of her day, a singer, TV personality, cabaret artist, and Oscar-winning actress. She came up as the initially teenage half of pop duo Sonny & Cher (pictured below left) in the mid-Sixties with her partner (... Read more... |
CD: New War - New WarWednesday, 15 January 2014
This debut album came out a couple of years ago in New War’s native Australia but is now receiving a full international release courtesy of All Tomorrow's Parties. It deserves it. The quartet from Melbourne give rock, indie, punk - and a whole lot... Read more... |
CD: Samantha Crain – Kid FaceMonday, 13 January 2014
Drawing colour from country and Appalachian traditions while echoing the world-weary moods of singer-songwriters like Karen Dalton, Kris Kristofferson, Willie Nelson and Townes Van Zandt, the third album from Oklahoma’s Samantha Crain doesn’t... Read more... |
CD: The Gloaming - The GloamingSunday, 12 January 2014
Musically, lyrically, dramatically, on every count this debut album from The Gloaming is exceptional. Four-fifths of the group - Clare fiddle player Martin Hayes, Chicago guitarist Dennis Cahill, the Cúil Aodha sean nós singer Iarla Ó Lionaird and... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Jackson C. FrankSunday, 12 January 2014
Jackson C. Frank: Jackson C. Frank“I am afraid of the ocean as much as the possibility it is my mother,” declared Jackson C. Frank in the liner notes to his sole, eponymous album, issued in September 1965. “Songs that I write aren’t mine to... Read more... |
Gwilym Simcock, Kings PlaceSaturday, 11 January 2014
Gwilym Simcock, pianist, composer, and jazz-classical crossover specialist, is releasing two albums this year, and at Kings Place last night, the audience had a taste of both. An evening billed as the launch of Instrumation, Simcock’s new album of... Read more... |
Bruce Springsteen - High HopesSaturday, 11 January 2014
As fans of Dylan’s Bootleg series will testify, “odds and ends” albums may require a small modification of expectations. High Hopes falls into a similar category: it’s a collection of 12 re-recordings, outtakes and covers of material that the Boss... Read more... |
