New music
CD: Pigfoot - 21st Century Acid TradThursday, 09 January 2014
For his new band, Pigfoot, trumpeter Chris Batchelor has gathered three virtuosos of British jazz. Between them, pianist Liam Noble, tuba player Oren Marshall and drummer Paul Clarvis have made some of the most original British jazz of the past few... Read more... |
CD: Shonna Tucker & Eye Candy - A Tell AllTuesday, 07 January 2014
Country music in the 21st century is the weirdest thing, and not much of it seems to have to do with the country any more. At its commercial end, it sells billions of records by men with tight T-shirts and women with very white teeth who all drive... Read more... |
CD: Angel Haze - Dirty GoldMonday, 06 January 2014
Angel Haze learnt the art of crafting an identity from gigantic pop icons. Raised in what she describes as a cult, she was unable to hear pop music until the age of 14, when she discovered - and devoured - everything at once. Her backstory,... Read more... |
Landes, Aurora Orchestra, Collon, Kings PlaceSunday, 05 January 2014
May this be a New Year sign and a symbol of a revitalized concert scene to come: an eclectic programme of dazzling range to draw in the new pick-and-mix generation, full of segues that worked and executed with the right balance of poetry and in-your... Read more... |
CD: Duncan Chisholm - Live at Celtic ConnectionsSunday, 05 January 2014
Chisholm was born and raised in Inverness in the Scottish Highlands, and was tutored by great fiddler player, composer and instrument maker Donald Riddell. He's a regular player with Julie Fowlis and with his own band Wolfstone, and this is a live... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Love, Poetry and RevolutionSunday, 05 January 2014
Various Artists: Love, Poetry and RevolutionThe subtitle “A Journey Through the British Psychedelic and Underground Scenes” – with “A” as the operative word – suggests this box set isn’t going to tell a familiar story. Most of the bands were... Read more... |
Phil Everly, Rock'n'Roll Original: 1939-2014Saturday, 04 January 2014
With the passing of Phil Everly of the Everly Brothers yesterday, aged 74, rock’n’roll loses half of one of its greatest original pairings. With his brother Don he meshed the close harmonies of country acts such as the Louvin Brothers with the poppy... Read more... |
Album of the Year: Wayne Shorter Quartet - Without A NetFriday, 03 January 2014
In jazz, 2013 belonged to Wayne Shorter. In recognition of a remarkable six-decade career as a saxophonist, educator and composer, Shorter, who turned 80 in August last year, received a lifetime achievement award from the Thelonious Monk... Read more... |
Album of the Year: David Bowie - The Next DayThursday, 02 January 2014
It was almost exactly a year ago (January 8, 2013, to be precise) that we awoke to the news that David Bowie, far from dying, retiring, or living the half-life of a rock and roll renunciant in his Riverside apartment, had blindsided us all by sneak-... Read more... |
Album of the Year: DJ Rashad - Double CupWednesday, 01 January 2014
It's been an exceptional year for electronic music worldwide, and while the UK has mostly always afforded it the respect and admiration it deserves, it is more surprising to find that the United States has finally allowed dance music a pass into the... Read more... |
New Music 2013: A Death-Defying IndustryTuesday, 31 December 2013
2013 was the year that Thom Yorke, somewhat tautologically, referred to the music business as “a dying corpse”, and Justin Bieber's manager Scooter Braun claimed that same business “doesn't exist any more.” This was slightly odd, given that it was... Read more... |
World Music 2013: A Quiet StormTuesday, 31 December 2013
Not a year in which big names came through, and many on the list below are actually quite introverted and low-key, but none the worse for that. Among numerous global musical gems this year were the following:The Fes Festival of World Sacred Music... Read more... |
