New music
CD: Susan Boyle - Home for ChristmasWednesday, 11 December 2013
Few were surprised this week, when Susan Boyle revealed she had been diagnosed with Asperger’s. Some used this knowledge as an opportunity to have another go at Simon Cowell's and his role in putting her in the spotlight. But the brittleness so... Read more... |
Get Folked: The Great Folk Revival, More4Sunday, 08 December 2013
I can’t say I ever tune into More4, so I confess that I don’t know whether its arts strand is any good, or even if it has one. But I suspect that Get Folked might have made a better three-parter on BBC Four, and not just for dedicated folk-heads. As... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Neil Young, MotownSunday, 08 December 2013
Neil Young: Live at the Cellar DoorCrosby, Stills, Nash & Young had fallen apart in summer 1970 and Neil Young was left to promote After the Gold Rush, his third solo album from August that year. He hit the road on his own after "Only Love Can... Read more... |
CD: Bright Eyes - A Christmas AlbumSunday, 08 December 2013
Nebraskan singer-songwriter Conor Oberst – AKA Bright Eyes - was a famously contrary soul when he first broke through. This greatly benefited his music, if not his commercial potential. Rather than become your typical indie-acoustic whiner, he... Read more... |
Listed: The 10 Most Tasteless Album CoversSaturday, 07 December 2013
OK, R Kelly is gross. We knew that. The number of deeply creepy and abusive acts he's been accused of beggars belief (just Google if you want grotty details, it's all on Wikipedia). The fact that he continues happily along his way with wealth and... Read more... |
CD: Kelly Clarkson - Wrapped in RedSaturday, 07 December 2013
This year, even legendary punk rockers Bad Religion released a Christmas-themed album - as if to underline that, for just about any recording artist, it’s not a matter of "if" but of "when". Christmas Songs only shares one track with Kelly Clarkson’... Read more... |
Jonathan Wilson, Islington Assembly HallFriday, 06 December 2013
It took two minutes for Jonathan Wilson to launch into the first of the evening’s extended guitar solos. “Love Strong” began like much of his two-hours-ten-minutes on stage. The song opened with him singing a verse and then flying off to guitar... Read more... |
Linda Perhacs, Kantine am Berghain, BerlinWednesday, 04 December 2013
There's been a quiet but nevertheless palpable sense of anticipation surrounding psych-folk enigma Linda Perhacs' first-ever European tour. Comparatively low-key advance publicity certainly proved no impediment to a sold-out house for the recent... Read more... |
CD: R Kelly - Black PantiesMonday, 02 December 2013
Do people really find this sensual? R Kelly’s rise to the very top of the R&B tree cannot, surely, be based on multi-million sales caused by a gigantic ironic in-joke. His Trapped in the Closet series of films showed a knowing wink but, no, the... Read more... |
Billy Bragg, Royal Festival HallMonday, 02 December 2013
Setting bankers, Baroness Thatcher, tax-dodging multinationals and Woody Guthrie to music? These days, it could only be a Billy Bragg gig. Reports of Bragg losing his political teeth, based on slightly guarded reviews of his latest album, Tooth... Read more... |
CD: The Fauns - LightsSunday, 01 December 2013
Even on first listen, without context or introduction, the music of The Fauns already seems familiar. Their sound is an amalgam of many of the things I have enjoyed in 2013: The History of Apple Pie, all guitar fuzz and sweetness; the shimmer of the... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: The Velvet Underground, Neal Ford & the FanaticsSunday, 01 December 2013
The Velvet Underground: White Light/White HeatThe shadow cast over the reissue of The Velvet Underground’s second album White Light/White Heat by Lou Reed’s recent death is a poignant reminder that an awful lot of time has passed since this... Read more... |
