New music
CD: Jake Bugg - Shangri-LaMonday, 18 November 2013
I have always found Bob Dylan immensely irritating, so it stands to reason that the music of folk rocker Jake Bugg, who is often compared to the poetic Sixties icon, should evoke a similar reaction. At a time when British rock is on the wane, this... Read more... |
Arild Andersen Quintet and Reijseger/Fraanje/Sylla, QEHSunday, 17 November 2013
Five minutes into this concert, at that stage a polite cello and piano duo, there was a raucous bellowing from the rear, so loud that the front stalls leapt. The delicate cello spiccato continued, despite the persistent bellowing. Gradually, the... Read more... |
René Marie, Pizza Express Jazz ClubSunday, 17 November 2013
In a fascinating interview with the singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell, published in The Los Angeles Times in June 1979 around the release of Mingus, Mitchell signs off with the following aperçu. “You know, pigeonholes all seem funny to me. I feel like... Read more... |
CD: Robbie Williams - Swings Both WaysSunday, 17 November 2013
Oh good, Robbie Williams is back. Now fully emerged from the self-imposed wilderness that saw him become immersed in the world of extraterrestrials and the paranormal while living a Howard Hughes-esque existence in Los Angeles a few years back,... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: I am the Center, Haiku SalutSunday, 17 November 2013
Various Artists: I am the Center – Private Issue New Age Music in America, 1950–1990A landmark reissue either retells a familiar story in a new way or tells an unfamiliar story in a way that fascinates. In both cases, the annotation, packaging,... Read more... |
Chase & Status, Brighton CentreSaturday, 16 November 2013
“Show Me Love” by Robin S was a monster pop-rave crossover hit in 1990. Most of the crowd at Chase & Status’s Brighton date would have either not been born or in nappies gnawing Duplo bricks when it had its moment in the sun, yet they sing along... Read more... |
Jazz Voice 2013, BarbicanSaturday, 16 November 2013
Harp glissandos, trilling flutes, the heft of a swinging brass section. Yes, last night's Jazz Voice once again kick-started the EFG London Jazz Festival in typically exuberant fashion. Arranged, scored and conducted by the indefatigable Guy Barker... Read more... |
CD: Nils Frahm – SpacesSaturday, 16 November 2013
Although most readily pigeonholed as a minimalist pianist whose compositions are as much about the space between the notes as what he actually plays, Germany's Nils Frahm has also worked with the Juno synthesiser and released pieces which edge... Read more... |
A Tribute to Abram WilsonThursday, 14 November 2013
A little more than a year after the death of acclaimed jazz trumpeter and composer Abram Wilson, his former manager and widow Jennie Cashman Wilson has teamed up with EFG London Jazz Festival producers Serious to stage the only London tribute... Read more... |
CD: Dave Edmunds - AgainThursday, 14 November 2013
Dave Edmunds is one of a generation of rockers who came of age in the 1970s and excelled in channeling decades of American popular music: cue the pub rock bands, think Nick Lowe or Elvis Costello. There is a mixture of total knowingness and a... Read more... |
CD: Blood Orange - Cupid DeluxeWednesday, 13 November 2013
Dev Hynes's path of artistic development is one of the most pleasing in 21st century music. The flamboyant black indie-kid risking life and limb to ride the local buses growing up in Hackney, who channeled his frustration at the lack of a place for... Read more... |
Analogue - Rock Portraits by Tom Sheehan, Lomography Gallery Store EastWednesday, 13 November 2013
I've known rock photographer Tom Sheehan since we worked together at the Melody Maker in the 1980s, but even I didn't know that his stellar career stretches back "almost 40 years", or so it says in the programme notes for his new exhibition,... Read more... |
