New music
CD: Lady Gaga - ARTPOPSaturday, 09 November 2013
Lady Gaga is many times more imaginative, intriguing and entertaining than her pop peers. Rihanna, Katy Perry, Ellie Goulding, Rita Ora, Jessie J, Miley Cyrus, et al - she beats the lot of ‘em, hands down. It’s always a pleasure when she arrives... Read more... |
CD: Eminem - The Marshall Mathers LP2Thursday, 07 November 2013
Foul-mouthed Eminem is back. On his latest single, “Rap God”, he tells us he’s still as “rude and indecent as hell” before spitting out homophobic slurs like those which once brought him so much trouble. But then being foul-mouthed is kind of the... Read more... |
Mystery Dance: On filming Elvis CostelloWednesday, 06 November 2013
Making a film about an artist with the phenomenal range and creative effervescence of someone like Elvis Costello was never going to be easy. There have been over 30 albums since he started out in 1977, hundreds of songs, many of which are as... Read more... |
CD: Cliff Richard - The Fabulous Rock'n'Roll SongbookWednesday, 06 November 2013
When asked about sex, the newly famous Boy George cocked an eyebrow and said he’d rather have a cup of tea. He was actually at it with the drummer. Compare and contrast with Cliff Richard, into whose afternoon beverage a vat of bromide was dumped... Read more... |
10 Questions for DJ/Producer Richie HawtinMonday, 04 November 2013
Richie Hawtin (b 1970) is no stranger to the art world, nor to working on a monumental scale. The British-born Canadian techno producer/DJ did, after all, collaborate with Jeff Koons, Jean-Luc Godard, LaMonte Young and Anish Kapoor for the French... Read more... |
CD: Connan Mockasin - CaramelMonday, 04 November 2013
Enigmatic troubadour Connan Mockasin returns with his second album, a follow-up to 2010’s critically acclaimed Forever Dolphin Love which won him a cult following. Championed by the likes of Erol Alkan, Radiohead and Charlotte Gainsbourg, the elfin... Read more... |
CD: M.I.A - MatangiSunday, 03 November 2013
M.I.A’s recent single “Bad Girls” - a post-modern mix of Bhangra beats, and frustrated vocals - undeniably shows her at her most effective. It's an example of her unique take on culture and society that's long garnered critical praise. And yet... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: William Onyeabor, Tears For FearsSunday, 03 November 2013
William Onyeabor: World Psychedelic Classics 5 – Who is William Onyeabor?A primitive drum machine rattles out a Latin rhythm. Keyboards begin. The gaps between the repetitive spirals of notes are plugged by blobs of fat synth. A disembodied... Read more... |
Deap Vally, Concorde 2, BrightonSaturday, 02 November 2013
It’s a condition of certain music journalists – myself very much included – that we can be blindsided by originality to the detriment of much else. Thus I might rate a chunk of electronic weirdness that blows my mind on the first couple of listens... Read more... |
CD: Avril Lavigne - Avril LavigneSaturday, 02 November 2013
It’s taken Avril Lavigne more than a decade to release a self-titled album, but in some ways it’s appropriate: after all, the Canadian singer’s best music still sounds exactly like what she was releasing as a teenager. The difference is that when... Read more... |
Suede, 02 Academy, BirminghamFriday, 01 November 2013
Suede, lest we forget, exploded into a moribund music scene dominated by the fag-end of grunge in 1992. Initially cast as the John the Baptists of Britpop, they lost Bernard Butler, their wunderkind guitarist, early on, became as known for druggy... Read more... |
CD: Tinie Tempah - DemonstrationThursday, 31 October 2013
Oh dear, there it is – the career-plateau pot-shot at “journalists” and “critics”. It comes about halfway through the album, on the otherwise really good 1970s blues-rock-sampling “Looking Down the Barrel”, and it cements a sad feeling that's been... Read more... |
