New music
CD: Aerosmith - Music From Another DimensionSaturday, 03 November 2012
Aerosmith’s reign as kings of the power ballad seems to be over. Their latest single is such syrupy tosh you can hardly believe it's them. But it is just a single, right. What of the rest? Songwriting collaborator Marti Frederiksen says the album's... Read more... |
World Party, Royal Albert HallFriday, 02 November 2012
“A hurricane didn’t stop me getting here,” shouted Barry from Philadelphia, and there were plenty of hard core World Party fans for whom last night at the Albert Hall was a big deal concert – the first proper tour in 10 years, coming on the back of... Read more... |
Interview: 10 Questions for Dave StewartThursday, 01 November 2012
Sunderland-born Dave Stewart has embraced the life of a wandering troubadour virtually since he was born. He had a record deal with folk-rockers Longdancer at the start of the Seventies, though he didn't start to enjoy commercial success until the... Read more... |
Chumbawamba, Leeds City VarietiesThursday, 01 November 2012
And so, after 30 years, Chumbawamba are no more. Leeds’s finest issued an eloquent statement on their website back in July, confessing that “the rest of our lives got in the way and we couldn’t commit the time and enthusiasm that the band demanded…... Read more... |
CD: Claudia Brücken - The Lost are FoundThursday, 01 November 2012
Ah, this starts so well. The idea of Claudia Brücken, arch-Teuton ice queen vocalist from high class synth poppers Act and Propaganda, covering the Bee Gees, Bowie and ELO is just too much fun to ignore. And her version of Julee Cruise's “Mysteries... Read more... |
Efterklang with the Northern Sinfonia/John Grant, BarbicanWednesday, 31 October 2012
It’s not quite Iggy Pop strutting across the hands of the crowd, but Efterklang’s singer Casper Clausen's departure from the stage reinforces the bond the Danish mood musicians have with their fans. Trying to keep upright while wobbling on the backs... Read more... |
CD: Lindstrøm - SmalhansWednesday, 31 October 2012
Ah, cosmic disco. We’re not supposed to call it that anymore as the DJs and producers who popularised it half a decade ago don’t like it - but that’s what this is. To cut a long story short, a bunch of Norwegians rediscovered a sound that had been... Read more... |
Interview: 10 Questions for Conor MaynardMonday, 29 October 2012
Conor Maynard is a 19-year-old pop singer, originally from Brighton. He first gained a profile by posting YouTube footage of himself covering a variety of pop and R&B songs. His success increased dramatically when he started working with... Read more... |
Michael Nesmith, Queen Elizabeth HallMonday, 29 October 2012
Forty years ago Michael Nesmith was the tall, woolly-hatted Monkee people called “the talented one”. Faint praise maybe, but there was nothing mediocre about the country rock albums he went on to make. Nesmith had another advantage. His mother had... Read more... |
CD: JLS - EvolutionMonday, 29 October 2012
From Elvis and Mick Jagger to the Spice Girls and, er, Chris Brown, pop music has often - whether covertly or overtly - been a fairly sexual medium. Listening to stuff you know your parents would hate is probably part of what fosters such tremendous... Read more... |
Muse, O2 ArenaSunday, 28 October 2012
Muse are not cool. For a minute on leaving the tube station I did think they'd broadened their appeal quite dramatically before realising that a fair section of the people around me were heading to Giants of Lovers Rock show also at the O2 complex... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Ennio Morricone, Rites of Spring, Hotlegs, Cults Percussion EnsembleSunday, 28 October 2012
Ennio Morricone: In ColourKieron TylerThe recent release of Berberian Sound Studio raised the level of interest in Italian film soundtracks. From the moment Ennio Morricone’s compositions for the spaghetti westerns of the Sixties attracted attention... Read more... |
