New music
Album: Madness - Theatre of the Absurd presents C'Est la VieWednesday, 15 November 2023
Madness are an English institution due to deathless, jolly hits such as “House of Fun”, “Baggy Trousers” and “One Step Beyond”, but there’s always been another side to them.The London band are often at their best when bittersweet. Lesser-known songs... Read more... |
Hiromi's Sonicwonder, EFG London Jazz Festival, Barbican review - keyboard fireworks from a brilliantly versatile jazz pianistTuesday, 14 November 2023
To watch virtuoso jazz pianist Hiromi perform is to experience a vast weather system of sound; at some moments exuberant hailstorms of notes alternate with thunderous chords, at others, sombre atonal passages resolve into a burst of sunshine.By any... Read more... |
theartsdesk on Vinyl 80: Nanci Griffith, Scuba, Dope Lemon, Aerosmith, Bob Marley, Pharoah Sanders and moreTuesday, 14 November 2023
VINYL OF THE MONTH Being Dead When Horses Would Run (Bayonet)Being Dead are ostensibly an indie trio from Austin, Texas, but that description doesn’t really do justice to their smörgåsbord sound. Their default setting seems to be Trashmen “Surfin’... Read more... |
DVD/Blu-ray: 23 Seconds to EternityTuesday, 14 November 2023
The KLF are endlessly fascinating. There’s never been a “pop group” like them. From the late Eighties into the early Nineties, they treated music, especially electronic dance music, as a laboratory for lunatic experiment. Unlike most avant-garde... Read more... |
Jambinai & Leenalchi, Southbank Centre review - contrasting faces of contemporary Korean musicMonday, 13 November 2023
Friday’s double-header at the Queen Elizabeth Hall on the Southbank was not only one of the final gigs in this year’s K-Music Festival – entering its tenth year with an eclectic range of Korean artists and bands performing across London and beyond... Read more... |
Album: Smoke Fairies - Carried in SoundMonday, 13 November 2023
Carried in Sound is Chichester alt-folkies Smoke Fairies’ sixth album and first since 2020’s Darkness Brings Wonders Home. A relatively lo-fi piece that was largely recorded at home during the pandemic, it is intimate and warm yet largely deals with... Read more... |
Music Reissues Weekly: Incident at a Free FestivalSunday, 12 November 2023
“We got to play Stonehenge Festival when it was like just a field, a generator and stage. No rip-off burger joints. No packaged new age culture. Just good British hippiedom. A bunch of scruffy, dirty, bean-burger-eating, spliff-making hippies, and... Read more... |
Album: PinkPantheress - Heaven KnowsSaturday, 11 November 2023
If lockdown had an official soundtrack, it would be the bedroom drum and bass of PinkPantheress. Her lo-fi singing over garage and jungle tunes was ubiquitous on TikTok at the time – it was as if her brief and sweet songs were just as moreish as the... Read more... |
Korea On Stage, OVO Arena Wembley review - a symphony of lights, beats and empowermentFriday, 10 November 2023
Choruses rocked, choreo popped, and thousands of light sticks danced in unison, as an incredible lineup of nine acts lit up this fourth edition of Korea On Stage, celebrating 140 years of UK-Korea relations.The evening commenced with the beautifully... Read more... |
Album: Bad Boy Chiller Crew - InfluentialFriday, 10 November 2023
Bradford unit Bad Boy Chiller Crew blew up from a regional scene which combined jokey lo-fi videos, a bangin’ fusion of UK garage and hard house (“bassline house” as they termed it), and grime-style rapping in local accents.Boasting parochial slang... Read more... |
Album: Bas Jan - Back to the SwampThursday, 09 November 2023
Margaret Calvert's creations are never far. She set the rules for the design of Britain’s road signs, as well as drafting typography and graphics for national, regional and local rail signage. Back to the Swamp’s fifth track “Margaret Calvert Drives... Read more... |
Album: Cat Power Sings Dylan - The 1966 Royal Albert Hall ConcertWednesday, 08 November 2023
Cat Power, aka singer-songwriter Chan Marshall, is releasing her first live album – a recording of the faithful recreation of Bob Dylan’s infamous gig of 1966, played in November 2022 at the Royal Albert Hall.Dylan’s transformative gig actually took... Read more... |
