New music
CD: Nils Frahm - ScrewsSunday, 09 December 2012
Although he has been recording since 2005, it was his 2011 album, Felt, which set Nils Frahm apart from the ever-swelling tide of modern classical minimalists. It was so intimate, so subtle, it felt almost like it shouldn’t be shared. The follow up... Read more... |
Kris Kristofferson, Royal Festival HallSaturday, 08 December 2012
From being disowned by his family to writing the ultimate hangover lament, Kris Kristofferson has, partly, led the life of a country song. The other part, however, has included a Rhodes scholarship to Oxford, an illustrious movie career and dating... Read more... |
CD: Motorama - CalendarSaturday, 08 December 2012
A little-known fact about reality, seldom touched upon by quantum physicists in recent years, is that there’s a wormhole between Manchester in September 1981 and the far western Russian port city of Rostov-on-Don in the present. This would seem to... Read more... |
The Fall, Islington Assembly HallFriday, 07 December 2012
Support bands tend to get short shrift, but it would be criminal not to give Evil Blizzard their due here. Made up of three bass guitarists with assorted effects pedals and a drummer who also sang, three members of the band were in pink pyjamas and... Read more... |
Rizzle Kicks, Brighton Centre, BrightonFriday, 07 December 2012
Usually when a band playing a venue the size of the Brighton Centre asks if the crowd would like to hear a new song the response is somewhat muted. However, this is a crowd of eager fans, average age around 17, and they yell back affirmatively with... Read more... |
Mumford & Sons, SECC, GlasgowThursday, 06 December 2012
Over the last couple of months Mumford & Sons have quietly become the biggest band in the world. If there was a coronation it came at some point between the headline-making second album, Babel, and this sell-out first arena tour. When the... Read more... |
Q&A Special: Dave Brubeck, a Life in MusicThursday, 06 December 2012
Two years ago, I spoke to Dave Brubeck just before his 90th birthday. The occasion was being commemorated by a film executive-produced by Clint Eastwood, Dave Brubeck - In His Own Sweet Way, which was aired on BBC Four as one of several broadcast... Read more... |
CD: Green Day - ¡Tré!Thursday, 06 December 2012
Even before listening to the third instalment of Green Day’s 2012 trilogy, it’s hard not to feel generously disposed towards it. Not only has poor Billie Joe recently had a stint in rehab, but after three quick-fire back-to-basics albums, few could... Read more... |
Dave Brubeck, 1920-2012Wednesday, 05 December 2012
In 2009 I interviewed Jamie Cullum about Dave Brubeck, who has died today just a day before his 92nd birthday. What follows are Cullum's recollections of falling in love with Brubeck's music, and later knowing and working with a jazz legend."My... Read more... |
CD: Fake Blood - CellsWednesday, 05 December 2012
Theo Keating – AKA DJ Touché - has been creating club-functional tunes for over twenty years. His most high profile moment was as half of The Wiseguys whose song "Ooh La La" was unavoidable in the late Nineties, both in nightclubs and on TV ads.... Read more... |
Elbow, O2 ArenaMonday, 03 December 2012
Elbow are responsible for a remarkable conjuring trick. Earlier this year their song “First Steps” stirringly soundtracked the BBC’s Olympic credit sequence, and then at the Closing Ceremony they serenaded the athletes into the London 2012 stadium... Read more... |
theartsdesk at the Shhh! FestivalMonday, 03 December 2012
Guitar virtuoso RM Hubbert is something of an unlikely champion of quiet music. In fact, if you haven’t yet heard the gorgeous Thirteen Lost and Found, the Chemikal Underground debut on which the guitarist invited friends including Aidan Moffat,... Read more... |
