New music
CD: Plan B - ill ManorsSunday, 22 July 2012
Coming off the back of million-selling soul concept album The Defamation of Strickland Banks, the third album of Plan B - who is soon to be seen as George Carter (the Dennis Waterman role) in the remake of The Sweeney - is a belated soundtrack... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Blur, Blancmange, The Smashing Pumpkins, Strange PassionSunday, 22 July 2012
Blur: 21Bruce DessauThe recent closure of Word magazine has been seen by some as linked to the demise of "Fifty Quid Man". Who can afford such a wallet-frightening splurge these days on the kind of music the monthly's writers wrote so eloquently... Read more... |
Ondatrópica and Konkoma, Hackney EmpireSunday, 22 July 2012
What function does a critic even serve at an event like this? Some of the best Colombian musicians across several generations are playing some of the best music Colombia has ever produced to an audience that largely consists of blissfully happy... Read more... |
Desdemona, Barbican HallSaturday, 21 July 2012
Peter Sellars has a talent for controversy, from his early days when he was the director who brought you Così fan tutte set in a diner on Cape Cod, Don Giovanni as a cocaine-snorting, Big Mac-eating slum thug, and Figaro getting married in Trump... Read more... |
Scottish Jazz Awards 2012 winnersFriday, 20 July 2012The winners of the Scottish Jazz Awards 2012 were announced last night at a ceremony in the Queen's Hall, Edinburgh.Presented by the Scottish Jazz Federation and Jazz International, the event was hosted by Ian Shaw.The winners:Album of the YearKARMA... Read more... |
Dr John, Under The Bridge, LondonFriday, 20 July 2012
The omens did not augur well for this one. Under The Bridge, a venue beneath Chelsea Football Stadium, used to be an iffy nightclub called Purple but has been redesigned by the man behind America’s House of Blues chain into a shiny visual fusion of... Read more... |
CD: OM – Advaitic SongsThursday, 19 July 2012
The sacred word 'om' is spoken in different ways according to its context. Elongated, it can be stretched over multiple syllables. As a musical unit, OM work with building blocks that are similarly minimal, yet drawn out for maximum effect. And like... Read more... |
Madonna, Hyde ParkWednesday, 18 July 2012
Madonna earned her place in the pop elite many years ago, and there are many reasons for this, which needn't be reduced into a list. Certainly though, a big reason will be the obvious - how much better her fans' lives are with her songs in them. And... Read more... |
Paloma Faith, Somerset HouseWednesday, 18 July 2012
Paloma Faith has always struck me as a few cuts above your average conveyor belt post-Winehouse soul sister. A recent appearance on The Graham Norton Show in which she gave Russell Brand as good as she got in the verbals department suggests that... Read more... |
CD: The Gaslight Anthem - HandwrittenWednesday, 18 July 2012
Brian Fallon, The Gaslight Anthem’s heart-on-sleeve frontman, would be the first to tell you that there’s nothing complicated to it: big songs with tons of heart; love and death and the last light of fading youth, all to the accompaniment of your... Read more... |
Bob's Back. Tempest will mark Dylan's 50th anniversary as a recording artistWednesday, 18 July 2012Bob Dylan will release his 35th studio album in September, coinciding with the 50th anniversary of his eponymous debut, Columbia Records has announced.The album, Tempest, features "10 new and original songs", according to the announcement, and... Read more... |
Jon Lord, 1941-2012Tuesday, 17 July 2012
Before last December’s O2 Deep Purple gig, I heard one denim-clad middle-aged man arguing to another that the absence of guitarist Ritchie Blackmore was irrelevant. Rather, without keyboardist Jon Lord, this was Purple in name only. Moreover the... Read more... |
