New music
CD: Grimes - VisionsSunday, 18 March 2012
The word “grimes” conjures up images of a Dickensian London underworld, or of tough modern urban music, but Grimes is far, far from these reference points. For starters, she’s from Canada. She also makes music that defies easy categorisation.... Read more... |
theASHtray: Douglas Adams, the petty tyranny of Saul Zaentz Co., and KONY 1987Saturday, 17 March 2012
I spent a fair chunk of last Sunday evening at Douglas Adams' 60th birthday party. This was a bit of a curve ball, not only because I'd never met the author of The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - but also because he's been dead for nearly 11... Read more... |
CD: The Shins - Port of MorrowSaturday, 17 March 2012
It’s two songs into Port of Morrow, the Shins’ first album since 2007’s Wincing the Night Away (and the band’s first to be distributed by a major label, Columbia) and it hits me that what I’m hearing isn’t something I’ve heard before. Sure, the... Read more... |
The Searchers: Box Set AnnouncedFriday, 16 March 2012Influential Merseybeat band The Searchers are being given the box set treatment for the first time. Their jangly guitar and folk harmonies were a major component of The Byrds’s sound. Sweets, Spice, Sugar, Pins and Needles: A Compendium of Harmony... Read more... |
BluesFest 2012 announces stellar line-upFriday, 16 March 2012After last year's inaugural Festival, BluesFest 2011 returns to the UK this summer for a 10 day celebration of incredible music. The 2012 festival will increase in size and scale with BluesFest Manchester introduced to complement its southern... Read more... |
Celtic Connections goes (even further) WestFriday, 16 March 2012Celtic Connections – Glasgow’s internationally renowned folk, roots and world music festival – are holding a new two day event in Broadford, Isle of Skye, on March 23 and 24. The headlining artists include The Mavericks’ Raul Malo, Rosanne Cash,... Read more... |
Duke Slammer album announcedFriday, 16 March 2012After a steady flow of tracks on various formats, an album has finally been announced by the London based experimental electronic "chunky wonked funk" project Duke Slammer. The currently untitled album will be released at the beginning of May on the... Read more... |
Tony Benn & Roy Bailey, The Komedia, BrightonThursday, 15 March 2012
In the age of Mumford & Sons we should recall that half a century ago, folk music wasn’t so much acoustic pop as agitprop, staunch leftwing propaganda. Singers such as Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger toured songs rife with witty, angry social... Read more... |
Antony to curate the 2012 Meltdown FestivalThursday, 15 March 2012
The Southbank Centre has announced that musician/visual artist Antony will be curating the 19th Meltdown Festival this August. The avant-garde performer and lead singer with Mercury Award-winning Antony and the Johnsons follows in the... Read more... |
CD: Esperanza Spalding - Radio Music SocietyThursday, 15 March 2012
Following last year's remarkable Grammy win for Best New Artist, the first time a jazz musician has won the award, the bassist, singer and composer returns with a companion piece to her previous disc, the intimate Chamber Music Society. And within a... Read more... |
Sing Inspiration! Festival, Royal Festival HallThursday, 15 March 2012
Bringing together the most talented choirs, vocalists and musicians from across London and the UK, iGospel's two-day Sing Inspiration! Festival came to a close in spectacular fashion. Lurine Cato opened the concluding "Gospel & Soul" concert,... Read more... |
Mark Lanegan, Shepherds Bush EmpireWednesday, 14 March 2012
He has terrible tusks, and terrible claws, and terrible teeth in his terrible jaws… Ah wait now, that’s The Gruffalo. Mark Lanegan doesn’t have any of the above (although he does have tattooed fists and a considerable jaw, and past heroin addiction... Read more... |
