New music
Kieron Tyler
Strings waft in, then coalesce like banks of fog. A piano picks out single notes. Space is left between them. With no immediate rhythmic patterns, the minimalist A Winged Victory For The Sullen make music for becalmed oceans. This collaboration between Adam Wiltzie and Dustin O’Halloran could have come form the deck of the Marie Celeste.There’s quite a lot of this around right now. Ólafur Arnalds, Peter Broderick Nils Frahm, Hauschka, Jóhann Jóhannsson, Nico Muhly and Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood complement each other, creating minimalist pieces that draw on modern classicism. Varying degrees Read more ...
Peter Culshaw
Summertime and the living is easy. Gershwin wrote it but it could almost be written by that apostle of California sun, Brian Wilson, who sung it with his band last night. Wilson wouldn’t have come up with a line like “your daddy’s rich, and your mama’s good-looking” - a bit too knowing. Wilson’s music was focused on surf, girls and cars, but had elements in common with Gershwin – working with brothers and burning out early, among other things.Gershwin died at 38, and by 38, Wilson, a sensitive soul, one of the walking wounded of the psychedelic wars, was into a couple of decades of catatonic Read more ...
Kieron Tyler
Harmonies, psychedelia and soul were meant to go together. Chicago’s’ Rotary Connection realised this and pumped out what were later recognised as classics like "Memory Band" and "I am The Black Gold of The Sun". On their debut album, Brooklyn’s The Stepkids step up, taking the sound apart and restitching it patchwork-quilt style. They are, to their inspirations, what Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings are to their funk and soul roots.The Stepkids coalesced in 2009 after singer/guitarist Jeff Gitelman and drummer Tim Walsh began building a studio in Bridgeport, Connecticut. They’re completed by Read more ...
david.cheal
Maybe my memory is playing tricks, but I seem to recall that Beirut had more of a swagger in their step, in their playing, and in their demeanour when I last saw them four years ago. It was at the Roundhouse, it was packed, and Zach Condon and his band were on an upward trajectory following the release of their acclaimed album, The Flying Club Cup; they moved with ease and oozed a sort of blowsy bonhomie.This time around, at a heaving Brixton Academy, they were noticeably less thrilling. There was nothing fundamentally wrong with their playing, with the gig, with the sound; it was all Read more ...
Thomas H. Green
Many people think Kasabian are some sort of sub-Oasis lads' band. This is mostly down to gobby lead singer Tom Meighan. Also Q like them which doesn't help - they're on the magazine's current cover being cuddled by two naked ladies. The Leicester band don't fit the bill. Kasabian are no lame indie band, not that anyone is these days, now that it's terminally unhip. Kasabian, however, never were. One listen to their excellent eponymous 2004 debut album tells you that.With their first long-player Kasabian combined Happy Mondays' insouciant baggy drug-funk with something dark, electro and self- Read more ...
howard.male
Malian singer-songwriter Fatoumata Diawara produces guitar riffs that are like quiet musical mantras from which songs seem to blossom like exquisite orchids. Or at least that’s the effect achieved by a combination of the songs themselves and the exquisitely understated arrangements which one can imagine were a pleasure for Diawara to work on with regular World Circuit producer Nick Gold.Comparisons have already been made between the Côte d’Ivoire-born 29-year-old and the Malian legendary diva she has sung backing vocals for, Oumou Sangare (who Diawara pays tribute to here with “Makoun Oumou Read more ...
caspar.gomez
Friday 9th SeptemberA ferry adds to the fun. It may seem rather childish but the fact you have to take a ferry to the Isle of Wight makes the whole Bestival experience seem more of an adventure. Sitting on the open air deck with my youngest brother Enrico, the wind tempered by a warm, bright sun, and a bottle of cider passing between us, the only perturbing issue is the amount of wax jackets making the journey to the festival, Barbours and the like. When did the wax jacket become acceptable? When I were a lad they were only worn by Sloanes and men with shotguns Read more ...
bruce.dessau
This was always going to garner heaps of publicity. Tony Bennett is not just a legend, but a legend who has outlived his rivals. With Sinatra long gone Bennett, 85, is the capo di tutti capi of living crooners. It will also attract attention because it is the sequel to his excellent 2006 team effort, Duets: American Classics. Most of all, Duets II, featuring new versions of old Bennett hits, will notch up column feet because it features the final official recording of Amy Winehouse, who accompanied Anthony Dominick Benedetto on “Body and Soul” at Abbey Road in March.With 17 tracks there Read more ...
hilary.whitney
Justin Adams is considered to be one of the UK’s most original guitarists and record producers and is an extremely versatile collaborator. He was brought up in the Middle East - his father was a British diplomat in Jordan and Egypt - and his music is very strongly influenced by his early exposure to Arab culture, in addition to African music, blues, dub and psychedelia. After eight fruitful years working with Jah Wobble’s band Invaders of the Heart, touring and co-writing three albums, including the Mercury Prize-nominated Rising Above Bedlam, Adams worked with various musicians Read more ...
Kieron Tyler
As artificial spaces, clubs struggle to embrace the organic environment. The music and arts collective Noise of Art are bridging the gap by working with the charity Trees for Cities, with DJs donating their time to raise funds for planting trees in London. On 17 September, Noise of Art is working with Trees for Cities at Battersea Park and taking over the Village Underground for a fundraising event.The events are supported by the Cultural Programme of the European Union and are part of the pan-European Metiss’age street art festival. During the day (between 10am and 3pm), Battersea Park will Read more ...
Kieron Tyler
The Proximity Effect’s two opening cuts set the stall. Glitchiness gives way to a descending, sad, drifting melody on “The Beginning of the End”. “More Than You” is an upbeat, poppy, Tango in the Night Fleetwood Mac refracted through a chilly Nordic musical sensibility. Lovely.Laki Mera's core members are vocalist/guitarist Laura Donnelly and the Italian composer/instrumentalist/producer Andrea Gobbi. Based in Glasgow, where they met, they formed the band in 2004. Their first album, Clutter, caused a minor stir as it first surfaced as a pay-what-you-fancy download in late 2007. A physical Read more ...
Ismene Brown
To celebrate theartsdesk's second birthday on Friday, we held a panel discussion on The Art of Performance at Kings Place, London, in the Kings Place Festival. Actor Toby Jones, singer-songwriter Mara Carlyle, harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani and ballerina Bridgett Zehr discussed the challenge of turning work into performance and the moment of offering their artistry to the audience - their goals and inspirations, their best (and worst) performances, and their attitude to critics like us. We filmed the talk live, and below you can watch the event again as it happened, or you can read the Read more ...