New music
CD: Steve Earle - I'll Never Get Out of This World AliveSunday, 01 May 2011
This is Earle's first collection of new material since 2007's Washington Square Serenade, since when he has made a disappointing tribute album to Townes van Zandt, taken a role as a street musician in HBO's New Orleans series Treme, and written a... Read more... |
CD: Dan Kelly - Dan Kelly's DreamSunday, 01 May 2011
Dan Kelly is rapidly becoming a big noise Down Under. His uncle, Paul Kelly, is a star of long standing in Australia, but Kelly junior's profile is also now rising fast. Judging from his fifth album, the only thing I've heard by him, such attention... Read more... |
Ron Sexsmith/ Jim White, BarbicanSunday, 01 May 2011
Two cult singers on the same bill. A stirring prospect in itself, but last night they were both also at watersheds in their careers. The headliner, Ron Sexsmith, was looking to cultivate a more mainstream audience. He’s had his moments over the... Read more... |
CD: Hyetal - BroadcastSaturday, 30 April 2011
One of the most powerful things about the dubstep movement – aside from the monumental sound itself – is how its rootedness has provided a platform for a generation of artists to launch out into other things from. The spaciousness, drama and... Read more... |
Reinventing the Record: Strange New Formats of the Digital AgeThursday, 28 April 2011
While rumours of the album's demise may well have been premature, the digital age certainly does present increasing challenges when it comes to getting punters to keep and treasure music. Of course, really it all went wrong with the CD: those... Read more... |
CD: Rayographs - RayographsWednesday, 27 April 2011
The self-titled debut album by London-based three-piece Rayographs is one of those surprises you hope for - a virtually unknown band referencing little that’s going on right now and capturing it in long-playing form with panache and a compelling... Read more... |
N-Dubz, Brighton CentreTuesday, 26 April 2011
N-Dubz's music is throwaway post-grime cheese-pop aimed at fans aged between 10 and 20, max. I've been writing a rearguard action for electronic pop in the pompously self-assured court of rock for more than a decade so I arrived at the Brighton... Read more... |
Poly Styrene, 1957-2011Tuesday, 26 April 2011
The death of Poly Styrene (Marianne Elliot-Said) is more than another reminder that the ever-influential punk era is further and further away. It is also genuinely sad as she was always helpful, always approachable and – simply put – a nice... Read more... |
CD: Beastie Boys – Hot Sauce Committee Part TwoTuesday, 26 April 2011
The question used to be: “Can white men rap?” A more apt variant today is, “Can white men in their middle forties with juvenile nicknames rap?” Mike D, Ad-Rock and MCA recorded Hot Sauce Committee Part Two in 2009, but then put the release on... Read more... |
Upside Down – The Creation Records StoryMonday, 25 April 2011
“I thought I was creating metaphysical history by running Creation,” says the label’s Alan McGee in Upside Down. Seconds later the meat-and-potatoes rock of Oasis blasts from the soundtrack. The drug-assisted disconnect between such lofty aspiration... Read more... |
CD: tUnE-yArDs - whokillSunday, 24 April 2011
Even the cover artwork refuses to conform, breaking the first rule of graphic design by utilising a dozen different typefaces and alternating upper and lower-case lettering for maximum optical anarchy. In fact, the inference is that we should play... Read more... |
CD: Jennifer Hudson - I Remember MeSaturday, 23 April 2011
If, as the cliché goes, hardship begets soulfulness, then given her life story between her 2008 debut and this (Wikipedia can provide the details if you're feeling ghoulish), Jennifer Hudson should now be the new Aretha. As it goes, she wasn't short... Read more... |
