indie
Reissue CDs Weekly: Close to the Noise FloorSunday, 24 April 2016![]() The immediate reaction to Close to the Noise Floor is “Why hasn’t anyone done this before?” This new four-disc set’s subtitle captures its objective in a nutshell: to collect Formative UK Electronica 1975–1984 – excursions in proto-synth pop, DIY... Read more... |
CD: RM Hubbert - Telling the TreesSunday, 24 April 2016![]() In interviews, the Scottish songwriter RM Hubbert has described his new album as being the “mirror image” of his best-known work, the 2013 Scottish Album of the Year (SAY) Award-winning Thirteen Lost and Found. Like that album, Telling the Trees is... Read more... |
The KVB, Ramsgate Music HallSaturday, 16 April 2016![]() Without wishing to repeat myself, small venues almost always work best. The intimacy they offer heightens emotion and increases impact while breaking down the barrier between artist and audience. There's a mathematical consideration, too – fewer... Read more... |
CD: Miracle Legion - Portrait of a Damaged FamilySaturday, 16 April 2016![]() The post-Christmas headlines could barely contain themselves: HMV sells one turntable per minute! UK vinyl sales set to hit two million in 2016! Tesco stocking records! Vinyl was officially back.And now Record Store Day 2016 is upon us and likely to... Read more... |
Basia Bulat, Hoxton Square Bar & KitchenThursday, 14 April 2016![]() The cape is not an everyday item of clothing. Worn by magicians, it brings an air of the extraordinary. It billows in the path of superheroes. The cloak of invisibility confirms the cape’s singularity. Basia Bulat was first seen in a sparkly gold... Read more... |
CD: Cate Le Bon - Crab DayThursday, 14 April 2016![]() Considering that it was recorded in North California, that she now lives in Los Angeles, that her musical co-conspirators include a member of The Red Hot Chilli Peppers and that the album’s co-producer Noah Georgeson was behind a raft of Devendra... Read more... |
theartsdesk in Estonia: Tallinn Music Week 2016Sunday, 10 April 2016![]() “If we want to keep this free and democratic Europe of ours free and democratic, we must enlist ourselves, our skills and our commitment to liberty and justice. The problems we face are too great to simply say let the politicians do it. I say this... Read more... |
CD: Kiran Leonard - GrapefruitWednesday, 23 March 2016![]() In the run-up to the release of his second album Grapefruit, Kiran Leonard has revealed the musical touchstones which map out his world. Boredoms, Kate Bush, the jazzy French Canterbury-rock types Etron Fou Leloublan, Fela Kuti, Swans, Scriabin and... Read more... |
CD: Damien Jurado - Visions of Us on the LandTuesday, 15 March 2016![]() Damien Jurado’s last album, 2014’s Brothers and Sisters of the Eternal Son, was, as theartsdesk noted, about “a man setting off in search of himself but never returning”. Its follow-up tracks the same unnamed character and his companion Silver... Read more... |
CD: Pinkshinyultrablast - GrandfeatheredMonday, 22 February 2016![]() The second album by Russian shoegazers Pinkshinyultrablast neatly side-steps any language-barrier issues either by submerging their mono-monikered singer Lyubov’s voice into their sea of noise, or ensuring that what is heard could be wordless... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: The Long RydersSunday, 07 February 2016![]() For its 6 April 1985 issue, the NME chose The Long Ryders as its cover stars. The colour picture of the band was emblazoned “A Shotgun Wedding of Country and Punk.” The Los Angeles outfit attracted attention as part of a wave of California bands... Read more... |
CD: Emma Pollock - In Search of HarperfieldMonday, 25 January 2016![]() If you haven’t fallen for Emma Pollock by the end of the first two songs on In Search of Harperfield – you know, on the off chance that you have somehow been immune to the first lady of Scottish indie over the past 20 years – then there’s probably... Read more... |
