New York
Anthony Caro: Park Avenue Series, Gagosian GalleryTuesday, 11 June 2013
Sir Anthony Caro, OM, is wowing them in Venice with his masterly retrospective, but for those of us who can’t get there, there is a generous helping of his characteristic late work in his first show in Gagosian’s airy large gallery. Late Caro (he’s... Read more... |
The Man Who Shot Beautiful Women, BBC FourMonday, 20 May 2013
You can only marvel at the family intrigues that virtually closed down the legacy of photographer Erwin Blumenfeld in the years following his death in 1969. "Destroy, destruct, separate, divide,” was the emphatic double-phrased imperative with which... Read more... |
CD: The National - Trouble Will Find MeThursday, 16 May 2013
It is no hyperbole to say that The National have made some of my favourite albums of all time. In every case, it has never been a decision I have reached lightly, or quickly. Those first few listens, you’re merely aware that your heart beats a... Read more... |
The Reluctant FundamentalistFriday, 10 May 2013
Just like Vietnam in 1970s, the so-called War on Terror has been a boon to filmmakers. It has allowed Hollywood to send another generation of buff leading males off to the front and, as the ordnance explodes, bravely question why it is that they are... Read more... |
Gimme the LootWednesday, 01 May 2013
It’s the sort of New York summer week where the sidewalk melts. But in writer-director Adam Leon’s SXSW Grand Jury prize-winning cool breeze of a debut, the mood stays amiably balmy. It’s the tale of teenage Bronx graffiti artists Malcolm (Ty... Read more... |
CD: Vampire Weekend - Modern Vampires of the CityMonday, 29 April 2013
In a way, falling prey to hype-inspired backlash as early in your musical career as Vampire Weekend did has its benefits - assuming, of course, you have the long-term determination and songwriting prowess to back it up. When “Diane Young”, the first... Read more... |
theartsdesk Q&A: Musician Steve EarleSaturday, 13 April 2013
A renaissance man from Texas? Hell yeah. Loosely pegged as "country singer" when he struck out for Nashville in the late Seventies, where he survived on a series of odd jobs before landing himself a songwriting job with a music publisher, the mature... Read more... |
CD: The Yeah Yeah Yeahs - MosquitoWednesday, 10 April 2013
On hearing the opening track of this album, a friend said “I didn't expect to be listening to new albums of the YYYs 10 years on!” And this is kind of understandable: of all the new rock bands of the early 2000s – The Strokes, The Vines, The Hives,... Read more... |
CD: Mice Parade - CandelaWednesday, 10 April 2013
Some bands pootle along in the background for album after album without anyone but their devoted fans appreciating their wares. Such outfits spend years in the shadows of majority culture, but very slowly, through friend sharing with friend,... Read more... |
Nile Rodgers: The Hitmaker, BBC FourSaturday, 30 March 2013
It was one of those entirely unverifiable "facts" that music documentaries increasingly prefer over genuine insight: early on in this serviceable but routine overview of a truly stellar talent, we were told that Nile Rodgers’s guitar has “played on... Read more... |
CD: The Strokes - Comedown MachineMonday, 18 March 2013
There must be something quite frustrating about being a Stroke in 2013, assuming you just want to get on with the business of making music without constantly being reminded that you are part of a band once labeled the biggest in the world by the... Read more... |
George Bellows: Modern American Life, Royal AcademyWednesday, 13 March 2013
One can immediately see the influence of Manet and Whistler, especially Whistler, the fellow American who spent most of his life in Paris and London. George Bellows, the first quintessentially American artist of the 20th century, made famous in his... Read more... |
