vinyl
theartsdesk on Vinyl 29: The Beatles, Kraftwerk, Sikth, ESG, Alice Coltrane and moreThursday, 22 June 2017Reviewed this month with the windows open, in weather hot enough to warp records, this month theartsdesk on Vinyl casts two ears over 34 releases, starting with a striking foray into elegant songwriting and ending with Now That’s What I Call Classic... Read more... |
theartsdesk on Vinyl 28: Manic Street Preachers, Joep Beving, Wreckless Eric, SWANS and moreFriday, 26 May 2017While the 36 records reviewed below run the gamut of Wreckless Eric to Democratic Republic of the Congo Afro-electronica, this month there’s also a special, one-off section for modern classical. This is due to an ear-pleasing haul of releases... Read more... |
theartsdesk on Vinyl 27: Spoon, Hauschka, Emerson, Lake & Palmer and moreThursday, 04 May 2017Despite vinyl’s return to popularity, there has yet to be a realization by most users of the measures needed to keep their records and their kit clean. Cue the old Danish company AM relaunching their kits to do just that. They have waited around... Read more... |
theartsdesk on Vinyl: Record Store Day Special 2017Thursday, 20 April 2017This Saturday, April 22, is Record Store Day, the annual celebration of independent record shops. Thus, everyone from the biggest major to the weeniest micro-label is putting out unique, limited edition vinyl runs. When Record Store Day was first... Read more... |
theartsdesk on Vinyl 26: George Harrison, Vitalic, Scott Bradlee and moreFriday, 31 March 2017Record shops are now doing good business in the UK. Just five years ago, who’d have thought that could happen? So does the current fetishisation of vinyl mark a growing desire to be back to physical formats, rather than disembodied technologies?... Read more... |
theartsdesk on Vinyl 25: Pink Floyd, The Damned, Acid Arab, post-punk women and moreSaturday, 25 February 2017Vinyl is not a cute, retro, style statement. Well, OK, it can be. But it’s also an analogue format that’s as current as its user wants it to be. Aiding this process, for those who are determinedly forward-looking, is the Love turntable (main picture... Read more... |
theartsdesk on Vinyl: Volume 24 - The Doors, Disney, Bonobo, Star Wars and moreWednesday, 25 January 2017New year, new vinyl. The tidal wave is growing. But not everyone wants to play their vinyl. Included below are a couple of picture discs which seem to be primarily for owning and looking at, mementoes, while a couple of the box-sets reviewed are... Read more... |
CD: Mike Oldfield - Return to OmmadawnSaturday, 21 January 2017New releases by Mike Oldfield don’t exactly grow on trees, but nor can they be deemed rarities. For the first three decades he brought out roughly half a dozen a decade. But Return to Ommadawn is only his second since 2008. As the title announces,... Read more... |
Classical LPs Weekly: Corker, Sveinsson, TchaikovskySaturday, 24 December 2016Adrian Corker: The Have-Nots OST (SN Variations)German director Florian Hoffmeister’s debut film The Have-Nots is a European exploration of the emotional after-effects of 9/11. The score comes from the British musician Adrian Corker. He’s worked... Read more... |
theartsdesk on Vinyl: Volume 23 - Kate Bush, Elton John, Black Sabbath and moreWednesday, 14 December 2016The big news as this year closes is that vinyl sales have brought more money in than downloads. They made £2.4 million compared to the £2.1 million from digital, the eighth consecutive year of growth in vinyl sales. Of course, to a large degree,... Read more... |
theartsdesk on Vinyl: Volume 22 - Queen, Gillan, The Pop Group, Joe Fox and moreWednesday, 16 November 2016The music keeps coming thick and fast. There’s an emphasis on rock this month but, as regular readers will know, theartsdesk on Vinyl has no favoured musical genre. All music is welcome, as long as it’s cut to plastic.This month we open with a jazzy... Read more... |
theartsdesk on Vinyl: Volume 21 - Sex Pistols, J Dilla, Uriah Heep, Hendrix and moreTuesday, 11 October 2016Autumn arrives and theartsdesk on Vinyl is ready at the turntables with a vital selection to kick out the drizzle and seasonal blues. Now in a more toned, slimmed down form, we offer 30 reviews that pinpoint the very best new vinyl available,... Read more... |