New releases on CD & DVD
Album: Skyway Man - The World Only Ends When You Die
Friday, 15 January 2021
When the concept album first properly took flight, in the late 1960s, before it became slave to the bloated artifice of prog-rock, it was an extension of the LSD-soaked times: “Songs aren’t big enough, man, I need a bigger canvas!” Famed albums by The Beat
Blu-ray: The Night Porter
Thursday, 14 January 2021
The Night Porter depicts the consuming sadomasochistic love affair of an SS officer, Max (Dirk Bogarde), and the Catholic woman, Lucia (Charlotte Rampling), whom he both tortures and protects when she is a teenage concentration camp inmate, and who becomes his partner in a protracted liebestod when they m
Album: Katy Carr - Providence
Wednesday, 13 January 2021
Back in 2013, the London-based singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist launched the first of a trilogy of albums exploring her Polish roots and...
Album: New Age Doom - Himalayan Dream Techno
Tuesday, 12 January 2021
theartsdesk eases into 2021 with a Disc of the Day title, Himalayan Dream Techno, that will be hard to beat over the next 12 months, even if it is a...
Album: Hilang Child - Every Mover
Monday, 11 January 2021
The key tracks on Every Mover are “Play 'til Evening” and “Earthborne”. The first shimmeringly fuses anthemic, gospel-edged singing and surging...
Album: Viagra Boys - Welfare Jazz
Stockholm punks impress with heart and musical range on their second album |
Album: Steve Earle & The Dukes - JT
JT, RIP: Steve Earle's loving tribute to his son |
Albums of the Year 2020: Phoebe Bridgers - Punisher
The gifted young and the old reflect on troubled times |
Albums of the Year 2020: Maria Schneider Orchestra - Data Lords
A dazzling double album from the acclaimed composer, arranger and bandleader |
DVD/Blu-ray: Are We Lost Forever
Separation, Swedish-style, in a chamber portrait of a gay couple in break-up |
Albums of the Year 2020: Drive-By Truckers - The Unraveling
Sorrow and anger at a trampled American Dream |
Albums of the Year 2020: A.G. Cook – 7G
A mammoth 49 song post-post-modern riot of sound |
Albums of the Year 2020: Joensuu 1685 - ÖB
The welcome return of Finland’s spiritual explorers |
Albums of the Year 2020: AC/DC - Power Up
Was classic rock the best escape from the 2020 blues? |
Albums of the Year 2020: Laura Marling - Song for Our Daughter
A strangely prophetic yet comforting album for our times |
Blu-ray: Visual Acoustics
'The Modernism of Julius Shulman' salutes an eminent American architectural photographer |
Albums of the Year 2020: Fiona Apple - Fetch the Bolt Cutters
Making space for the things we don't talk about in quarantine times |
Blu-ray: Short Sharp Shocks
Entertaining but patchy collection of macabre British shorts |
Blu-ray: Polytechnique
Denis Villeneuve's depiction of the 1989 femicide in Montreal gives no quarter |
Albums of the Year 2020: Bob Dylan - Rough and Rowdy Ways
Dylan pulls out the stops for this late-period masterpiece |
Blu-ray: Crash
Cronenberg's controversial collision of cars and sex retains its power to provoke |
Albums of the Year 2020: Songhoy Blues - Optimisme
Mali’s unlikely musical superstars speak truth to power while moving hips and feet |
Albums of the Year 2020: Cleo Sol - Rose in the Dark
A luminous highlight of a Brit soul renaissance |
Albums of the Year 2020: Marius Neset – Tributes
The Norwegian saxophonist finds reasons to be cheerful |
Albums of the Year 2020: Melt Yourself Down - 100% Yes
The music that kept spirits raised during the year of you-know-what |
Album: Paul McCartney - McCartney III
Lockdown redemption for a rejuvenated master |
Album: Carrie Underwood - My Gift
Have yourself a totally traditional Christmas |
Album: Dolly Parton - A Dolly Holly Christmas
Seriously, how much kitsch can you handle? |
Album: Calexico - Seasonal Shift
Tex-Mex rockers and their mates offer a cross-cultural seasonal celebration |
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