New releases on CD & DVD
Album: Lisa O'Neill - All of This Is Chance
Wednesday, 01 February 2023
Lisa O’Neill is a part of the new wave of Irish contemporary folk artists, one that encompasses the likes of Lankum, Ye Vagabonds and John Francis Flynn, all of them putting their albums out on Rough Trade, which makes the venerable English Indie label something of a centre for what the present and future of Irish folk music sounds like. (Lankum’s Radie Peat and O’Neill have also sung together, on the excellent “Factory Girl”, part of the showcase This Ain’t No Disco.)
Blu-ray: The War Trilogy - Three Films by Andrzej Wajda
Tuesday, 31 January 2023
Watching these harrowing films in rapid succession allows us to watch a great director’s confidence develop at close hand; though 1955’s A Generation (Pokolenie) is an impressive debut for a 27-year old director, both Kanał (1957) and 1958’s Ashes and Diamonds (Popiół i diament) really show Wajda’s technique taking flight.
Album: Robert Forster - The Candle and the Flame
Monday, 30 January 2023
Reflections on how the past relates to now suffuse The Candle and the Flame. The album’s closing track is “When I Was a Young Man.” When he was 21,...
DVD: Babylon Berlin, Season Four
Sunday, 29 January 2023
It’s coming up for two years since some of us watched the first three seasons of what’s increasingly coming to seem like television’s greatest...
Album: Sebastian Rochford, Kit Downes - A Short...
Saturday, 28 January 2023
A Short Diary, a duo album for piano and drums, contains music of astonishing directness, calm and concentration. The story of how it came into being...
Album: Deathprod - Compositions
Norwegian ambient abstraction just keeps on keeping on |
Album: Låpsley - Cautionary Tales of Youth
Alt-easy listening electronic not-pop themed around heartbreak but lacking songs |
DVD: Oscar Peterson - Black + White
Barry Avrich’s documentary celebrates the music and career of the great jazz pianist |
Blu-ray: The Velvet Underground
Todd Haynes' doc embodies the time-bending cultural ferment which fused the VU |
Album: Silverlake - Jim Rockford’s Smile
Psychedelic soul and sultry disco to keep hips moving |
Album: Måneskin - Rush!
Raucous, gritty Roman rockers release their third album |
Album: Biig Piig - Bubblegum
Punchy statement of intent for the Irish pop self-starter |
Album: John Cale - Mercy
Welsh octogenerian's avant-garde adventures |
Blu-ray: Reservoir Dogs
Tarantino's debut's sly technique and visceral violence still grip in 4K |
Album: Ghost Woman - Anne, If
Musically literate Canadian’s second album evokes unintended parallels |
Album: Billy Nomates - Cacti
The Bristol songwriter’s sophomore album is a survival story, reviving us for what lies ahead |
Album: The Subways - Uncertain Joys
A changed three-piece return from their eight-year hiatus |
Album: Ladytron - Time's Arrow
Electro goths provide a dense cinematic soundtrack to these dystopian times |
Album: Iggy Pop - Every Loser
The Ig returns with a short, catchy album of California-touched, punk-tinted rock |
Blu-ray: Croupier
A masterpiece from the late Mike Hodges, giant of British cinema |
Album: Lucas Santtana - O Paraiso
A timely hymn to nature from Brazil |
Album: Juni Habel - Carvings
Norwegian singer-songwriter’s second album stays firmly in the twilight |
Album: CVC - Get Real
Rising Welsh live phenomenon are catchy but cutesy on record |
Albums of the Year 2022: caroline - caroline
caroline's Rough Trade debut arrived fully formed |
Blu-ray: Nil by Mouth
Gary Oldman's sole film as a director casts a cool eye on the London of his youth |
Albums of the Year 2022: Beyoncé - Renaissance
Queen Bey keeps the dream alive for women everywhere |
Albums of the Year 2022: Maggie Rogers - Surrender
Rogers broke through a sea of rock and metal with her intimate, personal second album |
Albums of the Year 2022: Dina Ögon - Dina Ögon
A very special sound from Sweden |
Albums of the Year 2022: Fontaines DC - Skinty Fia
The Irish post-punk band's bleak instant classic |
latest in today
Two Billion Beats, Orange Tree Theatre review - lively, but...
Do the right thing! But doing the right thing isn’t easy – especially if you are a teen. And a female teen who is being pressurised by your mother...
January review - the end is nigh in vampirised Bulgaria
At their best, horror movies reflect destabilisation caused by cracks in the social fabric. The crack indicated in the documentarist Andrey...
Album: Lisa O'Neill - All of This Is Chance
Lisa O’Neill is a part of the new wave of Irish contemporary folk artists, one that encompasses the likes of Lankum, Ye Vagabonds...
Leonskaja, Staatskapelle Streichquartett, Wigmore Hall / Sec...
It’s dangerous to claim a sense of absolute rightness about a musical performance; that could mean no more than responding to an interpretation...
Othello, Lyric Hammersmith review - Frantic Assembly's...
Frantic Assembly’s Othello, originally co-developed with the Lyric in 2008, is back in its third iteration, and it’s still not...
Blu-ray: The War Trilogy - Three Films by Andrzej Wajda
Watching these harrowing films in rapid succession allows us to watch a great...
Ólafsson, LPO, Gardner, RFH review - spirit of delight
This concert was advertised as the completion of an Elgar symphony cycle, though in the absence of the reconstructed Third, that meant the second...
Sound of the Underground, Royal Court review - loud and triu...
Ever been to a queer club? You know, drag cabaret night at Madame Jojo’s, or the Black Cap or Her Upstairs. No? Well, not to worry – the...
Gerhardt, BBC Philharmonic, Gernon, Bridgewater Hall, Manche...
Ben Gernon’s calm and clear way of conducting an orchestra (something he once told me he’d observed in the work of his mentor, Colin Davis) is...
Album: Robert Forster - The Candle and the Flame
Reflections on how the past relates to now suffuse The Candle and the Flame. The album’s closing track is “When I Was a Young Man.” When...