New releases on CD & DVD
Album: Samara Joy - A Joyful Holiday
Saturday, 09 December 2023
This six-track EP on Verve/UMG brings the breakthrough year of 2023 for Samara Joy to a neat close. In February she won two Grammys, as Best New Artist and Best Jazz Vocal Album for “Linger Awhile”. In July she was Downbeat’s Critics’ Poll’s Rising Star Female Vocalist of the Year and Rising Star Artist of the Year. And just a couple of weeks ago she passed the mighty age of… 24.
Album: Cher - Christmas
Friday, 08 December 2023
I honestly never thought I'd add a Cher song to my painstakingly curated Christmas Spotify playlist.
Album: Gregory Porter - Christmas Wish
Thursday, 07 December 2023
The cat in the hat with the mellifluous voice delivers his Christmas Wish for the festive season, his first Christmas album, and it sounds more or...
Blu-ray: Blackhat
Wednesday, 06 December 2023
The Boxing Day release of Michael Mann’s first feature in eight years, Ferrari, finally follows up Blackhat, a Chris Hemsworth-starring cyber-...
Album: Neil Young - Before and After
Monday, 04 December 2023
Down memory lane, taking us back some six decades to the Buffalo Springfield, the latest Neil Young album's almost 50 minutes of continuous music,...
Album: Shirley Hurt - Shirley Hurt
Canadian singer-songwriter’s enigmatic debut |
Album: Ghost Woman - Hindsight Is 50/50
Psychedelicists add a bit of va-va-voom to their sound |
Album: Trevor Horn - Echoes: Ancient & Modern
Downtempo cover versions run the gamut from the bland to the excruciating |
Album: Peter Gabriel - I/O
Nearly three decades of reflection have produced a likely classic |
Blu-ray: King and Country
The class war rears its ugly head on the Western Front in Joseph Losey's bleak classic |
Album: Harp - Albion
The exquisite comeback of former Midlake mainstay Tim Smith |
Album: Catrin Finch & Aoife Ni Bhriain - Double You
Divine harp-and-violin duets focused on the folklore of bees |
Album: Take That - This Life
The national treasure trio don't have enough tunes to counteract the bland production |
Album: Joe Jackson - Joe Jackson Presents Max Champion in What a Racket!
A note perfect music hall pastiche with a potent whiff of modernity |
Album: Abigail Lapell - Lullabies
Canadian singer takes a short, sweet, somnambulant sojourn |
Blu-ray: Pearls of the Deep
Poetic, witty anthology film, a 'manifesto for the Czech New Wave' |
Album: Kurt Vile - Back to Moon Beach
Recycled riffs and covers are an enjoyable listen |
Album: Matt Berry - Simplicity
Berry writes for TV - but not in the way you'd think |
Album: Rockstar - Dolly Parton
An indulgence, but who would begrudge her? |
Album: Lucidvox - That's What Remained
Russian quartet’s instantly captivating second album |
Album: Madness - Theatre of the Absurd presents C'Est la Vie
A tuneful, witty, melancholy and dynamic state-of-the-nation address |
DVD/Blu-ray: 23 Seconds to Eternity
Collection capturing the berserk, exhilarating vision of music-art mavericks The KLF |
Album: Smoke Fairies - Carried in Sound
Intimate tunes from alt-folkie duo bring some gentle magic |
Album: PinkPantheress - Heaven Knows
TikTok phenomenon levels up on confident debut album |
Album: Bad Boy Chiller Crew - Influential
Self-made Bradford bassline house mavericks come unstuck |
Album: Bas Jan - Back to the Swamp
Bankers, road signs and a witch inspire arty and idiosyncratic band’s fourth album |
Album: Cat Power Sings Dylan - The 1966 Royal Albert Hall Concert
An alluring version of the infamous gig that pays homage to a musical hero |
Album: TONN3RR3 x BIKAY3 - It's a Bomb
Hear the forest spirits speak, filtered through electronica |
Album: David Holmes - Blind on a Galloping Horse
Belfast DJ and producer says his piece on a tattered and frayed UK |
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Album: Samara Joy - A Joyful Holiday
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