CDs/DVDs
Thomas H. Green
2014 has been a juicy year for albums which places Nick Mulvey’s solo debut on an especially high pedestal. A straightforward review can be found elsewhere on theartsdesk, when I first thrilled to his music earlier in the year. In the meantime, those other contenders deserve a mention, the ones that came closest to unseating Mulvey during prolonged listening sessions here at Gomez Mansions.The new one from Canadian DJ-producer Richie Hawtin’s lysergic techno persona Plastikman has done serious time on the late night system. Composed for and recorded live at an event in New York’s Guggenheim Read more ...
Kieron Tyler
The Czars: Best ofQueen of Denmark, John Grant’s first solo album, seemed to arrive from nowhere in 2010. Here was a singer-songwriter with a unique voice evoking disparate wellsprings Eric Carmen, Randy Newman and Lionel Richie. When taken with a dramatically affecting songwriting sensibility and arresting, self-lacerating lyrics, all of this rendered the album instantly impactful.The immediate backstory was that Midlake had heard Grant’s songs, were taken with them and volunteered to be his backing band on the sessions which led to Queen of Denmark. Grant himself was then in a bad way, in Read more ...
Matthew Wright
Swedish trombonist and bandleader Nils Landgren has been creating eclectic Christmas compilations for nearly ten years now, and has, in the popular jazz market at least, created a successful niche, selling “jazz platinum” in Germany, where the ACT label is based. His success is due to a generous, open-minded approach to repertoire that first surprises with its apparent incongruity, then seduces with its class.When did you last hear George Michael, Duke Ellington, John Rutter, Odetta and traditional carols performed on the same album, all with sincerity and integrity? It’s perhaps a Read more ...
Kieron Tyler
François Truffaut’s The 400 Blows is a classic. Not only is it one of cinema's best films and a foundation of French New Wave, it also affectingly and rivetingly depicts an anomie-filled childhood. Released in 1959, it was a comment on French society which pulled no punches yet had warmth at its core. The magnetic star was Jean-Pierre Léaud, playing the then 13-year-old anti-hero Antoine Doinel with a panache which seemed as though he was refracting his own persona.Truffaut did not leave it alone and four more Doinel vehicles followed: Antoine and Colette (1962), Stolen Kisses (1968), Bed Read more ...
Thomas H. Green
There is a moment in the singer Tracey Thorn’s autobiography, Bedsit Disco Queen, where she credits Fairport Convention with being more DIY, indie and autonomous than any punk rocker. She’s not being facetious, she simply admires the way they’ve built their career, most especially the annual Cropredy Festival, as a cottage industry among friends, connecting directly with their fanbase, maintaining the root values of folk hippiedom intact for decades. I can only concur with Thorn. Fairport are an entirely admirable entity. I have not, however, made as much progress with most of their music. Read more ...
Barney Harsent
Can Christmas spirit be bottled? Well, there are certainly some songs that can effectively make us drunk on goodwill rather than gin and sherry. Paul McCartney’s “Simply Having a Wonderful Christmas Time” and the whole of A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector are two fine examples. Earth, Wind & Fire are the latest to try to distil the essence of Christmas, and it seems to have been a success. In fact, they must have identified the exact genetic code of festive cheer in order to remove it from nearly every track in this collection of holiday songs with the ruthless efficiency Read more ...
Thomas H. Green
Given Hercules stars Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and is directed by Brett Ratner, the man behind the Rush Hour films, currently signed on to helm Beverley Hills Cop IV, few would expect anything but a mindless multiplex romp. And that’s exactly what they get although it’s a shame brains must be so completely switched off since much more fun could have been had with this, especially given a strong supporting cast that includes John Hurt, Peter Mullan and Joseph Fiennes. Marvel films such as Avengers Assemble and Guardians of the Galaxy have ably demonstrated that it’s possible to entertain 14- Read more ...
Matthew Wright
At least the concept is more catchy than the title, which won’t be tripping off DJing lips. A mixtape intended to let the band flex its (well-concealed?) experimental muscles, this features collaborations with artists from Haim to Angel Haze and MNEK. It promises intriguing new blends of musical colour and texture, but too many songs are characterised by windy, wailing, reverb-heavy synth and vocals. “Axe to Grind”, featuring Tyde, is disappointingly blunt-edged, with an attractive palette of voices but no shape. “Torn Apart” is another ragbag of wailing synths and vocals. “Fall Into Read more ...
mark.kidel
The Afro-Atlantic world, in music as well as in religion, has always been characterized by a continuously self-renewing tendency to combine elements from cultures that originate on either side of the ocean. Lucas Santtana is a thoroughly contemporary Brazilian musician – in spite of his roots as an accompanist of bossa nova and tropicalia greats such as Gilberto Gil and Gaetano Veloso. His most recent music has drawn from the polyrhythms of Africa, the soft lilt of reggae, Brazil’s own rich samba tradition, as well as the complex textures of European club music and indie rock.His new release Read more ...
Kieron Tyler
With just over two weeks to Christmas, thoughts might be turning to which of the deluge of 2014’s reissues might be suitable as a gift, worth putting on your own wish-list for Santa or even merit buying for yourself. So if help is needed, theartsdesk is happy to provide a one-stop guide to the essential reissues covered so far this year.Normal service will resume next week with a look at John Grant’s old band The Czars. The week after we will consider Millions Like Us, a box set dedicated to, as it is helpfully subtitled, “the Mod Revival 1977–89”. Following that will be a collection Read more ...
caspar.gomez
Once up on a time, a long time ago, the pop music of France was a joke to the outside world. Serge Gainsbourg and certain Parisian chanson auteurs received occasional plaudits but, for the most part, coverage consisted of throwaway sniggering at Johnny Halliday. No longer. From Daft Punk to David Guetta, from Air to Justice, the French are now colossi of dance-pop which, let’s face it, in 2014 is all pop. One day, when the dust settles and leather elbow-padded rave historians peek into how this change came about, three names will recur: Daft Punk, of course, but also techno visionary Laurent Read more ...
Kieron Tyler
The subject of The Possibilities are Endless does not appear until 24 minutes into the film. When Edwyn Collins is manifested, it is as a silhouette, as spectral as he is tangible. Collins is bifurcated: corporeal but also removed. The massive stroke he had suffered meant he could not summon the words he needs, has mobility issues and did not recall the connections between the episodes from his life in his memory. Who Collins is has been rewritten yet he remains the person he was, as attested by his partner Grace Maxwell.The Possibilities are Endless charts the iron-willed Collins’ difficult Read more ...