tue 17/06/2025

New Music Interviews

theartsdesk Q&A: Musician Mark E Smith

Tim Cumming

Since releasing their first record, Bingo Masters Breakout, Mark E Smith (b 1957) has led The Fall through some of rock music’s most extreme and enthralling terrain, cutting a lyrical and musical swathe that few other artists can match. An outsider, self-confessed renegade, and microphone-destroying magus, Smith has seen dozens if not hundreds of musicians pass through the ranks of The Fall over the last 34 years.

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theartsdesk Q&A: Vocalist Cécile McLorin Salvant

peter Quinn

The vocalist Cécile McLorin Salvant first came to the attention of the jazz scene when she won the prestigious Thelonious Monk International Jazz competition in 2010. In 2013, her Mack Avenue Records debut WomanChild garnered a Grammy nomination. Two years later, she picked up her first Grammy Award when her follow-up release For One To Love won Best Jazz Vocal Album.

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theartsdesk Q&A: Musician Nick Mulvey

Thomas H Green

Nick Mulvey (b.1984) is a singer-songwriter who draws from a refreshing and unexpected palette of global roots music, modernist classical and electronica.

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theartsdesk Q&A: Homer Flynn, spokesman for The Residents

Kieron Tyler

An encounter with Homer Flynn is disconcerting as the extent of his involvement in The Residents is unclear. He acknowledges that he speaks for the eyeball-headed quartet whose identities are unknown. As he talks, it's clear he has intimate knowledge of their creative process, their motivations and what they think. He discusses them as “they”. Occasionally the word “we” is used.

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'English music is lumpy if you don't play it well': interview with folk trio Leveret

Tim Cumming

Leveret (an old name for a young hare) got together in 2014. They comprise former Bellowhead fiddler Sam Sweeney, English concertina player Rob Harbron and accordionist Andy Cutting – three of the very best on the scene.

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10 Questions for Pianist Søren Bebe

Matthew Wright

Danish pianist Søren Bebe has led a trio for 10 years, building a reputation as one of Europe’s most distinctive jazz ensembles. His warm, spacious and melodic sound is often compared to Esbjorn Svensson and Tord Gustavsen, or the influential sound/genre of German label ECM.

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Walter Becker, 1950-2017 - 'we play rock and roll, but we swing when we play'

Adam Sweeting

The death of Walter Becker last weekend brings to an end one of the great double acts of rock history.

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theartsdesk Q&A: Musician Albert Hammond

Russ Coffey

Albert Hammond might not be a household name but he's still, undeniably, one of the world's greatest living songwriters. His songs have sold 360 million copies, ranging from Starship's soft-rock classic "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" to Julio Iglesias' "To All the Girls I've Loved Before".

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theartsdesk Q&A: Musician Susanne Sundfør

Kieron Tyler

Nine hours after meeting up in a Shoreditch courtyard to discuss her new album Music for People in Trouble, Norway’s Susanne Sundfør is on stage elsewhere in the district at a theatre called The Courtyard. It’s a sell-out and the room she’s playing is over-full and over-hot. A few days before the album’s release, most of the new songs are unfamiliar to the audience.

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theartsdesk Q&A: Musician Alison Moyet

Russ Coffey

Alison Moyet is one of Britain's best-loved singer-songwriters. Known for her deep, soulful voice and down-to-earth personality she has managed to combine commercial sensibility with artistic integrity for over 30 years. Today, 16 June, she releases her ninth solo album Other, recorded with long-time collaborator Guy Sigsworth.

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