New Music Reviews
theartsdesk on Vinyl 44: Thom Yorke, Primal Scream, Elvis, Noisferatu, R.E.M., Bauhaus, Mo'Wax and moreTuesday, 13 November 2018![]()
Enough hyping! This month, without further ado, let’s head straight to the reviews… VINYL OF THE MONTH LOR Lunar Orbit Rendezvous (Lo Records) Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Jazz on a Summer's DaySunday, 11 November 2018![]()
When Jazz on a Summer's Day was first seen in American cinemas in March 1960, it showed that seeing popular music live could be a leisure activity akin to watching high-end sports. Indeed, director Bert Stern intercut the musical performances he captured on film with footage of yachts trying-out for 1958’s America’s Cup. Read more... |
The Prodigy, Brighton Centre review - a proper bangin' night outTuesday, 06 November 2018![]()
“That’s what we fucking do!” So says Maxim at the concert’s very end, surveying the sweating, raving carnage of 4,500 souls before him. One of The Prodigy’s two frontman, he stands still finally, after spending the rest of the gig pacing and rushing up and down the lip of the stage like a caged panther. We all know what he means. Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: John & Beverley Martyn, Mott The HoopleSunday, 04 November 2018![]()
Although John & Beverley Martyn and Mott The Hoople were both signed to Island, the connection went further than being with the same label. When Guy Stevens conceived the band he named Mott The Hoople, the producer saw them as uniting the essence of Bob Dylan with that of The Rolling Stones. Read more... |
Caro Emerald, Royal Albert Hall – an injection of sunshine for the weary soulFriday, 02 November 2018![]()
“We will be taking you on a journey,” promises Caro Emerald at the start of tonight’s return to the Royal Albert Hall, which she last played back in April 2017 – and for the next 90 minutes, that’s what jazz-pop queen Emerald and her slick seven-piece... Read more... |
Slow Moving Clouds, Purcell Room review - a new take on folkFriday, 02 November 2018![]()
The young Dublin folk trio fuse vocal harmonies with superb acoustic musicianship, primarily on cello, fiddle and Nyckelharpa. They bring together Irish and Nordic – specifically Finnish – folk traditions, building them to dizzying heights on a foundation of acoustic drones and group interplay. Read more... |
Corrosion Of Conformity & Orange Goblin, O2 Institute, Birmingham review – international gang of veteran rockers get drunk and get wildMonday, 29 October 2018![]()
Winter came to Birmingham this weekend but fortunately, so did a modern-day, multi-national Viking band of rockers, consisting of Corrosion Of Conformity and Orange Goblin, ably assisted by Fireball Ministry and Black Moth. Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Cocteau TwinsSunday, 28 October 2018![]()
Think of Cocteau Twins. Their label 4AD will inevitably be high on the list of markers coming to mind. Whatever they were like as people, mysterious, oblique, shadowy and other similar adjectives were conjured for the band – and label alike. Despite interpretations of them as something other, their 1990 album 4AD Heaven or Las Vegas went Top Ten in the UK, entered the American Top 100 and sold quarter of a million copies. Read more... |
John Fogerty / Steve Miller Band, BluesFest 2018 review - keep on chooglin'Friday, 26 October 2018![]()
Rock critic Greil Marcus observed that John Fogerty’s songs are “about as contrived as the weather”, and there can surely never have been such an easy and instinctive songwriter in rock’n’roll. Read more... |
Sŵn Festival 2018 – a welcome return to formWednesday, 24 October 2018![]()
It’s been a tough few years for Sŵn Festival. Once a genuine rival to fellow urban festivals Great Escape and Sound City, recent events have fluctuated between one-dayers and a string of ticketed gigs. 2018 marked the biggest change yet, but also a return to the multi-day, multi-venue format. Read more... |
Pages
Subscribe to theartsdesk.com
Thank you for continuing to read our work on theartsdesk.com. For unlimited access to every article in its entirety, including our archive of more than 15,000 pieces, we're asking for £5 per month or £40 per year. We feel it's a very good deal, and hope you do too.
To take a subscription now simply click here.
And if you're looking for that extra gift for a friend or family member, why not treat them to a theartsdesk.com gift subscription?
latest in today

It all started on 09/09/09. That memorable date, September 9 2009, marked the debut of theartsdesk.com.
It followed some...

Steven Knight is beginning to resemble the British version of Taylor Sheridan. While Sheridan has been saturating our...

Hinds don't believe in God. They declared this as they surveyed the converted church that is St Luke's, and given the past few years you can...

In 1964, the Norwegian division of Philips Records began issuing singles labelled “Bergen Beat.” The picture sleeves of 45s by Davy Dean and the...

Longlegs’ trapdoor ending snapped tight on its clammy Lynchian mood, reconfiguring its Silence of the Lambs serial-killer yarn...

Screen stardom is generally anointed at the box office so it's a very real delight to find the fast-rising Jonathan Bailey taking time out from...

The theatre director Anna Mackmin has...

Donald Rodney’s most moving work is a photograph titled In the House of My Father, 1997 (main picture). Nestling in the...

With her 13th studio album, Heather Nova delivers what you might expect from one of the 90s' most distinctive alternative voices – though longtime...