New Music Reviews
Eric Clapton, Carlos Santana and Steve Winwood, BST Hyde Park review - the Clapton faithful in their drovesMonday, 09 July 2018
Would we see any of the three guitar-toting rock legends together? Yes, we would. Two of them, if briefly. Carlos Santana came back just before 10pm to join Eric Clapton’s band for the encore of their set, a quick valedictory burn-through of Joe Cocker’s tune “It’s High Time We Went”. Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Manfred MannSunday, 08 July 2018
Dress each of the band in the same clothes. Stand them in a line outside the EMI headquarters building on Manchester Square. Get the taller ones with glasses to stand at either end of the row. Put the other taller one in the middle. Have the pair of less tall ones – who could be twins – stand between the taller ones. Symmetry and uniformity duly achieved, take the promotional photograph. Read more... |
theartsdesk in Essaouira: Festival of Gnawa - 21st-century trance mastersMonday, 02 July 2018
Essaouira, on Morocco’s Atlantic coast, is the place of winds. Day or night, hot or cold, year in, year out, the “Alizee” blows, and it blows. Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Zuider ZeeSunday, 01 July 2018
The most intriguing aspect of the mid-Seventies, Memphis-based band Zuider Zee isn’t that they took their name from a geographic feature of the Netherlands or that they dealt in against-the-grain Anglo-centric pop rock or even that the new compilation Zeenith features top-drawer music which was never released at the time. Read more... |
theartsdesk in Orkney: St Magnus Festival 2018 - choral music to the foreSaturday, 30 June 2018
With – unusually – no visiting orchestra at this year’s St Magnus International Festival in far-flung Orkney (the fall-out from delayed funding confirmations, we’re assured), there was a danger that the annual midsummer event might have felt a little – well, quiet. Read more... |
Supersonic Festival 2018 review – Birmingham waves the flag for New Weird BritainWednesday, 27 June 2018
A mere fortnight after the Download Festival, the Midlands was at it again over the weekend, celebrating noisy musical mavericks who have no truck with the mainstream. Read more... |
The Cure, RFH review - sterling close-up show from alt-pop stalwartsTuesday, 26 June 2018
The Robert Smith-curated Meltdown festival in London came to a close on Sunday night with a spectacular, concept-driven headline set by The Cure, or CUREATION 25, as the band was actually billed, presumably because of a previously contracted show at Hyde Park that's due to take place in two weeks’ time. Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Contract in Blood / Winds of TimeSunday, 24 June 2018
Although the cover of the 19 May 1979 issue of the music weekly Sounds was dominated by a photo of American rocker Ted Nugent, attention was also grabbed by a trail for a feature on “Heavy Metal…The New British Bands”. The two-page article it related to was headlined If You Want Blood, You’ve Got It... Read more... |
theartsdesk at Glastonbury Festival 2018Friday, 22 June 2018
Daft Punk! Kendrick Lamar! The Kinks! Yes! We blew the lid off! Read more... |
theartsdesk on Vinyl 40: Talking Heads, Ornette Coleman, Crayola Lectern, Brian Eno, Ash and moreThursday, 21 June 2018
Earlier this year, in May, Brighton hosted the Vinyl World Congress where Paul Pacifico, head of the Association of Independent Music, told the assembled that, “People pay for vinyl not because they have to but because they want to - they want a physical representation of their emotional connection with an artist." There was a general agreement that vinyl collectors and fans account for the majority of sales, but... Read more... |
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It all started on 09/09/09. That memorable date, September 9 2009, marked the debut of theartsdesk.com.
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Album: Artemis - Arboresque
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Hinds, St Lukes and the Winged Ox, Glasgow review - Spanish...
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Music Reissues Weekly: Diggin' For Gold Volume 14 - Nor...
In 1964, the Norwegian division of Philips Records began issuing singles labelled “Bergen Beat.” The picture sleeves of 45s by Davy Dean and the...
The Monkey review - a grisly wind-up
Longlegs’ trapdoor ending snapped tight on its clammy Lynchian mood, reconfiguring its Silence of the Lambs serial-killer yarn...
Richard II, Bridge Theatre review - handsomely mounted, emot...
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...