New Music Reviews
The Lemonheads, Institute, BirminghamFriday, 02 October 2015
It has been three years since The Lemonheads, Evan Dando’s slacker kings, last toured the UK and six years since they released Varshons, a covers album. So it was a pleasant surprise when they recently announced a return to these shores to play some shows with no particular product to push, especially given that anyone might imagine that they had since long disappeared. Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Bert JanschSunday, 27 September 2015
|
Loose Tubes, Ronnie Scott'sSaturday, 26 September 2015
Loose Tubes go hand in hand with Ronnie Scott’s. This was the setting for their fabled residencies back in the Eighties, the scene of their farewell gig in 1990 and of their comeback last year (both of which feature on new live album Arriving). Read more... |
Unknown Mortal Orchestra, O2 Shepherd's BushThursday, 24 September 2015
Stylistically, they’re a psychedelic kaleidoscope of a band, but that didn’t stop Unknown Mortal Orchestra getting the O2 Shepherd’s Bush swaying hypnotically last night. Their jagged, breaking grooves, burnished analogue synth and drone-like choruses take in everything from Stevie Wonder to Captain Beefheart, via a slew of indie, garage and psychedelia, but the effect is unique and compelling. Read more... |
Florence + the Machine, Alexandra PalaceTuesday, 22 September 2015
There’s a new book out called Red: A Natural History of the Redhead, which gets to the heart of what it is to have the ginger gene, be it Boudicca or Jessica Rabbit. It says coppertops are more prone to bee stings, and perfume gives off a different odour on their skin. And then there are the more hackneyed ascriptions: flaming hair implies fieriness, wildness, total and utter otherness etc. Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: FacesSunday, 20 September 2015
|
theartsdesk on Vinyl: Volume 9 - Queen, On-U Sound and moreFriday, 18 September 2015
The New York Times recently wrote that, “For the music business over all, vinyl is still a niche product, if an increasingly substantial one.” How substantial is slowly becoming clear with dramatic rises in vinyl consumption over the last year. The biggest pressing plant in Europe, in the Czech village of Lodenice, last year produced 14.5 million records, while across the US during the same period 13 million were sold, with around 50% of the buyers under 35. Read more... |
Courtney Pine, Ronnie Scott'sFriday, 18 September 2015
Courtney Pine’s Caribbean-flavoured album House of Legends was released three years ago, and it says a lot that he’s still touring it. This riotously melodic collection of ska, soca and calypso, embellished with some scorching solo work, has certainly proved popular, as the latest sell-out run at Ronnie’s testifies. Pine cheerfully apologised for a lack of CD’s to sell at the gig: they’ve all been sold. Read more... |
Jambinai, Rich MixThursday, 17 September 2015
For three unassuming musicians, sitting cross-legged in a row, Korean folk-noise fusion band Jambinai’s London debut last night was seismic. With an ambitious project to integrate the techniques and idioms of traditional Korean folk with a blend of noise-rock, drone-rock and electronic music, they gave a concert that was, from the moment the grinding drone of the geomungo started yawing through the crowd, utterly distinct and original. Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Pere UbuSunday, 13 September 2015
|
Bert Jansch: It Don't Bother Me, Jack Orion / Bert Jansch & John Renbourn: Bert and John
Faces: You Can Make Me Dance, Sing or Anything… 1970–1975
Pere Ubu: Elitism for the People 1975–1978Pages
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
Help to give theartsdesk a future!
It all started on 09/09/09. That memorable date, September 9 2009, marked the debut of theartsdesk.com.
It followed some...
Interview: Polar photographer Sebastian Copeland on a lifeti...
Sebastian Copeland’s images of the Arctic may look otherworldly – with their tilting cathedrals of ice, hypnotic light, and fractured seascapes...
Rats on Rafts, The Victoria review - crepuscular Dutch quint...
An album is one thing, a live show is another. A truism of course, but one which is inescapable during this London date by the Rotterdam-based...
Jessica Duchen: Myra Hess - National Treasure review - well-...
Myra Hess was one of the most important figures in British cultural life in the mid-20th century: the pre-eminent...
Blu-ray: Drugstore Cowboy
Rehab people will tell you there are three stages to drug abuse: fun; fun with problems; problems. There’s also a fourth phase, where there aren't...
A Thousand Blows, Disney+ review - Peaky Blinders comes to R...
Steven Knight is beginning to resemble the British version of Taylor Sheridan. While Sheridan has been saturating our...
Fledermaus, Irish National Opera review - sex, please, we...
Let’s finally face the elephant in the room: the most popular Viennese operetta, packed with hit numbers, no longer works on the stage as a whole...
Chamayou, BBC Philharmonic, Morlot, Bridgewater Hall, Manche...
The second of the Philharmonic’s Boulez-Ravel celebrations (birth centenary of the former, 150th of the latter) brought Bertrand...
The Capulets and the Montagues, English Touring Opera review...
A year ago, after a deeply disappointing Manon Lescaut at Hackney Empire, I wrote here that English Touring Opera had often excelled in...
Harry Hill, Wilton's Music Hall review - madcap comic o...
Harry Hill reminds us at one point during his latest touring show that he’s 60, but there’s no let-up in the energy he brings to ...