New Music Reviews
Album: Jenny Hval - Iris Silver MistThursday, 24 April 2025
Had I read the contextual blurb about Jenny Hval's latest album first, I might have assumed it was a perfume company collaboration. The album is named after a fragrance created by renowned perfumer Maurice Roucel for French house Serge Lutens, a connection that initially seems tenuous. Read more... |
Music Reissues Weekly: 1001 Est CrémazieSunday, 20 April 2025
It would have been hard to pick up a copy of the album credited to and titled 1001 Est Crémazie in 1975. Just 500 copies were pressed. It didn’t reach shops but was circulated amongst the musicians playing on it, their friends, families and fellow students at Montréal’s Collège André-Grasset, the school at which those on the album were pupils. Read more... |
Album: Maria Somerville - LusterSaturday, 19 April 2025
Luster’s fifth track “Halo” has the lyric “mystical creatures… of Éirne,” referencing the Irish river and lough of the same name – both of which are associated with a mother goddess. Earlier, the album’s opener is a short, ambient-styled, scene-setting instrumental titled “Réalt,” where birds, wordless vocals and a harp are heard. Réalt translates from Irish Gaelic as “star.” Read more... |
Manic Street Preachers, Barrowland, Glasgow review - elder statesmen deliver melody and sing-a-longsTuesday, 15 April 2025
As you might expect from a Manic Street Preachers gig, literary influences were never far away. A DH Lawrence quote was prominently displayed on the video wall before the group took the stage, and band lyrics would randomly flash up throughout the ensuing performance. This occasionally raised an unintentional eyebrow, as when “Scream to a Sigh” was accompanied by I am a Relic lighting up – somewhat ironic for a group now so long-lasting they’re into a fourth decade. Read more... |
Music Reissues Weekly: Motor City Is Burning - A Michigan Anthology 1965-1972Sunday, 13 April 2025
In October 1967, John Lee Hooker released a single titled “The Motor City is Burning.” The song commented on the civil unrest which had taken place in his Michigan home city of Detroit that July. “Oh, the motor city's burnin',” sang Hooker. “My home town burnin' down to the ground, Worser than Vietnam, Well, it started on 12th and Clairmont, this mornin'.” Read more... |
theartsdesk on Vinyl: Record Store Day Special 2025Friday, 11 April 2025
Record Store Day 2025 is tomorrow (Saturday 12th April 2025)! At theartsdesk on Vinyl we’ve been sent a selection of exclusive RSD goodies. Check the reviews. Then check your local record shop! See you amongst it. THEARTSDESK ON VINYL CHOICE CUT FOR RECORD STORE DAY APRIL 2025 Marianne Faithfull Burning Moonlight EP (Decca) Read more... |
Primal Scream, O2 Academy, Birmingham review - from anthems of social justice to songs of heartbreakWednesday, 09 April 2025
Bobby Gillespie and Andrew Innes may have been steering the good ship Primal Scream for some 40 years but, on the evidence of this week’s visit to Birmingham, they are in no way ready to join the heritage circuit – banging out the hits exactly as they were recorded – just yet. Read more... |
theartsdesk on Vinyl 89: Wilco, Decius, Hot 8 Brass Band, Henge, Dub Syndicate, Motörhead and moreWednesday, 09 April 2025
VINYL OF THE MONTH Rattle Encircle (Upset! The Rhythm) Read more... |
Tallinn Music Week 2025 review - Estonia’s capital accommodates all flavours of musicWednesday, 09 April 2025
Langenu are a black metal band. On stage at Estonia’s Tallinn Music Week, they are fearsome. Blood-vessel-burstingly intense. Tempering their force with twists into progressive, psychedelic-adjacent territory, they are a band any rock fan would dig. Read more... |
An Evening with Joan Armatrading, Cadogan Hall review - thoughtful and engaging conversationTuesday, 08 April 2025
I can’t hear Joan Armatrading without being instantly transported back to Liverpool, and my student digs just around the corner from Penny Lane. I was a first-year music student, writing essays in the late-night glow of an Anglepoise, my radio-cassette player (boomboxes hadn’t yet been invented) tuned to Radio City. “Love and Affection” and “Down to Zero”, from her magnificent self-titled 1976 LP (no CDs either, and certainly no streaming!) were on the playlist of just about every DJ. Read more... |
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