CDs/DVDs
mark.kidel
Odin’s ravens Huginn (thought) and Muninn (memory) are the great Norse god’s messengers, at the heart of a myth that was borrowed in watered-down form for Game of Thrones. The myth inspired a suite of pieces by Sigur Rós and a star-studded group of Icelandic friends and collaborators. Unreleased for many years, and only performed a few times, this recording from a Paris concert in 2002 will delight the band’s fans, as well as intriguing admirers of "post-rock" or contemporary classical.The band’s moody and cinematic style is very much present: wide swathes of sound, conjuring landscapes Read more ...
Saskia Baron
The BFI has done an excellent job of giving La Haine the 4k restoration treatment under the vigilant eye of the film’s cinematographer, Pierre Aïm. From the opening image of planet earth being torched by a slo-mo Molotov cocktail to the shocking final moments, this is a stunningly handsome film. It’s hard to believe Matthieu Kassovitz’s blistering tale of three young men fired up by police brutality is now 25 years old as the film has lost none of its incendiary energy and style.Kassovitz sets the scene with an archive montage of the 1993 riots that broke out in Paris after the Read more ...
Thomas H. Green
Tankus the Henge are one of Britain’s most energized, entertaining and spirit-raising live bands. If they were allowed to endlessly tour the nation, exempt from lockdown rules, they could eliminate the COVID blues, concert by ebullient concert. They have not, however, in their decade-plus history, achieved crossover success, despite their two previous albums being joyous festival-friendly romps. For those who enjoy their sing-along burlesque, their latest is a welcome addition to the canon.The qualification of the last sentence is important. Tankus the Henge are an acquired taste, their Read more ...
joe.muggs
Miley Cyrus has always been, broadly, A Good Thing. A Top Pop Star. A sassy, funny, puritan-scaring, omnisexual chaos monkey at the heart of pop culture, doing pretty much whatever she fancies when she fancies. Not that this has always meant she’s made good music, mind you. Over her six previous albums, she’s swerved through bubblegum pop, EDM, trap, Broadway showstoppers, raging dubstep, faux-lo-fi psychedelic chillwave (with The Flaming Lips in tow), straight country, and the rest. And while there have been gems at each stage of her career, there have also been quite a few hot messes along Read more ...
Barney Harsent
Gary Barlow’s Music Played By Humans is, in all but name, a Christmas album. Mixing big-band jazz, Latin and pop, it’s an assortment box of bubbly, broad-based business bangers deployed by the Take That veteran with help from a host of showbiz pals. Michael Bublé, Barry Manilow, Chilly Gonzales, Alesha Dixon, Beverley Knight, James Corden… these are big boots to put on the ground.It’s got “Secret Santa” written all over it – and not just because it’s a precision-built, one-size-fits-all, weapons-grade gifting opportunity for work acquaintances and pissed aunties alike. No. It’s Read more ...
Harry Thorfinn-George
During the first lockdown in March, Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong took the time to reflect “on the things that matter most in my life: family, friends and, of course, music.” In this sentimental headspace Armstrong began recording covers of songs, releasing them once a week and calling this project No Fun Mondays. This album is the complete collection of these covers, which range from interesting to flat out redundant.The intriguing moments of the album come when it feels like Armstrong is inviting us into his personal record collection. He plays “War Stories” by the obscure Seventies band Read more ...
Graham Fuller
Stylistically, Waxworks (1924) was the apogee of German Expressionist cinema in that it was the last pure distillation of the form, in which visual distortion, chiaroscuro, exaggerated staccato acting, and nightmarish atmosphere collectively evoked the angst-ridden German collective consciousness in the early years of the Weimar Republic.Waxworks proved influential, too, especially as an anthology film with horror elements. Yet it has never been as celebrated as such Expressionist classics as The Cabinet of Dr Caligari (1919), The Golem (1920), Nosferatu (1922), Dr Mabuse the Gambler (1922) Read more ...
peter.quinn
EDM bangers? Check. Melancholic ballads? Why certainly. Great vocal arrangements which switch from rap to angelic falsetto in the blink of an eye? Step right this way. You’ll find all this and more on Be, which is no mean feat given that the album – the second collection of 2020 from South Korean septet BTS following their February release Map of the Soul: 7 – clocks in at just a little over 28 minutes. This could never be described as a recording that outstays its welcome.With four singers and three rappers, the BTS vocal palette is impressively varied, with everyone chipping in on lead Read more ...
Saskia Baron
Director Claudia Weill’s landmark feature debut benefits from Criterion’s high quality re-issue, which was made possible after the American Library of Congress put the movie on the United States National Film Registry for preservation last year. Made piecemeal over four years, Girlfriends was the first American film to be wholly funded with grants and has been described as the grandmother of independent cinema. Back in 1978, this neo-realist comedy about two young women struggling to find their professional and romantic identities in New York became a festival hit; Woody Read more ...
Liz Thomson
I really wanted to like this album – indeed, from a short sample, I thought I would love it. But while there are indeed some lovely moments, repeated listenings fail to persuade me of anything other than two good musicians with evident talents who have been too clever by half with a baker’s dozen of traditional and modern folk songs and fatally compromised the qualities that make such music unique – its glorious clarity and simplicity.Sylvia Schmidt has a lovely voice, gossamer-light, and James Kitchman plays a mean jazz guitar. But they are each too tricksy and the sum of their tricksiness Read more ...
Guy Oddy
It’s almost a truism in rock’n’roll that within every padded and bloated double album, there’s a fine single disc waiting to burst out. Among the plethora of tunes on Smashing Pumpkins’ first double album since 1995’s fine Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, however, there’s barely enough to fill a worthwhile EP. In fact, given the joyless musical Mogadon on offer on Cyr, even that might be something of a stretch.Flat and uninspiring tunes follow dreary and unmemorable dirges almost without pause for great swathes of the 70 minutes or so of Smashing Pumpkins’ latest effort. “The colour of Read more ...
Thomas H. Green
Kali Uchis is a superstar in the making. But she’s seemed that way for a few years and, despite making waves in the US, has not crossed over on the scale her talent deserves. Emanating a presence that’s part Gaga, part Winehouse, part Megan Thee Stallion, and part Shakira, the 26 year old American-Columbian delivered one of 2018’s finest albums, Isolation, demonstrating that sexy, chart-friendly pop could also be wildly eclectic and inventive. Her second album is more singular in focus, a Spanish language affair deep-dipped in Uchis’ uniquely woozy brand of easy listening.Uchis has worked Read more ...