CDs/DVDs
Guy Oddy
We have been told for years by the media, the record industry and “taste-makers” everywhere that popular music is resolutely a young person’s game. Carefree youth is what it’s all about and any sign of ageing, maturity or artistry and most musicians will be shown the door and put out to pasture unless they are revisiting past glories. In 2014, Swans put paid to this myth by releasing To Be Kind, the most impressive album of their 32 year (on-off) existence under the direction of Michael Gira – the band’s 60-year-old vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and band leader.To Be Kind is a Read more ...
Thomas H. Green
The year 2014 has been dominated by this woman's arse. The furore surrounding the video for Nicki Minaj's "Anaconda" put the rest of the bewigged New York hip hop superstar's career in the shade. Her steamy twerk-fest and rejig of Sir Mix-A-Lot's 1991 mega-hit "Baby's Got Back" ("I like big butts and I cannot lie...") opened up internet-breaking levels of debate. Did she represent modern womankind, strong and in charge of her sexuality, pushing the boundaries for the Afro-American body-shape and fighting air-brushed anorexic celeb culture? Or was it all a load of porno dodginess? I'd veer Read more ...
fisun.guner
Since David Hockney entered his eighth decade (he is now 77), we seem to have witnessed an accelerated output of major exhibitions, biographies and documentaries. The public appetite has never tired of this most tireless of artists, but it’s an interest that’s been given fresh impetus by the exuberance and vivacity of his epic series of paintings of the Yorkshire Wolds. Bruno Wollheim’s TV documentary, Hockney: A Bigger Picture (2009), was a look at this recent period of renewed vigour and creativity, while Randall Wright’s cinema-released second film of the artist – the first, David Hockney Read more ...
joe.muggs
Pity everyone who's already published their albums of the year lists. Like Beyonce in 2013, D'Angelo has just thrown the most humungous spanner in the works, and changed the year's musical landscape in a single day. Pity, too, everyone else who's released a record even vaguely in the vicinity of hip hop / soul / R&B today, as they might as well be shouting in a vacuum (especially poor Tenessee rapper Starlito who managed to drop an album on the same day as Jay-Z's Magna Carter Holy Grail last year, and now has to deal with this).Yes, this was just released today, and yes, it is an album Read more ...
Thomas H. Green
2014 has been a juicy year for albums which places Nick Mulvey’s solo debut on an especially high pedestal. A straightforward review can be found elsewhere on theartsdesk, when I first thrilled to his music earlier in the year. In the meantime, those other contenders deserve a mention, the ones that came closest to unseating Mulvey during prolonged listening sessions here at Gomez Mansions.The new one from Canadian DJ-producer Richie Hawtin’s lysergic techno persona Plastikman has done serious time on the late night system. Composed for and recorded live at an event in New York’s Guggenheim Read more ...
Kieron Tyler
The Czars: Best ofQueen of Denmark, John Grant’s first solo album, seemed to arrive from nowhere in 2010. Here was a singer-songwriter with a unique voice evoking disparate wellsprings Eric Carmen, Randy Newman and Lionel Richie. When taken with a dramatically affecting songwriting sensibility and arresting, self-lacerating lyrics, all of this rendered the album instantly impactful.The immediate backstory was that Midlake had heard Grant’s songs, were taken with them and volunteered to be his backing band on the sessions which led to Queen of Denmark. Grant himself was then in a bad way, in Read more ...
Matthew Wright
Swedish trombonist and bandleader Nils Landgren has been creating eclectic Christmas compilations for nearly ten years now, and has, in the popular jazz market at least, created a successful niche, selling “jazz platinum” in Germany, where the ACT label is based. His success is due to a generous, open-minded approach to repertoire that first surprises with its apparent incongruity, then seduces with its class.When did you last hear George Michael, Duke Ellington, John Rutter, Odetta and traditional carols performed on the same album, all with sincerity and integrity? It’s perhaps a Read more ...
Kieron Tyler
François Truffaut’s The 400 Blows is a classic. Not only is it one of cinema's best films and a foundation of French New Wave, it also affectingly and rivetingly depicts an anomie-filled childhood. Released in 1959, it was a comment on French society which pulled no punches yet had warmth at its core. The magnetic star was Jean-Pierre Léaud, playing the then 13-year-old anti-hero Antoine Doinel with a panache which seemed as though he was refracting his own persona.Truffaut did not leave it alone and four more Doinel vehicles followed: Antoine and Colette (1962), Stolen Kisses (1968), Bed Read more ...
Thomas H. Green
There is a moment in the singer Tracey Thorn’s autobiography, Bedsit Disco Queen, where she credits Fairport Convention with being more DIY, indie and autonomous than any punk rocker. She’s not being facetious, she simply admires the way they’ve built their career, most especially the annual Cropredy Festival, as a cottage industry among friends, connecting directly with their fanbase, maintaining the root values of folk hippiedom intact for decades. I can only concur with Thorn. Fairport are an entirely admirable entity. I have not, however, made as much progress with most of their music. Read more ...
Barney Harsent
Can Christmas spirit be bottled? Well, there are certainly some songs that can effectively make us drunk on goodwill rather than gin and sherry. Paul McCartney’s “Simply Having a Wonderful Christmas Time” and the whole of A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector are two fine examples. Earth, Wind & Fire are the latest to try to distil the essence of Christmas, and it seems to have been a success. In fact, they must have identified the exact genetic code of festive cheer in order to remove it from nearly every track in this collection of holiday songs with the ruthless efficiency Read more ...
Thomas H. Green
Given Hercules stars Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and is directed by Brett Ratner, the man behind the Rush Hour films, currently signed on to helm Beverley Hills Cop IV, few would expect anything but a mindless multiplex romp. And that’s exactly what they get although it’s a shame brains must be so completely switched off since much more fun could have been had with this, especially given a strong supporting cast that includes John Hurt, Peter Mullan and Joseph Fiennes. Marvel films such as Avengers Assemble and Guardians of the Galaxy have ably demonstrated that it’s possible to entertain 14- Read more ...
Matthew Wright
At least the concept is more catchy than the title, which won’t be tripping off DJing lips. A mixtape intended to let the band flex its (well-concealed?) experimental muscles, this features collaborations with artists from Haim to Angel Haze and MNEK. It promises intriguing new blends of musical colour and texture, but too many songs are characterised by windy, wailing, reverb-heavy synth and vocals. “Axe to Grind”, featuring Tyde, is disappointingly blunt-edged, with an attractive palette of voices but no shape. “Torn Apart” is another ragbag of wailing synths and vocals. “Fall Into Read more ...