Los Angeles
CD: Los Lobos - LLegó NavidadMonday, 09 December 2019
In a season awash with limp carols, dodgy glam-rock and schmaltzy jazz, all credit to Los Lobos for coming up with something different. LLegó Navidad (Christmas is Here) contains 12 festive folk songs, mostly hailing from Latin America.... Read more... |
Bat for Lashes, St Bartholomew’s Church, Brighton review – a heartfelt homecomingMonday, 02 December 2019
Natasha Khan is ending this intimate UK tour where her dreams first took shape. Study at the University of Brighton began 12 years in the bohemian town, and her twice Mercury-nominated, mythology-minded pop life. She could sometimes be found here in... Read more... |
Wang, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Dudamel, Barbican review - much more than glitz and glamourTuesday, 19 November 2019
The megastars are here at the Barbican, for an intensive three days in the case of the LA Phil and Gustavo Dudamel, throughout the season as the hall shines an "Artist Spotlight" on pianist Yuja Wang. Despite a shallow opener showcasing the... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: The Hollywood Stars - Sound CitySunday, 06 October 2019
The Hollywood Stars were not shy. In 1976, in keeping with their assertive handle, they sang “some last a year, then disappear as if they were magicians, but while I’m here no need to fear at the top I’m a pop musician, they call me the Houdini of... Read more... |
Judy review - Renée Zellweger's bravura screen comebackFriday, 04 October 2019
“She sang from her soul,” Judy Garland’s youngest daughter, Lorna Luft, once said of her world-renowned mum. So it’s right to give the role of this legendary entertainer to Renée Zellweger, an actress who, in the new biopic Judy, acts from her soul... Read more... |
DVD/Blu-ray: Amazing GraceTuesday, 10 September 2019
Over two days in 1972, the great Aretha Franklin, undoubtedly one of the greatest American voices of the 20th century, performed and recorded gospel classics in Los Angeles, with a predominantly African-American audience, the red-hot Los Angeles... Read more... |
Euphoria, Sky Atlantic review - teenage nervous breakdownWednesday, 07 August 2019
Being a teenager used to be fun, allegedly, but for the young cast of HBO’s controversial new hit series Euphoria it looks more like a nightmare ride through a theme park of bad trips. Filmed in various Los Angeles locations, Euphoria (showing on... Read more... |
CD: WHY? - AOKOHIOTuesday, 06 August 2019
Founded in 1998, the Los Angeles based Anticon collective has become one of the most curiously individual of 21st century groupings. Taking the wordiest and nerdiest tendencies of hip hop – notably the slam poetry-informed tongue-twisting of fellow... Read more... |
Edinburgh International Festival 2019: Mahler's 'Resurrection' Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Dudamel - detailed judgment day canvasSunday, 04 August 2019
Since time immemorial the Edinburgh International Festival has started with a juicy choral epic designed to show off the Festival Chorus and the opulent Usher Hall. So this performance of Mahler’s Second Symphony would normally have been billed as... Read more... |
Gloria Bell review - dancing away the heartacheThursday, 06 June 2019
With Gloria (2013), A Fantastic Woman (2017) and Disobedience (2018), Chile’s Sebastián Lelio has earned a deserved reputation as a sympathetic director of women. It may seem a strange move for him to remake Gloria only a few years after the Spanish... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Christian Lindberg, John Williams, Alexandra DariescuSaturday, 01 June 2019
Christian Lindberg: Steppenwolf – Viola Concerto, Tales of Galamanta, Peking Twilight Rafael Altino (viola), Odense Symphony Orchestra/Christian Lindberg (BIS)“I do not write in any style whatsoever! I just listen to what my brain and my soul... Read more... |
Rocketman review - fabulous musically but a tad miserable tooFriday, 24 May 2019
Rocketman opens with its hero in flamboyant stage costume stomping into a drab group therapy session. Pulling the sparkling horns off his magnificent head-dress and shuffling his feathered wings into a seat, Elton John demands of his fellow addicts... Read more... |
