world music
Reissue CDs Weekly: The Voyager Golden RecordSunday, 25 February 2018
What is music? When pondering archive releases, compilations and reissues the question doesn’t come up. Knowledge of context and history means there’s never a need to muse on this fundamental issue. A package, say, dedicated to Northern Soul says... Read more... |
CD: Jonny Nash and Lindsay Todd - Fauna MappingSunday, 18 February 2018
A little over two years ago, The Arts Desk reviewed Hipnotik Tradisi, Black Merlin’s extraordinary first offering for Island of the Gods’ Island Explorer series. The idea is simple. Take an artist, invite them to Bali, let them soak up (and,... Read more... |
Khruangbin, SWX, Bristol review - stoned stew of global sounds hits the markSaturday, 10 February 2018
Texan trio Khruangbin are a rare concoction, psychedelic rockers, for sure, but seamed with all manner of global influences, notably Thai pop but also running the gamut from Latin sounds to Middle Eastern scaling. Hitting the UK in support of their... Read more... |
Albums of the Year 2017: Daymé Arocena - CubafoniaSaturday, 30 December 2017
All things considered, there aren’t many criteria by which this album, however cosmopolitan its influences, sensitive and precise its vocals and supple its rhythms, is really the best of the year. I’ve had a few sleepless nights recently over the... Read more... |
Albums of the Year 2017: Bob Dylan - Trouble No MoreSaturday, 23 December 2017
“Passion! You gotta have passion!” I still feel the full force of Tricky’s conviction, as I was filming him in 1997, for my film Naked and Famous. He’s right: music works better than words when expressing the deepest emotions.This year has been a... Read more... |
theartsdesk Q&A: Musician Nick MulveySaturday, 25 November 2017
Nick Mulvey (b.1984) is a singer-songwriter who draws from a refreshing and unexpected palette of global roots music, modernist classical and electronica. His second album, Wake Up Now, was released earlier this year, and showcases a man on a quest... Read more... |
The Best Albums of 2017Tuesday, 14 November 2017
Disc of the Day reviews new albums, week in, week out, all year. Below are the albums to which our writers awarded five stars. Click on any one of them to find out why.SIMPLY THE BEST: THEARTSDESK'S FIVE-STAR REVIEWS OF 2017Alan Broadbent:... Read more... |
Saz'iso, Colston Hall, Bristol review - bewitching music from Southern AlbaniaFriday, 10 November 2017
A strange and wonderful moment: the standing area at the rear of The Lantern, the smaller venue at Bristol’s Colston Hall, is suddenly transformed into a corner of Southern Albania.A band plays haunting music, rooted in the firm yet delicate beat of... Read more... |
CD: TootArd - Laisser PasserWednesday, 01 November 2017
It’s impossible to discuss TootArd without digging into the history of their region. They’re a funky desert blues outfit but they don’t derive from Saharan Africa; they were born and raised in the village of Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights. This... Read more... |
CD: Gogol Bordello - Seekers and FindersWednesday, 16 August 2017
As a live phenomenon Gogol Bordello are unstoppable, a crowd-whipping Balkan-punk storm that sweeps venues away with them. For some years this blinded me to their recorded output. Their albums sent shivers up my spine, a tinctured version of their... Read more... |
theartsdesk on Vinyl 31: Psychic TV, Kendrick Lamar, Brian Eno, Stan Getz and moreFriday, 11 August 2017
August is often a quiet month on the release front but theartsdesk on Vinyl came across a host of music deserving of attention. Now that even Sony, one of the biggest record companies in the world, are starting to press their own vinyl again, it’s... Read more... |
Goat/Moonlandingz, Brixton O2 Academy review - a feast of modern psychedelic rockThursday, 03 August 2017
Representing the best of the current psych revival’s many faces, the scuzziness of The Moonlandingz and overwhelming groove of Goat all seem initially out of place amongst the mock-Greek décor of the O2 Academy Brixton. With an audience that doesn’t... Read more... |
