mon 30/06/2025

New Music Buzz

Jeremy Deller on The Posters Came From The Walls

joe Muggs

"Depeche Mode," says Jeremy Deller, "have always been seen as a bit naff in this country, at least in the media. They could never shake off the image of their earliest Top Of The Pops appearances, so no matter how musically exploratory they got, they tended to be seen as this jumped-up rather silly pop band.

Read more...

Birthdays On The Tube, 22-28 November

Peter Culshaw

An ongoing series celebrating musicians' birthdays.

23 November 1876: Manuel de Falla's El Amor Brujo filmed as part of Carlos Saura's classic film dance trilogy.

{youtube width="400"}Ftd8tIdiYq4{/youtube}  El Amor Brujo  Carlos Saura

Read more...

Birthdays on the Tube, 15-21 November

Peter Culshaw

A continuing series celebrating musicians' birthdays.

22 November 1965: Bjørk released her first self-titled album at the age of 11, at 14 she was in a punk band called Spit and Snot, and has since gone on to be one of the most successful and original musicians on the planet. Many of her classic videos have had their sound removed on YouTube, but "All is Full of Love" directed by Chris Cunningham  is up there still, and features the best lesbian robot love scene ever...

Read more...

Chap-Hop, Straight out of Surrey

Peter Culshaw

"Hip-hop has been a commercial proposition since the release of 'Rapper’s Delight' in 1979. That’s 30 years, a long time for any genre," writes Sasha Frere-Jones in this week's New Yorker. The genre, according to Frere-Jones, is on the way out. Not so for Chap-Hop, however, which has been going for about six days since the video below was put up on YouTube, featuring...

Read more...

Noughty Girls: Britney, Amy, Beyoncé, Kylie... and Kaija

Peter Culshaw

Last night I was thinking, as I often do, of Britney, Kylie, Beyoncé, and less of Shakira, mainly because her name doesn’t end in y or e. The reason that my thoughts turned to Britney et al (incidentally we are delighted to have britneyspearsfans @BritneySpears4u site following theartsdesk on Twitter) was a list published this Saturday in the Telegraph of the best 100 songs of the Noughties.

Read more...

Pages

Subscribe to theartsdesk.com

Thank you for continuing to read our work on theartsdesk.com. For unlimited access to every article in its entirety, including our archive of more than 15,000 pieces, we're asking for £5 per month or £40 per year. We feel it's a very good deal, and hope you do too.

To take a subscription now simply click here.

And if you're looking for that extra gift for a friend or family member, why not treat them to a theartsdesk.com gift subscription?

latest in today

'We are bowled over!' Thank you for your messages... ...
Quadrophenia, Sadler's Wells review - missed opportunit...

The red, white and blue bull’s-eye on the front curtain at Sadler’s Wells tells us we are in the familiar territory of Pete Townshend’s...

Fidelio, Garsington Opera review - a battle of sunshine and...

Sometimes, as the first act of Beethoven’s Fidelio closes, the chorus of prisoners discreetly fade away backstage as their brief taste of...

Summer Laugh review - five comics gear up for the Fringe

Appearing at the Edinburgh Fringe has long been an expensive gig for comics.  But while stand-ups may need only a microphone to...

Album: Brìghde Chaimbeul - Sunwise

The first five-and-a-half minutes of Sunwise’s opening track “Dùsgadh / Waking" are taken up by a drone. Played on the Scottish small...

Music Reissues Weekly: Rupert’s People - Dream In My Mind

Procol Harum’s “A Whiter Shade of Pale” was an instant phenomenon. Recorded in April 1967 and issued as a single on 12 May after pre-release play...

Intimate Apparel, Donmar Warehouse review - stirring story o...

The corset is an unlikely star of the latest Lynn Nottage play to arrive at the...

theartsdesk Q&A: director Andreas Dresen on his anti-Naz...

Andreas Dresen directs socially engaged realist films that invariably relay personal and political messages; the result can be tough but is...

Hercules, Theatre Royal Drury Lane review - new Disney stage...

Many years ago, reviewing pantomime for the first time, I recall looking around in the stalls. My brain was saying, “This is...