New Music Reviews
Kreator / Dimmu Borgir, Roundhouse review - explosive extreme metal extravaganzaTuesday, 18 December 2018
It’s about to begin. The final performance on the final night – and only UK date – of the European Apocalypse package tour featuring four extreme metal bands. The 1,700 capacity Roundhouse is sold out. Touts outside are scrabbling for tickets. A curtain covers the stagefront. A procession of images flicker across it; ancient art, demons, gods and hellish conflict. Then the screen goes black. Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Tangerine DreamSunday, 16 December 2018
In April 1973, John Peel wrote that “For my money, Tangerine Dream are the best of the Kosmische Music bands. Whenever any of their extended works are played on the radio there is a heavy mail from listeners. Most of the letter-writers are for it, those that are against it are very against it indeed. A Tangerine Dream track, heard superficially, is little more than a repetitive drone. Read more... |
theartsdesk on Vinyl 46: Christmas 2018 Special with Kate Bush, Depeche Mode, The Rolling Stones, Lulu and moreFriday, 14 December 2018
The time of giving is here and what better presents than great slabs of lovely vinyl; sounds that bring joy to all. Our last theartsdesk on Vinyl of the year is packed with boxsets and reissues as well as a couple of seasonal bits. Read more... |
theartsdesk on Vinyl 45: Ian Dury, Janis Joplin, Oneohtrix Point Never, Stereolab, Charles Mingus and moreTuesday, 11 December 2018
It’s the season of giving so theartsdesk on Vinyl feels compelled to draw your attention to Unicef’s Blue Vinyl campaign. This sees 17 celebrated albums auctioned off in special editions on givergy.com with all proceeds going to Unicef’s Children's Emergency Relief Fund. Read more... |
Hey Colossus, Centrala, Birmingham review - lighting the experimental 2018 Christmas candlesTuesday, 11 December 2018
Capsule is the Birmingham outfit that is good enough to bring the avant-garde, the lairy and the down-right odd to the city every summer for the splendid Supersonic Festival. Read more... |
Katie Melua and Gori Women's Choir, Central Hall Westminster, London, review - Georgia on her mindMonday, 10 December 2018
Amid the cacophony and incivility that characterises so much of our lives today, an evening of calm and beauty with Katie Melua and the Gori Women’s Choir was just the ticket. The venue, Methodist Central Hall, is not the most obvious place for such a concert. Built to mark the centenary of John Wesley’s death, it welcomed the first meeting of the United Nations General Assembly, and Gandhi, Churchill and Martin Luther King have all spoken from its stage. Read more... |
CD: Jessie J - This Christmas DayMonday, 10 December 2018
What makes a great Christmas song? There’s an alchemy to finding the winning combination of whimsy and humour, juxtaposed with a healthy slice of Christmas angst. This formula has led us to spin the same handful of pop bangers that endure down the decades, soundtracking generation after generation of tinsel and mince pies. Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Unusual SoundsSunday, 09 December 2018
The double album The Sound Gallery was issued in 1995. It collected British easy listening and library music tracks which had been mostly overlooked by reissue compilers as they were beyond a form of musical pale. Read more... |
Cypress Hill, O2 Academy, Birmingham review – OG hip-hoppers light-upThursday, 06 December 2018
There’ve been more than a few cold and wet days in Birmingham just recently, as winter has been making its presence properly felt. Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Be-Bop DeluxeSunday, 02 December 2018
After Be-Bop Deluxe finished recording their third album at Abbey Road, their label said they needed something to promote as a single. EMI told band-leader Bill Nelson they wanted a song with commercial appeal. The result was the single “Ships in the Night”, which duly charted during the last week of February 1976. Read more... |
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