New Music Reviews
Reissue CDs Weekly: Tennessee Ernie FordSunday, 26 July 2015
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Irakere, Ronnie Scott'sSunday, 26 July 2015
When Afro-Cuban jazz pioneers Irakere first played Ronnie Scott’s, back in 1985, they sold out the venue for five weeks on the trot. Thirty years later, and 40 years since the pioneering Latin jazz outfit began, they’re back to celebrate the anniversary, playing two shows a night across six nights, with pianist and founder Chucho Valdes at the helm. Read more... |
theartsdesk at Latitude Festival 2015Wednesday, 22 July 2015
Many festivals have become increasingly family-friendly. The children who, 10 years ago, were taken to outdoor multi-dayers such as Latitude, Camp Bestival and the now-defunct Big Chill, are now teenagers. Many have grown up with festivals as a usual part of their summer holidays - rather than a countercultural escape - and now they want to strike out on their own. Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Mission of BurmaSunday, 19 July 2015
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theartsdesk on Vinyl: Volume 7 - Northern Soul, The Fall and moreFriday, 17 July 2015
One of vinyl’s more controversial corners is the postal subscription club. Sign up to one of these and, for a fee, a number of records are sent to your home. The draw is supposed to be exclusivity of content or simply trusting the taste of a faultless musical guru. Subscription is thus, to put it mildly, a mixed bag. Sites such as Wax&Stamp are typical. Their policy is to send two-per-month, one chosen by them and one by a guest selector. Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: The Love AffairSunday, 12 July 2015
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Chaka Khan, Ronnie Scott'sSaturday, 11 July 2015
The voice is the pinnacle of instruments, the surefire road to the heart. But the core humanity which distinguishes it can work both ways: the vulnerability displayed so powerfully in human song makes possible the expression of powerful emotions but it can also pitilessly expose the flaws in an artist’s work. Read more... |
Suicide, BarbicanFriday, 10 July 2015
What do we do when our heroes become incapable of doing what made them our heroes in the first place? Who are we to say when an artist is too old and broken to be on stage, if that’s where they want to be? Where is the line between thrilling avant-punk chaos and an unrehearsed shambles? When does an enthused audience willing a band to succeed, whatever the evidence to the contrary, slip into the realms of self-delusion? Read more... |
Max Cooper and Tom Hodge, Abbey Road StudiosFriday, 10 July 2015
I’m in a car and I’m uncomfortably hot. The reason I’m in a car is I’m on my way to a gig on the first day in 14 years that industrial action has brought London Underground to a standstill. No skeleton service, no contingency, just closed doors and solidarity. This means it’s bumper-to-bumper and I’m running late. Very late. I’m on my way to Abbey Road Studios where Studio Two has been opened up for a special performance by pianist and composer Tom Hodge and electronic producer Max Cooper.... Read more... |
Chick Corea & Herbie Hancock, BarbicanTuesday, 07 July 2015
There was a buzz at the Barbican last night, the kind that makes you feel like a child again, a ripple of electric energy that only comes with seeing the true greats. And they don’t come much greater than Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock, two jazz legends with strikingly similar trajectories. Both cut their teeth playing with Miles, both helped determine the direction of jazz-rock fusion and, though they’re now in their mid 70s, both have continued to push the boundaries. Read more... |
Tennessee Ernie Ford: Portrait of an American Singer
Mission of Burma: signals, calls, and marches/Vs.
The Love Affair/Steve Ellis: Tim...
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