fri 12/09/2025

New Music Reviews

theartsdesk on Vinyl 54: The Beatles, Prince, Kid Acne, Nirvana, Teebs, Monty Python, Pulp and more

Thomas H Green

Without further ado, slightly delayed by the sheer volume of releases at this year time of year, here is the latest edition of theartsdesk on Vinyl. You will not find a more extensive monthly report on the goodies newly available on plastic anywhere on the internet. Every conceivable genre is theartsdesk on Vinyl’s game so dive in and get involved!

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Vampire Weekend, O2 Academy, Birmingham review – clean-cut Americans fail to ignite

Guy Oddy

By the time Vampire Weekend reached Birmingham on their latest UK jaunt, they had unfortunately managed to mislay their support band, the colourful Songhoy Blues. This was a great shame, as the Malians would surely have added a bit of colour to the early part of an evening that would most certainly have benefitted from a bit of light and shade.

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Reissue CDs Weekly: Yesterday Has Gone - The Songs of Teddy Randazzo

Kieron Tyler

“It's Gonna Take a Miracle” just missed out on a mainstream US Top 40 placing after The Royalettes issued it as a single in June 1965. But the song had staying power.

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Ólafur Arnalds presents OPIA, Southbank Centre review - many strange delights

Chris Harvey

Ólafur Arnalds is almost secretly huge. Millions adore the melancholy beauty of the Icelandic composer’s music, yet his name still brings blank stares from some.

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CD: Luke Combs – What You See Is What You Get

Ellie Porter

With US number one singles and Grammys coming out of his ears, a record-breaking streak at the top for debut album This One’s For You and collaborations with country big-timers aplenty, Luke Combs is riding high.

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Seun Kuti & Egypt 80, Village Underground review - more than a homage to Fela

mark Kidel

The joy of Afro-Beat comes from the intricate play of polyrhythms, eloquently constructed around the subtle interplay of guitars, bass, backing vocals, percussion and horns: each voice follows a distinct path, and the combination of each in a rich and complex whole is both powerfully mind-blowing and irresistibly danceable.

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Hubro 10th-Anniversary Concert, The Spice of Life review - boundary pushing Norwegian label marks its birthday

Kieron Tyler

A fiddle projects upwards from between Erlend Apneseth’s knees. Seated, he holds another in his right hand facing-off the instruments against each other. He’s plucking both, the pizzicato pitter-patter suggesting water drops on a bell or a koto. On the other side of the stage, guitarist Stephan Meidell is looping the sound, treating it to form a wash akin to that of a waterfall.

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BaBa ZuLa, Jazz Cafe review - much more than mere entertainment from 'Turkish Psych' specialists

mark Kidel

BaBa ZuLa only fully manifest their free spirit when they play live, and in the intimate setting of a venue like the Jazz Cafe, where the entre audience is close to the stage.

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Reissue CDs Weekly: Gene Clark - No Other

Kieron Tyler

Three years after its release, Gene Clark explained where he was heading while creating 1974's No Other. “I was strongly influenced at that time by two other artists. Stevie Wonder’s Innervisions and [The Rolling Stones’s] Goat’s Head Soup.

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CD: fka twigs – mary magdalene

Kathryn Reilly

Tahliah Barnett has been having a rough old time of it. There was that doomed celebrity romance (Robert Pattinson) and some health issues (I’m not entirely sure if we need to know about her operation to have fibroids removed) but suffering, as we are all aware, is the fuel of creativity.

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VINYL OF THE MONTH

Black Lips Season of the Peach (Fire)

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