dance music
Sŵn Festival 2018 – a welcome return to formWednesday, 24 October 2018
It’s been a tough few years for Sŵn Festival. Once a genuine rival to fellow urban festivals Great Escape and Sound City, recent events have fluctuated between one-dayers and a string of ticketed gigs. 2018 marked the biggest change yet, but also a... Read more... |
CD: Ariana Grande - SweetenerSaturday, 18 August 2018
This may be tempting fate, and minutes after publication of this she'll probably be arrested for stabbing a dog or something, but Ariana Grande seems like an abnormally benevolent presence in the superstar stratosphere. Even leaving aside her... Read more... |
CD: Lotic - PowerWednesday, 11 July 2018
An extraordinary musical movement has been bubbling over from the far left field into the public consciousness in the last couple of years. A very loose international alliance of musicians like Elysia Crampton, GAIKA, Ziúr, Arca, Rabit, Yves Tumor,... Read more... |
CD: Soulwax - EssentialSaturday, 16 June 2018
It took Soulwax 12 years to release 2017’s From Deewee, a triumphant one take clash of live drums and electronic wizardry. It’s taken less than 12 months for their follow-up; at their current rate, we can expect another release sometime next weekend... Read more... |
CD: Oneohtrix Point Never - Age OfSaturday, 26 May 2018
Everything on this record changes shape. One moment in “RayCats” Far Eastern instrumentation is being glitched beyond recognition, then suddenly it sounds like something from a relaxation tape. “Same” shimmers and twists between 20th century avant-... Read more... |
Pinkshinyultrablast, Band on the Wall, Manchester - glitch-pop madness from Russia’s finestMonday, 07 May 2018
Pinkshinyultrablast might be a long way from their hometown of St Petersburg, but in recent years they’ve built themselves up in England as one of the more bizarre and original bands in today’s psych/shoegaze revival, and on the day their third... Read more... |
CD: Simian Mobile Disco - MurmurationsSaturday, 05 May 2018
Throughout their career, James Ford and Jas Shaw have proved themselves to be nothing if not versatile. From the subtly swirling psychedelia of Simian, to the various dancefloor shapes they’ve thrown as Simian Mobile Disco.On their last album, 2016’... Read more... |
CD: Jon Hopkins - SingularityThursday, 03 May 2018
Jon Hopkins navigates the territory between avant-garde electronic and beat-driven dance music with brilliance. There’s plenty here to make you want to get up and move, but as much to persuade you lie down and let the symphony of textures and... Read more... |
CD: Baloji - 137 Avenue KaniamaThursday, 22 March 2018
The death of “world music” is a wonderfully reassuring thing. That is to say, with every year that passes, it becomes less and less possible for media and consumers to bracket together music from outside the US and Europe as a single thing, and... Read more... |
CD: Bon Voyage Organization - Jungle? Quelle Jungle?Sunday, 18 March 2018
Although its opening minute suggests one of Can’s Ethnological Forgery Series tracks, Jungle? Quelle Jungle? quickly sets its stall with gentle whacka-whacka guitar, a Cerrone-type or South African-styled female chorale, fusion-jazz woodwind,... 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... |
CD: Above & Beyond - Common GroundThursday, 25 January 2018
There's something oddly innocent, gauche even, about the US-based Anglo-Finnish trance trio Above & Beyond. They are almost implausibly huge – their weekly radio show, called "Group Therapy" after their 2011 second album, has some 25 million... Read more... |
