guitar
CD: Mark Peters – InnerlandMonday, 16 April 2018
This Saturday marks Record Shop Day, when Midas-touch music execs turn car-boot staples into gold simply by re-releasing them and charging 30 quid for the pleasure. Normally, the pressing-plant backlog that these needless, gaudy trinkets cause means... Read more... |
CD: Eels - The DeconstructionSaturday, 31 March 2018
The Deconstruction is the 12th album from Californian rockers Eels, written and co-produced as always by perennial frontman Mark Oliver Everett (“E”). With 2014’s The Cautionary Tales of Mark Oliver Everett garnering mixed reviews, The... Read more... |
CD: The Longcut - ArrowsSaturday, 24 March 2018
Manchester trio The Longcut’s latest album, their third, comes nearly a decade after their last one, but is rife with ideas and energy as if it's still riding the crest of their initial success. Their M.O. is twofold, either shoegaze-ish, jangle-... 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: The Breeders - All NerveWednesday, 28 February 2018
For some a lack of development is failure; not for Kim Deal. Her songwriting and voice have influenced hordes of indie bands from the Eighties until now – indeed the “angular” clang and arch drawl of bands indebted to Pixies, and The Breeders, her... Read more... |
CD: Dream Wife - Dream WifeWednesday, 31 January 2018
It’s hard to be sure if Rakal, Bella and Alice from Dream Wife are a rock’n’roll band or a girl gang with guitars. Either way, their debut album has got some cracking Riot Grrrl-flavoured tunes and a stridently feminist, in-your-face attitude. There... Read more... |
CD: Corrosion of Conformity - No Cross No CrownFriday, 05 January 2018
As well as creating a true American musical phenomenon, led by from the front by Nirvana, the early-to-mid-Nineties grunge explosion opened a window of opportunity for multitudes of bands on its furthest fringes. South Carolina punk-metallers... Read more... |
An Evening with Pat Metheny, Barbican - sheer joy under the Missouri skySaturday, 11 November 2017
Pat Metheny recently described quite how much he enjoys just being on stage: “As Phil Woods used to say, the concert, that's for free. What the promoter is paying for is getting on the plane, getting off the plane, to pack your suitcase. The actual... Read more... |
CD: Angel Olsen - PhasesMonday, 06 November 2017
An underground American star since 2010’s Strange Cacti EP, Angel Olsen’s distinctive brand of indie folk-rock was propelled to new heights in both Burn Your Fire For No Witness (2014) and then last year with MY WOMAN. After years of touring,... Read more... |
The Pretenders, Brighton Dome review - phone-free and feistyFriday, 13 October 2017
Before they even step on stage The Pretenders win me to their side. An announcement prior to their appearance tells the audience, “The Pretenders request you keep your phone in your pocket.” Brilliantly, these aren’t idle words. As the gig... Read more... |
Bridgewater Hall 21st Birthday review - from voice and guitar to four pianosMonday, 11 September 2017
Every 21st birthday deserves a party, and the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester celebrated the anniversary of its opening with a weekend of fun and "access" events, ending with a recital by four pianists on its four Steinway pianos – playing them all... Read more... |
theartsdesk Q&A: Musician Albert HammondSaturday, 02 September 2017
Albert Hammond might not be a household name but he's still, undeniably, one of the world's greatest living songwriters. His songs have sold 360 million copies, ranging from Starship's soft-rock classic "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" to Julio... Read more... |
