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New Music Unlocked 4: The Streets, heavy metal, punk rock and R.E.M.Wednesday, 05 August 2020![]() This week would have been peak summer event antics but not in 2020. However, the game is far from up; the punks and the metallers are making a strong show in full virtual festival force this weekend, and there's another chance to time travel to a... Read more... |
Album: Glass Animals - DreamlandWednesday, 05 August 2020![]() It’s been a hell of a four years for Glass Animals since their last album How to Be a Human Being, from a well-deserved Mercury nomination to drummer Joe Seaward requiring neurosurgery after a near-fatal bicycle accident. But while Human Being was... Read more... |
Album: Fontaines DC – A Hero's DeathThursday, 30 July 2020![]() Be careful what you wish for. Turns out the dream that most bands yearn for isn't all it's cracked up to be. Fontaines DC's debut album, Dogrel went large (and won a Mercury Prize nomination and BBC 6 Music's Album of the Year). They toured like... Read more... |
Nick Cave, Alone at Alexandra Palace review - mournful beauty from the king of miseryFriday, 24 July 2020![]() "Alone at Alexandra Palace" is a gift of this time, no compensation but some sort of balm to a world that is still so interior, with a long time to wait until any concerts can resume. The film begins with an emphasis on aloneness that is sustained... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Super Sonics - Martin Green Presents 40 Junkshop Britpop GreatsSunday, 19 July 2020![]() The gentleman pictured above is Martin Green. In 1995 he was a prime mover behind The Sound Gallery, a double-album compiling groovy British easy listening and library music from around 25 years earlier which until then had been (mostly) overlooked... Read more... |
New Music Unlocked 1: Reef, Supersonic Festival, Elton John and moreWednesday, 15 July 2020![]() The lockdown which began in March is now noticeably easing, although in the realm of gigs and festivals things are still nowhere near operative. Nonetheless, theartsdesk is responding to the changes by ceasing our many weeks of New Music Lockdown... Read more... |
theartsdesk on Vinyl 58: Joy Division, Alma, Prince, African Head Charge, Wargirl and much moreFriday, 10 July 2020![]() Lockdown’s easing and the record shops are opening here and there. So, to help vinyl junkies on their way, here’s 7000 words of reviews, capturing the best of the last couple of months’ releases on plastic. As ever, the sounds go everywhere, from... Read more... |
Album: bdrmm - BedroomWednesday, 08 July 2020![]() Shoegaze stable Sonic Cathedral has, in truth, always been a much broader church than its name implies. From the psychedelic, sunshine pop of Gulp, to the blistering art noise of Spectres, it has consistently released music that shares a similar... Read more... |
Album: Polly Scattergood - In This MomentFriday, 03 July 2020![]() A decade ago, Polly Scattergood was Mute Records’ newest, most-likely-to signing and, while she never crossed over like similar unconventional female artists of the period (Bat For Lashes, St Vincent, Anna Calvi, etc), she has a developed a cult... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Razorcuts - Storyteller, The World Keeps TurningSunday, 28 June 2020![]() Razorcuts formed after Tim Vass discovered Alan McGee’s Living Room club. In the booklet accompanying the reissue of his band’s first album Storyteller, Vass says of the weekly London promotion that “The headline act would often be someone like The... Read more... |
Album: Nadine Shah – Kitchen SinkThursday, 25 June 2020![]() Why don’t you have children? Why aren’t you married? Why don’t you own your own home? Why are you a failure? These are the societally enforced questions that, as a 34-year-old woman, Nadine Shah finds inescapable. Much like the rest of us. When... Read more... |
New Music Lockdown 12: Glastonbury Festival SpecialWednesday, 24 June 2020![]() This morning at 9.00 AM would be when Worthy Farm opened its gates to the hedonistic hordes. The weather is scorchio and Glastonbury 50 would have been such a party. Instead, that will all be Glastonbury 2021. So right now, those who love their... Read more... |
