punk
CD: Poly Styrene - Generation IndigoSunday, 20 March 2011![]() Anyone expecting the 1977-style foghorn-voiced Poly Styrene from Generation Indigo is going to be disappointed. Instead, this album is sweetly delivered, melodic and driving modern pop with a Euro electro-dance sheen. She’s not bellowing “Oh Bondage... Read more... |
CD: The Strokes – AnglesFriday, 18 March 2011![]() Follow that. It's the inevitable two-word mantra after a band has released a defining debut. The Strokes delivered their seminal statement of intent with Is This It in 2001, proving that a decent leather jacket, attitude and a rock riff will never... Read more... |
theartsdesk in New York: A Dirty Weekend with the New York Dolls and a Jazz PrincessSunday, 13 February 2011![]() I didn't realise how much I liked dirt. Especially New York dirt. I was going to do a rant about boutique designer hotels, which seem ubiquitous in Manhattan. Major case in point: the Gramercy Park Hotel, where I used to stay in the Nineties and... Read more... |
Q&A Special: Musician Bob GeldofTuesday, 08 February 2011![]() Bob Geldof only shuts up in the end because a plane he should be on is imminently taking off for India, and he is still in his local South London pub, refusing to let a heavy cold stop him from talking like others drink - with unquenchable relish.... Read more... |
Gang of Four, HeavenWednesday, 02 February 2011![]() Gang of Four vocalist Jon King remembers the last time he was in Heaven – the venue, not the celestial aftershow party. It was the night of the Great Hurricane of 1987 and as he walked down nearby Villiers Street later that evening two trees blew... Read more... |
Opinion: Iggy's adverts are so very, very wrongTuesday, 01 February 2011![]() The idea of "selling out" has clung to popular music, and indeed most art forms, for a long, long time. In our postmodern techno-consumerist society it's an increasingly outdated and irrelevant concept. The book Faking It: The Quest for Authenticity... Read more... |
Manic Street Preachers, Brixton AcademySaturday, 22 January 2011![]() The annals of rock’n’roll are littered with complacency, fading stars, and acts who’ve had it and then lost it, forever. So, after 20 years, what makes the Manics different? How come they’re still turning out hit albums? Possibly it’s their hand-on-... Read more... |
Interview: Andy Gill, Gang of FourThursday, 20 January 2011![]() If you’ve never heard a Gang of Four track, you probably still know their music. Their influence is all over the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Bloc Party, Franz Ferdinand, and R.E.M to name but a few of their fans. And that's just the musical legacy.... Read more... |
Gang of Four return - exclusive video contentMonday, 17 January 2011![]() A freezing winter of discontent, a Labour party hell-bent on making itself unelectable, controversial warmongering and record levels of inequality. It may sound like yesterday’s papers but these themes were also addressed by iconoclastic post-punk... Read more... |
Unexpected Party StartersWednesday, 22 December 2010![]() Over the last 25 years I've done a lot of DJing, or at least playing records in public that, occasionally, people have been refreshed enough to dance to. I've done sets in all manner of scenarios, from nightclubs to house parties, to gallery... Read more... |
Manic Street Preachers: theartsdesk Video ExclusiveThursday, 02 December 2010![]() It's been a while since the pop/punk and post/pre-Richey comparisons have been made. Ironic considering how seemlessly the Manics slip between modes these days. Today theartsdesk brings you an exclusive preview of the live, power-popping video of "... Read more... |
Gogol Bordello, The Dome, BrightonMonday, 29 November 2010![]() As New York gypsy punk live sensation Gogol Bordello tear into another Balkan rebel hoedown in front of a capacity Brighton crowd I'm reminded of an old Stones lyric, Jagger and Richards's 1971 classic "Dead Flowers": "When you're sitting there in... Read more... |
