rock
Album: Biffy Clyro - A Celebration of EndingsThursday, 13 August 2020![]() Together for over 20 years and with a string of incredibly successful albums, the Scottish trio return with a ninth release that offers more of the relatively sophisticated bombast they've consistently delivered, not least in perfectly-paced... Read more... |
New Music Unlocked 5: Biffy Clyro, Rave the Vote, Little Simz and AJ TraceyWednesday, 12 August 2020![]() Although Metallica are screening a freshly recorded concert across America’s drive-in cinemas at the end of the month, we’re no nearer to actual gigs anywhere, especially the UK. Hold tight. We’ll get there. In the meantime, here are three events... Read more... |
Album: James Dean Bradfield - Even In ExileWednesday, 12 August 2020![]() One of the most evocative tracks on James Dean Bradfield’s second solo album is hardly his at all. The Manic Street Preacher takes “La Partida”, a haunting, finger-picked melody by the Chilean musician Victor Jara, and blows it up to the size of an... Read more... |
Album: Tanya Donelly and The Parkington SistersMonday, 10 August 2020![]() It’s exciting to come to an album with no preconceptions and no context and find you fall immediately in love with it. Tanya Donelly is probably less well-known in Britain than she deserves to be: she last toured here in 2014 with Throwing Muses,... Read more... |
theartsdesk Q&A: Record label New Heavy SoundsFriday, 07 August 2020![]() New Heavy Sounds is one of Britain’s most exciting and undersung labels. Founded in 2011, they have consistently released music that boasts innovation, imagination and a strong female presence. The added sweetener is that this comes attached to... Read more... |
New Music Unlocked 3: Dermot Kennedy, Lollapalooza and Cambridge FolkTuesday, 28 July 2020![]() We are no nearer live music returning and, as venues across the country face financial collapse, it’s clear that even when we reach some sort of "new normal", far from all will be left standing. This is clearly a disaster for British music. #... Read more... |
New Music Unlocked 2: Nick Cave, Tomorrowland, The Prodigy, The Clangers and moreWednesday, 22 July 2020![]() Everyone keeps upping their game with what and how they’re presenting music in these unwelcome times, and this week sees a red hot selection on offer. Below is a cross section of the best that’s out there to see, hear and get involved... 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... |
Album: The Pretenders - Hate for SaleMonday, 13 July 2020![]() It is difficult to live up to your own legacy when you’ve reached an iconic status in rock’n’roll. It is even harder when you are a frontwoman in a “masculine” genre where age makes you increasingly invisible and/or viciously criticised. Like... 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... |
The Kemps: All True, BBC Two review - more self-promotion than self-mockeryMonday, 06 July 2020![]() The spoof “rockumentary” always sounds like a great idea, but it’s hard to pull off. Largely this is because rock stars are so divorced from reality that an element of self-parody is already built in, albeit unwittingly (“everybody’s so different, I... Read more... |
Glastonbury Festival 2020: Beyoncé, Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E., marijuana and time travelWednesday, 01 July 2020![]() Coronavirus blah blah blah. Glastonbury cancelled. What to do? Didn’t go to the 2010 festival for reasons too tedious to go into. Suffered the worst FOMO of my life. This is different. There is no Glastonbury. But sitting around at home… we’ve all... Read more... |
