rock
CD: Hawkwind - Road to UtopiaSaturday, 15 September 2018![]() Implausible times call for implausible music, and it doesn't come much more unlikely than this. Hawkwind, the die-hard troupers of gnarly cosmic squatter drug-rock, have re-recorded highlights from their catalogue, arranged and produced by Mike Batt... Read more... |
CD: Paul Weller – True MeaningsThursday, 13 September 2018![]() 2017 was a year in which Paul Weller reminded us all why he’s a force to be reckoned with. An impressive foray into the world of soundtracks (the score to Johnny Harris’s Jawbone) was followed by A Kind Revolution, which was, for the most part, a... Read more... |
CD: Richard Thompson - 13 RiversMonday, 10 September 2018![]() Rivers carry our effluents away; they water the land, burst their banks, serve as borders, and as freight routes; their names are older than the towns built around them. They carry spirits and take lives, bring fecundity, and carry themselves... Read more... |
CD: Anna Calvi - HunterSunday, 26 August 2018![]() This album starts on a slightly odd footing, thanks to the opener “As a Man” having phrases that sound by turns a lot like Propellorheads and Shirley Bassey's “History Repeating” and Grace Jones's cover of Flash And The Pan's “Walking in the Rain”.... Read more... |
The King review - the myth behind the manSaturday, 25 August 2018![]() The most famous face in musical history, and perhaps the instigator of modern culture as we know it; he truly was the King. But for a documentary focused on such an icon, The King touches very little on Elvis Presley the man. This is not another... Read more... |
CD: Mogwai - KIN: Original Motion Picture SoundtrackSaturday, 25 August 2018![]() Following on from last year’s blistering blast of conviction, Every Country’s Sun, it’s tempting to view Mogwai’s latest offering – the soundtrack to a new sci-fi action drama from the producers of Stranger Things – as a continuation of this return... Read more... |
CD: Neil & Liam Finn – LightsleeperWednesday, 22 August 2018![]() Once pleasingly described on the Flight of the Conchords radio show as "the King of New Zealand", Neil Finn has a new gift for his subjects (and the rest of the world, happily) in the form of this album, which sees him recording with son Liam for... Read more... |
theartsdesk on Vinyl 42: Flaming Lips, Blacklab, Juno Reactor, U2, Ross From Friends and moreFriday, 17 August 2018![]() Initially, this month’s theartsdesk on Vinyl began with the sentence after this one, but it's so dry readers might drowse off, so I started with this one instead and would advise moving through the next one, just picking up the gist quickly...... Read more... |
CD: Oh Sees - Smote ReverserTuesday, 14 August 2018![]() Oh Sees have been perennial festival favourites for over 15 years now, releasing 21 albums under seven different band names. The change of name usually indicates a new direction, with previous records ranging from alt Americana (OCS) to lo-fi garage... Read more... |
CD: Dee Snider - For the Love of MetalTuesday, 31 July 2018![]() In recent years there’s been an explosion in feminised self-empowerment anthems, perhaps best epitomised by Rachel Platten’s “Fight Song” (This is my fight song/Take back my life song/Prove I'm alright song). For those in need of a masculine... Read more... |
CD: Echo Ladies – Pink NoiseSunday, 29 July 2018![]() It starts with countdown to cacophony. A well-indicated pathway to absolute and total sensory overload. It’s calculated, clear and concise. The succinctly titled “Intro” hits like a sucker punch you never saw coming because it was never on the cards... Read more... |
CD: Graham Bonnet Band - Meanwhile Back in the GarageSaturday, 21 July 2018![]() Graham "Since You Been Gone" Bonnet has long been one of hard rock’s unlikelier stars. When everyone else was wearing denim and leather he modelled himself on James Dean. And he actually started out as an R&B singer. Bonnet's change of direction... Read more... |
