CDs/DVDs
DVD/Blu-ray: Raining in the MountainTuesday, 03 March 2020
King Hu is the original master of wuxia or martial arts films – visual feasts of balletic conflict and near-slapstick humour – and this 1979 film is one of his best, though perhaps less well-known than Dragon Inn (1967), A Touch of Zen (1971) and... Read more... |
Album: Paul Heaton & Jacqui Abbott - Manchester CallingMonday, 02 March 2020
Paul Heaton’s career-spanning compilation The Last King of Pop depicted him crowned and enthroned like a Salford Solomon Burke, or self-aware Michael Jackson. The unique kingdom he has staked out through The Housemartins and The Beautiful South is... Read more... |
Blu-ray: Valerie and Her Week of WondersSunday, 01 March 2020
Jaromil Jireš’s Valerie and Her Week of Wonders contains many mysteries, the main one being exactly how such a strange and subversive film could have been released in 1970, so soon after the Prague Spring. That the author on whose 1935 novel the... Read more... |
CD: Califone - Echo MineSaturday, 29 February 2020
Inevitably expectations were high, given that this Chicago experimental rock band are one of my favourite groups of the 21st century, and this is their first album for seven years. And at first it’s hard to know what to make of Echo Mine. There are... Read more... |
CD: James Taylor, American Standard - a trip down memory laneFriday, 28 February 2020
“Fire and Rain”. Who doesn’t recall James Taylor’s first number one 50 years ago! Born in Carolina and a “graduate” of the 1960s Greenwich Village music scene, Sweet Baby James has given the world some enduring songs and been part of some of music’s... Read more... |
Album: Sink Ya Teeth - TwoThursday, 27 February 2020
Norwich is not the first place most people think of as a hub of riveting music but it’s where female duo Sink Ya Teeth hail from. Consisting of bassist Gemma Cullingford and singer Maria Uzor - with both throwing synth into the pot where necessary... Read more... |
Album: Sergio Mendes - In the Key of JoyWednesday, 26 February 2020
Released to coincide with a new documentary on his life by filmmaker John Scheinfeld, In the Key of Joy celebrates the multifaceted genius of Brazilian producer, composer, keyboardist and vocalist, Sergio Mendes.Recorded between Brazil and... Read more... |
DVD/Blu-ray: The Winslow BoyTuesday, 25 February 2020
Though set in a handsomely-realised 1912, many of The Winslow Boy’s period details seem disconcertingly contemporary, from aggressive tabloid journalists doorstepping an unfortunate family to boorish behaviour in the Commons. There’s a very funny... Read more... |
CD: Caribou - SuddenlyMonday, 24 February 2020
Around the turn of the millennium, when Dan Snaith started releasing music – initially as Manitoba, then Caribou, and latterly also Daphni – he tended to get lumped in with the folktronica movement. In fact, the closest he came to actual folk was a... Read more... |
CD: Grimes - Miss AnthropoceneSunday, 23 February 2020
Grimes is hilarious. For all the grandiose conceptualism, apocalyptic visions, high tech sonic manipulation, outré costumes, modish witchery, multiple personas, arch media baiting with her billionaire boyfriend and all the rest, she is still... Read more... |
Album: BTS – Map of the Soul: 7Saturday, 22 February 2020
To anyone out of their teens or without a grasp of the Korean language, BTS are probably an unknown quantity. Yet, they are probably the most successful boyband, if not the most successful band, in the world. In fact, just as Abba had a massive... Read more... |
Album: Ozzy Osbourne - Ordinary ManFriday, 21 February 2020
Ozzy Osbourne stands on the front cover of his new album grinning mischievously in a horror-style bowler hat and cane. Look into the eyes, though, and there's also a hint of sadness. The Prince of Darkness (71) has been beset by a series of... Read more... |
