CDs/DVDs
DVD/Blu-ray: The Chant of Jimmie BlacksmithTuesday, 20 August 2019
Fred Schepisi’s The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (1978) was the Australian New Wave film that most rigorously confronted the cataclysmic effect of British and Irish colonisation on the country’s Aboriginal people. It helped pave the way for such 21st... Read more... |
CD: New Model Army - From HereMonday, 19 August 2019
Justin Sullivan, the last remaining original member of Bradford post-punkers New Model Army, has always given the impression of taking things all a bit seriously. After all, he did go by the name of Slade the Leveller and wear wooden clogs for the... Read more... |
CD: Grenades - PrimateSaturday, 17 August 2019
South-coast four piece Grenades’ debut album is that most unlikely of musical outings, an ecological grunge-punk concept album. This is no wafty, feel-good affair, though, its environmental concern is akin to the eco-parable shock tactics of rough’n... Read more... |
CD: Ride - This Is Not A Safe PlaceFriday, 16 August 2019
It's been two years since Ride came back from a 20-year break with their reunion LP, Weather Diaries. Fans considered the album a triumph. This is Not a Safe Place, though, is a notch above. It's 50 minutes of... Read more... |
The Hold Steady - Thrashing Thru the PassionThursday, 15 August 2019
At recent live shows, Hold Steady frontman Craig Finn has taken to describing the band’s current lineup as the best it’s ever been. Boosted to a six-piece by the return of Franz Nicolay on keyboards, the Hold Steady of the band’s latter-day London... Read more... |
CD: Frank Turner - No Man's LandWednesday, 14 August 2019
Frank Turner’s compendium of extraordinary female lives, from the “impudence” of a Byzantine princess to his mum via Mata Hari, is admirably ambitious and historically intriguing. The arena-playing folk-punk digs deeper into factual byways than he... Read more... |
DVD: Are You Proud?Tuesday, 13 August 2019
Ashley Joiner’s expansive documentary Are You Proud? opens with the testament of a redoubtable nonagenarian remembering his experiences as a gay man in World War II. Though followed by the admission that he had to live his later life as a lie, it’s... Read more... |
CD: ESE & The Vooduu People - Up in SmokeMonday, 12 August 2019
“I don’t want to talk, man. Let’s just fucking do it,” announces Ese Okoroduku, before crashing into the opening guitar chord of her debut album’s title track. This sums up the Nigerian-born, south London musician's whole ethos. Up In Smoke was... Read more... |
CD: Bon Iver – i,iSaturday, 10 August 2019
If you’ve been paying attention, you might have already heard most if not all of Bon Iver’s curiously named i,i album – weeks before its physical release on August 30. The band debuted two tracks (“Hey Ma” and “U (Man Like)”) at London’s All Points... Read more... |
CD: The Regrettes - How Do You Love?Friday, 09 August 2019
The perfect primer to The Regrettes comes towards the end of the colourful video for “I Dare You”, the bubblegum update to “Last Nite” by The Strokes that is the lead single from their second album. Teenage frontwoman Lydia Night delivers the title... Read more... |
CD: Slipknot - We Are Not Your KindThursday, 08 August 2019
Slipknot’s new album We Are Not Your Kind is to be let loose just as the band celebrate 20 years since their self-titled debut was released and five since .5: The Gray Chapter. Any idea that the misanthropic US shock-rockers might have turned down... Read more... |
CD: PP Arnold - The New Adventures Of…Wednesday, 07 August 2019
After 15 seconds, it’s obvious who The New Adventures Of… is by. PP Arnold’s instantly recognisable, slightly cracked yet melodic, gospel-informed voice weaves through “Baby Blue” like a bird navigating thermal air currents. The song itself is no... Read more... |
