New Music Reviews
Preoccupations, The Haunt, Brighton review - energetic set struggles to win over audienceMonday, 16 July 2018
Hailing from Canada and born from the ashes of cult indie heroes Women (the band responsible for that chiming Calgary guitar sound), Preoccupations haven’t let up since their first LP Viet Cong was released just three years ago. Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Kamal KeilaSunday, 15 July 2018
Music from Sudan is overshadowed by the country’s recent history. At the end of June 1989, Colonel Omar al-Bashir assumed control and it became a one-party state. Shariah law was introduced. Osama Bin Laden was resident in capital city Khartoum from 1991 to 1996. Tension between the mostly Muslim north and mostly Christian south undermined any facade of stability al-Bashir sought to impose. The south was declared independent in 2011. Read more... |
Mavis Staples, Union Chapel review - grand gospel dame still doin' it at 79Thursday, 12 July 2018
“We have come here tonight,” announces Mavis Staples, “to bring you some joy, happiness, inspiration - and positive vibrations!” It’s a declaration that the irrepressible Mavis, celebrating her 79th birthday today, routinely makes at her concerts - and she never fails to deliver. Tonight is the second of two sold-out nights at Islington’s beautiful Union Chapel, a much-loved venue that’s perfect for Mavis’ brand of joyous, reverent and... Read more... |
Eric Clapton, Carlos Santana and Steve Winwood, BST Hyde Park review - the Clapton faithful in their drovesMonday, 09 July 2018
Would we see any of the three guitar-toting rock legends together? Yes, we would. Two of them, if briefly. Carlos Santana came back just before 10pm to join Eric Clapton’s band for the encore of their set, a quick valedictory burn-through of Joe Cocker’s tune “It’s High Time We Went”. Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Manfred MannSunday, 08 July 2018
Dress each of the band in the same clothes. Stand them in a line outside the EMI headquarters building on Manchester Square. Get the taller ones with glasses to stand at either end of the row. Put the other taller one in the middle. Have the pair of less tall ones – who could be twins – stand between the taller ones. Symmetry and uniformity duly achieved, take the promotional photograph. Read more... |
theartsdesk in Essaouira: Festival of Gnawa - 21st-century trance mastersMonday, 02 July 2018
Essaouira, on Morocco’s Atlantic coast, is the place of winds. Day or night, hot or cold, year in, year out, the “Alizee” blows, and it blows. Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Zuider ZeeSunday, 01 July 2018
The most intriguing aspect of the mid-Seventies, Memphis-based band Zuider Zee isn’t that they took their name from a geographic feature of the Netherlands or that they dealt in against-the-grain Anglo-centric pop rock or even that the new compilation Zeenith features top-drawer music which was never released at the time. Read more... |
theartsdesk in Orkney: St Magnus Festival 2018 - choral music to the foreSaturday, 30 June 2018
With – unusually – no visiting orchestra at this year’s St Magnus International Festival in far-flung Orkney (the fall-out from delayed funding confirmations, we’re assured), there was a danger that the annual midsummer event might have felt a little – well, quiet. Read more... |
Supersonic Festival 2018 review – Birmingham waves the flag for New Weird BritainWednesday, 27 June 2018
A mere fortnight after the Download Festival, the Midlands was at it again over the weekend, celebrating noisy musical mavericks who have no truck with the mainstream. Read more... |
The Cure, RFH review - sterling close-up show from alt-pop stalwartsTuesday, 26 June 2018
The Robert Smith-curated Meltdown festival in London came to a close on Sunday night with a spectacular, concept-driven headline set by The Cure, or CUREATION 25, as the band was actually billed, presumably because of a previously contracted show at Hyde Park that's due to take place in two weeks’ time. Read more... |
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