sun 18/05/2025

New Music Reviews

Reissue CDs Weekly: Pere Ubu

Kieron Tyler

 

Pere Ubu: Elitism for the People 1975–1978Pere Ubu: Elitism for the People 1975–1978

Read more...

Kasse Mady Diabate, Queen Elizabeth Hall

Tim Cumming

Not many concerts at the Queen Elizabeth Hall culminate in a string of beautiful African women sashaying down the aisles to the stage to press fivers and tenners upon the still-crooning singer. After taking their hands in turn, as if in benediction, Kassy Made Diabate turned and dropped the fistful of notes at the feet of his ngoni player.

Read more...

Orchestra Baobab & Blick Bassy, RFH

Tim Cumming

Africa Utopia at the Southbank Centre is back for its third year with a raft of concerts and events, and for Friday night Senegal's Orchestra Baobab returned to the UK for the first time in three years, one of the great names of the post-independence African renaissance. They were joined by a young French-Cameroonian artist, Blick Bassy (pictured below), who was coming to London for the first time with his debut album Ako.

Read more...

Reissue CDs Weekly: The London American Label – 1966

Kieron Tyler

 

the london american label year by year 1966Various Artists: The London American Label Year by Year – 1966

Read more...

Heartless Bastards, Borderline

Russ Coffey

Some consider Heartless Bastards to be the best band you’ve probably never heard of – albeit blighted by an awful name. Others say the Texas-based four-piece are merely a jumped-up garage band. Wherever you stand, though, one thing is beyond dispute – the awesome power of Erika Wennerstrom’s voice. For much of last night she sounded like the love child of Robert Plant and Janis Joplin.

Read more...

Reissue CDs Weekly: The Isley Brothers

Kieron Tyler


Read more...

theartsdesk at Green Man 2015

Barney Harsent

Sunday. Brecon Beacons. Very early in the morning. I am woken, as I have been every 20 minutes or so since falling asleep, by water dripping on my head. So far, I’ve been able to ignore it, the pain of sitting upright outweighing the inconvenience of a wet head by a factor I can’t begin to fathom. Now, however, the hangover has lifted slightly and the need to piss is so painful I can no longer ignore it.

Read more...

Reissue CDs Weekly: Julian Cope

Kieron Tyler


Julian Cope: World Shut Your MouthJulian Cope: World Shut Your Mouth, Fried

Read more...

Just in From Scandinavia: Nordic Music Round-Up 14

Kieron Tyler

Don’t be fooled by the header picture. Despite the relaxed poses, Iceland’s Pink Street Boys are amongst the angriest, loudest, most unhinged bands on the planet right now. Hits #1, their debut vinyl album – which follows distorted-sounding, lower-than-lo-fi cassette and digital-only releases – is so impolite and wild that once the rest of the world gets the message the story of what constitutes the current-day music of their home country will have to be rewritten.

Read more...

Reissue CDs Weekly: Stax Soul Sensations

Kieron Tyler

 

Ian Levine’s Stax Soul Sensations Various Artists: Ian Levine’s Stax Soul Sensations

Read more...

Pages

Subscribe to theartsdesk.com

Thank you for continuing to read our work on theartsdesk.com. For unlimited access to every article in its entirety, including our archive of more than 15,000 pieces, we're asking for £5 per month or £40 per year. We feel it's a very good deal, and hope you do too.

To take a subscription now simply click here.

And if you're looking for that extra gift for a friend or family member, why not treat them to a theartsdesk.com gift subscription?

latest in today

Help to give theartsdesk a future!

It all started on 09/09/09. That memorable date, September 9 2009, marked the debut of theartsdesk.com.

It followed some...

Music Reissues Weekly: Chapterhouse - White House Demos

Quoted in an early music press article on his band Chapterhouse, singer-guitarist Stephen Patman said their ambition was “to have our records on...

Songlines Encounters, Kings Place review - West African and...

Songlines Encounters is your round-the-world ticket to great...

The Deep Blue Sea, Theatre Royal Haymarket review - Tamsin G...

The water proves newly inviting in The Deep Blue Sea, Terence Rattigan's mournful 1952 play that some while ago established its status as...

Magic Farm review - numpties from the Nineties

There’s nothing more healthy than dissing your own dad, and filmmaker Amalia Ulman says that her old man was “a Gen X deadbeat edgelord skater”...

The Great Escape Festival 2025, Brighton review - a dip into...

As every social space in Brighton once again transforms into a mire of self-important music biz sorts loudly bellowing about “waterfalling on...

theartsdesk Q&A: Zoë Telford on playing a stressed-out p...

If you compiled a list of favourite TV series from the last couple of decades, you’d find that Zoë Telford has appeared in most of them. The...

Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, Wigmore Hall review - too big a splash...

It was a daring idea to mark Ravel’s 150th birthday year with a single concert packing in all his works for solo piano. Jean-Efflam Bavouzet knows...

Good One review - a life lesson in the wild with her dad and...

Good One is a generation-and-gender gap drama that mostly unfolds during a weekend hiking and camping trip in the Catskills Forest...