pop music
CD: Tracey Thorn - RecordSunday, 04 March 2018
Tracey Thorn’s solo career in the 21st century has veered between contemplative adult music and the pop dancefloor. With her latest, we’re definitely on the pop dancefloor, but, despite delicious synth-led production from Ewan Pearson, ignore the... Read more... |
theartsdesk on Vinyl 37: Cocteau Twins, Stranger Things OST, Watain, Ryuichi Sakamoto and moreTuesday, 27 February 2018
Without further ado, let’s cut straight to it. Below theartsdesk on Vinyl offers over 30 records reviewed, running the gamut from Adult Orientated Rock to steel-hard techno via the sweetest, liveliest pop. Dive in!VINYL OF THE MONTH 1Zoë Mc Pherson... Read more... |
Tony Banks: ‘You either do it by diplomacy or you do it by violence’ - interviewFriday, 23 February 2018
In a career that began in 1967 and may yet have further life in it, Genesis have sold 150 million albums (and possibly more), and in their original incarnation with Peter Gabriel as vocalist were an influential force in the development of... Read more... |
CD: Moby - Everything Was Beautiful, and Nothing HurtThursday, 22 February 2018
After two albums of battle anthems for Trump-addled times, raging against the machine with his “Void Pacific Choir”, Moby’s fifteenth long-player is ostensibly a return to his millennial purple patch, when Play conquered the world and was bought by... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: The ChoirSunday, 18 February 2018
During the British Invasion years, a Cleveland, Ohio band called The Choir ploughed a Brit-focussed furrow from late 1964. Initially and tellingly, they were named The Mods. Their prime mover, Dann Klawon, was a subscriber the switched-on UK monthly... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Jon Savage's 1965Sunday, 11 February 2018
For Britain, 1965 began with The Beatles’ “I Feel Fine” at the top of the single’s chart. In December, the year bowed out with their double A-side “Day Tripper” / “We can Work it Out” in the same position. But 1965 was not just about The Beatles.... Read more... |
CD: Belle & Sebastian - How To Solve Our Human Problems, Parts 1, 2 and 3Saturday, 10 February 2018
There are two types of people - those who are fans of Belle & Sebastian and those who are too ashamed to admit such plebbishness regarding musical tastes, that they won’t admit to not being fans of the Glaswegian band.Unfortunately I fall into... Read more... |
All or Nothing: The Mod Musical, Arts Theatre - plenty of room for raversFriday, 09 February 2018
If the Small Faces weren’t quite The Beatles or the Stones, they were one of the classic British bands of their era, and their recordings are treasured by ancient Mods, Damon Albarn, Noel Gallagher and even discerning representatives of today’s... Read more... |
CD: Franz Ferdinand - Always AscendingWednesday, 07 February 2018
What does a band do when it loses a key member? Pack it in? Carry on as if nothing has happened? Execute a radical change of direction? Nick McCarthy, Franz Ferdinand’s rhythm guitarist and keyboard player, left the band last July and their new... Read more... |
CD: Rae Morris - Someone Out ThereThursday, 01 February 2018
Rae Morris, a singer from Blackpool, has shinned up the slippery pop biz tree the modern, major label, mainstream way; ultra-managed, co-writes with Clean Bandit, support slots with George Ezra and Tom Odell, vocal collaborations with Bombay Bicycle... Read more... |
CD: Simple Minds – Walk Between WorldsSaturday, 27 January 2018
With the possible exception of Talking Heads, I can’t think of another band who had such an exceptional run of early albums as Simple Minds. After a promising but uneven debut, they released Real to Real Cacophony in 1979 and barely put a foot wrong... Read more... |
CD: Tune-Yards - I Can Feel You Creep Into My Private LifeThursday, 18 January 2018
Growing up with the music of David Bowie is probably not the best grounding for being a music critic because it raises expectations unreasonably high for every other adventurous musician one happens upon. When I first heard the intense, bordering-on... Read more... |
