mon 20/05/2013

New releases on CD & DVD

DVD: Chronicle of a Summer

Mark Kidel

“Chronicle of a Summer” (“Chronique d’un été”) is one of the great documentaries of all time – and a work that could only have been made in France, home of the immensely influential Cahiers du cinéma and the constant ferment of speculation on the nature of film. The BFI’s release of the 1960 classic by Jean Rouch and Edgar Morin couldn't be more timely: documentary flourishes today as at no other time in the history of cinema and attracts some of the world's best film-makers.The realm of non-...

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CD: Jamie Cullum - Momentum

Peter Quinn

Jamie Cullum's sixth studio album is about as good a pop record as you'll hear all year. Newly signed to Island Records, the singer-songwriter has seemingly raided ideas from the entire history of pop music, such that low-fi vintage synth lines and jazzy piano breaks rub shoulders with heart-on-sleeve soul belters and subtle electronica. The kind of stylistic pluralism that directly reflects Cullum's own musical loves, in other words.The mash-up of opening salvo “The Same Things” is typical of...

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DVD: Phantom Lady

Graham Fuller

The first of the Dresden-born Robert Siodmak’s eight film noirs, Phantom Lady (1944) was adapted from a Cornell Woolrich novel that typically endows...

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CD: Daft Punk - Random Access Memories

Joe Muggs

A wise man once said: DON'T BELIEVE THE HYPE. It's a simple concept, but it seems so very hard to grasp, even – or especially – in a supposedly media...

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CD: The National - Trouble Will Find Me

Lisa-Marie Ferla

It is no hyperbole to say that The National have made some of my favourite albums of all time. In every case, it has never been a decision I have...

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CD: Club 8 - Above The City

Thomas H Green

Long-standing Swedish duo produce enjoyable if hit-and-miss electro-pop

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DVD: Les Misérables

David Nice

Fine filmmaking and decent performances work hard to redeem an infantile musical

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CD: Steve Martin and Edie Brickell - Love Has Come For You

Fisun Güner

A captivating and beautiful album featuring songs that are strongly narrative-driven

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Reissue CDs Weekly: Sun Records

Kieron Tyler

A mind-blowing journey to rock ‘n’ roll’s ground zero with Sam Phillips and some of the most joyful music ever recorded

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CD: Agnetha Fältskog – A

Kieron Tyler

Less-than-wonderful return from one quarter of ABBA

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CD: Primal Scream - More Light

Russ Coffey

Has Bobby Gillespie come up with the sound of austerity Britain?

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CD: Savages - Silence Yourself

Lisa-Marie Ferla

They have the presence and the manifestos - but do they have the songs?

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DVD: Hors Satan

Kieron Tyler

Bruno Dumont’s oblique meditation on salvation and punishment

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CD: Pat Metheny - Tap: The Book of Angels, Vol 20

Peter Quinn

Brilliant first meeting between the jazz guitarist and the avant-gardist

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DVD: White Tiger

Tom Birchenough

From a tank-whisperer to the quandaries of historical destiny, a strange film

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CD: The Fall - Re-Mit

Kimon Daltas

The Fall’s unique and strange journey continues with an album which rewards repeated listening

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Reissue CDs Weekly: Eurovision 2013, Françoise Hardy, James Last, Nico Gomez

Kieron Tyler

A Eurovision-inspired round-up with this year’s competitors and reissues from France, Germany and Belgium

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CD: Rod Stewart - Time

Jasper Rees

Regret, not marital bliss, brings out the seductive songsmith of yore

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CD: Benga - Chapter II

Thomas H Green

Leading light of bass-led electronic sounds, underground and overground reaches a crossroads

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DVD: The Long Goodbye

Nick Hasted

Robert Altman's irreverent Seventies Chandler update remains unpredictable and dark

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CD: Caro Emerald - The Shocking Miss Emerald

Thomas H Green

Swingin' Dutch jazz-pop chanteuse delights once again on her second outing

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CD: Alison Moyet - the minutes

Joe Muggs

'Alf' is in energetic mode, but can she carry it off?

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Just in From Scandinavia: Nordic Music Round-Up 7

Kieron Tyler

A Norwegian masterpiece, smart Swedish electropop, a unique Danish voice and much more

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CD: Friedman & Liebezeit - Secret Rhythms 5

Joe Muggs

Does a 74-year-old drummer have anything new to say?

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CD: Vampire Weekend - Modern Vampires of the City

Lisa-Marie Ferla

Indie rock's young dream display their staying power on a strong third offering

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Reissue CDs Weekly: Killing Joke, Motown, Bob Marley, The Winkies

Kieron Tyler

Single-minded British great, soulful females, 35th-anniversary 'Kaya' and a pub rock-era oddity

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CD: Rudimental - Home

Thomas H Green

Hackney drum & bass pop four-piece nail an eagerly good-natured debut

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CD: Deep Purple - Now What?!

Russ Coffey

Can the old rockers justify another album?

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DVD: The Brontës of Haworth

Fisun Güner

Not much incident in this five-part dramatisation of the lives of the talented siblings but a strong ensemble cast

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Write about music for The Arts Desk

When we started theartsdesk in 2009, one of our goals was to give opportunities to talented young writers. We’re proud of our record so far, but we’d like to be even prouder. We are looking for a pair of young music writers who want to make their names with us. Ideally...

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Falstaff, Glyndebourne Festival Opera

Comedy is king in a Falstaff revival which is consistently enjoyable but co...

Case Histories, BBC One

The brooding private detective is back

The Man Who Shot Beautiful Women, BBC Four

The welcome return of the legacy of photographer Erwin Blumenfeld

DVD: Chronicle of a Summer

BFI reissue of the mother of all vérité docs

Ariadne auf Naxos, Glyndebourne Festival Opera

Strauss's opera reluctantly enters the Battle of Britain courtesy of a...

theartsdesk in Warsaw: A New Jewish Museum

Although only 7,500 Jews live in Poland, a space dedicated to their history...

Reissue CDs Weekly: Scott Walker

Easy listening and continental European intellectualism combine on the earl...

Say It With Flowers, Sherman Theatre, Cardiff

New play about tragic Welsh diva Dorothy Squires misses the real story

Extract: England My England - Anglophilia Explained

Why are some Americans so seduced by the land of Downton? A native explores

Mariele Neudecker, Regency Town House, Brighton

The German artist plays with notions of the Romantic sublime