New releases on CD & DVD
Album: Heidi Talbot - Sing it for a Lifetime
Monday, 23 May 2022
As break-up albums go, Heidi Talbot’s new set knocks that tightly wound ball of heartbreak, separation and release into the front rank, on an arc of often beautifully melodic self-penned songs, choice covers, and accompanists including guitarist Mark Knopfler and fiddle player, singer and the album's producer Dirk Powell.
DVD/Blu-ray: Parallel Mothers
Sunday, 22 May 2022
Parallel Mothers unfolds at a daringly slow pace, and there are moments in the first half of Pedro Almodóvar’s 2021 drama when you wish that things would speed up.
Album: Harry Styles - Harry's House
Saturday, 21 May 2022
Harry Styles’ previous two albums sounded like someone rifling pleasantly through the history of pop and rock, but always genially and politely. More...
Album: Nitty Gritty Dirt Band - Dirt Does Dylan
Friday, 20 May 2022
I have to confess, it’s a long time since I’ve thought about the Nitty Gritty Dirty Band and a new album serves as a reminder of how good they were,...
Blu-ray: I Am a Camera
Thursday, 19 May 2022
The first film rendering of Christopher Isherwood’s experiences in early 1930s Berlin, I Am a Camera has been restored and released on Blu-ray to...
Album: Lykke Li - EYEYE
Lykke Li's shortest album is her most expansive yet |
Album: Everything Everything - Raw Data Feel
Manchester indie art-rockers experiment successfully with musical AI |
Album: Mavis Staples and Levon Helm - Carry Me Home
Good enough gospel but a little too bland |
Blu-ray: Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer
Viscerally uncomfortable genre landmark shows a mundane murderer's daily rounds |
Album: Kendrick Lamar - Mr Morale & the Big Steppers
The philosopher-king of hip hop culture ventures ever inwards: but will he become too dour? |
Album: Dubstar - Two
1990s pop duo return with a lush exercise in likeable, wistful melancholy |
Album: Van Morrison - What's It Gonna Take?
Pernicious lockdown conspiracies, leavened by depressed confessions |
Album: Florence + the Machine - Dance Fever
Lockdown brings out the pop-progger in Florence Welch |
Blu-ray: Round Midnight
The greatest movie about jazz ever? Bertrand Tavernier's collaboration with Dexter Gordon makes its case |
Album: The Waterboys - All Souls Hill
Mike Scott's ever-evolving troubadours attempt modernisation with mixed success |
Album: Emeli Sandé - Let's Say For Instance
The popular singer moves further into commonplace mainstream fare |
Album: Congotronics International - Where’s The One?
Cultural sharing of the most life-affirming and necessary kind |
Album: Arcade Fire -WE
Canadian indie rock giant's lockdown album is heartfelt and imaginative |
Album: Kate Rusby - 30: Happy Returns
A bloodless album but it will appeal to the fans |
Blu-ray: Escape from LA
John Carpenter's overblown sequel to his cult classic gets a sparkling re-release |
Album: Soft Cell - Happiness Not Included
Soft Cell have clearly been having as rubbish a time as the rest of us |
Album: Warpaint - Radiate Like This
The LA four-piece return with a carefully crafted and beautifully considered collection |
Album: Willie Nelson - A Beautiful Time
A birthday offering from the old outlaw |
Album: Ches Smith - Interpret It Well
Fine musicians who can make free improv sound as natural as breathing |
Blu-ray: Jules et Jim
Jeanne Moreau at her most sublime in Truffaut's 1962 masterpiece |
Album: Trombone Shorty – Lifted
Relentlessly upbeat first album in five years from US sideman |
Album: Fontaines DC – Skinty Fia
Don't look for catharsis in the Irish band's tormented third album |
Album: Jono McCleery - Moonlit Parade
Warm, intimate songs that pull you close from the young English singer-songwriter |
Album: Linnéa Talp - Arch of Motion
Swedish minimalist induces introspection |
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Album: Heidi Talbot - Sing it for a Lifetime
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