CDs/DVDs
Reissue CDs Weekly: Wake Up You!Sunday, 26 June 2016
It begins with “Never Never Let Me Down” by Formulars Dance Band. “You’re the only good thing I’ve got,” declares the singer of a garage-band answer to The Impressions over a rough-and-ready backing where a shuffling mid-tempo groove is driven along... Read more... |
CD: Drcarlsonalbion – Falling With a Thousand Stars & Other Wonders From the House of AlbionSunday, 26 June 2016
Around the Summer Solstice seems a fitting time for Dylan Carlson’s latest solo album to appear under his Drcarlsonalbion guise. For Falling With a Thousand Stars & Other Wonders From the House of Albion is a collection of old folk ballads from... Read more... |
CD: Paper Tiger - Blast OffSaturday, 25 June 2016
Around the turn of the millennium, two producers – the Californian Otis Jackson Jr aka Madlib, and the late James Yancey aka J Dilla from Detroit – started a revolution in hip hop: knocking beat patterns off the musical grid, searching further and... Read more... |
DVD/Blu-ray: Wim Wenders - The Road TrilogyFriday, 24 June 2016
In the mid 1970s, the German director Wim Wenders quickly and cheaply made three road movies that, taken together, can be considered the apogee of the genre. The Criterion Film Collection, which has released them in in the US as Blu-ray and Region 1... Read more... |
DVD: IonaThursday, 23 June 2016
The wish to return to a place of past safety after a traumatic event is understandable. It helps if that place is remote and possibly beyond the reach of any authorities which may want to investigate the event, or even hold someone accountable. In... Read more... |
CD: Mark Barrott - Sketches from an Island 2Wednesday, 22 June 2016
The EU referendum isn’t the only thing causing polarised opinion over European issues. The question of what constitutes Balearic Beat looms large over the music community. For some, it’s a fixed point, namely celebrated DJ Alfredo’s record box in... Read more... |
CD: Deerhoof - The MagicTuesday, 21 June 2016
Completed from scratch in seven days, The Magic features 15 songs veering from spindly, fidgety No Wave excursions to tuneful yet harsh pop-New Wave nuggets and headache-inducing bangers. In short, Deerhoof’s 13th album proper encapsulates... Read more... |
CD: Hannah Georgas - For EvelynMonday, 20 June 2016
How does Hannah Georgas’s 98-year-old grandmother feel about her collaborations with Graham Walsh, her two-time producer better known as part of Canadian electronic quartet Holy Fuck? It is, one suspects, one of a few aspects of this rich, immersive... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Lust for LifeSunday, 19 June 2016
Punk rock, or what’s touted as punk rock, is practically inescapable right now. In London, a series of events tagged as Punk.London: 40 Years of Subversive Culture includes concerts by reanimated bands, exhibitions and film seasons. Backers include... Read more... |
CD: DJ Shadow - The Mountain Will FallSunday, 19 June 2016
DJ Shadow, AKA Californian producer Josh Davis, is a renowned figure in the world of electronic music. His profile was especially high during the millennial period, primarily down to his groundbreaking 1996 debut album, Endtroducing…, which was... Read more... |
CD: Jake Bugg – On My OneSaturday, 18 June 2016
After two albums in rapid-fire quick succession, 2012’s eponymous debut and its 2013 follow-up, Shangri-La, Jake Bugg could be forgiven for taking a little longer to get his third out into the world. There was talk of working with the Beastie Boys’... Read more... |
DVD: That Cold Day in the ParkFriday, 17 June 2016
In 1969, just before he made M*A*S*H, the innovative film that launched him in the world, Robert Altman had made his first proper feature. That Cold Day in the Park was a piece of period weirdness, all but forgotten in the shadow of his iconic... Read more... |
