new music reviews, news & interviews
Joe Muggs |

This album raises an interesting question: how many other musical artists have had as much of a career as Joshua Idehen prior to releasing their debut album proper? The Nigerian-Brit found his feet in the London poetry scene of the Noughties, just as grime was blowing up and bringing varied local vernacular into the heart of pop culture.

Jonathan Geddes |

CMAT knows how to make an entrance.

Kathryn Reilly
As a disillusioned ex-admirer – like so many – it’s with a degree of dread that I approach Morrissey’s 14th solo album (the first for six years…
Kieron Tyler
The Somnambulist, the debut album from Lunar & The Deception, showcases a goth-leaning rock which is imbued with a good dash of the anthemic.…
Rachel Halliburton
Talking to Dave Stewart is like being on a psychedelic roller-coaster. He’ll start with one thought, spin it round and turn it upside down a few…

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?

Thomas H. Green
Difford and Tilbrook reanimate songs they wrote as teenagers, with mixed results
Kieron Tyler
Thought-provoking primer in US pop’s varied pre-psychedelic musical landscape
peter.quinn
A love letter to the women who changed music forever
Tim Cumming
Interior musical meditations on life and art pulls on the harp strings
Thomas H. Green
Despite a limited audience, an evening of whole-hearted sing-alongs
Ibi Keita
World music meets every other genre in this new project
Kieron Tyler
When guitar solos are as important as the meaning of the song
Thomas H. Green
The widest ranging record reviews in the cosmos
Tom Carr
Earnest and from the heart one moment, paranoid and uncertain the next
Kieron Tyler
Stunning, originally shelved, American version of Pil’s first album resurfaces
Ibi Keita
Beautifully crafted, but not quite timeless
Guy Oddy
Playful West Country duo revel in fun and silliness
Thomas H. Green
Despite welcome Caribbean flavours most songs lack real weight
Jonathan Geddes
The band have embraced a slick, poppier sound
Ellie Roberts
A return delivered with growth, vulnerability, and a renewed artistic spark
Kieron Tyler
Never mind the snow, this Danish city festival celebrates unfettered internationalism
Guy Oddy
Electroclash original remains direct, filthy and more than relevant
Kieron Tyler
Exhaustive, stylistically varied, box-set memorial to the fabled Bowery venue
Sebastian Scotney
A new work rewards detailed listening
Katie Colombus
An ode to reinvention that's not quite a pop album but not a film score either
Joe Muggs
The Belfast master of slow, sad club sounds is on peak form
Thomas H. Green
Brett Anderson and co. deliver energy, sing-alongs and punk-tinted kicks
Guy Oddy
Jill Scott’s first album in over a decade is an absolute gem
Jonathan Geddes
A slick show from the duo offered vibrant stagecraft and varied genres

the future of arts journalism

You can stop theartsdesk.com closing! 

We urgently need financing to survive. Our fundraising drive has thus far raised £33,000 but we need to reach £100,000 or we will be forced to close. Please contribute here: https://gofund.me/c3f6033d

And if you can forward this information to anyone who might assist, we’d be grateful.

latest in today

We are bowled over! We knew that theartsdesk.com had plenty of supporters out there – we’ve always had a loyal readership of arts…
If there was love in the Royal Scottish National Orchestra’s Valentine’s concert, then it was very much of the doomed variety. There was…
Maggie Gyllenhaal’s sophomore feature is a punkish, gothic, genre-dancing, feminist riot, whose verve, imagination and serious intent…
A brand new sign in a contemporary font (Centra No.2 I am told) signals my arrival at the wooded grounds of Goodwood Art Foundation. This…
This album raises an interesting question: how many other musical artists have had as much of a career as Joshua Idehen prior to releasing…
Arthur Miller is constantly being revived on London stages, and constantly remains relevant. However, his most popular plays are those from…
CMAT knows how to make an entrance. The opening of this show, in common with the rest of her tour, featured her band assembling onstage…
It’s that time of year again. The 2026 Formula 1 season kicks off in Melbourne this coming Sunday, and as night follows day, here’s the…
Birgitta Trotzig’s Queen is a strikingly poetic, persistently grim semi-fairy tale set at one of the edges of Europe: a strange, windswept…
As a disillusioned ex-admirer – like so many – it’s with a degree of dread that I approach Morrissey’s 14th solo album (the first for…

Most read

It's a real pleasure to see Tim Roth strutting his stuff in Cannes, on screen and off. Roth knows the place well, having been here as an…
CMAT knows how to make an entrance. The opening of this show, in common with the rest of her tour, featured her band assembling onstage…
The brainchild of Derry Girls creator Lisa McGee, this is a strange and tortuous tale which defies easy categorisation. There’s plenty of…
I’ll never forget watching Tracey Emin reduce an audience to tears at the Royal Festival Hall. About 25 people were expected, but some 500…
This album raises an interesting question: how many other musical artists have had as much of a career as Joshua Idehen prior to releasing…
Charles (French comedian Dany Boon), a jaded taxi driver in Paris, is stressed out. He owes money, the points on his license are mounting…
Mark Simmons is, in the nicest possible way, an old-fashioned comic, in that he tells jokes. Puns, one-liners, slow-burners, delayed…
Talking to Dave Stewart is like being on a psychedelic roller-coaster. He’ll start with one thought, spin it round and turn it upside down…
Somewhere in the bowels of the BBC, far away from the overheated stories of serial killers and female mutilation that clamour for the…
The indomitable Nicolas Kent has devised a new theatre piece to prick our consciences and refocus our minds, after his sterling work on the…