tue 18/02/2025

New Music reviews, news & interviews

Josienne Clarke, Across the Evening Sky, Kings Place review - celebrating Sandy Denny

Tim Cumming

On the first date of a 17-concert tour that had its preview at Celtic Connections in January, Across the Evening Sky begins with the liminal, predatory dangers of associating in any way with the sly “Reynardine”, with Matt Robinson on piano and electronic keyboards and Alec Bowman-Clarke’s bass evoking the twilit murk of the magical faerie song, recorded by Sandy on Fairport’s Liege & Lief.

Patrick Duff, The Mount Without, Bristol review - sacred music for the soul

Mark Kidel

There is an atmosphere of otherworldly stillness within the stony womb of a large dilapidated church in Bristol, at the bottom of St Michael’s Hill, the winding road that climbs up to what used to be the favoured place of execution, where the city’s sombre gibbets stood.

Album: Tim Hecker - Shards

Joe Muggs

The question of personality in abstract and ambient music has always been a fascinating one. Without conventional signifiers of expressiveness, and...

Music Reissues Weekly: Sharks - Car Crash...

Kieron Tyler

Sharks were formed in 1972 by bassist Andy Fraser after he left Free. There were two albums, line-up changes and ripples which resonated after the...

Fat Dog, Chalk, Brighton review - a frenetic...

Thomas H Green

Ro first saw Fat Dog, before anyone had heard of them, at the Windmill in Brixton in front of a crowd of about 25 people. Their manic energy blew her...

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?

Album: Park Jiha - All Living Things

Mark Kidel

Music and nature in synergy

Album: Rizzle Kicks - Competition Is For Losers

Ibi Keita

Brass, beats, and pure fun: the UK has missed this

Album: Fantastic Twins - Suite of Rooms

Joe Muggs

Dramas within dramas and rooms within rooms in this elegant little puzzle box

Northern Winter Beat 2025, Aalborg review - The Courettes, Dungen and Lubomyr Melnyk confront ideas of how to play

Kieron Tyler

Danish city hosts the festival imbued with a cool which doesn’t need expressing

Album: Manic Street Preachers - Critical Thinking

Thomas H Green

Lots of words but not so many catchy songs

Bowling For Soup, Civic Hall, Wolverhampton review - nostalgic, celebratory fun

Ellie Roberts

Texan pop-punk legends filled the sold-out Civic Hall with pure joy

Cyndi Lauper, OVO Hydro, Glasgow review - still having chaotic fun after all these years

Jonathan Geddes

The New York singer's personality was stamped all over her farewell tour.

Music Reissues Weekly: Beggars Arkive - The Lurkers’ 1978 John Peel session

Kieron Tyler

Vital components of British punk rock and what followed

Album: Squid - Cowards

Thomas H Green

South-coast five-piece continue their fitful journey into rock experimentalism

Album: Rats on Rafts - Deep Below

Kieron Tyler

The spirit of The Cure rematerialises in the Netherlands

Album: Hifi Sean & David McAlmont - Twilight

Guy Oddy

Indie veterans burrow deeper into their new electronica-flavoured guise

theartsdesk Radio Show 36 - legendary producer Joe Boyd discusses his recent book on global music

Peter Culshaw

From being producer of Pink Floyd and Nick Drake to running an influential global music label

Album: Biig Piig - 11:11

Joe Muggs

Pop so slick it slides right by you... until you start paying attention

Album: Inhaler - Open Wide

Tom Carr

Dublin indie rock quartet expand and adapt their sound

Music Reissues Weekly: You Got Me Hooked! - More Marylebone Beat Girls

Kieron Tyler

Brit-girl bliss

Album: Guided By Voices - Universe Room

Ellie Roberts

Unique soundscapes and a dynamic approach with clear standout tracks

Album: The Weeknd - Hurry Up Tomorrow

Thomas H Green

The Canadian superstar's latest is mopey and overlong but has its moments

Formal Sppeedwear, The Windmill review - Stoke-on-Trent trio reinvigorates the new wave era

Kieron Tyler

Daisy fresh idiosyncrasy which isn’t nostalgia

Album: Cymande - Renascence

Joe Muggs

A brave and mostly brilliant attempt to revive half-century-old magic

Album: Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - The Purple Bird

Guy Oddy

Will Oldham exudes suitably laidback vibes from deep in the heart of Nashville

theartsdesk on Vinyl 88: Violent Femmes, Ringo Starr, ARXX, Dexter Gordon, Black Star, Dennis Bovell and more

Thomas H Green

The wildest, most wide-ranging record reviews in our galaxy

Album: Gary Kemp - This Destination

Kathryn Reilly

The master songwriter can't help but write a catchy tune

Music Reissues Weekly: New York Dolls - Showdown At The Mercer

Kieron Tyler

Historically important earliest-known live recording of the punk precursors

Album: ALT BLK ERA - Rave Immortal

Thomas H Green

Nottingham siblings' debut buzzes with amalgamated drum'n'bass and hard rock energy

Footnote: a brief history of new music in Britain

New music has swung fruitfully between US and UK influences for half a century. The British charts began in 1952, initially populated by crooners and light jazz. American rock'n'roll livened things up, followed by British imitators such as Lonnie Donegan and Cliff Richard. However, it wasn't until The Beatles combined rock'n'roll's energy with folk melodies and Motown sweetness that British pop found a modern identity outside light entertainment. The Rolling Stones, amping up US blues, weren't far behind, with The Who and The Kinks also adding a unique Englishness. In the mid-Sixties the drugs hit - LSD sent pop looking for meaning. Pastoral psychedelia bloomed. Such utopianism couldn't last and prog rock alongside Led Zeppelin's steroid riffing defined the early Seventies. Those who wanted it less blokey turned to glam, from T Rex to androgynous alien David Bowie.

sex_pistolsA sea change arrived with punk and its totemic band, The Sex Pistols, a reaction to pop's blandness and much else. Punk encouraged inventiveness and imagination on the cheap but, while reggae made inroads, the most notable beneficiary was synth pop, The Human League et al. This, when combined with glam styling, produced the New Romantic scene and bands such as Duran Duran sold multi-millions and conquered the US.

By the mid-Eighties, despite U2's rise, the British charts were sterile until acid house/ rave culture kicked the doors down for electronica, launching acts such as the Chemical Brothers. The media, however, latched onto indie bands with big tunes and bigger mouths, notably Oasis and Blur – Britpop was born.

By the millennium, both scenes had fizzled, replaced by level-headed pop-rockers who abhorred ostentation in favour of homogenous emotionality. Coldplay were the biggest. Big news, however, lurked in underground UK hip hop where artists adapted styles such as grime, dubstep and drum & bass into new pop forms, creating breakout stars Dizzee Rascal and, more recently, Tinie Tempah. The Arts Desk's wide-ranging new music critics bring you overnight reviews of every kind of music, from pop to unusual world sounds, daily reviews of new releases and downloads, and unique in-depth interviews with celebrated musicians and DJs, plus the quickest ticket booking links. Our writers include Peter Culshaw, Joe Muggs, Howard Male, Thomas H Green, Graeme Thomson, Kieron Tyler, Russ Coffey, Bruce Dessau, David Cheal & Peter Quinn

Close Footnote

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.

newsletter

Get a weekly digest of our critical highlights in your inbox each Thursday!

Simply enter your email address in the box below

View previous newsletters

latest in today

Help to give theartsdesk a future!

It all started on 09/09/09. That memorable date, September 9 2009, marked the debut of theartsdesk.com.

It followed some...

Josienne Clarke, Across the Evening Sky, Kings Place review...

On the first date of a 17-concert tour that had its preview at Celtic Connections in January, Across the Evening Sky begins with the...

Shon Faye: Love in Exile review - the greatest feeling

As Valentine’s Day crests around us, and lonely hearts come out of their winter hibernation, what better time to publish writer and journalist...

Blu-ray: Golem

In Jewish folklore, a golem is an inanimate clay figure, brought to life when a magic word is placed inside its mouth....

Mary, Queen of Scots, English National Opera review - heroic...

Genius doesn't always tally with equal opportunities, to paraphrase Doris Lessing. Opera houses have a duty to put on new works by women composers...

Unicorn, Garrick Theatre review - wordy and emotionless desi...

Since when has new writing become so passionless? Mike Bartlett is one of the country’s premiere playwrights and his new play, Unicorn,...

Vollmond, Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch + Terrain Boris...

Imagine: you take your seat at the best restaurant in town, the waiter arrives with a flourish to fill your water glass, you hold it out and he...

Patrick Duff, The Mount Without, Bristol review - sacred mus...

There is an atmosphere of otherworldly stillness within the stony womb of a large dilapidated church in...

Album: Tim Hecker - Shards

The question of personality in abstract and ambient music has always been a fascinating one. Without conventional signifiers of expressiveness,...

Music Reissues Weekly: Sharks - Car Crash Supergroup

Sharks were formed in 1972 by bassist Andy Fraser after he left Free. There were two albums, line-up changes and ripples which resonated after the...