New Music Features
James Burns – Let’s Go To Hell: Scattered Memories of the Butthole SurfersMonday, 14 March 2016
During the ‘80s there was no US rock band that hoisted its freak flag higher than the Butthole Surfers, and certainly none that put out albums of the stature of Locust Abortion Technician and Hairway to Steven in such quick succession. Read more... |
Brighton Festival 2016 Launches with Guest Director Laurie AndersonWednesday, 17 February 2016
The Brighton Festival 2016, which explodes into life again this year on Saturday May 7, has revealed its programme. Read more... |
theartsdesk in Groningen: Uniting Europe with MusicSunday, 24 January 2016
The nature of Europe, its administration, institutions and its porousness are hot topics. Sectors of Britain’s media and political class hyperventilate over trumped-up concerns while real issues which are just about impossible to address remain unresolved. In this climate, the European Border Breakers Awards are ripe for misinterpretation. Read more... |
David Bowie: Unforgettable and UnrepeatableMonday, 11 January 2016
If each man's death diminishes us, we're all about a foot shorter today. When Elvis Presley died, his manager Colonel Tom Parker said "this won't change anything!", and he promptly set about ensuring his client's immortality by turning him into a production line of merchandise and memorabilia. This won't happen to David Bowie, because he had already seized control of his own myth. Read more... |
David Bowie, 1947-2016Monday, 11 January 2016
He knew. Read more... |
Goodbye, Lemmy Kilmister 1945-2015Wednesday, 30 December 2015
Motörhead played loud rock ’n’ roll. Now, like The Ramones, they are gone. They burned with unbelievable vigour from the mid-Seventies until earlier this year, when the wheels started to fall off Lemmy’s wagon. His health suddenly gave way – as was clear at this year’s Glastonbury Festival – and now, as one of his greatest songs roared with rabid conviction and a cheeky wink, he has finally been killed by death. Read more... |
theartsfest 2015 - SundayWednesday, 30 December 2015
So, the first day's done. We awake, bleary-eyed and emerge from our tents and survey the scene. No matter how bad it looks for our immediate future health, the clouds are sure to clear before the inaugural beer and opening bands. The quality continues as we run through the very best we've seen this year to create the best bespoke festival we can imagine given theartsdesk's collective gig-going this year. Read more... |
theartsfest 2015 - SaturdayTuesday, 29 December 2015
The festival market is one that has, like much of Britain, become oversaturated of late. Here at theartsdesk however, we feel that there’s room for one more as long as it’s of the highest possible quality. Here, then, is our line-up, a dream festival pulled together from our writers’ highlights of the past year. Read more... |
Adele at the BBC, BBC OneThursday, 19 November 2015
As you all know by now, Friday is D-Day for Adele's new album 25, and part of the all-media Adelathon is Friday night's show on BBC One, Adele at the BBC. It's a mix of live performances and taped sequences linked together by chunks of interview with Graham Norton, and makes the perfect relaunch package for the reclusive superstar. It opens, aptly enough, with her performing "Rolling in the Deep". Read more... |
theartsdesk in Reykjavík: Iceland Airwaves 2015Sunday, 15 November 2015
The attack is relentless. Its power pummels like a gale. The 2015 model Mercury Rev begin their set at Iceland Airwaves as they meant to finish. Never has this band been so forceful, so kinetic. Yet their trademark balance of filmic drama and delicate melody was not sacrificed during this convincing revitalisation. On stage at Reykjavík’s Harpa concert hall on the festival's second day, Mercury Rev set a bar so high it sowed seeds suggesting nothing could top this. Read more... |
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