New Music Interviews
Q&A Special: Musician Ben Drew, aka Plan BMonday, 12 April 2010
Ben Drew, who records as Plan B, is busy on the promotional rounds. He has spent the day at the BBC's Maida Vale Studios being interviewed by Fearne Cotton and others for TV and radio, and performed his new single "She Said" as well as an ebullient cover of Charles & Eddie's "Would I Lie to You?" He's accompanied by a nine-piece band, including three gospel backing singers, and is as sharp-suited as the promo photos you see here. Read more...
|
theartsdesk Q&A: Mariza, Diva of FadoSaturday, 23 January 2010
Marisa dos Reis Nunes (b. 1973) is an African-Portuguese singing superstar whose music has deep roots in fado, Portugal’s dark-blue, intensely poetic national music, but which over the course of five albums has gradually taken on inflections of jazz, blues and bossa nova. Born in Mozambique to an African mother and a Portuguese father, Mariza (like all good divas she has long since dispensed with meddlesome surname, converting along the way the soft S in her forename to a zippy Z) grew up in... Read more... |
theartsdesk Q&A: Tim LawrenceSaturday, 12 December 2009
Tim Lawrence is an author and academic, whose musical studies have led him from the dance scene of the 1990s to researching New York's disco scene – his Love Saves the Day was the first and remains the definitive history of the music, history and politics of disco – and then to the singular figure of Arthur Russell. Read more... |
theartsdesk Q&A: DJ Mary Anne HobbsSaturday, 21 November 2009
Immediately following the death of radio DJ John Peel in 2004, it became clear very rapidly that there was no obvious heir apparent. With so many specialist shows on the station, nobody ran the full gamut of leftfield and underground music in the same way that Peel had. But if anyone comes close, it is Mary Anne Hobbs. Read more... |
theartsdesk Q&A: Guitarist Wilko JohnsonSaturday, 17 October 2009
In Oil City Confidential, Julien Temple’s exhilarating new documentary on Dr Feelgood, the first thing you’ll see is the spidery, alien movements of the band’s guitarist Wilko Johnson, as he looks out over their Essex heartland, Canvey Island. The film is a sort of prequel to Temple’s Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten, digging into the early 1970s pub rock scene the Feelgoods ruled with their hard, sharp R’n’B before punk, lessons learned, stole the stage. Read more... |
theartsdesk Q&A: DJ Kode 9Wednesday, 30 September 2009
Glasgow-born, south London resident Steve Goodman – better known to discerning lovers of modern music as Kode 9 – has a unique and privileged position in relation to the ever-shifting UK dance music underground. In the mid 90s he formed part of the slightly cultish Cybernetic Culture Research Unit (CCRU) founded by Sadie Plant and Nick Land at the University of Warwick, where he gained a PhD in philosophy. Read more... |
Pages
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 10,000 pieces, we're asking for £3.95 per month or £30 per year. We feel it's a very good deal, and hope you do too.
To take an annual 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?
latest in today
DVD: Bergman - A Year in A Life
1957 was a busy year for a very busy director: Ingmar Bergman made two of his most famous films The Seventh Seal and Wild...
Richard II, Sam Wanamaker Theatre review - electrifying mixe...
Richard II has become the drama of our times, as it walks us through the impotent convulsions of a weak and vain leader brought down by in-...
The Thread, Russell Maliphant & Vangelis, Sadler’s Wells...
In The Thread Russell Maliphant attempts what, at first sight, appears a foolhardy project – the juxtaposition of...
CD: Lucy Rose - No Words Left
Every so often, an album reminds you that, done properly, the art form is more than just a collection of songs. Barely...
David Hepworth: A Fabulous Creation review - how vinyl sooth...
Record Store Day is now a fixture on the calendar, a key element in “the vinyl revival”, and this year – 13 April – it’s possible to buy a special...
Reissue CDs Weekly: Where The Girls Are Volume Ten
The US music trade weekly Cashbox chose a picture of the then-hot Diana Ross & the Supremes and Temptations joint enterprise for the...
Connolly, Drake, Berrington, Wigmore Hall review – between t...
Vary the stale format of the vocal recital and all sorts of new doors open for performers and listeners alike. The only downside, as became clear...
Yxng Bane, Brixton Academy review - all the fam on stage
There’s a wolf howl and Yxng Bane (pronounced Young Bane) jumps off a block on stage and his furry hooded coat flies open and the arena erupts in...
Showbands, BBC Four review - an Irish cultural phenomenon ex...
Ask most people what a showband is and they’ll give you a blank look. But ask any...