New Music Reviews
Reissue CDs Weekly: Help Yourself - Passing Through, The Complete Studio RecordingsSunday, 19 September 2021
“Reaffirmation” is the sound of a San Francisco ballroom in 1968. The 12-minute long track opens mysteriously with what might be a Mellotron on the flute setting. A bubbling bass guitar arrives, along with jazzy piano. At 02.50, the tempo picks up and the guitar, which until then has delicately picked its way through the arrangement, begins to soar. There’s a vaguely funky section and, just over half-way in, a dive into an almost free-form spiralling section. Read more... |
Duran Duran, O2 Institute, Birmingham review – an intimate gig for the local megastarsThursday, 16 September 2021
Incredibly it’s now 40 years since the release of Duran Duran’s debut album. To mark this event, the remaining members of the band’s classic line-up decided to return to Birmingham. Not to the NIA or any similar-sized venue, but for a couple of intimate gigs at the city’s O2 Institute. Read more... |
Album: The Eivind Aarset 4-Tet - Phantasmagoria, or A Different Kind of JourneyThursday, 16 September 2021
Phantasmagoria, or A Different Kind of Journey instantly sets its controls for an excursion into the interstellar void between gaseous and solid objects. Opening cut “Intoxication” begins with lightly pulsing bass and a keyboard texture. Shimmering guitar floats over the top. Though more sparse and lacking vocals, it’s as if Pink Floyd’s “Us and Them” were performed by an earlier model of the band which had focussed on reducing performative grandeur as much as possible. Read more... |
Michael Janisch Band, Ronnie Scott's review - jazz's ace of bass makes a welcome returnWednesday, 15 September 2021
This was, said bassist Michael Janisch, his first gig since January last year, and his crack group’s Monday evening set, kicking off at the un-jazzy hour of 6.30pm, was an energising, dynamic group performance from A-list British musicians who are band leaders in their own right. Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Goldie & the Gingerbreads - Thinking About The Good TimesSunday, 12 September 2021
In October 1964, New York’s Goldie & the Gingerbreads boarded the RMS Mauretania for Southampton. In the midst of the British Invasion, they were taking on the beat boom at its coal face. Read more... |
Blade Runner, Avex Ensemble, Symphony Hall, Birmingham review - synths synced to screenWednesday, 08 September 2021
"I've seen things you people wouldn’t believe." It’s one of the most famous lines from Ridley Scott’s 1982 film Blade Runner, though in the past 18 months we’ve all seen things we would not have believed back at the start of 2020, when I originally secured my tickets for this show that had been scheduled for 26 March 2020. Read more... |
Nadine Shah, Winterstoke Sun Shelter, Ramsgate review - a thrilling return in a stunning venueTuesday, 07 September 2021
Hilarious, potty-mouthed and mesmerisingly beautiful, Nadine Shah is on superb form at the Ramsgate Festival of Sound’s closing evening show. And aside from the banter there is, of course, that remarkable voice – hugely powerful and somehow perfectly suited to this enchanting outdoor venue. Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Laura Nyro - American DreamerSunday, 05 September 2021
“She is a 20-year-old white New Yorker who sings like a 55-year-old black lady from Mississippi. Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Leslie Winer - When I Hit You, You’ll Feel ItSunday, 29 August 2021
When I Hit You - You’ll Feel It opens with “When I Was Walt Whitman”. A French-language answer-phone message is abruptly cut off by a massive-sounding percussive pulse over which a borderline menacing voice enigmatically murmurs words which are hard to make out. Read more... |
Edinburgh International Festival 2021: Anna MeredithTuesday, 24 August 2021
She’s an artist who’s impossible to define. Producer, composer and multi-instrumentalist, Anna Meredith has a musical mind that cannot keep still. Her latest studio album, Fibs, which was released in 2019, is a genre-defying blend of electronic and acoustic music, conceived with raw zeal, true artistic integrity, and a huge sense of fun. Read more... |
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