CDs/DVDs
Cheri Amour
The thing with Annie Clark, better known as the triple-Grammy-winning iconoclast St Vincent, is that much like an actual saint the multi-instrumentalist and producer is always being praised for her last great feat. A notorious shapeshifter, Clark’s last full length Daddy’s Home found the songwriter donning a blonde wig, fur coat and a teetering pair of Seventies platforms for a similarly immersive sonic experience. While 2017’s Masseducation saw her taut and tight in both production and leathers for a dominatrix-doused slice of electro-pop. Ahead of the seventh studio album, Clark Read more ...
joe.muggs
This album came with an absolutely enormous promo campaign. As well as actual advertising there were “Audience With…” events, and specials on BBC radio and TV – the latter an Imagine special with Alan Yentob really going in with sledgehammer subtlety to set the Pet Shop Boys up as National Treasures as they approach the 40th anniversary of their first single “West End Girls”. The thing is, though, they deserve it: not just the career retrospective but the free boost for their new work. For many acts, this kind of documentary, packed with friends and colleagues Read more ...
Guy Oddy
Despite its title, Mdou Moctar’s new album is no slow-paced mournful dirge. In fact, it is louder, faster and more overtly political than any of his band’s previous discs – not so much desert blues as desert punk.Taking up the twin causes of the Tuareg people of West Africa and the post-colonial disaster that has befallen Niger since the end of French occupation, it is nothing short of ferocious in its revolutionary zeal. Repeated riffs, hand-clap percussion, explosive guitars and call-and-response vocals all combine to build an irresistible set that will no doubt create a serious storm when Read more ...
Harry Thorfinn-George
There’s a scene in Priscilla where Elvis stands above his wife, who is scrambling to put her clothes in a suitcase. Priscilla has just confronted him about a letter she found from the actress Ann-Margret, confirming her suspicion that the King of Rock'n'Roll has been unfaithful. Elvis's legs in their white trousers tower before her like the pillars of Graceland.This is just one of the many memorable images in Sofia Coppola’s delicate portrayal of Priscilla Presley, now available on Blu-ray and DVD. In the context of Coppola’s oeuvre, which includes such gems as The Virgin Suicides, Lost in Read more ...
Sebastian Scotney
The previous solo piano solo album from Fred Hersch, one of the world’s great jazz pianists, was called Songs from Home, released on the New York indie jazz label Palmetto Records towards the end of 2020. Silent, Listening, released this month on ECM could not be more different in it moods and in its aims.Songs from Home was recorded at the time of the pandemic at Hersch’s home in Pennsylvania. The pianist sought solace from a “loss of identity” (and loss of work) by recalling the songs which had been around during his youth. As a “child of the 60s” he remembers, “when the craft of Read more ...
Ellie Roberts
Taylor Swift’s unfathomable ability to articulate human emotion shines as brightly as ever in her latest double album The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology. The 31 track collection combines the gentle melodies of previous albums folklore and evermore, the soul baring chaos of Red, the cool synth-pop production of Midnights, and the extreme vulnerability and intricate storytelling that is persistent throughout her entire discography.Swift’s dedication to authenticity is to be credited for the success and inevitable longevity of this album. Having shared a diaristic account of her Read more ...
joe.muggs
As I sat down to write this review, the sun came out. It was a salutory reminder of the importance of context: where I’d previously thought “mmm, that’s pretty nice”, now it was more “mmmmmmm, that’s pretty niiiiiice!” That’s not just a suble distinction, either. It was a fundamental shift in how and where the music was hitting mentally, emotionally and physiologically. It went from being a slickly pleasant mood enhancer to something that made my shoulders drop, my chest expand, my limbs loosen, my attention let go of distractions zoom in on what was happenning in the moment. Read more ...
Tom Carr
Thirty years, and over 75 million copies sold. It’s been a long journey from Nineties Seattle for Pearl Jam, the grunge era icons fronted by Eddie Vedder's commanding vocals.Pearl Jam have since carved out a legacy as one of the most forward-thinking bands around. The band have long stood against unfair ticket pricing and raised millions for causes like abortion access and homelessness, and funding research into and raising awareness for Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. While previous album, 2020’s acclaimed Gigaton, touched on environmental and political Read more ...
Kieron Tyler
Death Songbook is, says Charles Hazlewood, founder, artistic director and conductor of Paraorchestra, an album of “music which is about death, or the death of love, about loss, about anxiety.” Suede’s Brett Anderson, on board for this endeavour, notes “I've always found dark material more inspiring than upbeat songs. Upbeat songs always make me depressed somehow. I've always liked those songs that deal with the murkier sides of life.”The resultant 12-track album also features Nadine Shah (on two tracks) and Gwenno (on one track). Sebastian Rochford and Adrian Utley are in there too. The songs Read more ...
Thomas H. Green
At a time when conflicts in the Middle East are reaching fever pitch, Emel Mathlouthi represents hope. Her new album MRA, is titled for the Arabic word for “woman” and was created entirely by women, as in, every single person involved with it at any level is female. She has said of it, “I've come to discover the true meaning of sisterhood… I want us to change the system from within, by and through women.” Happily, this outlook is attached to music that’s sonically exciting.Based in New York, the Tunisian-born singer first created waves when her initially banned song “Kelmti Horra (My Word is Read more ...
Guy Oddy
After a long period of relative inactivity, the last five years has had A Certain Ratio getting the bit between their teeth, trying out new sounds and releasing new tunes at a rate not seen since the early 1980s. It All Comes Down to This is their third album since 2020, as well as the four stand-alone EPs.Despite coming out almost exactly a year since its 1982 predecessor, this set would actually have been released six months ago if bass guitarist Jez Kerr hadn’t broken his pelvis and fractured a hip just as recording was meant to begin. So, it seems that precious little slows them down Read more ...
Tom Carr
For the past almost two years, Maggie Rogers has taken an unexpectedly special place in my heart and musical tastes. Upon reviewing her previous album, Surrender, because of the difference in style and sound to my usual tastes I was caught completely off guard.Combined with just as unforeseen changes in my personal life, Surrender was an unfounded delight that chimed completely at that point in time. Now it’s not just an album, but a time capsule of those summer months of 2022.Fast forward, and Rogers has provided another tapestry of sounds steeped in texture and personal depth with third Read more ...