Collaborative Music Blogging Project
Tonight’s double-header kicks off a month long celebration of the 50th Anniversary of Nonesuch Records at the Barbican. This is a fitting place for a label with such a rich and varied cultural history – it has been home to the likes of John Zorn, Caetano Veloso, The Black Keys and of course tonight’s performers. Devendra…
Continue reading [Live Review] Devendra Banhart / Rokia Traoré , Barbican, London, 2nd May 2014
It’s been 3 years since KV fell in love with Salon Des Amateurs, so Hauschka’s (aka German neo-classical / experimental composer and musician Volker Bertelmann) Abandoned City was a much anticipated record around these parts. As the name suggests, this is record with a colder, more industrial sound than its predecessor. The tracks are named…
Continue reading [Album Review] Hauschka : Abandoned City
Warhol-haired, Kiwi musician and singer Connan Mockasin may be a slight figure, but he’s quite a formidable presence. Opening song It’s Your Body envelopes the place with a sound that is a heady cocktail of Pink Floyd and Prince (if the latter were singing inside a fishtank), replete with woozy, whirly guitar effects. This segues…
Continue reading [Live Review] Connan Mockasin, Shepherd’s Bush Empire 28th January 2014
From the album St Vincent, out on February 24th. Directed by Chino Moya. The horns remind me somewhat of Talking Heads…
A Halloween gig by my pals Without Fidel lead me to my latest audio obsession. Two of the attendees at this fancy dress shindig were dressed as characters from the utterly brilliant festival of the strange that is Welcome To Night Vale. For the uninitiated, Welcome To Night Vale is a darkly-comic podcast from the…
Continue reading KV’s Night Vale Weather Report
It’s a full house tonight at the Fleece, with a few people adopting a thirties/ forties retro look to match that of Pokey LaFarge (and few more, almost but not quite getting it right, with a fifties greaser look). Opener Nicki Bluhm and the Gramblers, touring as an acoustic trio in support of their self-titled…
Continue reading [Live Review] Pokey LaFarge and Nicki Bluhm & The Gramblers, the Fleece, Bristol, 10th November
The stage is awash with dreamy blue hues, and powerful laser beam lights as the artist known as Ghostpoet (better known to his Mum, who is in tonight apparently, as Obaro Ejimiwe) takes to the stage with a heavy rendition of Gaasp. He’s an artist that it isn’t always easy to attach a pesky…
Continue reading [Live Review ] Ghost Poet @ Hackney Empire 24/10/2013
The SHHH festival, a moving festival established by The Local and dedicated to quiet music, is coming to Bristol this year on September 15th at the Folk House. The event will be curated by the excellent Rachael Dadd, and features live appearances from the deeply odd Ichi, kora player Will Newsome, and the phenomenal Rozi…
Continue reading SHHH Festival comes to Bristol
Like most people who have ever heard her, I have a definite soft spot for Sandy Denny’s voice, which this album showcases on some excellently ethereal tracks (charming opener White Dress is wonderful, ‘A Stranger To Himself‘, ‘Dawn‘ and ‘After Halloween‘ are full of atmosphere). Denny’s return to the band lead to this 1975 release,…
Continue reading [Review] Fairport Convention – “Rising for the Moon” (Reissue)
I’ll let that one sink in for a while. Tears for Fears‘ synth-pop debut The Hurting was released in 1983. That being thirty years ago, it has received some special attention from Universal Music Catalogue and Virgin/EMI and will be reissued on October 21st as a box set including the original album, a disc of…
Continue reading 30 Years (!) of Tears for Fears – “The Hurting”