The Latest Reviews On The Arts Desk - New Music
From a memoir by a hard-living rock star to a celebration of classic themes from spaghetti westerns to the latest top CD choices, there is a varied selection of new music on The Arts Desk to kick off the New Year.
An extract from Mike Doughty’s autobiography The Book of Drugs, is featured in the new music on The Arts Desk this week. As the title would suggest, it’s a frank, raw account of Doughty’s chaotic and crippling addiction to drugs. He doesn’t spare himself or others as he describes his dependency on drugs and the unforgiving toll it took on him physically.
Bruce Dessau headed to the Queen Elizabeth Hall on the South Bank for the rather unusual Spaghetti Western Orchestra concert. It managed to successfully balance playful irreverence with genuine admiration and it was a little absurd, of course, but was done with both affection and conviction. The musicians proved themselves game comic performers, although there was no actual movie material involved.
Ismene Brown includes their scheduled array of new music concerts in her comprehensive listing of the Barbican’s 2012 season. Among the events to look forward to are numerous collaborations, such as The Floating Palace featuring Robyn Hitchcock and KT Tunstall.
It’s certainly an eclectic bunch of artists who feature in this week’s selection of the best CD releases. The winning waywardness of grime star Wiley was still intact although baffling, according to Joe Muggs in his latest album Evolve or Be Extinct. The unlikely combination of thrash metal and clubland trance in Enter Shikari’s A Flash Flood of Colour and the bizarre retro-futuristic “toytronica” of Twink’s Itsy Bits & Bubbles was enjoyed by Thomas H Green. A Box Painted Black by Paper Dollhouse captivated Kieron Tyler with the eerie, dreamlike solo project of Rayographs singer Astrud Steehouder.
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Tags: new music