Author: jerobear
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Hobo Johnson: The Fall of Hobo Johnson
This is entertaining at first play through, a kid with ADHD’s take on life and its stupidity. It’s clever and funny in places, but the only people who are going to press play a second or third time are frat kids at an American college who want something to sing along to while chugging beer.…
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Code Sangala: Mizu
Last week we wrote about a CD from classical music label Naxos’s new world arm, a rootsy collection of traditional folk from Mongolia; this week is the opposite end of the spectrum, a cheerful collection of radio-friendly tracks from Malawi. Mizu means roots in Chichewa, the national vernacular language in Malawi. Sangala is clearly a…
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Georgie: Live!
Georgie is new to us; we guess she has a devoted fanbase who love her bluesy vocals. This is an acoustic set, recorded live at Trinity Church, Nottingham — she’s from Mansfield so it’s practically a home-coming gig. It’s all about the music. Georgie delivers minimal and deadpan chat between the songs. “This is a…
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Sleeping Beauty: The Regent Theatre, Hanley
The team behind the popular Regent Theatre pantomime return once again this year for their unique take on Sleeping Beauty and fans won’t be disappointed. Spellbinding choreography, slick performances, a laugh-a-minute script and plenty of audience participation make this a night to remember. With Stoke-on-Trent’s own Jonathan Wilkes appearing as Muggles, Christian Patterson returning as…
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Jon Hemmersam and Asal Malekzadeh: In the Moment – Improvisations, Compositions
Jam bands in other genres of music are quite common (Grateful Dead, Phish, lots of jazz) but these are based around some kind of pre-agreed structure or extension to a song, or are improvised around the same tune every gig. Hemmersam and Malekzadeh had never met prior to the recording of this album, and the…
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No mystery to popularity of musical whodunit Curtains
Curtains is written by the same team that brought the world Chicago and Cabaret — which explains the classy feel of this musical whodunit. A real breath of fresh air if you are looking for a musical with a difference, Curtains brings together the unlikely combination of musical theatre, comedy and murder mystery. Filled with…
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Neil Young and Crazy Horse: Colorado
Colorado is not one of Young’s great albums but it’s a grower and could go down as one of his later-career highlights. There’s a film with it; Young’s films are best avoided but someone who did watch said he comments in it to his band: “It doesn’t have to be good, just feel good.” That’s…
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Spider’s Egg: SWR NewJazz
Sometimes we think jazz is the only music you need, ranging as it does from the electronic ambient to full-on prog: it’s as daft calling it all jazz as it is calling “world” anything that’s not western pop. Normally the different sounds are on different albums by different people: on this mind-blowing CD, out now…
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Raised Fist: Anthems
This is heavy rock/metal/punk but not as you might reasonably predict it to be. It’s quirky; heavy rock in a party hat. It’s generally not intrinsically comic, they just have a different view of rock to the rest of us, and it’s impossible not to warm to their enthusiasm. The music is beefy and solid…
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This Machine Kills Fascists: Joyland // Beans on Toast: The Inevitable Train Wreck
“This Machine Kills Fascists” was a sticker that Woody Guthrie had on his guitar at some point in his career; he meant songs can fight bad ideas. The band This Machine Kills Fascists take this one step further: opening song Kill The Fascists suggests taking more direct action, though with its upbeat tone (lots of…
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