Review Corner

Author: jerobear

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    Carson Cooman: Andreas Willscher: Organ Symphony No.5

    German composer Andreas Willscher has (say the Press notes, we won’t claim expertise) won many awards for his compositions, which range from symphonic forms and oratorio to cabaret jazz and rock. Organ Symphony No.5 is on a grand scale but mostly peaceful and meditative; in the sleeve notes the composer said it was subtitled “of…

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    Jocee: Just Love

    Jocee is living the dream whether or not anyone buys this. She already makes a living with a residency at the Blues Kitchen in Shoreditch, ran an acoustic music night for emerging artists with Pixie Lott for three years and is a member of the Urban Voices Collective. She has worked with Paloma Faith at…

  • Arcade Fire: Everything Now

      The cool kids have been all over this, saying Arcade Fire have lost the plot. The Pitchfork review opens with “The pale, joyless songs don’t transcend their social critique — they succumb to it,” which merely shows, as the Canadians would say, they don’t know what they’re talking aboot. This is as good as…

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    Yaniv d’Or: Thoughts Observed

    This is a beautiful collection of music, but quiet. It’s one for reflective evenings alone; they’re love songs sung sparsely by countertenor (falsetto) Yaniv d’Or. Dan Deutsch accompanies equally sparsely on the piano. The sleeve notes say that d’Or has previously explored the music of his Sephardic heritage, with his Spanish, Turkish, Egyptian and Libyan…

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    Heath Common: Heath Common and The Lincoln 72s

    Heath Common is a beat poet whose previous efforts have been a little hit and miss, but this new album is his most musical and probably the most likely to raise his profile. Admittedly that profile will go from cult figure’s cult figure to merely cult figure but we can at least recommend you consider…

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    William the Conqueror: Proud Disturber Of The Peace

    William the Conqueror, aka Ruarri Joseph, played the Just So Festival at Rode Hall last year and his show was so impressive that he and it are tied together in the Review Corner collective memory. He was so good we bought two of his solo albums, second hand. In his youth (he was taking his…

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    Danny and The Champions Of The World: Brilliant Light

    Danny and The Champions are one of those bands that make you shake your head at the fickleness of music: they should be playing big venues but last year (?) they played Biddulph Up In Arms; prestigious as that is, it’s not Manchester Apollo or even Band on the Wall. The last album was more…

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    Brazilian Landscapes

    This fascinating CD is nominally classical with jazz influences, but you could call it world because of the rhythm, which leans towards the Latin. It’s a quiet and reflective album. The percussion plays varying roles in the music, coming to the fore in places and dropping back in others. There’s a sense of fun about…

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    Steve Earle and The Dukes: So You Wannabe An Outlaw

    Outlaw country had peaked by the time the Review Corner bought Steve Earle’s fantastic debut Guitar Town, but he was in the outlaw vein, both musically (blending rock and blues with country) and with his hell raisin’ lifestyle. With this new album, he reflects on the choices he made, now free from drugs and not…

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    Klyne: Klyne

    We’ve waited a long time for an electro/dance/pop album as good as CagedBaby’s* 2005 Will See You Now … and we’re still waiting. We had high hopes for Klyne, as the early tracks we heard were good. Like Cagedbaby, they were pleasant pop tunes played electronically and with edge and coolness. Obviously, the early tracks…