Author: jerobear
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Jim Parker: Travelling Light
The title says it all: Parker writes light music, and the collection takes the listener to different parts of the world. (He also wears his talent lightly, the sleeve notes being witty and self-deprecating). You might not know the name of Jim Parker but you’ll know his music; he has written for television and his…
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Stormzy: Gang Signs and Prayer
We can see why people love Stormzy, the first grime artist to land a number one album; he’s got charm and intelligence. The aging musos in the Review Corner haven’t got much in common with a black man from London, but even as young dogs we’d not have gone down the Tip Café to meet…
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Nick Cave: Lovely Creatures
The titular lovely creatures are the songs, and as Mr Cave told us in a Press release: “There are some people out there who just don’t know where to start with The Bad Seeds. This release is designed to be a way into three decades of music making; the songs we have chosen are the…
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Hackney Colliery Band: Live
Whenever we’re down in the dumps in the Review Corner, we often play Rock With the Hot 8, by The Hot 8 Brass Band, a New Orleans outfit that blend hip-hop, jazz and funk. It’s not brass as you might expect if you’re a fan of Foden’s Band, and nor are there eight of them,…
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Ferdinand Ries: Flute Quartets Vol.1
If you want to make a name for yourself, getting a job one of with the world’s greatest composers is a risky move, like being an understudy. You might have a lucky break or you might disappear without trace. Wikipedia reports that when Ries — friend and pupil of Ludwig van Beethoven — died, he…
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Maximo Park: Risk to Exist
The Review Corner are big fans of Max Park, but this album has divided us. The hard-core fans find it a little too formulaic in places, the less ardent among us think it’s their best album, main songwriter Paul Smith upping his game quite some way. There’s no predictable indie material, which they tend to…
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Robert Radecke: Piano Trios
Radecke was a skilled player of the pianoforte, organ and violin — the sleeve notes report he was a “sensation” when he played Beethoven in Berlin. He was top in his class at Leipzig Conservatory and as a reward played a Schumann piece to the composer himself, remaining friends with him afterwards. He also greatly…
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Bleeker: Erase You
Bleeker are a Canadian trio and this album is as polite and well-behaved as the national clichés have it. Opener Highway is somewhat of an imposter and kicks things off in misleading fashion. It’s a sleazy glam stomper, with scuzzy if polished riffs and a throbbing bass. It was, the internet reports, played at the…
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Tchaikovsky: 12 Morceaux
We always like programmes like this: though it’s Tchaikovsky it’s (i) not too highbrow and (ii) was written for commercial reasons; these two factors make a review easier. Tchaikovsky wrote music for the piano throughout much of his life, mostly as pieces aimed at the amateur — back in those days, composers earned money selling…
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Emmerich Kalmain: Die Bajadere
This is an enjoyable CD, presenting an operetta that was first performed in the early jazz age, and combines Hungarian folk tunes, Viennese waltzes, popular American dance rhythms, and exotic moments suggesting distant India — bayaderes are Indian temple dancers — as well as snatches of various national anthems. The main story is of an…
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