Anna Calvi to unveil EP: Is this all there is? featuring Iggy Pop
Nov 21
Nadine Khouri, Romeo Stodart, Bernard Butler: The End Festival
Not content with presenting us with a mere weekend of music, this year promoter Howard Monk and the team behind The End Festival, set in Crouch End, extended the event over 11 days. Heady and ambitious stuff. There’s no point pretending it’s all gone like clockwork but that’s not what The End is all about.…
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Nov 16
The End Festival 2015: opening weekend
The End Festival is at the half-way mark, and so far it’s been an enjoyable, if slightly chaotic, experience, with a daily roster of bands appearing at venues around Crouch End. Opening night at Earl Haig featured Icelandic outfit YLJA (they are appearing twice more over the festival’s duration) and are notable for their crystalline…
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Nov 9
Review: Richard Hawley at The Roundhouse
Richard Hawley is on his best form yet, and delivers a storming crowd-pleaser set: dense guitar driven sound combined with beautiful ballads. I imagine that many others in last night’s audience at The Roundhouse had, like me, put the final episode of Downton Abbey on ‘Record’. I’m indeed thankful for such technological wonders, because I wouldn’t have missed this incredible…
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Nov 7
Review: Music of India at V&A Museum
The Victoria and Albert Museum is holding a series of events to accompany the huge India Festival this autumn. Last night I attended the Music of India concert, an event held in the sumptuous Raphael Room, with a programme of two acts. The Rajasthani folk troupe, who closed the evening, also popped up in different spots of the museum earlier in…
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Oct 23
Review: Jane Weaver at Oslo
Set against a muscular, driving bassline and wall of dense synth/guitar, Weaver’s voice adds a spacey, ethereal lightness, the two elements balancing each other, creating almost visible layers.
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Oct 14
Breath[e]:LESS live performance, Bradford and Liverpool
Breath[e]:LESS is a new kind of performance/gig experience, and dancing is very much allowed. It might be difficult not to, as it’s set to infectious electronic music by composer/producer DJ Kwah (above). The performance is the brainchild of Tessa Gordziejko, formerly Creative Director for the Yorkshire cultural Olympiad, a director and producer who has built a reputation for innovative…
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Oct 5
Review: Aidan Connell, Grio album launch
For blues guitarist Aidan Connell, the launch of his debut album Grio may be an important occasion, but his music career hasn’t exactly been short on seminal moments. Seasick Steve hailed him as “the only rock ’n’ roller in town”; he’s played with venerated California band Mazzy Star after Dave Roback took note of the talented youngster, and praise…
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Sep 21
The Fallen Woman exhibition at The Foundling Museum
A multi-media exhibition which examines a painful part of history, with a soundscape by Steve Lewinson. I talk to the show’s curator, Professor Lynda Nead, about the symbiotic relationship between art and sound.
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Sep 16
Ramsbottom festival 2015
There has been an emergence of a Northern Powerhouse of festivals over the past few years, with Kendal Calling, a host of Yorkshire events – and one which has quietly made its way onto the circuit – Ramsbottom Festival. Being a Lancashire lass, I’m glad to see an event which gives a platform to so many established…
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Sep 9
Review: Festival Number 6 2015
Festival Number 6 feels as if it has fully got into its stride. It offers a dizzying array of intelligently-curated events, from bands and DJs to comedy, nighttime processions, workshops and talks, plus something this festival has come to excel in – interviews and intimate performances by a handful of the main-stage artists.
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