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I get the whole idea of wanting to stay true to the original, but Disney really dropped the ball by not rebranding its latest remake as The Lion Queen. Because let’s be honest, this is Beyoncé‘s movie. Not only does Queen Bey voice Nala in the film, she curated an entire album inspired by it. …
(Africa Express) Five albums in, and Africa Express – Damon Albarn’s cross-cultural collaboration engine – has pitched up in Johannesburg, known as Egoli in Xhosa. It could be the best iteration yet of this speed-dating pop writer’s camp, in which a handful of UK and US artists (Nick Zinner, a returnee, plus Super Furry Gruff …
Africa Express: Egoli review – an end-to-end party album Read More »
(Fiction) While Palace’s 2016 debut, So Long Forever, was an accomplished enough slice of grown-up indie, it did feel a little half-hearted in places. Although the songs concerned themselves with bereavement, the marital breakup of frontman Leo Wyndham’s parents and similarly weighty topics, at times there was a detachment to his delivery that seemed at …
Palace: Life After review – indie trio find new force Read More »
Grande salle Pierre Boulez, Philharmonie de ParisDancing like no one’s watching, with club beats bubbling under, Yorke brings a happy, dreamy dimension to his solo tour An enthusiastic amateur for years, Thom Yorke’s career as a dancer really took off in 2011. Back then, Radiohead – the band for whom he still acts as frontman …
While Dylan isn’t so much a disappointment as a distant memory, Young is clearly far from done
It would be easier to love this record if Sheeran didn’t accompany his self-deprecation with humblebrags about how ‘gifted’ he is
(Self-released)Chamber folk and yacht rock meld with R&B in an elegant album that lacks focus but hints at brilliance When she emerged in 2014, BEA1991 sang gloomy alt-pop and wore a bodysuit patterned with muscle flesh, like Robbie Williams’s Rock DJ without the lion-print pants. The eccentric image remains: Brand New Adult’s artwork shows her …
(Harvest Records)Her third album is a less-than-convincing attempt to lighten the old experimentalism in favour of chart-friendly ballads LA singer Banks was heralded as part of a wave of “alternative R&B” when she emerged in 2014. Her distorted vocals and experimental beats were categorised alongside Tinashe and FKA twigs – though the latter refuted the …
Banks: III review – a break from dark R&B doesn’t quite pay off Read More »
(Drag City)Life has tested David Berman, and he translates it into songs of mordant wit on this fantastic collaboration with Woods David Berman has had a life full of flamboyant bleakness. A one-time crack addict, he once deliberately overdosed and headed to the same hotel room Al Gore awaited the 2000 election re-count in, saying: …
On her third album, Banks takes the listener through the complicated yet nuanced emotions of a woman who has recently learnt to accept everything she feels, while British duo Ida Mae’s debut offers retro-futurist Americana