Music

Post Tropical by James Vincent McMorrow

Reviewed by Declan Murphy

Young Irish singer-songwriter James Vincent McMorrow burst onto the musical landscape in 2010 with his stunning debut album Early in the Morning, an effort entirely performed and self-recorded over a five-month period while exiled in a cottage on the…

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Disconnected In New York City by Los Lobos

Reviewed by Michael Awosoga-Samuel

Los Lobos celebrate 40 years together with this live album, Disconnected, recorded at the City Winery in New York City in December 2012. I am only just beginning to appreciate this band; they last appeared briefly on my radar…

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Romantic Piano Trios by Trio Anima Mundi

Reviewed by Kate Rockstrom

This is Trio Anima Mundi’s debut recording and what is fabulous about it – aside from the strong performances of each work – is that there is no Beethoven or Brahms in sight on an album titled Romantic Piano Trios

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Dido's Lament by Joe Chindamo & Zoe Black

Reviewed by Judi Mitchell

Musicians and composers who constantly challenge and transform themselves by journeying down new musical pathways are to be wholeheartedly admired. The process must be both exhilarating and scary but the results are often extraordinary. How else would some of the…

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Reflektor by Arcade Fire

Reviewed by Michael Awosoga-Samuel

At the time of their first album release, Funeral, there was a huge critical hype around Arcade Fire being the next ‘big thing’. Though at that time, in the mid-noughties, there were so many next ‘big things’ – Arctic Monkeys…

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Dvorak Cello Concertos

Reviewed by Kate Rockstrom

The Dvořák Cello Concerto in B Minor is well-known, both to cellists and concert goers alike. A work of surpassing beauty and Dvořák’s signature melodies, it was originally supposed to be premiered by Dvořák’s good friend, Hanuš Wihan. However there…

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The Electric Lady by Janelle Monáe

Reviewed by Bronte Coates

I’m crushing so hard on this album at the moment. Janelle Monáe’s music is fun and inventive and even though I know it’s too early to say this - I have a sneaking suspicion The Electric Lady is going to…

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Open by The Necks

Reviewed by Tam Patton

Occupying a unique space in contemporary music, The Necks have quietly birthed a genuinely original sound, carved from strata of seemingly disparate materials. Emerging from a nebulous background in the late 1980s, drummer Tony Buck, bassist Lloyd Swanton and pianist…

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Fall To Rise by Love Over Gold

Reviewed by Dave Clarke

US singer–songwriter Pieta Brown and Australian Lucie Thorne have teamed up to form the international duo, Love Over Gold. Thorne has created a series of great, independently released albums, making it all the way to the final nine of the…

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Selected Signs III - VIII ECM Box Set by Various Artists

Reviewed by Richard Mohr

For any other record label of stature it would be an unbelievable shock to take 44 years to release any sort of comprehensive anthology or overview of the recorded output. The closest we got from ECM was two single discs…

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