The Shock of the Future review - for the music nerds

THE SHOCK OF THE FUTURE Retro French synth drama focuses on the music over character

Retro French synth drama focuses on the music over character

The Shock of the Future is for anyone who's watched a music biopic and thought "that's not how it works!" Directed and co-written by Marc Collin of Nouvelle Vague fame, it's perhaps the most realisitic film about recording music ever made. But as anyone who's ever been in the studio will tell you, the legends are much more exciting than the reality.

CD: Jenny Hval - The Practice of Love

Genre-busting Norwegian co-opts trance music to examine the impacts of ageing

On a first pass, The Practice of Love seems to be an electropop album in thrall to trance music’s tropes: the synth wash, repeated musical phrases, a whooshy programmed percussive pulse, an otherworldly atmosphere. But the lyrics invite further inspection. On the first track “Lions”, a narrator invites the listener to look at grass and trees, ants on the ground, flowers, mushrooms.

CD: Metronomy - Metronomy Forever

★★★★ METRONOMY - METRONOMY FOREVER Double album finds band at both their most accessible and most challenging

Double album finds band at both their most accessible and most challenging

According to Metronomy maestro Joseph Mount, his first attempt of album number six was a much snappier affair. But it wasn’t until he broke from his self-imposed immediacy that it started connecting with him. In its final form, Metronomy Forever clocks in at 17 tracks of singles, instrumentals and soundscapes, and though it skirts close to double-album indulgence, you’re never more than one song away from a winner.

theartsdesk on Vinyl 52: Yardbirds, Fad Gadget, Spoon, Cate le Bon, Cabaret Voltaire and more

THE ARTS DESK ON VINYL Yardbirds, Fad Gadget, Spoon, Cate le Bon, Cabaret Voltaire & more

Possibly the most extensive monthly vinyl reviews in the world

Welcome to the latest edition of theartsdesk on Vinyl, the monthly online musical resource that knows no genre boundaries as it treks through every release on plastic that it can find. This time round we’ve everything from death metal to obscure jazz to electropop, sounds for almost every musical taste. Dive in!

Wilderness Festival 2019 review - marvellous misbehaviour

★★★★★ WILDERNESS FESTIVAL Luxury lifestyle festival full of jolly good shows

A luxury lifestyle festival full of jolly good shows

The thing about Wilderness is that it’s just so jolly decent. Acres of decadence, sprawled safely over the yawning magnificence of Cornbury Park, Oxfordshire, combine to create a scintillating country fair reverie – a heady mix of good music, high end food, luxury outdoorsyness and companionable folk.

theartsdesk on Vinyl 51: Suicide, Soundgarden, Soft Cell, Stax, Spice Girls and more

The most extensive monthly vinyl reviews round-up on the internet

As this month’s edition of theartsdesk on Vinyl appears the sun is blazing outside, a heatwave hits, and our record collections must hide in the shadows or warp. Yet still we want more to join them in their sheltered rows and where better to seek the greatest new releases than the longest, most complete monthly round-up of new vinyl releases. As ever, we run the gamut.

CD: Thom Yorke - Anima

★★★★ THOM YORKE - ANIMA His most convincing foray into electronica yet

Radiohead frontman's third solo album is his most convincing foray into electronica yet

Thom Yorke is frontman of Radiohead, a festival-headlining rock band who sell out stadiums all over the globe. His artistic aspirations, however, right back to Radiohead’s Kid A album 19 years ago, often seem to lie elsewhere, in the world of glitching, otherworldly electronica.

Public Service Broadcasting, Caerphilly Castle review - rising to the occasion

★★★★★ PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTING, CAERPHILLY Archive rockers bring a special show to a unique venue

Archive rockers bring a special show to a unique venue

Among the summer gigs being held in Caerphilly this summer, it seemed a tall order for electronic/math rock instrumentalists Public Service Broadcasting to pack out a castle. They may be more current, but the others (The Stranglers, Groove Armada, The Zutons et al) at least had notable commercial periods. PSB’s biggest singles have never troubled the UK Top 75.

theartsdesk on Vinyl 50: Depeche Mode, Black Midi, Primal Scream, U2, Nazareth, Quantic and more

THEARTSDESK ON VINYL 50: Depeche Mode, Black Midi, Primal Scream, U2, Nazareth, Quantic and more

Possibly the fullest, most wide-ranging monthly record reviews in the world

So theartsdesk on Vinyl reaches its 50th edition. That’s at least a novels’ worth of words. Maybe two! But we’re not stopping yet. The heat of the summer has arrived but the vinyl deluge hasn’t dried up, so check in for everything from Germanic electro to Scottish Seventies pop-rock to Japanese minyo music reimagined. And much more. All vinyl life is here. Dive in!

VINYL OF THE MONTH

Quantic Atlantic Oscillations (Tru Thoughts)