,Jazz+(Music+genre),Culture&c5=Jazz,Pop+Music,Not+commercially+useful&c6=Andrew+Clements,John+Fordham,John+Robinson&c7=12-Jan-28&c8=1694919&c9=Article&c10=&c11=Music&c13=&c25=&c30=content&h2=GU/Music/Pop+and+rock)
The Black Keys, Nottingham
The bluesman had it very tough; the rock star easy. The Black Keys – Dan Auerbach (beard) and Patrick Carney (glasses) – might be said to have seen both sides. For many years quiet toilers on a garage-blues mission, the Keys kept making albums, increasingly suffused with soul and pop, winning more fans along the way until the commercial breakthrough of their not especially enthralling record Brothers. Now stealth superstars (cover of Rolling Stone; US Top 10; three nights at Alexandra Palace), they have a new album, El Camino, that justifies their billing. Filled with glam beats, huge backing vocals and crunching riffs, it’s a concise, enjoyable (and very pop) record. The title (trans: “the road”) however, suggests they’ve still got more to do yet.
Capital FM Arena, Fri; tour continues to 11 Feb
John Robinson
James Ferraro, London
If chillwave used effects, tunes and tape hiss to create fantasy nostalgia sounds for what LCD Sounsystem called “the unremembered 80s”, then James Ferraro makes music that wants to drag it bang up-to-date. A prolific musician (he’s still nominally in a duo called the Skaters, and working under other aliases such as Jarvid 9), and someone not generally averse to lo-fi recordings, his latest – widely acclaimed – album Far Side Virtual offers a kind of hyper-real take on the present day. Here, you’ll find insidious tunes, piano melodies and jingles – all somehow evocative of ringtones, laptop start-ups, Christmas sleigh bells, the electronic “guest informant” on your hotel TV – yet all assembled in an intelligent, seductive manner. It’s a persuasive and satirical take on consumerism, and in that regard, not unlike a sonic companion to Charlie Brooker’s series Black Mirror. But the music, while nagging, remains dramatic and involving.
The Dome, N19, Wed
JR
Jonathan Wilson, On tour
Friends with David Crosby and Graham Nash, a sometime resident of California’s Laurel Canyon: you’d be forgiven for thinking that Jonathan Wilson was a 1960s musician only now finding his way back. In fact, Wilson – maker of 2011′s supremely mellow Gentle Spirit album – is a young(ish) singer-songwriter, in-demand producer, and all-round man out of time. Rather than someone simply taking refuge in the past because he’s unable to face the present, Wilson is more in the tradition of an artist such as Plush: a hatcher of big ideas, and dreamer of big dreams. Wilson has fans from scenes both old (Jackson Browne) and recent (Wilco) down with his plan. Step off the treadmill, and you too will fall under his spell.
Old Market, Hove, Sun; The Scala, N1, Tue; Ruby Lounge, Manchester, Wed; The Arches, Glasgow, Thu
JR
Steve Williamson, Orphy Robinson & Pat Thomas, Stuart McCallum, The Yazz Ahmed Trio, London
A new performance-space for contemporary jazz is always welcome but the upcoming monthly shows at The Cockpit have a longer list of virtues than most. The programming is in the hands of experts (Jez Nelson and his BBC Jazz On 3 team), there’ll be three diverse artists each night, and the Cockpit’s in-the-round design will enhance the intimacy. This opening night reflects an intention to mix a headline artist, a little-known band and a solo performer. Soulfully spontaneous UK saxophonist Steve Williamson heads the bill in a trio with piano partner Pat Thomas and vibraphonist Orphy Robinson. Manchester’s Cinematic Orchestra guitarist Stuart McCallum explores sound textures and electronics, while young trumpeter Yazz Ahmed and her trio unveil middle eastern-influenced world jazz.
The Cockpit, NW8, Mon
John Fordham
Zoe Rahman Quartet, On tour
With such diverse output as her world music album Where Rivers Meet (an evocation of her Bengali connections, with clarinettist brother Idris) and the thrilling jazz virtuosity of her trio’s recent live recording, pianist Zoe Rahman covers plenty of contemporary bases. The Live album exuberantly mixed bold reworkings of Abdullah Ibrahim, Latin jazz, hints of Thelonious Monk or Stan Tracey, and an eastern-influenced music with echoes of Gilad Atzmon. For her current tour, and the new Kindred Spirits CD it launches, Rahman further develops that colourful palette. She adds Irish folk elements to themes already shaped by Bengali culture (particularly the work of Rabindranath Tagore) and by her distinctive angle on the American piano jazz of Herbie Hancock, Joanne Brackeen and many others.
Edge Arts Centre, Much Wenlock, Sat; Seven Artspace, Leeds, Thu; Millennium Hall, Sheffield, Fri
John Fordham
Total Immersion: Jonathan Harvey, London
This season, the BBC Symphony Orchestra’s Total Immersion days – each devoted to a single living composer – cover both the Australian Brett Dean and the Estonian Arvo Pärt. But the series begins closer to home with the music of Jonathan Harvey. As well as the BBC’s day of concerts, which includes the London premiere of the choral work Messages, and a revival of Harvey’s 1986 Proms commission Madonna Of Winter And Spring, both conducted by Martyn Brabbins, the following day will see the British premiere of Harvey’s latest opera, Wagner Dream. It’s one of Harvey’s finest achievements, and the perfect fusions of his interests in western and eastern traditions of classical music.
Barbican Hall and various venues, EC2, Sat, Sun
Andrew Clements
Pop and rockJazzAndrew ClementsJohn FordhamJohn Robinsonguardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
News from: Music: Pop and rock | guardian.co.uk
Original Post Link http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/jan/28/this-weeks-new-live-music
