view 'Acting like vultures': Ross Kemp's coronavirus documentary sparks furious reactions from viewers By www.independent.co.uk Published On :: 2020-04-16T19:12:00Z Ross Kemp: On the NHS Frontline saw the hardened documentarian witness the struggles of an ICU first-hand Full Article
view Too Hot to Handle: Netflix viewers are loving 'truly wild' dating game show By www.independent.co.uk Published On :: 2020-04-17T11:37:00Z New show follows 10 single people on a tropical island Full Article
view Graham Norton Show viewers urge BBC to 'bring back canned laughter' for lockdown episodes By www.independent.co.uk Published On :: 2020-04-17T19:14:00Z 'It's very weird without an audience,' one fan wrote Full Article
view Tiger King becomes one of Netflix's biggest ever shows as viewing figures surge during lockdown By www.independent.co.uk Published On :: 2020-04-18T09:12:00Z Show about the extraordinary incidents at Joe Exotic's zoo has proved hugely popular Full Article
view One World: Together At Home review – a virtual Live Aid full of brilliance, boredom and buffoonery By www.independent.co.uk Published On :: 2020-04-19T08:53:00Z A cornucopia of huge pop names came together for an unprecedented cultural and technological event Full Article
view Belgravia episode 6 review: Julian Fellowes' witless ITV drama pales in comparison to Quiz By www.independent.co.uk Published On :: 2020-04-19T20:09:00Z The Downton Abbey creator's calling cards litter this series finale which, for all its frantic plot developments, can't help feeling worn out Full Article
view Martin Clunes stuns Good Morning Britain viewers by appearing in pyjamas: 'The ultimate boss move' By www.independent.co.uk Published On :: 2020-04-21T08:59:00Z 'All he needed to finish off the look was an open can of Stella' said one viewer Full Article
view The One Show viewers praise 'brilliant' Joe Pasquale for delivering crucial NHS supplies By www.independent.co.uk Published On :: 2020-04-22T17:17:00Z The heavily tattooed comedian was spotlighted in a segment on the BBC current affairs programme because of his volunteering work Full Article
view Piers Morgan Good Morning Britain interview receives nearly 2,000 Ofcom complaints By www.independent.co.uk Published On :: 2020-04-23T07:32:00Z Many viewers thought Morgan's interview with the Care Minister Helen Whatley was unfair Full Article
view BBC Big Night In: Vicar of Dibley urges viewers to 'praise the lord and praise the NHS' as Dawn French reprises iconic role By www.independent.co.uk Published On :: 2020-04-23T17:54:00Z Charity event sketch also saw Reverend Geraldine make a 'chocolate bra' and speak of her friends on the Dibley Parish Council Full Article
view Gangs of London, review: An unholy combination of EastEnders and The Raid that never quite gels By www.independent.co.uk Published On :: 2020-04-23T13:23:20Z There's a lot to love about the fantastical and immaculately choreographed violence, but Sky's buzzy crime thriller otherwise tends to wallow in giggle-inducing melodrama Full Article
view BBC Big Night In: Little Britain return stuns viewers with shock 'bat-eating' joke By www.independent.co.uk Published On :: 2020-04-23T20:13:00Z Joke saw wheelchair-bound character Andy telling his carer, Lou, that he wished to have a bat for dinner Full Article
view SNL at Home review: Second episode is sleeker, but still awkward in the best way By www.independent.co.uk Published On :: 2020-04-26T06:07:00Z 'SNL at Home' returns with a higher production value – and proves once again that it's possible to be funny even without an audience Full Article
view Normal People review: Adaptation of Sally Rooney's intense love story is pitch-perfect By www.independent.co.uk Published On :: 2020-04-26T06:00:00Z Daisy Edgar-Jones and Paul Mescal inhabit lovers Marianne and Connell so utterly that it is instantly impossible to imagine them being played by anyone else Full Article
view After Life review season 2: Ricky Gervais can do so much better than this bafflingly popular mess By www.independent.co.uk Published On :: 2020-04-24T07:31:00Z This series is constantly looking for easy solutions – whether it's not bothering to film 'village' scenes outside of London or using swearing where good jokes ought to be Full Article
view Jimmy Kimmel at Home: Arnold Schwarzenegger interview interrupted by donkey and a tiny horse By www.independent.co.uk Published On :: 2020-04-26T11:07:00Z Actor's pets have made star appearances in previous videos Full Article
view Van Der Valk review: ITV's Amsterdam-set sleuth remake is woefully miscast By www.independent.co.uk Published On :: 2020-04-26T18:58:32Z The Dutch capital is captured here in all its tawdry beauty, but plot contrivances and a distracting lead make this Seventies re-hash a hard sell Full Article
view Primates review: A fascinating, fresh-air documentary to watch in lockdown By www.independent.co.uk Published On :: 2020-04-26T19:14:21Z From bearded capuchins to yellow baboons, the furry creatures in BBC1's new nature series are a reminder we have a lot in common with our closest animal relatives Full Article
view Van Der Valk reviews: Critics deride Marc Warren detective drama as 'boring' and 'miscast' By www.independent.co.uk Published On :: 2020-04-27T06:59:21Z Show stars Warren as the eponymous detective solving crime on the streets of Amsterdam Full Article
view Normal People: Viewers hail 'abnormally brilliant' BBC drama and praise consensual sex scenes By www.independent.co.uk Published On :: 2020-04-27T08:07:39Z Adaptation of Sally Rooney's love story stars Paul Mescal and Daisy Edgar-Jones Full Article
view After Life: Ricky Gervais series baffles viewers with bizarre 'superimposed head' shot By www.independent.co.uk Published On :: 2020-04-27T11:08:00Z Scene appeared to show actor Kerry Godliman's head pasted onto a different woman's body Full Article
view Piers Morgan cleared by Ofcom after 4,000 complaints over interviews with Tory MPs By www.independent.co.uk Published On :: 2020-04-28T05:20:49Z Presenter was accused of treating care minister Helen Whateley 'unfairly' Full Article
view Paul Hollywood Eats Japan: Viewers call new Channel 4 show 'racist' and 'cringeworthy' By www.independent.co.uk Published On :: 2020-04-29T05:06:00Z Channel 4 show saw Bake Off judge ask if the Japanese eat bread, and give a Michelin-starred chef a Pot Noodle Full Article
view Code 404, review: As with the bungling DI John Major himself, this comedy only just about works By www.independent.co.uk Published On :: 2020-04-29T20:12:00Z This brand new laugh-out-loud police series stars Stephen Graham and Daniel Mays Full Article
view Who is Frog on The Masked Singer? Viewers think they know identity of mystery star By www.independent.co.uk Published On :: 2020-04-30T06:48:19Z Surreal reality series will unveil remaining celebrities in a matter of weeks Full Article
view Ricky Gervais interview: 'They think that every joke is a window to the comedian's soul' By www.independent.co.uk Published On :: 2020-04-30T12:13:14Z Not much has changed for Ricky Gervais in lockdown. He didn't go out much anyway, and he's got enough booze in the house for a nuclear winter. Dave Itzkoff took the chance to speak to him about targeting celebrity culture at the Golden Globes and the new series of 'After Life' Full Article
view A Parks and Recreation Special, review: A reunion that was impossible to dislike, if strangely melancholy By www.independent.co.uk Published On :: 2020-05-01T09:02:00Z Reunited for a good cause, if separated by the coronavirus lockdown, the Parks & Rec cast provided easy, nostalgic laughs Full Article
view Hollywood review: This big shiny mess shows Netflix has more money than time By www.independent.co.uk Published On :: 2020-04-29T15:20:00Z In his latest series, Ryan Murphy turns his attention to the post-war 'golden age' of Tinseltown, where a glossy facade concealed racism, sexism and homophobia Full Article
view Gogglebox divides viewers after stars mock Boris Johnson following coronavirus recovery By www.independent.co.uk Published On :: 2020-05-02T08:05:00Z 'Why so much anti-Boris clips in a time when the country should be united?' Full Article
view Gangs of London viewers outside UK call for subtitles as they can't understand British accents By www.independent.co.uk Published On :: 2020-05-03T10:28:00Z 'Without subtitles and the British accent, its a no from me' Full Article
view Jimmy Fallon's daughter gatecrashed her father's video interview with Jon Hamm By www.independent.co.uk Published On :: 2020-05-03T10:35:00Z Mad Men actor played along as Winnie Fallon showed him her new colouring book Full Article
view Gogglebox's Malone family defend themselves from viewer complaints over social distancing By www.independent.co.uk Published On :: 2020-05-03T08:44:00Z Many are confused as to how show can continue despite lockdown Full Article
view VE Day: A Nation at Peace review – coronavirus lends a grim relevance to this sobering documentary By www.independent.co.uk Published On :: 2020-05-03T19:00:53Z What was probably intended as a relaxing Sunday-night nostalgia-fest has become something else entirely during lockdown Full Article
view Tiger King star Carole Baskin tricked into first interview since show aired By www.independent.co.uk Published On :: 2020-05-04T05:21:05Z Sanctuary owner has avoided the media after revealing she was unhappy with how she was portrayed on the show Full Article
view Last Dance viewers left 'emotional' as Kobe Bryant raves about 'big brother' Michael Jordan By www.independent.co.uk Published On :: 2020-05-04T07:13:00Z Archive footage shows Jordan tell Bryant 'I'll see you down the road' after first match together Full Article
view Good Morning Britain viewers question why Susanna Reid isn't self-isolating after Piers Morgan coronavirus test By www.independent.co.uk Published On :: 2020-05-04T09:01:39Z Morgan announced he'd be taking a leave of absence from the show until he receives the results of a Covid-19 test Full Article
view Rick and Morty season 4: UK viewers ask when episode 6 will be shown By www.independent.co.uk Published On :: 2020-05-04T09:47:00Z Adult Swim show returned in the US last night (2 May) Full Article
view Isolation Stories review, episode one: Sheridan Smith shines in first TV drama made under lockdown By www.independent.co.uk Published On :: 2020-05-04T14:45:00Z The actors were directed over Zoom for the ambitious four-part ITV series – and judging by the inaugural episode, the results are laudable Full Article
view ITV viewers outraged by advert showing squirrel 'humping' Lynx Africa can By www.independent.co.uk Published On :: 2020-05-06T06:56:00Z The Advertising Standards Authority received 155 complaints Full Article
view The A Word review: The pioneering if understated drama returns at just the right time By www.independent.co.uk Published On :: 2020-05-05T13:12:00Z This series' great beauty is that it's about relationships in all their unpredictability – perfect for locked-down viewers who are seeking out human interaction vicariously Full Article
view Becoming, review: Michelle Obama's Netflix documentary gives emotion without intimacy By www.independent.co.uk Published On :: 2020-05-06T15:10:00Z Ninety minutes in the company of the former first lady is like an inspirational infomercial, says Annie Lord Full Article
view The Eddy review: Damien Chazelle's jazz drama sounds wonderful but the plot feels like an afterthought By www.independent.co.uk Published On :: 2020-05-06T09:40:00Z Director's new series stars Andre Holland as a once-famous American jazz pianist who has been unable to play since his son died Full Article
view Car Seat Headrest: Making a Door Less Open review – Will Toledo in yet another guise By www.theguardian.com Published On :: 2020-05-03T12:00:51Z (Matador)The indie maverick is a purveyor of all styles on his studiously eclectic 12th albumThere’s a strange psychological cross-pollination going on behind the mask that Will Toledo, the artist mostly known as Car Seat Headrest, sports on the cover of his 12th album. Indulging an alter ego called Trait, Making a Door Less Open seeks out deliberately eclectic hybrids of his wry, lo-fi indie rock style (heir to the likes of Beck, Lou Barlow and Eels) and the satirical EDM he and his drummer Andrew Katz make as 1 Trait Danger. The result is much better than anyone who’s heard the latter, who often veer perilously close to a Bloodhound Gang remix project, might expect: Can’t Cool Me Down has a sultry 80s electropop feel, while the roil of self-deprecation and naked emotion on There Must Be More Than Blood underlines Toledo’s debt to LCD Soundsystem.The new styles don’t all gel. The sleazy, fuzzy synth-rocker Hollywood is pleasingly punchy, but brought down by facile lyrics (apparently Tinsel Town isn’t the dreamland it’s cracked up to be – who knew?). Two sister songs – the lumpen alt-rock Deadlines (Hostile) and the Hot Chip-with-extra-dour Deadlines (Thoughtful) – fail to charm, while What’s With You Lately is a wan, mopey strum that seems to have wandered in from an entirely different, very bad record. But on the likes of the pulsing, uplifting Famous and Life Worth Missing, Toledo finds new energy. Continue reading... Full Article Pop and rock Indie Culture Music
view Sign up for the Sleeve Notes email: music news, bold reviews and unexpected extras By www.theguardian.com Published On :: 2017-03-06T14:49:27Z Continue reading... Full Article Information
view JoJo: Good to Know review – mature pop from a clear-eyed star By www.theguardian.com Published On :: 2020-05-01T08:00:19Z (Clover Music)With this long-awaited fourth album, the former teen idol has finally arrived as the kind of artist she was always meant to be‘Look at me now” is a fitting opening line for Good to Know, the fourth studio album from R&B singer JoJo. The artist has been on a storied journey through the music industry and the public eye: first emerging as the 13-year-old singer of Leave (Get Out), she then spent years mired in legal disputes with her label that prevented her releasing music. After reigniting her passionate fanbase with a string of independent, darker-sounding mixtapes (and one viral Drake cover), she released Mad Love, her long-delayed third album, in 2016. But Good to Know, released on her own imprint Clover Music, with its themes of independence and self-knowledge, carries with it a sense that she has finally arrived as the kind of artist she was always meant to be. Continue reading... Full Article Pop and rock R&B Culture Music
view Ghostpoet: I Grow Tired But Dare Not Fall Asleep review – dark but defiant By www.theguardian.com Published On :: 2020-05-02T13:00:23Z (Pias)Since his last outing, the south London musician and producer has eased up and moved to Margate. Yet this atmospheric return still carries the weight of the world Ghostpoet – the brooding alias of south London-born Obaro Ejimiwe – is roughly a decade old this year. This dour bard has long been an artist ahead of his time. A track such as Cash and Carry Me Home, one of the highlights of his eclectic, jazz-inflected debut album – 2011’s Peanut Butter Blue and Melancholy Jam – defied genre as it mourned the self-inflicted pain of one drink too many. It now locates Ghostpoet as roughly adjacent to the south London jazz renaissance of the past few years – a multi-hyphenate scene in which most things go. Were it to be released today, its languorous, self-aware aperçus would find an even more receptive audience. Continue reading... Full Article Ghostpoet Pop and rock Indie Music Culture
view Car Seat Headrest: Making a Door Less Open review – cult indie star in middle of the road | Alexis Petridis' album of the week By www.theguardian.com Published On :: 2020-04-30T11:00:19Z (Matador)Will Toledo’s alt-rockers have emerged out of lo-fi fuzz, but seem unsure of where to turn as they drift toward the mainstreamAnyone wondering how things have changed in the world of lauded US alt-rockers Car Seat Headrest might consider the four years that separate Making a Door Less Open from their last album of new material. Ordinarily there would be nothing unusual about that gap – but in the first four years of Car Seat Headrest’s existence, its mastermind, Will Toledo, released seven albums (one of them a two-hour double), four EPs (one of them as long as an album) and two compilations of outtakes. That’s more than 150 songs and 12 hours of music: a lo-fi spewing forth of ideas that won Toledo a cult following, which then grew exponentially, both in size and rabidity, when he recruited a band and signed to the august US indie label Matador. Continue reading... Full Article Indie Music Culture Pop and rock
view Drake: Dark Lane Demo Tapes review – rap’s whingeing king hits a dead end By www.theguardian.com Published On :: 2020-05-03T14:36:37Z OVOThere are flashes of skill and rawness in this odds-and-ends mixtape but it feels like a clumsy lunge at commercial successIn a world where the boundary between mixtapes and albums is becoming ever more blurred, the title of Drake’s latest album highlights its interstitial nature. That said, it’s still slightly misleading. There are tracks here that sound like demos – the mopey James Blake-isms of Chicago Freestyle are audibly unpolished – but for the most part, it ’s a way of collecting up leftovers and leaks, spare tracks he apparently has lying around the studio.Those inclined to view Drake’s career with a cool eye might be surprised he has any spare tracks lying around the studio, given the state of his last album. Listening to Scorpion, 25 songs long, required a certain degree of mental stamina: you needed to steel yourself against the panicky sensation that you might die of old age before it ended. But it wasn’t the sheer quantity that was the problem so much as the quality of what was there. Scorpion had its moments but was so hopelessly uneven that it was easy to buy into the theory that its length was not due to its author’s teeming multiplicity of fantastic ideas, but an attempt to game the streaming services: more songs means more streams, more streams means a higher chart placing. Continue reading... Full Article Drake Music Culture Hip-hop
view Watkins Family Hour: Brother Sister review – a model of sibling harmony By www.theguardian.com Published On :: 2020-05-09T15:00:03Z (Family Hour/Thirty Tigers)Sean and Sara Watkins are back and in reflective moodCalifornia’s Sean and Sara Watkins are akin to royalty in American folk circles, firstly as founding members of the hugely successful Nickel Creek, and secondly as hosts of an 18-year residency at LA’s Largo club, where they perform alongside invited guests. Brother Sister draws on both strands of their history. Like its self-titled 2015 predecessor, the album sets aside the pizzazz of Nickel Creek for a down-home approach, but instead of boisterous, star-studded cover versions come five original songs and a minimal musical palette.Alternating on lead, the pair’s vocals remain a model of sibling harmony, while the interplay between Sean’s intricate guitar picking and Sara’s elegant fiddle is similarly impressive – the breakneck bluegrass instrumental Bella and Ivan is a case in point. Mostly, however, the mood is reflective. Lafayette and Miles of Desert Sand chronicle the search for a better life, and Fake Badge, Real Gun is an artful snipe at Trump – “Throw your tantrums but the truth will be waiting”. Warren Zevon’s forlorn Accidentally Like a Martyr fits in neatly, while Charley Jordan’s ribald Keep It Clean is a gleeful example of a Largo session. Continue reading... Full Article Americana Folk music Music Culture
view Arion: Voyage of a Slavic Soul review – rich lyricism from Natalya Romaniw By www.theguardian.com Published On :: 2020-05-09T11:00:55Z (Orchid Classics) Natalya Romaniw (soprano), Lada Valešová (piano)The on-the-rise soprano excels in this deeply personal Russian-Czech recitalBorn in Swansea of Ukrainian descent, the outstanding young soprano Natalya Romaniw was singing – stunningly – the title role of Puccini’s Madam Butterfly at English National Opera when Covid-19 restrictions forced the abrupt termination of the run. She should also have performed the title role of Dvořák’s water nymph, Rusalka, at Garsington Opera this summer, where she made an impact in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin in 2016 and Smetana’s The Bartered Bride last summer. Disappointing for her at this turning point of her career, and for her growing number of fans.Romaniw’s new album, Arion: Voyage of a Slavic Soul – dedicated to the memory of her Ukrainian grandfather, “my great musical inspiration”, explores repertoire by the Russians Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov and Rachmaninov, and the Czechs Dvořák, Janáček and Novák. The pianist Lada Valešová captures the varied colours of the piano writing expertly, an equal and supportive partner. These 28 songs, especially the folk-rich examples by Janáček and Novák, suit Romaniw’s generous, big-toned voice, its timbre flecked and speckled with character and emotion. The eight songs by Dvořák grouped as Love Songs, Op 83, melancholy and lyrical, make us even more impatient to hear her Rusalka when the time comes. Continue reading... Full Article Classical music Culture Music