John Shand Posts

July 11, 2015 / Concert Reviews - Archive

Concert Hall, July 2 This was an aural version of one of those chocolate assortments catering to all tastes. The paradox was that in the process taste was often discarded like a wrapper, and Chris Botti served up soft-centred goo more often than anything of substance. In fact he would…

July 9, 2015 / Album Reviews - Archive

Violinair (Violipiano) I like the way Luca Ciarla’s mind works. Music, the Italian seems to suggest, is a game in which one toys with idiom and mood, while appropriating whatever makes it more fun, whether that’s his own superlative facility on the violin, electronic gadgetry, compositional diversity or improvised interaction.…

July 6, 2015 / Album Reviews - Archive

Old Time Sing Song Man (Pound) When Tom Waits first emerged in the 1970s he sounded about 30 years older than he was. Archer somehow doubles that, sounding like his own grandfather, and he writes songs you’d swear were first aired before the recording industry was even born. The weird…