Run the Jewels 2 is not the sort of album you often find reviewed in these pages.
It is one of the most highly anticipated hip hop albums of the year and on the whole it does not disappoint. But a word of warning is necessary.
It is definitely not for the faint hearted, both in its production and its lyrical content. In terms of the production it is layered, very detailed, aggressive and eerie. Much the same can be said of its lyrical content.
Inside the Rainbow, editors Julian Rothenstein and Olga Budashevskaya, Redstone Press, 35 pounds; Red Spectres, editor Muireann Maguire, Angel Classics, 12.95; Sound in Z, Andrei Smirnov, Buchhandlung Walther Konig, 24 pounds
When you talk about Soviet art it is a generally accepted wisdom that it is all dull dreary Socialist Realist stuff - the sort that chokes the immagination. Now readers of Socialist Review know that this is nonsense.
There was an outpouring of creativity during the early years of the Soviet Union, most of it buried by the onset of Stalin's purges. When we look back at this art what is most striking is how it still feels fresh.
The changes that were taking place posed the question of the relationship between art and society differently.
Elvis Costello and The Roots
Wise Up Ghost is a collaboration between Elvis Costello and live instrumentation hip hop soul group The Roots.
I approached this album as a huge fan of The Roots and as someone who has nothing more than a very limited knowledge Elvis Costello, although after listening to this I think I may need to remedy that.
