Three weeks ago I sent a pal an email. Not the kind of drunken rant fest that brings an after effect of head bowing/avoid all eye contact for at least 6 months afterwards. Conceived in an Evangelical state of purity, my friend’s cyber telegram arrived with a link to the lyrics of Idiot Wind and precise instructions […]
There may be some artistic value hidden deep in the mix, but the prime concern with 99% of hip-hop collaborations is marketing ‘synergy’. Like fancy fashion houses developing perfumes, the important thing is establishing the logo, and then attaching it to as many different markets/products as possible. Naomi Klein’s ground-breaking No Logo may have established […]
Aynsley Dunbar could’ve been a contender. Take the two overwhelming and contradictory pieces of evidence. One, his 1967 self-composed, acrid billowing account of romantic hindsight Warning, then place it alongside the other, his poodle rock sojourn of 1987, as a rather subdued skinthumper for a Whitesnake who went for the Rock N’ Roll Gok Wan […]
2008 has – like most years – been full of ups and downs. I’m suspicious of the end of year critics who proclaim it to have been either a vintage or meagre year for music. The tunes are always out there, it’s just a question of whether you’re lucky enough to stumble upon them at […]
Although I claim to be a holier than thou leftie, there are some conservative impulses I just can’t budge, one of them being a rather straightforward, no-frills list of 7 songs which encapsulate 2008 for me. Yeah, I’m a party pooper, so what? Christmas is for schmucks anyway… So in order… (1) Midnight‘s Another […]
Gathered in a studio simply as a functional exercise is the first plus here. Muzik Tarian Malaysia are bunch of borderline nomads of whom no-one expects to spend 8 months under the thumb of some metrosexual hot-shot with two million dollars as collateral, so in keeping with their uber secretive muse, a tune like Johore Sports Club serves […]
Apropos of nothing really, except that there are dioxins in Irish pork, which Poles have been known to eat. On state newscaster’s website there is a FAQ list, from which I note that “sauces with pork/ham content” are not affected. What, no pork?
Caught between the devil (Britney Spears) and Gordon Sumner, the idea that an artist can reflect their politics in music has become a largely discredited notion. When putting their minds towards defeating Thatcherism artists like Billy Bragg, Paul Weller, and the Communards produced arguably some of their worst material – they may have won your […]
The Tailor and Ansty (sometimes known as The Tailor and Anstey) by Eric Cross was considered so fiendishly obscene or indecent in its general tendency that it was for many years banned in Ireland. When parts of it were quoted in a Seanad (senate) debate in the 1940s there were calls for the quoted bits […]
A popular arts show in Italy, Che tempo che fa, has appealed to viewers to write in to the show requesting books that, currently out-of-print, they’d like to see re-published by authors. Top of the list is Zorba the Greek by Nikos Kazantzakis. Another surprising entry is Alan Hollinghurst’s recent Booker winning novel The Line […]
