Song of the day – 27: Arthur Alexander
More often than not, I greet the new day with a handful of songs from Arthur Alexander’s Greatest Hits or a natty little 60s ska compilation called Bluebeat 45s. Dandy Livingstone and Alton Ellis are favourites, too. Anything to lift my mood. Here’s Mr Alexander. I’ve chosen an obvious song here, but he’s worth much […]
Song of the day – 26: The Adverts
Some lovely folk from the UK have just sent me the reissued second Adverts album (Cast Of Thousands) replete with bonus CD and everything. And Bangs alive, it sounds incredible: articulate, melodic, sarcastic, nasty, challenging, full of fire and vigour and saliva and that killer drum sound. Way too smart for its good, of course. […]
Spotlight – 43: Anna Calvi
As a Newsweek article about the Internet had it, back in 1995, “When most everyone shouts, few listen”. So I choose to longer shout, but instead link. I like to think of what I do here as part of a sorting process. Somewhere along the line I have hopefully built up a relationship with my […]
Song of the day – 25: Eddy Current Suppression Ring
Crap name. Shouldn’t let it put you off. This is classic Australian punk. The sort of thing claimed for so many, but played by so few. They’re probably complete dicks, but who cares? I’m saying you should check their music out, not buy ’em a drink.
One-minute reviews – 16: White Hinterland, Ric McCulley, Scout Niblett, T:Lo
OK. This is me written out for the day. Back to my research. White Hinterland – Kairos From where I’m seated, I’d like everything to sound like the soundtrack to Where The Wild Things Are. Everything doesn’t. That’s fine. I’m happy for music to bewitch, too. I like the fact Arthur Russell had a second […]
One-minute reviews – 15: Hayseed Dixie, We Are Only Riders, Patches & Gretchen, Ned Collette & Wirewalker
The second part of my doubtless ill-received batch of 60-second reviews. I’ve lost friends over these, y’know – so tread with care. Hayseed Dixie – Killer Grass Yee fucking ha. Not enough metal. Too much duelling. Not enough standards (fuck ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ and The Who). Right amount of grass. Killer ‘tudes. (Shrugs.) Yep. That’s the […]
One-minute reviews – 14: Love Is All, Eddy Current Suppression Ring, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Zola Jesus
The return of the series that no one wants to read, written by the critic that no one realises exists anymore. The idea being that it takes 60 seconds or under to listen to and critique the music under discussion. Oh, what joy! Love Is All – Two Thousand And Ten Injuries Let’s shout! Let’s […]
Song of the day – 24: Scout Niblett
So good to hear Emma once more. I don’t read the music press, online or off. Was her new album greeted with the universal acclaim it deserved – or was it the usual idiots going, “Um, this sounds a bit like PJ Harvey and a bit like Cat Power”? Oh, whatever. She’s magical to me, […]
Song of the day – 23: Bikini Kill
It came on my iTunes at random while I was riding on the 380 bus home and literally figuratively beautifully spine-tinglingly metaphorically stupidly wantonly mind-bustingly… made me glad it had. And let’s not forget these couple of conversations about Riot Grrrl here, and here.
Song of the day – 22: Electrelane
Well, I was thinking of posting some music from Zola Jesus – very Gothic, but with a good ‘G’ – especially as I’ve been admiring old clips of Siouxsie And The Banshees on Top Of The Pops. But then I got diverted by the sighting of an Electrelane song: and damn, if it wasn’t the same song […]
