Goodbye Steve Albini, you sonic wizard. The obituaries have rightly praised the music legend as a brilliant producer and musician. What I found most fascinating though, were his many contradictions. He wrote offensive lyrics and named his band Rapeman after the manga comic, but championed many female feminist artists. His music was pure punk; butContinue reading “Steve Albini Was A Contrarian”
Category Archives: Lorna Irvine
Croatia For The Win!
Speaking of the Eurovision, I was sad to see Olly Alexander, the UK entry, get a kicking after the first semi-final (yes, there are two now, to prolong the agony) seemingly because of his “raunchy routine” and “wobbly vocals”. Personally, I don’t think a Trainspotting style toilet cubicle for a set helped matters much. TheContinue reading “Croatia For The Win!”
Favourite Cover Versions: Shane MacGowan – What’s Another Year
Another year, another Eurovision. It’s faced controversy this year for including Israel, and justifiably so. Indeed, last year saw the UK host in Liverpool, in lieu of winners Ukraine, for obvious reasons. The seventies heyday was pure camp, so bad it was good. Funkless songs with questionable lyrics, uncoordinated dance routines, even worse outfits. IContinue reading “Favourite Cover Versions: Shane MacGowan – What’s Another Year”
Overlooked Classics: Nick Drake- Pink Moon
Everyone seems to like the other two Nick Drake studio albums- Five Leaves Left and Bryter Layter– but as much as I like them, for me it’s all about the quiet, sad, low-key gem from 1972, Pink Moon. Drake’s music, for me, reveals the kind of torpor of country life. It’s a paradox, a senseContinue reading “Overlooked Classics: Nick Drake- Pink Moon”
Book Review: Lemn Sissay- My Name Is Why
British Ethiopian poet and performer Lemn Sissay writes prose in the same way that he speaks: succinctly, openly and with no time for bullshit. It’s this no -nonsense approach that he brings to his devastating memoir, My Name Is Why. For the first twelve years of his life, he had lived with a Christian familyContinue reading “Book Review: Lemn Sissay- My Name Is Why”
Drinking Boys And Girls Choir Are Touring!
Some exciting news from Damnably: “Following a successful 29-date North American tour supporting Otoboke Beaver, Drinking Boys and Girls Choir now have their own. Drinking Boys and Girls Choir announce thier first headlining tour in North America as their February KEXP session goes live on YouTube. https://youtu.be/rC893u7OH0Q?si=kX0NOY-C1bdBTloT Following a successful 29-date North American tour supporting OtobokeContinue reading “Drinking Boys And Girls Choir Are Touring!”
Album Review: Ora Cogan- Formless
The Canadian artist’s eighth album is a real labour of love, with contributions from Luz Elena Mendoza of Y La Bamba on the mellifluous, twisty duet’Ways Of Losing’ and LANKUM’s Cormac Mac Diarmada playing violin and viola on ‘Feel Life’. ‘Dyed ‘ feels like a folky jazz incantation with a psychedelic undertow and her newContinue reading “Album Review: Ora Cogan- Formless”
Film Review: Tramps!
The natural reaction to a conservative era is to reject it, subvert it entirely and aim higher. So it was with the “New Romantics”, the movement which gave us Boy George, Michael Clark, Duran Duran, Leigh Bowery, Marilyn, Visage and Spandau Ballet. These stylish, freaky rebels were part of a loose “family” of club kidsContinue reading “Film Review: Tramps!”
Book Review: Kazuo Ishiguro- A Pale View of Hills
This debut novel from Kazuo Ishiguro ruminates on the unreliability of memory, love, friendship and generational trauma. Skipping between past and present, Etsuko, the narrator, attempts to reconcile both as she weaves a complex story of life in the UK and her past in post-war Japan. But it seems that history casts a long shadow.Continue reading “Book Review: Kazuo Ishiguro- A Pale View of Hills”
Overlooked Classics: Common Holly- Playing House
There are some artists who make albums that should have been huge. Better known by her stage name Common Holly, Brigitte Naggar is a Canadian musician from Montreal.As Common Holly, Naggar has released two full-length albums, but her debut is so underrated it beggars belief. It’s so fully formed, it’s astonishing. Naggar’s first album, Playing House, was releasedContinue reading “Overlooked Classics: Common Holly- Playing House”
Hit The North 