John Waters was completely ahead of his time. To so many people, he’s still the epitome of transgressive cinema, trashy and shocking for shock’s sake, but this is a reductive way of regarding his work.He was utterly prescient, a kind of prophet, if you like. Take 1970’s Female Trouble. Dawn Davenport, magnificently portrayed by DivineContinue reading “How John Waters Was Prescient”
Category Archives: Lorna Irvine
Just Step Sideways: Gazelle Twin and NYX- Deep England
Gazelle Twin and NYX are fascinating artists in their own right. Together, they’re like matches and an effigy of Boris Johnson. Deep England is the flipside of welcoming Britain: the jingoistic, Union Jack waving, bigoted side where otherness isn’t just anathema – it’s enough to get you chased out of town. A companion piece toContinue reading “Just Step Sideways: Gazelle Twin and NYX- Deep England”
Disney’s Dream Debased: The Florida Project
Sean Baker’s brilliant film The Florida Project, released in 2018, focuses on the flip- side of Walt Disney – the “hidden homeless” subsisting on the other side of Disneyworld in Florida- families living in slum motels. The law states that these families, who are struggling to survive, aren’t allowed to take up residency, so canContinue reading “Disney’s Dream Debased: The Florida Project”
Preview: Oceanallover – The Self Assembled, Drygate
Oceanallover are a brilliant, eccentric and visceral company who fuse performance art, dance, songs and pagan poetry. They’re an endlessly shapeshifting unit formed by Alex Rigg, not quite of this earth, yet rooted in nature. Now they’re taking their unique retrospective to Drygate on April 1st. In their own words … ” The first majorContinue reading “Preview: Oceanallover – The Self Assembled, Drygate”
Lost In Music: Otoboke Beaver-Pardon?
Obfuscation helps no-one. As we appear to be mired in a world of confusion, what could be more apposite than Otoboke Beaver and their brand new single Pardon? The mighty Japanese quartet are back, and this is the first single to be lifted from the forthcoming album Super Champon. A worldwide tour starts in theContinue reading “Lost In Music: Otoboke Beaver-Pardon?”
Album Review: Hinako Omori- A Journey…
Inspired by the practice of forest bathing, Japanese artist Hinako Omori’s new album breathes like new buds bursting into life. Created using scientific binaural sounds and more organic processes of field recordings, the album pulses with transcendental shimmering beauty. Tracks like Levitation see Omori’s modular synth patterns resemble chirruping birds, while her voice soars onContinue reading “Album Review: Hinako Omori- A Journey…”
Overlooked Classics: Opal – Early Recordings
Emerging from the Paisley Underground, a neo- psychedelic scene from the 1980s, Opal predate Mazzy Star by a few years. Singer songwriter and musician Kendra Smith, also a founding member of The Dream Syndicate, made some EPs, left the band and was replaced by Hope Sandoval, but Opal’s beautiful collection Early Recordings should definitely beContinue reading “Overlooked Classics: Opal – Early Recordings”
Quentin Smirhes v the Fisher Price Box
He is a rum one, that Quentin Smirhes. Mustard of knitwear, mercurial of mood, you never quite know what to expect from him. He is a little tetchy, sans tea and custard creams, of an afternoon. So we thought a toy jack in the box would be tickety-boo to lift his mood. We were wrong,Continue reading “Quentin Smirhes v the Fisher Price Box”
The Joy Of Kenneth
Drink up your strawberry Nesquik/Creamola Foam, finish the last crumbs of Findus Crispy Pancakes, peas and oven chips, and make a spirited dash to the wood-panelled TV set. It’s Kenneth time! Not a Kenny, most certainly not a Ken, Kenneth is a benign, smiling presence in a world of doubt. He’s crimplene- lean, a clean,Continue reading “The Joy Of Kenneth”
Victorians and Cats
Being a Goth of a certain vintage, this post was perhaps inevitable. Victorian and Edwardian people really liked dressing up their cats (often stuffed) and sometimes posed them in a variety of wacky domestic situations. For a seemingly buttoned-up generation, they were incredibly strange and morbid. We can only wonder why this trend prevailed. Nowadays,Continue reading “Victorians and Cats”
Hit The North 