“You’re looking at a sick man”, grins Pete Doherty, troubled co- founder of English indie band The Libertines. And it’s hard to disagree. His struggles with addiction have been legend in the UK, often overshadowing his music career. The British tabloids went wild during the band’s late nineties heyday, documenting heroin use, his relationship withContinue reading “TV Review: Louis Theroux Interviews… Pete Doherty”
Category Archives: Lorna Irvine
Overlooked Classics: Blancanieves
This film is so masterful, and I’m concerned people have forgotten about it just over a decade later, or never seen it. Still, it endures. It’s absolutely unique and beautiful. Pablo Berger ‘s Goya winning flamenco spin on Snow White, Blancanieves, is a fairy tale like no other. It’s silent film, fable and anti-war metaphorContinue reading “Overlooked Classics: Blancanieves”
Album Review: The Kills- God Games
This is enough to make a porn star blush. This album is pure filth. The Kills have always made music that seems coated in sticky booze, cigarette ash and bodily fluids, but this, their sixth, could be the sexiest since ‘No Wow’. Alison Moorhart’s voice is still raspy and soulful, and Jamie Hince’s guitar playingContinue reading “Album Review: The Kills- God Games”
That Time MES Played A Christlike Vision…
Ideal, written by Graham Duff, was an odd little sitcom. It focused on Moz, a drug dealer in Manchester, played by comedian Johnny Vegas. A lifelong Fall fan, Duff got lead vocalist and legendary curmudgeon Mark E Smith to appear in a vision as an unlikely Christ like figure, muttering expletives as only be could,Continue reading “That Time MES Played A Christlike Vision…”
Neo-Soul in 2023
Something glorious is going on in music right now. Soul and funk is back in a big way. It’s never really gone away, but the likes of Cleo Sol (main picture) Say She She, Gabriels and Black Pumas have soundtracked this year with soul and funk -infused tunes that are evocative of the greats: thinkContinue reading “Neo-Soul in 2023”
Film Review: Arena- Cindy Sherman #Untitled
Claire Beaven’s film for Arena, which focuses on one of American contemporary art’s true trailblazers, photographer and film maker Cindy Sherman, is absolutely fascinating. Because Sherman still remains camera -shy when not in one of her (in)famous disguises, there are older, rare interviews interwoven into the film, and a nice updated voiceover from Sherman (withContinue reading “Film Review: Arena- Cindy Sherman #Untitled”
Lost In Music: The Rutles
Where would we be without them, the Prefab Four? Just four cheeky lads from Rutland who changed our culture, they were ” of no fixed hairstyle”, but full of ambition and creativity., but far more importantly, “their trousers”… Funny too, how their music and image changed, following “the pleasant effects of tea”… “I’d like toContinue reading “Lost In Music: The Rutles”
Lost In Music: Screaming Lord Sutch- Jack The Ripper
Here’s a ghoulish garage rock classic to make you shake yr bones. Ivy and Lux were fans, so was Nick Cave and Jack White, and The Horrors have included it in their club nights,so you know it’s a winner. David Edward Sutch aka Screaming Lord Sutch, was doing the shock rock thing long before AliceContinue reading “Lost In Music: Screaming Lord Sutch- Jack The Ripper”
Vintage Films: Carry On Screaming (1967)
A bit of a departure from the usual British saucy seaside postcard romps, Carry On Screaming took the formula of both Hammer Horror and spooky American sitcom favourites The Munsters and The Addams Family, and created a weird hybrid with an actual storyline. Wait… Sophistication creeping in? Not quite. It’s still Carry On, after all.Continue reading “Vintage Films: Carry On Screaming (1967)”
Film Review: Cat Nation
This quirky documentary, created by film maker Tim Delmastro and You Tuber Chris Broad, an Englishman who has lived in Japan for over five years, follows the Japanese fascination with the domestic felines. From a station master’s cat (below, in jaunty hat) to a temple festooned with Neko beckoning lucky cats, to a slightly OTTContinue reading “Film Review: Cat Nation”
