Nobody makes sad synth- pop quite like British bands. Jessica Weiss’s solo project New German Cinema mine the saddest parts of alt-pop from the last forty years to the present day, and spin it into literate, desolate loveliness. It’s haunting and crepuscular, best enjoyed on trains at nighttime. Weiss’ vocals, like Broadcast’s Trish Keenan andContinue reading “Album Review: New German Cinema – Pain Will Polish Me”
Category Archives: Music
Overlooked Classic : Ben Golomstock- Stories From the Moon
The late composer, DJ and musician Ben Golomstock created an album with some of his friends, and it’s glorious: a melee of Miranda Sex Garden style enchanted rock and the more classical, cinematic side. Having joined Miranda Sex Garden early doors, this album Golomstock co-wrote with his collaboraters can’t help but lean into the gothicContinue reading “Overlooked Classic : Ben Golomstock- Stories From the Moon”
Bad Cover Versions: David Hasselhoff- The Passenger (2021)
Want to know what a midlife crisis sounds like? Look no further. This candy ass version of the Berlin era Iggy Pop classic is like your drunken uncle at karaoke, going, “I’ve still got it, damn it. Don’t I?” It’s like his association with Germany made him believe he could do this song justice. Demonstrably,Continue reading “Bad Cover Versions: David Hasselhoff- The Passenger (2021)”
That Night
My spine is a fret board, I feel electricity in my hair. The bass just hit me and the drums turn the tips of my fingers into claws. We’re sandwiched between each other and now they’re playing my favourite song, you know the one from the debut. You’re twirling, I don’t know why. You lookContinue reading “That Night”
The Great Performance Debate
Commedia Dell’arte Dr Gareth K Vile, great friend of mine and brilliant thinker, recently ruminated on the great Scottish theatre debate, because some critics hadn’t been invited to the musical version of ‘One Day’ : is it dying? I can’t speak to a broader academic discourse, as I’m a university dropout, and not a doctorContinue reading “The Great Performance Debate”
Overlooked Classic: Lisa Germano- Lullaby For Liquid Pig
Multi-instrumentalist Lisa Germano could have been dismissed as another “whisper singer”, but for the fact she can really sing, write and play. She always mines the saddest, most traumatic parts of her soul and turns them into eerie beauty. Dark night of the soul art can often be self-indulgent or mawkish, but Germano deals inContinue reading “Overlooked Classic: Lisa Germano- Lullaby For Liquid Pig”
Overlooked Classic : Sonic Youth -EVOL (1986)
The front cover shows Lung Leg, in a still from Richard Kern’s notorious film Submit To Me, doing her typically fucked-up, possessed writhing. Kern of course had collaborated with Sonic Youth on the ‘Death Valley 69’ video, but EVOL, which remains my favourite Sonic Youth album beside Daydream Nation, is a much different beast thanContinue reading “Overlooked Classic : Sonic Youth -EVOL (1986)”
Album Review: Tenderness- True
Tenderness’ new album True is her debut as a solo singer. Katy Beth Young was previously in the trio Peggy Sue and a part of the collective Deep Throat Choir. There’s a lot of loss and grief baked into the songs, as Young recently lost her father, but also a tentative sense of resilience andContinue reading “Album Review: Tenderness- True”
Lost In Music: Lucrecia Dalt- A Danger To Ourselves
Colombian artist Lucrecia Dalt’s seventh album was born in struggle. She’d suffered seizures and a near-death experience, which is possibly why the album is so intense, contemplative and beautiful. Co-produced with David Sylvian, her real-life partner, it covers many influences as you may expect from working with such an esoteric musician. It’s stunning. Juana MolinaContinue reading “Lost In Music: Lucrecia Dalt- A Danger To Ourselves”
Favourite Cover Versions: The Mike Flowers Pops- Wonderwall
Set the table for fifteen, get the bowls ready for the keys, tout de ruddy suite. Make sure the kids are safely ensconced with the neighbours across the road, chill the Blue Nun and get the Twiglets and cheese and pineapple on sticks onto the orange. We’re swinging tonight, like it’s 1969. The Mike FlowersContinue reading “Favourite Cover Versions: The Mike Flowers Pops- Wonderwall”
Hit The North 