We lost beautiful Beldina Odenyo Onassis five years ago today. Anyone involved in the theatre and music scene in Scotland knew this lovely and gifted person. I will never forget the first time I met her at the Hug and Pint bar in Glasgow. We ended up chatting and giggling away. She had a wickedContinue reading “For Bel”
Category Archives: Music
Album Review: Party Dozen- 21 Bum Salute
Party Dozen are back with equal amounts sleaze and humour. The title is of course a ridiculous pun, but the music absolutely bites. Take ‘Euro Stomper’. It’s as if Suicide went glam rock. Like salted caramel ice cream, these disparate ingredients shouldn’t work, but do. ‘Captain Hook’ is a low-end psychedelic banger and ‘Toss MyContinue reading “Album Review: Party Dozen- 21 Bum Salute”
Bowie On Tour: V & A,Dundee- A Response
The inimitable Pierrot costume from ‘Ashes to Ashes video; a Polaroid of the costume from ‘Labyrinth’. It sounds like the set-up to a really bad joke: how many Bowies can you fit into a museum? Happily, the answer is- very many. There were so many Bowies, and so little time to process them all, asContinue reading “Bowie On Tour: V & A,Dundee- A Response”
This Is Halloween
Few things are cuter than this wonderful song. Enjoy this thin veil betwixt the dead and the living, however you celebrate it. Jack Skellington is a mensch.
The Pitiful Commodification of Goth
Queen Nephie, subtle as ever, but more covered up here. There’s been a lot of discourse of late of the seemingly ubiquitous commodification of goth. While I can accept that this is par for the course, and has been happening since the teddy boys were appropriated by the media in the 1950s, there’s a horribleContinue reading “The Pitiful Commodification of Goth”
New Release: Orbital featuring Maxine Peake- Mother, Maiden & Crone
It must be October. The Hartnoll brothers are going full pagan techno on our arses, and I’m loving it. This arcane-school banger with witchy mutterings from the actor Maxine Peake throbs with pagan poetry, as Bjork once called it. Hand me the candles and berries. We all come from the goddess.
Must Be The Season Of The Witch
October is officially Samhain season, so here are some songs and melodies that evoke some spooky feelings. I’ve tried to avoid obvious goth songs. In essence, it’s a nocturnal playlist.
Album Review: Anna Secret Poet- Pillow Princess
It’s always a good day when there’s a new release from the mighty Anna Secret Poet. ‘Pillow Princess ‘ is her latest album, and as ever, there’s some great songwriting, along with new genres, all delivered with humour, pathos and experimentation. The opener, ‘Everything That Was No Longer Is’ is a melancholic, piano- driven instrumentalContinue reading “Album Review: Anna Secret Poet- Pillow Princess”
Album Review: Current Joys- Rosebud
Current Joys, headed up by Nevada musician Nick Rattigan, are best when they crank up the distortion, but that’s not to say there’s no merit in their sweeter moments too. Rattigan has a way with a bubblegum melody line, which he smears in glitches and crackles. So ‘Rosebud’ is very much about the duality. TheContinue reading “Album Review: Current Joys- Rosebud”
Too Much Nostalgia
Recently, I heard a radio interview with Adam Curtis, the brilliant documentary maker, whose style is that of cross-reference and visual metaphor. Broadly speaking, his intertextuality focuses on politics, lived experience and the way media is consumed. Often, he’s been criticised for a bleak worldview, a tendency to zoom in on all things Orwellian. ButContinue reading “Too Much Nostalgia”
