The late eighties was ripe for parody. Pompous, crass, sexist pop was seemingly ubiquitous. So, Kim Gordon from Sonic Youth took the leery Robert Palmer tune, Addicted To Love, and kicked it in its groin. Ciccone Youth’s The Whitey Album was both knowing piss -take and affectionate homage. Their Sonic Youth offshoot was never goingContinue reading “Kim’s Karaoke”
Category Archives: Music
Album Review: Mandy, Indiana – I’ve Seen A Way
The quartet from Manchester, founded by Valentine Caulfield and Scott Fair, now joined by Simon Catling and Alex MacDougall, have a hell of a blistering debut here. It’s experimental music which feels like being driven blindfolded to unknown territory. ‘ Pinking Shears’ is brittle and fuzzy, and there’s minimalist industrial shades to ‘Injury Detail’. ThisContinue reading “Album Review: Mandy, Indiana – I’ve Seen A Way”
Overlooked Classics: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds- Your Funeral, My Trial
The fourth album from Nick and the dapper chaps, released in 1986, remains a little bit sidelined, as far as I’m concerned. It’s Cave ‘s Grand Guignol, one of his most macabre and sexually charged… And that’s going some for someone who is often criticised for the violence of his lyrics. ‘The Carny’ is aContinue reading “Overlooked Classics: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds- Your Funeral, My Trial”
Lost In Music: A Certain Ratio- 1982
Already one of the finest albums of tthe year, A Certain Ratio ‘s 1982 is a series of neon squiggly graffiti lines – not least because it references Jean Michel Basquiat and Andy Warhol in ‘Samo’ , an old school funky jam named after Basquiat’s graffiti tag. But that very specific nod to the 80sContinue reading “Lost In Music: A Certain Ratio- 1982”
Just Step Sideways: Richard Dawson- The Hermit
He’s possibly the closest thing we’ve got to a modern-day William Blake, with his lyrical, wry and political musings on our troubled isle.. Now, the genius that is Richard Dawson, officially releases the forty one minute video for The Hermit. Directed by film maker James Hankins and filmed in South West England in the summerContinue reading “Just Step Sideways: Richard Dawson- The Hermit”
Overlooked Classics: The Fall- Dragnet (1979)
The Fall were starting to implode. Martin and Karl were out, replaced by the Scanlon brothers, Craig and Steve, pals of Marc Riley. It’s this line-up that’s the secret to their brilliant, often overlooked second album, Dragnet. Dragnet is excellent, a brooding, murky record, albeit with MES’ typically esoteric lyricism. He had already proved whatContinue reading “Overlooked Classics: The Fall- Dragnet (1979)”
Lost In Music: Takako Minekawa- Fantastic Cat
Despite being a moody old goth, I do have a love of really, really ridiculously kitsch art. This extends to music, and nobody makes better kitsch music than the Japanese. Takako Minekawa released this oddity in the mid-90s and it is much more imaginative than the J pop that followed in her wake. Part hoedown,Continue reading “Lost In Music: Takako Minekawa- Fantastic Cat”
The Future’s Here Today: Debby Friday
Born in Nigeria, raised in Montreal and now based in Toronto, Debby Friday releases her debut studio album Good Luck tomorrow. She’s hugely gifted, her cocktail of genres reflecting such a peripatetic upbringing.The critics have been universal in praising her previous work like debut EP, Bitchpunk. You can hear soul, punk and crunchy electronica influencesContinue reading “The Future’s Here Today: Debby Friday”
Lost In Music: Sonic Youth and Lydia Lunch- Death Valley ’69
I’m not a huge admirer of Richard Kern. To me, he’s just a dirty old man who keeps on- inexplicably- getting art funds. Okay, Submit To Me was kinda sexy, in a ridiculous way. But his video for Sonic Youth and Lydia Lunch ‘s Death Valley ’69 is brilliant, co-directed by Judith Barry. Indeed, someContinue reading “Lost In Music: Sonic Youth and Lydia Lunch- Death Valley ’69”
Album Review: Anna Secret Poet- Shoutin’ Into The Void
“You can learn a lot from dead things “, Anna Secret Poet sings in ‘Dead Things’, “including how to live”. This is a very Anna line: seemingly throwaway, but really profound. The canny Scots singer-songwriter, drag performer and weaver of pithy tales returns with an album that meditates on the darkest corners of our psyche,Continue reading “Album Review: Anna Secret Poet- Shoutin’ Into The Void”
Hit The North 