Category Archives: Uncategorized

Film Review: Jonathan Miller’s Alice in Wonderland

One of the finest adaptations of the Lewis Carroll classic, Jonathan Miller’s Alice In Wonderland is singular, surreal and beautiful. A psychedelic phantasmagoria, this Alice feels like the epitome of sixties counterculture, evoking early Pink Floyd, Timothy Leary and Granny Takes A Trip vintage clothing. It’s all reinforced by Ravi Shankar’s lovely score, and theContinue reading “Film Review: Jonathan Miller’s Alice in Wonderland”

Film Review: Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched

Subtitled, A History of Folk Horror , Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched, written and directed by Keir- La Janisse, is a pretty comprehensive documentary guide to films set in rural landscapes where terror lurks. Essentially, folk horror is defined as “the juxtaposition of the prosaic and the uncanny” . At over three hour long, itContinue reading “Film Review: Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched”

Lost In Music: Will Gregory Moog Ensemble

While his singing half treads a more commercial path these days, Will Gregory from Goldfrapp has a project that’s experimental, doffing a hat to pioneers like Stockhausen and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. It’s wonderfully out of step with current trends in modern music, like the recent jazz revival and hyperpop. Will Gregory Moog Ensemble isContinue reading “Lost In Music: Will Gregory Moog Ensemble”

Book Review: Kathleen Hanna- Rebel Girl

Artists currently making music like Caroline Polachek ,St Vincent and Big Joanie undoubtedly owe a debt of influence to the fearless trailblazer Kathleen Hanna. Her new memoir, Rebel Girl, is as expected, unflinching, affecting and lucid. She writes prose like lyrics, in short, sharp bursts. Nothing is spared, from navigating a difficult,abusive home, to survivingContinue reading “Book Review: Kathleen Hanna- Rebel Girl”

Overlooked Classics: Marc Almond With The Willing Sinners- Mother Fist

Much more than just beautifully crafted filth, Marc Almond’s third studio album from April 1987, created with backing band The Willing Sinners, is a doozie. Taking inspiration from Jean Genet, Judy Garland and the Weimar republic, Almond ‘s musical palette was ever widening, full of left turns and his trademark bon mots- he’s always hadContinue reading “Overlooked Classics: Marc Almond With The Willing Sinners- Mother Fist”

Are You Loathsome Tonight? Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla

There is a scene in Sofia Copola’s very fine film Priscilla which sums up her sad predicament: she’s about to give birth to her daughter, but rather than focusing on her breathing, she stands at a mirror and carefully, almost as if in a trance, puts on a full face of make-up. Cailee Spaeney portraysContinue reading “Are You Loathsome Tonight? Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla”

Album Review: Xiaowang-Kachakacha

What an exciting debut from this young Bejing band. Xiaowang make music that’s as unexpected as it’s exhilarating. They’re described as “kawaiicore” and that’s a perfect term, as their music is often pitched between the fun and the terrifying. Steal vacillates between deadpan choppy postpunk and death metal roars, whereas Duck Song is slicing, staccatoContinue reading “Album Review: Xiaowang-Kachakacha”

The Future’s Here Today: Tether

As summer approaches,so too does the prospect of festivals. And Tether , a post-hardcore band based in London, have a brilliant live reputation, tailor- made for festival crowds. Their debut, a new EP, Mirror Work which is self released, comes out next month and there are a series of live dates. The EP captures aContinue reading “The Future’s Here Today: Tether”