“Welcome to the US, 80s, 90s”, Mark E Smith once chanted. We’re firmly entrenched in both decades in Los Angeles singer-songwriter and musician Josh da Costa’s rather charming debut solo album. Easy breezy jangle like ‘Proving Me Right’ and ‘Cordelia’ shimmer like cinematic Cadillacs on hazy highways, and ‘Skygirl’ and ‘Hospital Clown’ bounce like 90sContinue reading “Album Review: Josh da Costa- New Wave Graveyard”
Tag Archives: Lorna Irvine
Lost In Music: Richard Dawson- Two Halves
Richard Dawson, the cherubic neo-folk Geordie singer, could bring eloquence to a song about peeling paint on a kitchen wall. His witty, deeply humane slice of life material is why he’s one of my favourite songwriters around. His album ‘2020’ (recorded in 2019 before you- know -what ruined everything) took on pub flooding, racist neighbours,Continue reading “Lost In Music: Richard Dawson- Two Halves”
Every Generic Animated Sitcom
You’ve seen them, broader than Broadway, written by manatees, lacking humanity, and punching down. Alasdair Beckett- King’s parody absolutely nails it. *Cue canned laughter, disproportionate whooping and applause*
RIP Bonnie Tyler
The Welsh singer songwriter, born Gaynor Hopkins, we found out this morning, has passed away at seventy five. She seemed like a sweetheart, really funny and vivacious, like your favourite auntie. Here’s her first hit single, ‘Lost In France’, recorded before the operation on her throat that left her with that trademark raspy voice. SheContinue reading “RIP Bonnie Tyler”
Lost In Music: Fini Tribe*
If Pet Shop Boys are perceived as the pop Gilbert and George, then Edinburgh’s Fini Tribe (sometimes written as finitribe) were DADA. Formed in 1982, there were originally six members: Phillip Pinsky, Chris Connelly, Davie Miller ,John Vick, Andy McGregor and Simon McGlynn. Together, they fused post-punk radicalism with strong visual art, samples and beats,Continue reading “Lost In Music: Fini Tribe*”
Our Bodies Are Not Trends
The recent trend for mega-skinny bodies is really concerning to me. When I was a teen and up until my early thirties, I was slender, and have never been particularly overweight, until the last six years when I’ve been disabled. So it was horrible to see that, yet again, the twig look was starting toContinue reading “Our Bodies Are Not Trends”
Lost In Music: Deerhoof Plays Music Of ‘The Shining’
Who better to cover some of the incredible soundtrack from Stanley Kubrick ‘s timeless psychological horror than San Francisco’s experimental genius Deerhoof? The two digitally released tracks, the eerie theme by Wendy Carlos and the jazz tune ‘Midnight, The Stars and You’ made popular by Al Bowly, show the duality of the band’s sound, withContinue reading “Lost In Music: Deerhoof Plays Music Of ‘The Shining’”
TV Review: Joe Lycett’s United States of Birmingham
Eschewing the tired celeb travelogue format, Brummie trickster Joe Lycett’s quest to visit every American Birmingham on the map -fifteen to be precise- is a nice spin on it, in a both true and idiomatic flipping the bird sense. The sees him hanging out with US eccentrics: everywhere from bat caves, to a place wonderfullyContinue reading “TV Review: Joe Lycett’s United States of Birmingham”
Moira Rose Forever🌹
Few comedy icons make me cackle like the late, wonderful Catherine O’ Hara and her Schitt’s Creek character Moira Rose. Where to start ? Her high fashion, bordering on Gaga ridiculous; her feral wigs, her quasi- European accent and arcane euphemisms and language, the many levels of delusional that she was… She’s simply one ofContinue reading “Moira Rose Forever🌹”
Sunday Hymn
How’s this for a Sunday banger? I’m not crazy about the whole album ‘The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte’ from which this song came. But this is one of the few tracks I really like. It’s classic Sparks. Who else but the Mael brothers could craft a song about a newborn baby, sensing life’sContinue reading “Sunday Hymn”
Hit The North 