Prince- The Lost Tapes

New footage has been unearthed on YouTube of late legend Prince’s producer DJ Wackjob with a recently discovered vault of lost tapes from the Minneapolis icon. Amongst the tapes is a rare gem , Wackjob has dubbed “The Floppy Dicks’ a double album ‘s worth of songs with intriguing titles such as ‘Sorry Babe, ThisContinue reading “Prince- The Lost Tapes”

Album Review: Candy Claws- Ceres & Calypso In The Deep Time

Shoegazing as a primary influence is having a late blooming revival of late- witness Chemical Brothers and their comeback single with Halo Maude, ‘Live Again’, which feels woozy and spiky. So it makes sense that this gorgeous, elusive record is being reissued again as it turns a decade old. The Colorado trio Candy Claws –Continue reading “Album Review: Candy Claws- Ceres & Calypso In The Deep Time”

” The Idiots Are Winning “

Created by two British comedy heroes, Chris Morris and Charlie Brooker, Nathan Barley seemed to tap into a truth about how big tech would become, the rise of meme culture, and the lowering of attention spans. It came out in the mid-noughties, but was so prescient about internet trends, years before Tik Tok, Threads andContinue reading “” The Idiots Are Winning “”

Harry’s Last Hurrah: Lucky

When Harry Dean Stanton, cinema’s perennial drifter, finally drifted off this earth in 2017, aged ninety one, there were few eulogies, no mariachi bands lamenting his passing, and not many column inches. In death it seemed he was still Hollywood’s outsider, tagged with the reductive label “character actor” . With his craggy, lean face andContinue reading “Harry’s Last Hurrah: Lucky”

We’re Not The Mighty Fall…

In the brilliant Fall documentary, The Wonderful And Frightening World of Mark E Smith, the famous curmudgeon grumbled, ” There are all these bands saying,’We’re influenced by The Fall” .Fook off. That just means you’ve run out of fookin’ ideas. ” As ever, the wordsmith had a point. Many bands tried to emulate his stream-of-consciosnessContinue reading “We’re Not The Mighty Fall…”

Piers- The Movie

Interior . Bedroom. Pink castle. Princess Piers yawns, stretches and gleefully gets out of bed, ready to face the day. PIERS: Huzzah. Another scrumptious English morning, ready to be assaulted by a volley of my opinions, masquerading as facts. Princess Piers dresses in two seconds flat, slides down a pole and out into The MagicContinue reading “Piers- The Movie”

Album Review: PJ Harvey – I Inside The Old Year Dying

There are many Polly Jean Harveys, all shedding skins, one by one. While an introspective album using her poems as songwriting templates was never going to be a sonic battering ram as so much of her previous work, there are still good things to be unearthed. This is her tenth studio album and is producedContinue reading “Album Review: PJ Harvey – I Inside The Old Year Dying”

Lawrence: Perennial Pop Genius

Not found in the usual outlets, Lawrence is, as I may have previously stated, a pop genius. At the start of 2023, to little fanfare, Mozart Estate (previously Go-Kart Mozart) released the singular ‘Pop-Up! Kerching!And The Possibilities of Modern Shopping’. Lawrence has crafted THE austerity era album here,bar none. Mr Hayward, the Brummie maverick behindContinue reading “Lawrence: Perennial Pop Genius”

Album Review: Mong Tong- Tao Fire

The enigmatic Taiwanese brothers, Hom Yu and Jian Chi , who record as Mong Tong, have created a stunning album here. It’s a blend of traditional “kitsch sound” as they describe it, fused with ambient sounds and psychedelic rock. What makes it so exciting is this description barely scratches the surface. There’s a deeper wellContinue reading “Album Review: Mong Tong- Tao Fire”

Overlooked Classics: The Butcher Boy

Both the book by Patrick McCabe and film, co-adapted by McCabe with Neil Jordan, are brilliant. Francis Brady could have been a Holden Caulfield, but he was much, much more insidious: a study in everyday psychopathy. Francis Brady, portrayed with equal parts cheek and horror by the wonderful Eamonn Owens is the titular character. SomethingContinue reading “Overlooked Classics: The Butcher Boy”