This album, my god, this album. English synth-pop duo Soft Cell sealed their reputation as one of the most original acts of the early 80s, thanks to brilliant debut Non -Stop Erotic Cabaret, with massive hits Bedsitter, Say Hello,Wave Goodbye and their unstoppable cover of the Gloria Jones Northern Soul stomper Tainted Love, but theContinue reading “Overlooked Classics: Soft Cell- The Art Of Falling Apart”
Tag Archives: Lorna Irvine
Album Review: Modern Nature- Island Of Noise
Imagine this. You’re in the Lake District perhaps, or by a boathouse. Take a moment to lie down in the still of the night. Can you hear it? There’s a bàbbling stream. Birds twitter. There’s no Twitter, no social media, no hassles here. Modern Nature have created an album that is sheer bliss, as ifContinue reading “Album Review: Modern Nature- Island Of Noise”
Album Review: Marconi Union- Signals
In an increasingly chaotic world, the need to find some kind of respite is important. Ambient music has always provided a way in, and so it is with enigmatic Manchester artist Marconi Union. Signals, their thirteenth album, is a seductive and moody proposition. Cycles Repeat sounds like Ry Cooder jamming with Gold Panda (imagine) andContinue reading “Album Review: Marconi Union- Signals”
Album review: Joan As Police Woman/ Tony Allen/ Dave Okumu- The Solution Is Restless
What an ambitious, gorgeous, sexy record. Soul pop goddess Joan Wasser, aka Joan As Police Woman, recently teamed up to collaborate with drummer Tony Allen and The Invisible’s Dave Okumu to create a jazzy, funky soul epic pulsing with the ghosts of Aretha, Curtis, Laura, Prince and Isaac.This is the result, and it’s a triumph.Continue reading “Album review: Joan As Police Woman/ Tony Allen/ Dave Okumu- The Solution Is Restless”
Lost In Music: Bowie-Boys Keep Swinging
Released in April 1979 and taken from Lodger, Boys Keep Swinging was what Bowie described as an “attempt at writing a really chauvinistic song. I find it very amusing”. David Mallet’s cheeky video references the art of Berlin drag acts, who smeared their makeup after each performance, thus drawing attention to artificiality, the ephemeral natureContinue reading “Lost In Music: Bowie-Boys Keep Swinging”
Why Faster Was Prescient
Written in 1999 by New York author James Gleick, Faster was ridiculously ahead of its time. Gleick, a brilliant science writer with a particular focus on technology and its sociological impact, postulated that the internet and the speed of progress was going to be corrosive, creating a collective burnout. From examining the time people tookContinue reading “Why Faster Was Prescient”
Lydia and Rowland- Some Velvet Morning
Cover versions are always interesting when they’re cut to ribbons. So it is with Lydia Lunch and Rowland S Howard’s 1982 version of the Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood classic. Already pretty trippy, as befits a proto- psychedelic nursery rhyme, Lunch and Howard decided to make it even murkier. The duo, who met during Howard’sContinue reading “Lydia and Rowland- Some Velvet Morning”
Lost In Music: Gazelle Twin &NYX- Deep England
Halloween weekend is here, the thin veil between the dead and the living. Come stroke the red velvet interior of your worst nightmares. A hundred snakes constrict, a hundred shark mouths consume. There’s an infinite karaoke held by Nigel Farage. Directors Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard, the wonderful creative duo behind the stunning Nick CaveContinue reading “Lost In Music: Gazelle Twin &NYX- Deep England”
Album Review: Parquet Courts- Sympathy For Life
You could be forgiven for thinking this is just another ebullient, scrappy album from the New York indie stoners, or however we’re stereotyping them this week. After all, the irresistible bounce of Walking At A Downtown Pace seems to personify this, with Max Savage’s rollicking rhythm and their trademark shouty refrain. But album seven isContinue reading “Album Review: Parquet Courts- Sympathy For Life”
Make It Gorey
As Halloween doth approach e’er closer, I felt it fitting to doff a silken top hat to the great genius of art and literature, Edward Gorey. A true eccentric, Gorey, who wrote luxurious macabre prose augmented by pale, spindly creatures often meeting their untimely demise, wore fur coats and sneakers, oft with moustache and beard,Continue reading “Make It Gorey”
Hit The North 