MusIc that knocks you sideways and rearranges vital organs is rare these days, but occasionally, something appears that sounds so otherworldly that you feel quite changed. Water by Lotic does this to me. It’s like experiencing an infatuation. It’s experimental electronica, future- soul, with bewitching, hard to fathom sounds that are impossible to shake off.Continue reading “Album Review: Lotic- Water”
Tag Archives: Lorna Irvine
Film Review: Here To Be Heard (2017)
There was no one quite like The Slits, and there never will be again. It’s eleven years since lead singer and force of nature Ari Up passed away from cancer at just 48 William E Badgley’s documentary charts the first all-female punk band and their formation in 1976, featuring interviews with Kate Korris, the originalContinue reading “Film Review: Here To Be Heard (2017)”
Divine Pop Intervention
Everybody knows Divine from her John Waters films. But the icon, who didn’t really want to be known as a drag queen, had another successful career in pop. Harris Glenn Milstead, who would have been 76 yesterday, fell into recording kind of by accident, as her outrageous live shows led to producer Bobby Orlando seeingContinue reading “Divine Pop Intervention”
Felt: You Say Jangly Like It’s A Bad Thing
Before indie became somewhat homogenised, there was Felt. Eccentric lead singer Lawrence didn’t allow journalists to use his loo, mumbled a lot and acquired something of an awkward reputation, often hiding behind his hat. He was often portrayed by the NME like an indie Howard Hughes, which seems a tad reductive. Maurice Deebank, meanwhile, wasContinue reading “Felt: You Say Jangly Like It’s A Bad Thing”
Teleman- Simple Like Us
Teleman have always, in their own unassuming way, crafted perfect Day-glo pop since they formed from the ashes of Pete and the Pirates. As with other low- key UK indie bands like Metronomy, Field Music and Hot Chip, they seamlessly meld electronics with slightly playful, occasionally melancholic songwriting. The new single, Simple Like Us ,Continue reading “Teleman- Simple Like Us”
Overlooked Classics: Cutie and the Boxer
Why don’t more people know about Zachary Heinzerling’s remarkable, delicately moving documentary film from 2013? Cutie (Noriko ) met The Boxer (Ushio Shinohara) when he was forty one and she was just nineteen Shinohara was already an established presence in the New York avant-garde art scene of the sixties, with his action paintings, where heContinue reading “Overlooked Classics: Cutie and the Boxer”
Malaide
Throaty Voiceover: From the producers of Overwrought French Drama, and the director of Fraught French Sequel, comes a clichéd new French film, much like every other clichéd mainstream French romance. Starring Marion Cotillard as troubled but sexy Emilie, and two other men you’ve never heard of, Yves Homme and Jean-Pierre Bof, comes… Malaide. Marion CotillardContinue reading “Malaide”
Spock’s Hubris
Say what you like about ol’ William Shatner, he never attempted a book of appalling poetry. Unlike Star Trek co-star Leonard Nimoy. Perhaps such artistic hubris was due to the fact that said actor shared his first name with Laughing Len Cohen, but let us not ask why. How bad is it? It’s pissed JimContinue reading “Spock’s Hubris”
Book Review: Genesis P-Orridge- NON BINARY
For anyone interested in transgressive art, the name Genesis P-Orridge needs no introduction. An artist interested in pushing societal boundaries of gender, sex, religion and politics, their art always provoked. In the seventies, as part of the noise/visual collective COUM Transmissions, and industrial pioneers Throbbing Gristle, they were met with resistance from establishment figures, censored,Continue reading “Book Review: Genesis P-Orridge- NON BINARY”
The Future’s Here Today: Lala Lala
Pop is a dish best served cold, to paraphrase the Bard. And the platinum blond sprite Lala Lala, also known as Chicago based singer Lillie West, has been floating around the ether for the last couple of years. https://youtu.be/XvQqxRtFedA Eighties- inflected music doesn’t seem to be going away any time soon. But she does itContinue reading “The Future’s Here Today: Lala Lala”
Hit The North 