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”

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: Lotic- Water

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”

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”

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”

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”

Lost In Music: Nightmares On Wax ft OSHUN- Breathe In

Three years in the making, the new Nightmares On Wax album Shout Out! To Freedom is getting good and spiritual on your ass. Exactly what we need, methinks, when times are uncertain and fraught. And any projects including the wondrous Shabaka Hutchings and Greentea Peng has to be worthy of your time. The new single,Continue reading “Lost In Music: Nightmares On Wax ft OSHUN- Breathe In”