Klaus Nomi is all too often rendered a footnote in musical history, a quirk in queer culture’s lineage, as his musical outpourings veered from the sublime to the ridiculous. He’s there, lurking like a camp Zelig figure on the disco dancefloors along with his more respected peers, or wiggling on TV behind Bowie like aContinue reading “Lost In Music: Klaus Nomi”
Tag Archives: New York
A Contorted Tribute
James Chance passed away on June 18th ,and I wanted to pay tribute here with his trademark song. Part of the teenage No Wave scene in the late 70s in New York, alongside the likes of Lydia Lunch, DNA and Mars, he and The Contortions were a forward thinking squall of punk, funk and noise.Continue reading “A Contorted Tribute”
Film Review: Arena- Cindy Sherman #Untitled
Claire Beaven’s film for Arena, which focuses on one of American contemporary art’s true trailblazers, photographer and film maker Cindy Sherman, is absolutely fascinating. Because Sherman still remains camera -shy when not in one of her (in)famous disguises, there are older, rare interviews interwoven into the film, and a nice updated voiceover from Sherman (withContinue reading “Film Review: Arena- Cindy Sherman #Untitled”
Put Blood In The Music: Sonic Youth and John Zorn
This film, directed by Charles Atlas for The South Bank Show in 1989, was what made me fall in love with SY, and admire Zorn. Using a fanzine type approach to his montage – talking heads floating in front of New York street scenes, it’s a typically playful approach from Atlas (more of whom, later).Continue reading “Put Blood In The Music: Sonic Youth and John Zorn”
Overlooked Classics: Night On Earth (1991)
Among Jim Jarmusch’s many films, I feel two are often overlooked, Ghost Dog (Way Of The Samurai) and Night On Earth. The former, I’ll get to later, but I often wonder why this is the case. Night On Earth has all of the JarmuschIan qualities you’d expect: deadpan humour; strangers thrown together by circumstances outContinue reading “Overlooked Classics: Night On Earth (1991)”
Film Review: Meet Me In The Bathroom
Of course, the title’s a drugs reference as well as a song, but this vivid and compelling film by Will Lovelace and Dylan Southern, based on Lizzy Goodman’s book, focuses on the dizzying rise of early 2000s bands The Strokes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs Interpol, and many others, with rare footage of wild early club gigsContinue reading “Film Review: Meet Me In The Bathroom”
Why Midnight Cowboy Remains Relevant
It may be nigh-on impossible to watch any Dustin Hoffman these days without hearing Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon parodying his nasal New York accent, but I watched John Schlesinger’s classic Midnight Cowboy the other night and it still remains an astute metaphor for the mess America is in, now as then. Joe Buck (JonContinue reading “Why Midnight Cowboy Remains Relevant”
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”
Hit The North 