FEATURE: Groovelines: Blur – Country House

FEATURE:

 

 

Groovelines

Blur – Country House

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PERHAPS not…

Blur’s best or most regarded song, it is one of their most significant. One reason why it is so important is because it is the song that went up against Oasis’ Roll with It in the Britpop battle of 1995. I wanted to mark thirty years of Country House. Released on 14th August, 1995, it reached number one in the U.K. One of the biggest problems with the song is the video. One of the most depressingly retrograde and obnoxious videos of its time, it is small wonder band member Graham Cox hated the shoot. With more than a nod to the puerile and horrible comedy of Benny Hill, it is the nadir of Blur’s videos. Directed by artist Damien Hirst, it is the only big black mark. The song itself is taken from Blur’s fourth studio album, The Great Escape. That album was released on 11th September, 1995. Country House was the lead single from the album. Many might have expected Stereotypes or Charmless Man to lead. However, at a time when Britpop was at a peak, perhaps the sound and feel of Country House was seen as the most promising commercial single. It definitely delivered! The Great Escape followed 1994’s Parklife. Following perhaps their best album, there would have been a lot of pressure on the band to keep their momentum and popularity high. The Great Escape is a fifteen-track album that comes in at just under an hour. I think it is top-heavy in terms of its most commercial/accessible songs. Perhaps not the same blend and balance as you get on Parklife. However, I also think The Great Escape is underrated. Some of Blur’s most fascinating and nuanced songwriting. Damon Albarn’s lyrics particularly standing out. Country House might seem an anomaly to some. However, it did resonate with many critics. Before going deeper with the song, I want to start out with some collected critical reception from Wikipedia:

“David Stubbs from Melody Maker felt the song "sounds at first to be taunting us with that old Britpop standard, um, thingummy, the one that goes Our house is a very, very, very nice house/With two cats in the yard.. but turns out to be a cynical account of the miserable fat-rat city achiever attempting to find solace in the big rural pile of his dreams — a seemingly chirpy but ultimately very unsettling vignette hinting at Blur's darker edges." Pan-European magazine Music & Media named it Single of the Week, adding, "Everything about this song makes you think of Mott the Hoople's laddish version of David Bowie's 'All the Young Dudes'. Whatever, it has won them the UK championship at the expense of Oasis." Also Mark Sutherland from NME named it Single of the Week, writing, "Yup, Blur's first new material since the epoch-shaping Parklife LP is nothing short of a classic pop single. In the space of the time-honoured three-and-a-bit minutes, it manages to recall everyone from Madness to The Beatles to, um, Chas and Dave, craft the most infectious chorus of modern times and still squeeze in the astonishing line He's reading Balzac, knocking back Prozac before tea-time. And you can't really ask for much more than that." Another NME editor, Johnny Cigarettes, described it as "feisty, upbeat singalong pop". Smash Hits gave 'Country House' five out of five, praising it as "a classic pop tune”.

I will bring in some different perspectives on Country House. It is important to remember its context and how this song – together with Oasis’ Roll with It – dominated the news in August 1995. In terms of quality, you could argue Blur reigned on Parklife and they would deliver their fantastic eponymous album in 1997. In some ways, The Great Escape was not as revered. However, it does contains some terrific music. Whether you were around in 1995 and remember Country House or are hearing it new now, it does have its own charm. This is what AllMusic noted about Country House and the attention it received in 1995:

“In the summer of 1995, it had been reduced to this -- Blur versus Oasis. The two bands represented polar opposites of the pop audience -- elite versus the working class, art school versus blue collar, and art school versus gut instinct. It was a brilliant pairing, better even than the Beatles versus the Rolling Stones, because these two bands actually hated each other. Blur leader Damon Albarn would claim that the animosity began when Oasis singer Liam Gallagher taunted him at a party after Oasis' "Some Might Say" reached number one. According to Albarn, Gallagher spotted him, then got in his face, screaming "number one!" This very well may be true -- Liam is not known for his humility -- but it lets Albarn off the hook when he wanted the face-to-face, High Noon showdown that emerged in August of 1995 more than any of the other major players.

As it turned out, both Blur and Oasis were set to deliver the sequels to hit albums in the fall of 1995. Blur was offering their fourth album, while Oasis was set to prove that their debut wasn't a fluke. Originally, they weren't going to release their lead singles -- the songs that touted their upcoming releases -- on the same day, but when Albarn discovered that Blur's "Country House" and Oasis' "Roll With It" were going to be released within a week of each other, he decided to ditch all pretense and have his band's single released the same week as Oasis'. A real risky move, since if his band stiffed, the other band would have vaulted beyond anyone's expectations.

Most observers believed that the rivalry would be contained to Britain's weeklies, but a strange turn of events happened. Brit-pop became a cultural phenomenon, transcending indie culture and dominating the mainstream. That meant that everybody knew about Blur versus Oasis, that they were anxiously awaiting the results of the August release of "Country House" and "Roll With It." National news broadcasts devoted precious time to the rivalry, and everybody awaited the results of the charts with baited breath. In the final few days, it was revealed that Oasis had a major problem when their label, Creation, had a problem with the bar codes on their singles, thereby meaning their single simply wasn't registered as many times as Blur's. And Blur claimed the number one slot -- the first in their history -- with "Country House."

In hindsight, it has become chic to dismiss "Country House" as the product of those crazy times, particularly by Blur's guitarist, Graham Coxon, who seems to be embarrassed to be associated with a song that had either the words "country" or "house" in its title. That's completely unfair. The detached observer could reasonably offer the explanation that Blur won the battle because they offered the most distinctly British single since the Kinks made "Sunny Afternoon" a national singalong. Even if that was true, "Country House" is a brilliant piece of British pop. Yes, you already have to have an inclination for British pop to be enamored with "Country House" -- if only Andy Partridge was half as cute as Damon Albarn, the defiantly British eccentrics XTC would have registered a hit nearly as big as this -- but once you do, it instantly seems like a classic. Apart from the detached, postmodern viewpoint (something any Blur fan will take as second nature by this point, even in 1995), it's hard not to get suckered in by the wonderful hooks and the impeccably detailed production, courtesy of Blur and their producer, Stephen Street. Together, they recorded a layered single where the details -- not just the horns, but the vocal harmonies, rhythms, and guitar parts -- were buried underneath the stomping hooks, melody, and Albarn's caustic wit. This is a single where the rhymes are as natural as the offhand wit and melody -- not only does he offer the wonderous put-down "He's reading Balzac/Knocking back Prozac," he disses his rivals with "He's got Morning Glory/And life's a different story," and it's virtually impossible not to sing along.

"Country House" may have been the perfect record for its time -- it certainly was smarter, funnier, and catchier than "Roll with It" -- but it wouldn't be quite as intoxicating (it wouldn't have elevated beyond its role as a period piece) if Blur didn't know how to write and record a pop record at this point in time. They did. They knew how to maximize a distinctly British and proper record like "Country House" and make it a number one.

They wound up winning the battle, but losing the war. "Roll With It" was dismissed, but after "Wonderwall" was released, (What's the Story) Morning Glory? became a phenomenon not seen since Thriller (at least in the U.K.), and all the bad reviews Oasis received since "Roll With It" and Morning Glory disappeared. Oasis triumphed over Blur. But during that brief moment in late August/September of 1995, Blur was the victor with "Country House," and it remains the best of the two singles released that week”.

In 2012, The Guardian argue how Country House was worth another look. Always having this reputation as being a jokey, knees-up song that was throwaway and got to the top of the charts because of the battle with Oasis rather than anything to do with quality, it has depths and darkness not instantly evident., Maybe it has not aged well, yet I do think it is worth spotlighting this song ahead of its thirtieth anniversary:

“It's worth another look, though. Far from being a knocked-out knees-up, Country House is deceptively complex and completely bonkers. It's the second chorus where things get weird – Albarn's chirpy hook about "a very big house in the country" is backed by a falsetto counter, "blow, blow me out I am so sad, I don't know why", both disconcerting and wonderfully melancholy, leading into Coxon's queasiest guitar solo, a discordant, seasick riff of scarttershot notes and fractured scales seemingly beamed in from Sonic Youth or Pavement. The effect is a splash of genuine art-school creativity oddly absent from Damien Hirst's accompanying video, and totally at odds with what Britpop was supposed to be about by that point. Shed Seven could never have done it. The "Blow, blow me out"s return for the breakdown, underpinned by Coxon's chiming guitar to create a ghostly harmony that's more Pink Floyd than Lily the Pink. Even the late arrival of a Madness brass section can't wreck the magic.

When you read Liam Gallagher's famous dismissal of Blur as "chimney-sweep music", this is the track that comes to mind and you can see what he meant. But Country House has everything that made (and makes) Blur fascinating: the common touch, the terrace chorus, the arched eyebrow, the weirdness, the art-school sound, the desire to annoy and to fit in and to lead the field, to be the outsider and the everyman, all at once. It's never completely satisfying, but it's the confidence and the contradictions that save it.

Country House made an unexpected live return for the band's reunion shows in 2009 and on every occasion, quite rightly, the crowd went bananas. That's Blur – willfully awkward but eager to please. It's certainly what they were at the Brit awards this year. Treasure their stubbornness, their awkwardness and their imperfections, it's what makes them ace, and it's all on show here”.

I remember when Country House came out on 14th August, 1995. I was twelve and was starting to get into Blur. Although I became a bigger fan by the time 13 was released in 1999, it was fascinating to be around witnessing this Britpop battle! It became more about the competition and picking a side more than the songs themselves. However, thirty years later, there will be new attention for and inspection of the lead single from The Great Escape. Whether you love the song or feel it is underwhelming, there is no doubt how important it is. One of Blur’s defining moments. Getting some distance after the Britpop war with Oasis, we can view Country House on its own. Despite the terrible video and the fact there are better songs on The Great Escape, Country House is a song…

TOO big to be ignored.

FEATURE: For the Birthday Queen: Kate Bush’s Julys

FEATURE:

 

 

For the Birthday Queen

 

Kate Bush’s Julys

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BECAUSE Kate Bush…

PHOTO CREDIT: Gered Mankowitz

turns sixty-seven on 30th July, for this birthday feature, I want to include information about her career in July. What I mean is what she was doing in July through various years. Many fans are dedicating this whole month to Kate Bush. I have covered years like 1988. That is when Bush spent her birthday that year doing work for charity. I am going to cover two different years in her career but also reference a couple of others near the end. From 1978 where she was promoting her debut album, The Kick Inside, still and was really busy, through to a later year in her career that was very different. Thanks to this incredible website for providing details about what Kate Bush was up to during her birthday month. Let’s start out with 1978 and what Kate Bush’s July consisted of:

“July 1978

Kate is the best selling female albums artist in the U.K. for the first quarter of 1978. Wuthering Heights has been number 1 in the Netherlands, Belgium, New Zealand (five weeks), and Australia; and "top-ten" in Germany, France, Brazil, Argentina, South Africa, Denmark, Sweden and Finland.

July 4, 1978

The Man With the Child in His Eyes reaches its chart peak in the U.K. at number 6.

The Kick Inside is re-released in the U.S.A. on a new label--EMI-America [and with a different but equally inappropriate cover, now sometimes referred to as the "country-western" or "Tammy Wynette" cover.] Wuthering Heights is finally released as a single in the U.S. There are some good notices, but Kate is considered by radio programmers to be "too bizarre" for the American market.

It is interesting, as Bush approached her twentieth birthday, there was this half-hearted attention in America. The fact Bush was considered too weird for the U.S. It took them so long to appreciate her! I think July 1978 is Bush’s busiest birthday month of her career. Just about to leave her teens, there was all of this pressure and success. She barely had time to rest and properly celebrate. I hope that she did spend 30th July at least relaxing and with her family. The first part of July 1978 was packed. One of the most notable transitions was the promotion of The Kick Inside and the start of recording for her second album, Lionheart.

July 7, 1978

Kate travels to Superbear Studios in Nice, France to record her second album. She had had good reports of this studio from Dave Gilmour, who recorded his first solo album there. The recording is a much-needed break for Kate. In the sunshine and the mountain air she recovers from almost six months of solid promotion, and pursues her real vocation, making music.

July 1981

Kate goes into Abbey Road studios with Haydn Bendall as engineer to complete the backing tracks.

Kate goes to Dublin to record the track Night of the Swallow with members of Planxty and The Chieftains.

July 14, 1981

Kate appears on the children's programme Razzmatazz to explain how the Sat In Your Lap video was made.

The rest of July 1978 was Bush busy stepping (briefly) off of the promotional treadmill. She was embarking on recording her second album. It must have been exciting traveling to France and getting out of London. This would be the only album where she recorded outside of the U.K. Still nineteen, Bush was in this new location and trying to follow a hugely successful debut album. If July 1978 was all about her promoting The Kick Inside and laying down the early parts of Lionheart, things were a bit different three years later. Following the release of those 1978 albums and her third, 1980’s Never for Ever, Bush was working on The Dreaming. I love to imagine Bush recording in Dublin. This was plant sewed for Hounds of Love when she recorded there again. Twenty-two and involved in the most intense recording period of her career, it was interesting. Bush recording at Abbey Road and going to Dublin. She would travel between various studios through 1981 and 1982. 14th July, 1981 is one of the most interesting appearances she made on T.V. On a children’s show to promote a song that probably went over their heads, I sort of wish there was a better-quality video of her interview. Even so, still so young and with all this ambition, I guess Bush just wanted to promote her music as widely as possible.

I will say a few words to end. However, I will get to 1982. This was just before The Dreaming was released. It was another intense July. Consider what happened three days before Bush turned twenty-four. Bush had performed live a few times after she completed The Tour of Life in 1979. T.V. appearances here and there. Her spot at Royal Rock Gala was fascinating. A rare live performance of The Wedding List. I don’t think enough people discuss that 1982 live performance. An unexpected high in her career. What happened on 27th July was an end to a pretty busy and varied month:

July 21, 1982

At 48 hours' notice Kate is asked to take David Bowie's place in a Royal Rock Gala before HRH The Prince of Wales in aid of The Prince's Trust. She performs Wedding List live, backed by Pete Townsend and Midge Ure on guitars, Mick Karn on bass, Gary Brooker on keyboards and Phil Collins on drums.

"The best moment by far was Kate Bush's number, a storming success..." (Sunie, Record Mirror)

July 27, 1982

The single The Dreaming is finally released, to excellent music press reviews saluting Kate's creative courage. The single is stifled, however, by the radio producers and presenters, particularly on BBC Radio 1, who will not play it. The plans for a twelve-inch version are aborted”.

Maybe not the happiest end to the month, a few days shy of her birthday in 1982, a single that she’d hoped would be well received and a chart success got off to a rocky start. As it was, The Dreaming was Bush’s lowest-placed single to that point.

There are other examples of Julys where Bush encountered transformative moments in her career. July 2014 was the month before Before the Dawn started. Her celebrated residency, the final preparations and touches were added. In June 1985, Hounds of Love was completed. It was released in September. August was when Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) was released. The July was the bridge between Hounds of Love being completed and the first single coming out. That excitement and nervousness. On 30th July, 1988, Bush celebrates her thirtieth birthday by participating in an AIDS charity project involving some two-hundred  celebrities. She serves as a shopkeeper for the day at Blazer's boutique. On 30th July, we celebrate Bush’s birthday. There will be so many social media posts. Fans sharing their love for this icon! What was the biggest and most important July in her career? 1978 when she was starting work on Lionheart? Maybe 1985 when there was this expectation before Hounds of Love came out. Think about what Bush was doing in July 1989. Bush completed recording The Sensual World that month. It seems like a few of her albums were completed in July. I wonder if anyone has their own favourite Kate Bush Julys. I do hope, what with it being July, that maybe Kate Bush has completed her eleventh studio album. Perhaps she will announce its release for later in the year. We can but dream! In the meantime, I wanted to wish Kate Bush a very happy birthday for 30th July. With her fanbase growing and expanding every year, a whole new generation are discovering her music. There is no doubt that this experience is…

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 2014 during her Before the Dawn residency

A complete joy!

FEATURE: Kate Bush’s Hounds of Love at Forty: Two: Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)

FEATURE:

 

 

Kate Bush’s Hounds of Love at Forty

 Two: Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)

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THIS is the second anniversary feature…

around Kate Bush’s Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God). It was released as a single on 5th August, 1985 (this article provides interesting facts about the song). The first single from Hounds of Love, the fortieth anniversary is going to be a big occasion. I know a lot will be written about it. Hounds of Love turns forty on 16th September. I am going to draw from Leah Kardos’s 33 1/3 Hounds of Love book when it comes to a deeper dive into the track. One of the greatest singles Kate Bush ever released. Although its video is phenomenal and without controversy at all, unfortunately MTV banned it at one point. It was not the only video of hers that was banned. When she released Experiment IV in 1986, the video was deemed too scary, Even Wuthering Heights original video was not shown widely in America as it was seen as too intense and scary. It was not a hit. A second video was shot for Top of the Pops when the single became a success in the U.K. As this feature highlights, the American market once again found a very innocent and pretty normal video too scary or strange:

“The iconic Kate Bush was propelled back into the topic of discussion this week thanks to her legendary hit 'Running Up That Hill' featuring prominently in the new series of Stranger Things.

However, the track hasn't been without its controversy, with the video for it even being banned from MTV at one point.

The first volume of season four of Stranger Things premiered on 27 May, and sees the British pop legend's 1985 hit 'Running Up That Hill' feature heavily throughout the show, in turn helping the reclusive star get to number one on the iTunes chart.

It's first heard in the first episode, on Max Mayfield’s (Sadie Sink) Walkman, and continues to be a pivotal song for the character as the drama unfolds.

The success of the track has been such that not only has the song topped the iTunes chart, but it’s also overtaken 'Wuthering Heights' on Spotify to become Bush's most popular track on the service.

However, what people perhaps don't know about the track is that its abstract and controversial video was deemed suitable by MTV in the 1980s; the channel decided not to run it, instead opting for a lip-synced performance of it from the Terry Wogan show of all places instead.

While the video is certainly artfully done, it wasn't particularly outrageous. Featuring Bush performing an interpretive dance with dancer Michael Hervieu, the pair perform a repeated gesture suggestive of drawing a bow and arrow, with these scenes intercut with surreal sequences of Bush and Hervieu searching through crowds of masked strangers”.

I want to take from Leah Kardos’s Hounds of Love book as she dissects the music. The instruments and technology. A musicologist examination of an epic track. Kardos starts by starting how Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) starts with a Fairlight CMI drone. “The half-speed TRAMCHLO preset, drenched in thick, Quantexc reverb haze”. I think that the percussive beat is one of the most notable parts of the song. How it is the heartbeat and drive of the song. It is “a combination of LinnDrum rhythms and Stuart Elliott’s muscular toms and snares. Deeper than usual, the kick sample is tuned so low (around 65Hz) that it practically functions like a bass”. There is so much to discuss when it comes to the players and the dynamics. I would advise people pick up a copy of Leah Kardos’s book. Bush’s vocal delivery is another standout of Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God). “She will often hit the roof of the phrase (B♭) with an insistent, almost combative energy, like a bird testing a glass ceiling for a way out” (she gives an example of the lines “Do you want to know, know that it doesn’t hurt me”). The drone continues throughout the song. “At the end of the verse, Bush switches to a more caressing voice and the first softening melodic curve, ‘Do you want to hear about the deal that I’m making?’ Throughout the song, these moments of strident, declamatory intervallic leaping are briefly surrounded buy softer movements of lyrical warmth (‘You, it’s you and me’). The syncopated three-note background phrase (‘Yeah, yeah yo’) doesn’t move with the rest of the rest of the music to the tonic (C minor), but rather skips down to a flattened 7th (B♭)”. Leah Kardos notes how Paddy Bush’s balalaika is an essential element of the song. It comes “bursting into a shimmering, eternalized version of the glittering shards of smashed reality at the end of ‘Babooshska’”. I shall move on from the musical analysis. The inspection and investigation of the players and Bush’s vocal. The lyrics remain so powerful and inspiring.

The ability to swap places with a partner and stand in their shoes to understand them. Bush revealed in interviews how there is this greater scope for misinterpretation so that there is this misunderstanding. Making a deal with God would allow this communication and understanding. Leah Kardos argues how Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) is also about penetrative sex. Rather than the spiritual and emotional, Bush talking about swapping the physical experience: “to know how it feels to be a bottom (‘Do you want to know that it doesn’t hurt me’) or a top (‘Unaware I’m tearing you asunder’)”. The act of domination and being domination. Feeling and experiencing the power of a man’s body. How that physical experience can give power and strength so that Bush (or women) can run up hills, face huge challenges and conquer any problem. Kardos notes how Bush, through her career, has portrayed through her songs a ghost, a man, a donkey and an unborn child. On the final lines of Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God), “this was the first time Bush had sung in the voice of an evolved, empowered, non-binary entity”. However, Leah Kardos writes how Bush composed and demoed the song in late 1983. “It was an ethereal pop masterpiece that grabs you by the body with esurient momentum. A mature and focused articulation of desire and an eternal scream for equality. It creates empathy, not only for the others that we love, but also for our multiple other selves, hidden deep within”.

The video is almost as memorable as the song. Directed by David Garfarth, we see Kate Bush and her dance partner dressed in grey Japanese hakama trouser-skirt outfits. “Her co-performer, soon after the video was shot, began her gender transition and is now named Misha Hervieu, adding a rather remarkable extra component to the subversive nature of the lyrics”. With stunning choreography by Diane Gray, the video is considering one of Bush’s finest. Hervieu lifts Bush and manipulates her body into various shapes and positions. Bush does not mine during the song. It makes it more impactful. More interpretative dance and performance than a traditional Pop music video. Very unusual in 1985. My favourite part is when Bush gestures the drawing of a bow and arrow (this mirrors John Carder Bush’s single photo for the cover). Bush intended the video to be her farewell to dance. Her moving into filmic territory. I guess you could say this lasted until maybe the video for Rubberband Girl (from The Red Shoes in 1993), when the U.K. video was Kate Bush and her dance partner twisting and turning. Ssimilar to Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) in some ways, but different in others. Leah Kardos states Kate Bush wrote on her website in 2023 how she hoped it would be seen as a “filmic piece of dance”. 2022 is when this song gained new life after being featured in Netflix’s Stranger Things. It passed a billion streams on Spotify in 2023. In 2022, Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) reached number one in the U.K. Upon its release in 1985, the song got to number three in the charts. On 5th August, it will be forty years since this timeless and still-moving track was released. Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) continues to inspire and move people. It is Bush’s most popular song and the one most people associate with her – or the only track of hers they can name. Reading Leah Kardos’s analysis of the composition and lyrics of the song goes a long way to understanding Kate Bush’s genius…

AS a producer and songwriter.

FEATURE: A New Bond: Exploring the Female Spy Theme

FEATURE:

 

 

A New Bond

PHOTO CREDIT: cottonbro studio/Pexels

Exploring the Female Spy Theme

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I have been thinking about…

IN THIS PHOTO: Sean Connery as James Bond

a music tradition that really only applies to spy films fronted by men. In fact, it is the James Bond franchise that has these lush and dramatic songs. Celebrating this hero. The grandeur of them. Everyone has their own favourite Bond theme. Although women have sung Bond themes – everyone from Tina Turner to Shirley Bassey to Madonna -, they are always singing about the male spy. Although the Bond franchise will continue and is now going to be made by Amazon, they will cast male actors in the lead. Perhaps they cannot deviate because the spy is called ‘James’ Bond, so it wouldn’t fit necessarily to have a woman play that role. There have been films featuring women as spies. However, we do not really talk about the theme songs. The James Bond themes have a legacy and reputation of their own. They are legendary. In turn, that adds a lot of heat and extra credit to the films. In terms of ‘lost’ Bond themes, there have been songs released that could have made it. Or artists who seem like they are natural fits for the franchise. Like Lana Del Rey. However, I do wonder whether we need to shift focus. There are not a lot of film spy films. Although it is quite a niche genre, I would love to see a powerful theme song scoring this incredible film. I got the thought when recently listening to a Bond theme on the radio. Feeling how cool it would be if there was this slew of new theme songs that either backed a franchise with a woman in the lead or there was at least a one-off. When listening to Iraina Mancini’s 2023 album, Undo the Blue, there is a song on there that has that spy feel. Take a Bow is the final song on the album and would be a perfect fit for a spy film led by a woman. I don’t feel like the Bond series has moved on in terms of how it represents woman. Always having this notoriety because of sexism and a chauvinism, there have been small steps in the newer films.

Even though it is not non-existent, there have not been many examples of female spy films. I think there do need to be more. As much as anything, it would have to add to a genre that is largely male-dominated. Also having songs by women featuring in the credits. Women are not often represented on the screen in positions of power. There has been more inclusion in superhero films. However, these are only small steps. Atomic Blonde and Salt have shown that female-led spy thrillers can be commercially successful and critically acclaimed. I have always found the James Bond themes a little flawed. In the sense they are spotlighting a fictional character that is seriously flawed. There have been articles and pieces written arguing why it is important to give women more of a central role when it comes to spy fiction. There are some great examples of spy films where women lead. Not many have the sort of epic themes synonymous with the James Bond franchise. These one-off films are great. However, there has not been anything as successful and long-running as James Bond. Whilst it is more important to talk about the film rather than its theme, I do feel that it is a gap. These dazzling and evocative theme songs that will endures for years and decades. I guess it is vital that there is greater representation across all genres. Making sure that there is a shift. There is still a way to go in that sense. The spy film was always traditionally about men. Growth and diversification has occurred. Even so, the spy theme has always been tied to James Bond. It would be great to change that. Not only with more standalone films. Creating these new franchises. James Bond feeling quite old and in need of a refresh perhaps. The themes are legendary and almost as regarded as the films. But always about the same character. I feel that it is time to…

SHIFT the focus.

FEATURE: Spotlight: Duo Ruut

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

PHOTO CREDIT: Mia Tohver

Duo Ruut

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A duo that are…

PHOTO CREDIT: Mia Tohver

quite new to my ears, I wanted to spend some time with Duo Ruut. This is an Estonia duo of Ann-Lisett Rebane and Katariina Kivi. Even if they have been performing together for a number of years, their name and music is perhaps not as widely known as it should be. I am going to end with a review of their fabulous new album, Ilmateade. It is one that I would encourage people to seek out. Before that, I will bring in a couple of interviews. I will start with a deep interview from Rhythm Passport published last month. I am really interested in learning more about Duo Ruut. In terms of Estonian music, we do not have that many examples of artists from that nation who are well known. There is a richness to the music scene there that we need to explore more:

“In Estonia, the weather isn’t background noise. It’s narrative. The long, dim winters tighten your world into a kind of tunnel vision. The brief, ecstatic summers feel like a reward for having made it through. And in between, during those awkward and indecisive weeks of spring or autumn, you get stuck in limbo. One day it’s T-shirt weather; the next, you’re digging out your winter coat again. You leave the house with confidence and return damp, cold, and full of existential doubt. That inevitably shapes how people behave, how they write, how they make music.

So maybe it wasn’t by chance that when we met Ann-Lisett Rebane and Katariina Kivi, the two minds and four hands behind Duo Ruut, Tallinn was caught in one of those very Estonian mood swings. It was early April during Tallinn Music Week. After a couple of freakishly warm days when temperatures had climbed close to 20 degrees, snow had fallen overnight, sending festival-goers back into scarves and boots, weaving through puddles and ghost-traced tramlines in Telliskivi.

“Our new album is called The Weather Report – in Estonian, Ilma Teade – and it’s our second LP,” debuted Ann-Lisett. “We’ve had one full album and one EP before this, and it’s full of songs we’re really excited to share.”

The title might seem deliberate, but it wasn’t entirely planned. “It was kind of a joke at first,” she continued. “We’d say, ‘Oh, let’s call the album The Weather Report,’ because it sounded so silly in the beginning. But in the end, it made sense, it has a meaning behind it.”

“Yeah, as time went on and we were making the songs, we started to realise that most of the songs talk about the weather,” Katariina added. “Which is, I think, a very Estonian thing as well…”

The name only came once everything else was in place. “The title came as one of the last things, I would say,” Katariina explained. “When all the songs were ready. It wasn’t decided beforehand to write songs about the weather, but…”

It turns out album’s theme also surfaced on its own, gradually and without planning. “The album consists of songs that we’ve written over the last four-ish years,” said Ann-Lisett. “And during that time, the weather just kept showing up, maybe because it’s always there, shaping how we feel, even if we don’t realise it.”

That timeline stretches back to 2019, when Duo Ruut released their debut LP Tuule Sõnad, followed by the Kulla Kerguseks EP in 2021. “Quite soon after the release of the EP, we started writing this album,” Katariina recalled. “It’s like a collection of all the places we have been in the last four, five years.”

The songs, scattered across time and geography, slowly gathered into shape. “I would say the first ideas of different songs have come from many, many different places,” Ann-Lisett added. “One idea came to us in a soundcheck in a small town in Portugal. One song we wrote for our sound engineer’s wedding. And so it’s like a collection of our moods and memories and travels and experiences.”

That sensitivity to mood runs throughout Duo Ruut’s music. Some songs are lyrical, others simply hang in a certain emotional atmosphere. “We have a few songs on this album that aren’t about anything in particular,” Ann-Lisett noted. “We just wanted to capture a certain mood or feeling.”

“Sometimes it’s not really about the weather itself,” Katariina agreed, “but about how you react to it, what kind of feelings it brings out. For example, we literally sing about rain, but it’s more about the emotion the music carries than the rain itself.”

So much of Duo Ruut’s identity has been shaped not just by Estonia itself, but by the act of carrying Estonia with them, on tour, in interviews, on stage, in the way they frame their music. When asked why so many Estonian musicians are starting to make waves internationally, Katariina offered a candid reflection. “I think it’s to do with our collective need to prove ourselves, to put Estonia on the map. We’re a small country, and that’s part of our identity.”

Ann-Lisett agreed. “Yeah, and a lot of Estonian artists really want people to know we’re from Estonia. If you’re from a big country, it might not matter so much. But for us, it’s almost like a mission.”

“Not just where we’re from,” Katariina continued, “but also what it’s like here. We’re always explaining: ‘We’re from Northern Europe, we’ve got the sea, the forests, the weather…’”

Ann-Lisett laughed. “We really end up being kind of like cultural ambassadors, constantly filling people in about Estonia because many still don’t know where it is or what it’s like.”

There’s structural support behind it too. Katariina pointed out, “We’ve had really good managers helping us with music export. That’s a huge part of it.”

The music pulls its weight too. “The kind of folk-meets-world sound we do really travels,” Ann-Lisett noted. “It fits into all sorts of settings, not just folk festivals. We’ve played really varied events. That’s been true for other Estonian acts too, like Puuluup, Mari Kalkun…”

“There’s a new wave coming through as well,” Katariina chimed in. “Puuluup and Mari Kalkun are already well established, and Trad.Attack! are wrapping up something new. We’ll probably be hearing more from them soon. We were kind of at the start of that surge in younger traditional bands in Estonia. A lot of others came up around the same time as us”.

The second interview is from ERR. They spoke with Duo Ruut after they played several shows at Glastonbury last month. A huge achievement and a dream for them, it must have been very special seeing them on the stage. I do hope that they get booked for more U.K. festivals soon enough. Their fanbase and name is building here. For anyone who has not discovered Duo Ruut yet, I would encourage you to follow them on social media and listen to Ilmateade:

“There were even a couple of Estonians there who were very touched to hear an Estonian artist at Glastonbury," said Rebane's bandmate Katariina Kivi, adding that the audience for their second concert was almost as warm as the Glastonbury weather.

"We sold quite a few records," Kivi said. "It was also nice that when people were walking around the festival area between concerts, they recognized us, thanked us for the show and said that they had already recommended us to their friends."

"Some said that our concert was the highlight of Glastonbury for them. Even after the concert, people came up to talk to us, ask us about the instruments and the music, and we signed autographs on our records."

Among the new fans Duo Ruut gained at the festival was British comedian Robin Ince, who was so enamored by their performance, he even wrote a poem about them and posted a video of it on Instagram. According to Katariina Kivi, they also had a warm conversation with Cerys Matthews of Welsh indie band Catatonia.

Ann-Lisett Rebane admitted that although things turned out well in the end, she couldn't help but feel a few nerves before going on stage to such a huge crows.

"At festivals of this size, you usually have a relatively short time to prepare. You have to get everything ready in a few minutes – a quick line-check and then you're on stage," Rebane explained. "That's why we thought it was important to travel with our own sound technician this time, and thanks to them we felt much more confident."

Ann-Lisett Rebane admitted that although things turned out well in the end, she couldn't help but feel a few nerves before going on stage to such a huge crows.

"At festivals of this size, you usually have a relatively short time to prepare. You have to get everything ready in a few minutes – a quick line-check and then you're on stage," Rebane explained. "That's why we thought it was important to travel with our own sound technician this time, and thanks to them we felt much more confident."

Katariina Kivi described playing at Glastonbury as an "important milestone" in the band's career, a sentiment Rebane agrees with.

"It's still hard to believe that it actually happened – to perform with such big names at the same festival, to do 3 concerts and experience this whole event. It's hard to put it into words," Rebane said.

Next up for Duo Ruut is Denmark's Roskilde Festival on July 2. Fans in Estonia will have chance to hear one of the band's compositions during the Song and Dance Festival on July 3. The band will then perform a full set at the Viljandi Folk Music Festival on July 26”.

I am ending with a review of Ilmateade from The Guardian. The fact that the album features other Estonian musicians shows what depth there is to the scene. How incredible and distinct these musicians are. From here, I think Duo Ruut will record more albums and embark on bigger tour dates. I would like to see them live one day. Although I have only just discovered them, the seeds have already been planted. I am compelled to learn a lot more and follow their careers:

“Duo Ruut (Square Duo) are Ann-Lisett Rebane and Katariina Kivi, two Estonian musicians who write, sing and play facing each other, their instrument being a single kannel (an Estonian zither). Playing with the texts and repetitive motifs of runo song, a form of traditional oral poetry specific to the Baltic Finnic languages, their music holds a glistening minimalism in its rhythms and a crossover sheen in its sound. Rebane and Kivi’s voices help – often sweet, but also sharp when required.

Their ambitious second album Ilmateade (Weather Report) explores the powerful yet under-sung connections between the weather and emotion. It begins with the minute-long Intro, a track that builds gorgeously on the scratchy, dying notes of their 2021 EP, Kulla Kerguseks (From the Lightness of Gold), implying both continuity and metamorphosis.
Then we’re in Udu (Fog), lulled along on thick, beautiful clouds of shifting time signatures, before Vastlalaul (The Sledding Song) slows and speeds, glossily, through the snow. These songs are rhythmically complex and have solid, ancient roots, but fans of ambient, Balearic dreaminess and the softer sides of indie pop and psych-folk will find woozy comforts here.

Good entry points include the earwormy melancholia of Vilud Ilmad (Gloomy Weather) and the itchy handclaps, in five beats to the bar, propelling us through Suvi Rannas (Summer on the Beach), in which we’re told, in Estonian, of days hot with horseflies and a sky broad and bare.

Other Estonian artists brought into the fold provide different depths. Guitarist Erki Pärnoja’s solos swirl around the women’s wordless melodies on Interlude, while poet EiK 2509 adds spoken-word contributions to the mesmerising Enne Ööd (Nightfall). All together, these 12 tracks create a hypnotic shipping forecast transplanted to the Baltic Sea, carrying us along on its eddying tides”.

I am going to leave things there. Go and follow Duo Ruut. I think they are primed for many more successful years in the music industry. I really love what they are doing. A phenomenal sound hard to compare with any other act, so many people will wonder…

WHAT their next step is.

___________

Follow Duo Ruut

Official:

https://www.duoruut.ee/

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/duoruut

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/@duoruut

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/72h84OqPul8946qCx2zDcZ?si=aQP7clyCTCKdvBZ5fY_isQ

FEATURE: Groovelines: Madonna - Music

FEATURE:

 

 

Groovelines

Madonna - Music

__________

ONE of Madonna’s…

finest and most celebrated singles turns twenty-five on 21st August. Music was the first single taken from the album of the same name. Madonna’s eighth studio album, it arrived two years after the hugely successful Ray of Light. Perhaps her best-reviewed album, there was a lot of expectation around its follow-up. In terms of genres and sounds, there was a shift from Ray of Light. Between 1998 and 2000, a whole host of incredible women in Pop came through who cited Madonna as an influence. Including Christina Aguilera and Britney Spears. Whereas one can see Ray of Light as mixing Electronica, Ambient, Trip Hop, Psychedelia and Middle Eastern music, there was more of a shift to Funk, House, Rock, Country and Folk. Music was a number one album across the world. Even though the reviews in 2000 for Music were not as heady and ecstatic as they were for Ray of Light, in years since, there has been more praise and adulation. Madonna was bringing into Pop elements and sounds that were not present in 2000. In a sea of commercial artists, with boybands and girl groups ruling, Madonna was doing something different. Though she did not invent the genres and mix you hear on Music, it was not being done by other Pop acts in 2000. It was another reinvention and wonderful album. Music turns twenty-five on 18th September. It contains other terrific singles, Don’t Tell Me and What It Feels Like for a Girl. I want to focus on Music’s title track for this Groovelines. Madonna wrote and produced Music with Mirwais Ahmadzaï. I will end with some critical reception for this gem. The first single from this new album, after the phenomenal success of Ray of Light, so many eyes were on Madonna. She did not disappoint!

In 2020, GRAMMY celebrated Music on its twentieth anniversary. It is interesting what they write about its futuristic and genre-fusing lead single. One that was a big chart success – it was a number one in multiple nations – and was all over the radio. I remember when it came out and I was instantly stunned. Excited by what the rest of the album would offer. I think Music is one of Madonna’s most important moments. It still sounds so fresh and fascinating to this day. It has really not aged at all:

“Music," the lead single and title track of her eighth studio album, struck the airwaves like an intergalactic robot in August 2000, heralding a new sound for Madonna and the arrival of 21st-century pop music. With its digitally modified instruments, arpeggiated synths and a chorus Madonna says was inspired by the crowd at a Sting concert, "Music" combined elements of electronic and analog to create an anthem of unity on the dance floor. The Jonas Åkerlund-directed music video—featuring a pre-Borat Sacha Baron Cohen as his character, Ali G—seemed to skewer the decadence of late-'90s hip-hop bling while also revelling in it. We see a pimp-suited Madonna getting into the groove, relishing a night at the strip club with her girls and fending off creeps like a boss, all filmed while she was five and a half months pregnant.

On the strength of its lead single, Music released in the U.S. on September 19, 2000, via Madonna's Maverick imprint under Warner Bros. and opened at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, her highest-charting album in over a decade. Although critics didn't gush over Music with quite the same enthusiasm as they had its predecessor, the album moved millions of physical copies in its first few weeks, eventually going on to garner triple-platinum certification in the U.S. It ultimately earned five total GRAMMY nominations, including Best Pop Vocal Album and Record Of The Year for "Music" in 2001 and Best Short Form Music Video for "Don't Tell Me" in 2002. (Former Maverick Records art director and designer Kevin Reagan, who designed the album, won for Best Recording Package in 2001.)

In an effort to introduce the Queen of Pop to a new generation of fans, the album's promo campaign combined the traditional (a terrestrial radio premiere, a Rolling Stone cover story) with the new (an AOL listening party/live chat, a livestreamed club performance) over a timeline that seems enviably long by today's standards. Comparisons to more junior pop artists on the charts and airwaves swirled around her, but Madonna avoided miring herself in the muck.

Instead, for an exclusive performance at New York City's 3000-capacity Roseland Ballroom that November, Madonna took the stage wearing a Dolce & Gabbana-designed T-shirt emblazoned with the name Britney Spears. For her performance at MTV's European Music Awards later that month, she wore a similar shirt that said Kylie Minogue. "It's my celebration of other girls in pop music," she said backstage at the EMAs, praising the younger women before adding, somewhat cheekily, "I think they're the cutest."

Such spontaneous statements of support and admiration are almost boringly common now, but in an era when pop music had been denied entry into the credibility club, the moment held more weight. Though the press loved to pit female pop stars against each other at the turn of the century as much as it does now, musically, there wasn't much rivalry between them. With Spears still steeped in the sounds of Swedish pop on Oops!… I Did It Again and Minogue diving into disco on Light Years, Madonna had crafted a sound of her own on Music.

While Orbit returned for several tracks on the album, the majority of Music was co-helmed by the relatively unknown French producer Mirwais Ahmadzaï. Like his contemporaries in the French touch electronic scene (Daft Punk, Air, Rinôçérôse), Mirwais was unabashed in his affection for American music of the '70s, including the funk and R&B influences of house. Those influences, paired with his proficiency in production, worked well with Madonna's penchant for pop hooks, resulting in an LP whose sonic textures included space-age fills, guitar-washed in computerizing effects, and vocals that alternate between alien and intimate”.

Music has featured high in rankings. When critics decide which are her best singles. In 2018, The Guardian ranked her seventy-eight singles and placed Music tenth. This is what they had to say: “A glorious update of the blissfully simple sentiments of Holiday and Everybody, infused with a Daft Punk-like robotic swagger, courtesy of Mirwais’ production. Its unlikely inspiration was Madonna’s attendance at a Sting gig: she was moved at how physically his songs connected his fans. Bonus points for the way she sings “bourgeoisie”. In 2022, NME ranked her ten best singles. Music came in fourth: “Always a club kid at heart, Madonna knows a simple lyric can sound profound on the dance floor. That’s definitely true of this song’s iconic refrain: “Music makes the people come together.” Co-produced by French electro musician Mirwais Ahmadzaï, with whom she reunited for 2019’s ‘Madame X’ album, ‘Music’ is a glitzy disco banger infused with Madge’s signature brand of camp abandon. But this being Madonna, it’s also deadly serious at the same time. When she sings “don’t think of yesterday and I don’t look at the clock”, you know she means it. Madge-ic moment: Probably sneaking the word “bourgeoisie” into a dance-pop song. She’s always had an intellectual streak”. In 2016, Rolling Stone decided on Madonna’s best fifty songs. Music ranked it ninth: “After years spent making albums that bridged boundaries of race, gender and sexual orientation, Madonna finally wrote a tune explicitly devoted to the democratizing power of music itself. But her inspiration for this glitchy disco throwdown didn't come from her early days in New York's wild club scene – it emerged at a Sting concert where fans were well-behaved until the musician played old Police hits. "Everyone was practically holding hands… I mean, it really moved me," she told Rolling Stone in 2000. "And I thought, 'That's what music does to people.'" The track, propelled by French dance music producer Mirwais' pounding beat, was a Number One smash, and its video (featuring a little-known Sacha Baron Cohen) showed Madonna skillfully uniting the bourgeoisie and the rebel, even as she was five-and-a-half months pregnant”.

There is no denying the impact of Music. This incredible first single from one of Madonna’s best albums, I wanted to bring in a Wikipedia article that collates critical reaction. A Pop songs that was a lot deeper than a lot of what was around in 2000, this was proof that nobody could predict her! It was such a thrilling time seeing the new single from the Queen of Pop go up against her contemporaries:

“Upon release, the song received generally positive reviews from critics. J. Randy Taraborrelli, author of Madonna: An Intimate Biography, declared "Music" as a dance-anthem "that reaches into the future but also slyly conjures images and feelings of the good ol' disco days". In a similar review, Lucy O'Brien, author of Madonna: Like an Icon, relegated the track as "a resurrection of the disco girl" image. She listed "Music" as a career-defining moment for Madonna, like previous singles "Vogue" and "Justify My Love" (both released in 1990). O'Brien clarified the song as "the same genre defining quality, robotic, tinny, trashy and audacious... She resurrects the Madonna imperative. Dance. Party. Surrender". Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic called it "a thumping track which sounds funkier, denser, sexier with each spin" Jim Farber of the New York Daily News gave a positive feedback, stating that it is "everything a single should be: pithy, simple and maddeningly catchy, her most instantly embraceable single since 'Holiday'". Farber also highlighted the lyrics, which he felt covered familiar ground for Madonna by talking about the power of dance music. This thought was shared by Fouz-Hernández, who believed that like her debut single "Everybody", "Music" defined Madonna's artistic credibility.

Reviewing the parent album for Rolling Stone, Barry Walters also compared it to Madonna's earlier work.  Sal Cinquemani from Slant Magazine called it Madonna's best dance track since "Vogue", also comparing it to her 1985 single, "Into the Groove". In his review of Madonna's 2001 compilation GHV2, Cinquemani praised the single's "retro club beats and vintage synth sound". Giving it a B rating, he concluded that "only a former material girl living in a NASDAQ world could get away with a song like this". Dimitri Ehrlich from Vibe found "Music" to be "a bouncing parade of synthesizers that pose the question 'Do fortysomething baby-mamas still have the divine right to get down?' (The answer is yes)". Chuck Arnold from Entertainment Weekly, called it one of Madonna's "most eccentric hits ever" and found it to be reminiscent of her earlier works, specifically "Holiday".

It is important to write about Music. I am sure that the single will get a few words on its twenty-fifth anniversary. However, I do not think it will get the love it deserves. I will finish off with this Official Charts article that looked at what else was in the charts the week Madonna delivered one of her best singles. You can tell so many artists of today are influenced by that one song alone:

“Released on August 21 2000, Music debuted atop the Official Singles Chart that same week; at the time becoming her tenth track to reach the summit.

The track spent two consecutive weeks at Number 1, before going on to tally a total of 15 weeks in the Top 40. Music can also claim to be the sole chart-topper from its parent album of the same name, with follow-up singles Don't Tell Me and What It Feels Like for a Girl reaching Number 4 and Number 7 respectively.

To date, Music has accumulated a total of 510,000 UK chart units; having shifted 388,000 physical copies. The song also boasts in excess of 9.6 million streams in the UK so far.

Elsewhere on the Official Singles Chart this week in 2000...

Following one of the biggest chart battles of the 2000s, which saw Spiller and Sophie Ellis-Bextor come out triumphant, Spiller's Groovejet (If This Ain't Love) and True Steppers and Dane Bowers feat. Victoria Beckham's Out of Your Mind both slipped one spot, to Number 2 and Number 3 respectively.

Victoria's Spice Girls bandmate Melanie C was also on the decent with former Number 1 I Turn To You (5), while boisterous double act Daphne & Celeste claimed the week's second highest new entry - and their third consecutive Top 20 single - with a cover of Alice Cooper's School's Out! (12).

You really did have to be there”.

A worldwide chart smash in 2000, it is almost twenty-five since the release of Music. I will talk about the album it came from closer to its twenty-fifth anniversary in September. For now, an important highlight of this phenomenal single. One of Madonna’s most enduring and original. After such a successful album like Ray of Light, Madonna could have repeated that album or gone down a more conventional route. Felt the pressure and released a first single from a new album that was a disappointment. As it was, Madonna took another step forward and wowed a whole new wave of fans and critics. For that alone, you have to…

BOW down to her.

FEATURE: Spotlight: Revisited: flowerovlove

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight: Revisited

flowerovlove

__________

HAVING spotlighted her…

PHOTO CREDIT: Finn Waring

over two years ago now, I felt it was overdue I return to flowerovlove. Since then, she has released the 2024 E.P., ache in my tooth, in addition to some fabulous singles this year. The moniker of the London-based producer and artist Joyce Cissé, she won Artist to Watch at the 2022 A&R Awards and New Artist at the 2024 Music Week Women in Music Awards. I am going to come to some interviews from this year. To start, I will go back to last year and an NME interview with flowerovlove. Published around the release of the ache in my tooth E.P., we get some biography and background to start which is very useful:

“After all, writing about big feelings has always come naturally to Cisse. Born in London and raised at home in Essex speaking Mandingo, the language of her parents’ native Ivory Coast, Cisse first started making music aged 13 around the same time her older brother Wilfred taught himself how to produce. The first song they made together was a rap track that she’s already decided will soundtrack her Album Of The Year win at the Grammys one day. “I realised: ‘damn, I really do love writing’,” she recalls.

In her teens she was scouted as a model and featured in a Gucci campaign as her first professional gig aged just 15. Balancing budding careers in both modelling and music, Cisse left school after her GCSEs and swapped exam halls for fashion shows with stars like Zendaya. After independently dropping her 2022 debut EP, ‘A Mosh Pit In The Clouds’, the singer signed to Capitol Records on her 18th birthday.

Your new EP captures universal experiences but they’re all told through Flowerovlove’s light-hearted and fun sound. Why are you drawn to that approach with storytelling?

“I connect most to songs about love, whether it’s self love, or it’s about other people. Love is so universal, which is why I’m writing about love. Stuff was happening in my love life and I was like, ‘There’s nothing I can do but write songs about this pain or this amazing feeling’. It’s crazy how love can turn to hatred so fast, and from the start of the EP to the end, I go through that journey sonically as well as lyrically.

“The EP is about different types of love, and it’s in chronological order. It tells a story. And I honestly just love the sound of pop. It’s the music I’ve always wanted to make.”

Your new EP captures universal experiences but they’re all told through Flowerovlove’s light-hearted and fun sound. Why are you drawn to that approach with storytelling?

“I connect most to songs about love, whether it’s self love, or it’s about other people. Love is so universal, which is why I’m writing about love. Stuff was happening in my love life and I was like, ‘There’s nothing I can do but write songs about this pain or this amazing feeling’. It’s crazy how love can turn to hatred so fast, and from the start of the EP to the end, I go through that journey sonically as well as lyrically.

“The EP is about different types of love, and it’s in chronological order. It tells a story. And I honestly just love the sound of pop. It’s the music I’ve always wanted to make”.

One reason why I want to include parts of a PRS for Music interview from February is because, on the same day ache in my tooth was released, flowerovlove collected the PRS for Music and PRS Foundation-sponsored New Artist Award at the Music Week Women In Music Awards. In this interview, flowerovlove discusses the importance of remaining grounded and developing her confidence as a songwriter:

“On the same day Ache In My Tooth was released, Joyce was on stage in London accepting the PRS for Music and PRS Foundation-sponsored New Artist award at the Music Week Women In Music Awards. It’s an accolade that draws attention not only to her achievements in music so far, but to her desire to empower and support women around her.

‘I’m just grateful that women are being seen, especially as a young Black woman myself,’ she says of her win. ‘I hope we get to be seen more. That’s why I’m here.’

For Joyce, it was particularly special to be in a room with so many other inspiring women whose stories and achievements gave her new insights into the industry. ‘There was so much love there,’ she adds. ‘Even if I hadn’t been there to collect an award, it was just nice to be in the room. It wasn’t really about me when I was there — I was just soaking everything in.’

Joyce clearly has a constructive mindset when it comes to tackling the landscape around her. But as someone that’s been making and releasing music from such a young age, what has it been like navigating the industry as a solo artist?

‘My honest answer is, I’m not sure if I’ve navigated it yet,’ she admits. ‘But PRS was a big part of my career when I first started, and it still is [now]. I didn’t even know what PRS was initially — my brother told me to sign up when I first made a Spotify account — but it’s been amazing. I think it’s a great platform for artists [as it means you remain] somewhat in control of your finances, and it’s also important in terms of giving you the knowledge of what’s happening in the industry too.’

'PRS was a big part of my career when I first started, and it still is.'

Joyce was also able to make use of funding through PRS early on in her career, which helped her build both her aesthetic and overall connection to her fanbase.

‘It was a very easy process [to apply], and very helpful in terms of [providing] funding needed for videos or events,’ she recalls. ‘I love to do fan events where I open and style a thrift store, and then spend time with my fans. Stuff like that is great, but there’s so many similar things you just can’t do as an independent artist without funding”.

I will end with an interview from The Standard from last month. The tremendous flowerovlove has joinined Halsey for dates on her North America tour. She has already opened for Olivia Rodrigo at BST in Hyde Park. This is a simply awe-inspiring artist who is going to headline festivals and release a string of huge albums. Supporting some of today’s biggest artists, the stock and popularity of flowerovlove is rising by the month. I am excited to see what the rest of the year holds in store:

“I just want to make pop the way I would have loved to have had it growing up,” says Cissé. “My music is very conversational, it’s somewhat nostalgic, and it’s super fun.” She cites everyone from ABBA to Justin Bieber as an influence. “I Iove dumb songs. I love when the lyrics are very unhinged.”

Music was her first love, but it’s not her first career. Cissé began modelling at 15, booking campaigns for Gucci and walking the runway at Paris Fashion Week. While she learned lots from the experience, she was soon eager to return to making music. “I felt my calling was just greater than being a model,” says Cissé. “It was to express myself, and it has nothing to do with the way I look.”

She implicitly understands the importance of iconography in contemporary pop, the way top artists encode messages to fans. She’s also got a much cooler term for it than the phrase Easter egg: “lore”. She’s creating her own mythology. “I like to do things with socks, I’ll have little snippets of text written on them.” She loves it when her fans go on the hunt for the hints she’s dropping. “Sometimes they think stuff is a clue when it’s not, and I love it,” says Cissé.

Singing about love inevitably means people are desperate to work out who the subjectof a song is. There has been more than one occasion where someone in Cissé’s circle mistakenly thought they had become a muse. “I recently got blocked because someone thought a song was about them,” she says.

Performing is clearly home for Cissé. She would rather be on the bill at a festival than in the crowd. And she can’t wait for fans to hear her new work and learn more of that lore. “It’s been a long time and I’m ready,” she says. “I’m excited for people to hear my music and understand my lyrics and feel something.”

Don’t fight the feeling, it’s about to be a summer of love — or rather, Flowerovlove”.

The brilliant ache in my tooth won some hugely positive reviews. I wonder whether Joyce Cissé is working on a debut album at the moment. With some big U.S. dates coming soon, the rest of this year will see flowerovlove win over new fans and hearts. Go and follow her if you do not already. Someone who I was captivated by when I spotlighted her in 2023, that sense of amazement and love has only grown. This is a phenomenal artist who is no longer ‘rising’, ‘promising’ or ‘on the cusp’. The future legend that is flowerovlove is truly…

IN full bloom.

___________

Follow flowerovlove

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/flowerovlove/

Twitter:

https://x.com/flowerovlove

TikTok:

https://www.tiktok.com/@flowerovlove

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/1JspXUvEv3D9ddMeLNqYWj?si=gwcTH3UoRMmKEI8IQ3GOdw

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBc4_7tN6xY4S6Zj9JW0OCg

FEATURE: A Thousand Words: Refreshing and Revitalising the Album Cover

FEATURE:

 

 

A Thousand Words

IN THIS IMAGE: Focus, 2022-24 by Jenny Saville/PHOTO CREDIT: Prudence Cuming

Refreshing and Revitalising the Album Cover

__________

THIS is a subject that…

IN THIS IMAGE: Drift, 2020-22 by Jenny Saville

I explore now and then. The best and boldest album covers of any given year. I am still of the opinion that it is a pretty hit-and-miss affair when it comes to album covers. Whether many artists do not consider it important to put that much effort in, I would say that maybe a quarter of new albums have covers I would deem impressive or memorable. In terms of those that truly stand out and astonish, there is a very small selection each year. One feels there is so much potential and possibility. I have included a fabulous Jenny Saville painting at the top of this feature. I hope I gave credited it sufficiently and want to state this is an editorial feature so I will not be making money from this. I would hate to run afoul of an extraordinary artist! Back in 2009, a Jenny Saville painting was used as a cover by Manic Street Preachers (she was also responsible for the cover art of their 1994 album, The Holy Bible). It was banned. Or at least it was deemed inappropriate and it was censored by supermarkets. The stunning and unforgettable image for Journal for Plague Lovers shows what power a painting of this type could have. I feel, with so many (musical) artists favouring a basic portrait or some truly unimaginative compositions, artists like Jenny Saville could help revitalise the album cover. I was thinking of an album cover for a hypothetical album where a woman in 1950s-style clothing is pushing a pram in the U.S. and women coo over it. Inside is either a sonogram on fire or a newborn who is still attached to the umbilical chord but is about to be killed. It is a reaction to America banning abortions. In the background there are all kinds of images that contrast traditional values, political insanity, women’s body rights being removed and this dark new America. It would be a painting very much influenced by Jenny Saville. I would recommend anyone who can go and see Jenny Saville: The Anatomy of Painting at London’s National Portrait Gallery go and see it. It runs until September. It has won rave reviews.

IN THIS IMAGE: The album cover for Megan Thee Stallion’s 2024 album, MEGAN

You really do need to experience these paintings in the flesh to get the full experience and impact. However, artists like Jenny Saville create images that linger long in the mind. That is sort of what you want from an album cover. Not to say artists need to connect with artists (as in painters) every time. I mean there is so much more potential beyond what is currently out there. There were some notable album covers from last year but, if you look at the examples from this feature, how many do you instantly get stunned by or strain your eyes, amazed by the detail and striking image? Maybe four from the list of forty from that feature. Given the number of albums released every year, that is not a good proportion! There is that possibility that there will be censorship. It is amazing that we have taken a massive step back from the 1990s or 2000s. So many covers banned or censored for something deemed a bit sexual or risky. How sensitive they were! Now, given the political censorship and the fact the U.K. government is pretty much a fascist organisation, you can imagine the most innocuous album covers coming under scrutiny. Anything that related to conflicts and violence around the world would be met with huge condemnation. Think about the cover for Sabrina Carpenter’s Man’s Best Friend. That upcoming album has sparked more debate around its cover – where Carpenter is subservient and almost animal-like as her hair is pulled by a man whose face we do not see – has garnered more attention than the music. If a cover is misinterpreted or it courts any sort of controversy then that is attacked rather than applauded. In Carpenter’s case, it is not a cover that excuses or promotes abuse against women or domestic violence.

IN THIS PHOTO: Sabrina Carpenter/PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images

Contemporary artwork should definitely be used more on album covers. It connects music listeners with different artists and there is that sense of gravity and awe you get from a painting that you cannot get from a photo of the artist. Even so, there is a huge place for photography. An inventive composition or a shot that makes you take a step back. When was the last time you saw an album cover like that? It is about the music I know but, as a phenomenal album cover alone can sell vinyl and do so for years to come, I do wonder whether we have passed a stage when album covers have less stock than they used to. Think about the greatest covers of all times and nearly all of them are from years and decades ago. Seeing these sense-altering paintings from Jenny Saville made me think about album art. People might agree that the art of the album cover is in decline. That artists value it less. I look around at new albums and I often imagine my own versions. I mentioned an idea that I had. I am a very visual thinker and there is so much scope when it comes to creating a seriously standout album cover, and yet, there are few of the modern day out there – unless people point me in the right direction! The album cover is part of the package and links to the music. I feel a boring or missed opportunity of a cover reflects badly on an album and affects my listening experience. There is no denying the fact that the cover is…

PHOTO CREDIT: Andrea Piacquadio/Pexels

AS important as the music!

FEATURE: Among These Brilliant Women… Reasons Why You Need to Join The Trouble Club

FEATURE:

 

 

Among These Brilliant Women…

IN THIS PHOTO: Entrepreneur Grace Beverley was a hugely engaging and popular guest when she spoke at The Trouble Club on Saturday, 28th June at Conway Hall, London/PHOTO CREDIT: Grace Beverley via The New Statesman

Reasons Why You Need to Join The Trouble Club

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YOU may be a member already…

IN THIS PHOTO: Yuan Yang, a journalist and the first Chinese-born British M.P., is a guest of The Trouble Club on Wednesday, 23rd July at The Conduit in Covent Garden, London/PHOTO CREDIT: ©House of Commons (no alterations were made to this image)

but, for those who are on the fence or are unaware of The Trouble Club, I am going to argue why you need to be more affirmative and decisive! I recently did write about The Trouble Club but, as the speaker whose photo I used as the main image cancelled her appearance, it was a minor backfire in that sense. It was nobody’s fault. I just feel I need to rectify this error and, as she has already spoken for The Trouble Club, I am on safe ground using Grace Beverley as the ‘cover star’! I am going to lead to an interview with her in a minute. Rather than repeat what I normally do with these features and look back at events I have attended in the past few weeks or so and then look forward to upcoming ones, I am going to split it into two. I am going to spotlight Grace Beverley but also mention the event which is happening tomorrow evening – that I am attending – that is of particular interest. After that, I am going to discuss the club as a whole and why you need to be a member. Let’s do some housekeeping before continuing. Whilst this is something CEO and owner Ellie Newton says before beginning an interview with a guest – usually she wants people not to trip on wires near the stage and have deaths on her hands! -, I am using this opportunity to highlight the ways you can support The Trouble Club. Go and follow Ellie Newton on Instagram and The Trouble Club here.

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You can also follow them on Twitter. You can apply for membership here. At a time when there are so many exclusive members clubs and annual fees can be insane, The Trouble Club is inclusive and affordable. Grated, as you would expect, the vast majority of members are women, though there is a growing number of male members. Though I love the breadth of members, I think the biggest bonus and benefit is being in a room filled with passionate and fascinating women – which is no shade on any of the male members! The array of venues that events are held in is extraordinary too. How these unique spaces and the choice of guests combines beautifully to create these unforgettable evening! Over the past couple of months or so I have seen everyone from Katie Piper to Charlotte Proudman. Of course, as I write in every feature about The Trouble Club, there is a wish-list of guests I would love to see. Returning guests such as Gloria Steinem and Laura Bates. Trouble virgins – probably the wrong wording; ‘debut guests’?! – such as Jenny Saville, Billie Piper, Michaela Coel, Gillian Anderson and Greta Gerwig (though, if she is booked, they may need to hire the biggest venue they have ever been in to satisfy the demand!). I am going to revisit a terrific event from Saturday, 28th June. In a first time for The Trouble Club, they held a trio of events on a Saturday at the same venue. At Conway Hall, Sarah Harman and then Emma Slade Edmondson and Nicole Ocran helped to create a wonderful day of events. Even though theirs were not hugely populated – maybe the over-hot weather and the fact it was a Saturday was a factor; a shame considering how incredible they were! – these speakers were amazing. I will write why I try and attend as many events as possible.

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Welcoming in a packed audience, Grace Beverley spoke about her experiences as owner of TALA. Their mission and ethos is to “bring you consciously-made, active-inspired pieces that deliver on performance, fit, quality and style, without the hefty price tag”. The Working Hard with Grace Beverley is a podcast I would recommend everyone subscribe to. Last July, GQ were invited to Grace Beverley’s London home. Not even thirty, Beverley owns TALA and the fitness brand, Shreddy. With a successful podcast too, she is extremely busy. However, she ensures that health and good sleep are at the top of her priority list:

“What does an average day look like for you?

I always post my daily schedule on my Instagram [because] you hear a lot about the 5am club and I wanted to paint a very accurate picture of what my life actually looks like. I'm one of those people who wakes up as close as physically possible to the time I have to leave the house.

Generally, I try not to do something more than two nights of the week on weekdays: I find that I get really burnt out otherwise. On Monday night I see my friends because there were a good few years where I felt like we just saw each other only last minute. So this is as an equivalent to a date night. Other than that I will eat at home with my dogs and my fiancé and watch TV.

A lot of your business is fitness-oriented. How do you incorporate fitness into your life at the moment?

I have really hard and fast rules because my job is very much a job that is never done. For example, I need to do three workouts in the week. Any of them can be substituted for a half-hour intense walk but normally I do one run, one lifting session and one pilates class. I need that sort of permanence in my life.

Another big essential has been getting a walking desk. My job is really sedentary which is quite ironic as my company is in the fitness space. Having a walking desk has been amazing for when I have back to back calls.

Let's talk about Tala. If you could only keep one item, what would it be?

You've put me in a really challenging position here but it would have to be the DayFlex Flares. They are the complete bestseller: you can dress them up or down and they're so comfortable.

How do you prevent yourself from getting burnt out?

I think it is all about boundaries. I had really bad burnout in 2021. I remember this day where all I could do was a 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle. I realised that I had pushed myself too hard and, you know, some people say it takes you two years to recover from burnout. I genuinely do feel like I'm just coming out of that.

So even though in my diary it might look like I'm free, I'm not. That time is scheduled for not moving on the sofa. That sounds ridiculous and I used to think I was young and should be going out, but actually, I think one of the biggest things I've learned is that you just need to protect yourself”.

Taking place tomorrow (8th July) at the Magic Circle Theatre Euston, When Pop Culture Turned on Women: Sophie Gilbert & Pandora Sykes is going to be a fascinating event. Topics discussed that are so relevant and timely. Her book, Girl on Girl: How Pop Culture Turned a Generation of Women Against Themselves “scrutinises the way sexist 90s and 00s pop culture blunted feminism’s third wave”, as DAZED write in their interview with Sophie Gilbert from April.

“The things we watch, listen to, read, wear, write, and share dictate in large part how we internalise and project what we’re worth,” writes Sophie Gilbert in Girl on Girl: How Pop Culture Turned a Generation of Women Against Themselves. Chronicling the transition from the 1990s to 2000s, which was psychologically violent and sexually exploitative for many women who were part of the pop culture machine, Gilbert calls for a “reappraisal”. She wonders what this moment reflexively did to us as spectators: “How did it condition us to see ourselves? And, maybe more crucially, what did it condition us to think about other women…?”

The reappraisal is implemented with assists from works like Ariel Levy’s Female Chauvinist Pigs and Chris Kraus’ introduction to Pornocracy, alongside Gilbert’s own examinations of Abercrombie & Fitch, Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, Issa Rae, Sheryl Sandberg, Amy Winehouse, Nora Ephron, Taylor Swift, Anna Nicole Smith, the Spice Girls, Lil’ Kim and Hilary Clinton. Every form of media is probed, from reality TV (Celebrity Big Brother) to oversharing bloggers (Gawker) to the beginning of live streaming (Jennicam) to unthinkable trends (paparazzi upskirt photos). We spoke with Gilbert – a longtime staff writer at The Atlantic – about charged words (“empowering”, “gaslighting”, etc), the ingenuity of Lena Dunham, and the utility of scrutinising recent history.

You mention the word empowering makes you ‘deeply suspicious’. Why, and how are we supposed to make sense of those terms?

Sophie Gilbert: There were certain words that kept coming up over and over and over again during my research, and ‘empowering’ was one of them. Almost inevitably, whenever it came up, it was being used in a defensive sense, after someone had been critiqued for something. The first Wonderbra ad with Eva Herzigova in 1994 was on billboards everywhere; it was very old-school bombshell, like the death knell for third-wave feminism. But the defence of it was that it was ‘empowering’. She made a lot of money, so maybe it was empowering [laughs]. Then there was a movie poster [for 2007 film Hostel 2] where a woman was being tortured and confined. It was quite dark, and when there were complaints, one of the producers claimed that they were ‘empowering’, because in the end, she fights back.

Marketers love nothing more than a good buzzword, right? When they find a word that they can imbue with a certain kind of progressive meaning, that is always a word that you should be suspicious of. Even the word ‘feminism’ is something that is so loaded at this point. But feminism does have a very clear meaning: women should have equal rights to men, and have equal protection under the law.

You mention dancing in clubs to Sisqó’s ‘Thong Song’, Christina Aguilera’s ‘Dirrty’, and 50 Cent’s ‘P.I.M.P.’. There is a duty to be critical of cultural content, but how do we honour pop culture we like, even if it’s not quite ‘pure’?

Sophie Gilbert: The way I dance when ‘Thong Song’ comes on! The thing is, this era was glorious in so many ways, and that was why it was so easy to be swept up in it. It was so excessive and glittery and skin-exposing — it was touching on all these pleasure points in our brain, right? And there’s a reason why it’s coming back now as an aesthetic mode and as nostalgia, because it is so appealing.

My point with this book was never to cancel anything, with a few exceptions in the pornography chapter. My point wasn’t to say that anything should be dismissed. It was more to put it all out there and to draw connections for myself in a way that I hoped would make sense to other people. I’m coming to it with my own memories and life experiences, but I really did hope that everyone would come to it with their own frame. I don’t want to write off what so many of us loved. I just want people to be able to see the totality of what was happening in a slightly more considered way.

I go to a lot of events blind. Unless it is a speaker I recognise and know the work/career of, I am booking a ticket because the event description and theme interests me. Every single time I go to an event, I come away not only having learned new things. I also get to find out more about an incredible person. Themes discussed that I do not get exposure to in my everyday life. I mentioned three events that happened recently. Let's Talk Mixed Race with Emma Slade Edmondson and Nicole Ocran was about the richness of the mixed race experience. Sarah Harman is this incredible author of All the Other Mothers Hate Me. Someone I did not know a lot about. Though there were not many men for Grace Beverley – a few here and there -, for me, it was about her story and experience. This amazing entrepreneur who is a huge success story. However, I wanted to know more about her role as owner of TALA and how she built the brand. Words of wisdom and experience, though I cannot identify with her career and experiences directly – and I do not shop at TALA -, it was an enriching and fascinating event. The engrossing When Tech & Ancestral Power Collide: A Night with Kelechi Okafor was powerful for a different reason. You are surrounded by these amazing women! Many coming to Trouble for he first time. Some who are regulars. Each time, you get to meet someone new and know you are in a space with truly awesome women. You can see future leaders, business owners and cultural figures in these audiences. These beautiful venues that provide their own distinct atmosphere and charm. The continued drive and passion of Ellie Newton and her brilliant team. I am looking to future events with Yuan Yang, Cally Beaton and Marina Hyde. Thrilled and keen to see where The Trouble Club heads next year and how they grow. With its membership strengthening and its future bright, you need to join me and many others who hold The Trouble Club dearly in the heart. I can guarantee you, as a member, will experience some of the most…

@thetroubleclub “Here it comes.” - Given current events it felt right to share the words of one of the wisest speakers to grace the Trouble stage, Margaret Atwood.  #thetroubleclub #londonevents #communityforwomen #podcastclips #podcast #manchesterevents #womenownedbusiness #uselection #trump @Ellie Newton ♬ original sound - The Trouble Club

MEMORABLE evenings of your life.

FEATURE: Kate Bush: The Tour of Life: Controversy Around The Dreaming’s Eponymous Single

FEATURE:

 

 

Kate Bush: The Tour of Life

Controversy Around The Dreaming’s Eponymous Single

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FOR most of Kate Bush’s singles…

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1982/PHOTO CREDIT: Guido Harari

I write anniversary features every year. It is a way of exploring the songs in more detail and bringing them to people who may not be aware of them. The Dreaming’s eponymous track was released as a single on 26th July, 1982. It was the second single from The Dreaming. Sat in Your Lap was released in 1981. Maybe not an obvious single choice, it reached forty-eight in the U.K. Maybe a hard sell for a single, it is not the most commercial-sounding song. The Dreaming as a whole was not really designed with radio-friendly songs in mind. However, there is a bit to discuss about The Dreaming forty-three years after it was released. Before coming to some of the issues with the song, it is worth saying that Bush’s heart was definitely in the right place. Someone always concerned about people and how they were treated, for her to discuss the treatment of the Aboriginal homelands by white Australians in their quest for weapons-grade uranium is nothing forced or insincere. The Dreaming is an album where Bush talks about issues like war and destruction. The quest for knowledge. There are some big themes addressed. However, when it comes to talking about The Dreaming as a single, I guess we need to look at it from different sides. Before getting to that, here is some interview archive from the Kate Bush Encyclopedia:

“We started with the drums, working to a basic Linn drum machine pattern, making them sound as tribal and deep as possible. This song had to try and convey the wide open bush, the Aborigines – it had to roll around in mud and dirt, try to become a part of the earth. “Earthy” was the word used most to explain the sounds. There was a flood of imagery sitting waiting to be painted into the song. The Aborigines move away as the digging machines move in, mining for ore and plutonium. Their sacred grounds are destroyed and their beliefs in Dreamtime grow blurred through the influence of civilization and alcohol. Beautiful people from a most ancient race are found lying in the roads and gutters. Thank God the young Australians can see what’s happening.

The piano plays sparse chords, just to mark every few bars and the chord changes. With the help of one of Nick Launay’s magic sounds, the piano became wide and deep, effected to the point of becoming voices in a choir. The wide open space is painted on the tape, and it’s time to paint the sound that connects the humans to the earth, the dijeridu. The dijeridu took the place of the bass guitar and formed a constant drone, a hypnotic sound that seems to travel in circles.

None of us had met Rolf (Harris) before and we were very excited at the idea of working with him. He arrived with his daughter, a friend and an armful of dijeridus. He is a very warm man, full of smiles and interesting stories. I explained the subject matter of the song and we sat down and listened to the basic track a couple of times to get the feel. He picked up a dijeridu, placing one end of it right next to my ear and the other at his lips, and began to play.

I’ve never experienced a sound quite like it before. It was like a swarm of tiny velvet bees circling down the shaft of the dijeridu and dancing around in my ear. It made me laugh, but there was something very strange about it, something of an age a long, long time ago.

Women are never supposed to play a dijeridu, according to Aboriginal laws; in fact there is a dijeridu used for special ceremonies, and if this was ever looked upon by a woman before the ceremony could take place, she was taken away and killed, so it’s not surprising that the laws were rarely disobeyed. After the ceremony, the instrument became worthless, its purpose over.

Kate Bush Club newsletter, October 1982”.

I suppose the association with Rolf Harris is an unfortunate one. He played on the song and would later feature on Kate Bush’s 2005 album, Aerial. Luckily, that album was reissued on streaming services and Harris was replaced by Bush’s son, Bertie. The vinyl has been reissued too so, if you have an original 2005 copy, I would suggest replacing it. It is commendable that Bush, like she always did and always would, was embracing other cultures and sounds. Some of the issues and controversy about The Dreaming stemmed from its original title, The Abo Song, which used a racial slur. Promotional copies of the single were circulated with this title before being recalled due to the offensive language. The song has also been slammed for potential cultural appropriation, specifically concerning the use of the didgeridoo and Aboriginal imagery. Bush did want to highlight the plight of Aboriginal Australians and the destruction of their land. However, to many, Bush’s portrayal, even with good intentions at heart, perpetuated a colonial narrative. There is this accusation of cultural appropriation. Whilst Bush was voicing her horror at what Aboriginal people have faced and how their land was being destroyed, the fact that she was a white artist did lead to people to question her motives and authenticity. Did this do more harm than good? Bush using the language and words of colonisers has given The Dreaming an awkward and complicated legacy. There are positives to focus on. The use of a didgeridoo in a British single in 1982 would have been radical. Bush was always incorporating instruments from different parts of the world in her albums. This was Bush using an instrument she came across whilst vacationing in Australia.

I do want to come to a review of The Dreaming from Medium. It is clear that The Dreaming is not necessarily one of her most loved. It was a low chart position. After a run of successful singles from 1978 to 1981’s Sat in Your Lap, The Dreaming charting outside of the top forty was a blow. It was a trend that continued until Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) was released in 1985. However, it is an interesting song that I feel is underrated as a piece of work:

“The album’s namesake and second single opens up the second half, side B, of the album. We are introduced to a didgeridoo and heavy engulfing drumbeat. After a sudden BANG! Kate starts to sing in a prominent Australian accent. The production is wide and open, yet heavy and dark, like a thunderstorm approaching a wide dry plain. Approaching the pre-chorus, Kate breathes quickly (hoo-hoo-hoo-ha-ha-ha) using breath as a rhythmic element, something we’ll hear later on in “All The Love.” It’s remarkably similar to the breakdown in Depeche Mode’s “Personal Jesus” as well (though I can’t say whether or not Kate directly inspired it!)

The chorus opens to a group of people sing-spelling “D-R-E-A-M-T-I-M-E” while Percy Edwards impersonates a goat and a synthesized whistle plays in the background. The song is sonically arresting throughout and remains to be a feat in production. It maintains intensity and atmosphere. It is metallic and natural. To achieve the metallic tone of the main melody, Kate plugged a guitar and piano into a harmonizer that were fed into a reverb plate as well that fed the rising octave back into the harmonizer — an effect used several times on the album. The “bang” in the lyrics is a combination of the recorded sound of a car door closing and a synth tone.

Some of my favorite moments on the album are when the crowd come in to sing “You’ll find them in the road!” and proceed to cheer and slowly fade out in a wash of reverberated white noise, bringing the song down like a setting sun.

Lyrically, Kate touches upon the plight of the Aborigines being run out of their sacred land as colonizers come in to dig for ore — easily summarized in these lyrics “Erase the race that claim the place and say we dig for ore/(See the light ram through the gaps in the land)/Dangle devils in a bottle and push them from the Pull of the Bush.” She humanizes the native Aborigines, and attempts to show the gentrification from their eyes. It should also be noted that Kate wrote remarkably similar lines of poetry when she was young:

“The blood red sun sinks into the skull of a dead man.” — From The Crucifixion, written when Kate was only 11 or 12”.

I did want to mark forty-there years of The Dreaming. It’s eponymous single was definitely important. Two singles from Never for Ever, Breathing and Army Dreamers, were more political in nature. The Dreaming is too. The next single released from the album, There Goes a Tenner, arrived in November 1982. Much jauntier in its tone, it was an even bigger commercial disappointment in the U.K. It did not chart at all! I do applaud Kate Bush for releasing music which was less commercial than EMI hoped. She was making the music she wanted to and tackling themes that were beyond that of love and the personal. The Dreaming is significant as it is a song where Bush shines a light on a people who were witnessing this devastation and colonisation. I can see why she felt angered and what to do something. However, I do wonder whether the decision to play an Australian coloniser was the best move. It makes the song sound quite dated. One you will not hear played on the radio too much. Also, the fact Rolf Harris’s part has not been removed – I guess as it is integral to the song – gives it a black mark. A song that was performed live a few times, there is sort of this bittersweet aspect. However, we need to focus on the positives as well as the negatives. It is a powerful track that has this unusual and untraditional sound. Listen to The Dreaming as an album and you can hear this invention and variation through all ten tracks. It is a stunning album that everyone needs to hear. Its title track is great in so many ways but, unfortunately, when it comes to its politics and the issues around cultural appropriation, then it…

MISSES the mark.

FEATURE: For Cassie: Why the Music Industry Needs a #MeToo Revolution

FEATURE:

 

 

For Cassie

IN THIS PHOTO: Cassandra Fine (Cassie Ventura)/PHOTO CREDIT: Jorden Keith Sorensen

Why the Music Industry Needs a #MeToo Revolution

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SOME incredibly inspiring…

 IN THIS IMAGE: A sketch of Sean Combs looking at jurors at the start of jury selection in Manhattan federal court on Monday, 5h May in New York/IMAGE CREDIT: Elizabeth Williams/AP

and amazing women like Jess Davies and Dr. Charlotte Proudman have reacted to the recent verdict involving Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs. In short, it is a travesty of justice! The circus and freak show that was his trial culminated in Combs being found “guilty of two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution, relieving him of the three more serious charges of racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking”. This is how The Independent reported the news. The audacity of the abuser to pray – why is it always abusive and vile men who us pray and turn to religion when they have been accused or rape and abuse?! (see also Russell Brand) – in the court and this insane jury to clear him of some serious charges revealed a few thing. For a start, it is clear that men in power in America – and around the world – can evade justice and bypass the most severe punishment is they are famous and powerful. This is what we are being shown. The world is in a desperate state at the moment. The U.S. is being led by a dictator and sex offender. Donald Trump is one of the most hideous and dangerous people ever to lead a country. The fact the U.S. voted him in is one of the most insane and vile decisions in political history. They are living with it and I hope that they learn from their stupidity and realise how they have helped to create this damage and disease. Trump is leading a country where abortion is illegal.

PHOTO CREDIT: Lara Jameson/Pexels

Stripping women’s body rights and autonomy. The U.K. is being led by Sir Keir Starmer. We have passed laws where women are legally defined by sex and not gender. This discriminated against trans women and is a human rights travesty. We have also made it illegal for people to support Palestine Action. People who support them can receive up to fourteen years in prison. We are living in a dictatorship where our government are supporting and funding Israel. A nation committing a genocide. Our Prime Minister is a war criminal who has no humanity and is a disgusting and heartless excuse for a human. Israel is committing genocide and Russia is destroying Ukraine. Men in power are destroying the world. The fact is that, when it comes to women’s rights and safety around the world, those in power do not care. The case of Diddy shows that America hates women. Celebrities can abuse and rape women and engage in trafficking and get away with it. If they are famous and rich then the law does not apply to them. The jury for the Diddy trial consisted of eight men and four women. You feel the glee from them as they got him off of some heinous charges. Corrupt and senseless, just think of a brave woman like Cassie Ventura – a woman Diddy beat, abused and raped – and what she felt when the verdict was read. Almost getting away with everything, the case of Diddy is nothing new. Powerful men in society can avoid prosecution and jail because of their gender and wealth! Music is an industry that sees a score of men accused of rape, sexual abuse - and so many other crimes.

 IN THIS PHOTO: Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs with Cassie Ventura in 2016/PHOTO CREDIT: Chris Delmas/AFP via Getty Images

So few are put in prison or have to face responsibility. You know that Diddy is someone who will not face any prison time and will probably return to a successful career. Play arenas and release new music. A score of sick and deluded fans heralding his brilliance and lining his wallet. Essentially funding an abuser. It is not a case of it being a complicated case that is objective and we have no concrete evidence. We have video of Diddy attacking Cassie Ventura! We know he is guilty of these crimes, and yet, he has managed to wriggle out of them because of his stature. And, let’s face it, the fact he is a man. If it were a woman in the court, she would be thrown in prison and lose her career! America hates women. America will support wealthy and powerful men, regardless of what they do. There should be a revolution on the streets! There isn’t. Diddy should not be allowed to release music or make any money ever again. He will. Not to be a bad feminist, but I am so sick of men. Everything we are seeing in Palestine is because of men. All the violence and genocide. The leaders enabling it. The leaders here and in the U.S. All the acts of violence and abuse around the world because of men! Violence and sexual abuse is a male issue. They are responsible for the vast majority of it. Take them away and we would have world peace and women would feel safe. Right now, we are in one of the bleakest places we have ever been in.

When it comes to women and their rights and safety, your heart breaks for them! Diddy was acquitted of sex trafficking and racqueting. People asking why women do not come forward. This is why! It is not only Cassie Ventura who was denied justice. ‘Jane’ and ‘Mia’ – who remained anonymous but added to the evidence and testimony of Cassie Ventura – are women who were almost mocked. Diddy’s supporters oiling themselves up and celebrating the verdict. I saw someone on Twitter ask why juries in cases like this are not made up of experts in sexual violence and abuse. People qualified to assess the evidence and make an informed judgment. Inviting random people to the jury who have no idea about any of this will see men acquitted. It is an insult to women! Going forward, how many men in the music industry will avoid being brought to trial because women know they will not get justice?! This is what Dr. Charlotte Proudman recently tweeted: “Sean “Diddy” Combs didn’t testify. His lawyers called no witnesses, his case rested in just 30 minutes. Meanwhile, 30 people testified against him. Employees. Ex-partners. Voice notes. CCTV of him beating Cassie. And still no justice. Fame protects power. Power protects men”. It is not only the music industry where men are protected. However, as I have noted before, they (the industry) have not had this revolution. I feel society and culture is on the brink of an explosion. The dictatorship in this country that supports a genocidal nation and wants to imprison anyone who stands against such a thing.

People will take to the streets in their millions soon. In the music world, how long can we keep seeing abusers and the most despicable human beings not only swerve justice and any repercussions but return to their careers?! Diddy is one example; Chris Brown another. Although  R. Kelly is in prison, you feel he will get out sooner than expected and he has not really been handed as severe a punishment as he should have been (in 2021, he was found guilty of exploiting his superstar status to run a scheme to sexually abuse women and children over two decades). Where do women go from here?! We have reached a point where there needs to be insurrection in music. Women’s rights and equality have not been addressed or improved in decades. Even though they rule the industry, they have very little power and rights. From someone as minor as headline slots on major stages to being believed when it comes to allegations of rape and sexual crimes, how far have we moved in recent years?! For Cassie Ventura and every woman who has bravely testified and being denied respect, dignity and justice, I hope that we see the day (soon!) when things change. For the countless women who have not come forward because they will not be believed. Even if a Hollywood-style #MeToo movement might not work in music or we have passed that stage, there does need to be an equivalent. We cannot stand by to see men like Diddy receive a comparative slap on the wrist for what amounts to the worst kinds of abuse and exploitation against women. It is clear America hates women and will protect and boost wealthy men. Things are not much better here. Misogyny that is rife throughout society is fetid and rampant in music. I have been reading posts from women like Jess Davies, Dr. Charlotte Proudman and scores of others highlighting the injustice and cold fact that women cannot get justice. They will not be believed and, worst than that, they can face the most harrowing abuse and damaging torment and live with that for the rest of their lives whilst their abusers not only are found innocent, but they can also still make money and have a career! Right now, the music industry needs to answer questions and change things. Thinking about Cassie Ventura and the women who have testified against Diddy, they have been treated appallingly. America and the world. It is evident that they do not care about women. Sadly and tragically, we have to ask this: When it comes to women’s rights and their safety…

WILL things ever change?!

FEATURE: Modern-Day Queens: Kesha

FEATURE:

 

 

Modern-Day Queens

PHOTO CREDIT: Ruben Chamorro

Kesha

__________

THIS time out…

PHOTO CREDIT: Brendan Walter

for Modern-Day Queens, I am concentrating on the fabulous Kesha. This feature includes the best and most important women in music right now. Kesha released her . (Period) album on 4th July. In many ways, this was a return to the hot mess/fun Kesha that some critics felt was lacking on recent albums. In truth, she wants to keep her music shifting and evolving. . (PERIOD) is very different to her earlier work. I wanted to feature her to shine a light on the album but also get inside some recent interviews. One of the most inspiring women in music, I know so many of her fans look up to her. Kesha Rose Sebert is a huge American artist whose debut album, Animal, was released in 2010. Her debut single, Tik Tok, was released in 2009. That remains her best-known track. I think her most recent three albums are her best. 2023’s Gag Order is hugely impressive and deserves more discussion. 2020’s High Road was an album that splices genres beautifully. Kesha wanted to portray a sense of happiness and freedom through the album. This year, she reflected how that was complicated due to the loneliness she felt at the time. . (PERIOD) may be her finest album yet. I think that it is one that should be heard by everyone. I will end with two reviews of the album. There are some interviews from this year that I want to bring in first. The first interview I am sourcing from was published back in April. Published by PAPER, Kesha and Bob The Drag Queen “connected for a conversation about freedom, songwriting and Snatch Game”. Looking ahead to the release of . (PERIOD), “and in anticipation of the honor she’s set to receive next week from The NYC LGBT Community Center”, there are parts of this terrific interview that I want to start out with:

“Bob: And then what about your album?

Kesha: So, my album, PERIOD, just got announced. The muse for my other albums has been a lot of external factors or things I've been going through, things that were unavoidable to create art about. And to be honest with you, this is my first album where I'm truly free in every way. And not only in all the legal ways, but also I'm really working on healing and feeling free from any residual emotional turmoil that's left in my body. I spent the weekend dancing and trying to move trauma through my body. I'm really trying to embody freedom in every way possible. I'm trying to allow myself to feel what freedom feels like, because it's been almost 20 years for me. And that doesn't just happen in a day. That programming lives inside your mind and your spirit and your body. And we all have ways in which we are or are not free. My perspective and vantage point is obviously my own lived experience.

But freedom, by definition, is the power and the right to act and speak and think as you want to without any restraint. And it's terrifying for me to really embody full freedom, because it's the act of really embodying who you are to the fullest. And to really feel that, it starts with safety. So, that's why creating safe spaces has been my number-one objective, because how can anyone truly feel free if they don't feel safe?

Bob: We've had the misfortune of watching people like you and Britney Spears and Wendy Williams see what the entertainment industry does to women and how it tries — once you start to go toward your own freedom — to have it stripped away. It brought a lot of us together to rally around you and to support you. I told a story on a podcast recently, you've written so many beautiful songs. When people go to your concert they usually cry during “Praying.” But for me it was “Blow.” I don't know what it was. It was the encore performance. So much of your early work was about being free and having fun. Something about seeing you on stage performing “Blow,” and I just heard you do your little laugh and go, “Dance.” And as soon as you said “dance,” I just started crying, which is great. I made it through the whole concert without a single tear until then.

PHOTO CREDIT: Brett Loudermilk

Kesha: That's honestly making me really emotional. The most political act right now is to be happy and to be free and to spread love. And even when all the forces feel like they're against you — to put on that makeup and to put on your glitter and to dance — just demanding to feel your joy. At that point I was years into litigation and had nothing to give. I was so depleted emotionally from my joy and so disconnected from being treated like a human. And I still, in the face of all of that, I was goddamn determined to spread joy even when I had no joy to give. I appreciate you seeing that.

Bob: We all saw it, and it really meant a lot to rally around you and see you up there telling us to have fun, telling us to dance, telling us to cover ourselves in glitter. To put some glitter in your hair, throw on a sequin and a leather jacket and a combat boot, and still hit the club and enjoy yourselves regardless. Because that's truly what the powers that be don't want us to see. They want to believe that they've stripped all your joy away from you.

Kesha: It's like laughing in the face of chaos and turmoil, and finding each other and finding community and finding love and finding a safe place to move your bodies. I really think joy and love is the most political act that we could all embody right now. Because we are in the middle of a chaotic shit storm, it’s like spiritual warfare. And I just think that what you do and what I do, we really are warriors for joy and freedom. It's much more than just putting on a wig or me dancing around. It's not that. It's a very defiant political act to be in your joy and to spread that.

This is my first album where I'm truly free in every way... I'm really trying to embody freedom in every way possible.

What informs and inspires your art today? What are you tapping into?

Bob: I always find joy. Something about humor is so remarkable to me, because people really can laugh despite it all. My mom passed away last year on Mother's Day. It was really, really, really hard. I buried her the next Sunday. And then the Sunday after that, I went to go film The Traitors, this incredibly stressful TV show about deceit and lying and death and murder. But in the midst of all that, somehow I was still able to find joy and laughter because that's what my mom would have wanted.

Kesha: My god, I'm really sorry to hear about your mother. Even the ability for you to go and give that is a gift, and to be able to go and give that gift to others, what a selfless act. I'm just sending you so much love.

PHOTO CREDIT: Brett Loudermilk

Bob: It was crazy, I'm not going to lie, but it actually helped me out a lot. I think it was better for me than sitting at home by myself.

Kesha: That's the beauty of art. I celebrated the release of “YIPPEE-KI-YAY.” and the announcement of PERIOD by teaching others how to write songs, which is the most beautiful part about art. I think escapism is an incredibly important and valuable thing for humans, especially when hard things are happening. To have an outlet to put your grief into, to put your emotions into something that then can help connect you to others.

When I create a song, it makes a moment of my life immortal. At the end of my life, I can go back and listen to my life through all of my songs that I've put out and all the ones that I haven't been able to put out. It's like the book of my life. I really wanted to capture the feeling and the healing of a woman. My gift to this world is my voice, it's like my prayer to the world. I've been so blessed and privileged that many people have gotten to hear my voice. It seems like the rights to one's self-expression and their voice shouldn't be legally allowed to be taken away. But in my case, that's what happened to me for 20 years.

So, I wanted to really capture in song what it sounds like for a woman to regain the rights back to the thing that is her gift to the world. I wanted to capture that entire journey of healing, freedom, reclaiming my joy, falling in love with myself as I am, and I want to give that gift to the world because, like you were just talking about, Bob, it's not always meant to connect you to other people. Art can be a very selfish act when you're creating it; at least it is for me when I write songs. I write songs because I need to get an emotion out of my body, but the alchemy of it is you create this thing and you have the courage and the bravery to put it out for mass judgment, which is a terrifying part of our jobs, but we have the balls to do it.

Through that emotional release for ourselves and that courage and through a fuck ton of judgment and hate, then people get to connect to you and find solace in our shared humanity. We realize that we are not alone, and we are all one, and we all do go through many of the same things. I really wanted to capture reclaiming my freedom. I wanted to capture that in song and I want to give that as a gift to the world, because everybody's going through something. It might not be the same something, but everybody's going through something or has been through something. And for me specifically, after what I've been through, I want people to see that my joy is still my right.

Bob: It's really crazy when you think about how some of your newer fans have not been alive as long as you've been silenced. Some 15-year-old who doesn't have a memory of you before you were going through these legal battles. And especially when you talk about putting your art out there for criticism.

Kesha: That judgment piece is something that I've been working a lot on. To put out art is a fight. You have to want it and you have to fight for that. It's expensive and it takes up your greatest asset, your time. On social media, where everyone judges the shit out of everybody else, from your body to your art to anything else... I'm trying to heal from decades of projected judgments that I've internalized, and it's become my truth. That's what I was trying to dance out of my body this weekend, because that shit gets stored in your body. I realized I haven't danced for fun in years, because people make fun of the way I dance. And it's probably just some 12-year-old in their mom's basement on Twitter, but that becomes my higher power’s voice. That's a problem. So, I'm trying to change any of my own personal judgments into curiosity. It's a really beautiful gift. I was given an exercise and I would challenge the world: when you start feeling judgmental, what if you flip that into curiosity?

Bob: Yeah, that's actually really powerful. I'm not gonna say I'm not judgy. We recognize it in ourselves.

Kesha: I'm judgy as hell.

Bob: Which allows us to see it in others.

Kesha: My inner critic tells me things where your mom or your therapist will be like, "No, that's just your inner critic." Then when you see it on the cover of a magazine or somebody else is writing it on the internet, it is like an externalized inner critic. That’s something that really fucks with your head for me.

Bob: When someone out there vocalizes your worst fear about yourself.

Kesha: Yes.

Bob: Then you can really be like, “I fucking knew it. I should have never released this. I should have never worn that outfit. I should have never danced. I should have never gone to that one show. I knew as soon as I got off stage, I knew the show was shit.” And then this one person on TikTok or Twitter, or this critic in this magazine or this newspaper, confirmed what I knew: that this was shit.

Kesha: The freedom I'm trying to get back every day is being okay with where I am in my journey. Like you said, freedom is not a destination. The desire for freedom is ongoing and the freedom to really embody oneself fully on a world stage takes so much courage. I'm really trying to break through this judgment piece to find true freedom to be able to play and have fun. It’s a political act”.

PHOTO CREDIT: J.N. Silva

I am going to move to an interview from Vogue that came out at the start of this month. Talking about . (PERIOD) and some of its songs, it is clear – as Vogue say – that the party is just getting started. If Kesha has addressed darker themes and more traumatic incidents on albums such as Gag Order, there is a shift in terms of sound and lyric dynamics for . (PERIOD):

“As the album began taking shape, what did you want to say with it?

I wanted it to be the ultimate fuck-you album of all time. I listen to my new record when I need that strength to be my own watchdog. I’m really protective of my time, space, and energy now. Anything that has kept me from feeling free, I’m very cutthroat about that. Anything that is keeping me from being in my fullest potential, it’s gone. Even if it’s an internalized voice that’s keeping me from my true freedom, it’s got to go. I really wanted to make a triumphant soundtrack for those moments. I hope people put it on and love themselves a little more, protect themselves a little stronger, and have their backs a little harder.

Do you think pop artists need to take more risks like that these days?

When I look around to the other girls dominating pop right now, I think we’re doing a pretty goddamn good job. I love that people are so mad about Sabrina [Carpenter] being hot. I’m like, Keep being hot, girl! You’re doing it right! And Charli [XCX] just fully embodying her truest self. I think we’re doing pretty good. I just want to add my flavor. Music is not a competition. In the pop scene and culture that I was raised in, these major labels would try to pit us against each other, and that is complete bullshit. When we come together, that’s where the power is.

Do you think it’s easier to be a pop star nowadays, or is it even more challenging?

As women in culture, it’s not ever going to be easy. We’re up against trying to be pretty but not too pretty. Trying to be funny but not going over the line. Be sexy, but don’t be a slut. Trying to fit into societal standards is a losing game, especially as a woman in pop. So everyone should keep being themselves, and fuck what anybody says.

In your song “Red Flag,” you talk about your attraction to red flags. What are a few of them?

I’ve worked on myself, and I try not to be attracted to red flags. But I have found myself attracted to lots of red flags. The guy with the motorcycle who does not have a place to live? Hot. The guy who goes to the gym three times a day but doesn’t have a job? Hot. You name it, it’s probably hot. But instead of punishing myself for it, this song is a celebration of the fact that I really do have the best dating history—and have a lot of really funny stories.

In “Delusional,” you sing about someone deluding themselves into thinking they can move on and find someone better. But do you think a little delusion in life can be a good thing?

Oh, 100%. Sometimes believing in yourself is completely delusional. When you have big creative ideas as an artist, you feel absolutely out of your mind until they happen. If I had told you a couple of years ago, “I’m going to play Madison Square Garden, and it’s going to be a blend of my spiritual practices and a bunch of pop songs,” you’d be like, “It sounds delusional.” But that’s exactly what the fuck I’m about to do [on my tour]. And it’s very cunt”.

Prior to quoting from two positive reviews for . (PERIOD), there is one more interview I want to include. This one is from FADER. They note how many Pop artists of today are returning to the 2010s and its gonzo sound. Kesha is meeting that and, in the process, releasing . (PERIOD) through her own label (Kesha). Anyone who has not heard her new album really needs to. It is among the best of this year:

“Period arrives almost a year after brat, an album also about freedom and an artist doing whatever the fuck they wanted that manifested itself into a lifestyle and cultural lodestar, extending the possibilities of what a pop record could do and the reach it could have. Artists like Lorde say it has made them more ambitious. Kesha echoes something similar: “Charli’s always been ahead of the curve; it’s been really inspiring,” she says. Kesha’s appearance on Charli’s “Spring Breakers” remix last year reminded her that pop shouldn’t be a competition. “Growing up in this era of music, the people around me would try to compare me to other people. So, I couldn't help but feel that I was in competition with people that I was a fan of, and it was a really confusing place to be.” She brings the point back to her freedom: “But, you know, through my process of gaining my freedom and really looking at my patterns of thinking that keep me from feeling free, I realize that the only competition is with myself.”

The world seems very ready for this reduxed Kesha. At a time when popstars are returning to the gonzo sounds of the 2010s and people are eagerly identifying so-called “recession indicators,” Kesha once again fits squarely in the cultural moment. She is performing with some of the best stats of her career. As of writing, she’s Spotify’s 64th most listened-to artist in the world, a number that’s been climbing all week. She achieved her second-highest days of streaming in mid-June. She’s headlining New York City’s Madison Square Garden for the first time in July.

A successful — here comes the refrain again — free bitch, Kesha’s even exploring the possibility of finally releasing the long-lost Lipsha album with the Flaming Lips. The project, which originated from Wayne Coyne’s early belief in her talent, has become the white whale of Kesha’s fan lore. She’s currently looking into whether she can finally release Lipsha on Kesha Records, “but I’m not sure what I legally can do,” she says.

“I really wanted to stand for joy, and I really wanted to make people dance, and I wanted to be playful and I wanted to be the thing that everyone knows and loves me for, but I wasn’t free. I was really lonely”.

PHOTO CREDIT: J.N. Silva

I want to include some words from two (of the many) positive reviews for . (PERIOD). In their assessment, this is what AllMusic had to say about an album that has also received some more mixed reception. Although Kesha’s work will not appeal to all, I do think that she is producing her best work at the moment. Entering a new phase in her career and sound. I have followed her music since the start. She is someone I will always respect and admire:

“No typo, Kesha's sixth studio album, 2025's ., is literally the period at the end of a sentence, and one that marks a new era of personal and creative freedom for the singer. It's a bold declaration that's been long in the making for Kesha, who, unless you haven't been paying attention, has had a rough decade. Along with her legal battle with producer Dr. Luke and subsequent wrangling with her former labels RCA and Kemosabe Records, she also sought treatment for an eating disorder, spoke openly about dealing with body dysmorphia, and was diagnosed with common variable immunodeficiency disorder (CVID), the latter adding a physical fatigue to her career woes. She addressed many of these issues 2017's Rainbow, 2020's High Road, and 2023's Gag Order -- albums whose titles underscored what she was going through. And while . certainly finds her having worked through past traumas, it is also a convincing fresh start. Literally this is true, as it is her first album released on her own independent Kesha Records. Yet it also feels fun and effervescently inspired. Co-producing with a small trio of collaborators, including NOVA Wav, Pink Slip, and Zhone, Kesha comes off as both a seasoned industry pro and the maverick pop instigator she's always been. She kicks things off in bold fashion with the six-minute "FREEDOM," whose heady blend of atmospheric new age soundscapes and '80s house music grooves sets a clubby, cathartic tone. "I only drink when I'm happy and I'm drunk right now," she repeats on the song, offering a mantra for the album's blend of spiritual liberation with a side of debauchery. More giddy, genre-mashing moments follow, including the bandoneon-accented tango-house jam "JOYRIDE," the twangy hip-hop country of "YIPPEE-KI-YAY," and the sultry disco electro-soul of "TOO HARD." We also get the empowered uplift of "DELUSIONAL," "RED FLAG," and "THE ONE," big rousing anthems that smack you in the face with hooks and a hard-won sense of mature, protective self-love. However, Kesha hasn't lost her taste for hyperpop camp fun as the gleefully horny, tongue-in-cheek "BOY CRAZY" affirms. More than just a conceptual conceit, the all-caps titles speak to the mood of declarative joy Kesha conjures throughout. It's a vibe she underscores on the epic power ballad closer "CATHEDRAL," singing, "I'm summoning my divine.". isn't just a good album, it's a decisively great one, full stop”.

I am going to end with The Guardian’s review of . (PERIOD). Like with the interviews, I am not including the entire thing. I have selected parts of this review I feel are particularly standout and relevant. It is interesting comparing reviews for . (PERIOD) and reading what each reviewer had to say about the album:

“While Rainbow and its immediate follow-ups regularly mined the legal disputes and resulting trauma for lyrical inspiration – a dramatic shift from the screw-you hedonism that powered her big hits in the early 2010s – Period signals a fresh start by, more or less, bringing back the Kesha who boasted about brushing her teeth with Jack Daniel’s and took to the stage accompanied by dancers dressed as giant penises. Only the piano ballad closer Cathedral seems entirely rooted in recent events – “Life was so lethal … I died in the hell so I could start living again”. Elsewhere, the occasional hint of something dark in the author’s past (“I earned the right to be like this”) is drowned out by the sound of Kesha reverting to type in no uncertain terms: “take me to the sex shop”, “bartender pour me up some damn fluid”, “I like chaos, dripping head to toe”, “gimme gimme gimme all the boys”.

And who can blame her? No one wants to be defined by trauma, and she’s doubtless keen to assert that the original Kesha persona was more to do with her than the svengali-like producer who discovered her.

Furthermore, it’s a weirdly timely return. In 2010, Kesha’s hot mess persona made her an outlier, albeit an outlier whose debut single TiK ToK sold 14m digital copies worldwide. The critic Simon Reynolds smartly noted that if the era’s predominant female star Lady Gaga saw her work as high-concept art-pop in a lineage that included David Bowie and Roxy Music, Kesha was more like their glam-era rival Alice Cooper. Fifteen years on, we live in a pop world at least partly defined by Charli xcx’s last album. Perpetually half-cut and lusty, open about her messy failings (“I like the bizarre type, the lowlife … God, I love a hopeless bastard,” she sings of her taste in men on Red Flag), Kesha could make a fair claim to be a godmother of Brat. Certainly, you couldn’t accuse her of jumping on a latter-day trend, just as Period’s diversion into vogue-ish country-pop, Yippee-Ki-Yay, seems less craven than it might. Kesha has done past work in that area – from her 2013 Pitbull collaboration Timber to her duet with Dolly Parton on Rainbow.

Yippee-Ki-Yay’s country-facing sound sits among a buffet of current pop styles: there’s synthy, 80s-leaning pop-rock you could imagine Taylor Swift singing on Delusional and Too Hard, and mid-tempo disco on Love Forever, while the spectre of hyperpop haunts the warp-speed Boy Crazy and Hudson Mohawke turns up glitchy Auto-Tune-heavy electro on Glow. It’s an album clearly intended to re-establish Kesha at the heart of pop, which means there’s no room for the appealing weirdness of her 2023 single Eat the Acid, and it’s only on the closing Cathedral that her voice really shifts into the full-throttle roar she unleashed covering T Rex’s Children of the Revolution at 2022’s Taylor Hawkins tribute concert.

That said, the songs are all really strong, filled with smart little twists and drops, and funny, self-referential lines: “You’re on TikTok / I’m the fucking OG.” You get the sense of the massed ranks of collaborators – including everyone from regular Father John Misty foil Jonathan Wilson to Madison Love, who counts Blackpink and Addison Rae among her songwriting clients – really getting behind her to make Period a success. Kesha, meanwhile, plays the part of Kesha 1.0 to perfection: for all the lurid lyrical excesses, it never feels as if she’s trying too hard. And why would it: she’s returning to a role she originated”.

Someone who is definitely a modern-day queen in my view, Kesha is an artist who has inspired and empowered so many women. Charli xcx among them. . (PERIOD) is her new album and latest chapter. One of music’s most compelling women, I would encourage everyone to follow Kesha and check out her…

AWESOME new album.

___________

Follow Kesha

PHOTO CREDIT: Brendan Walter

Official:

https://keshaofficial.com/

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/kesha/

TikTok:

https://www.tiktok.com/@kesha

Twitter:

https://x.com/kesharose

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/6LqNN22kT3074XbTVUrhzX?si=OnSYC1vSSiSTl4wAKxBf8A

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/@kesha

FEATURE: The Mysterious ‘J.B.’ The Curious People and Symbols in Kate Bush’s Work

FEATURE:

 

 

The Mysterious ‘J.B.’

The Curious People and Symbols in Kate Bush’s Work

__________

SORT of returning…

to an idea I pitched a while ago, there is this host of characters within Kate Bush’s work. Bush inserts mysterious symbols and images. All of her albums have a ‘K.T.’ symbol hidden somewhere. Short of the K.T. Bush Band I think, there are codes, mysteries and these fascinating figures that are on the covers and in the works. I was inspired something that Andy Miller posted recently to his Inventory: An Unreliable Guide to My Record Collection series. Miller is primarily a writer and a podcaster second. He co-hosts the brilliant Backlisted podcast with John Mitchinson. You can find their official website here. It is a podcast where older and less-discussed works of literature are dissected. You can subscribe to Backlisted here. The weekly feature published is not only about Kate Bush but ABBA, The Beatles, Stanley Binks, and many other artists. The post I am highlighting starts off by discussing how Kate Bush’s albums are ranked. How there are flaws in that approach. Andy Miller writes about the merits of each of her studio albums. The Dreaming is his favourite album. Sat in Your Lap, the first single from that album, is the one record of hers he treasures above all else. ‘WELL DONE J.B. 1ST DAN’ is etched by hand in the single’s run-out groove. Miller posits a theory about who ‘J.B.’ is and what the connection to martial arts is. I thought it was Kate Bush’s brother, John. He introduced his sister to martial arts (Bush trained at Goldsmiths College karate club where her brother John was a karate instructor). However, Miller’s words are original research and interpretation. It is interesting what he wrote:

“In the early ‘80s, there was much talk of bands incorporating hidden or coded messages in their music. For example, if you played the middle section of Led Zeppelin’s ‘Stairway to Heaven’ backwards, you would hear a hymn of praise to the Devil. * I never tried this myself, as it was already bad enough listening to the bloody thing forwards. But the concept of ‘backmasking’, as it was called, ignored a secret hiding in plain sight, which was that artists had been concealing messages within the grooves of their records for years, by scratching a few words into the shiny circle of vinyl between the playing surface and the label. These messages would range from the cryptic to the cheery and were usually spotted by only the keenest of fans. The most famous exponent of the form was mastering engineer George Peckham, many of whose singles and LPs were signed “Porky”, his nickname, or “A Porky Prime Cut”.

*  “Here's to my sweet Satan / The one whose little path would make me sad whose power is Satan / He'll give you, he'll give you 666 / There was a little tool shed where he made us suffer, sad Satan”. When played backwards, it is alleged these lines come out sounding something like this: “If there’s a bustle in your hedgerow, don’t be alarmed now / It’s just a spring clean for the May queen”. Which just shows you the whole ‘backmasking’ thing is nonsense, as this is obviously complete gibberish.

Back to ‘Sat in Your Lap’. For over forty years now, I have wondered why the words WELL DONE J.B. 1ST DAN are etched by hand in the single’s run-out groove. Who was J.B.? And what did he have to do with martial arts?

It seems I am not the only one. During another of those radio phone-in shows, this one broadcast on Radio 2 in September 1982 to publicise the release of The Dreaming, eagle-eyed Colin Home from Harrogate called in to ask Bush to reveal the identity of J.B.. “J.B. is a guy called John Barrett,” Bush replies, laughing. “He certainly deserves to be congratulated, because he did something very clever!” Pressed to disclose the nature of John Barrett’s achievement, which had after all earned him a black belt 1st Dan in whatever it was, Bush declines to say more, and the interview moves on. But I believe I have the answer.

In the late 1970s, John Barratt was a young recording engineer at Abbey Road Studios who worked with Bush on Never for Ever and The Dreaming – and, presumably, ‘Sat in Your Lap’. This was a happy and creative period for KB. Those around her recall a lot of fun and general hilarity during these sessions. But in 1981, John Barratt was diagnosed with cancer. While he was recuperating, EMI gave him the administrative task of cataloguing everything in their archive pertaining to the Beatles; in due course, Barratt’s notes and tape dubs would form the basis of several bootlegs of the group’s unreleased studio recordings. Sadly, John Barratt never fully recovered from his cancer and in February 1984, he died.

Now we jump forward by a decade to 1993 and KB’s seventh album, The Red Shoes, one of the highlights of which is ‘Moments of Pleasure’, the gorgeous orchestral ballad in which Bush pays tribute to loved ones she has lost or is in the process of losing: her mother, the filmmaker Michael Powell, session guitarist Alan ‘Smurf’ Murphy, and so on. “Just being alive, it can really hurt,” she sings. “And these moments given are a gift of time.”

I treasure this song, which I find terribly moving but also sweet and funny. One line near the end has always stood out to me. In her final roll-call of remembered names and places, Bush sings, with the hint of a melancholy smile, “Hey there, Teddy, spinning in the chair at Abbey Road”. There is something particularly evocative both in the image and the way she delivers it, the veteran recording artist watching in her mind’s eye her friend sitting behind the mixing desk at Abbey Road, both of them giddy, young, excited to be there. To avoid confusion with her co-producer Jon Kelly, Bush’s nickname for John Barratt had been ‘Teddy’. Would it be too much to suppose that Barratt attained his 1st Dan – WELL DONE J.B. – not in judo or taekwondo, but in the art of chair spinning, a silly late-night game played by a bunch of pals in the studio? Perhaps the goal was to achieve a certain number of revolutions with one spin? Could this be the “very clever” something Jon Barratt had succeeded in doing and that Bush had duly had memorialised, etching it into vinyl forever? We may never know, and we don’t need to. But every time someone spins ‘Sat in Your Lap’, somewhere John Barratt is spinning in his chair with it. And in the background of the remarkable music that he and Kate Bush recorded together, if we listen closely enough, we may catch the faint echoes of their laughter”.

There is a lot to love and expand on Andy Miller’s post about Kate Bush. Not least about critics’ rankings of her albums and why it is more constructive and beneficial to approach them in a less hagiographic and best-worst manner. I think that point and curiosity about initials and Bush including these little details is intriguing. How far does that extend? There are so many different minor characters in Bush’s songs. Andy Miller also talks about John Barrett in the context of Moments of Pleasure (from 1993’s The Red Shoes):

“One line near the end has always stood out to me. In her final roll-call of remembered names and places, Bush sings, with the hint of a melancholy smile, “Hey there, Teddy, spinning in the chair at Abbey Road”. There is something particularly evocative both in the image and the way she delivers it, the veteran recording artist watching in her mind’s eye her friend sitting behind the mixing desk at Abbey Road, both of them giddy, young, excited to be there. To avoid confusion with her co-producer Jon Kelly, Bush’s nickname for John Barratt had been ‘Teddy’. Would it be too much to suppose that Barratt attained his 1st Dan – WELL DONE J.B. – not in judo or taekwondo, but in the art of chair spinning, a silly late-night game played by a bunch of pals in the studio? Perhaps the goal was to achieve a certain number of revolutions with one spin? Could this be the “very clever” something Jon Barratt had succeeded in doing and that Bush had duly had memorialised, etching it into vinyl forever?”.

Reading these words compelled me to dig deeper and think differently about Kate Bush. Apart from the ‘J.B.’ etching into Sat in Your Lap and the ‘K.T.’ appearing on her album covers, what other symbols and treasures are we missing? Bush’s lyrics blend in famous figures, mythology, love, horror, dreams, the wilderness and so much more. There are some notable people in her work, though there are also these minor characters. The ‘Emily’ from the very start of Wow (from 1978’s Lionheart). A saxophonist from The Kick Inside’s The Saxophone Song that Bush encounters in a Berlin bar. The eponymous James from James and the Cold Gun (also from The Kick Inside). The bank robbers of There Goes a Tenner (from 1982’s The Dreaming). Who was the inspiration behind Aerial’s eponymous heroine in Mrs. Bartolozzi?

Do we discuss Kate Bush more in literary terms? How she writes these songs with plots and  cast of major characters and minor ones? How she wants to provide something extra? Adding messages and initials to a vinyl? It is clear that she remains someone who stands out from her peers. In the way she brings people fictional and real, into her music. Fascinating by the physical product and going beyond the ordinary. Whether that is reissuing her albums and designing the vinyl colour/image or including an etching, it does get you to think about her artistry and creativity in a new way. I have been going on a bit of a hunt on message boards and websites to see whether there are more examples of Kate Bush adding messages or codes to her work. Whether, like The Beatles, if you play a  record backwards then these eerie lyrics appear. Looking beyond the ‘K.T.’ symbols on her covers to see if there are these background objects that create enigma or tell their own tale. The Lionheart cover, for instance. Why only include a pair of feet (Bush’s feet) for the cover of The Red Shoes? I know that fits the title, though the decision not to include Bush’s gave always fascinates me. The meaning of The Sensual World cover where Bush holds a flower to her mouth. I don’t think we really dissect her music in that way. Talking about the characters and going deeper into lyrics. Exploring these puzzles and messages or little details that people might pass by. That is why Andy Miller’s words affected me. Inspiration to view Kate Bush’s albums, songs and covers in a different way. Rather than repeat the same sentiments and lines and paint in broad brushstrokes, these finer details and hidden symbols and less discussed characters can lead us down interesting paths. Give us a broader and more original look at her work. It will be an interesting trek. One that, for me, starts with…

THE great John Barrett.

FEATURE: Smile On: Deee-Lite’s World Clique at Thirty-Five

FEATURE:

 

 

Smile On

Deee-Lite’s World Clique at Thirty-Five

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ONE of the best…

and more underrated albums of the 1990s arrived at the start of the decade. Deee-Lite’s debut, World Clique, was released on 7th August, 1990. Noted for its incredible and inventive mix of House, Soul, Pop and Dance, it is a quirky, colourful and joyous album that was released at a time when Hip-Hop especially was enjoying this golden era. Perhaps hard to connect with Hip-Hop pioneers of the late-1980s and 1990s, there is no doubt World Clique is this classic album that should be discussed more today. Perhaps hard to put into a particular genre or compare with anything around them, I wanted to spend some time with the debut from the New York trio of Super DJ Dimitry, Jungle DJ Towa Towa and The Lady Miss Kier Kirby. The group did release two more more albums after World Clique, though it is clear that their debut remains their best work. Their most surprising, immediate and enduring album. Many might recognise Groove Is in the Heart. The standout from World Clique, it was released as a single in August 1990. We also get to celebrate thirty-five years of one of the absolute best singles of that decade. I want to start off with a feature from PopMatters that was published in 2004:

“Deee-lite was already a popular group in New York’s underground club scene. The group exploded onto the national stage in 1990 on the strength of their single, “Groove Is in the Heart”. Originally a trio, the group consisted of lead vocalist Lady Kier, Super DJ Dmitry, and Jungle DJ Towa “Towa”. A huge part of Deee-lite’s appeal was their multicultural makeup; Lady Kier was born Kier Kirby in Youngstown, Ohio, while DJ Dmitry, born Dmitry Brill and Towa “Towa”, born Towa Tei, hail from the Ukraine and Japan, respectively.

I first became aware of Deee-lite by way of their campy video for “Groove Is in the Heart”. The video showcased Lady Kier, DJ Dmitry, and Towa “Towa” among an entourage of dancers adorned in kitschy, multi-color fashions and dancing with reckless abandon. Curious, I went to the store to purchase the album from which “Groove Is in the Heart” originated, World Clique, which also happened to be their debut. I was hooked immediately.

The title of Deee-lite’s debut is a tad misleading as some have misinterpreted the name World Clique to have elitist connotations concerning the group’s superior fashion sense. Fashion does indeed figure heavily into the Deee-lite mythos; prior to joining the group, Lady Kier was a student in textile design. Moreover, at this point, Kier designed the majority of the group’s outfits. I believe the title, World Clique denotes inclusiveness, however, on a global scale.

In all honesty, Deee-lite was very visual, from the plethora of color displayed in their garments and cover art to the vibrant psychedelics showcased in their music videos. There was something far more substantial to Deee-lite than their image, however; they effectively combined disco, funk, house, and soul to create a sound that was enticingly ethereal.

World Clique plays from start to finish like a night on the town that begins at one of New York’s trendiest clubs, circa early ’90s. The album boasts guest appearances from Q-Tip, formerly of Tribe Called Quest, funk legend Bootsy Collins, and saxophonist Maceo Parker. The set runs the gamut from retro-funk tracks like “Smile On”, “Try Me On… I’m Very You”, and “Who Was That” to deep house grooves like “Deep-Ending” and “Build the Bridge”. There’s also a hint of ambient in the title track and “E.S.P.”

Deee-lite later released two follow-up albums, Infinity Within and Dewdrops in the Garden in 1992 and 1994, respectively. Infinity Within was overtly political and boasted deep house and ambient grooves, whereas Dewdrops in the Garden, found the group fully embracing the then-burgeoning rave culture that they helped to usher in. They also added a new member on Dewdrops in the Garden, On-E. Both albums were innovative, but in no way as memorable as World Clique.

Through the years World Clique has continued to touch me with its prevailing themes of universal love and joy. I have been continually uplifted from the depths of sadness and doubt by each successive play of this album. It remains an integral part of my collection to this day”.

Prior to ending with a review, there is another feature that I want to come to. Albumism shared their thoughts and impressions of World Clique on its thirtieth anniversary in 2020. For anyone who has only heard Groove Is in the Heart and has not discovered the rest of the album, this is a perfect time to connect with Deee-Lite and their phenomenally confident and inventive debut album.

“From the moment that “Groove Is in the Heart” burst onto the scene in August 1990, music was never going to be the same again. Fronted by maestra Lady Miss Kier, with her electrifying red hair, unparalleled take on fashion and delicious sonant ability, it seemed only fitting that she be surrounded by the likes of DJ Dmitry (first as an initial duo) and later adding Towa Tei, culminating in the trio we came to know as Deee-Lite.

The group’s most synonymous song is most definitely “Groove Is in the Heart,” at least on a commercial level. All three band members contributed as songwriters, with funk legend Bootsy Collins providing the bass and some delicious guest vocals. The song’s main riff was sampled from the legendary Herbie Hancock’s “Bring Down The Birds.” R&B singer Vernon Burch also had his song, the incredibly funky “Get Up” sampled, being the basis for the drum track featured throughout the song, segueing into that now infamous slide whistle and breakdown featuring a rap by Q-Tip of A Tribe Called Quest fame. With such diverse talent as this, sampling done right and a funked-up concept, this song was never going to be anything but legendary—and it was. It deservedly secured the number one spot in numerous charts around the world and smashed the top ten in countless others.

Continuing with their funky optimism and newfound triumph over the charts, the piano heavy “Power of Love” was released. Failing to replicate the overall commercial success of its predecessor, “Power of Love” became a number one hit not just on the dance charts, but also for house music lovers that had long been yearning for a track like this to fill clubs’ airwaves. The frequency was set to unabashed dance, with smiles and happy vibes the only accessories needed. Deee-Lite had well and truly arrived and for people like me, club kids sitting on the outskirts of “normal” and whatever that concept meant, Lady Miss Kier and her tribe permitted us to break the shackles of said normality and live confidently within our funky, freaky little selves.

Two additional singles were released from World Clique, the psychedelic heavy on house beats of “E.S.P” and the soulful “Good Beat.” In fact, it was starting to become very clear that whilst this was house music in its most authentic form, there was, and is no denying that Kier was bringing a very soulful flavor to her work (think: that “Ye Yay” signaling the end of “Good Beat”), not to mention a little scat and some serious disco elements too. Not to be sidelined by the music, Deee-Lite’s visuals were just as important and none more so than the videos that accompanied each song.

Whether it be the trippy psychedelic visuals of the late ‘60s that encompassed “Groove Is in the Heart” or the flower power element of “Power of Love,” Deee-Lite committed to the visual component of their artistic expression, making sure that it was yet another piece of their holistic puzzle. It would be criminal of me not to mention the video that accompanied “Good Beat,” set predominantly in an underground club to a hyper-mod vibe and the stuff of truly a thousand dreams, not to mention those dance breaks—heavenly. I still revisit this clip today when I need to escape the chaos of this world.

Deee-Lite also brought political messages to their music. At the beginning of the “Groove Is in the Heart” video, Kier introduces Deee-Lite and a “fake fur” caption is placed alongside her white fur coat. Although World Clique sat firmly within the peace and love ethos of the late ‘60s/early ‘70s, it was clear that the band stood for more than just number ones and accolades, stances that would play a much more prominent role in their following two albums, 1992’s Infinity Within and 1994’s Dewdrops In the Garden. But for their debut, they managed subtlety in their messages whilst still getting their vision for a brighter, more loving future well and truly heard.

With twelve tracks making up World Clique and the likes of P-Funk lending their horny horns duo of Fred Wesley and Maceo Parker, not forgetting the aforementioned other artists that played their part in the making of this album, it was inevitable that something brilliant was going to come of these many and varied unions. Funk hooks coupled with the emotional depth of soul, and then transfusing them with house beats and the euphoria of a club is the unofficial recipe behind World Clique. An unadulterated, unspoiled and carefree trio that stayed true to what they believe, Deee-Lite were able to come across in their musical debut in the most organic, honest and heartfelt way”.

I am ending a review from SLANT. There are so many people who do not know about World Clique. When we talk about the greatest albums of the 1990s, a lot of the same albums appear. However, I think that Deee-Lite’s debut should sit among them. I feel the songs have aged really well. I would love to see more Pop and House music that took its lead from World Clique:

“From the global village, in the age of communication!” Lady Miss Kier fiercely announces on the album’s opening track, “Deee-Lite’s Theme,” setting the stage for the band’s giddy cultural-political dissections. The optimist/pessimist anthem “Good Beat” and its sister track “World Clique” are not apolitical: Despite the superficial implication of a line like “I just wanna hear a good beat,” Kier isn’t being passive—she’s championing a rhythm that unites instead of divides.

It’s not long before you realize these sampladelic hippies mean to tap into our human desire to celebrate cultural pride via dance. “Smile On,” Deee-Lite’s ode to the smile as a universal handshake, may be trite, but it’s happily so. Shouldn’t it be this simple anyway? And if you ever wanted to know what Rodin’s The Thinker was trying to figure out, look no further than “What Is Love?” Arguably the group’s single greatest moment, the song’s query may be eternally familiar, but it’s a philosophical proposition that’s written out in beats so succinct and universal as to suggest the track was composed entirely in Morse code; when Kier finally chimes in and responds to the voice asking the Big Question, it’s only natural that the beat reduces her silly schoolgirl adjectives to a mess of unintelligible scats that transcend any language barrier.

On “Try Me On, I’m Very You,” an especially coy Kier distorts a famously distorted Bible verse (her version: “Do unto me as I want to do to you”), celebrating the adage as a commandment of love, not judgment. Respect is earned, and the sinister, throbbing, and appropriately titled “Deep Ending” posits a relationship (is it romantic? Political?) spiraling out of control, and it’s not until the lyric-less “Build That Bridge” (prefiguring the Chemical Brothers’s “It Began in Afrika” by more than a decade) that a series of back-to-nature rhythms jump-starts—or is it chills out?—the troubles of the previous song. This is dance music as a celebration of cultural pride, in a language no one can misunderstand”.

Turning thirty-five on 7th August, there is still something dizzying and intoxicating about World Clique. It is an astonishing cross-pollination of cultures and genres. Arriving at a time when, as mentioned, Hip-Hop was ruling and enjoying its greatest moments, how did a group like Deee-Lite sit alongside them? As is true now as was true in 1990, World Clique is…

A kaleidoscopic masterpiece.

FEATURE: When I Was Younger… The Beatles’ Help! at Sixty

FEATURE:

 

 

When I Was Younger…

The Beatles’ Help! at Sixty

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I have spent a lot of time…

IN THIS PHOTO: The Beatles in Milan in 1965/PHOTO CREDIT: Archivi Farabola

focusing on the two surviving Beatles, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr. McCartney’s birthday was in June and Starr’s earlier this month. The final time I will discuss The Beatles for a little while takes me to one of their standout tracks. The title track from their 1965 Help! album turns sixty on 19th July. Help! is a single that was very different to anything the band released before then. In terms of the lyrical content. Written by John Lennon, it was this very revealing cry for help. You cannot read the song as being fictional or anything other than someone feeling strain, stress and sadness and needing a helping hand. This being The Beatles, the song is delivered in this catchy and singalong style. However, it is impossible to ignore the pain in Lennon’s song. As The Beatles’ official site explains: “Help!" is a song by the Beatles that served as the title song for both the 1965 film and its soundtrack album. It was also released as a single, and was number one for three weeks in both the United States and the United Kingdom. "Help!" was written primarily by John Lennon, but credited to Lennon-McCartney. During an interview with Playboy in 1984, Paul McCartney stated that the title was "out of desperation". In 2004, "Help!" was ranked number 29 on Rolling Stone's list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". Released on 19th July, 1965 in the U.S. and 23rd July in the U.K., it went to number one in both countries. I am going to comer to a feature regarding the song. However, from The Beatles Bible, we get some interviews archive from Paul McCartney and John Lennon around one of The Beatles’ finest tracks:

“The title track to The Beatles’ fifth album and second film, ‘Help!’ was written mainly by John Lennon at his home in Weybridge.

When ‘Help!’ came out, I was actually crying out for help. Most people think it’s just a fast rock ‘n’ roll song. I didn’t realise it at the time; I just wrote the song because I was commissioned to write it for the movie. But later, I knew I really was crying out for help. So it was my fat Elvis period. You see the movie: he – I – is very fat, very insecure, and he’s completely lost himself. And I am singing about when I was so much younger and all the rest, looking back at how easy it was.

John Lennon, 1980
All We Are Saying, David Sheff

The film was originally to be called Eight Arms To Hold You, and was announced to the press as such on 17 March 1965. The title had been mooted for some time, with ‘Eight Days A Week’ initially considered for the theme tune.

I think we wrote [‘Eight Days A Week’] when we were trying to write the title song for Help! because there was at one time the thought of calling the film Eight Arms To Hold You.

John Lennon
Hit Parader, April 1972

In mid-April the title Help! was settled upon, probably chosen by director Richard Lester. Paul McCartney later described the genesis behind the title and the song of the same name.

I seem to remember Dick Lester, Brian Epstein, Walter Shenson and ourselves sitting around, maybe Victor Spinetti was there, and thinking, What are we going to call this one? Somehow Help! came out. I didn’t suggest it; John might have suggested it or Dick Lester. It was one of them. John went home and thought about it and got the basis of it, then we had a writing session on it. We sat at his house and wrote it, so he obviously didn’t have that much of it. I would have to credit it to John for original inspiration 70-30. My main contribution is the countermelody to John.

Paul McCartney
Many Years From Now, Barry Miles

Following the song’s completion, Lennon and McCartney performed the song on guitars for Cynthia Lennon and visiting journalist Maureen Cleave, a long-time associate of the group.

Once we’d done our writing session there was nothing left to be done except put the instruments on. That’s what I was there for; to complete it. Had John just been left on his own he might have taken weeks to do it, but just one visit and we would go right in and complete it. So we came down and played the intro, into the verse, descant coming in on the second verse. It was all crafted, it was all there, the final verses and the end. ‘Very nice,’ they said. ‘Like it.’

Paul McCartney
Many Years From Now, Barry Miles

Although originally conceived as a ballad, The Beatles performed ‘Help!’ faster in the studio, as they had done with ‘Please Please Me’, to satisfy the group’s commercial instincts.

I remember Maureen Cleave, a writer – the one who did the famous ‘We’re more popular than Jesus’ story in the Evening Standard – asked me, ‘Why don’t you ever write songs with more than one syllable?’ So in ‘Help!’ there are two- or three-syllable words and I very proudly showed them to her and she still didn’t like them. I was insecure then, and things like that happened more than once. I never considered it before. So after that I put a few words with three syllables in, but she didn’t think much of them when I played it for her, anyway.

John Lennon, 1980
All We Are Saying, David Sheff

Lennon had been a user of marijuana since August 1964, and within six months was introduced to LSD. Introspection increasingly became a hallmark of his songwriting throughout Help!, Rubber Soul and Revolver.

I meant it – it’s real. The lyric is as good now as it was then. It is no different, and it makes me feel secure to know that I was aware of myself then. It was just me singing ‘help’ and I meant it.

I don’t like the recording too much; we did it too fast trying to be commercial… I might do ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’ and ‘Help!’ again, because I like them and I can sing them”.

I am going to end with this feature from 2020. Marking the fifty-fifth anniversary of the Help! album, it discusses how it was The Beatles’ most personal album to that point. Pushing the limits of Pop and seeing what they could get away with. They would release Rubber Soul in December 1965. Help! also contains classics such as Yesterday. It does sound very different to 1964’s A Hard Day’s Night and Beatles for Sale:

“When Help! came out in ’65, I was actually crying out for help. Most people think it’s just a fast rock ‘n’ roll song.” That’s John Lennon in 1980, describing the song and anguished word that open the album of the same name. As mid-1960s pop stars, the Beatles were obliged to make a cinematic romp to follow-up 1964’s A Hard Day’s Night, and that included a theme song. So, Lennon poured out his pain. His life was starting to seem unreal and absurd, he and his bandmates existed in a perpetual state of stoned giggling, and he was stressed-out and busy. I say all of this not to elicit sympathy for Lennon, but instead to show how he was starting to fuck with the pop system he resented. After all, it would be years before pop songs were assumed to be personal. Did anyone in the room beside Lennon have any idea that he’d just smuggled the most autobiographical song he’d ever written into the end credits of a ludicrous teenybopper flick about an Indian cult trying to kill Ringo?

You might think “Help!” is about a girl, as Beatles songs tended to be about girls back then. But, nothing in the lyrics gives any indication that this is true. (“Think for Yourself” from Rubber Soul also plays with this assumption.) It really is a cry for help, and beyond that, it’s a song about admitting the need for help, a song about itself. Subtexts like these always slither beneath the surface of Lennon’s songs. For instance, “You’re Gonna Lose That Girl” frames a man’s naked pursuit of his best friend’s girl as an act of altruism; it was a small step from that to Rubber Soul‘s “Norwegian Wood” and its hidden tale of arson. There’s a sense in these songs of getting away with something. That bravado radiates from every pore of Help! , an album the Beatles made at the peak of their ubiquity and close to the peak of their powers.

Lennon was still the band’s most potent songwriter in 1965 (McCartney would take over the following year, embracing his auteurism) and contributes Help!‘s three best songs: the title track, “You’re Gonna Lose That Girl”, and “Ticket to Ride“. If the former two songs showed how fragrantly Lennon’s songwriting had ripened, the latter showed how the band was beginning to spread out territoriality. A droning and churning thing that predicts much of the decade’s later bad-trip psych, “Ticket to Ride”, was their first tune to surpass three minutes (clocking in at three minutes and ten seconds, no less). Maybe it was the weed, but they had to stay on that chord a little longer; they had to drag out that drum fill an extra two bars, and the song’s better for it”.

I have already covered the first single from Help!, Ticket to Ride. That came out in April 1965. Help! was the second and final single from the album. The opening album track starts out with the title. There is no introduction leading us in. It is such a brilliantly intense song that many fans were not expecting. However, it was a chart-topping song and is seen as one of The Beatles’ best. As it is sixty on 17th July, I wanted to spend time with a pivotal and special moment in Pop history. Even though the single was released in 1965, it sounds more bracing, memorable and original….

THAN anything around today.

FEATURE: (There Is) No Greater Love: Remembering the Great Amy Winehouse

FEATURE:

 

 

(There Is) No Greater Love

IN THIS PHOTO: Amy Winehouse in 2006/PHOTO CREDIT: Dean Chalkley

Remembering the Great Amy Winehouse

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ON 23rd July…

IN THIS PHOTO: Amy Winehouse in 2003/PHOTO CREDIT: Phil Knott

it will be fourteen years since we lost Amy Winehouse. One of the most extraordinary talents of her generation, she died at the age of twenty-seven. There are questions around how far she could have gone and what her third studio album would have sounded like. Two studio albums, 2003’s Frank and 2006’s Back to Black, are a glimpse into her exceptional gift. One of the most moving and powerful voices! Much imitated but never bettered, 23rd July will see fans share their memories of Winehouse. I wanted to include a couple of interviews with her. I have included a playlist at the end of this feature. However, people do not really highlight the interviews. An insight into her career and life at the time. I am going to start out with an interview that was originally published in Hot Press in 2006. There is a bit of a full circle moments. Amy Winehouse mentions in the interview how it would a dream to sing with Tony Bennett. They did eventually record together. Their duet, Body and Soul, was released on Bennett’s Duets II of 2011:

“Excellent. Does she remember her first kiss?

“Ever? I was about 11 or 12 and it was with a Greek boy called Chris *¡+&*£&^%©¡ who’s gay now – I’m not sure if his mum knows, so only use his Christian name! My best friend Juliette thought I was making it up, so when my Mum picked us up from his house and we got in the car, she said, ‘Let me smell your breath.’ I went ‘haaaaah’ and she goes, ‘Oh my God, boy breath, I believe you!’

“My first kiss with Alex was lovely as well. I was in my pub playing pool and noticed him from the off when he walked in. I made him go and buy me a shot ‘cause the bar staff, who are my friends, were refusing to serve me on account of the golf ball-sized lump I had on my head from the previous night’s bad behaviour! I said to him, ‘I know you don’t know me, but will you take this two quid and get me a tequila,’ and he goes, ‘No, save your money.’ A few drinks later I was sitting on his lap and went, ‘Come outside, I want to tell you something.’ He was totally clueless as to what I had in mind, but eventually I got him outside and that’s where it happened.”

Barbara Cartland – if you weren’t dead – eat your heart out! What would Amy Winehouse’s perfect romantic day comprise of?

“The boy doesn’t get up ‘til late, so I’d start by going to the gym early on my own and raising my energy levels for what’s to come later.

“What do I work out to? The Rocky theme. No, sometimes when I’m on the treadmill I think of that music in my head, but what I actually listen to is hip-hop like Missy, Nas and Mos Def. Adrenalin pumping, it’s back to the house where I cook him breakfast, we eat and read the newspapers in bed and then have a nice, soapy bath together. Next we’d go for a walk in London, pick somewhere nice in Soho for dinner and, not too drunk, head home for some lovin’. You’re making me all tingly!”

Which is a sentence I shall cherish for the rest of my life. And would the soundtrack to all that lovin’ include one of her own songs?

“Eeeeeurrrrgh, that’s wrong on so many different levels,” she grimaces. “?uestlove did a compilation called Babies Making Babies, which is the ultimate Sunday afternoon sex album. Well, anytime sex album!”

For those who aren’t in the hip-hop know – e.g. me – ?uestlove is the nom de studio of The Roots’ Afro-sporting drummer Ahmir Khalib Thompson. He’s produced two volumes of Babies Making Babies, both of which are guaranteed to have you banging like a rattlesnake. Talking of rap royalty, what’s this I hear about Amy hobnobbing in New York with Jay-Z?

“I did two shows in New York recently – Mos Def who’s one of my all-time heroes was at the first and Jay-Z was at the second. It’s always nice to be supported by people you admire. I don’t know if it’s because of the version of ‘You Know I’m No Good’ that’s come out with Ghostface Killah on it, but a lot of the hip-hop community in America seem to know who I am.”

Although Winehouse has yet to meet Ghostface – “We were on opposite sides of the Atlantic when it was being put together” – it’s made her eager to do other collaborations.

“My ultimate would be to sing with Tony Bennett. When I was making my first record, I went to his studio ‘cause the guy I was doing some of it with, Commissioner Gordon, knew his son. He wasn’t there, but just being in his gaff made me cry – it was so embarrassing!”.

The second and final interview I want to come to is from The Telegraph. Neil Mccormick recalled an interview with Amy Winehouse that turned out to be the last. These are only a couple of examples of Winehouse being interviewed. There are a lot that revolve around her struggles with alcohol and tabloid harassment. There are early interviews like this one from DAZED in 2003 that gives us insight into Amy Winehouse around the time of Frank being released. I do hope that there are lost or hidden interviews that come to light. Knowing more about this incredible person. Someone who was subjected to constant press harassment and pressure. I think back to Winehouse in 2003 and starting out. This optimism and excitement. Fame and its pressures combined. Heartbreaking to think of how different things could have been if she was left alone and give more space and support. Take time out from music. There is no use speculating and blaming. It is clear that this once-in-a-generation supernova burned bright in her short life:

“In March this year, I did what turned out to be the last interview with Amy Winehouse. We didn’t talk about drugs, or rehab, or her unhappy love life, or cancelled tours and interrupted recording sessions. It wasn’t about her well-publicised troubles at all. It was about music, about jazz and singing, the things that really motivated her, the things that made her great.

I was privileged to watch her record a duet with legendary crooner Tony Bennett in Abbey Road studios. It was a magical experience, watching these two great talents sing together, voices wrapping around each other, rising and falling, scatting and blending in jazzy cadences, as they worked up a version of the classic ’Body And Soul’, each take getting better than the last.

Winehouse was obviously nervous, exhibiting the slightly insecure demeanour of a brattish teenager, alternately blasé and sulky. She had run a gauntlet of paparazzi on arrival, and her entourage of stylists, management and record company representatives were worried about the response of their notoriously mercurial charge. Winehouse, however, dismissed concerns with a shrug and “Whatever!”

In mini-dress and patterned cardigan, she looked good, healthier than I had seen her in years, tanned and fuller-figured, big hair sculpted around her striking face. The year before, a producer I know described Winehouse as a write-off, creatively stuck and unable to function for ten minutes without resorting to drugs. The comment had offended her father, Mitch. “She’s not a write off,” he insisted. “She’s a recovering addict.”

The Amy I saw seemed well on the way back to her best, which makes our brief encounter all the more poignant.

I was there for a feature on the 85-year-old Bennett, who is recording an album of duets. The invitation to join one of her heroes in the studio was something Winehouse could not refuse. “We love you so much,” she told the white-haired, dapper Bennett.

“I’m not going to cry,” she said, when he took her hands. “I’m not going to cry.”

She apologised for being nervous, saying it was her first time in a recording studio in a while. I asked if it was good to be back. “It’s good to be in the studio with Tony,” she replied. “That’s the only reason I’m here.”

She talked about how her father raised her on Bennett and Sinatra. “I grew up listening to your records,” she told Tony. “You taught me how to sing.”

They sang together, on two adjacent microphones (not a given in this digital era, when vocals are often separately compiled from assemblages of multiple takes, then autotuned to fake perfection). They sang take after take, in search of something mysterious and almost undefinable.

“You’re just feeling it,” she told me. “You don’t think about it. If you thought about it, you wouldn’t be able to sing it at all.”

Bennett, the old pro, looked relaxed and barely seemed to consider his own performance, focusing on encouraging Winehouse, watching her closely all the time. She was fidgety and uncomfortable, chewing her sleeve, looking at her feet, the walls, the ceiling, everything but her musical partner, yet singing up a storm in her rich, ancient voice, channelling Dinah Washington and Billie Holiday. She became increasingly bold, her voice taking off in daring flights, but would suddenly call a halt, muttering “Can we sing it again? I’m terrible. I don’t want to waste your time.” No two takes were the same. “It’s getting there, innit?” she cheerfully snorted after one particularly amazing display of vocal prowess.

“I’m my own worst critic,” she told me afterwards, “and if I don’t pull off what I think I wanted to do in my head, then I won’t be a happy girl.” Her sulky demeanour she put down to nerves. “I’ve got Tony’s voice right in my ear and that’s so much for me that I can’t look up and see Tony the person as well. I sound so stupid but it’s hard.”

Winehouse’s surprising self-criticism, and her unease in the situation, was revealing. “I’m not a natural born performer. I’m a natural singer, but I’m quite shy, really.” She said she always fought nerves before a performance.

“You know what it’s like? I don’t mean to be sentimental or soppy but its a little bit like being in love, when you can’t eat, you’re restless, it’s like that. But then the minute you go on stage, everything’s OK. The minute you start singing.”

Her technique was a wonder to observe, the way she moved on and off the microphone, the way her mouth worked, all lips and tongue, shaping the sound. Bennett was clearly enjoying himself, taking a relaxed, almost conversational tone, while she added layers of depth, daring and drama.

During a break, he offered her a throat lozenge: “Have you ever tried Strepsils?”. Such an innocent question for a woman the UN described as a poster girl for drug abuse. “I like the honey ones best,” she responded sweetly.

It’s hard to believe that encounter took place in spring. Maybe Winehouse wasn’t really ready to venture back into the spotlight. She certainly wasn’t ready to return to the stage, her disastrous performance in Belgrade in June leading to the cancellation of a short European tour.

I first met her in 2003, when she was just a delight, such a precocious talent, so fully in love with music, but even then I found her frustratingly erratic live. In a review of a performance at The Jazz Cafe in 2004, I called her “the girl with everything — except stage presence.” I noted the way she seemed to want to hide behind her guitar. Maybe, after all, the stage wasn’t the place for her particular sensitivities.

At Abbey Road studios, Winehouse spoke to me about her love of jazz, how she modelled her vocal style on the instrumental playing of Thelonious Monk and Charlie Mingus, namechecking her three favourite vocalists as Sarah Vaughn, Dinah Washington and Minnie Ripperton. She thought she might record a “more purist” jazz album some day, citing contemporary British jazz talents Soweto Kinch, Jazz Jamaica and Tomorrow’s Warriors as people she would like to work with.

She also opened up the possibility of studying music. “I would love to study guitar or trumpet. I can play a lot of different instruments adequately but nothing really well. If you play an instrument, it makes you a better singer. The more you play, the better you sing, the more you sing, the better you play.”

This was all in the future. She may have had a hedonistic and self-destructive streak, and she was an addict battling deep problems, but at 27, I think Amy really believed in her own future. She told Bennett that, after the session, she wanted to go home and put on one of his records. “I’d rather hear you sing than listen to my own voice.”

She was relaxed and laughing by the end, a warm, loud, dirty laugh, full of pleasure. “I’m so happy to be here,” she told Bennett. “It's a story to tell my grandchildren, to tell their grandchildren, to make sure they tell their grandchildren”.

On 23rd July, we remember Amy Winehouse fourteen years after her death. Influencing artists of today – everyone from RAYE to Greentea Peng have been compared to her -, her music will amaze and captivate people for decades to come. Twenty-two years after her debut album came out, I don’t think we will ever see anyone like her again. It is clear she was a true pioneer and pure talent. Even though she is gone, her immense legacy…

WILL live forever.

FEATURE: The Great American Songbook: R.E.M.

FEATURE:

 

 

The Great American Songbook

R.E.M.

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THIS is a series…

where I focus on terrific American artists. The Great American Songbook has a different meaning and does refer to a particular style of music. However, stretching it out, I wanted to apply it to wonderful American artists who have made a significant contribution to the industry. Their music has been transformative and revelatory. R.E.M. hail from Athens, Georgia. Formed in 1980, R.E.M. were inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in 2006 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007. Fronted by Michael Stipe, they released classic albums such as Document (1987), Automatic for the People (1992) and Monster (1994). The band’s final album, 2011’s Collapse into Now, was a sad farewell to music royalty. I am going to come to a twenty-song mix from R.E.M. A career-spanning representation of their brilliance, they have inspired musicians as wide-ranging as Nirvana, Pavement, Pearl Jam, Collective Soul, and Liz Phair. If you are not a huge fan of R.E.M., I do hope that the playlist provides some proof that R.E.M. are one of the most important bands ever. I have loved them since childhood and their absence is notable. I wish they were still recording together. However, rather than wish for the impossible, let’s take a look inside the catalogue of…

THE sensational R.E.M.

FEATURE: One for the Record Collection! Essential August Releases

FEATURE:

 

 

One for the Record Collection!

IN THIS PHOT: CMAT/PHOTO CREDIT: Sarah Doyle

Essential August Releases

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I know we are still in July…

IN THIS PHOTO: Jehnny Beth/PHOTO CREDIT: Johnny Hostile

but I am excited by the albums due out next month. I want to recommend the best of them here. Thanks to Metacritic for providing release dates and albums. You can see ones I have omitted for a fuller look at what August has to offer. I am going to start out with one album from 1st August. That is Reneé Rapp’s Bite Me. You can pre-order your copy here. I am very excited to see what comes from the album. I am a recent convert to the brilliance of Reneé Rapp. She is one of the most promising artists coming through. There is not a lot of information out there about Bite Me. Instead, I wanted to bring in part of a fascinating interview from Cosmopolitan from last month. The actor and artist was speaking with Cosmopolitan around the release of her recent single, Leave Me Alone:

“Do you identify as a sensitive person?

In the last 8 to 10 months of my life, I’ve been like, Oh, wait, I don’t have to do everything and I don’t have to be around people that make me feel like shit. I thought it made me tough, that it made me come across as hard, that I could handle anything. But now I think the tougher thing is to tell someone to get the fuck away from you. So sort of a roundabout answer, but I love being sensitive. It’s my superpower.

You have a lot of songs about overthinking in past relationships. Do you still experience that now?

Those times I was overthinking in relationships were because I was with people I didn’t like, but I was trying to make it work because I liked to keep myself miserable. There’s such a big difference when you are with someone who gives you basic human decency. And also, my girlfriend is just really hot. I don’t need to overthink it. She’s gorgeous. You know how you know you’re with the wrong person? When you’re two inches away from their face, and you’re looking at them and you’re really scared and grossed out. I thought that was just me with everyone. No, it turns out that I just didn’t like those people! When you’re with someone who is not making you miserable, what a difference it makes!

I know you’re great friends with Cara Delevingne. In her 2021 Cosmo cover interview, she said, “I don’t feel like I’ve ever left a relationship so fucked up that it’s been like, ‘I never want to speak to that person again.’ I just love all the people I was ever with and want the best for them.” Do you still speak to your exes?

I don’t block anybody or delete anybody. But I have a couple of exes that I just pity. I’m like, “No, I don’t want to be your friend. I don’t really think you’re a good person.” Cara is really good at seeing the best in people, where I’m very good at seeing the truth in someone’s deepest nature.

Would you ever open up your current relationship?

Fuck no. Hell no. Y’all do what you want to do. Not with mine. I’ve done it before. That shit is not for me because now I’m with the person I love and I want to marry9—stay the fuck away!

PHOTO CREDIT: Rona Liana Ahdout

Did you try polyamory in previous relationships because you thought it would bring you closer together?

In one case, I was with a boy and I kept telling him that I was a lesbian. And I was like, “But don’t leave me,” because I wanted to be the center of attention. So we did that. And then the next one, I made some really poor decisions. And I was like, “Wait, you have to go kiss somebody else because I can’t stand this anymore.” Now that’s not to invalidate polyamory because some people are genuinely polyamorous. I was not. I just didn’t like those people, and I was like, Wait, let me try this

We’re in a really scary time for queer people. What advice would you give to young queer readers?

Find your community. Whether that community is online and thousands of miles away from you or two towns over or in someone who really lifts you up beyond a way you could do for yourself. Your community will do the best it can to keep you safe. This extends so much further past gay and trans people.

Really rely on people around you who are maybe more comfortable or less at risk than you are. We kind of have a pact among certain friends of mine that’s like, “I can take a way bigger blow than you can. Let me do that shit.” I’m not going to let my friend who exists in a trans body go out and put themselves at risk because they immediately have a way bigger target on their back. There is such a dire need for protection, and the government is not going to give that to you. No one here is going to give that to you but the people you can trust”.

There are a few albums from 8th August that I want to spotlight. The first is Ethel Cain’s Willoughby Tucker, I’ll Always Love You. You can pre-order the album here. Again, not a lot of information about the album – I wish there were websites that had a bit more to say about new releases –, but I will include what I can get from Rough Trade. Ethel Cain is an amazing artist and I would recommend everyone check out her new album. She is one of the most extraordinary musical voices in the world. Someone who is unique and utterly entrancing:

“Florida-born multimedia artist Ethel Cain returns with her sophomore album Willoughby Tucker, I'll Always Love You. A prequel to the critically acclaimed Preacher's Daughter, the new album recounts the story of Ethel's first love, Willoughby Tucker, and their humid, laden romance. Hayden Anhedonia, the creative force behind the entire Ethel Cain project, has spent the past several years assembling the album in her home studios from Coraopolis, PA to Tallahassee, FL, all the while selling out tours and playing festivals worldwide, cementing herself as a singular artistic voice on the rise”.

Actually, there is just one more from 8th August I will recommend, as there are plenty from the three weeks after. Good Charlotte’s Motel Du Cap is out then and is going to be amazing. They are a band who have been around a while but are producing some of their very best music. I think this album will draw in new fans in addition to their diehards. You can pre-order it here:

“Good Charlotte is back and they’re bringing their rawest, most authentic energy yet with their album Motel Du Cap. The rock legends have spent nearly three decades crafting anthems for the underdogs, the dreamers, and the broken. Now, they’re channeling a serendipitous moment into their most genuine and honest work since their early days.

The spark for Motel Du Cap ignited when the band played a private gig at the iconic Hotel du Cap in France for a friend's wedding in 2022. The surreal beauty of the venue, the raw emotion of the occasion, and the freedom of performing without expectations lit a fire under the Madden brothers. “It was this wild, once-in-a-lifetime vibe,” Joel recalls. “We were just there to celebrate, no pressure, and it reminded us why we started this—pure, unfiltered connection”.

This might be a shorter feature than I anticipated, as it is hard to see the albums without too much written about them. Even so, I hope that what is included entices you! On 15th August, Alison Goldfrapp released Flux. Her debut solo album, The Love Invention, was released in 2023 to large acclaim. The lead of the legendary Goldfrapp is a superb solo artist in her own right. Make sure that you pre-order her forthcoming album:

“Alison Goldfrapp, the creative force behind some of the most captivating music of the past two and a half decades, releases her new album Flux, out on her recently launched record label, A.G. Records.

With "Flux", her second album following 2023's critically-adored The Love Invention, Alison stands on a precipice of new experiences in more ways than one. Launched with the joybomb of a single "Find Xanadu," the album showcases some of her most undeniable pop hooks since Goldfrapp's iconic album Supernature as well as her most poignantly vulnerable songwriting to date. Alongside Alison, the album is co-produced by Richard X and Stefan Storm”.

You may know Bret McKenzie as half of the New Zealand comedy duo, Flight of the Conchords (alongside Jermaine Clement). They released a couple of studio albums. Those were very much comedic in tone. Freak Out City is going to offer something different. This is an album that you will definitely want to pre-order:

“Bret McKenzie is a Grammy and Academy Award winning artist most well known for his band Flight of the Conchords and their eponymous television show. McKenzie is internationally renowned for singing and writing funny, strange, and unique songs primarily for film and television. Bret’s songs have been sung by Kermit the Frog, Celine Dion, Lizzo, Benedict Cumberbatch, Brittany Howard, Homer and Lisa Simpson, Fred Armisan, Miss Piggy, Amy Adams, Jason Segal, Ricky Gervais, Benee, Isabela Merced, Spongebob Squarepants, Tony Bennett, Mickey Rooney, and more.

As a young adult Bret was an active part of the Wellington music scene playing in multiple bands across multiple genres. He was a founding member of the popular band The Black Seeds, a reggae funk phenomenon that went on to make multiple gold albums and tour extensively around the world. He also started the Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra, a surprisingly popular ten piece ukulele group, played in Dub Connection, an experimental electronica ensemble, made an indie pop electro record under the alias Video Kid, and performed in various jazz groups from The Shrinks, a band made up of people playing miniature instruments, to corporate function quartet The Canapés. At the same time Bret was heavily involved in the local theatre scene performing regularly in countless devised comedy theatre productions where he developed a friendship with a large community of theatre artists including long time collaborators Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi.

In 2000 he was cast as an extra in the first Lord of the Rings film, The Fellowship of the Ring and was unexpectedly catapulted to fame as a background elf that garnered an abnormal amount of attention from the Tolkien fans. He was coined Figwit - an acronym for “Frodo is great, who is that?”

Around the same time The Flight of the Conchords emerged from this prolific Wellington artistic community and Bret spent several years touring comedy festivals in Australia, Canada and the UK with his bandmate Jemaine. They made a radio show for the BBC followed by a TV show for HBO that became a cult classic and propelled the pair to international fame. They released one EP and three albums with Sub Pop Records winning the Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album in 2008. Bret’s work with Flight of the Conchords established him in the entertainment worlds of both comedy and music and opened the doors to working in the American film industry. He has consistently worked on film and television projects since. In 2012 he won the Academy Award for Best Original Song for his ballad “Man or Muppet” from the Disney film The Muppets. During this time Bret and his wife Hannah Clarke had three children, and Bret started to focus on projects that would allow him to be at home in New Zealand with his family. In 2022 Bret released a solo album called Songs Without Jokes that saw him explore songwriting without punch lines. FarOut Magazine described the songs as “like musical versions of a Kurt Vonnegut novel.” This year he is releasing his second solo record, Freak Out City, made up of songs developed while on the road with his eight-piece band. Freak Out City was recorded in both Los Angeles and New Zealand, and co-produced by Bret and his long time collaborator Mickey Petralia. It was mixed by Michael Harris in Los Angeles at East West Studios. The musicians on the record are a mix of Los Angeles players Leland Sklar, Dean Parks, Drew Erickson, Chis Caswell, Joey Waronker and New Zealand musicians Ben Lemi, Leo Coghini, Jacqui Nyman, Moana Leota, Iris Little, Justin Clarke”.

Before moving to 22nd August and the great albums on offer then, there is one more from 15th you will want to pre-order. This is Marissa Nadler’s New Radiations. Go and pre-order the album. Many people might not know Marissa Nadler’s music. She is a wonderful artist. Someone who should definitely be oin your radar:

“Marissa Nadler has spent the past two decades crafting a singular body of work defned by spectral beauty, haunting lyricism, and a voice that feels both ancient and intimate Since her 2004 debut Ballads of Living and Dying, the Boston-born singer-songwriter has become a revered fgure in the worlds of dream- folk, gothic Americana, and atmospheric rock.

Across acclaimed releases like Little Hells, July, and For My Crimes, Nadler has seamlessly woven tales of longing, mystery, and memory with ethereal instrumentation and poetic depth. With New Radiations, Nadler pares back to a more minimal, drumless sound--letting her voice and fingerpicked guitar take center stage. The album feels intimate and clear- eyed, offering a quiet yet resonant collection of songs that refect an artist ever attuned to the power of subtle transformation”.

There are a load of albums out on 29th August I want to highlight. Some of the most anticipated of the year. Because of that, I will include only one from 22nd August. That is Ciara’s CiCi. This is an album that I can definitely recommend that you pre-order. A phenomenal American artist whose debut album, Goodies, came out in 2004, it seems that CiCi is going to be her most important release yet. August is shaping up to be incredible and busy for albums. Ciara’s is among the very best:

“On the album CiCi, Ciara reclaims her narrative with clarity, confidence, and a full-spectrum sonic experience that marks her most dynamic era yet. The project — which includes standout singles like “Ecstasy,” “How We Roll,” “Wassup,” and “Run It Up” — effortlessly bridges her legacy in R&B and pop with fresh, future-forward production and unapologetic storytelling. The CiCi era isn’t just a return — it’s a reinvention. Across the album, Ciara blends sultry grooves, empowering anthems, and melodic dance records that reflect both her personal evolution and artistic growth. Each track reflects a refined sense of purpose: she knows exactly what she wants to say and how she wants to say it. Whether celebrating freedom, sensuality, or power, CiCi is an album about owning your voice, your joy, and your journey. Over the last two decades, Ciara has consistently pushed culture forward — from setting dance floors ablaze with iconic choreography to defining the sound of modern R&B-pop. With CiCi, she not only reintroduces herself to a new generation, but also strengthens the bond with her core audience, continuing to build an intergenerational community of fans who ride with her every evolution. It’s bold. It’s intimate. It’s CiCi — raw, radiant, and ready to reign”.

Six albums due on 29th August to end on. Let’s start with CMAT’s EURO-COUNTRY. This is going to be among 2025’s best albums. After a successful performance at Glastonbury and her incredible music out in the world, this is a future icon we have in our midst. Go and pre-order EURO-COUNTRY. Here are some details about an album that you really need to own. I cannot wait for it to arrive:

“It’s almost inconceivable that it’s only five years since the arrival of CMAT, as she approaches the release of her third album, Euro-Country. This BRITs / Mercury / Ivors-nominated acronymic star feels like she’s been part of the culture forever - and what has endeared fans to her heart-sore tunes and humour is CMAT's ability to combine contradictory themes and moods: wide-eye drama with self-deprecation.

Country music has always been a lynchpin for CMAT, but this is country in an augmented, reimagined way. Mixed with classic indie and affirmative soul-pop, it resists the music industry’s desire to pigeonhole artists as one genre. Not only is there a palpable tonal shift, Euro-Country also feels like a huge step-up creatively.

There is a sense of determination, of urgency, of ‘gather round and listen up’. From re-evaluating where you come from (geographically, metaphorically) and the impact of economics on a small country, to the attention that comes with increased fame (not all of it good) and being a woman in the music industry”.

The second 29th August-due album is Jehnny Beth’s You Heartbreaker, You. You can pre-order it here.  I want to bring in part of a recent interview with NME. We get a bit more insight into the new album and what we can expect. Jehnny Beth is an artist I have loved since the earliest days of Savages. That band are, in my opinion, one of the most important of their generation. Her debut solo album, TO LOVE IS TO LIVE, was released in 2020. If you do not know about this artist and have not heard her music then you really do need to check her out – as she is truly phenomenal:

“Paris, 13th District got so much attention and then Anatomy Of A Fall had pretty phenomenal critical success. How did it feel to be seen by so many in a different light? Did that confidence and new sense of identity bleed into the new album?

“When I go into the studio to write music with [creative partner and longtime collaborator] Johnny Hostile, the world outside disappears. Although it is within me and the sum of all these experiences add up to be part of who you are. However, I was not thinking about my experiences as an actor when I was writing – but there are links between artforms. Acting is an interpretation. What they have in common is that you have to think of what you want to say in the world, where your places is and what your point of view is.

“Singing or acting – they spring from that place of ‘What do I want to say?’ You’re not thinking about the superficiality of it of ‘Where do I place my hands?’ The need comes from within. What I wanted to do with this record was to reconnect with the urge of my time in Savages – maybe adding something more dangerous to it, perhaps a sense of humour as well.

“I think it was the first time I was not overthinking what I was doing. I was just enjoying the process with an unconditional trust and belief. Maybe that’s me watching too much Ted Lasso…”

Is the album basically saying, ‘Everything’s fucked, but we must move’?

“I like that! They’re your words not mine, but yes. The world is better with a good song in it, and music is a way to bring things back together. Nothing really makes sense in the end, but it’s a way to cope. It’s the same for live music: it’s a great thing that we do as a species that we should be proud of. The times are traumatic, there’s a lot of drama and pain in the world. We still consider love with a very prehistoric approach.”

And that’s what inspired the album title, right?

“The artwork of the record is a reference to all the car tags you see when lovers break up and attack their ex’s car by spraying a massive ‘TWAT’ or something like that. Me and Johnny Hostile came across a few in London. One was, ‘You cheating bastard – I’m pregnant with your child’. It’s very violent and aggressive. My friend tagged my car to make the record sleeve. That’s the echo of the world that I receive.

“Yasiin Bey said in a recent TV interview that if your heart’s not broken then your heart’s not working. If you find yourself displaced in a society that’s sick then it probably means you’re sane. One of the lyrics on the record is: ‘Anyone who does anything with their heart knows one day they’ll have it broken’. That was the starting point of the record”.

I am really excited about Nova Twins’ Parasites and Butterflies. They are an exceptional duo who I have been a fan of for a very long time. You can guarantee that their new album is one you will want to add to your collection. You can pre-order the album here. I think that Parasites and Butterflies is going to be their most powerful and honest work yet:

“Nova Twins have risen from the UK's independent scene to become one of its most transformative acts, rewriting the rules of success and redefining alt.rock music's future. Sharing stages with Foo Fighters and Muse, earning two BRIT Award nominations, and making history as the first Black rock band shortlisted for the Mercury Prize, they've cemented their legacy as trailblazers. Praised by legends like Tom Morello and Elton John, their electrifying presence continues to captivate audiences worldwide.

Their latest album, Parasites and Butterflies, is a genre-defying journey through life's chaos and beauty, blending hip-hop, punk, rock, pop and electronic influences. Fearless and unflinching, it explores empowerment, identity, and mental health, balancing turbulence with clarity and vulnerability with strength. "This is the sound of us pushing the boundaries of everything Nova Twins can be," they affirm--an album destined to challenge, inspire, and redefine expectations.

Following the Mercury Prize shortlisted 'Supernova' by Mobo and brit-award nominee alt. Rock duo, Nova Twins, Parasites and Butterflies boasts tracks that'll make you want to cry, laugh, dance; spanning themes of female empowerment, mental health, grief and letting loose - With focus firmly on giving back to the fans with dedicated experiences. Set to make Nova Twins a generational success story, this album demands your attention; Parasites and Butterflies will empower new and existing fans Worldwide - everyone is welcome in this new era”.

Three more albums to round off with. The next I want to include is Sabrina Carpenter’s Man's Best Friend. You can pre-order it here. A lot of people have been discussing its cover. A lot of discussion around it and whether it is anti-feminist or tongue in cheek. I think that there has been far too much overreaction. One of the world’s biggest artists is at the top of her game. I found an interview with Rolling Stone from last month that I want to source from:

“Plenty of stars can craft catchy, clever love songs with glossy hooks. But Carpenter’s sharp-witted lines are on another level. “She’s as intelligent as someone can possibly be, which is why she’s funny,” says her producer, Jack Antonoff. “When she says something incredibly profound and then chucks it away with a joke, it almost hits deeper. You go back, the Beatles would [have] the most beautiful love song on Earth, and then something that sounds like a cartoon that John or Paul made up in their head. Some of the best songs ever, and these really funny things, live hand in hand. It’s something I’ve personally been yearning for, and I think other people have been, too.”

Short n’ Sweet earned Carpenter six Grammy nominations (including nods in the “Big Four” categories), and won her two (Best Pop Vocal Album and Best Pop Solo Performance, for “Espresso”). She appeared as a musical guest on SNL last May and has returned to the show twice more, duetting with Paul Simon on “Homeward Bound” to kick off the 50th-anniversary special earlier this year (“He trusted me a lot with that,” she notes, “because I could’ve fucked that up”) and making a cameo during host Quinta Brunson’s monologue in May.

Along the way, Carpenter got to collaborate with another legend — Dolly Parton, who joined Carpenter on “Please Please Please” from the deluxe version of Short n’ Sweet. “It felt like I was looking in a weird mirror into the future,” Carpenter says of her hero, who is also a five-foot-tall blonde with serious pipes. “Our voices are very similar,” Parton tells me. “I can’t tell sometimes which part’s her and which part’s me. And we look like relatives. She looks like she could be my little sister. We’re little women, doing big things.”

Those things are going to get even bigger this year, when Carpenter releases Man’s Best Friend, the follow-up to Short n’ Sweet. Due August 29, the album includes the new single “Manchild,” a spicy kiss-off to an ex. (Asked which ex it’s about, she replies, “It’s about your dad.”) Like several of the songs on Short n’ Sweet, Carpenter co-wrote it with Antonoff and Amy Allen. “It’s easily my favorite song we’ve ever done together,” says Antonoff. “The things we did on the last album — things that people really loved — were just the start of places we wanted to take it. It’s like, ‘Oh, you like that? Well, just you wait.’”.

The penultimate album out on 29th August you should pre-order is The Beaches’ No Hard Feelings. Go and pre-order it here. They may be new to you. I would say that you definitely need to get their music in your life. The Canadian Rock band follow their astonishing 2023 album, Blame My Ex. There is not a lot in the way of details I can provide for No Hard Feelings. However, this is what Rough Trade have written about an album that I would recommend you grab a copy of:

“The Beaches have spent the past decade building something unstoppable. Their third album No Hard Feelings finds the band blaming themselves (rather than their exes), embracing their partying ways and accepting the occasional semi-self destructive thoughts and actions. The LP includes the last-call anthem “Last Girls At The Party”, fan favorite “Jocelyn” and self-reflective “Takes One to Know One”.

I am finishing with Wolf Alice’s The Clearing. This was another act who had a triumphant time at Glastonbury. Even though they have been in the industry a while, I think they are producing their best music and delivering their greatest live sets. This is a new peak for the band. I want to spotlight some of a recent interview with Rolling Stone UK:

“Produced by pop luminary Greg Kurstin, the melodies are huge and glorious, replete with silken harmonies and woozy, cinematic strings. Lead single ‘Bloom Baby Bloom’ is a magnificent, maximalist showcase of what’s to come, with Rowsell’s vocal range the star of the show (with an exquisitely choreographed and spangly leotarded video to boot). On The Clearing, her voice has transcended itself to become more lilting and powerful than ever. Rowsell’s pen is also engrossingly assured these days, as she sings wryly but tenderly of life decisions big and small. In previous times, she preferred burying her words in the scuzz, but now she says she wants to lean into clarity and let people hear what she’s saying.

After years as one of the most revered British bands of their generation, Wolf Alice are getting back to basics. But this is not in response to conversations about tech and AI — if anything, the band are quite open to TikTok and tech platforms in music (“A knee jerk reaction to anything because of age difference is a trap you can find yourself falling into as you get older,” says Ellis). Instead, they see their approach on The Clearing more as a way of reconnecting with an innate part of the band experience after the density of their last record. “I remember getting the stems back from the songs in Blue Weekend and being like, ‘I love this! But I can’t hear it, because there’s so many ideas,’” recalls Rowsell. “So I thought: ‘Next time, you’ve got to make sure all the ideas are the best ones, and if you can’t hear them, you take stuff out.’”

PHOTO CREDIT: Oscar Lindqvist for Rolling Stone UK

Previously, they had felt the pressure for each album to explore new sonic ground, and to showcase skill by getting as intricate as possible, but this time they recognised the bold potential of simplicity. As Oddie says: “When you’re a group of people and you spend years doing these songs, it’s quite brave to go, ‘Your contribution may be not doing something.’”

“There’s a power in giving less,” agrees Amey. “Obviously, for lots of bands it’s normal to just sit in a room with guitars and write. But for us, that was new and felt exciting […] It’s like in Get Back, how they’re all just looking at each other’s eyes, trying to work out what’s going on. There’s an intimacy.”

It’s an intimacy rooted in that strange, unique relationship that comes with being in a band. They clearly have a lot of affection and respect for each other (“I’m always more nervous emailing these three a demo than I am putting out a song to the rest of the world,” says Amey at one point). They’re aware that it can be an odd dynamic for outsiders to step into — although it quickly becomes clear over my week of interviewing them that the four-piece have cultivated an easy camaraderie with everyone in their circle. Take this rehearsal studio in Wembley, where the band are preparing their live show for upcoming performances including Radio 1’s Big Weekend and Glastonbury but have still found time to decorate the area around the mixing desk for their Front of House sound engineer Johnny Dodkins’ birthday (think bunting and bubbly). They gather round to coo at photos of touring keyboardist Ryan Malcolm’s new niece and, when I arrive, Amey takes me on an adventure through the surreal cavernous warehouse (“Have you ever seen Indiana Jones?” he quips), all in order to offer me a cup of tea”.

I hope that the albums recommended above give you some ideas. It is a very eclectic and interesting month for music. From Wolf Alice and Sabrina Carpenter to Jehnny Beth and Good Charlotte, there truly is a bit for everyone! Some very hot albums out there…

TO bring us out of summer.

FEATURE: Guts and Glory: The Exciting New Breed of Female Headliners

FEATURE:

 

 

Guts and Glory

IN THIS PHOTO: Olivia Rodrigo headlined the Pyramid Stage at the Glastonbury Festival on Sunday, 29th June/PHOTO CREDIT: Samir Hussein

The Exciting New Breed of Female Headliners

__________

EVEN though I am basing this off…

IN THIS PHOTO: Self Esteem (Rebecca Lucy Taylor) played the Park Stage at Glastonbury on Friday, 27th June/PHOTO CREDIT: Dereck Bremner for NME

of one major festival, Glastonbury, it is clear that there was a mix of revelations and missed opportunities. There were so many standouts sets through the festival. Many that got five-star praise. Whilst there is a lot to talk about Glastonbury is terms of its politics and how important it was for artists to speak out in support of Palestine, the music itself was among the best it has been for years. There was something for everyone, and artists really rose to the challenge (and the heat!). Even though headliner Neil Young was superb and won huge reviews, I feel it was evident that there were plenty of women through the bill that could have been headliners this year. The sole female headliner on the Pyramid Stage, Olivia Rodrigo, was outstanding. I want to bring in reviews from The Guardian of five amazing women who are headliners. Self Esteem released A Complicated Woman on 25th April. An amazing artist from one of our best artists, I do wonder why she was not considered as a headliner. She played the Park Stage on Friday night. It is clear that her Glastonbury set was a highlight:

“Tonight Taylor is back with another album under her belt, A Complicated Woman. She’s an imposing presence on stage, wearing the Amish-style robes and headdress and flanked by a crew of backing dancers dressed the same, and singing I Do and I Don’t Care with its arresting refrain: “If I am so empowered, why I am such a coward?”

The show is relatively high-concept and tightly choreographed, as fans will have come to expect of Taylor, but with a darker aspect than Prioritise Pleasure. Through Lies, a drone flying above the crowd adds to the implied menace. Taylor corners the camera and contorts her grin, mocking the pliant, less complicated woman the world would supposedly prefer her to be. When she concludes the song, crouched on the stage, she looks briefly a bit knackered, then drops the stony-faced act. “Thank you,” she says cheerily. “This is a song called 69.”

The song, about Taylor’s lack of enthusiasm for that particular sex act and consideration of its relative merits against others, is greeted by childish oooohs from the crowd and even laughs. I admit it’s an instant skip for me when I’ve listened to the album at home, but live, Taylor’s deadpan delivery is entertaining and a welcome lift through the otherwise frequently straightfaced setlist.

In another seamless transition, with call and response with her dancers, Taylor is helped out of her robes revealing all of them to be wearing rugby jerseys. (Her number is of course 69.) As with the Prioritise Pleasure tour, there’s a real cleverness to the staging. Through You Forever, the first full-throated singalong of the set with its rallying chorus of “you need to be braver”, Taylor runs drills with the rest of her team.

The highlight from A Complicated Woman, tonight as on the album, is The Curse, which finds Taylor relatively alone on the stage with a guitar, cursing, in another stirring outro, the depressing predictability of a relationship past its best: “I wouldn’t do it if it didn’t fucking work.”

But it is undeniably the songs from 2021’s Prioritise Pleasure, notably the title track and Fucking Wizardry, that draw the most enthusiasm from the crowd. Many of them know every word – and these are very wordy songs – and really seem to get something out of shouting them to the sky. It’s stirring, serious-minded yet still upbeat”.

Someone who I think is ready now to headline is CMAT. She played thew Pyramid Stage on Friday and was tremendous. With her album, Euro-Country, out in August, this is an artist embarking on a new chapter. Someone who I feel could easily have been a headliner. It does seem amazing that an artist who seems so natural on the Pyramid Stage was not given a bigger opportunity. For a festival that has constantly struggled to include women on the Pyramid Stage in the headline slots, there is a ready and waiting option with CMAT:

“What does is that CMAT is a fantastic pop star. It’s not merely that she’s smart, funny, gobbily outspoken, and looks fantastic – today she’s clad in huge earrings in the shape of the euro symboland blue plastic dress that she removes to reveal a matching blue leotard, while mocking the fat-shaming comments posted about her on social media. It’s not just that she is blessed with both a potent, octave-leaping voice and a surfeit of superb, hook-laden songs that split the difference between country mid-70s Fleetwood Mac and come equipped with sharp, witty lyrics. It’s that she’s a quite spectacularly brilliant live performer. She alternates between stage moves that very much hail from the Dance Like No One’s Watching school of abandon, and choreographed routines with her band members: at the climax of one, she rips off her male band members’ skirts in a manner reminiscent of Bucks Fizz’s famous Eurovision moment. She announces herself as possessed of “middle child syndrome, an amazing arse and the best Irish country rock’n’roll band in the world” and beckons for applause whenever she mentions her own name – when the crowd start chanting her name of their own accord, she responds by bending over and wiggling her bum at them. When she successfully encourages the audience to engage in synchronised dance moves to I Wanna Be a Cowboy, Baby!, she looks quite startled at what a crowd this size enthusiastically dancing in unison looks like.

It’s all incredibly engaging and preposterously good fun, and it reaches a climax with Stay for Something She runs to the barrier at the front stage, climbs on top of it, hugs a fan, strikes a series of coquettish poses, then – to the visible horror of the security guard accompanying her – motions for the crowd to part, runs into their centre and delivers the final chorus in the middle of the audience. Back on stage, she leads a chant of “free Palestine” and she’s gone – it really doesn’t seem inconceivable that she could be headlining the next time she returns”.

PHOTO CREDIT: Yui Mok/PA

There are two more women who were not headliners on the Pyramid Stage who easily could have been. Doechii is one of the brightest and most respected names in Rap right now. Her mixtape, Alligator Bites Never Heal, was released last year. She is a GRAMMY-winning sensation who is a natural-born headliner. Playing the West Holts stage on Saturday, she delivered this live masterclass. I know all of these reviews are from The Guardian, but they are not biased or unreliable. It is clear their words reflected what was actually witnessed and went down. Doechii was at the top of her game:

“The show’s pace is so relentless, the choreography so precise and the Doechii’s flow so airtight that all the crowd can do is hold on and hope for dear life to be carried along. With her freestyle over America Has a Problem, from Beyoncé’s Renaissance, Doechii challenges anyone who dares fancy themselves her competition to step up: “I see a lotta bitches, I don’t see a lotta stars / I hear a lot of rappers, I don’t hear a lot of bars.”

The follow-up nod, in that song, to the Barbz – Nicki Minaj’s famously fanatical fanbase – makes Doechii’s most obvious comparison explicit, but not only does she match Nicki’s impeccable flow, she also bests her stage presence. Nicki’s never been known as much of a performer, whereas Doechii runs the length of the stage in heels and throws her body around like it’s another special effect at her disposal. Through Alter Ego, she’s flirtatious, casting coy glances over her shoulder, then antagonistic, spitting fire from a low squat position. Doechii’s association with alligators, appearing on the cover of her album Alligator Bites Never Heal, is apt: they share the same implacable ferocity, bared teeth and glint to the eye.

PHOTO CREDIT: Alicia Canter/The Guardian

A dance break involving umbrellas adds to the spectacle, but slightly obscures the school of hip-hop through-line. The show restores equilibrium with Persuasive, Doechii’s track with SZA – obviously performed tonight without her, but with such force that you don’t feel the absence. Doechii’s back and forth with her DJ/hype woman Miss Milan adds to the party atmosphere; by the time she launches into Nosebleeds from atop of a giant pair of speakers with her dance troupe way below, the crowd is hanging on her every word.

From that apparent peak, the highs only continue with an X-rated performance of Crazy and a rendition of her hit Anxiety that blasts the sample, Gotye’s Somebody That I Used to Know, with heavy distortion. For all her immense technical ability and precision, there’s actually something quite metal about Doechii in her commitment to spectacle. On top of all that, she has a strong, clear voice, capable of acrobatics but not inclined to launch into them just for show. On GTFO, she spars with her dancers, then the camera; for Catfish, she shows off her vocal timbre, descending into a guttural, bristling growl.

It is brilliant, but unrelenting; a reprieve from all that intensity arrives with Denial is a River – Doechii’s Salt-N-Pepa-esque, gossipy hit about a cheating partner and the narrator’s own self-deception. It’s presented within the educational framework of tonight’s set as an exemplar of “the art of storytelling”, and more than delivers on that promise: Doechii is relaxed, self-deprecating and conversational with Miss Milan. You could happily watch her riff in this register for hours.

As it is, Doechii concludes her “school of hip-hop” with a rousing rendition of Boom Bap, then skips off stage. It might seem anticlimactic – West Holts seems to be left slightly reverberating by her sudden absence – but it’s in fact one last lesson: a true master knows to always leave the crowd wanting more”.

Among the other highlight performances was Wet Leg. They were really amazing! It does seem criminal that Charli xcx was not booked to headline the Pyramid Stage. Not only could we have had two women headline for a second year running – SZA and Dua Lipa headlined last year -, but there would have been competition for it to be an all-female headline triple. I have mentioned women who were not there who could have been headliners – Kylie Minogue was a name that instantly sprung to mind – and I do hope that many of the women who shone at Glastonbury this year are considered in 2027 for headline status. Charli xcx showed why she should have been headlining the Pyramid Stage. One of the biggest omissions in recent festival history, she was predictably on fire! Even if the set was minimal and there was not a lot of on-stage chat and cameos were not a big part of her performance, it allowed people to focus on the music. The heart and soul of things. Rolling Stone UK also gave Charli xcx a five-star review. If her Other Stage set was tantalising and celebrated, you wonder just what she could have created and pulled off if she played on the Pyramid Stage! It was clear her Saturday performance was a Pyramid Stage-worthy revelation:

“With the release of last year’s Brat, an album that became a cultural moment without ever diluting Charli’s ingenuity, mainstream culture finally caught up to Charli. So it’s fitting that she’s here at Worthy Farm headlining, by some metrics, the biggest music festival in the world. Of course, she’s not really headlining – Charli’s Saturday night set closing the Other stage is, on a purely technical level, second billed to Neil Young, who is headlining the Pyramid at the same time. But ask anyone here, and the headliner of the entire weekend is Charli.

Her audience at the Other stage is dizzyingly huge, surely at least 60,000 people – a surreal sight for the many gay men who saw her perform in 200-capacity clubs as recently as 2019. And from the very first moments of her set, when she intones, gravely, “Glastonbury, don’t fucking play with me”, it’s clear that she is at the height of her powers, totally capable of holding the attention of a stadium’s worth of people. After all – who else could warrant a general expanding of the Other stage and the addition of more screens and speakers? Even if Charli wasn’t first billed, everyone at Glastonbury knew she was headlining.

This was made clear with an intense, totally uncompromising set in which Charli performed totally alone, not even with collaborators such as Lorde, who was also at Glastonbury. The Brat tour is at its most effective when the viewer has to submit to Charli’s world, and this show, loud and bawdy and sometimes very unnerving in its intensity, was practically Charli-led hostile takeover.

Her skill is in welding sophistication on to brute force – consider a song like Club Classics, which deftly stitches together at least four different styles of dance music in barely four minutes, but also brandishes a chorus of simply “me, me, me, me” – and even when she breaks script, you see that skill in action. “I’m known to have a heart of stone,” she tells the crowd, “But this is very fucking emotional.” She should save her tears – with an audition so memorable, so fun, so spectacular, the Pyramid has to be next“.

IN THIS PHOTO: Charli xcx/PHOTO CREDIT: Aaron Parsons for Rolling Stone UK

Before wrapping up, it is worth mentioning the only female headliner on the Pyramid Stage. Olivia Rodrigo was responsible for one of the best sets of the festival. More than worthy of a headline slot, she was among those who got a five-star thumbs-up. Not only was Olivia Rodrigo electrifying and completely commending. She also performed an unexpected collaboration with The Cure’s Robert Smith. The Guardian declared how Rodrigo stole the festival. Her set. It was that good:

“Securing the presence of the Cure’s frontman is, as young people are wont to say, a massive flex. For one thing, as the sharp WTF? intake of breath that greets his appearance indicates, it’s the one “secret” appearance of the entire festival that genuinely seems to have been kept a secret. It’s also a smart way of drawing in a crowd substantially more varied than you suspect ordinarily attends Rodrigo’s gigs: she made her name with songs that sounded like teenage diary entries set to music that balanced piano balladry with zippy pop-punk.

But in truth, Rodrigo doesn’t really need an alt-rock legend to win over the crowd – it’s already happened before Smith arrives. Clad in a pair of 18-hole Doc Martens, she’s a really engaging performer, cravenly playing up to the crowd by hymning Britain’s pubs – “where no one judges you for having a pint at lunchtime” – and M&S confectionery legend Colin the Caterpillar, changing into a pair of union jack hot pants midway through the set, and demanding her fans “think about something or someone that really fucking pisses you off” and scream mid-song.

PHOTO CREDIT: Alicia Canter/The Guardian

Theoretically her sound exists at two distinct polarities that shouldn’t really mesh together – the soft rock adjacent ballads and the pop-punk, the latter sounding noticeably heftier live than on record, the guitar solos surprisingly gnarly. But they’re united both by the fact that the songs are uniformly well-written – Get Him Back! has a timelessly snotty chorus that glam titans Chinn and Chapman would have been proud to give Suzi Quatro; All-American Bitch is sharp and funny; Vampire’s swell from downcast introspection to bile-spitting theatricality is brilliantly done – and that their tone is invariably lovelorn and accusatory. If the noisier tracks are more immediate live, giving her backing band more chance to demonstrate their potency, the set is perfectly balanced. Even if you don’t count yourself among the Rodrigo stans lined up against the front barrier – the big screens show them both passionately screaming along and looking faintly baffled when Robert Smith’s moment in the spotlight arrives – it never lags.

It also feels like more of an event than any other big set this year: as it ends with fireworks, you get the distinct feeling that, at 22, a teen pop star might have unexpectedly, but deservedly, stolen the show”.

Glastonbury was remarkable and its line up was incredible. I love how artists like Kneecap and Nadine Shah spoke up for Palestine. There was a real sense of anger and protest in the air. Even if Glastonbury’s organisers had to issue an insane apology because of Bob Vylan’s call for the death of the IDF (Israel Defence Forces) – they are fine with Israel committing genocide but when someone calls out those responsible for it then it is hate speech and deplorable! -, it cannot take away from the impact of the performances. So many highlights. I do hope 2027 is a year when the festival commits to two or three female headliners on the Pyramid Stage and it becomes a regular thing. Even if you liked Neil Young and The 1975, you cannot deny everyone from CMAT to Doechii to Charli xcx and Self Esteem could have headlined. There were so many others too. Women not even invited to play. These women hailed as headline-worthy but, when we flip forward two years, will they be overlooked again? Probably so! A major festival like Glastonbury needs to put these queens…

WHERE they belong.

FEATURE: Supervixen: The Mighty Garbage at Thirty

FEATURE:

 

 

Supervixen

The Mighty Garbage at Thirty

__________

1995 is a year when…

IN THIS PHOTO: Shirley Manson with her Garbage bandmates Duke Erikson, Steve Marker and Butch Vig in 1995/PHOTO CREDIT: Gie Knaeps/Getty Images

some of the all-time best albums were released. A few classic debut were also released that year. An embarrassment of riches and bounty for music fans – including me – at the time, we look back at these albums thirty years later with a sense of nostalgia and retrospection. How well they have aged and what do they mean now. In terms of the very best of 1995, there is no doubt that Garbage was among them. The eponymous debut of the U.K.-U.S. band - released on 15th August, 1995 -, they are still going strong today. Many people rank Garbage as the all-time best album from the Shirley Manson-led group. Reaching number twenty on the US Billboard 200 and number six on the UK Albums Chart, it was lauded for its innovative production sound and its incredible consistency and confidence. Garbage spawned incredible singles like Queer, Only Happy When It Rains, Milk, and my personal favourite, Stupid Girl. I will end with a review of Garbage’s debut album. Before that, there are some anniversaries features that I want to include. We get a bit of backstory into the album. Before getting to some anniversary features, when going through Garbage’s discography for SPIN in 2012, this is what Shirley Manson noted about their 1995 debut: “I can remember Butch slicing and splicing like a crazy man with bits of tape hanging off every surface of the studio. We had no idea the record was going to become this cultural zeitgeist. We put “Vow” out on a little CD sampler magazine, and before we knew it, we were getting played on the radio from Sydney to Seattle and everywhere in between. It was a such a headfuck. In a good way”.

I will get to a twentieth anniversary feature soon. Before that, in 2020, Albumism marked twenty-five years of Garbage. Even though the debut album is seen as a classic, some do not rate it as highly as they should. To me, it is one of the most significant debut albums of the 1990s:

“This phenomenon in life is also often mirrored in artistic collaboration and the genesis of Garbage is evidence thereof. Holed up in his Madison, Wisconsin headquartered Smart Studios, a few years removed from his notable production triumphs with Nirvana’s generation-defining Nevermind (1991), Sonic Youth’s Dirty (1992), and the Smashing Pumpkins’ debut Gish (1991) and smash follow-up Siamese Dream (1993), Butch Vig embarked upon a new chapter of his career by forming Garbage with longtime cohorts and fellow sonic experimentalists Duke Erikson and Steve Marker.

Soon thereafter, the trio recognized that the missing piece to giving the group a formal go was the absence of a commanding lead presence—preferably a woman—with the confidence, charisma and vocal chops to distinguish the band from the rest of the alt-rock landscape.

Meanwhile, across the Atlantic in the great city of Edinburgh, a Scottish songstress named Shirley Manson was also in the midst of a fresh career phase with her new band Angelfish, which morphed out of her previous outfit Goodbye Mr. Mackenzie. In early 1994, the buzz behind the group was beginning to build and the video for “Suffocate Me”—the lead single from their self-titled debut LP—was added to the rotation of MTV’s 120 Minutes. (Side note of unabashed nostalgia: Man, I miss that program. But I digress.)

Marker just happened to be viewing the program one evening when the video played, and his interest was piqued. Marker, Erikson and Vig spared precious little time in setting up an introduction with Manson and despite an infamously botched initial audition—at least according to Manson herself—the gentlemen had found their coveted lead.

When Garbage’s inaugural single “Vow” debuted at the modest #39 slot on Billboard’s Modern Rock chart in June 1995, roughly a year after the threesome fortuitously became a quartet, it did so within the predominantly male-dominated airplay paradigm of the mid-1990s. A cursory glance at the artists who secured the Modern Rock chart’s top spot in 1995 reveals just one woman among their ranks: Alanis Morissette, who peaked at #1 twice that year with “You Oughtta Know” and “Hand In My Pocket” from her breakthrough album Jagged Little Pill. Otherwise, alt-boy bands including Bush, Green Day, Live and Silverchair reigned supreme.

Although Garbage wouldn’t capture the #1 spot until the first week of 1997 with “#1 Crush” (remixed for the Romeo + Juliet soundtrack, but originally released in 1995 as the B-side to “Vow”), from its inception, the Manson-fronted band was doing its part to provide a welcome, er, alternative to at least some of the testosterone overload that defined the alternative rock scene at the decade’s midway point.

But beyond their charismatic firebrand of a frontwoman, the quartet differentiated themselves in another key way: their sound. With arguably Nine Inch Nails as the other analogue at the time with respect to their genre-bending disposition and proclivity toward dense and dark textures, Garbage melded an abundance of riffs, synths, samples, and looped percussion for a brooding yet melodic mélange.

“I think because of my success with Nirvana and the Pumpkins, everyone expected a grunge album,” Vig confided during a 2005 Vanyaland interview. “And Garbage sounded different, just in the way we approached using different genres and blending them together—electronica, hip-hop beats, film atmospherics, pop melodies and fuzz guitars and whatever—and then a lot of other bands started to copy that approach. I’ve definitely heard bands Garbage influenced, and that’s totally cool with me. We take that as a compliment.”

Preceding the release of the band’s eponymous debut album by nearly five months when it emerged in March 1995, the aforementioned “Vow” served as the band’s official introduction and captured the group’s sonic muscle replete with multiple textures and shapeshifts that envisaged more of the same to come via the full-length. Poised and coolly defiant, a vengeful Manson declares war on her lover-turned-adversary, vowing, “I came to shut you up / I came to drag you down / I came around to tear your little world apart / And break your soul apart.” No empty threat, Manson makes sure that there’s no doubt in listeners’ minds that she means business.

Four additional singles subsequently saw the light of day, including the trip-hop-esque “Queer,”  a universal anthem for embracing eccentricity in its various forms, which continued Garbage’s steady momentum at radio, building upon the solid airplay figures for “Vow.” It’s also notable for featuring the percussion prowess of the late Clyde Stubblefield, a fellow Madison, WI resident at the time and the “funky drummer” extraordinaire who played a vital role in James Brown’s musical legacy and, by extension, countless hip-hop samples.

The propulsive “Only Happy When It Rains” unfurls as a sardonic, self-deprecating nod to the angst-ridden, misery-loves-company credo—or at least the semblance thereof—that largely defined alternative rock during the 90s’ first half. The song took off at radio in the early weeks of 2016 and the accompanying video quickly became a fixture on MTV (remember when the network actually played videos?), cementing the single as the group’s breakthrough moment.

Nearly one year after Garbage’s arrival, “Stupid Girl”—a damn near perfect pop-rock confection—became the crowning success of their debut album, peaking at #24 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, garnering a pair of GRAMMY Award nominations, and a coveted MTV Video Music Award nod.

“I have always defined myself as a feminist,” Manson reflected in revisiting “Stupid Girl” during a 2015 Rolling Stone interview. “I have never rejected that label. I’ve always welcomed it and believed in it. But I also think you have to be careful that you don’t get entrenched in clichés. I don’t think that just because you’re a feminist, that gives women carte blanche to do whatever they want and behave which way they wish. I felt strongly that when someone acts like an asshole that you should challenge that. So I loved the idea of a woman calling out another woman. I felt like it was a fresh perspective.”

Since Garbage arrived a quarter-century ago, the group has cultivated a career worthy of reverence and wholly devoid of the superficial trappings of pop-rock stardom, owing to their unbridled discipline and dynamism, both in the studio and on stage. Three years later in the spring of 1998, they unleashed an even broader critical and commercial triumph with their sophomore, GRAMMY Album of the Year shortlisted set Version 2.0 and they’ve delivered four sterling albums in the two decades since. With rumors swirling that their seventh studio project—the successor to 2016’s Strange Little Birds—is on the near horizon, there’s no better time to relive where it all began by dropping the needle anew on their enduringly wonderful debut”.

Before I get to a review from Rolling Stone, I think I will actually come to an interview from The Independent from 2020. Celebrating twenty-five years of Garbage’s debut album, Shirley Manson and Butch Vig shared their recollections and insights:

“With Garbage, she was thrust into the limelight and not entirely comfortable with her newfound position as rock poster-woman. She didn’t feel she deserved the attention. “I’ve suffered imposter syndrome my whole life,” says Manson now. “I had been in Goodbye Mr Mackenzie for 10 years before I joined Garbage. I was quite happy in the background. People think of me now as some sort of ambitious go-getter. That’s not who I was.”

Suddenly she was halfway across the world, living out of a hotel in Vig’s hometown of Madison and trusting her artistic future to three men she barely knew and a good decade older. And Vig was risking a great deal, too. Vig’s Smart Studio in Wisconsin had become an epicentre of the American alternative scene since he opened it in 1983. It was at Smart that Nirvana recorded “Polly” – with Vig in the production booth – and where Smashing Pumpkins laid down their 1991 debut, Gish.

When Vig started Garbage, several music industry friends took him aside and told him he was crazy, that the band was doomed to fail and then his reputation as a super-producer would go down in flames. But Vig was convinced that his new path was the right one.

“After the success of Nirvana and the Smashing Pumpkins I had a lot of offers to move to Los Angeles or New York or London to set up a studio,” he shrugs. “All these high-powered managers were calling: ‘You’re going to work with the Rolling Stones, you’re going to work with Pearl Jam.’ I didn’t want to do that. I didn’t take on a manager. I stayed in Madison. I liked being off the beaten track. I felt it kept me grounded.”

Garbage hit stores in August 1995 and was a sensation. The commercial crescendo came with “Stupid Girl”, built on a sample of The Clash’s “Train In Vain”, which became a ubiquitous hit in the UK in the summer of 1996. And yet, even as the confetti rained down, Manson felt ever more adrift. “I didn’t let myself enjoy it for numerous reasons,” she says.

“I felt pretty worthless as a human being. I had a lot of guilt. I came from a music scene [in Edinburgh] that was rife with unbelievable talent. And here I was on Top of the Pops. Who was I to stand front of the stage on Top of the Pops, this iconic TV show? I didn’t have half the talent of so many of my peers at home. I was embarrassed.”

And then came the misogyny. “It’s funny,” she begins. “On the one hand, [Garbage] was one of the most exciting things that ever happened to me. But also, it was the most lonely, most cruel. I endured so much criticism. When I look at the headlines from magazines, I am shocked at the venom and the disrespect that I was under and how much worshipping there was of my male colleagues.”

Rolling Stone described Manson as a “pop-star-as-one-night-stand”; Entertainment Weekly praised her “menacing sexuality”. This sort of language was rife in the music press of the time. “They asked if I was a prostitute,” remembers Manson. “They asked me all kinds of things about my body, my sexual preferences, my face, how my lips looked good. It was truly, truly unbelievable. Now I look back and think, ‘Wow… I must have really been threatening to these boys.’ And they were young boys, a lot of the journalists writing for these papers I loved.”

By that point, Manson and her bandmates were unstoppable. Garbage went on to shift a blockbusting 4 million copies worldwide and, in 1997, receive three Grammy nominations (one for best newcomer and two for “Stupid Girl”). Manson clearly found the experience stressful, but she is proud of what the group achieved and its legacy, of proving pop and heavy rock could co-exist in beautiful harmony.

“If there was more than one of me in the band, it would have been a disaster,” she says. “If they hadn’t had me, it would have been a disaster. I didn’t think anybody in their right mind would listen to that first record. Shows you what I know”.

I am going to end with one of the many positive reviews for Garbage. Even if some feel the album has not aged well and it was a bit of a mis-mash of Grunge, Alternative Rock and commercial Pop, there is no denying that artists of today have been inspired by Garbage. It is an album that I feel stands up and has very few weak moments. It is a brilliant work that deserves more respect and love ahead of its thirtieth anniversary. This is what Rolling Stone offered in their review:

“Apprenticing in cheap and fast sessions during the '80s in Madison, Wis., at his Smart Studios, producer Butch Vig helped give structure and lucidity to the music of young bands such as Killdozer, Tad and Urge Overkill. Then he rewrote the pop book on distortion with Nirvana's epochal Nevermind. Quickly he became current rock's best shaper, a quietly logical guy who could navigate the complicated corners of, say, Sonic Youth and still remember the big beat, chewy tunes and adolescent aggression that make pop fly. Now, Vig has formed Garbage with Shirley Manson of the indifferent Angelfish and his longtime associates Steve Marker (Smart's co-owner) and Duke Erikson. Together, this unshy Scottish female singer and guitarist and these three ingenious Midwesterners – who provide percussion, guitars, samples, bass and keyboards – compose a studio band that makes up its own drama and kicks as it goes along.

Garbage screw around with dance pulses and guitar tones, pop concision and 12-inch madness, highly flown confessions and teenage thrills. Their basic attack comes from a known yet infrequently considered road: the rock remix. In the studio-driven world of hip-hop and its millions of track versions, this aspect of Garbage would seem unremarkable. But in rock, where the standard of live performance rules, remixes have been dicier affairs. Still, a few bands explore them, developing parallel sonic landscapes often denser and knottier than dance music's or hip-hop's. Vig, Marker and Erikson have themselves reconfigured sonics for U2, Depeche Mode, Nine Inch Nails, House of Pain and others, so this unpredictable remix sensibility arrives intact in Garbage. The rest of the shock comes from Manson, who hardly lounges around in these soundscapes like a pop singer content with her settings. This creates a jumpy, unsettled blur of scrupulously clear music and jarring mixed messages.

Immediately, as the mangy riffs of "Supervixen" begin to churn through space, Garbage drags you someplace else. As Manson's violet throatiness offers to create "a whole new religion," beats chatter, and delicate acoustic guitar notes and those opening riffs float in and out of the song's gently pounding rhythmic foundations. At times the main riff pauses to halt the music altogether. From there, Garbage ease into "Queer," a more roundly shaped tune orchestrated with this same love of junk and command of finesse. Acting as a sensual guide, Manson promises to "dirty up your mind," forecasting a black-and-white path through the strange and the lame as the music makes stringy transitions in ironic technicolor. On the next song, "Only Happy When It Rains," she and Garbage rock righteously as though Manson is running for the presidency of the Robert Smith Fan Club. Just as you think she has won by a landslide, the band swings in with rhythms and riffs whose complex demeanor recolor the whole song.

"As Heaven Is Wide" rides cool grooves high in focus and fiber, locomoting toward unknown dance-floor destinations. "Not My Idea," another querulous high-speed track, patiently explains its depressed circumstances, then bangs its silverware on the plate, insisting that "this is not my idea of a good time." Warm Euro-style balladry shows up with "A Stroke of Luck," but Manson shivers. "Here comes the cold again," she sings with regret. On "Vow," the current single, she's throwing fits again, threatening to tear somebody's world apart to the tune of industrialized guitar noise.

Near the end of Garbage, Manson affects a kind of peace with her own ravings. On "Stupid Girl" she marches along to a funky bass, indicting someone – herself? – for not believing in fear, pain or people she can't control. "All you had," she sings, seething, "you wasted." After another tuneful near-metal tantrum called "Dog New Tricks," she and Garbage crest on "My Lover's Box." On this great piece, arranged with those mangy riffs but reframed with syncopations from the Spinners and outbreaks from Bad Brains, Manson fears she'll never get to heaven and pleads, "Send me an angel to love." The album ends on a lovely two-song coda comprising "Fix Me Now," a wracked appeal for togetherness, and the lush "Milk," a ballad in which Manson and Garbage go grunge torch, and she explains her previous moments of cruelty in terms of having been "lost." Oh, was that it? Garbage teems with such disjunctions of tragedy and junk. Like so much fun and important rock & roll, it's the product of brilliant misunderstandings”.

On 15th August, we will remember Garbage at thirty. The sensational debut of a band who followed it up with another defining album of the '90s, Version 2.0 (1998), they are arguably entering a new peak in their career. They put out their latest album, Let All That We Imagine Be the Light, in May. A wonderful band I have always admired, I wanted to show love for their mighty debut album…

THIRTY years after its release.