FEATURE: Spotlight: Revisited: Caity Baser

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight: Revisited

Caity Baser

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THIS is an artist…

that I spotlighted back in 2023. Caity Baser is a terrific Pop artist who is going to command some big stages. For this catch-up, I am bringing in some recent interviews. I want to start off by going back to 2024. Baser’s 2024 mixtape, Still Learning, was acclaimed by critics. It is a phenomenal release. DIY spoke with an artist who was helping to bring back sassiness and self-worth into Pop:

“Drawing comparison to the likes of Lily Allen and Kate Nash, Caity’s frank, observational lyricism and knack for sassy put-downs (recent track ‘I Love Making Bad Boys Cry’ packs the zinger: “You’re so fucking dumb for thinking I’m the one / Last night was just some fun”) has won her legions of fans - and gotten her into trouble all at the same time. But despite some of her tracks ruffling a few feathers with exes early on, she’s now firmly in her IDGAF era. “I make silly songs, and then people are like, ‘What the fuck?!’” she giggles, before fluttering her eyelashes innocently. “I’m just speaking about what happened! Sorr-eeee!

“I’m at this point in my life right now…” she continues, pondering. “I don’t know if it’s my age or anything, but I just really don’t care. If things go wrong - relationships, for example - I genuinely am like, ‘If it’s meant to happen, it’s gonna happen in that way and I don’t care’.” It’s a sentiment that’s embodied best in that aforementioned new track ‘I’m A Problem’, a larger-than-life song that pulls no punches in its unapologetic message of embracing fun and loudness.

“I’ve grown up with all of that shit: ‘You’re too loud’, ‘Caity, you’re so annoying’, ‘You’re so in people’s faces’,” she explains, “and now I’m like, ‘Yeah! I’m too loud but you’re too quiet, babe! You are for-get-ta-ble!’ That’s what I was trying to channel in the song; two of these to the world,” she raises her middle fingers, nodding to the song’s infectiously catchy bridge (“Put your middle fingers up / Say that we don’t give a fuck”). “When I sing it, I honestly see the whole crowd go literally feral. That’s what I went for when I was making it: I just wanted to empower people.”

It’s with this same defiant spirit that Caity is marching forward into her next chapter. Aptly-titled ‘Still Learning’, her new mixtape sees the singer simultaneously harnessing her brazenness and offering up a vulnerable look inside her world. She explains that the release came as a response to a year where she felt like she was on autopilot; “I’d go into sessions and make songs and think, ‘Cool, it’s a song’,” she says, with an unspoken ‘that’ll do’ hanging in the air.

There are a couple of interviews from this year that I am finishing up on. Erazer spoke with Caity Baser around the release of her single, Running from Myself. The first half of this year has been a successful and great one for Baser. Some of her strongest material has come out.

“To begin with, can you give us a bit of an overview of your journey in music since you began?

Caity: “Oh god, I started in 2020, in lockdown, I posted a video about being broke and having no idea about how I’m going to pursue my dreams, and then it went viral, and I got discovered by a management company, and then I went to London, started making music, and then it’s been honestly non-stop for like 4/5 years now. So yeah, I’ve done tours, BRIT Awards, and loads of cool stuff, and it’s very cool.”

How would you describe your music to someone who hasn’t heard you before?

“Well, the stuff that’s out now I would describe as like loud, bratty, funny pop.”

Last year you released your second album, Still Learning, how was the overall response to that record?

“Crazy, it was mental, like I don’t know how it even happened. It was just nuts, but then I went on the tour, and everyone loved it there, then I performed it all summer, and it was honestly a great time. [On performing those songs onstage] Amazing, performing in general is amazing its just the best feeling in this whole entire universe, but then also having songs that I’ve written and I’m proud of, and then singing them to people and people singing them back to me, like what, it’s crazy.”

What’s been your favourite performance so far?

“Really rogue but I played Lattitude [Festival], and I loved it, I had so much fun. I performed there a couple of times now and every time it is just like packed, and also Reading & Leeds was really good, but I think Lattitude’s my favourite, it’s just a really nice vibe, and it’s just kids that are like up for it, it’s really fun.”

Moving onto more current projects, at the time of recording, you are about to release a new single called Running From Myself on Friday. Tell us a little bit about the track.

“That song, wow I love her. It’s basically about how I’ve been running from myself and about how I’ve been really struggling with balancing who people think I am, which is who I am, with also like my deep dark feelings; do you know what I mean? Because, I am this loud, in-your-face kinda person, very bubbly, but also at the same time, I have my down days where I just want to sit and cry. I think when you do so many shows and I can’t go out and be like ‘Hi guys..’ because that’s not what I wanna put on, and I feel like I just got a bit tired of battling with that, and now that I’m in a much better place and have explored that deeper, darker version of myself, I feel much happier! I’m excited to let people in on that different side to me because she’s never had any light in the music industry, so it’s very cool.”

Do you think fans will resonate with the lyrics to this song in particular?

“Yeah I think so because I think we live in a time now where showing emotion or being too emotional is a bad thing, or embarrassing or not cool, but if anything it’s actually really important to talk about your feelings and get them out there, because I’ve now done that and I feel great. So yeah, I think people will resonate with that because they might not feel like it’s okay to not be okay.”

You have a string of shows coming up, starting with a hometown show in Southampton, how are the preparations going for the tour?

“Really good, I had my first rehearsal yesterday, which sounds insane, because rehearsals should be happening… I think I don’t need to rehearse because I know the songs, do you know what I mean? But yeah, it was amazing, and I’ve never actually just sung with me and a piano unless it’s like me in the studio or me in my room making songs, so it’s really cool to bring that to life on the road in front of real-life people. I can’t wait! I’ve been training really hard and working on my voice and technique, and I think these songs really showcase that, so I’m really excited to just impress people and have a good time with it.”

You have a discography stacked with hits, but do you have a personal favourite song?

“Mine’s probably Oh Well because it was at a time where I literally said Everything’s F*cked, but it’s okay, and it just makes me feel good because how easy does that make you feel? Sometimes you just have to say oh well, and that’s it. That one makes me feel really good.

What is your biggest motivation to keep producing in such a competitive music industry?

“The fact that if I don’t, I won’t be an artist, that’s what keeps me going. Because that would be bad. I just keep going because it makes me very happy and it’s something I need in my life to be an artist.”

What sort of direction will you be taking your music this year?

“Definitely a more emotional, vulnerable vibe, and more focused on the lyrics than the outfits and the dancing.”

Do you have anything you can hint at, as to what’s to come this year?

“Yeah, maybe a big huge project! Who knows… There I said it, who knows…”.

Looking back at what she has achieved so far, Caity Baser can be very proud. There is going to be a lot of exciting stuff coming up in terms of dates and music. I am going to end with an April interview from The Boar. I know there will be a lot of eyes on this incredible Southampton-born artist. She will be in the industry for many years to come:

“Popstar, and renowned it-girl, Caity Baser, has done it all. From taking Glastonbury by storm, to securing a BRIT nomination as a Rising Star in 2023, Baser has achieved what any girl would dream of, all at the age of 22. Now, after a short hiatus, she is back with a new look, touring the UK with a run of exclusive, intimate piano shows this April. Whilst the Adidas wearing, slicked-back bun, relationship advice giving Caity proudly remains, I was excited to know what provoked this change of tone for Baser as an artist, and what is in store for fans for 2025.

Humble beginnings are what helped Baser find her distinct, girly and chatty singing voice. “I always loved to sing, and before I started doing music, I always sang with an American accent”, she states, “I don’t know why we do it, what is the point”. Perhaps a victim of the age of Disney Channel American accents, the firmly British Baser found her true voice during lockdown, allowing herself “to just sing like how I would actually talk”. Lockdown gave Baser her big break in the music world, starting her career like many others today on TikTok. “I posted a video and everyone loved it, so I guess it just stuck”, she reminisces, with her wide spanning discography – such as her critically acclaimed album Still Learning – showing off all her uniqueness and personal stories through her rebellious, yet endearing voice.

‘Running From Myself’ acts like a Coming Soon trailer to Baser’s upcoming musical endeavours. “It’s like the opening scene for the next chapter of me”, reveals Baser, “touching on points I’m going to be speaking about in the future”

When I told Baser we were actually a very similar age, in the true fashion of a trendy girl she replied with “slay”. In fact, being so young and yet so prominent in the female pop scene is something so intriguing about Baser, especially her being so down-to-earth. Humbly, Baser states her music career “feels great, it honestly feels so cool”, with her BRIT nomination and playing Glastonbury being her ultimate “pinch me moments”. Nevertheless, amid the shining career, hard work always followed. “I did this all on my own”, she admits, having no prior connections to the music industry before her career took off. It was clear that that made her line-up feature at Glastonbury so rewarding, and “mental”, in her words. “Everyone who is an artist dreams of playing Glastonbury. And the fact I did it twice, it was just really cool”. 

Following the release of ‘Watch That Girl (She’s Gonna Say It)’, which in its essence is so classically Caity with all its feminine pride and protest, the release of her newest single, ‘Running From Myself’, is set to be equally hard-hitting, but slightly more cryptic. ‘Running From Myself’ acts like a Coming Soon trailer to Baser’s upcoming musical endeavours. “It’s like the opening scene for the next chapter of me”, reveals Baser, “touching on points I’m going to be speaking about in the future”. The process of releasing new music, as one can imagine, never becomes less daunting. “It’s really scary”, discusses Caity, with all the scrutiny of public opinion and the battle for appeal in the streaming world. However, whilst nerve-wracking, Baser does not show it. Her mantra to “have fun, believe in yourself, and it always works out in the end. So just let it happen”, is emblematic of the bravery and boundary breaking impact of her career so far.

In tune with popular fashion, and also ready for the summer weather, she notes “my vibe is always a cool baggy jean, a colourful shoe and a zip up sports jacket”, and never forgetting a “slick back” bun

If ‘Running From Myself’ is the trailer, Baser’s upcoming tour, ‘Watch That Girl (She’s Gonna Sing It)’, is set to be the blockbuster. Heading to Birmingham on April 10 as part of a near sold-out run, Baser promises more intimacy, more piano, and more “lovely, lovely songs”. Following her hiatus, Baser states she wanted to honour the fans and their support in a “welcome back sort of thing” across the country. “I wanted to put on some shows for the people that really care and connected with it”, actively choosing more toned down venues, with a smaller audience. In essence, as put by Baser, it is a “big fat meet up with some singing”, giving the audience the chance to chat and ask her questions, all with the joy of hearing her unreleased music.

It goes without saying that Baser’s fashion sense is a striking element of her musical performance, with every new single, album or even Instagram video featuring a new look to match her personality. For those seeking fashion inspiration, Baser preached the power of Jaded London jeans, suiting her style as a self-declared “tall queen”. In tune with popular fashion, and also ready for the summer weather, she notes “my vibe is always a cool baggy jean, a colourful shoe and a zip up sports jacket”, never forgetting a “slick-back” bun.

Looking into the future, Baser tells fans to look out for “new music, festivals, and a big, fat, huge tour at the end of the year”

So what is next for Caity Baser? Upon the release of ‘Running From Myself’ this Friday, she will be living up the dream of finally being a bridesmaid at her brother’s wedding. “My band is actually playing at his wedding”, she states, as she is getting excited to be “in a lovely dress, a lovely shoe, just having a great time”. Looking to the future, Baser tells fans to look out for “new music, festivals, and a big, fat, huge tour at the end of the year”. As Baser continues, in her own words, to be “just making music and being great”, it is clear that fans have so much to look forward to for the future of Caity Baser”.

I am going to end there. I wanted to revisit Caity Baser’s music, a couple of years since I spotlighted her. One of the brightest young artists coming through, there is a lot of success in her future. Some stunning cuts from this year show that her music is always evolving and shifting up. A remarkable talent who everyone needs to know, go and follow…

A must-hear artist.

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Follow Caity Baser

 Official:

https://www.caitybaser.com/

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/caitybaser

Twitter:

https://x.com/BaserCaity

TikTok:

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

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/7dJCdUO0l0K2WXzrzjYpmC?si=OcCxN9gJRRGDpZ_R2xpxfA

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/CaityBaserOfficial

FEATURE: Groovelines: The Beach Boys – Good Vibrations

FEATURE:

 

 

Groovelines

The Beach Boys – Good Vibrations

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BECAUSE the genius Brian Wilson…

IN THIS PHOTO: (Clockwise, from top left) Al Jardine, Carl Wilson, Dennis Wilson, Brian Wilson, and Mike Love of The Beach Boys, 1966

died last week, I have been thinking about The Beach Boys a lot. There were so many tributes paid to him when the news broke. Articles written that documented his songwriting brilliance. How he changed the face of music. It is one of the biggest losses the music industry has faced in many years. There will never be anyone like him. In terms of the compositional brilliance and originality. The music of The Beach Boys will live forever. When thinking about a defining song, many have been focusing on God Only Knows. For this Groovelines, I wanted to focus instead on Good Vibrations. A song that Wilson spend so long trying to sound like he heard it in his head, it is one of the greatest tracks ever. Released as a single on 10th October, 1966, Brian Wilson co-wrote the song with Mike Love. Wilson produced and composed Good Vibrations. It was hailed as this unprecedented pocket symphony. Episodic and sounding like nothing that arrived to that point, it was a huge chart success and has in years since been seen as one of the most important songs in Pop history. The next single after Pet Sounds’ Wouldn’t It Be Nice, I am going to come to some features about Good Vibrations. I am starting by taking from this 2012 feature from Uncut, that collected thoughts and recollections from those who were involved with the recording. I wanted to bring in Brian Wilson’s words:

“Good Vibrations” is a wonderful tune. The other Beach Boys had a lot of input. We got together and had a discussion beforehand. We all wanted to do something different, make some music that would last forever. Not just surf songs and car songs. It was all about creating lasting music. And that led to “Good Vibrations”. It was one giant step forward.

I wanted something with real merit to it, artistic and smooth. Some people say it was written on acid. But I don’t accredit it to LSD, I accredit it to marijuana. I smoked marijuana just before I wrote it. I was playing at the piano and began singing about good vibrations, just fooling around. Then I came up with a little melody at the piano [sings it]. Tony Asher had written some original lyrics, but my cousin Mike Love had some great ideas. He came up to the house and said “What if I went, ‘I’m picking up good vibrations’.” And the rest is history. Stephen Foster [the 19th century American songwriter, who penned “Beautiful Dreamer” and “Camptown Races”] was a big influence on me, especially the sound of “Gotta keep those lovin’ good vibrations happenin’ with her”. I never would have thought of that myself.

Recording it was a long process, but I was determined to stick it out until the end. It took six weeks to record. We recorded it in five different studios and I wrote out each player’s part on music paper. We recorded the verses at Gold Star, the choruses at Western Recording Studios and the bridge at Sunset Sound.

The voices were all recorded at Columbia Studios in LA. I recorded the voices in sections. To begin with, I did the “Bop Bop Good Vibrations” parts. Then a week later, I said there should be something coming right after that. So I finally came up with the high parts, with the “Bop Bop” straight afterwards. The idea was to overlap and create a double dose of harmonies.

And the bass part was important to the overall sound. I wanted Carol Kaye to play not so much a Motown thing, but a Beach Boys-Phil Spector riff, inspired by Phil. Carol played bass with a pick that clicked real good. It worked out really well. It gave it a hard sound. And I was thrilled by Paul Tanner’s theremin sound. It was scary to hear that sound, but good scary.

Derek Taylor had done The Beatles’ publicity and took The Beach Boys on, too. When he first heard “Good Vibrations”, he said, “I call that a pocket symphony”. Isn’t that brilliant? The Capitol execs loved that tune. I remember the A&R man saying what a great pop record it was”.

There are a couple of other features that I am highlighting before wrapping up. One of the defining songs of the 1960s, this article from 2024 explored a song that has endured and affected people almost sixty years after its release. It is perhaps Brian Wilson’s defining moment. Considering how hard he worked on it and the toll it took, it could have been a mess. As it is, Good Vibrations is an undoubted masterpiece:

“The song would become one of the truly classic pop singles of all time, but of the 17 titles that made their first appearance on that new chart, “Good Vibrations” was only the fourth highest arrival, at No. 81. It was beaten by the Mamas and the Papas’ “Look Through My Window” at 65, Petula Clark’s “Who Am I” at 70 and the Sandpipers’ version of “Louie, Louie” at 74. Further down, the Dave Clark 5 took their bow with “Nineteen Days” and BB King with “Don’t Answer The Door.”

But a week later, “Good Vibrations” had overtaken all three of the singles that had debuted above it, racing to No. 38, then again at top speed to 17, 4, 2, then 2 again, then 2 again… and, on December 10, just as it looked as if the song might end in runner-up spot, it made that final vault to No. 1. By then, it had also topped the UK chart for a fortnight, starting on November 19.

As American Songwriter wrote: “At first, ‘Good Vibrations’ was not well received by critics who expected more sunshine pop from the band, but those opinions quickly changed. Since then, outlets like Rolling Stone have gone on to say that ‘Good Vibrations’ is one of the best and most significant rock’n’roll songs of the 20th century.”

In an interview for that article, co-writer Love said: “We felt it was completely unique and avant garde. It was totally different. In fact, Cousin Brucey, who was the #1 DJ in America at the time on ABC in New York City said when he first heard ‘Good Vibrations’ he didn’t like it. But he got to like it. Because it was so unlike ‘California Girls’ and ‘I Get Around’ and ‘Fun, Fun, Fun’ and ‘Surfin’ USA’ and ‘Help Me, Rhonda’ and all that. So, it took some getting used to. But, it certainly caught on and it was appropriate for the time. It was our psychedelic anthem”.

I will end with a 2016 feature from Billboard. They marked fifty years of Good Vibrations. A masterpiece of emotion and intellect, there is science and layers to the song. So much to dissect and discuss. The feature offers some fresh perspectives and interesting observations. We will be talking about this song for generations to come:

“Phil Spector, whose work on the Righteous Brothers‘ “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin'” Wilson openly aspired to top with “Vibrations,” expressed his admiration-not-affection for the work with an Alfred Hitchock analogy: “It’s like, Psycho is a great film, but it’s an ‘edit film.’ Without edits, it’s not a film; with edits, it’s a great film. But it’s not Rebecca. It’s not a great story, it’s not a beautiful story.” Paul McCartney, whose Beatles had a friendly recording rivalry with The Beach Boys in the mid-’60s, called it “a great record,” but added that “it didn’t quite have the emotional thing that Pet Sounds had for me” — referring to the LP of confessional symphonies that preceded “Good Vibrations” in 1966 to significantly less commercial success, but which has endured as their full-length masterwork.

McCartney’s sentiment is particularly telling, as it really gets to the heart of why a good number of rock fans keep “Good Vibrations” at a relative distance. Because there’s clearly no denying the song’s structural ingenuity, which places it as something like the Fallingwater of pop music. From the in-media-res beginning through its melodic mood swings and stunning tempo changes — encompassing heart-racing cellos, spine-melting harmonies and pop music’s most famous theremin hook (which wasn’t actually played on a theremin) — “Vibrations” is radioactive with brilliance throughout, in a manner essentially unprecedented for a Top 40 hit at the time.

Is it as emotionally resonant as the proto-emo anthems on Pet Sounds, though? It certainly doesn’t hit the same notes of grown-too-fast insecurity that make “That’s Not Me” or “I Just Wasn’t Made for These Times” so upsetting and recognizable. You can’t really get married to it, as you conceivably could with love-of-a-lifetime ballads “God Only Knows” or “You Still Believe in Me.” It’s not as heart-rending as “Wouldn’t It Be Nice,” or as stomach-punching as “Caroline No.” Indeed, if you were going to associate a body organ with “Good Vibrations,” it would undoubtedly be the brain; an obviously cerebral 3:39 that takes the Jackie Treehorn approach to love-song writing.

But writing off Wilson’s masterpiece of the mind as being fundamentally heartless is reductive and inaccurate. The true brilliance of “Good Vibrations” comes in the juxtaposition of its architectural perfection with its absolute emotional incoherence. Sonically, as orchestrated by Wilson, the thing is immaculate and considered enough that the term “pocket symphony” basically had to be invented for it. Lyrically, as penned by Beach Boys lieutenant Mike Love, it’s almost total mush, with mumbled couplets you couldn’t pick out of a lineup (“When I look in her eyes / She goes with me to a blossom world”) and notable over-reliance on the is-that-really-even-a-word “excitations.” “‘Good Vibrations’ was probably a good record but who’s to know?” The Who maestro Pete Townshend once groused about the song. “You had to play it about 90 bloody times to even hear what they were singing about.”

That’s kind of the point, though: “Good Vibrations” finds its power through communicating love’s elemental inarticulateness. The entire song echoes the synapse-firing confusion of being emotionally short-circuited; oscillating wildly between the creeping tension of the verses and the head-rush wooziness of the chorus, as a jumble of thoughts and feelings fight each other for space in an over-stimulated inner monologue. It mostly reads as a mess, because of course it does. The music of “Vibrations” is as carefully crafted and cleverly persuasive as you could ever hope to be when expressing your feelings. The words of “Vibrations” are as garbled and confusing as they tend to actually come out.

However, Wilson and Love do get head and heart to match up on one single occasion in “Good Vibrations,” and appropriately, it’s saved for the clangorous mid-song climax: “I don’t know where, but she sends me there.” It’s a simple line, but you’d be hard-pressed to find a much better one throughout pop’s entire back catalog, at least when it comes to conveying how the emotional rush of young love exceeds the mental capacity for cognitive processing. The Beach Boys don’t know what they’re feeling on “Good Vibrations,” but they certainly know that they’re feeling it, and that disconnect should be as relatable to anyone listening as anything Wilson ever wrote about getting angry at his dad or being totally dependent on his girl.

You could teach an entire college course on “Good Vibrations,” analyzing Wilson’s many-sided jewel from a countless number of perspectives, but that one lyric is all you really need. Some love songs try to write from the head, and some from the heart, but “Good Vibrations” is one of the only ones daring enough to do both simultaneously, attempting to reflect the human reality of never being able to totally turn off one or the other (or to cut off communication between the two). That it does so successfully is the real reason we’re still talking about it half a century later”.

It was heartbreaking when news of Brian Wilson’s death broke. Aged eighty-two, he had lived a full life. But it was still unexpected. It provided opportunity for people to discuss the peerless brilliance of his songwriting and production. Many have talked about songs like God Only Knows, though I was keen to spend some time with the epic Good Vibrations. It was a revelation and revolution in 1966. This song still sounds unsurpassed…

IN 2025.

FEATURE: Say You Love Me: Fleetwood Mac at Fifty

FEATURE:

 

 

Say You Love Me

Fleetwood Mac at Fifty

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THIS is an album…

IN THIS PHOTO: Fleetwood Mac during a U.S. interview in 1975/PHOTO CREDIT: Polaris

that introduced Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham into Fleetwood Mac. The band’s eponymous album of 1975 was released on 11th July. I wanted to mark fifty years of a classic. The band getting these new members and losing Bob Welch (who departed in 1974). I am going to come to a review of the amazing Fleetwood Mac. You will recognise songs from it such as Rhiannon, Landslide and Say You Love Me. Though not as known and acclaimed Rumours (1977), Fleetwood Mac was a hugely important album. One that saw this new dynamic in the band. A number one in the U.S. upon its release, there are a few reasons to celebrate Fleetwood Mac. Apart from the fact it turns fifty on 11th July. There is a lot of focus on the band. There has been this continued popularity. The Guardian recently wrote how the band are ubiquitous. Rumours continues to top lists of the best-selling vinyl albums of the year. One that continues to reach new listeners. They also mention how a theatrical phenomenon focuses on a band and story that draws comparisons with Fleetwood Mac:

“The Broadway hit Stereophonic, written by David Adjmi, opened in the West End this week after becoming the most nominated play in Tony award history (it ended up winning five out of 13, including best play). It invites theatregoers to journey back to 1976 and “plug into the electric atmosphere as one up-and-coming rock band record the album that could propel them to superstardom. Amid a powder keg of drugs, booze and jealousy, songs come together and relationships fall apart.”

If that sounds remarkably similar to the story of how Fleetwood Mac recorded Rumours, then that’s exactly what the album’s producer Ken Caillat thought: he sued the producers for the play’s similarity to his memoir, settling out of court earlier this year, though Adjmi has always denied his play is purely about Fleetwood Mac, regardless of the many parallels.

But Stereophonic is just the tip of the Mac iceberg that has come into view in recent years. Novel readers and TV viewers have enjoyed Daisy Jones and the Six, which also used the Fleetwood Mac template as the basis for its story. Their smooth, adult-oriented rock sound also permeated music throughout the last decade, present in records by artists such as Sharon Van Etten, Julien Baker, the Weather Station and more. If you want a dancier version of the band, you can go to the club night Fleetmac Wood, playing beefed-up remixes.

And Mac themselves are as popular as ever: in last week’s album chart, the compilation 50 Years – Don’t Stop sat at No 6 (after 340 weeks on the chart), while Rumours is at No 22 (after 1098 weeks on the chart). Nearly half a century on from Rumours’ release, Fleetwood Mac are still very big business.

Partly that’s down to the continued resonance of the story of the album: two couples tearing themselves apart and committing their feelings to tape. (It is perhaps not a coincidence that Abba, another 70s band whose troubled relationships were set to lush pop, are also undimmingly popular.) But it’s also down to the music: Rumours still sounds like a treat when you play it”.

In 2015, marking forty years of Fleetwood Mac, Ultimate Classic Rock explored and discussed the background of the album. I would advise people to read the entire article. Even though the music on the 1975 album – and its follow-up, Rumours – is phenomenal, personal relationships within the ranks were falling apart:

“While the new Fleetwood Mac clicked as a musical unit, the personal relationships between various members of the band were falling apart — Christine and John McVie's marriage was nearing its end, and Buckingham and Nicks were close to breaking up before they joined the lineup. Over time, both couples' demise would form a key component of the group's legacy (and help inspire their best-selling album), but in the short term, that air of uncertainty fueled a number of future classics.

One example is the Nicks composition "Landslide," which, as she explained to Performing Songwriter, she wrote during a trip to Colorado when Buckingham was rehearsing for a possible project with Don Everly.

"This is right after the Buckingham Nicks record had been dropped. And it was horrifying to Lindsey and I," she laughed, "because we had a taste of the big time, we recorded in a big studio, we met famous people, we made what we consider to be a brilliant record and nobody liked it [...] I had gotten to a point where it was like, 'I’m not happy. I am tired. But I don’t know if we can do any better than this. If nobody likes this, then what are we going to do?' So during that two months I made a decision to continue. 'Landslide' was the decision."

Nicks also contributed "Rhiannon," which she wrote shortly before joining Fleetwood Mac after reading Mary Leader's novel Triad. The book's story incorporates elements of the Welsh legend of Rhiannon, which Nicks unwittingly wove into the song even though, by her own admission, she didn't really know about it until much later.

"I didn’t know anything about Rhiannon when I wrote the song 'Rhiannon,'" explained Nicks. "I was just reading a paperback book, and the name Rhiannon came up and I loved it."

Telling Buckingham and engineer Richard Dashut that she wanted them to go outside and record birds singing for a demo she was working on, she recalled: "Of course Richard and Lindsey looked at me like, ‘She’s really gone around the twist this time, huh?’ And I said, ‘Don’t you think that Rhiannon is a beautiful name?’ Lindsey said, ‘Yeah, it is a beautiful name.’ Three months later, we joined the band and I played it on the piano in my little simple way of playing ... they loved it."

That sort of creative serendipity seemed to surround the sessions for the new album, which wrapped in the spring of 1975. Simply titled Fleetwood Mac to reflect the reinvigorated band's renewed sense of purpose, it arrived in stores July 11, 1975. Sales started slowly, and never really took off in the group's native U.K., but they toured behind it with a young band's dogged enthusiasm. "There were no limousines and Christine slept on top of the amps in the back of the truck," Nicks told Uncut. "We just played everywhere and we sold that record. We kicked that album in the ass."

That effort eventually paid off in spades. Fleetwood Mac's first single, the Christine McVie number "Warm Ways," failed to chart, but the follow-up — "Over My Head," also courtesy of McVie — peaked at No. 20 in the States, paving the way for the huge hits "Rhiannon" and "Say You Love Me" (both No. 11). In September 1976, over a year after its release, Fleetwood Mac topped the album charts, selling more than five million copies along the way.

For the group's longtime rhythm section, Fleetwood Mac's success was a sweet reward for years of grueling — and often futile-seeming — work. "John and I have been through some unbelievable moral/mental decisions," Fleetwood told Melody Maker. "But we never wanted to kick it. Perseverance and work kept Fleetwood Mac together and a lot of people before us gave up, sayin' 'This isn't worth it.'"

Christine McVie added: "We did interviews with Newsweek and People magazine recently. It's funny being on the same page next to a big article on Jimmy Carter. We're reaching audiences that never heard of Fleetwood Mac, and it's good to have finally gotten away from questions like, 'Whatever happened to Peter Green or Jeremy Spencer?'"

Of course, as Fleetwood conceded in his NME interview, that success came after another step away from the blues-influenced sound Fleetwood Mac started with. "We're certainly not sounding the same as we were eight years ago," he laughed, while hinting at the strong interpersonal dynamics that would come to shape — and occasionally overshadow — the band over the decades to follow”.

I am going to end with a review of Fleetwood Mac from Pitchfork. Fifty years after a new line-up of Fleetwood Mac came together and created the first of several classic albums, the music and sound is still hugely popular and influential. There are few albums of the 1970s as important as Fleetwood Mac. Anyone who knows the band for Rumours and has not explored beyond that need to go back to the band’s 1975 release:

“Fleetwood Mac existed for nearly a decade prior to the release of Fleetwood Mac in 1975 but not in a manner that modern audiences would recognize. The story of how Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks transformed the British blues band anchored by drummer Mick Fleetwood and bassist John McVie is well and often told in countless documentaries, retrospectives, and such reissues as this new triple-CD/single-DVD Super Deluxe Edition. Repetition has curdled this fascinating tale, rendering happy accidents as the work of divine providence, but by adding a disc of rough alternate takes along with a disc of live material, this Super Deluxe Edition helps make the familiar seem fresh once again.

Tired though it may be, the prehistory of Fleetwood Mac is essential to understanding the album because the record exists at the intersection of two very different rock’n’roll aesthetics. By the time 1975 rolled around, the Mac were survivors. Mick and John—the two constants in the band since its inception through today—had the luck to work with two troubled guitar geniuses. Peter Green dominated the group’s earliest and bluesiest records, eventually succumbing to LSD right around the time his cohort Jeremy Spencer abandoned music for a religious cult. Neither departure was clean, but guitarist Danny Kirwan acted as a bonding agent for the band until they found Bob Welch, a rocker with a sentimental streak who seemed content to linger in the amorphous space separating AOR rock and adult contemporary pop. If all this turnover wasn’t confusing enough, the band had to combat an imposter Fleetwood Mac assembled by their former manager.

All these names have wound up as footnotes to Fleetwood Mac history because Mick Fleetwood happened to fall for a demo from the unknown SoCal singer/songwriters Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks. If producer Keith Olsen, who helmed Buckingham Nicks’ self-titled 1973 album, never played Mick that tape, odds are good Fleetwood Mac would’ve wound up hiring some other hotshot blues guitarist. Instead, Fleetwood wound up finding something he’d later call “IT” within Buckingham Nicks, a folk-rock duo whose music shared almost no similarities to the albums Fleetwood Mac made prior to 1975. The one possible musical connection between the two groups was the melodicism of Christine McVie, a singer-songwriter who played piano with the blues combo Chicken Shack prior to her marriage to John. Once they were bride and groom, Christine officially joined the band in 1971, contributing appealingly soft and hooky counterpoints to the spacey rock of Kirwan and Welch.

Nevertheless, there was no clear analog in the Fleetwood Mac discography to the dreamy folk of Nicks and the barbed pop perfectionism of Buckingham, sounds that were as distinctly American as Fleetwood Mac’s blues jams were British. Buckingham Nicks were also survivors of languishing in musical limbo the West Coast, but were not quite naive upstarts when they accepted Fleetwood’s offer to join Fleetwood Mac: they had been playing the same game for just as long as the Mac, only in a different league. That’s why the 1975 album called Fleetwood Mac—the group’s second album to be named after the band; according to David Wild’s liner notes in the 2018 Super Deluxe Edition, fans apparently distinguish it from its predecessor by calling it “the White Album” but it’s hard to imagine there are many listeners who bother with such a distinction—feels like a debut: the unexpected intersection of two parallel spheres offers something genuinely new.

Listening to Fleetwood Mac now, decades after it turned the group into superstars, it still seems fresh, unlike any other of its 1975 peers, and that’s all due to how the band merged two aesthetics. Fleetwood Mac, especially in the years following Peter Green’s departure, were something of a mood band, achieving a hazy, spacious vibe that lacked definition. Buckingham Nicks were their counterparts, focused not just on the precision of songs but also productions: their 1973 album captures nascent versions of the two singer/songwriters, where Nicks’ delicateness is balanced by Buckingham’s manic perfectionism.

Buckingham did attempt to get Fleetwood Mac to march to his beat—legend has it he was attempting to tell John how to play a part until the bassist put the hammer down, telling Buckingham that the band was named after him—but wound up settling for compromise, assisting Nicks and Christine in deepening their compositions, while his band gave soul and elasticity to his tightly wound songs. Such synthesis is the appeal of Fleetwood Mac, in part because it’s assembled from so many lingering ideals from the ’60s: hippie mysticism, pop practicalism, R&B grooves, and rock rebellion all molded into music that is simultaneously professional, personal, commercial, and eccentric.

By piling on alternate takes, single edits, and live material, the Super Deluxe Edition underscores how Fleetwood Mac worked at achieving this fusion. Maybe the early versions are rough, but they feel kinetic because the band is figuring out just who they were. Even better is the live material, where the band navigates the distance between their early blues roots and newly discovered immaculate pop. Because he plays lead guitar and sings, Buckingham winds up dominating, but the wonderful thing about these versions of “Oh Well” and “The Green Manalishi (With the Two Pronged Crown)” is that they’re blues tunes fronted by a musician whose instincts pushes him in the opposite direction of the blues, which gives these performances a thrilling energy.

Even if the bonus material is worthwhile, the music that remains marvelous is the proper album. Perhaps its origins are in leftovers—many of the songs were originally intended for a planned second Buckingham Nicks album, “Crystal” is revived from the first, the brilliant power pop of “Blue Letter” is taken from the unheralded Curtis Brothers—but the Fleetwood Mac feels unified because this album is an album of convergence. Every element of the album teems with boundless possibilities, so much of which could be found in the absolutely bewitching Nicks-helmed “Rhiannon,” which is why Fleetwood Mac seems thrillingly alive and resonant longer after it has been absorbed into our collective consciousness”.

I am not sure whether there will be a lot of new features about Fleetwood Mac ahead of its fiftieth anniversary on 11th July. I hope there is. As I write this (11th June), we are a month out. It is an album that I first heard as a child and I have loved it ever since. So exciting to hear Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks in Fleetwood Mac. Many existing fans of the band might have been unsure in 1975. However, it is clear that the change was a positive thing. They added something incredible to the band! The phenomenal Fleetwood Mac still moves the senses…

FIFTY years later.

FEATURE: Beneath the Sleeve: Sly & The Family Stone – There’s a Riot Goin’ On

FEATURE:

 

 

Beneath the Sleeve

Sly & The Family Stone – There’s a Riot Goin’ On

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RELEASED in November 1971…

IN THIS PHOTO: Sly & The Family Stone

I am putting a classic album under the spotlight for Beneath the Sleeve. There is a slightly sad reason. The album’s writer, producer and arranger, Sylvester ‘Sly Stone’ Stewart died earlier this week. It was a massive loss for the music industry. Following his death, many wrote about his influence and legacy. Many also highlighted a masterpiece from Sly Stone. There’s a Riot Goin’ On was a slight departure for Sly & The Family Stone. After more optimistic and upbeat releases, the 1971 album is a more political and darker release that addresses Stone's fame and 1960s counterculture against a tumultuous political climate in the United States at the turn of the 1970s. One of the most acclaimed albums of all time, I am exploring this incredible album deeper for this feature. I will end with a review of this classic. First, I am bringing in a couple of features. I am starting out with a feature from Ultimate Classic Rock that was an audio gut punch to America. With warfare internationally and unrest at home, it is an album that endures and sounds so relevant today:

“Almost exactly a year before There's a Riot Goin' On's release on Nov. 20, 1971, Sly & the Family Stone put out their massively popular Greatest Hits record, which collected singles and deep cuts from 1968 and 1969. The dozen tracks wrapped up the brief history of one of R&B's best crossover bands, chronicling a dizzying couple of years that yielded some of the era's most enduring songs.

But anyone expecting a second sunshine-kissed greatest-hits volume in a few years was most likely sidelined by the despairing tones crawling throughout There's a Riot Goin' On. Originally titled Africa Talks to You, and recorded partly in response to Marvin Gaye's sociopolitical What's Going On (another era-defining album released in 1971), the album was a moody, murky indictment of the United States at the turn of the decade. The cover art, featuring an American flag with suns replacing the familiar stars, says it all: Blood-red stripes offset the remaining black and white.

It wasn't an easy record to listen to then, and it's still tough to get through at times now. But Sly & the Family Stone never made a more significant album. It's their masterpiece, but it's also one of music's most harrowing and desolate works, and one that reflected the turmoil going on within Stone.

After Sly & the Family Stone's rousing Woodstock performance, their leader became unreliable. He missed shows. He missed album deadlines (prompting the release of Greatest Hits). He became more and more paranoid. He moved to Los Angeles. He joined the Black Panthers, who urged him to drop the white members of his multi-racial group. And he started to take more and more drugs, which clouded his mind and, to an extent, his creativity.

When he was able to get it together, he didn't like what he saw, particularly the end of civil-rights activism and the dark pall cast on the final years of the '60s. So he made an album about it, replacing his band's usual psychedelic pop and funk with a deeper, sleepier version muddled with gut-churning bass rumbles, mumbled lyrics and a sense that there was a violent revolution brewing, but only if its leader didn't nod off first.

Stone worked on the album, mostly by himself, throughout 1970 and 1971. Many of his vocals were recorded in his bedroom, with a drum machine driving the beat. The other members of the group later overdubbed their parts. And Stone himself overdubbed even more on top of that. The result was a mix so thick and muddy that it perfectly suited the album's themes of disillusionment and despair.

From the opening "Luv n' Haight" – one of the few songs here that doesn't sound like a 45 played at 33 1/3 – to the closing "Thank You for Talkin' to Me Africa," a gloomy, seven-minute reworking of Sly & the Family Stone's 1969 No. 1 hit "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)," There's a Riot Goin' On plays out like a drug-induced nightmare that's a simultaneous end to the '60s and the start of an equally tumultuous decade. The title track, which closes out Side One, runs 0:00, erasing all time and space from the record.

It's a fitting summation of the album, because nothing else sounded like it at the time. All these years later, it remains one of the most distinctive records ever made. It confused a lot of people then, and it still does. But the success of the single "Family Affair," which hit No. 1, drove the LP to the top of the album chart.

It would be the group's last No. 1, though they did manage to make one more great album, 1973's Fresh, before Stone couldn't keep it together anymore. There's a Riot Goin' On touched just about everyone who heard it. Jazz got darker and funkier, funk got darker and deeper, R&B got weirder and druggier and rock 'n' roll got more adventurous and complicated (the Rolling Stones, for one, were influenced by the murky production enough to bury Exile on Main St. in a similar mix). But pop music rarely got this scary again”.

In 2021, Albumism celebrated There’s a Riot Goin’ On at fifty. The feature looks back at 1969 and Sly & The Family Stone playing Woodstock. How it was a strong performance, although the band were dissolving. How bad influences and drugs were coming into Sly Stone’s orbit. It was the end of one chapter. You can understand why there is some darkness and discontent on There’s a Riot Goin’ On. It is one of the most powerful and important albums ever. Documenting the state of a nation in the early-1970s:

“There’s a Riot Goin’ On is a striking example of a pathfinder taking a road, both musically and personally, that tests every relationship to the brink and beyond to a place and time where tumult is inevitable and damage is dealt harshest of all to the protagonist at the center of it.

In trying to explain why the album sounds as it does, it becomes a study of the dangers of drugs, the wear-and-tear on Black lives lived in a white supremacist society, and the writhing mess of a capitalist music industry. At the intersection of all those things stands Sylvester Stewart (to his mother) and Sly Stone (to the world) replying in 1971 to Marvin Gaye’s musical question: What’s Going On.

Recording sessions for There’s a Riot Goin’ On didn’t take place as soon as the record company wanted—they put out a greatest hits album in 1970 while they waited impatiently for new material. When it came to recording, Stone used The Plant Studios in Sausalito and the loft of his Bel-Air mansion but with one added curiosity. Sly also owned a Winnebago that was fitted out (somewhat chaotically) with recording equipment that added to the places Stone could hide himself away and create what would become Riot. It was a solitary endeavor for the most part though, something that was made possible by the advent of the most basic of drum machines.

The Maestro Rhythm King MRK2 had preset patterns that he would use in a new, exciting way as Greg Errico (a real human drummer!) grudgingly testifies in Kaliss’ book:  “The machine. . . was a lounge instrument that the guy at the bar at the Holiday Inn might have used. Sly took the ticky-tacky, which started on the ‘tick’, and he inverted it, turned it inside out, into something the ear wasn’t used to. He took the texture and created a rhythm with it that made it very interesting.”

It’s no stretch to draw the developmental line from Sly through Prince and all the way up to Pharrell and beyond in wringing the soul out of a mechanized drum machine. Having flipped the preset, Stone would often then overdub with drums too and this method was used repeatedly over the course of the album, resulting in the dense, foggy feel that pervades. Members of the band would come at Stone’s behest, lay down the track according to his instructions and then he would record again over the top of it himself.

There were other times when tapes would be re-used too. In the mist of drug-fueled good times, Stone would invite girls to sing vocals for him before recording over the top of it later, to scrub their throwaway vocals down the drain, again contributing to the unique (at that time) grimily obscured sound that sprang from those sessions.

There is a tendency to draw harsh lines between Stand! and Riot in terms of the attitudes that prevail on each. Stand is often characterized as bright, upbeat and positive, while Riot is often shown to be dark, brooding and the start of a downward spiral. In truth, the seeds of some negativity are found on Stand! in the shape of “Don’t Call Me” and “Somebody’s Watching You,” so the distinction between the two becomes blurred rather than sharp and clear. Yet it would be churlish to say that Riot isn’t all of the things others suggest it is.

The music on Riot is funky, very funky, but it is of a totally different ilk to the funk others offered. Take James Brown’s work of the time with his new lineup that included Bootsy and Catfish Collins. Their brand of funk was expansive, punchy and dancing to it meant the chance to use huge movements—spins, pirouettes and leaping splits; arms and legs flung as extensively as possible. But it is hard to imagine those same movements in response to the deep, gloopy funk of Riot. Here the funk is wearing a strait jacket—the movements it provokes are limited in scope and scale, instead the neck bears the brunt of the groove.

It seems almost beyond comprehension that the group’s biggest song would come from this album, but “Family Affair” hit #1 on the charts and stayed there for three weeks. Recorded with Billy Preston on electric piano and Bobby Womack on rhythm guitar, it buried Sly’s guitar in the mix and featured his singing in an entirely different register. Gone were the urgent gospel-like vocals of previous years and in its place came a guttural, underplayed vocal that mirrored the gloomy approach to recording and the overall feel of the album.

The other singles released from the album were “Runnin’ Away” and “(You Caught Me) Smilin’” both of which did pretty well (reaching #23 and #42 respectively on the Billboard charts). But it is hard to imagine anything else being palatable as a single—the funk is so thick it wades through molasses and is unlike anything else of the time.

This is undoubtedly a great album that changed the course of soul and funk music. Its effects can still be heard today in many places—a listen to Van Hunt’s The Fun Rises, The Fun Sets (2015) alone for example will reveal the debt he owes to this album and the sounds Stone created along the way. D’Angelo’s Voodoo (2000) also dwells in the same swampy funk as Sly Stone’s brand of soul and his vocals echo Sly’s when he slides into his upper register too. But the painful truth is that although I recognize its sheer, unadulterated brilliance, I play it relatively seldomly—it never transcends my circumstances in the way other albums do. I have to be in a certain frame of mind to enjoy it”.

I am going to end with a review. Before that, The Guardian spoke with a host of stars as they shared their memories and impressions of There’s a Riot Goin’ On. A drug-fuelled landmark album that should have been a wake-up call for America. Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On seems like a companion piece. Similarities for sure, though there is something about Sly & The Family Stone’s masterpiece that hits in a different way:

“Nile Rodgers

The statement that the album made to young Black America was one of positivity. A lot of the problems that we were facing – and unfortunately continue to face – we were starting to talk about and deal with directly in our pop music. Black artists traditionally didn’t have the freedom to do that, unlike white artists, but now Sly was at the vanguard of that. It felt like our time had come. You sure can dance to Family Affair, but it talks about the beautiful mosaic of people on Earth. The album was a revolutionary statement. It was liberating and gave a young artist like me, coming up, the ability to dream.

Greg Errico, drums, Sly and the Family Stone

All the stories about the Riot sessions are true. It was a tumultuous time. The group was splintering and there was huge pressure on Sly to make another record just as we were breaking up. We had cut Family Affair and Thank You For Talkin’ to Me Africa with the original band the year before. Then Sly wanted to do it all himself, maybe realised it wasn’t such fun but couldn’t back down.

It went from a traditional studio to the attic of his house – with all the chemicals. He’d knock on my door at 3 or 4am and say: “Come on, I’ve got this part. Get up, let’s start recording!” Other times he’d call the sessions off. Eventually I stopped going, which got him into using the drum machine. It was the kind of thing the guy in the lounge of the Holiday Inn would use to make lame music, but Sly used it very creatively. Starting the machine’s rhythm on an off beat turned the beat inside out and gave a unique sound.

The music was darker because times were darker. When I first heard the finished album, I had a little attitude – “He should have stuck with us” – but gradually I realised it was really creative and lyrically he was talking about what was going on. I started listening with a smile on my face.

Moor Mother

I was trying to learn about the music that came before [Riot] and came across a clip of Sly and the Family Stone doing I Want To Take You Higher live. I couldn’t believe how diverse and how good they were. We come from these kind of segregated places in terms of who’s allowed to do what or play what and he just didn’t recognise those boxes. The sense of freedom was so empowering and has inspired me enormously in terms of being free and taking in everything. He wasn’t bound by sound.

The music and lyrics on Riot are like a collage. It’s like walking through different neighbourhoods, but makes you realise how connected everything is. It jumps around because we’re all included and it’s about raising our vibrations and calling us to attention. I love what hip-hop has been able to do with his music; tracks like the Roots’ Star, sampling Everybody Is a Star. There are no bad samples from Sly and the Family Stone. The music sounds fresh after 50 years because it’s the truth. When you hear Sly, you go to a different place.

Speech, Arrested Development

In the 90s I kept hearing these great drum sounds on hip-hop records and realised they came from Sly and the Family Stone. Their multiracial, multigender lineup was crucial to our evolution: without them, there would be no Arrested Development. Everyday People gave us a chorus for one of our songs [People Everyday] and so they became very dear to me.

There’s a Riot Goin’ On is a ray of sunshine. It shows the humanity of the Black experience in a way that a lot of soul music of that time and today doesn’t. For me, Family Affair is about the ups and downs within a family. Just Like a Baby is so vulnerable and Running Away is so light and airy, yet it’s about hard times in American history for Black people”.

I am going to end with a 2009 review from the BBC. One of many albums that examines and salutes such a pivotal and groundbreaking album, There’s a Riot Goin’ On will continue to inspire for generations to come. It is a tragedy that we recently lost Sly Stone. However, he knew what a remarkable album he created with There’s a Riot Goin’ On:

“As the 1970s dawned, and Altamont, Vietnam and civil unrest signalled the disintegration of the hippy era, Sly & the Family Stone were in a similar state of disarray. Their riotous Rainbow Coalition of funk, soul and rock had captured the optimistic spirit of the psychedelic era. Now, though, leader Sly Stone spent countless unproductive hours in the recording studio, fuelled by a fearsome amount of illicit chemicals, recording mostly alone, with funk luminaries like Bobby Womack, Ike Turner and Billy Preston adding occasional instrumental assistance.

Released in 1971, There’s a Riot Goin’ On replaced the Family Stone’s bright and bold pop with a sound that was blurred by Sly’s endless overdubbing, murky but potent, as troubled as the times themselves. The grooves were edgy, restless: opener Luv n’ Haight was a desperate call-and-response set to fiercely combative licks; Thank You for Talking to Me Africa rewrote their upbeat 1970 anthem Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin) as a ghostly, enervated jam: still effortlessly funky, but unsettling rather than uplifting. The gonzo yodel-thon of Spaced Cowboy, meanwhile, sounds every bit as drugged-out and lunatic as the session which yielded it.

Against this backdrop of paranoid and brilliant funk, Riot’s pop moments shone brightly, though this context also lent them a darker edge. (You Caught Me) Smilin’ was winningly vulnerable, a brief flash of joy; Runnin’ Away chuckled bitterly at Sly’s self-destructive tendencies (“making blues of night and day / ha ha, hee hee”). Family Affair, meanwhile, found a mush-mouthed Sly whispering tales of domestic tumult – warring brothers, anguished newlyweds – over drum-machine pulse and melting Fender Rhodes chords, while sister Rose Stone’s soulful vocal hook offered a precious note of optimism.

The song’s blend of painful wisdom and enduring hope (Sly’s croak of “Blood’s thicker than mud”) delivered the group a #1 single, but the parent album’s hazy, disquieting funk left long-term fans puzzled. Years on, however, There’s a Riot Goin’ On is rightfully regarded as a masterpiece for its unique sound, for its bleak tone and wasted mood, summing up the unease and menace of its era as perfectly as their earlier hits had captured the positivity of the late-1960s”.

If you have never heard There’s a Riot Goin’ On, then this is an album that you need to listen to. Read about it and check out as many interviews and podcasts about it. It is one of the greatest albums ever released. One of the earliest examples of matured Funk that would influence the likes of George Clinton and Miles Davis, There’s a Riot Goin’ On had a giant impact on fellow musicians. It has been ranked consistently alongside the best albums ever. Its legacy and importance will grow even stronger in the years to come. This is an album that…

EVERYONE needs to hear.

FEATURE: The Class of ‘25: The Ten Best Albums of the Year So Far

FEATURE:

 

 

The Class of ‘25

IN THIS PHOTO: Rose Gray

The Ten Best Albums of the Year So Far

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WE are over half-way through…

IN THIS PHOTO: Antony Szmierek/PHOTO CREDIT: Charlie Cummings

this year, so I wanted to look back over the past six months or so and collate, in my opinion, the best albums that have been released. It might seem impossible, so I am aware there are going to be some notable albums left out. This is only my personal opinion. Albums that I have really loved and would recommend to people. However, there are other features out there that have their opinions when it comes to the best of 2025 so far. Many people reading this will have their views. Below are ten wonderful albums from this year that I feel are the finest of the year. I would be interested to know if anyone…

IN THIS PHOTO: HotWax/PHOTO CREDIT: Louise Mason

HAS their own top ten.

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Self Esteem – A Complicated Woman

Release Date: 25th April

Label: Polydor

Producers: Johan Hugo/Rob Milton

Standout Cuts: Mother/In Plain Sight/Lies

Review:

“Three years after the release of her Mercury Prize-nominated album Prioritise Pleasure, Self Esteem returns with her highly anticipated third record, A Complicated Woman. But the Sheffield-born artist hasn’t been idle in the meantime. Following the conclusion of her Prioritise Pleasure era, she made a striking West End debut as Sally Bowles in Cabaret, collaborated with Moonchild Sanelly on a new track, and took on a starring role in the Sky series Smothered.

As if a new album wasn’t exciting enough, ahead of its release, Self Esteem teamed up with director Tom Scutt to bring A Complicated Woman to the West End stage – a bold live show that shared its name with the upcoming record. She was joined by a chorus of female vocalists, whose presence is felt throughout the album. Their voices take centre stage on the opening track, ‘I Do and I Don’t Care’ where layered harmonies repeat the title in a haunting mantra before Rebecca steps in with a powerful spoken-word delivery, echoing the style of her breakout hit ‘I Do This All The Time’.

At its core, A Complicated Woman is about taking back control – a theme that comes into sharp focus on the album’s powerful lead single, ‘Focus is Power’. The track stuns from the outset: a graceful, slow-building ballad underscored by gentle piano and enriched by a choir of predominantly female voices. As it unfolds, confidence and determination rise to the surface, reaching a spine-tingling crescendo in a raw, a cappella moment that lingers long after the final note. In a bold display of Rebecca’s versatility, ‘Mother’ bursts forth with an irresistible beat and cheeky confidence that instantly grabs attention. With whispered vocals that playfully chastise a love interest while asserting independence, the wry, house-infused track has fast become a fan favourite, stealing the spotlight during her 2023 live performances.

With a shift to a softer rhythm, ‘The Curse’ unfolds like a quiet confession, exploring Rebecca’s complicated relationship with alcohol. The track’s serene sound contrasts with the depth of its message, highlighted by the powerful line: “Whether I’m sober or drunk, it’s still me in the middle of the problem.” It’s a moment of raw self-awareness, wrapped in a gentle, melancholic haze. Written about her ex-girlfriend, the introspective and string-laden ‘Logic, Bitch!’ explores the enduring presence of certain people in our lives – those who will always hold an irreplaceable place in the heart. There’s a raw vulnerability in Rebecca’s soft, delicate vocals, capturing the quiet acceptance at the song’s core.

The most upbeat moment on the album, ‘Cheers To Me’ is a full-blown anthem. Rebecca has a knack for writing lyrics that are not only clever but deeply relatable – and when she raises a toast to “each and every fucker that made me this way,” it’s impossible not to sing along. With its infectious energy, this track feels destined to be the song of the summer. Set to be massive live, ‘Cheers To Me’ is a tough act to follow – but ‘If Not Now, It’s Soon’, the album’s latest single, rises to the challenge with ease. Like each of its predecessors, it pushes boundaries, seamlessly blending bold pop production with sweeping synths and intricate electronic textures. A raw, personal reflection on Rebecca’s pre-fame years, marked by excess and self-destruction, the song delves into the complexities of self-worth, with Rebecca confronting the way she treated herself during that tumultuous time. Describing it as an exploration of perseverance and patience, she enlisted the legendary Julie Hesmondhalgh from Lancaster to add a powerful touch, delivering the poignant line: “Something will happen because it has to – it’s not just perseverance we need, it’s patience.”

Opening with gentle acoustic guitar plucks, ‘In Plain Sight’ is a striking and unexpected moment. Since her days in Slow Club, Rebecca has carved out a distinct sonic identity – one she continues to evolve and experiment with. This track stands as a testament to that evolution. In stark contrast to Rebecca’s calm, measured vocals, Moonchild Sanelly delivers a powerful spoken-word passage, confronting the disproportionate criticism women face when they dare to speak up in public. It’s a bold, thought-provoking highlight of the album.

‘Lies’ is yet another standout collaboration, this time with Nadine Shah. Serving as a perfect follow-up to ‘In Plain Sight’, the track features a melody with a distinct Bollywood-inspired flair. Rebecca and Nadine share the vocals, with Nadine’s voice beautifully digitally distorted, adding an intriguing layer to the song’s dynamic sound. The song culminates in suggestive, sensual sounds, creating a perfect segue into the next song, ‘69’. Taking Rebecca’s defiance to the next level, ‘69’ sees her tear down the outdated stigma that women shouldn’t speak openly about sex. With fearless, unfiltered lyrics, she boldly reclaims her power, sparking much-needed conversations about female desire and empowerment. Musically, it’s the perfect partner to ‘Mother’ – both a club anthem and an electrifying floor filler, with a driving, irresistible beat that pulses with unapologetic energy.

In a moment that draws from her West End experience, the penultimate track, ‘What Now’, strips away all instrumentation, leaving only a choir of harmonising voices. Their ethereal, unified sound imbues the song with a deep sense of community and connection – echoing the powerful, collective energy that defines Self Esteem’s live performances. This effect is amplified by the fact that the harmonies are provided by a carefully chosen group of Rebecca’s closest friends, including the beloved members of her band. While much of the album delves into struggle – whether it’s navigating relationships or confronting the challenges of being a woman in today’s world – the emotionally nuanced closing track, ‘The Deep Blue Okay’, offers a poignant acceptance of life’s grey areas. Accompanied by uplifting piano, it captures a quiet inner strength, embracing uncertainty not as fear, but as a wellspring of resilience.

With A Complicated Woman, Self Esteem proves once again that nobody else is doing what she’s doing right now – and perhaps nobody ever has. Since stepping out as a solo artist, Rebecca has carved out a space that’s entirely her own: bold, honest, theatrical, and unapologetically feminist. As ever, she isn’t just making music she’s making a statement” – God Is in the TV

Key Track: Focus Is Power

Antony Szmierek - Service Station at the End of the Universe

Release Date: 28th February

Labels: Mushroom Music/Virgin Music Group

Producers: Antony Szmierek/Robin Parker/Max Rad/Louie Fulford-Smith/Yves Jones

Standout Cuts: Rafters/Yoga Teacher/Angie’s Wedding

Review:

“To understand Antony Szmierek look no further than the title of his 2023 EP, ‘Poems To Dance To’, an apt depiction of the ex-English teacher’s rising blend of rhythmic spoken word and dancefloor ready production laying the backdrop for musings ranging from personal relationships to obscure places, and a poignant balance of fantasy and heavy realism. The sci-fi inspired title, a nod to Antony’s childhood favourite ‘A Hitchhiker’s Guide to The Galaxy’ that also spurned his breakthrough track, lays the path for references to home city landmarks, from the looming Stockport pyramid to the North West’s right-of-passage pub crawl, the Didsbury Dozen. It’s indicative of his outlook on his surroundings, an ever-blurred line between the tangible and the intangible, and one that will draw inevitable and not unjustified comparisons to the work of Mike Skinner. It’s prominent in the interlude’s respite found in the service station, a transient place that provides much needed consistency to the protagonist. His understanding of place grounds the otherwise lofty musings, not least the stunning stream of consciousness rising out of highlight ‘Restless Leg Syndrome’. It’s this stark contrast between the emotive and the physical that underpins much of his writing, mirrored further in the record’s pairing of poetry and inherently British genres ranging from acid house to garage and beyond. ‘Service Station…’ glides through this constant push and pull, a timeless portrayal of both the physical and emotional connection to people and place; fundamentally British yet beautifully universal” – DIY

Key Track: The Great Pyramid of Stockport

Lambrini Girls - Who Let the Dogs Out

Release Date: 10th January

Label: City Slang

Producers: Daniel Fox/Lambrini Girls

Standout Cuts: Big Dick Energy/Filthy Rich Nepo Baby/Cuntology 101

Review:

“If you’re in a battle to write your debut album against the clock, do you take a careful approach that involves daily exercise and cooking dinner together, or do you stock up on a hell of a lot of booze and start writing, hoping for the best?

If you’re Lambrini Girls, you do both. Comprising Phoebe Lunny (vocals and guitar) and Lilly Macieira (bass), the Brighton duo wrote debut album ‘Who Let The Dogs Out’ in two quick bursts, before it was recorded with Gilla Band bassist Daniel Fox.

The result is something that’s raw and fuzzy but also very catchy throughout, darkly funny and full of acerbic wit, and – above all else – important.

There are songs fans already know well from Lambrini Girls’ live shows, like the opening triple whammy of ‘Bad Apple’, ‘Company Culture’ and ‘Big Dick Energy’, which take aim at the police, workplace misogyny and toxic masculinity.  “I’m onе of the nice guys/So why won’t you have sex with me?” snarls Lunny on the latter, tongue firmly in cheek.

When it comes to their political beliefs, they’re happy to put their money where their mouth is, too. Lunny was quoted in a 2023 interview as saying, “I will scrap any TERF [trans-exclusionary radical feminist], any day, in person, with my fists,” leading to an onslaught from anti-trans commentators, while their pro-Palestine stance caused them to withdraw from The Great Escape festival last year.

They’ve been compared to IDLES, who they’ve supported on tour, Riot Grrrl staples like Bikini Kill and Huggy Bear, and punk pioneers X-Ray Spex, but their sardonic humour and noise rock riffs set them parallel to, not directly adjoining, the acts they’re often likened towards.

And it’s not solely political commentary here. “I like your face, but not in a gay way,” Lunny deadpans on ‘No Homo’, with lyrics anyone who was at school in the 2000s could recognise from the playground, while ‘Special, Different’ takes a look at neurodiversity with a tenderness that belies its garage punk sound and ‘Love’ is a breakup song at its heart, Macieira going “bonkers mode” on bass.

Closer ‘Cuntology 101’, meanwhile, is the punk lovechild of Toni Basil’s ‘Mickey’ and Daphne & Celeste’s ‘U.G.L.Y.’, and revolves around a cheerleader-style chant of “C-U-N-T” while promoting self-care and, erm, shagging behind bins.

As raw and energetic as ‘Who Let The Dogs Out’ is, it’s over after a breathless half-hour. There’s enough variety to keep attention firmly on this exciting duo, who might just be one of the best up-and-coming British bands. 9/10” – CLASH

Key Track: No Homo

Victoria Canal – Slowly, It Dawns

Release Date: 17th January

Label: Parlophone

Producers: Victoria Canal/Eg White/Kevin Farzad

Standout Cuts: Cake/Vauxhall/swan song

Review:

“For anyone familiar with Victoria Canal’s earlier discography - which, after sharing her first EP all the way back in 2016, is already plentiful - the opening chimes of ‘June Baby’ might come as a bit of a surprise. Where her most recent releases (2022’s ‘elegy’ and last year’s ‘WELL WELL’ EP) dwelled in the more introspective corners of life, there’s a sunny warmth to the opening track of her debut full-length ‘Slowly, It Dawns’ that feels unexpected but still well-worn. It’s this spirit that’s carried into the first half of the record via the flirtatious strut of ‘California Sober’ and the thrumming, hedonistic vibrations of ‘Cake’, proving Canal has many more strings to her pop bow. For those more enamoured with her intimate, stripped back songwriting, never fear; ‘Slowly, It Dawns’’ second half is as powerful and devastating as ever, with ‘Barely’ standing out as a particularly raw but striking highlight (“We’re all solar systems,” she sings, in an almost whisper, “we’re so fucking small”). That she chooses to close proceedings with the one-two of her previous stand-out singles ‘Black Swan’ and ‘swan song’ makes perfect sense in context, too; the tracks that helped introduce her to the world now become the poignant final notes of her newest era. A gorgeous debut” – DIY

Key Track: California Sober

Heartworms - Glutton for Punishment

Release Date: 7th february

Label: Speedy Wunderground

Producer: Dan Carey

Standout Cuts: In the Beginning/Jacked/Warplane

Review:

“If you dare to enter the void, expect to hear Heartworms soundtracking the journey. Jojo Orme has set the UK DIY circuit aflame with her singular performance style, while NME hailed her as “your new favourite band of the year” upon the 2023 release of her debut EP ‘A Comforting Notion’. Now, teaming up again with Speedy Wunderground producer Dan Carey, Heartworms has unleashed her tightly written, pulse-raising debut album, ‘Glutton For Punishment’.

In this survey of man’s most masochistic impulses, Heartworms expands on the gothic dance-punk that first garnered her acclaim. Let’s be clear, she can still absolutely rip a riff like she did on ‘A Comforting Notion’ – the sheer physicality of the guitar on ‘Jacked’ will have you thrusting in no time. But Heartworms also pulls some new cards from her sleeve: ‘Just To Ask A Dance’ opens with a buccaneering string section, while an acerbic Kraftwerkian synth cuts through rippling trip hop on ‘Extraordinary Wings’.

Heartworms’ spoken word delivery is also a cut above many of her post-punk peers. At various points throughout the record, she inhabits girlish innocence, weary gravitas, and even a dash of deviousness. ‘Warplane’, the almighty anthem of the album, demonstrates this best: Heartworms’ prophetic whispers gradually build, reaching an operatic cry in the chorus. And yet, among the various facades, Heartworms maintains a genuine rawness that pulls you in each time.

Perhaps that’s also down to the Cheltenham native’s idiosyncratic lyricism, which feels exposed without giving away too much. The grungy ‘Smuggler’s Adventure’ descends into a toxic concoction of isolation, hopelessness and hypervigilance, as Heartworms narrates memories from a tumultuous childhood: “Head straight to a war / That’s just how I feel”. The title track closes the album with an unsettling moment of intimacy. Over an unexpected acoustic guitar, Heartworms repeats the plea she began the album with: “All I want to do is dance, dance, dance…”

It is rare to see artists come bolting out the gate with such a strong identity, but here is someone who knows exactly who they are, what they want, and still daring to achieve more. It’s no surprise Heartworms has taken off in recent years, but ‘Glutton For Punishment’ proves she can stick the landing” – NME

Key Track: Extraordinary Wings

Sam Fender – People Watching

Release Date: 21st February

Label: Polydor

Producers: Adam Granduciel/Markus Dravs/Sam Fender/Dean Thompson/Joe Atkinson

Standout Cuts: People Watching/Chin Up/Arm’s Length

Review:

“Ever since Sam Fender emerged at the tail end of the noughties to begin a journey that now sees him begin 2025 as a bonafide stadium star, comparisons with Bruce Springsteen have followed the prodigious Geordie star at every turn.

It’s evident in the sax-flecked stadium songs capable of bringing crowds to their knees every night, but more deeply in his emotional stories about the reality of growing up in a Tyneside fishing town where the locals directly feel the impact of being left behind by those at the top of the tree. Rock anthems about ruinous benefits assessments don’t come along very often, but that’s exactly what Fender achieved on ‘Seventeen Going Under’ – the title track of his second album.

That fire in his belly continues to burn brightly on his third album People Watching, although the tempered observations of individual lives and people refusing to be knocked down feels acutely like late ’70s Springsteen. To put it another way, it’s Fender’s very own Darkness on the Edge of Toon.

“I promised her I’d get her out of the care home, the place was fallin’ to bits,” he offers on the soaring title track. It’s ostensibly a rock anthem, but it packs an extra punch when you learn that it’s a tribute to the late Annie Orwin, a woman described by Fender as his surrogate mother.

Similarly, ‘Crumbling Empire’ will invite you in with warm classic rock sounds, but – as the title suggests – its all too familiar tales of people facing the struggle of living in a land where nothing works have the ability to impressively blindside you.

There’s a new sonic palette of sorts to be found here too. If Seventeen Going Under saw Fender grabbing our attention at breakneck speed, this third album is more considered, with stadium rock being pitted against slower, but still impactful moments. The whirring rhythms of ‘Wild Long Lie’, a song about returning home, and ‘Rein Me In’ feel strangely indebted to Lindisfarne – the Geordie folk icons who Fender loves so much he made a documentary about them. Elsewhere, he’s pulled in help on production from The War On Drugs’ Adam Granduciel – a man no stranger to playing the biggest of rooms and who has no doubt helped hone the overall feel that this is bigger than anything than Fender has ever done before.

These tales reach their apex on the closer ‘Remember My Name’ – a deeply personal ballad written from the perspective of Fender’s grandfather while he was looking after his grandmother when she was battling dementia. It’s a slow-burning epic and a strong contender for the most heartbreaking song Fender has ever written. So much so, in fact, you’d reasonably suggest that the strongest of flood barriers are installed outside his stadium gigs this summer.

All considered, it’s an album that reflects Fender’s incredible skill of, err, People Watching, and turning what he finds into songs that can subtly – and broadly – break your heart. “I’m not preaching, I’m just talking,” he offers on ‘Crumbling Empire’. That’s true, but when what he’s saying is as frequently impactful as this, you’d be a fool not to listen. He may be one of the biggest stars in the UK, but on the showing of this album, it absolutely cements his position as one of our greatest too. The big leagues are where he truly belongs” – Rolling Stone UK

Key Track: Little Bit Closer

HotWax- Hot Shock

Release Date: 7th March

Label: Marathon Artists

Producers: Catherine Marks/Steph Marziano/Stella Mozgawa

Standout Cuts: She’s Got a Problem/Lights On/Chip My Teeth for You

Review:

“Back in 2023, snotty breakout single ‘Treasure’ saw HotWax deservedly championed as the next great guitar band to come out of Britain. Plenty of big moves followed, including a couple of urgent, riff-tastic EPs and support slots with childhood heroes Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Royal Blood and The Libertines, not to mention an NME Cover. The Hastings trio have put all of those expectations and their time on the road into their blistering debut album ‘Hot Shock’.

Opening track ‘She’s Got A Problem’ kicks things off with a hammering assault of guitars, drums and bass while ‘Hard Goodbye’ starts scuzzy before morphing into something more polished but no less vicious. Straddling the worlds of grunge, punk and swaggering rock & roll, every track on ‘Hot Shock’ is a ferocious, unruly beast that’s allowed to stomp around.

A lot of the venom comes from vocalist Tallulah Sim-Savage, who delivers every sneering lyric with surgical fury. She tears into herself on the riotous ‘Wanna Be A Doll’, throwing her own destructive traits into the fire, while her tendency to spill her guts gets a kicking on the rapid-fire ‘Hard Goodbye’. There’s plenty of attitude from drummer Alfie Sayers and bassist Lola Sam as well though, with slinking breakdowns delivered with pummeling passion and precision.

That blatant chemistry is nothing short of joyful – despite the menace that can be felt across ‘Hot Shock’, the band don’t shy away from playful rock’n’roll excess either. A giddy, reckless abandon fuels ‘In Her Bedroom’ while the relentless ‘One More Reason’ comes complete with a whirring ray gun guitar solo. Add in the sleek groove of existential crisis anthem ‘Strange To Be Here’ and the smirking bite of ‘Dress Our Love’; HotWax clearly know how to turn uncomfortable angst into an excuse for a good time.

It can be tough to capture the energy of an electrifying guitar band on record, but a stellar production team consisting of Catherine Marks (boygenius, Wolf Alice), Steph Marziano (Picture Parlour, Hayley Williams), and Warpaint’s Stella Mozgawa have found a way to bottle HotWax’s chaotic, cathartic rage without dulling the edges. And even when they slow things down, HotWax don’t let up. The rumbling ‘Lights On’ lets the tender poetry of the lyrics shine (“I wanted it all and I wanted it for me”), there’s rampant desire and prickling uncertainty behind ‘Chip My Teeth For You’ while the closing ‘Pharmacy’ is pretty and fearless. “I cannot take this softly,” sings Sim-Savage as HotWax once again go hard.

Like Queens Of The Stone Age at their party-starting best, HotWax’s debut album is full of filthy rock’n’roll that’s made for dancing. That next great guitar band has arrived” – NME

Key Track: In Her Bedroom

Little Simz – Lotus

Release Date: 6th June

Labels: Forever Living Originals/AWAL

Producer: Miles Clinton James

Standout Cuts: Flood/Free/Lion

Review:

“Little Simz has begun a legal battle over allegedly unpaid loans against longtime friend and producer Inflo; for as masterful as Little Simz’ and SAULT’s discographies are, and for how intertwined they have been, this is a musical lose-lose for the listening world. Simz announcing this dispute and releasing an album in tandem is certainly the most chaotic rollout of 2025, one which could have seen a catastrophe of personal drama cascade through her craft. Instead, Lotus is an affirmation representative of her talent: the best revenge is just being better.

Lotus comes after the defiant run of Grey Area, SIMBI, and No Thank You, all produced by Inflo. With these records, Little Simz harnessed vulnerable shit-talking and defiant sensitivity like a therapeutic Avatar; no emotion was too taboo and no pit was inescapable. It’s a slew of instant classics now welcoming a fourth. Lotus toes the line between disparate emotions, ripping apart betrayal, mourning loss, and celebrating Simz as the revenant messiah of Conscious Rap. In the spirit of stamping out modern anti-intellectualism, where we must put up picket fences around emotionally compelling or lyrically profound music, I’ll just say she’s the messiah of all Rap. Get in line, world.

The runaway success of the gritty, pretty Grey Area in 2019 saw Simz embraced on a newly global stage, one that coincided with Inflo announcing his presence as a powerhouse of the murky and melodic. The glorious soundscapes of Lotus are more or less Simz’s previous work with Inflo with a fake mustache under its nose, complete with a dead ringer Cleo Sol-adjacent vocalist on “Peace.”

Between the distorted bass, semi lo-fi production, soulful backing melodies, and cinematic sheen, I had to look up new producer Miles Clinton James every four minutes; are you sure you’re not Inflo? Is this an outlandish TV episode where Inflo got amnesia in a car wreck and now thinks he’s someone else? It’s more of a mirror episode where the main crew meet nearly identical versions of themselves; for as wondrous as Lotus is, its aesthetic has been rebuilt from someone else’s ashes. There’s even a song entitled “Free,” which, in SAULT terms, accounts for 40% of the song titles in their catalogue.

Understand where Lotus falls for Simz, and you can rebuild it note for note; it’s Grey Area (Simz Version), redone on different terms to expunge herself from its past connections. Its highs are higher, its lows are non-existent, and it has the government mandated Obongjayar feature, or it wouldn’t be a Simz project. She infuses the record with breathless anger, some of it excruciatingly centered around her anger and betrayal toward her past friends, yet this turmoil is never the focal point of her message. There is no narrative to spin or extract for the tabloids except the most bare, most vital piece. Forget the headlines, Little Simz is the greatest rapper alive. What else is there to talk about?” – The Line of Best Fit

Key Track: Young

Pulp – More

Release Date: 6th June

Label: Rough Trade

Producer: James Ford

Standout Cuts: Spike Island/Slow Jam/My Sex

Review:

“This time I'll get it right," Jarvis Cocker sings on More, an album that appeared nearly a quarter-century after the band's presumed swan song We Love Life. Though that album's brooding acoustic panoramas were gripping, as a final statement they were anticlimactic. Cocker and company give fans more of what they want on More, but they choose what they revisit wisely. They'd already figured out on We Love Life that a reflective tone and slower pace was what suited them best post-Britpop, and that remains true as they contemplate the difference between aging and maturity. The band broached this topic on This Is Hardcore's "Help the Aged" (which Cocker wrote at the ripe old age of 33), but the passage of time has only imbued their thoughts with more humor and pathos. And while More's sound leans into influences that suggest the autumn of one's years -- We Love Life producer Scott Walker, Serge Gainsbourg, even Frank Sinatra -- its songs were road-tested on Pulp's electrifying 2023 and 2024 tour dates and recorded in three weeks, so things never get too sedate. On This Is Hardcore and We Love Life, Pulp attempted to put as much distance between themselves and Britpop as they could; on More, they bridge that gap with integrity. Named for the venue of a 1990 Stone Roses concert, the celebratory "Spike Island" begins the album with a burst of nostalgia, albeit tempered by Cocker's chronic self-awareness ("I was born to perform, it's a calling/I exist to do this, shouting and pointing"). When they confront More's midlife crises, Pulp come into their own. Cocker's magnetism as a storyteller is at a peak -- he's still revealing the sleaze in posh surroundings and the romance within the mundane with unerring aim, and if his characters are a little different two decades later, they're still true to form. On "Grown Ups," he finds out just how strange it is when we're all fully grown (people "stress about wrinkles instead of acne" and move near the motorway for commuting). While "Tina"'s lonely fantasies and novelistic details feel directly descended from His 'n' Hers, there's a newfound tenderness around the song's edges. Pulp's wit is still razor-sharp (particularly on the irony-drenched finale, "A Sunset"), but their heart is the biggest it's been since Different Class. "Farmers Market" suggests that the dream-spinning magic of love at first sight can be even sweeter later in life; conversely, the ordinariness of fading love on "Background Noise" makes it all the more gutting. More might be Pulp's most impassioned album, with an urgency that courses through "My Sex" and the zealous disco centerpiece "Got to Have Love," where Cocker urges his audience to "wake up and face the consequences." He and the rest of the band may be older, but they never sound as weary as they did on This Is Hardcore and We Love Life. This time, they do indeed get it right -- More is classic Pulp, aged to near perfection” – AllMusic

Key Track: Tina

Rose Gray – Louder, Please

Release Date: 17th January

Label: PIAS

Producers: Pat Alvarez/Zhone/Sur Back/Joe Brown/Alex Metric/Rob Milton/Sega Bodega/Ryland Blackinton/Vaughn Oliver/Sam Homaee/Frank Colucci/Shawn Wasabi

Standout Cuts: Wet & Wild/Hackney Wick/Louder, Please

Review:

“Rose Gray’s ‘Louder, Please’ is a mission statement for life from an artist with a laser guided focus on ecstatic dance floor abandon and the transcendent power of dance music’s energy rush.

Hedonism and the desire to have more, more, more permeate the whole record. Opening track ‘Damn’ sets the tone with its rough and dirty groove while ‘Free’ is warm and enveloping in its blissed out expansiveness. The lyrics often have a spiritual and inspiring quality to them that harkens back to the prime era of late 80s dance discovery when anything seemed possible

The thing that makes the album so engaging is it’s not just a parade of beats and poppers o’clock bangers. There’s depth, feeling and rich emotion from Gray’s skilful songwriting, a testament to the years she spent honing her craft as an artist and writer. All this is highlighted in stunning fashion on the spoken word memories and reflections of ‘Hackney Wick’, nostalgic and stirring it’s a track that evokes The Streets ‘Weak Become Heroes’ and feels like something Gray has waited all her life to say.

The album is a sonic journey for head, body and soul to soundtrack all your partying needs for 2025” – DORK

Key Track: Angel of Satisfaction

FEATURE: Kate Bush: The Tour of Life: Following John Carder Bush’s KATE: Inside the Rainbow

FEATURE:

Kate Bush: The Tour of Life

Following John Carder Bush’s KATE: Inside the Rainbow

__________

I think the last time…

I properly explored the book was in 2021. It has been a while since I delved into KATE: Inside the Rainbow by John Carder Bush. Kate Bush’s brother has been taking photos of his sister since she was a child. You can order KATE: Inside the Rainbow. Published in October 2015, its tenth anniversary is coming up. I have been thinking about this quite a bit. I pitched a feature a while ago where I suggested three legendary photographers, John Carder Bush, Guido Harari and Gered Mankowitz should get together and discuss Kate Bush. Their experiences of shooting the artist. It would be great if there was this filmed conversation where they looked through their photos. Each checking out these great photos and pulling them apart. Guido Harari actually responded to my post on Instagram to say what a good idea that would be. I would like to think that one of these photographers has a follow-up in them. I am going to ask how do we follow a book like KATE: Inside the Rainbow. Before getting there, I am going to bring in some information that I have sourced before. Alongside some essential biographies of Kate Bush, KATE: Inside the Rainbow is something you need to own, as it gives this very personal and fascinating glimpse into her career. The photos and essays are really interesting:

“Stunning and unique images from throughout Kate Bush's career including:

Outtakes from classic album shoots and never-before-seen photographs from The Dreamingand Hounds of Love sessions

Rare candid studio shots and behind-the-scenes stills from video sets, including 'Army Dreamers' and 'Running Up that Hill'

Includes original essays from Kate's brother:

From Cathy to Kate: Describes in vibrant detail their shared childhood and the whirlwind days of Kate's career

Chasing the Shot: A vivid evocation of John's experience of photographing his sister

'For me, each of these images forms part of a golden thread that shoots through the visual tapestry of Kate's remarkable career. Storytelling has always been the heartbeat of Kate's body of work, and it has been a privilege to capture these photographic illustrations that accompany those magical tales' John Carder Bush”.

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush photographed behind the scenes for her 1979 Christmas special

KATE: Inside the Rainbow is sort of an expansion of Cathy. That book features black-and-white photos of Kate Bush as a child. I guess KATE: Inside the Rainbow is a companion to that book. You can order Cathy here. It is an expensive book. However, it is worth investing in. The sort of access and insights we get with John Carder Bush’s photography is extraordinary. There are a couple of reviews from 2015 that I want to source. The first is quite brief but makes some good points regarding how powerful the photos inside KATE: Inside the Rainbow are:

“Following in the very intimate steps of his last book, Cathy, Kate’s big brother John Carder Bush charts the indomitable rise of his younger sibling from ingénue to full-blown star.

As part of her management and creative team too, he’s been afforded the kind of access most photographers could only ever dream of. This collection – at its strongest with candid shots of video shoots, dance rehearsals and album artwork – reveals as much of the artist at work (and occasionally play) as most of us will ever experience.

Carder Bush also offers some insight into his sister’s ascension towards the stars in his essay Inside The Rainbow, but it’s the photographs that do most of the talking, startling snapshots all of a life much less ordinary”.

The second review is a bit more in-depth. There are not a lot of reviews out there concerning KATE: Inside the Rainbow. With this book readily available (it was reprinted recently as it was out of stock for a long time), I do think that every Kate Bush fan should own there. Nearly ten years after its release, it remains the most intimate and extraordinary collection of Kate Bush photos post-The Kick Inside:

“For me, each of these images forms part of a golden thread that shoots through the visual tapestry of Kate’s remarkable career.”

So says Kate’s oldest brother John Carder Bush of this robust and elegant tome, teeming with lavish colour pictures of his sister. And if anyone should know how to get a good shot of Kate Bush, it’s got to be the man who has, after all, been photographing her for almost all her life.

For the last 20 years Carder Bush has been actively involved with the creative side of Kate’s career, but most fans will also be aware of his 2014 book Cathy, a fascinating glimpse of an artist in development (in all senses of the word) and originally published privately back in 1986. And if there’s a handful of these shots to be seen here, for the most part Kate: Inside The Rainbow deals with more recognisable photos used to promote and illustrate Bush’s career as it sensationally unfolded after she burst onto the airwaves as that wide-eyed 19 year-old singing Wuthering Heights.

Although there are pictures that cover the pre-The Kick Inside years, Carder Bush’s first seemingly “official” engagement was for 1980’s Never For Ever album, and he’s worked with his sister on every consecutive album bar 2005’s Aerial (although thinking back I’m not certain I can recall much in the way of promotional shots when that album came out). So while this is by no means as up close and personal as Cathy was, it’s certainly the best collection of pictures covering Bush’s progression, from album shots to work on singles and promotional videos. Some of these you’ll recognise immediately; others take on a more candid and personal feel.

Although Carder Bush was also responsible for the promotional shots that also accompanied 2011’s Director’s Cut and 50 Words For Snow, there’s nothing extra you won’t have seen before, merely the handful of promo pics that appeared at the time. And equally, some may be disappointed that there’s nothing at all from the record-breaking run of the Before The Dawn live shows (Carder Bush was teaching martial arts abroad at the time). These minor quibbles aside, there’s more than enough here to sate the appetite of even Kate’s most ardent fans”.

I do know that there are photo collections from Gered Mankowitz and Guido Harari. They have coffee table books that you can look for. However, there has not been a lot in terms of new photographic representations. I do think that there are other photos from John Carder Bush that would make for another excellent book. I asked before whether there are shots from Kate Bush’s 2014 residency, Before the Dawn, that could go into a book. Whether there are other shots from people like Guido Harari that we can have in a book. There are a lot of press photographs and shots from various sessions that would be fascinating to see. It depends whether Kate Bush would authorise their release. I do think there is potential for at least one more book of photography. There have been Kate Bush books in the past five years or so. A biography by Tom Doyle. A Hounds of Love book from Leah Kardos. Not a whole lot aside from that. I am surprised that there has not been more. I would love to see John Carder Bush release more photos of his sister. I believe there was plans for a second volume of Cathy photos. It was scrapped. There are undoubtedly outtakes and some more photos from album cover shoots and from video shoots. Rather than it being a case of scraping the bottom of the barrel or releasing something to cash in, there are new fans that would love to see new or unreleased photos of Kate Bush. I think there is a real need. As we await a new Kate Bush album and there are some important anniversaries this year, many are looking around to see what comes next. I might revisit KATE: Inside the Rainbow and do a new review of it. It is a wonderful and revealing look inside Kate Bush’s career from her brother. The sort of shots and access to this amazing artist that…

WE would only dream of.

FEATURE: Footnotes: NDAs, Kate Nash on Reshaping Feminism, The Mighty CMAT, and Beyoncé: An Enduring Icon

FEATURE:

 

 

Footnotes

IN THIS PHOTO: CMAT

NDAs, Kate Nash on Reshaping Feminism, The Mighty CMAT, and Beyoncé: An Enduring Icon

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THIS is a feature…

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Nash

where I do a round-up of stories relating to music from the past week or two. This edition is a broad one. Rather than do individual features about each subject and maybe stretch and pad things, I wanted to bring them all together. I am going to end with a review from a recent Beyoncé gig that makes me wonder whether she is the best live performer ever. One of the most enduring icons in all of music. I am going to start out with quite a sobering and serious topic. I caught this feature from The Guardian. It is something that impacts men in music too. However, it is mainly women (and gender non-conforming people) who are affected by harassment, sexual assault, discrimination and misogyny. The issue is not going anywhere. An epidemic in music, there does need to be a change. The fact that there are NDAs (non-disclosure agreements) that silence women who have been victims of assault and abuse is horrifying. Men protected and women almost paid off. There do need to be NDAs for other things. They exist for a reason. However, when it comes so silencing women and ensuring that they do not get justice, it is a massive issue:

“The misuse of non-disclosure and confidentiality agreements in the music industry to silence victims of harassment and abuse is a “major concern”, which should be banned immediately in order to tackle the sector’s “culture of misogyny”, a new parliament report recommends.

Misogyny in Music: On Repeat is the third such report by the women and equalities committee. Its predecessor, published in January 2024, found that women working in the sector faced misogyny and discrimination, with rife sexual harassment and abuse, to which the industry’s many self-employed practitioners were more vulnerable.

Despite music industry support for the report, the previous Conservative government declined to implement any of its recommendations. In September 2024, the Labour party conference passed a motion calling on the government to implement the committee’s report in full.

On publication of the latest report, a government spokesperson told the Guardian: “The music industry must be free of misogyny and discrimination and NDAs should not be misused to silence victims. We are actively looking at all options for further reform of NDAs.”

In the year since the previous report, the committee, led by Labour MP Sarah Owen, said that little had changed from its previous characterisation of the culture of the British music industry as a “boys’ club”.

Hearing evidence from pop-soul artist Celeste and the classical soprano Lucy Cox, along with representatives from the organisations Black Lives in Music and the Musicians’ Union, it found barriers including unequal pay, ageism and unequal responsibility for childcare duties; harassment, particularly for LGBTQ+ women, women of colour and disabled women.

IN THIS PHOTO: Lucy Cox

It established that women reported mistreatment at low rates because of fear of retaliation. Musicians’ Union data showed that despite 51% of women in the sector experiencing gender discrimination and 47% of women of colour experiencing racism, only 11% and 8% respectively reported their allegations.

Secretary Naomi Pohl told the committee that even initiatives designed to protect women within the sector “still exist within a system that doesn’t prioritise women’s safety and none of the organisations have the power to change that culture”.

“The need for government intervention is clear,” the committee said. “There remains an overwhelming case for the government to implement the measures set out in our predecessors’ report, and the updated recommendations set out in this report.” It stressed that their recommendations would also benefit women working across all sectors”.

Dr Charisse Beaumont, CEO of Black Lives in Music, has galled for the Government to get involved. That article also stressed how “female and gender non-conforming freelancers within the music industry were additionally vulnerable, and not sufficiently protected by the employment rights bill”. These confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements need to be taken out of situations where it used inappropriately. It is a shame on the previous Government that they did not ensure that the recommendations in the Misogyny in Music: On Repeat were implemented. We cannot have a music industry where abuse, misogyny and discrimination against women exists. It is a sorry situation. Let us hope that there is progress very soon. That Labour actually do act, and NDAs and confidentiality agreements that protect those who discriminate against women. From sexual assault, ageism, equal pay and misogyny, how far has the industry advanced from that idea of it being a boys’ club?! It still seems to be stuck in the past. Let’s hope for positive news very soon!

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Nash/PHOTO CREDIT: Jude Harrison

Not to lean too much on The Guardian, though they do produce these important articles and interviews. One such interview from last week. It is interesting what Kate Nash had to say. Her new song, GERM, comes out in support of trans people. At a time when trans women especially are being attacked and having their rights removed, there are few artists addressing a topic that might be seen as risk or too hot to handle. Nash knows that feminism needs to be reshaped. Not only in Britain. Are trans women as represented in feminist conversation as cis women?! It does seem to be a slight hierarchy. Are women of colour further down too?! Trans women’s bodies and protection is not less important than that of any other woman. It is vital that more artists in the music industry follow in Kate Nash’s footsteps and discuss trans rights. Put out songs that will endure for years and help push us towards positive change. A recent Supreme Court decision that ruled women are defined by sex and not gender was a step back when it came to trans rights:

“In Kate Nash’s new single, released last week, the 37-year-old musician and actor has coined a new acronym, Germ: “girl, exclusionary, regressive, misogynist”. In the lyrics, she states: “You’re not radical … You’re not rad at all,” and that “using feminism to erase the rights of others and endanger them is inherently un-feminist”. It arose from Nash seeing “trans-exclusionary radical feminist” – the contentious term “terf” – as something of a misnomer. Those who espouse gender-critical views are, in her opinion, neither radical nor feminist.

The song was written in response to last month’s supreme court ruling that the legal definition of “woman” ought to be based on biological sex (a judgement that doctors at the British Medical Association have called “scientifically illiterate”). “I have a lot of trans people in my life that I care about,” Nash tells me on the day the track is released. “This feminist-trans ‘debate’ – it’s not a debate to me. A friend of mine was the victim of a hate crime last year. I took the ruling very personally.” She says the time felt right for her to speak out. “The LGBTQIA+ community supports women so much, and they have been there for me in my life and career. That’s why I think cis women really owe it to trans people to step up at this moment. This song is for that community.”

“Taking away the rights of vulnerable people who are not a threat is obviously the wrong thing to be doing,” she says. “I’m not willing to trample on people that have less autonomy over their bodies and less safety in the world than me in order to ‘protect myself’. I do not think cis women are more important or better than trans people.”

Nash is undeterred by the internet noise the song has caused. “I mean, sure, attack me online, but I’m still right,” she says. “I wanted to leave a record in musical history of a feminist who is outspoken as a cis woman: this is my opinion, and I don’t want the loudest cultural voice in the room to be anti-trans. That is not what feminism has taught me”.

In 2025, it should not be the case that perhaps one or two artists are highlighting trans rights in music. There needs to be this unity and volume of music that expresses solidarity with thew trans community. Anger at those who attack them. Nash has received some backlash, though she has always considered herself to be a feminist and she supports the trans community wholeheartedly. It is such a shame that we need to have these conversations. That thing Nash said about the loudest voice in the room being anti-trans. Someone like JK Rowling, who has huge influence and millions of followers on social media, should not have her voiced raised against those who, well, are not transphobes. I do think music can be a very powerful tool when it comes to bringing about progress and change. It is evident that British feminism needs to be reshaped and defined. The rights of trans women as important as any other woman. During this Pride Month, that message should be loud and proud. I am excited to see if we get a new Kate Nash album and, if so, whether there will be other songs like GERM. I think she will use an album to spotlight marginalised community, discuss big issues affecting women and also show further support for the trans community.

IN THIS PHOTO: CMAT on stage at Bergenfest 2024 in Norway/PHOTO CREDIT: Per Ole Hagen/Redferns

I would like to stress that I subscribe to The Guardian, so it there is less a feeling of guilt when it comes to taking so much from them. Not only highlighting their good work but, in the process, spotlighting conversations and artists that deserve to be seen and heard. From one incredible redhead in music to another. The fabulous CMAT, like Kate Nash, is very much a feminist. Someone who care deeply about those sidelined, attacked and overlooked. She also brings humour into her music and has this incredible personality that means you cannot help fall for her. I have been a CMAT fan for a while. She is someone who has spoken about subjects like body-shaming in the past. She has received negative comments and abuse regarding her body in the past. There are amazing women like Kate Nash raising subjects that are not common in the modern landscape. Using their platform in an important way. The same goes for CMAT. It calls into question everyone else in the music industry who, as CMAT says in this interview need a kick up the arse (or “hole” as she says!). Speaking with Alexis Petridis, CMAT discussed trans rights, body shaming and capitalism. Whilst some might see that as forthright or opinionated, at a time when music should be political and shout about subjects that takes us away from the commercial and personal, she is someone who should be hugely respected and saluted. CMAT’s album, EURO-COUNTRY, is out on 29th August:

“She is incredibly forthright on a huge range of topics. She stands up for trans rights – “If you think of social media as like a video game, you rack up the spoils really high when you decide to go for a group of people who are already at risk” – and confronts the culture of wellness and self-improvement or, as she calls it, “the rise-and-grind ethic which is making people insane and making them unable to communicate with other people because they’re so obsessed with focusing on themselves”. Sometimes she’s too forthright for her mum, though: a recent appearance on Adam Buxton’s podcast provoked a dressing down. “She told me it made her cringe: ‘That lovely posh Englishman, so well spoken, and you calling yourself a cunt the whole interview. And you’re not a cunt, you’re lovely.’”

Ireland’s recent history suffuses Euro-Country, which features vocals in Irish, songs called Billy Byrne from Ballybrack, the Leader of the Pigeon Convoy and Tree Six Foive and a title track that she describes as “a collage, a mood board” about the financial crisis that engulfed the country in 2008. “I was about 12 and it all happened around me, it didn’t really happen to my family directly,” she says. “My dad had a job in computers, we didn’t really have any money, we weren’t affluent, but we were fine. Everybody else on the estate we lived in worked in construction, or in shops, and they all lost their jobs. Everybody became unemployed. Then, in the village I grew up in, there was a year or 18 months where loads of the people I went to school with, their dads started killing themselves because they’d lost everything in the crash.”

Initially, Thompson thought she must have misremembered this. “But I dug deep, did research and the amount of male suicides that happened in Ireland at that time was astronomical. When I hit secondary school, teenage boys started killing themselves as well; that was very common where I grew up. I think it was a kind of chain reaction as a result of the economic downturn. I’m not blaming anyone – no one ever purposely tries to cause that much harm. It’s trying to get all this stuff together and think: ‘Why did all this happen and how do we stop it from happening again?’ I don’t have the answer but I think we all need to keep looking at it and really fucking try to hound ourselves into a position where we’re not just thinking about monetary gain all the time.”

Euro-Country is a noticeably more political album than its predecessors, which tended to focus on relationships and the chaos of her personal life. Thompson says she couldn’t really see anyone else in her position doing it, so decided to take it on. “No one is dealing with capitalism as a force for bad, this really fucking horrible putrefied version of capitalism which has absolutely had a line of coke up its fucking hole since Covid, where the richest people in the world are so much richer than they used to be five years ago,” she says. “Pop stars won’t come out and say that because they’ll be absolutely shot for it, because they’ve all done brand deals: ‘Oh, I love my Dove moisturiser.’”

Thompson was one of a number of artists to pull out of Latitude and other festivals over sponsor Barclays providing financial services to defence companies supplying Israel. She says that as soon as she removed herself from the lineup, an upcoming deal with a designer perfume brand disappeared. “They ghosted me. I lost a lot of money. But who fucking cares? I’m aware of the fact that my career is going to struggle as a result of this stuff, but I also think everyone else in music needs a kick up the hole. Where’s all the fucking artists? Where’s all the fucking hippies?”

Of course, another reason why musicians might feel abashed about mentioning politics is fear of a social media backlash, something Thompson knows all about. Last year, an Instagram video of her performing at BBC Radio 1’s Big Weekend festival attracted so much abuse – largely directed at her weight – that the BBC was forced to disable comments. She laughed it off at the time, suggesting she should be imprisoned for the crime of “having a big fat ass”, but returns to the subject on her current single, Take a Sexy Picture of Me (it has turned into that rarest of things: a song about body shaming that has provoked a TikTok dance trend, with it-girl Julia Fox and Chicken Shop Date host Amelia Dimoldenberg participating)”.

IN THIS PHOTO: Beyoncé performing at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London during her current tour/PHOTO CREDIT: Parkwood Entertainment/Reuters

I am going to end with a live review of a recent Beyoncé gig in London. She is still in London at the moment. She head to Paris soon. After the release of the acclaimed COWBOY CARTER last year, this music legend is very much at her peak. It is incredible to think how she has been making music for decades but seems to be at her best now. Getting stronger with every album and each tour better than the last! There are some captivating live performers out there, though can anyone really get close to Beyoncé?! There is something about her as a performer and her sets. As Rolling Stone UK write in reaction to a recent performance at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, this is someone who delivers these dazzling and jaw-dropping shows. An artist who creates this sense of wonder and spectacle:

“Rain ain’t gonna stop the party,” she declares early on – before spending the next three hours seeming hellbent on living up to this mantra. Put simply, this is a show that proves why Beyoncé is one of the world’s greatest performers and one who refuses to let her fans feel short-changed for their, admittedly, very expensive tickets. There had been talk of sluggish sales, but everything seems to be alright on the night, with the north London stadium near capacity bar a small section of restricted view seats at the back. 

It’s a spectacle for the ages, with one memorable moment seeing the singer mounting a gold mechanical bull and performing a magnetic dance routine atop it that demands the entire crowd’s attention. At another, she jumps onto an illuminated horseshoe and flies around the crowd to get up close and personal with the Beyhive during a cover of Dolly Parton’s ‘Jolene’.

Stadium gigs were made for overblown productions like these, but it doesn’t hurt Beyoncé is on the form of her life too. The high notes on ‘Daughter’ stunned the cavernous room into silence, while ‘Texas Hold ‘Em’ – the standout track from Cowboy Carter – was delivered with enough force that North London felt for the briefest of moments like it had been transported to her native Houston.

At times it packed a political and personal punch too. ‘America Has A Problem’ saw her decked out in a newspaper print outfit as she dissected both racism and offered a video that highlighted the rabid critics who have previously questioned her country credentials. Well here was a show to firmly shut them up. As for the personal, even the stoniest of hearts couldn’t resist the adorable moment when Beyoncé brought out her seven-year-old daughter Rumi for ‘Protector’.

And it’s the ultimate measure of the show that the singers’s big hits – ‘Crazy In Love’, ‘If I Were A Boy, ‘Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)’ – were reduced to a medley of sorts and you got the sense that no one was leaving here short changed. Talk of poor sales and overblown prices may have dogged the singer’s arrival in London, but on the basis of last night’s showing, this rootin’ tootin’ spectacular might just be the hottest ticket in town”.

I am going to end things now I think. I wanted to end with a nod to someone who is in the U.K. and wowing fans in London. The peerless Beyoncé. Sparking a fashion craze in the process, this COWBOY CARTER tour must be up there with her best. It makes you wonder what the next album and tour will provide. I have been a fan of hers since the Destiny’s Child days of the 1990s. Over twenty-five years later, this artist is still in a league of her own! I wonder if there will be future honour for Beyoncé. Whether a new book, an exhibition, a documentary or special music award or honour, we need to properly respect…

THIS music queen.

FEATURE: Pride Month: Songs from Essential Queer Albums

FEATURE:

 

 

Pride Month

PHOTO CREDIT: cottonbro studio/Pexels

Songs from Essential Queer Albums

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WE are in Pride Month…

PHOTO CREDIT: Ahmed/Pexels

so I am doing some features that celebrate L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ artists, songs and albums. For this feature, I am combining key cuts from essential queer albums. From modern-day examples to some older albums, it is a blend of albums on offer. You might know some of these albums, although there may be others that you are not aware of. I may have time for another Pride feature before the month is out. I am not sure what I will write about, though I think it is important to support and represent L.G..T.Q.I.A.+ music during Pride Month. Here are a selection of tracks from queer albums from throughout the years. I hope that they blend together nicely. Coming together to form…

PHOTO CREDIT: Pavel Danilyuk/Pexels

A phenomenal mixtape.

FEATURE: I’m the Greatest: Ringo Starr at Eighty-Five: A Peerless Percussionist

FEATURE:

 

 

I’m the Greatest

PHOTO CREDIT: Popperfoto

Ringo Starr at Eighty-Five: A Peerless Percussionist

__________

BECAUSE the master…

that is Ringo Starr turns eighty-five on 7th July, I am putting together a few features about him. This one is a celebration of someone who I think is a peerless drummer. We can put to rest old myths and criticism. I think, before getting to that, I feel that he was the best actor on A Hard Day’s Night. The Beatles’ debut film, I think Starr was the most natural actor of the four. I also think people repeat the line that Starr was not a great drummer. That he was not the best drummer even in The Beatles (a line that was never said by one of the band; it was said by Jasper Carrott in 1983). In my mind, as a quarter of the most important band ever, one who changed popular culture and created the greatest back catalogue in music history, they would not have gained the success and legacy if it were not in part due to Ringo Starr’s drumming! Of course, George Harrison and primary songwriters John Lennon and Paul McCartney were as important. However, Starr was the heartbeat and drive of the band. I will end this feature with a few Beatles tracks that demonstrate his phenomenal drumming. Whilst some celebrate percussionists like Keith Moon, John Bonham or Buddy Rich, I don’t think Starr gets mentioned as often. Nor do the likes of Karen Carpenter. I feel Starr is a more rounded and broader drummer than the so-called ‘greatest’. He would not put himself against others. However, there was this long-running assumption that he was overrated or not great. A lot of this old cliché and falsehood might have come from an assumption that a truly great drummer is one who is powerful and does solo. That they are as intense and loud as possible. Ringo Starr is about technique and intelligence. He was backing a band who were not Rock artists or making hugely heavy music. Because of this, he unfairly got seen as someone lacking the chops to join the greats. Even though this 2017 feature from The Guardian comes to his defence (not that it was ever needed!), they do unfairly claim Starr lacked precision. That is flatly untrue! Also, they shoot at Octopus’s Garden. That is a brilliant song. Someone who deserves nothing but unanimous respect and love:

“His beats may not have had the furious technical clarity of Led Zeppelin’s John Bonham, say, or the phenomenal precision of James Brown’s drummer, Clyde Stubblefield. But what he had was perfect for the Beatles, where Bonham would have been too showy and Stubblefield too tight.

Most drummers recognise this. “Define ‘best drummer in the world’,” Dave Grohl said in a tribute video for Starr’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame presentation. “Is it someone that’s technically proficient? Or is it someone that sits in the song with their own feel? Ringo was the king of feel.”

What this means is that many of Ringo’s best performances go unnoticed. These are beats designed to enhance the song rather than show off the drummer’s abilities. Take She Loves You, the song that kicked off Beatlemania. Ringo’s brief introductory tom roll is the shot of adrenaline that gets the heart of the song thumping; it is teen mania in sound, and one of the most important drum rolls in recorded music history.

On Can’t Buy Me Love, Ringo’s drumming is the primal force that drives the song’s hormonal energy, all whipcrack snare and floor-tom bombast, wrapped up in Ringo’s signature sound: a wall-of-sound hi-hat thrash that sounds like five drummers at once. His drumming here is not complicated but – as numerous live versions of the song attest – it is lethally exact with not a note out of place, giving the lie to the notion, repeated by John Lennon in a 1980 Playboy interview, that Ringo was “not technically good” as a drummer.

Another criticism of Ringo is that he wasn’t a creative god like the other Beatles. He didn’t write the songs and he wasn’t a studio genius like producer George Martin, who helped to mould Lennon, McCartney and Harrison’s tunes into something spectacular. Again, this is nonsense. Octopus’s Garden may not put Ringo into the songwriters hall of fame, but his drumming helped to shape countless Beatles classics, bringing personality and life to them.

Consider Tomorrow Never Knows, one of the most influential Beatles songs. How would it sound without Ringo’s beautifully lopsided breakbeat, his unexpected twitching snare pattern emphasising the song’s feel of psychedelic discombobulation? How would Strawberry Fields Forever feel without Ringo’s fantastically weary tom fills, which seems to drag the listener down into Lennon’s nostalgia?

Some people consider Ringo to be a terrible drummer because he doesn’t play solos. But who, apart from other drummers, really enjoys a solo? Ringo knew this and for years resisted all attempts to get him to play them, eventually giving in for the 15-second break on Abbey Road’s The End. It’s not flashy or difficult, but it has an understated funky charm and when it turned up on Beastie Boys’ The Sounds of Science 20 years later, it was hard to resist a smile.

In fact The Sounds of Science, which also borrows Ringo’s strident drum beat from Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band (Reprise), shows just how funky Ringo’s drums could be when recontextualised. One producer who understood this well was Danger Mouse, whose 2004 release The Grey Album married Jay-Z’s The Black Album to the Beatles’ LP The Beatles to wonderful effect. Ringo’s breakbeats are a key tool in making the album fly, whether chopped up for their unique timbre or used straight for their head-down funk”.

Ringo Starr preaches peace and love. This is about positivity. Given how influential The Beatles are and the past few years have seen so many album reissues, documentaries and activity, there is this new wave of appreciation for Ringo Starr. To me, he is the best drummer ever. Many think of The Beatles and focus on Paul McCartney and John Lennon. Sure, their words and musicianship – alongside that of George Harrison – is key. Though I think Starr’s drumming is the real heart of the songs. Bringing to life the greatest songs ever written, I watch clips of The Beatles playing liver and Starr is so exhilarating and intense. Someone who was so gifted and natural. Moments where he was playing extraordinary and complex parts but made it look effortless. On gentler or less complex Beatles songs, he was still doing something interesting and original. So different to other drummers of the 1960s. When the band created an epic and called for something more complicated, he was very much up to the job. Listen to his work on A Day in the Life or Tomorrow Never Knows. The brilliance of Rain. There needs to be more conversations around how Ringo Starr is the greatest. Sure, I can concede that other people might have their own favourite drummers. It seems insane that there was ever a time in history where Starr was seen as this joke almost. To me, The Beatles could have been a far lesser band if they had another drummer (they did at some points but not for most of their time together). It took a monumental talent to be able to provide the beats on a catalogue as broad and eclectic. I know Paul McCartney occasionally drummed, though it was Starr who helped push the band’s sound and experimentation. He turns eighty-five on 7th July and is still performing live and recording music. To end this final birthday feature, I have selected fifteen tracks from The Beatles where Ringo Starr’s drumming is very much essential in the mix. In terms of thinking about the all-time best drummers, in my opinions, there has been…

NOBODY as good as him!

FEATURE: The Digital Mixtape: Beck at Fifty-Five

FEATURE:

 

 

The Digital Mixtape

PHOTO CREDIT: Drew Escrivá

Beck at Fifty-Five

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ONE of the most…

PHOTO CREDIT: Richard Burbridge for The New Yorker

original and innovative musicians of his day turns fifty-five on 8th July. Beck is someone who I have admired since I was a teenager. His albums among my favourites. Especially true in the case of the 2005 masterpiece, Guero. I forgot to celebrate its twentieth anniversary back in February. It is one of my favourite albums so I am a bit sad I missed the anniversary! I am ending this feature with a mixtape of songs from Beck. To mark his fifty-fifth birthday. Before then, AllMusic provides a detailed biography about this wonderful and hugely consistent artist:

“Californian alternative icon and pop polymath Beck experiments with genres and has an approach to style so fluid that the only thing one could expect from a new record is that it would be different from the last. The ubiquity of his 1994 lo-fi rap/folk slacker anthem "Loser" pointed toward one-hit-wonder status, but those predictions were punctured by the boundary-pushing work that quickly followed. Far from the short-lived novelty act his early success might have suggested, Beck continued down his unique and ever-winding path for decades, taking on new forms with every release. He had a creative breakthrough with 1996's Odelay, a co-production with the Dust Brothers that touched upon his obsessions with crate-dug samples and synthesizing elements of funk, soul, hip-hop, blues, lounge music, and all other manner of found sounds. Odelay served as a cultural keystone for the fading '90s while telegraphing all of Beck's future moves, from the soul prankster of Midnite Vultures to the melancholy troubadour of Sea Change. He moved between the extremes of satire and sincerity throughout the 21st century, sometimes fusing the two emotions, as on 2008's Modern Guilt. Achievements like his 2015 album Morning Phase taking home the Grammy for Album of the Year underscored Beck's presence in the music industry, and he continued pushing creative boundaries in collaborations with everyone from Jenny Lewis to Paul McCartney, and on solo albums like 2019's Pharrell Williams-assisted Hyperspace.

Fittingly, Beck came from a distinctly artistic background, the son of string arranger/conductor David Campbell and Bibbe Hansen, the latter a regular at Andy Warhol's Factory whose father was a pivotal contributor to the Fluxus art movement. Adopting the Hansen surname after his father left, Beck grew up in Los Angeles, dropping out of school in the tenth grade to play as a street busker and attend poetry slams. Bashing out blues and folk, Beck wound up assembling a home tape called The Banjo Story before departing for New York, where he operated on the margins of the anti-folk scene without ever breaking into it.

He returned to Los Angeles, where he continued to play clubs, eventually gaining the attention of Bong Load Records, an independent operated by Tom Rothrock and Rob Schnapf. All parties agreed to pair Beck's fledgling folk with hip-hop beats assembled by producer Karl Stephenson, whose kitchen provided the studio for their first efforts, including "Loser." These tapes remained unreleased as Beck recorded an album's worth of material with Calvin Johnson for the latter's K label, but the first release Beck had was the Flipside single "MTV Makes Me Want to Smoke Crack" and Sonic Enemy's cassette release of Golden Feelings. However, what really broke the doors open was Bong Load's 12" single of "Loser," which garnered considerable play in L.A., coinciding with increased underground attention. Soon, Beck signed with Geffen, striking a deal that allowed him to release on independent labels. One of these immediately followed -- Fingerpaint released the 10" record A Western Harvest Field by Moonlight in January 1994 -- before the Geffen debut Mellow Gold appeared in March of that year.Naturally, "Loser" was the lead single from Mellow Gold and it turned into an instant smash, boasting a hook that worked as an ironic underground rallying cry and a novelty crossover. Despite many positive reviews, Beck worked overtime to dispel the notion he was a novelty, quickly releasing two indie albums in succession: the noise-skronk Stereopathetic Soul Manure and One Foot in the Grave. Stereopathetic made few waves, but the stripped-back, folky One Foot in the Grave acted as a counterbalance to the gonzo Mellow Gold, illustrating the depths of his talents.

After a furious 1994, Beck laid relatively low in 1995, touring with the fifth Lollapalooza in between working on a new album with the production team the Dust Brothers, who had collaborated with the Beastie Boys on their landmark 1989 Paul's Boutique. The resulting album, Odelay, appeared in June 1996, preceded by the lanky, funky single "Where It's At," which would go on to win the Grammy for Best Male Rock Vocal. Odelay piled up acclaim and hits -- "Devil's Haircut," "Jack-Ass," and "The New Pollution" all charted around the world -- and the record went double platinum, becoming a touchstone of '90s alternative rock. An outtake from the album, "Deadweight," appeared on the soundtrack to Danny Boyle's 1997 film A Life Less Ordinary, and then Beck set to work on his next album with producer Nigel Godrich, who had just worked with Radiohead on OK Computer. Their collaboration, originally slated for an indie release but moved to Geffen, thereby setting a precedent that no future Beck LP would be released on an indie (something worked out in the courts the following year), traded futuristic rock -- either the joyous collage of Odelay or the dystopia of OK Computer -- for a quiet, pulsating, psychedelic folk-rock album called Mutations. Riding high on Odelay, the record charted well without turning out any major hits, although it did garner a Grammy for Best Alternative Music Performance.

Beck made another abrupt change in musical direction in 1999 with Midnite Vultures, a garish party record that was part satire and part salute to soul and funk, particularly Prince. Reviews were divided between ecstatic and skeptical, but the album had some real hits with "Sexx Laws" and "Deborah," and in some ways it was the apex of Beck's hipster prankster phase, a persona he shed with his next album, 2002's Sea Change. Recorded in the wake of a romantic breakup, Sea Change was another Godrich production, but it was gentle and mournful, lacking some of the gritty underpinnings of Mutations but retaining the psychedelia -- and that psychedelic edge was brought out in the supporting tour when Beck hired the Flaming Lips as his supporting band. The tour was well-received, but there were some tensions, as reported by Lips leader Wayne Coyne later.

After an extended break -- the longest he had taken between albums to date -- Beck returned in 2005 with Guero, an album that reunited him with the Dust Brothers and consciously evoked Odelay. Guero launched a few hits, including "E-Pro" and "Hell Yes," and was followed within months by Guerolito, a remixed version of the entire album. Beck continued in this direction the following year with The Information, but its Nigel Godrich production kept the album streamlined and emphasized the darker undercurrents in the songs. Some of that darkness could be heard on his eighth LP, Modern Guilt, a 2008 release produced by Danger Mouse, marking the first time in 14 years that Beck worked with a producer who wasn't the Dust Brothers or Godrich. Modern Guilt performed respectably -- it debuted at eight on the U.S. Billboard charts and received strong reviews -- but he spent the next several years relatively quiet.

In 2009, Beck began actively pursuing a career as a producer, collaborating with Charlotte Gainsbourg on her acclaimed IRM album; two years later, he produced Thurston Moore's Demolished Thoughts and Mirror Traffic by Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks. He also dipped his toe back into solo recording on the soundtrack to the 2010 Edgar Wright film Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. Still, between 2009 and 2010, much of his studio energy was devoted to his Record Club, where he and a loose collective of friends covered classic albums in their entirety; the albums covered included The Velvet Underground & Nico, The Songs of Leonard Cohen, and INXS' Kick.

Beck returned to original material in 2012 via Song Reader, a collection of sheet music featuring 20 new, unrecorded songs; although he didn't record versions of these songs, he did appear at Song Reader concerts featuring other musicians (and a collection of those live performances was eventually released under his name). In 2014, Beck released Morning Phase, his first new album in nearly six years and first record for Capitol. Described by the singer/songwriter as a "companion piece" to 2002's Sea Change, it appeared in February 2014, preceded by the singles "Blue Moon" and "Waking Light." Critical reception was largely positive, and the set won three Grammy Awards, including Best Rock Album and Album of the Year. Beck returned the following year with the lively single "Dreams," and the like-minded "Wow" arrived in 2016. During that year, he continued working with producer Greg Kurstin and also made guest appearances on work by Fun.'s Nate Ruess, the Chemical Brothers, M83, and Flume. Beck finally released Colors, his collaboration with Kurstin, in October 2017. It peaked at number three on the Billboard 200, and topped the modern rock and alternative albums charts. Colors won the 2019 Grammy for Best Alternative Music Album, along with the trophy for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical.

In 2019, Beck contributed the song "Tarantula" to the soundtrack album Music Inspired by the Film Roma, which accompanied director Alfonso Cuarón's acclaimed work. That November, Beck released Hyperspace, an album largely produced by Pharrell Williams. Initially, Williams invited Beck to contribute to a N.E.R.D album, but the collaboration proved fruitful, resulting in the core of the record that became Hyperspace. In 2019, he also collaborated with Jenny Lewis and tourmates Cage the Elephant. The next few years brought more collaborations, as Beck worked with Gorillaz on their 2020 song "The Valley of the Pagans," singer/songwriter Natalie Bergman on a 2021 cover of Lion's deep cut "You've Got a Woman," and Paul McCartney on "Find My Way," a hit single from the 2021 album McCartney III: Imagined. Beck released a cover of Neil Young's "Old Man" in 2022, and an original titled "Thinking About You" in 2023”.

As Beck turns fifty-five on 8th July, I am marking that with a career-spanning playlist featuring his best-known songs and some awesome cuts. Collaborations and stuff outside of his studio albums too. Even if you are not a fan, I am sure that you will find something to enjoy. It proves that he is one of the most interesting artists ever. Let’s hope he makes music for years to come. It leaves me to wish the wonderful Beck…

A very happy birthday.

FEATURE: One for the Record Collection! Essential July Releases

FEATURE:

 

 

One for the Record Collection!

IN THIS PHOTO: Billie Marten

Essential July Releases

__________

NEXT month…

IN THIS PHOTO: Wet Leg’s Rhian Teasdale (left) and Hester Chambers/PHOTO CREDIT: Alice Backham for The Guardian

is a busy and exciting one for new albums. I am going to highlight the very best of the month that you should pre-order. As there is a lot to get through, I am going to jump straight in! The first album is simply called . (Period). However you want to write it, it is both mysterious and a bold statement. Out on 4th July, it is the only album from this week that I am going to highlight. I am going to jump to 11th July and a few albums out then. You can pre-order Kesha’s . (Period) here. A hugely established artist, there is a lot of anticipation around her upcoming album:

“Kesha’s new album, . (Yes, it's just a period.) is an unapologetic declaration of artistic freedom and fearless authenticity. With over 3 billion streams, 10 Top 10 hits, four #1 pop radio singles, and two chart-topping albums, this two-time Grammy nominee has consistently redefined the boundaries of pop music.

Now, independently releasing under her own label, Kesha Records, she’s liberated from constraints, taking complete ownership of her voice and vision. On . Kesha transcends pop norms to create a raw, daring, and intensely personal sonic journey with the entire project conceived, co-produced and written by Kesha. It’s more than an album—it's a defiant act of self-expression, refusing to adhere to expectations or play it safe. Unfiltered, audacious, and vibrant, this record finds Kesha at her most powerful, turning her experiences into unapologetic art. Breaking free and fully in control, . isn’t just music— it's Kesha unfiltered, fearless, with a spiked heel at the neck of pop culture”.

The first amazing album from 11th July that you need to pre-order is Gina Birch’s Trouble. You can pre-order it here. I know a little bit about Gina Birch, but I have become more involved in her latest work. It is a fascinating album that I would recommend to everyone. An artist that needs to be on your radar. July is really eclectic in terms of new albums! One you should add to your shelf:

“Trouble is a patchwork of sorts: its 11 songs are not only eclectic in genre, but play like stitched-together vignettes, fly-on-the-wall scenes in which Gina describes meeting a stranger on a train, or a flare up with her teenage daughter, or the nostalgia of driving past a certain part of your neighborhood that’s been unchanged for as long as you can remember. It’s the politics of the everyday, a work that is feminist not because of slogans or placards, but because it’s a candid portrait of a female artist simply existing. “It's a bit out there, a bit off the tracks, and I always like to go there,” says Gina about the album’s diaristic undertones. “I unofficially subtitled the album ‘Trouble I've Caused and Trouble I'm In’, so the songs are based around that feeling—that dangerous place to be.”

As such, the connecting factor that links all the songs on Trouble together isn’t one single ideology or theme or topic, but Gina herself. It’s her vision, informed by her status as a rock icon, her voice as a forward-thinking artist, and her perspective as someone who just thinks life should be a bit of a laugh sometimes. For a musician who has had such an impact on her genre, it’s downright life-affirming to realize that she still has so much to share with her audience—and frankly, Trouble is just cracking the surface. “These songs came to me like a radio tuning, the airwaves going along, and I just plucked them out of the air. Something just clicks in the atmosphere, and I just take it. I'm not writing an opus about one thing. I'm writing an opus about being me”.

Three more albums that I want to include from 11th July that are well worth exploring and pre-ordering. The next is Gwenno’s Utopia. A remarkable artist who I have loved foe a very long time now, I am interested to see what Utopia offers. Go and pre-order the album now. What has been released from the album so far is sensational. Some of Gwenno’s absolute best work. Singing in English for her new album, it takes her once more in a new direction. I wonder if she will return to Cornish or Welsh for her next album:

“Having released three albums in Welsh and Cornish, Utopia is Gwenno Saunders’ first album recorded predominantly in English, and presents a very different side to her life and songwriting.

Forty-three years into her life, Saunders has been many people. The disaffected Cardiff schoolgirl; the teenage Las Vegas dancer; the singer in indie pop group The Pipettes. There was a turn in a Bollywood film, a nightclub tour, a stint cleaning floors in an East London pub. Long before she would become an acclaimed solo songwriter in both Welsh and Cornish, a winner of the Welsh Music Prize, a nominee for the Mercury, a Bard of the Cornish Gorsedh, there were the days of Nevada, London, Brighton; of Irish dancing, techno clubs, messiness and chaos.

Utopia, Saunders’ fourth solo album, is an extraordinary exploration of all of these selves. If the singer regards her first three solo records — 2014’s Y Dydd Olaf, 2018’s Le Kov and 2022’s Tresor as “childhood records”, rooted in her upbringing, her parents, her formative identity, then Utopia captures a time of self-determination and experimentation. These are songs of discovery, of the years between being someone’s daughter and becoming someone’s wife and someone’s mother. They range from floor-fillers to piano ballads, via contributions from Cate Le Bon and H. Hawkline, and encompass William Blake, a favourite Edrica Huws poem, and the Number 73 bus. It is her finest work to date”.

Before getting to one of the most anticipated albums of the year, I want to recommend and spotlight Burna Boy’s No Sign of Weakness. Even though I do not really like the album cover at all – there have been some good ones this year, but artists still phoning it in too much in my view! -, the music on No Sign of Weakness will be supreme. There is not a lot of information on it, so I can only include what Rough Trade have written. I would still advise people to pre-order the album, as it is from an artist who is a true legend. Someone who is an innovator and pioneer:

“Grammy Award-winning global icon Burna Boy ushers in his highly anticipated eighth studio album No Sign of Weakness including the singles TaTaTa (feat. Travis Scott), Sweet Love, Update and Bundle By Bundle.

Global superstar Burna Boy stands among the most significant and influential African artists of all time. Known for his genre-blending sound, Burna has redefined Afrofusion through his mix of Afrobeats, pop, reggae, hip-hop, and R&B”.

Although primarily known as a two-piece, Isle of Wight’s Wet Leg perform as a band on the road. Led by Rhian Teasdale and completed by Hester Chambers, this incredible duo have played huge live dates and were nominated for a Mercury Prize for their eponymous debut album in 2022. There is a great recent interview that gives a bit more insight into the album. That album is moisturizer. You can pre-order it here. Even if you are not a Wet Leg fan, this is going to be among 2025’s biggest and best albums. One that you absolutely will need! Go and order your copy:

“moisturizer is the bold, second album from Wet Leg, the Isle of Wight five-piece founded by Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers. Joined by Ellis Durand, Henry Holmes, and Joshua Mobaraki, Wet Leg has spent the past few years on the road, evolving into a feral, electrifying live force. This new record captures that energy, delivering a sound that’s tighter, bolder, and more self-assured, yet still brimming with the same quick wit and raw, unrefined energy.

Isolated in a remote house in the countryside, moisturizer was written in a creative frenzy, diving into themes of obsession and all-consuming love. While their 2022 debut earned Grammy wins and chart-topping success, moisturizer brings the bite: brash guitars, heavy beats, and a fearless devotion to feeling everything—all at once”.

There are four albums due on 18th July that I am going to recommend. The first is Laura Jane Grace’s Adventure Club. I liked her 2020 debut album, Stay Alive. I am going to move to some other albums soon, but it is important we discover more about Laura Jane Grace’s forthcoming release. One that you should pre-order:

“Following the release of her debut album, Stay Alive (2020) and its follow-up Hole In My Head (2024), Emmy-nominated artist, author, musician, activist and Against Me! founder/songwriter, Laura Jane Grace, returns with her fourth full-length album, Laura Jane Grace in the Trauma Tropes - Adventure Club - a powerful new statement featuring some of her most intense and thought-provoking work to date. Adventure Club was recorded in Athens, Greece and made possible by a grant through the Onassis Air Program, "an artistic research, residency, and fellowship program that fosters artistic process and experimentation by bringing together creative practitioners from a variety of geographies and practices", which Grace was awarded a fellowship through.

The album features notable performances from outside collaborators known as the Trauma Tropes, including Grace’s wife, Paris Campbell (vocals), as well Athens based musicians Jacopo Fokas (bass) and Orestis Lagadinos (drums). On standout, “Your God (God’s Dick),” Grace and Campbell belt out some of Grace’s most anthemic lyrics ever penned, with an a capella intro channeling the stadium power pop of Queen. On “Wearing Black,” Grace critiques the corporatization of and police presence at Pride events, with her signature punk ethos and raw, unabashed outlook on full display”.

Make sure that you get Jade Bird’s Who Wants to Talk About Love. I could not find any new interviews with Bird when writing this (7th June), so there might be something that has come about by the time you read this. I would advise anyone to pre-order the album, as Jade Bird is one of our very best songwriters. Someone I have been following for years now and am a fan of. I want to bring in an article from The Line of Best Fit from April, that revealed the news of this wonderful upcoming album. I am looking forward to seeing how critics take to Who Wants to Talk About Love:

"Dreams" as Jade Bird explains is a “very dark song. I saw a billboard driving to the studio after a bit of a nasty breakdown. I'd gone to sleep at five am the night before and read 'this is what dreams are made of'. Combined with the LA sun I felt a deep irony. It's about feeling too broken to be with the person you love. Pushing them away because of generational habits and (I don't like the word) trauma.”

“I wrote this album while trying to make sense of the broken relationships in my family- my parents, both sets of grandparents - and the way they echoed into my own life when my engagement ended. It’s as much a question as an answer, wondering if I could break the cycle while finding my own path to forgiveness- not just from my dad, but for myself,” Bird explains.

"Dreams" follows "Who Wants", which marked her first new music since the Burn The Hard Drive EP, a collaboration with Mura Masa, was released last year. Who Wants to Talk About Love sees Bird evolving after the release of her 2019 eponymous debut album, and 2021's Different Kinds of Light”.

Another terrific album due on 18th July is FLETCHER’s Would You Still Love Me If You Really Knew Me? With a wonderful album cover and available on Lioncello vinyl, this is another artist that I have been following for a very long time now. You can go and pre-order the album now. I want to source from a recent Rolling Stone interview that is really interesting. If you do not know much about FLETCHER, then she is someone that you need to check out. One of the finest artists out there in my view:

“Fletcher has a few revelations to make. In fact, the singer born Cari Elise Fletcher has 11 of them, manifested as tracks on her third studio album, Would You Still Love Me If You Really Knew Me?, out July 18. All 11 songs are secrets spilled in one form or another; some of them might shock even the most fervent of Fletcher fans. Still, they are stories she had to tell.

On the album’s intro, “Party,” Fletcher sings about how she’s not the chaotic, drama-fueled pop star who taunted her ex’s new girlfriend on the viral 2022 hit “Becky’s So Hot.” “I’d love to let you love me/Cause I’m that kind of whore/Who needed the attention/I don’t need anymore/It’s not that kind of party,” she sings.

So what kind of party is it? “Maybe the kind of party where I have a chill, more intimate heart-to-heart with close friends,” Fletcher tells Rolling Stone in a new interview. “And revealing some really vulnerable shit.” In a note to fans announcing her new project, the singer calls Would You Still Love Me If You Really Knew Me? “both an open wound and an act of liberation.”

On the single “Boy,” released today, she shares something even more personal: “I kissed a boy,” she sings. “And I know it’s not what you wanted to hear/And it wasn’t on your bingo card this year/Well it wasn’t on mine/I fell in love.”

Fletcher has long emphasized her sexual fluidity, and she has many queer fans; the relationships that she’s sung about have, until now, exclusively been with women. “There will be people that feel disappointed and feel confused and have questions,” Fletcher tells RS. “Girl, I had questions and I was confused too. It shocked me just as much as anybody else.”

Of course, who a person chooses to date and how that person identifies across the gender spectrum doesn’t negate anyone’s queerness. “I am so proud to be queer,” Fletcher continues. “That is not something that has ever wavered or changed. Being queer for me is this lens that I get to view life through.” She knows not everyone will understand what she’s sharing, but she’s seemingly found peace with that in the name of being unabashedly herself.

Fletcher tells Rolling Stone that the flood of emotions that informed her new album happened around late 2024 and early 2025, after her last tour. When asked whether she and the muse behind “Boy” are still together, she doesn’t answer directly, but makes it known that she’s in a great place. “I am getting to experience love again,” she says. “That is the most magical feeling in the entire world. I met a boy who is somehow way more connected to his feelings and his emotions and his heart than even I am.”

Would You Still Love Me If You Really Knew Me? is a candid retrospective of the singer’s twenties, navigating love in all its forms, and thinking about fame. On “Hi, Everyone Leave Please,” Fletcher questions why she’s not getting more radio play despite selling out Radio City Music Hall (“Kinda bruises my ego”). She says it’s her favorite song on the new project.

During our conversation, Fletcher takes a few emotional pauses while chatting about identity, her support system, the new album, and feeling like Cari was getting lost in her larger Fletcher persona.

PHOTO CREDIT: Carissa Gallo

Have the assumptions people made up until this point about you bothered you?

I think people have experienced me as what I’ve shared with them, you know? All of my romantic relationships over the last 10 years have been with women. And it’s what I’ve written my music about. Through this larger-than-life character that Fletcher became, I feel like there wasn’t a lot of room for the parts of me that weren’t wild and crazy and aching. There were other parts of me that, as I’ve gone through this healing journey, I’ve felt haven’t been fully brought to life. I’m a queer woman. I’ve always been queer. I will always be queer. My identity is not shifting and it’s not changing. My community is not changing. But I’ve had these new experiences that I wanted to let people in on and give them a chance to know me now.

How gradually did your life change? When we talked early last year, you had already become more measured with certain things. A water between each margarita, that type of thing.

I think it’s been gradual. I had so many different eras throughout my career. In between all of them, there was love, but there was also my toxic “Becky’s So Hot” era. Then there was [In Search of the Antidote] and going on this deeper health journey and learning so much about myself. I feel like it’s been gradual, but…. My last tour was just so hard for me. It was really painful for me. I thought that people didn’t know the most current version of me. I thought that Cari was getting lost in this larger persona.

Is there any part of you that is scared of how people are going to react to a song like “Boy”?

Oh my gosh, yeah. I’m terrified. It’s so scary to share your truth, you know. My career launched with a song called “Wasted Youth” in my early twenties about falling in love with a girl. Here I am, 10 years later at the start of my thirties, with a song about falling in love with a boy. Through this entire time, all I’ve expressed…. My deepest desire for people was for them to boldly and unapologetically be themselves. And I have to walk that walk. If that’s what I’ve been preaching to my fans who I love so much this whole time, then I have to give myself that same grace. Otherwise, what the fuck is the point?

I understand that my love life is not the most important thing in global news in the world, especially within the queer community. Trans people’s existence right now is being threatened, and their rights are being threatened at every angle. There’s a lot more important things to put attention and energy and love to. But at the same time, even through the fear that I have, the commitment to being myself no matter what is where my heart will always lay. It’s my north star that I have to just run towards.

What kind of support system are you leaning on these days?

I have my family and my friends who love me so much, and I have people who love on me through every single season. I know there will be people that feel however they’re going to feel. That’s OK. I’m OK with that. I could have buried this song somewhere in the soundtrack in the larger context of this album. I chose to lead with it first. That’s because I knew that it was something that my fans, and the people who have supported me all these years, would care about. I didn’t want there to be any veil between me and my truth. It’s something that I’m willing to talk about. I have cycled through every emotion through the making of this album. I have cycled through tears, and grief, and guilt, and shame, and fear, and excitement and joy. It is an embodiment of the human experience.

Are there other revelations on this album that you hope fans pay attention to?

My biggest hope is for everybody to be free to be themselves and to love themselves and to express themselves. It’s scary to share new discoveries about yourself. This album, and “Boy,” is really a permission slip for me to be myself. And for me to love and express myself. I just want it to be a permission slip, you know. I’m stepping into this bravery even if I’m scared, in hopes that other people are able to do that in their own lives. Whatever evolution in your life, whatever doesn’t fill your cup anymore — a relationship, or a job, or some version of you that evolved and wants to come through. Fuck it. Life is way too fucking short. Truly. To do anything else. At the end of the day, even if everybody hated me, I’m still myself.

If you knew how everything would play out — who you would meet last year — would you do anything differently?

No. There’s nothing that I would rewrite. There’s nothing that I would change about any of my journey. I love all of the women that I have been and the woman that I am becoming. I would never rewrite history. It all happened exactly the way that it was meant to. I celebrate it all”.

The final album from 18th July that I want to recommend is perhaps the one release from this year I am looking forward to most. Billie Marten’s Dog Eared is an album you very much need to pre-order. Again, I love the album cover and vinyl options. This album cane be purchased in Pearl colour. It is another remarkable album coming from an artist whose 2016 debut, Writing of Blues and Yellows, is my favourite of the previous decade. Having been busy on tour, there has not been a whole lot of time for new interview. I know there will be a few published before the release of Dog Eared. A title that seems to refer to books and her love of them – where you turn the corners of pages to get this dog-eared effect -, I am really looking forward to an album that will surely rank alongside the best of 2025:

“The prolific British singer-songwriter headed to New York in the summer of 2024 to record with producer Phil Weinrobe (Adrianne Lenker, Buck Meek, Laura Veirs) at his Sugar Mountain studio, alongside an all-star cast of musicians. The likes of Catalan singer-songwriter/guitarist Núuria Graham, bassist Josh Crumbly, virtuosic guitarist Mike Haldeman, multi-instrumentalist Shahzad Ismaily, revered indie-rock musician Sam Evian, former Dirty Projectors vocalist/folk musician Maia Friedman, Brazilian percussionist Mauro Refosco, drummer/multi-instrumentalist Vishal Nayak, and acclaimed folk musician Sam Amidon sprinkle their gold dust over Dog Eared. A band packed with talent and cumulative credits across records by Cassandra Jenkins, Kamasi Washington, Moses Sumney, Robert Glasper, Tune-Yards, Empress Of, Nick Hakim, David Byrne, Atoms for Peace, Feist, Bonnie “Prince” Billy, and now Billie Marten.

Dog Eared is a warm, rich, and textured record that bristles with confidence and self-belief, with Billie already approaching the prolificacy of a ‘lifer’ with so much life left to live. It’s a left turn from her previous recordings, albeit a subtle one, taken with a deftness of touch. A musician embracing change, while staying true to her core self. There’s a certain strength of conviction here that finds its voice more prominently in the extensive pool of her acclaimed American contemporaries, of which she now surely stands shoulder to shoulder with. With Dog Eared, Billie calmly posits herself at the top of the tree of not just British contemporary folk artists, but with British songwriters at large”.

There are three albums due on 25th July that I am keen to recommend. The first is a treat for Madona fans (me included). Veronica Electronica is a really exciting album that was a project that was going to come to light around 1998 – around the release of Ray of Light – but never materialised. Now, this overdue and much anticipated album will come to light. You can order it from Rough Trade here:

“Veronica Electronica, an eight-track companion to Ray of Light, was originally envisioned by Madonna as a remix album in 1998. The project was ultimately sidelined by the original album’s runaway success and the parade of hit singles that dominated the spotlight for more than a year. Ray of Light went on to sell over 16 million copies worldwide and earned Madonna four Grammy® Awards, including Best Pop Album.

More than 25 years later, that long-rumored concept finally comes to life. The collection features newly edited versions of club remixes by Sasha, BT, and Victor Calderone, along with the original demo of “Gone, Gone, Gone”—a previously unreleased recording produced by Madonna and Rick Nowels.

SIDE A

01 – Drowned World/Substitute For Love (BT & Sasha Bucklodge Ashram New Edit)
02 – Ray Of Light  (Sasha Twilo Mix Edit)
03 – Skin (The Collaboration Remix Edit) 
04 – Nothing Really Matters  (Club 69 Speed Mix Meets The Dub) 

SIDE B

05 – Sky Fits Heaven  (Victor Calderone Future New Edit)
06 – Frozen  (Widescreen Mix and Drums)
07 – The Power Of Good-Bye  (Fabien’s Good God Mix Edit)
08 - Gone, Gone, Gone (Original Demo Version - Previously unreleased)”.

The penultimate album I am highlighting is Patty Griffin’s Crown of Roses. This may be an artist you do not know about. You can pre-order Griffin’s new album here. An established and respected Folk artist whose debut album, Living with Ghosts, came out in 1996, there is a lot of curiosity around the Maine-born artist’s new album:

“Patty Griffin’s new album, Crown of Roses, is a deeply personal and introspective work that explores themes of identity, nature, family, and womanhood. Emerging from a creative drought during the pandemic, Griffin—two-time Grammy winner and Americana Music Association Lifetime Achievement honoree—found herself reevaluating the stories she’d long told herself. The result is an eight-track collection that is both sparse and emotionally rich, blending folk, Americana, and gospel blues.

Produced by long-time collaborator Craig Ross, the album features contributions from trusted bandmates David Pulkingham and Michael Longoria, and a haunting vocal cameo from Robert Plant. Griffin's vocal approach changed after cancer treatment, leading her to embrace a softer, more intimate style that reflects the vulnerability and strength woven through the songs.

Much of Crown of Roses is shaped by Griffin’s relationship with her late mother, whose love of music and nature left a lasting imprint. The album cover features her mother’s wedding photo, symbolizing their deepened bond in the last years of her life. Songs like 'Born in a Cage' and 'Way Up to the Sky' echo her mother’s observations of a vanishing natural world and Griffin’s own reckoning with mortality and legacy.

Griffin also confronts her past efforts to understand and please men, ultimately shifting her creative focus toward women’s experiences. She calls this her first album primarily concerned with women’s stories, signalling a liberating perspective change. Reflecting on her artistic journey, Griffin shares, “The older you get, you just get sick of yourself staying stuck.”

With Crown of Roses, Griffin offers a record that’s both grounded and transcendent - one that invites listeners to release old narratives, embrace new truths, and stay truly alive while they’re here”.

Paul Weller’s Find El Dorado is out on 25th July. Another album from Weller is a great thing. One that you can pre-order here, there is not a whole lot written about it. However, this Uncut feature gives us a bit of insight and background. This sounds like a really intriguing and interesting project. I am going to look forward to Find El Dorado and what comes from it. I know that Weller’s fans will snap this album up:

“The album is a deeply personal collection of reinterpretations. “These are songs I’ve carried with me for years,” Weller says. “They’ve taken on new shapes over time. And now felt like the moment to share them.”

The album has been produced and arranged by Steve Craddock and features collaborations with the likes of Hannah Peel, Declan O’Rourke, Robert Plant, Seckou Keita, Amelia Coburn and Noel Gallagher.

You can hear two songs from Find Eldorado below.

“Lawdy Rolla” below – originally by an obscure French studio band called The Guerrillas, who featured African jazz star Manu Dibango in their ranks.

And Brian Protheroe’s 1974 hit “Pinball”, which features saxophone from Jacko Peake.

And here’s the Find El Dorado track list – with the artists who originally recorded the songs in brackets…

Handouts in the Rain (Richie Havens)
Small Town Talk (Bobby Charles)
El Dorado (Eamon Friel)
White Line Fever (The Flying Burrito Brothers)
One Last Cold Kiss (Christy Moore)
When you are a King (White Plains)
Pinball (Brian Protheroe)
Where There’s Smoke, There’s Fire (Willie Griffin)
I Started a Joke (Bee Gees)
Never the Same (Lal and Mike Waterson)
Lawdy Rolla (The Guerrillas)
Nobody’s Fool (The Kinks)
Journey (Duncan Browne)
Daltry Street (Jake Fletcher / PP Arnold)
Clive’s Song (Hamish Imlach)”.

I am going to end it there. I hope that the album above give you plenty of choice regarding terrific albums out next month you will want to pre-order. You can see what other albums are out in July here. From Billie Marten to Paul Weller to Wet Leg, there is plenty of variety. Something for everyone! If you need some options when it comes to albums worth saving up for, I am sure that those mentioned above…

SHOULD provide some inspiration.

FEATURE: Let Me Steal This Moment from You Now: Kate Bush’s Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) at Forty

FEATURE:

 

 

Let Me Steal This Moment from You Now

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush dancing in the Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) video 

Kate Bush’s Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) at Forty

__________

I am going to write…

a fair few features about perhaps Kate Bush’s greatest musical moment. Hounds of Love will celebrate forty years on 16th September. Its lead single, Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God), turns forty on 5th August. Kate Bush would release two singles from Hounds of Love in 1986: Hounds of Love and The Big Sky. Cloudbusting was released later in 1985. However, for many people, the first taste of Kate Bush’s fifth studio album was its opening track. I am going to come to some features about the song soon. In another feature, I will take from Leah Kardos’s Hounds of Love 33 1/3 book. Some forensic detail about the song. As this classic turns forty next month, it is worth shining a light on it. I do wonder if there is going to be any particular celebration. I would like to think Bush will release the track von a special vinyl with its B-side, Under the Ivy. Maybe an E.P. that also features a remix. There does need to be big celebration around this song. There will be new features written. Since its release, it has gained a new life. Originally reaching number three in the U.K. in 1985, it made the top of the chart in 2022 when it featured in Stranger Things. It is a shock that this song did not hit number one back in 1985! Before getting to some words from Kate Bush, where she spoke about the story behind Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God), there is some other information from Kate Bush Encyclopedia that highlights how many times Bush performed the song live (though she mimed each time) and how critics reacted to her song:

“5 August 1985: Wogan
22 August 1985: Top Of The Pops
30 August 1985: Show Vor Acht (Germany)
5 September 1985: Extratour (Germany)
21 September 1985: Demain C’est Dimanche (France)
September/October 1985: Jeu de la Verité (France)
30 November 1985: Peters Pop Show (Germany)

Critical reception

‘Running Up That Hill’ was greeted with almost universal acclaim.

I found myself seduced by the sheer strangeness.

Edwin Pouncey, Sounds, 10 August 1985

The voice gets deeper as the lyrics get shallower.

William Leith, NME, 10 August 1985

She’s precocious, dated, and dull. This record is dismally uninteresting.

Helen Fitzgerald, Melody Maker, 10 August 1985

One of her atmospheric epics, full of tension and controlled emotion.

Max Bell, No. 1, 10 August 1985

Comfortably reaffirms her position as our very finest female singer, songwriter and performer. I don’t expect to hear many better singles this year.

Mark Putterford, Kerrang!, 22 August 1985”.

Perhaps you know the story behind Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God). How it was always meant to be A Deal with God but had to be renamed through fear of alienating and offending radio stations, primarily in the U.S. That fear of blasphemy. Despite the song behind positive and songs like God Only Knows released years earlier, Bush herself always sees her most famous song as A Deal with God rather than Running Up That Hill/Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God):

“‘Running Up That Hill’ was one of the first songs that I wrote for the album. It was very nice for me that it was the first single released, I’d always hoped that would be the way. It’s very much about a relationship between a man and a woman who are deeply in love and they’re so concerned that things could go wrong – they have great insecurity, great fear of the relationship itself. It’s really saying if there’s a possibility of being able to swap places with each other that they’d understand how the other one felt, that when they were saying things that weren’t meant to hurt, that they weren’t meant sincerely, that they were just misunderstood. In some ways, I suppose the basic difference between men and women, where if we could swap places in a relationship, we’d understand each other better, but this, of course, is all theoretical anyway. (Open Interview, 1985)

It seems that the more you get to know a person, the greater the scope there is for misunderstanding. Sometimes you can hurt somebody purely accidentally or be afraid to tell them something because you think they might be hurt when really they’ll understand. So what that song is about is making a deal with God to let two people swap place so they’ll be able to see things from one another’s perspective. (Mike Nicholls, ‘The Girl Who Reached Wuthering Heights’. The London Times, 27 August 1985)

I was trying to say that, really, a man and a woman, can’t understand each other because we are a man and a woman. And if we could actually swap each others roles, if we could actually be in each others place for a while, I think we’d both be very surprised! [Laughs] And I think it would be lead to a greater understanding. And really the only way I could think it could be done was either… you know, I thought a deal with the devil, you know. And I thought, “well, no, why not a deal with God!” You know, because in a way it’s so much more powerful the whole idea of asking God to make a deal with you. You see, for me it is still called “A Deal With God”, that was its title. But we weretoldthat if we kept this title that it wouldn’t be played in any of the religious countries, Italy wouldn’t play it, France wouldn’t play it, and Australia wouldn’t play it! Ireland wouldn’t play it, and that generally we might get it blacked purely because it had “God” in the title. Now, I couldn’t believe this, this seemed completely ridiculous to me and the title was such a part of the song’s entity. I just couldn’t understand it. But none the less, although I was very unhappy about it, I felt unless I compromised that I was going to be cutting my own throat, you know, I’d just spent two, three years making an album and we weren’t gonna get this record played on the radio, if I was stubborn. So I felt I had to be grown up about this, so we changed it to ‘Running Up That Hill’. But it’s always something I’ve regretted doing, I must say. And normally I always regret any compromises that I make. (Richard Skinner, ‘Classic Albums interview: Hounds Of Love. Radio 1 (UK), aired 26 January 1992)”.

I am going to move to a 2022 feature from The Quietus. Although this was a celebrated and much played song when it was released in 1985, Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) has connected with a younger audience. It is an atmospheric, epic and sweeping song that does not sound dated. In terms of the production and technology, it remains this fresh song that will never age. The lyrics so relatable and powerful. If you have never heard the track or do not know much about it, then I hope the features I am bringing in are illuminating and informative:

“A steady rhythm took ‘Running Up That Hill’ straight onto the dancefloor. Lofty proposals met it there. A lover yearns to strike a deal with the divine, to swap genders with her partner. Theirs is, for Bush, a love "that’s almost too big for them, with the potential for misunderstanding too great". Surging with optimism as it envisions the impossible, the track strives for that "inaccessible elsewhere", that misty hilltop where differences dissolve and true understanding exists. The gulf between humans had always been Bush’s forte, (the track’s distant balalaika echoing ‘Babooshka”s marital drama), but since ‘Wuthering Heights’, so had the imperious desire to cross it, at all costs. In its own mystical way, ‘Running Up That Hill’ is driven by that very ’80s imperative: Go For It!

The Fairlight is central; that original riff galloping throughout, the reverbed atmospherics bookending the song and those deep chords that tug the heartstrings, while the beat moves the body. Bush’s vocal is combative and sensual. Backing vocals mirror the mixed emotions, yay-yo-ing ecstatically, unleashing battle cries, akin to ‘Kiai!’, the cry made in Japanese martial arts – before Bush learnt dance, she studied karate (Stevie Nicks compared her to a ninja). The imagery is at turns passionate and menacing, thunder in hearts, bullets buried deep. In the orgasmic middle eight, Bush urges her lover to swap and exchange female/male pleasure, moving from traditional sex roles to something approaching the omnisexual (many of the song’s lines could be describing two men flip-fucking). Things intensify in its wake, lightning strikes with real drums, and Murphy’s guitar, all Gilmour-esque ‘feel’ squalls, as if the almighty has responded.

Unease threatens to tilt the radio-friendly axis, voices writhe and wriggle, souls stuck in the purgatory of their lonely skin, begging to break free and merge. The storm calms and a male/female voice sing its last lines, morphed like Bush and dance partner Michael Hervieu in the accompanying video. Kate Bush was going to the disco but it was on her terms, with this maelstrom of a song, conjured from earth and ether; male/female, human/machine, spirit/flesh and light/dark locked in an endless interplay. As with all the best pop music, the immediacy was a Trojan horse carrying an army of subversive ideas.

On its flip-side, she was alone at the piano, singing ‘Under The Ivy’; one of her best-loved B-sides. Seeking refuge, "away from the party", it’s the wallflower to the A-side’s diva, amongst the green and the grey like a gothic heroine. It comes straight from her East Wickham childhood pastorale, candid yet cloaked in secrecy. Here as on the album, the piano’s "rich and resonant", a Grotrian-Steinweg Grand, captured in a live room with an ambient mic, creating an "Erik Satie, alone after the guests have left the ballroom" vibe (Bush’s favourite pianists included Satie, Chopin and Windham Hill’s George Winston).

In September, Hounds Of Love was released to rave reviews, peaking at the summit of the UK albums chart. Bush had managed to have her finger firmly on pop’s pulse while serenely floating above it with this music, its silvery, multi-dimensional sonics tailor-made for the beckoning CD age. While others – Billy Bragg, The Smiths, The Style Council, directly challenged Thatcher/Murdoch’s Britain, Hounds Of Love circumvented it altogether. It was an unabashedly romantic refuge from the awful, materialist ’80s, worming its way into the homes of yuppies and hippies, beloved by everyone from Mel & Kim to John Lydon. Throughout, ‘RUTH’ is easily matched, from title track to ‘Cloudbusting’ to the side-long suite ‘The Ninth Wave’.

One of the many levels to Bush’s genius was a knack of shedding positive light on the darkest of places, turning traditionally negative material inside out. On ‘The Ninth Wave’, the female archetype of the doomed tragic heroine drowning became a survivor. Bush too, had weathered the stormy seas of the music business and was, at 27, art-pop’s eternal grand dame.

It was with ‘RUTH’ that Bush finally broke America. She’d acquired an ever-growing cult following Stateside; The Dreaming received some of its best reviews there, Lionheart and Never For Ever had finally been released, in January 1984; all groundwork for ‘Running Up That Hill”s entry into the top 30. Hounds Of Love did likewise in the album charts. In November 1985, she took a promotional trip to the States, and found lines around the block at Tower Records, on NYC’s 4th and Broadway. ‘Hello Earth”s choral passages even found their way onto Miami Vice the following year, for the Cold War-themed ‘Bushido’ episode.

Bush had been considered too arty and English for American audiences, and resistant to its radio formats. Yet this was also the home of fellow female outliers; Joni Mitchell, Laura Nyro, Patti Smith, Stevie Nicks, and Laurie Anderson. As far back as 1979, Pat Benatar had covered ‘Wuthering Heights’.

Prince was a fan of Hounds Of Love, and future collaborator; in him she even found another male kindred spirit after Peter Gabriel. Like ‘RUTH’, ‘When Doves Cry’ had made pop simultaneously eerie and erotic. Like Bush, Prince also sought an artistic omniscience that eroded gender boundaries, speeding his voice up on ‘If I Was Your Girlfriend’, where Bush would pitch hers down and frequently sing from a man’s POV.

‘RUTH’ and Hounds Of Love’s influence travelled right to the heart of American rock. With Stevie Nicks, she may have shared a witchy romanticism, but it was the wide-open ears of Fleetwood Mac’s Lindsey Buckingham that took notes. It’s all over 1987’s textured, tech-pop classic, Tango In The Night (bigger in the UK than the US) – ‘Big Love’ virtually sped up ‘RUTH”s man/machine-made rhythms; he even sounds like he’s trying to sing like her on the title track’s demo ("I kept the dream in my pocket" could be a line from ‘Cloudbusting’).

‘Running Up That Hill’ has been covered multiple times, by Blue Pearl, Placebo and, recently, Halsey. As with all Bush songs, the original is unbeatable, because like Bowie, Gabriel and Prince, the performance, composition and production are all so impeccably woven into one ecstatic whole.

In 1986, years before Stranger Things, grown-up kids TV embraced ‘RUTH’ when the BBC’s Running Scared not only used it as a theme tune, but featured a title sequence which re-enacted the video. Now, years later, thanks almost entirely to the fourth season of the popular Netflix show, ‘RUTH’ has climbed higher than ever reaching No.1 in multiple countries, including the UK, and the top 5 in the US. The show oddly mirrors Bush’s universe, especially around Hounds Of Love, her fascination with the terror created by scary films, childhood’s land of lost content and "grotesque beauty" (a favourite painting of hers at the time updated Millais’ Ophelia as a cracked doll floating in a sewer). In the video for 1986’s ‘Experiment IV’, that underrated, final, lone new track for her first ever compilation album The Whole Story, she even became a monster that looked like it could have come straight from the series. If ‘RUTH’ is, in Bush’s words, "a talisman" for the Stranger Things character Max, its creator has long been a life-support for many of us.

This song once more finds itself dropping into a bitterly divided world. But in this world polarised by misunderstanding and division, it’s unsurprising that ‘Running Up That Hill”s searing pursuit of empathy and understanding still cuts so deep, and resonates so powerfully”.

For so many people, Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) is the only Kate Bush song they know. Maybe that is a mixed blessing. On the one hand, people know this track and it has reached younger generations. However, it also seems to be the focal point. People not going beyond that. Let’s hope that people do more exploring regarding Kate Bush’s catalogue. I am going to end with another 2022 feature. This one is from Rolling Stone UK. How Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) was an established Pop hit long before it found this resurgence in 2022:

“Beyond its lyrics, the song’s production has given it a lot more longevity than many other songs of the era. Bush used cutting edge technology to create it – its chugging rhythm was composed on a LinnDrum drum machine, while she used a Fairlight CMI, a synthesiser with sampling capabilities, to craft its waifish strings – but the result sounds a lot grittier than other mid-80s pop music. This sound, combined with the song’s unquantifiable pop euphoria, has made it endure in a way that many other 80s time warps haven’t.

Despite the singular idiosyncrasies of ‘Running Up That Hill’, it has been a cover favourite for other artists, who all take a unique angle on it. Placebo’s 2003 reinterpretation turned the track into a ghoulish downtempo alt-rocker with even more youthful angst than the original. Their take on the track quickly became US TV’s version of choice, largely thanks to Bush’s refusal to sanction her original song’s use in shows like The O.C. and C.S.I. Chromatics also put a suspenseful, cinematic twist on the track in 2007, with Ruth Radelet’s lo-fi vocals emitting a diamond sharpness that turns the song into a nocturnal loner anthem.

More recently, country star Jade Bird performed a piano cover of the song for Radio 1’s Live Lounge, which stripped it back to voice and keys, conjuring loss and longing in her brusker baritone. UK artist Georgia delivered a dance-inflected though otherwise faithful rendition in 2020, while just last week pop singer Kim Petras released a cover for Pride Month, and offered her own thoughts on the classic track: “It means so much and it’s so elusive. You can definitely decide what you want it to mean. For me, it’s about equality. And my timing for this was strangely perfect!”

Kate Bush herself revisited her classic anthem in 2012, recording new vocals for a version that premiered at that year’s London Olympics. While the instrumental backing track remained the same, it was pitched down to accommodate Bush’s new vocal range – her voice was deeper than it was three decades prior. And so, not for the last time, ‘Running Up That Hill’ re-entered the UK top 10 – and it would return to the charts again two years later, when Bush announced her first live performances since 1979. That time, the world didn’t just go crazy for ‘Running Up That Hill’ but the entire Kate Bush catalogue, with eight of her albums shooting up the charts simultaneously, and her website crashing from the demand for tickets. At the residency at the Hammersmith Apollo, ‘Running Up That Hill’ was the only song that had previously been performed live, such is the special place it holds for Bush and her fans.

In an interview with Open in 1985, Kate Bush said that the song was “really saying if there’s a possibility of being able to swap places with each other that they’d understand how the other one felt, that when they were saying things that weren’t meant to hurt, that they weren’t meant sincerely, that they were just misunderstood”. A cry for empathy and for understanding – these are timeless themes. Looking at how Bush views the song herself, no wonder it’s endured for so long”.

On 5th August, Kate Bush’s Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) turns forty. A single that should have reached number one in 1985, it finally got the commercial acclaim it deserved in 2022. I do hope that there are some big things happening to mark this song’s fortieth. One of the greatest songs ever, I am going to write at least one or two more features about this track. I wanted to show my respect and love for…

A work of genius.

FEATURE: Spotlight: Revisited: Beth McCarthy

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight: Revisited

Beth McCarthy

__________

FOR this Pride Month…

not only am I focusing on terrific L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ albums and songs from today and the past. I am also celebrating modern artists from that community. Someone who I spotlighted back in 2022. I am going to come to some interviews with the incredible Beth McCarthy soon. Her E.P., Hot and Stupid, was released in April. It is among the best E.P.s of this year. An artist I have known about for a very long time, it is great to see her grow and amass this loyal and loving fanbase. McCarthy has some big gigs coming up later in the year. She will also play Glastonbury (and told her parents at a recent gig and got this reaction). Before getting to some interviews, I am starting with some biography:

“York-born Beth McCarthy combines pop melody with a rock edge to tell the stories of a twenty-something trying to understand love, friendship, and the feelings that come with it. Beth has one of the loudest voices and influence in the UK LGBTQ+ community and uses her music and art to get it heard. In that respect she takes influence from the likes of Avril Lavigne, Miley Cyrus, P!nk and she shares a lot of the same fan audiences as Fletcher & Reneé Rapp in the UK and across the world.

Beth exploded on the internet in 2021 with hit single "She Gets The Flowers", which gained over 30M streams. Two of her recent singles "What Do You Call It" and "She's Pretty" captured the attention of millions on social media, with over 1M followers and over 80M views, both part of her new EP "IDK How To Talk To Girls"

Her most recent release is her EP "IDK How To Talk To Girls", is a 5-track guitar-driven pop EP about a journey of self discovery in relationships and sexuality. The title song has accumulated over 25M views across social media, has been added to over 40k personal playlists, as well as 30+ editorial playlists and has had BBC Radio 1 support. The entire EP has amassed over 100M views already with the title single being her best performing song to date and has the internet and pop-rock music lovers on edge for what’s next!

After a sold out UK tour in June, Beth is touring the UK and EU in her “IDK How To Talk To Girls” tour in May, in a run that is 4x larger than her last tour and that sold out in a matter of days, headlining at Heaven in London. Followed by a summer of festivals including BBC R1’s Big Weekend in Luton, Mighty Hoopla and iconic EU festivals like Pinkpop in the Netherlands and Prides in major European cities.

2024 proves to be an exciting year for Beth, after her 170,000 DSP followers, her 9k broadcast channel and millions of social media followers are eagerly anticipating the year this ´bi-con´ has ahead”.

I interviewed Beth McCarthy back in 2018. Since then, she has really developed her music and is being talked in the highest terms. An artist being tipped as a Pop icon of the future. I can see that happening. I am starting out with an interview from last year. PinkNews spoke with McCarthy at one of her gigs. She talked about bisexual romance, and why she’ll never date a fan:

“PinkNews: What is the best pick-up line you’ve used on someone?

Beth McCarthy: Are you an appendix? Because I don’t know how you work, or what you do, but I really want to take you out.

PN: Describe your type in three words.

BM: Energy, confident, vibes. Which are all the same word, basically.

PN: On your series, What Do You Call It?, who is the best flirter?

BM: Probably Mikayla.

PN: Would you ever date a fan?

BM: No. Actually, you know what, I always say no because there’s a weird power dynamic or something, but, ideally, you get to a point in life where you’re so well-known that everyone’s your fan, right? So, you don’t really have a choice. Maybe, eventually, if I get that famous. A girl can dream.

PN: What’s the wildest thing that’s happened on your tour so far?

BM: A lot of people want me to draw a tattoo, that’s really crazy. There was a girl who wanted me to draw a form of lesbian symbol, one wanted me to draw a frog, tattoos everywhere.

PN: In the sapphic world, friendliness and flirting can be conflated. How do you let the sapphics know you’re flirting with them?

BM: This is my journey of learning. I think it’s all about the conviction of the way you speak. But I don’t know, don’t ask me!

PN: Have you found the best way to talk to girls?

BM: I mean, [being a sapphic legend] has definitely helped. I just have to scream at people and now it kind of works. They’ll just talk to me now. Which is great because I still don’t know”.

Interviewed around the release of IDK How to Talk to Girls last year, Celeb Mix spent some time with Beth McCarthy. She discussed new music, touring, and the importance of nurturing aspiring artists. One of my favourite artists I have been following over the past few years or so, I can see very big things from Beth McCarthy:

“Hey Beth! HIUGE congrats on the recent release of ‘IDK How To Talk To Girls’ – how are you feeling now the project is out there for people to listen to and enjoy?

Honestly it feels great to have this project out in the world! I wrote ‘IDK How To Talk To Girls’ (the song) almost 3 years ago and built the rest of the EP around it so finally having it all finished and out in its full form so people can listen to the entire ‘journey’ from start to finish is amazing.

How have your audience responded to these songs?

I feel like I’ve really found my ‘people’ in releasing this EP. I wrote these tracks to be completely unapologetic in who I am and to represent feelings and experiences that I never had in music while I was figuring it all out, so now having the opportunity to be that for my audience is honestly a dream come true. There’s a real sense of community in the people who are listening to my music and I feel super proud to be a part of that.

Musically who, or what, inspired you most during the creation of this project?

My inspiration comes from a lot of different spaces and this EP definitely doesn’t have a direct influence – more so little bits and pieces from everywhere! ‘What Do You Call It?’ definitely has a lot of 90’s/early 2000’s nostalgia pumped into it with Avril Lavigne and Michelle Branch in mind! Then ‘She’s Pretty’ and ‘IDK How To Talk To Girls’ we took a lot of influence from P!nk and Carly Rae Jepson. Basically whatever energy the song felt like it needed directed where we found inspiration which is a bit of a round about way of doing it but worked well for this project!

How do you think your sound has evolved since your early releases?

Honestly my sound has been all over the place since I started but weirdly it seems to have come back round to be closer to the music I wanted to make as a teenager when I was in bands! I needed to go through various different ‘fonts’ of my sound to find something that feels really authentic to me. Now, what I write and the way its produced is hugely influenced by my live shows and what I feel the set needs as touring and performing live is where my love for music really comes to life.

What was your proudest moment whilst making this EP?

My proudest moment was probably when the EP released and I had so many people get in touch from all around the world to say how represented they felt by the songs and how much the music had helped them to feel more confident in who they are. It’s moments like these where you realise there are actually people behind the numbers you see on Spotify and social media and the songs that meant so much for me to write also mean something to other people.

How was touring with Caity Baser, and what can fans expect from your own headline tour?

I had such a BLAST touring with Caity! She is a superstar and being able to open for her, and experience her lovely and welcoming fans was the absolute best! It definitely gave me the bug for touring ahead of my headline tour in May and I’m so excited to get out and perform again! I won’t give too much away of what to expect, but the main thing I want is for people to come to the show and have a really bloody good time! The set will be super high energy with loads of fun and I hope people can come and sing their hearts out and be totally themselves with no judgement!

What’s your favourite thing about life on the road?

My favourite thing is by far being on stage and just sharing the love with everyone in that room which is the CHEESIEST thing i’ve ever said but it’s THE TRUTH. I love people singing my songs with me and feeling all the emotions with me, it just feels like magic!

What advice would you give to any aspiring musicians, of any age, looking to break into the music industry?

I would say… don’t stop trying, the only way to guarantee you won’t make it is if you give up. Don’t give in to the ‘compare and despair’ mindset. There will be times you look at people around you and wonder why they’re doing better or getting opportunities that you’re not, but remember it’s not a competition. We’re all on our own journey at our own pace and it’s easy to get so focused on other peoples that we forget to celebrate and nurture our own! Sometimes stuff just doesn’t happen for a bit, and being comfortable with periods of inactivity is something I’ve found really useful to learn how to do. Just don’t stop during those periods, you can always be doing stuff to move your career forward even if it’s just writing new music, making content for social media, connecting with other creatives etc. Be kind to people and try to support other creatives whenever you can. It’s a tough industry made so much easier by nice people!”.

I am going to end with an interview from Ticketmaster from April. An artist who feels she has never been that clean-cut artist, there is honest and edge to Beth McCarthy’s music. Artists like Miley Cyrus, Lady Gaga, Britney Spears and Charli xcx come to mind when I think of McCarthy. Maybe that seems random and not artists she would cite as influences, I can see links between them:

“Regarding your new EP, Hot and Stupid, you wrote that “the era of being unhinged has begun”. Tell me all about it! Did you try to build on the momentum of IDK How to Talk to Girls?

It’s sort of been a transition. The IDK How to Talk to Girls era was quite a funny one to move out of because it was so specifically queer and about my experiences figuring out my sexuality and what that looked like for me. Growing up, I’d not had music that accurately represented my experience. Ιt kind of felt like it was the one end of a spectrum or another. Either I Kissed a Girl by Katy Perry or someone like Hayley Kiyoko, who’s just so confidently a lesbian in every way, and is amazing and unapologetic. And I loved that, and I love both of them but the middle bit, where you’re kind of figuring it out and you don’t really know what to call it, or you do know what to call it but you don’t really know how to do it. That hadn’t been represented in music for me and I felt like it was important that I did that –for me and, you know, there’s so many people in that bracket.

So it’s very deliberately queer and oriented around my experiences with women specifically. For five songs I could leave men out of it – just for five songs! Then obviously with it translating so much and being related to so much, it was hard to know how to break out of that. Because, when you become known for singing about girls and only girls, even though it was only for five songs, that’s what’s expected. And you go, well, how do I tell all the other stories, or how do I continue representing the audience and the community that I find so important and that have been amazing for me and I’ve loved being a part of? How do I continue representing them with my music without for evermore singing songs about girls –particularly being bisexual and not only dating girls! How do I do that and not make it feel like I’m leaving that community behind?

I kind of broke out of that with Good Bi and went unapologetically bisexual. Then I just thought, what was the bit around that? Maybe it’s just owning the messy and the chaos. Because that’s really what came with it. Being imperfect and unhinged and making the bad decisions and all of that. That’s relatable regardless of what gender you date –and everyone’s got friends as well. Everyone has a friend group that they’re a bit daft with sometimes and everybody has crushes on people regardless of gender.

And I was like, that feels like the right movement for me, regardless of the gender, regardless of the people it’s about. It feels a lot more encompassing of an energy and a feeling that was had. So I wanted to focus it a lot more on friendship and just being unapologetically a bit messy. Ιt also lent itself better with my sound. I wanna be a rock star wrapped in a little bit of pop packaging! Let’s be unhinged with the sound, with the concept, with everything. Sο Hot and Stupid was born.

Much like Good Bi, the EP looks like a party record, and it sounds like a party record butyou dig deeper, you won’t be put in a box. That’s a strong message.

I think it’s just being a bit more vulnerable as well. IDK How to Talk to Girls was almost like a story of my literal experiences, step by step. Whereas, with this record, I want it all to feel and sound really good and not be too sad. But if you actually dig deeper it has got meaning, it has got some more feelings-y experiences –and hopefully really relatable. There’s a song called Hurting My Own Feelings, which is the lead track of the EP and… I think everybody’s been through it where you know you’re doing something that is gonna hurt you but you do it anyway!

Whether you’re stalking someone a little bit too deeply or you go and text the person that you know is definitely not gonna text. But you’re like, I know this is a bad decision and I know I’m doing it and it’s gonna hurt my own feelings but I’m gonna do it anyway! Because that’s kinda part of life.

On top of going viral with ‘Flowers’ you’re often referred to as a “bi icon”. Have you had any memorable interactions with fans that made you think “my music’s out there, it touches people”?

To be honest I think Good Bi was the one that felt like it hit the hardest. I guess you always look at numbers as an artist, what’s streaming on Spotify and all that rubbish. I think Good Bi didn’t have the immediate pop of the streaming numbers that ‘She Gets the Flowers’ did, which did have such a wide impact but it was at the back end of lockdown when things were starting to get a little bit freer. Which is probably why it did so well, everyone was feeling really vulnerable so it just went hand in hand with a load of sad people.

Whereas Good Bi has made a deeper impact than that in the sense that, if you get it, and if you are bisexual and you’ve been through any of what is in that track it really resonates. And I think there isn’t a song about being bi. There’s songs that maybe can allude to it but they’re kind of a nod to it, or an artist who’s singing about an experience and is not that gendered. As opposed to Good Bi which is very much my experience of being bisexual and a lot of people’s experience and the difficulties that come with, but also celebrating it.

So when it gradually reached the people that it was supposed to reach, that’s the one that feels like it’s made the most difference. And it’s really nice because I think, being bi, you can feel quite like an outsider because the community itself doesn’t always embrace you. And obviously the not-the-community doesn’t embrace you as well and you have people basically saying you don’t belong in either. So you can be stuck in this grey area and I think that is an overall reflection of the music that I make.

I feel like a person who’s in the grey area in always and everything. I feel not the one or the other. Representing those people and those stories just felt really special. If I’m out and about and somebody knows me or they come to shows and I speak to fans, it’s always Good Bi that’s like, “Thank you for writing that because I don’t think I’m allowed to be queer because I have a boyfriend. But you’ve made me feel like I can be”. That’s the stuff that matters for me cause I felt like that and I felt like I couldn’t completely be me. Being able to represent them in a way that makes them feel safer, to be themselves and not shameful whichever side they fall on, or the middle they fall on!…

It’s true that there hasn’t been much representation. And now Chappell Rowan has pushed LGBTQ+ causes right into the mainstream, at a time when politicians are throwing constant threats. Do you feel these are good or bad times for the community, from your point of view?

It’s a really funny time! I think overall it’s a good time, we’ve got some really strong people representing now. Chappell Roan is one who has really moved the needle. She’s amazing because she’s not only moving the needle for being queer or for being a lesbian but is moving the needle for trans rights, for being outwardly spoken politically, which artists don’t do. Not that that’s wrong, because at the end of the day you choose what you want to put out into the world but I think she particularly is making such a a stance which can only be a positive thing.

But it is a funny time because the minute things get brought into the mainstream people get a bit protective of it. This phrase “queerbaiting” has come up and that’s the whole thing now, right? I’m not on board with it as a term… People can’t really queerbait at the end of the day, because they’re people and who is anyone to say what their experiences are or what they’re feeling? You could literally feel like, for one single day, that you were attracted to X-Y-Z people and then you’re not. But then you could write a whole song or a whole album about it and who are you to say that that’s not real?

The word queerbating is quite a dangerous term because it becomes quite gatekeep-y around stuff that you just can’t be gatekeepy around. But I think it can be a difficult time because people are looking at being queer and being like, “Oh well, now that’s profitable and so are they being real about it”? You know, Chappell Roan has made such a huge career now and a big part of that is her being queer and a big part of her audience is the queer community and they are so incredibly loyal and so willing to accept you because they’re like “We need more representation. Please, another one!” But then, that can run into the fact that people go, “But you’re not fitting in this exact thing that we want you to be and therefore that means that you could be taking advantage of the queer community,” which is a dangerous place to be because at the end of the day artists are still people and what they write about is their own experiences. To be like, “Well, you can’t sing about that because this is what I think you should do,” is a dangerous place to be. That’s maybe where being queer and outward about it is the most on-the-surface difficult thing to talk about. Aside from being vulnerable to people and politicians and that side of things that don’t get it, it’s also the community being a little bit scared of it. But we’ll get there!

You’ve got to go completely to one side to then bring it all back again. Unfortunately, for queer people, it’s a bit like women embracing their sexuality. Not in terms of who they date but being sexual and able to talk about that in music. Like Sabrina Carpenter. She’s being so unapologetically feminine, like, “I love sex and I love being a woman”, right? Sex has been used as a way to sell music for as long as any of us can remember. It’s just now artists are actually choosing to do that and it’s not the label’s way of putting it forward. Whereas now artists go, “Oh no, actually I’m gonna write the music about this and put myself forward in this way”.

Someone I was very keen to return to for this Spotlight: Revisited, the next few years are going to be a whirlwind for Beth McCarthy. She is someone I have known for a very long time and have seen her career blossom. An inspiring for so many people out there, everyone needs to follow her. An L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ artist who has this admiring and loyal group of fans behind her, it will not be long until she is…

A major name.

____________

Follow Beth McCarthy

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/bethmaymccarthy/

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

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

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https://open.spotify.com/artist/2ba5BHaaNzyzG5ZEfKXIF2?si=FRRr3VfqRNWxom1ncbIjLQ

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FEATURE: Army of Me: Björk's Post at Thirty

FEATURE:

Army of Me 

IN THIS PHOTO: Björk in 1995/PHOTO CREDIT: Jill Furmanovsky

Björk's Post at Thirty

__________

A huge album…

turn thirty on Thursday (12th). Björk's Post was released on 12th June, 1995 in the U.K. and the following day in the U.S. (I did say in a previous feature how Post came out on 13th June, 1995 but it was a day earlier in the U.K.). The second album from the Icelandic icon, for this anniversary feature, I want to bring in a couple of interviews from 1995. It was such an important year for Björk. I will end with a review for one of the greatest albums ever released. Jon Savage spoke with Björk in 1995 for The Quietus. There are some really interesting exchanges. Among them is where Björk is asked about moving from Iceland to London. How the sea and its pull makes its way into her music. And how London does not have sea:

“Björk has been performing since age 11, when she made a record in her native Iceland. Raised by what she calls hippie parents, she rebelled on her teens and formed a punk band called Kukl; they recorded for the label run by the hard-core British anarchists Crass. It was a key moment: "I’m still definely obsessed with the spontaneity of punk. I’m a sucker for energy. Just put all the energy in the world into my ears." Subsequently, Björk’s voice shone through the guitar rock of the Sugarcubes, a group that, like many punk bands, was formed as a joke and ended up an unhappy career. In Iceland, in the early 1990s, with the Sugarcubes disbanded, Björk wrote and recorded much of her Debut album — "songs I had written in the evening when my kid was asleep, almost like a domestic housewife album". It was her two guest appearances with dance maestros 808 State that had opened up a whole new world for the former punk and paved the way for her collaboration with Nellee Hooper, the producer who, with his connections to Bristol trip-hoppers Massive Attack and Tricky, was in at the ground level of this year’s dance-floor boom. He provided the state-of-the-art sheen that made Debut so attractive. The CD was a winning mixture of club savvy and more reflective songs that explored nature’s mysticism.

Björk’s new record, Post, develops this fresh mixture. There are the up-to-the-minute dance beats, fused with sharp lyrics in songs like ‘Army of Me’ and ‘Hyper-Ballad’. There is the cover of a vintage show tune, ‘Blow a Fuse’. And there are spooky tunes that play with perception: the odd scratchings at the end of ‘The Modern Things’, with Björk whispering "no one sees me" in Icelandic, and the psychoactive assault of her collaboration with Tricky in ‘Headphones’. Her audacity is one of the most powerful things about Björk. She embodies the sense that anything is possible — in lyrics, in appearance, in gender, and in the very sound of her voice.

JOHN SAVAGE: When were you born?

BJÖRK: 21 November 1965.

On the cusp of Scorpio and Sagittarius.

My mum is heavily into these things, and apparently I’m as much Scorpio as one can be. To me, whether it means something or not — fuck that, I just love the symbolism of it. It’s pretty, like Greek and Nordic mythologies. I’m supposed to be run by Pluto. It’s like a fairy-tale, it simplifies things.

Is Nordic mythology similar to Greek?

It isn’t a copy, but it’s got the same characters. In mythology wherever you go, you’ve got the strong guy, the wise woman, the winners and the losers, the travellers and the domestic people. I always like the animals in mythology, like the ravens on Odin’s shoulders.

Scorpio is all about life, death and sex.

That doesn’t surprise me. My three fucking obsessions.

Have you ever had your chart done?

My mum did it. I think she took me to all the occult creatures of Iceland, from the age of zero until I was 18, when I became a rebel anti-hippie. I got my fortune told and everything. I think I probably believe most of it, actually. I’ve got Pluto in a very important place, and that’s what I’m about. I have to re-create the universe every morning when I wake up. And kill it in the evening, which is a bit outrageous, but there you go.

Hard work.

Heee! Well, maybe not every morning, but maybe twice a year I have to destroy everything. I’ve also got my moon in the twelfth house, in Scorpio, and my son in Scorpio in the first house, and also Neptune. Then on my other half, my generational picture, I’ve got Pluto and Uranus in Virgo, and my midheaven is in conjunct with those two. Virgo is the sign of the nurse, so this means I was born to nurse my generation. I’m still 50-50 about whether this is true, but I was breast-fed on it.

In your lyrics, you seem obsessed with the sea.

I am, very much. It’s a combination of things — being born on a small island and always having the ocean. It makes your head function completely differently. If I travel, as long as I’m by the ocean, I’m fine. If I’m not, I get claustrophobic.

What do you exactly get from the ocean?

First of all, a sense of well-being, like I’m home. I had a really wild upbringing, which I think is the best upbringing anyone could have. My home was by the sea. If I walked down to the sea and sat down by the shore, I was home. That’s my mother, the ocean. Nothing can go wrong. I love swimming, another hippie thing. My mum says it’s because I’m a water sign. And the sense of space and boats. I’m obsessed with boats. It’s freedom.

Do you feel the lack of sea in London?

Yeah, it really does my head in. I tried to stay by Little Venice, but it’s a canal, so the water doesn’t move. I’m only here for work. It’s just two hours on an airplane; my kid [eight-year-old Sindri] can go back home when he wants to. I’m only here for a period, to get my little mission done, and once it’s finished, it’s finished. But after this little job is over, I’m living by the ocean. It doesn’t matter where it is.

What do you think your mission is?

It took me ages to reason it to myself. I find it very hard to be selfish. I just decided, I’m going to move to London, I’m going to be really selfish, I’m going to get all the instruments I want, all the noises and lyrics I like, and make all the music I can, because everybody’s got to express their vision, and no two people are the same. I could happily go and die if I could say, "I did my best, I made my sacrifice." It’s as basic as that. If I hadn’t done this, I would sit in my rocking chair at 85 with my grandchildren on my lap, and say, "Sorry, I didn’t have the guts." I’ve become selfish now, believe me. I’ll go out to the flower shop and buy flowers just for myself. It’s outrageous, isn’t it?

What do you feel about moving to London from Iceland?

It’s a cosmopolitan city. That’s the reason I’m here. If I want a dulcimer player, I can get one. If there’s a certain photographer I want to work with, more than likely he’s going to come through London. I can appreciate London from above, all the rooftops, maybe because I’m a kid and I like Peter Pan. I’m starting to appreciate aimlessness and eccentricity. I’ve realized that Englishness is about people who have to behave politely all day, and the clothes have to be all proper, but that doesn’t mean they’re not mad. You have to focus on it, but once you find it and focus on that energy, then you can stay sane. Compared to the English, Icelanders are like people from Sicily or somewhere. "I’m upset!!!" Like a volcano, they break things, and two hours later, they’re happy. There’s a volcanic eruption in Iceland once a year, on average.

Do you think that environment influences behaviour?

Very much so. What happens in Iceland is that you get the blizzard in your face, you have to fight the weather all the time, and you stay very alert, you never fall asleep. Your head is always working. People who go there think the Icelanders are really stressed out. They’re not, but their energy is on 10. We’ve got this awkward thing, which is 24-hour darkness in the winter, and 24-hour daylight in the summer. There is snow from October or November until mid-March. It means that in the winter you’re just inside and you write all the books you were going to write and get everything done on your own, and then in the summer you go absolutely mad. Like bears after hibernating.

There’s a great lyric on ‘Big Time Sensuality’: "It takes courage to enjoy it." Do you have that courage?

I’ve got a lot of courage, but I’ve also got a lot of fear. You should allow yourself to be scared. It’s one of the prime emotions. You might almost enjoy it, funny as it sounds, and find that you can get over it and deal with it. If you ignore these things, you miss so much. But when you want to enjoy something, especially when it’s something you’ve just been introduced to, you’ve got to have a lot of courage to do it. I don’t think I’m more courageous than most people. I’m an even mixture of all those prime emotions.

Sex does take courage sometimes.

I think so, because if it lacks that sensation of jumping off a cliff it would just miss so much. Then again, it has to be pleasurable and enjoyable and lush and all of that. But ‘Big Time Sensuality’ was actually about when I first met Nellee Hooper. I think it’s quite rare, when you’re obsessed with your job, as I am, when you meet someone who’s your other half job-wise and enables you to do what you completely want… so it’s not a sexual romance.

Are you currently in a stable partnership?

No. I split with my boyfriend at the beginning of last November, and at that point I’d been with a stable boyfriend since the age of 16, though in different relationships. When we broke up, I thought I might as well enjoy this, which I do and I don’t. It’s scary at times. The best bits is that you’re kind of skinless, you’re more vulnerable and emotional and on the edge. There’s also that silly thing that I had when I was 15 and 16 — looking around and wondering who it will be! So I’m sitting there on the subway thinking, will you have a long nose or a short nose? Will you enjoy this or that film? It’s like a little party game.

There’s something really stupid and romantic, thinking that it’s just going to be one person. Even though both of us might have five partners before we die, we always think of that one. Then there are all these things saying how brilliant it is to be self-sufficient and not needing anything or anybody and getting all these tools so that you can do everything yourself. It’s like you’re a little warrior armed with your Walkman and your video and all this technology. Everything’s geared toward self-sufficiency. Fuck that. For me, the target is to learn how to communicate with other people, which is the hardest thing, after all. What you should be doing is learning how to live with other human beings.

Do you have visual ideas in your mind when you’re writing your songs?

Definitely. It’s natural for me to express thing first musically, then visually, and third, with words. So the words are like a translation of noises and pictures.

‘Army of Me’ is a heavy song. Did you have a picture in your mind when you wrote it?

I’m a polar bear and I’m with 500 polar bears, just tramping over a city. The lyric is about people who feel sorry for themselves all the time and don’t get their shit together. You come to a point with people like that where you’ve done everything you can do for them, and the only thing that’s going to sort them out is themselves. It’s time to get things done. I identify with polar bears. They’re very cuddly and cute and quite calm, but if they meet you they can be very strong. They come to Iceland very rarely, once every 10 years, floating on icebergs.

Can you tell me about ‘Hyper-Ballad’?

That’s a lyric about being in a relationship, and after a while, say three or four years, you repress a lot of energy because you’re being sweet all the time. So I wanted to set it up like a fable, something that happens over and over again. It’s about this couple who live on a cliff in the middle of the ocean, and they live in this house, just the two of them, and she wakes up really early, about five in the morning, before anyone else wakes up, and sneaks to the edge and throws a lot of things off: old rubbish, car parts, bottles and cutlery. And she imagines what it would look like if she herself were to jump off. Then she sneaks back into the house, back into bed, then her lover wakes up and it’s "Hello! Good morning, honey!" And she’s got rid of all the aggressive bollocks. The chorus goes, "I go through all this, before you wake up, so I can feel happier to be safe up here with you."

Do you sing from your stomach or your chest?

My stomach. Most engineers find it quite difficult to deal with me, because most of the singing I did as a kid was when I was walking outside, completely on my own. This is absolutely impossible in London. There is no privacy here. I started singing with the whole of my body, which is both good and bad. The engineers usually end up using the same kind of microphones as they put on a stand-up bass, because it’s got a big body.

You’ve said that you recorded a lot of your vocals on the beach.

It was a very sentimental thing. I wanted to sing outside, because I knew everything would fall into place. Nellee made it happen. Compass Point Studio [in Nassau, the Bahamas] was right by the beach. I’d have a very long lead on the microphone and a long lead on the headphones and I’d just sit there at midnight. All the stars would be out, and I’d be sitting there under a little bush. I’d go running into the water and nobody could see where I went. In the quiet bits, I’d sit and cuddle, and for the outrageous bits, I’d run around. It was the first time I’d done a song like that in about 20 years. I was crying my eyes out with joy, because it was something I so deeply wanted all those years. Almost like you had sex lots of times, and it’s gorgeous, and then you couldn’t have it for 20 years, and then suddenly you have it. It was completely outrageous”.

I am going to move to another classic interview. This one is from Dazed. It is interesting reading the introduction of the interview. Getting some background. Björk touring the U.S. Whilst it was a huge occasion, there were also some issues. She crashed for several days: “There was panic in camp Björk. After a back to back schedule of interviews, gigs and promotional chores she crashed for three days. A specialist was brought on tour. She had to cut her live set a little short, leaving out the encores at some of the less important shows”:

“This year, Post shone new light onto planet Björk, after the clouds begun to settle on the peaks of the mighty but now overfamiliar Debut. Post spans a similar emotional radius, but the musical production breaks with any sense of the fluidity of its predecessor. While Debut appears carved by water and ice, Post seems shaped by fire and volcanic action; the lows are much more precarious, the highs more jagged and steeper to climb. Individually co-produced with Nellee Hooper, Graham Massey, Howie B and Tricky, the songs reflect the personalities of Björk's male counterparts. These are her collaborators in the sexually charged, creative act of making beautiful music. Björk takes liberties with melodies and form is avoided in favour of impression. You can imagine Björk still gasping at her own reflection in water, still seduced by the sound of the echo of her own voice.

Björk is now back on form, after a strict diet, rationed talking and plenty of rest. Last night she broke with convention and went on a binge, end-ing up back at her house with some friends, drinking and talking until five in the morning. Tonight she's in an hotel room in Liverpool, with a four poster bed and a four poster bathtub, “dead princess-like”. She describes the telephone she's talking to me on as being gold with roses painted on it, “Jeff Koons would love it”. It sounds like they knew Björk was coming.

You've become very good at analysing your own psychology, working out what makes you tick. Have you ever been to see a psychiatrist?

Björk: No. I want to be quite self-sufficient like that. I think people should only do that in the case of emergency, but at the end of the day you've got to learn to live with yourself and if you need constant assistance just to do that... also I think you are supposed to be able to solve those things through friends and your relationship, not in an analysed, calculated manner, but in a free-flowing, natural way, so you don't end up stuck with the same problems for ten years.

When was the last time you cried?

Björk Gudmundsdottir: Listen, I cry all the time. I cried this morning. I'm over-emotional.

What was that all about?

Björk: Well after my binge last night, we ended back at my house and I ended up in a one to one talk with one of my oldest friends and we were just crying, not because of sadness, but because (laughs), it sounds so wack now, we were being fragile, we weren't on drugs just fragile, and when you feel too much in a happy way.

Close your eyes for a minute and tell me what you hear inside your head.

Björk: It's some sort of movement similar to cream I think. You know when they squeeze the cream out of the gas thing. Like really pretty when It's got a spike at the top, and it's got a circle. Sort of slow circle movement in the same way whipped cream would move. Very still and very satisfied.

So you're happy at the moment.

Björk: You know this touring thing is definitely one of the most difficult things I've done, like an Indiana Jones thing, and me dealing with my body, like ‘time's out, Björk’.

What were the overriding emotions you felt during this tour?

Björk: Goldie was with us, and all of Goldie's crew and our crew got on and it was the best vibe on tour.

So how come you didn't ask Goldie to coproduce any of the songs on Post?

Björk: I don't know really. It wasn't like I was trying to get the whole world on the album.

Yes it was...

Björk: (laughs) Yeah, I know, it looks a bit like that. I'm very much a person who has intimate musical relationships with people and they are almost like love affairs, you see. But I'm very loyal. So me and Nellee got through half the album and then we just stopped turning each other on. We remained friends, but we would just kind of know each other's taste too much for it to be a surprise. And at that point I met Tricky, so we did those tunes, half of which have come out on my album, the other half is coming out on Durban Poison.

And Graham Massey and Howie B, how did your personal relationship with them affect the music?

Björk: The tunes I wrote with Graham, I actually wrote before Debut, and I saved them for this. I met him in 1990; that was when we were really sparking big time off each other, and for a few years we sent each other tapes, and then when I started doing Debut with Nellee it just became very obvious that it would end up as a very musical affair between me and Nellee. So I talked to Graham and decided to keep the other songs because they were just too different. So I saved ‘Army of Me’ and ‘The Modern Things’ for this album, and then Howie has been one of my closest friends in England for over three years and that just kind of happened one afternoon. That song we wrote in an hour.

It's a very spontaneous-sounding song.

Björk: I'm just going bonkers now, I had a three hour conversation with Nellee yesterday. I fucking wake up in the morning with a far too big heart, I don't know what to do with it really. I love so many people so deeply I could happily die now. It's scary. It's so scary it's outrageous. If it wasn't for my kid I would... emotionally-wise, I think I've achieved as much I think I can achieve

I don't think you have.

Björk: But do you know what mean?

No. But you've probably achieved more than what you think is possible...

Björk: That's true...

But I don't believe that you've given as much as you're ever going to give.

Björk: (sighs) And the band as well; when I went through my monk tip, they developed this amazing way to tell me jokes without making a noise, they worked their way around it.

It's funny because, when you're more serious, your accent is more British, and when you're speaking more emotionally it's more Icelandic.

Björk: It's definitely that. For me Icelandic is my instinct and English is me being clever. Icelandic is unconscious and English is conscious. And when I speak English, especially when I do interviews and stuff, I can very easily see myself from the outside and describe myself. But then again I would have to be pretty stupid not to have developed that thing, because I've done interviews now for 900 years. But it's impossible for me to do interviews in Icelandic. I just listen to myself and I sound so fake and so terribly pretentious and so Little Miss Know-it-all, I just want to strangle myself. The Icelandic media is going bonkers because I do one interview there every five years.

Do you feel like you have multiple personalities you can switch into at any time to suit the mood or occasion? Like when you do interviews, or when you're with friends or when you're performing. Or do you feel a lot more sorted than that?

Björk: I think I'm learning to combine them. And that's kind of what Debut and Post are all about. Like, I would love to do one experimental electronic song with Graham and the next day I would love to be a diva walking down the staircase being a drama queen. The day after, I would love to do a punk song, and that's very much how I've done my music so far, but I can feel very much that I'm starting to become more everything at once. Like I have one friend who I'm very humorous with and another friend whom I'm very sexy with; and another friend that protects me and another friend that I protect; but now I can see it, I'm not planning it or anything, I can just see myself being able to be everything with each person and just being more spontaneous about it, and just let it flow. But I think everyone is a bit like that and that is kind of the target; combine all those things without leaving any of them out. Because it's very tempting, as we grow up, to leave one of them out.

Are you in love at the moment?

Björk: (pause) I am, actually. I haven't eaten or slept for two weeks.

And there's me thinking that's because you've been working really hard, not shagging.

Björk: But it doesn't really bother me. I just look at a plate of food and I just think it's rubbish. It looks like wood to me or coins. It's just impossible to put it inside my system - it's got nothing to do with me.

But you seem to fall in love very easily.

Björk: I think my reputation has gone a bit funny, because I've got a lot of friends, but I get very precious when it comes to love things, you know?

“It's impossible for me to do interviews in Icelandic. I just listen to myself and I sound so fake and so terribly pretentious and so Little Miss know-it-all, I just want to strangle myself” – Björk

What do you think your reputation is?

Björk: I dunno, I guess everyone thinks I fall in love every five minutes, and I have nine boyfriends.

Yeah, they probably do.

Björk: It's not true.

So you've just got one on the go?

Björk: This is definitely the strongest, though for many, many years. I'm on natural E; I don't even want to drink, because that will make the feeling go away. I just have to drink one glass and push me a little bit up, and I'm ecstatic.

What's he like? Does he work in the same industry as you?

Björk: Don't ask me please. Let's put it this way, I don't meet a lot of people other than the people I work with. You know, it's not like I hang out with shoe salesmen. Or gymnasts.

Or psychotherapists.

Björk: Not in my line of work.

With you and Tricky. Why was it so short-lived?

Björk: With me and Tricky I don't think we ever knew if we were going out together or not. I mean, we were going out together and then we weren't. Because, basically, the way our relationship functioned was that we were a support mechanism for each other, and we still have this kind of, like, permission to call each other in the middle of the night, when I'm in fucking Munich and he's in fucking Tokyo. It's a very strange job we've got, and we don't have to explain it: we know. And we know the pressure. So that's more what our relationship is like and still is. And I think it didn't last a long time before we realised that that is why we'd met and sucked like a magnet to each other.

Tell me about one song. Have you got one in your head at the moment? Apart from cream?

Björk: It's very happy, very simple and very poppy. I usually have two at the same time. And they are usually opposite to each other. It's like that mood and that mood, black and white. I've got about five songs that I could go and record tomorrow. Basically, what happens to me is I write the melody first and then, if I work with someone, then the other person adds the other half.

So who's next on your hit list?

Björk: I think I have to start being a bit self-sufficient”.

I am going to finish with a review for Post. Released on 12th June, 1995, it is one of the most important albums ever. Björk is this hugely influential artist who sounds like nobody else. She is so distinct. In 2020, Pitchfork took an in-depth look at a pioneering album. One that was groundbreaking. The world had not seen anything like Björk. Following her 1993 debut album, Debut, Post was this step forward. Another bold step from this legendary artist:

“Of course, Björk’s music is a testament to what is possible when logic and practical sense are not guiding principles. But she hardly withdrew. Björk said she had a total of three days off in 1993 and 1994 combined—she had become a legitimate star. In the face of the chaos of fame, “Army of Me” summons resilience, as if Björk knew exactly what she would be up against in the years to come. (In 1996, a fan tried to mail a bomb to her house.) She said “Army of Me” was written as an ultimatum to her own brother, to regain control of his life, lest he “meet an army of me.” Björk scratches at the depths of her voice, and the industrial backbone of the song, the crashes and shrapnel, fortify the task. “Army of Me” is proof that being the most obvious misfit in the room often requires being the toughest, too.

The double-time techno of “Hyperballad” begins with a glint. But it hones its strength. It’s a work of surrealism, narrating the tale of a woman who wakes up early at the top of a mountain, and throws “car parts, bottles, and cutlery” off its edge. She wonders what it would be like to throw herself off, too, her body slamming against the rocks, her eyes open all along—as a kind of catharsis, an emotional purging, in order to deal with people later: “I go through all this/Before you wake up/So I can feel happier/To be safe up here with you.” Her melody rises and tumbles, a slow spiral; the suspended rapture of the beat catches her in air.

If Debut’s “Human Behavior” was an ultimate outcast anthem—“If you ever get close to a human and human behavior, be ready, be ready to get confused”—then “Hyperballad” feels like a triumphant appeal to exist cooperatively alongside other people. Björk did this not only in her hyper-collaborative albums but in her entire project of making pop music, trying to reach all kinds of people at once. “Everything’s geared toward self-sufficiency. Fuck that,” Björk told punk historian Jon Savage in Interview. “For me, the target is to learn how to communicate with other people, which is the hardest thing, after all. What you should be doing is learning how to live with other human beings.” Car parts, bottles, cutlery, technology, and political superpowers are no match against this outreaching feeling, this ethos of interconnectedness that lives inside “Hyperballad,” inside of Björk in general, and it is an instinct inherent, ever crucially, in the survival of humanity.

“All the modern things/Like cars and such/Have always existed,” Björk sings on “The Modern Things.” “They’ve just been waiting in a mountain/For the right moment.” Not unlike the 23-year-old who dissected a television with love and awe, there’s a fantastic tinge of hope to this idea and to the whole of Post, an invitation into her profound exploration of places not yet traveled, to acknowledge the magic in the fact that there are sounds you might love that you can’t currently fathom. Twenty-five years later, you don’t need to scroll far through Björk’s Instagram feed to find the most audacious young popular artists alive, the likes of Arca and Rosalía, heeding that call, crowning her “queen.”

With Post, Björk set the bionic foundation for one of the most consequential careers in pop history. Here is where Björk became a perennial gateway drug, not to one sound but to the unknown, which is to say the future. She would soon leave London for the south of Spain and then New York, recording her two towering masterpieces—1997’s Homogenic, which Missy Elliott once gleefully likened to “Mozart at a rap show,” and the introverted microbeats of 2001’s Vespertine—crystallizing the totality of her vision. What other artist could successively collaborate with Wu-Tang Clan, interview Estonian minimalist legend Arvo Pärt, and appear on “MTV Unplugged” accompanied by a man playing a table of drinking glasses? In another era, maybe Bowie, which is just right—it was Bowie, after all, who inspired Björk’s immortal swan dress. By the end of the ’90s, the world would know the only answer: Björk”.

The incredible Post turns thirty on 12th June. After all of these years, the album still keeps revealing things. It is such a stunning album! Everyone will have their favourite songs from the album. Perhaps the opener, Army of Me, is the very best. Such an epic and evocative way to kick off the album! Björk delivered a masterpiece in 1995. There are few albums as beguiling and impactful than…

THE majestic Post.

FEATURE: The Great American Songbook: Beyoncé

FEATURE:

 

 

The Great American Songbook

PHOTO CREDIT: Kennedi Carter for British Vogue

Beyoncé

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THIS is a series…

where I focus on a very special American artist and collate a twenty-song mixtape/playlist of songs from throughout their career. It is not necessarily the case of it being songs they wrote. I started off with one of the greatest songwriters ever, Paul Simon, and his amazing work. Now, Beyoncé is in the spotlight. Even though she is not as prolific and renowned as a songwriter as Paul Simon, her body of work – from the earliest days of Destiny’s Child to her most recent solo album – are testament to her genius and constant reinvention. COWBOY CARTER was released last year as is one of the best albums of her career. It was hard whittling down all of her albums to a selection of twenty songs. One of the most influential artists ever, Beyoncé has won numerous awards, including thirty-five GRAMMY Awards, making her the most decorated artist in GRAMMY history. I think that we will continue to see her changed music and culture for decades more. To celebrate her enormous contribution to music and a catalogue like no other, this Great American Songbook selection is dedicated to…

THE peerless Beyoncé.

FEATURE: Pride Month 2025: Spotlighting Munroe Bergdorf

FEATURE:

 

 

Pride Month 2025

Spotlighting Munroe Bergdorf

__________

THERE is a bit…

of housekeeping to do before getting to some interviews with the fabulous Munroe Bergdorf. As it is Pride Month, I am spending time highlighting incredible and empowering people from the L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ community. I mainly focus on music but, in a slight break away from that, I am spending time with this incredible British model and activist. Bergdorf has appeared on several catwalks for brands including Gypsy Sport at both London and NYC Fashion Weeks. I am cribbing information from her Wikipedia page. I already knew that Munroe Bergdorf was the first transgender model in the U.K. for L'Oréal. She was dropped within weeks following  a racial row. It was a huge moment that made the news. I remember it well. In February 2018, Bergdorf was appointed as an LGBT adviser to the Labour Party. She resigned the following month. She also appeared in the Channel 4 documentary What Makes a Woman, which aired in May 2018. There is a lot more to say about her. However, I want to finish this section by mentioning that Bergdorf joined UN Women UK as an advocate in 2019, supporting its #DrawALine campaign, seeking to end female genital mutilation (FGM). Such an impressive and varied career. A trans icon who has given strength and voice to so many people, you can follow her on Instagram. It is also timely spotlighting her, as the new film, Love & Rage: Munroe Bergdorf, is in cinemas 10th and 11th June. Here is some more information about a film that is so urgent and relevant. Especially at a time when discrimination against the trans community is at an all-time high:

“Trans model and activist Munroe Bergdorf is bringing us a close look at her life in a new documentary. It will explore her childhood, how her identity was silenced as she grew up and her mission to overcome the obstacles that society places in her way in order to be a voice for the LGBTQIA+ community. This comes after she presented a documentary in 2018 called What Makes A Woman.

Munroe announced the release of the documentary in a post on Instagram previously, opening up about how it made her step out of her comfort zone and gave her an opportunity to issue a rallying cry against transphobia.

She wrote: "Keeping this a secret has been so hard, but I’m beyond excited to finally be able to share it with you all…

"The past 3 years have been a rollercoaster filled with so many formative moments, in both my public and personal life. But this is more than just a film about me… This documentary is very much a love letter to our global trans community. It is a call for change within a world where transphobia has become the status quo.

“I’m immensely proud of what we’ve created, it’s been a wild, wild ride and I can’t wait for it to be out in the world.”

Munroe has spoken to GLAMOUR before about the importance of visibility and representation for the trans community, in the workplace, politics and everywhere else. “The best thing that we can do is stay together, and we can't expect to have trans rights protection if we are not standing up for abortion rights,” she added. “We can't expect women's rights to be protected if we are not supporting trans women.”

What is Love & Rage: Munroe Bergdorf about?

According to a synopsis, the documentary "tells the intimate and unflinching story of Munroe Bergdorf – author, model, leading trans activist, global pioneer of LGBTQIA+ equity, and creative force. As an international trailblazer in the fight for LGBTQIA+ rights, Munroe faces fierce discrimination while living and embracing her truth. This powerful documentary not only tells Munroe’s personal story but also serves as a call to action, sparking a universal conversation of hope and inspiration.

"The documentary offers a raw, personal portrayal of Munroe Bergdorf, showcasing her journey from a formidable public figure to a woman reclaiming control of her life.  While it explores the challenges she has faced — including navigating a homophobia and racism and difficult relationships — it also highlights moments of resilience, self-discovery, and empowerment. Facing public scrutiny and personal obstacles, Munroe transitions from waiting for societal change to embracing her own transformation.

“The film weaves her memories with present-day moments, using stylised sequences and a sensory soundscape to reflect the complexity of her experiences. Through interviews and personal reflections, we learn about Munroe’s resilience, the importance of her chosen family, and witness her healing process as she moves forward to create a joyful future on her own terms”.

I am going to move to an interesting feature written by Munroe Bergdorf. If you are able to order a copy of DIVA, then there is a fascinating interview with her. I would urge people to listen to the latest episode of Happy Place, where Bergdorf spoke with Fearne Cotton. Writing for British Vogue in April of this year, Bergdorf reacted to the Supreme Court’s decision that the legal definition of a woman in the 2010 Equality Act excludes transgender women. It is a compelling response. I am quoting from the first half or so of the piece. I would urge people to read the whole thing, as it is a really compelling and powerful read:

“Having begun my own medical transition 15 years ago, I know first-hand the importance of hormone replacement therapy. I have seen and felt the potential that it has to save, change and sustain a life. Quite honestly, like the vast majority of trans people who medically transition, I would not be alive without it.

While, yes, medically transitioning is a choice, it is often a choice between life or a life of escalating despair; life or a life of self-destruction; life or no longer living at all… Gender affirming care isn’t the controversial, understudied or farfetched luxury it’s painted as by those invested in a relentlessly anti-trans agenda. For those who are waiting to medically transition, it is a lifeline – one that’s in desperate need of protection.

Across the UK, transgender people are being contacted by NHS doctors, notifying them that their access to hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is to be immediately withdrawn. HRT is a key element of gender affirming care that helps to alleviate feelings of gender dysphoria, to align a person’s gender identity with their physical appearance. Whilst the exact numbers of those who have had their care withdrawn or refused is still unknown due to an absence of official data, increasing numbers of trans people are taking to social media to express their concern, while NHS gender service workers are also reporting that the level of withdrawn care has increased over the last 12 months.

Danielle St James, chief executive and trustee of Not A Phase, a trans-led nationwide charity with a commitment to uplifting the lives of trans+ adults, tells me: “The sudden removal of access to hormones is having a devastating impact on trans+ adults, particularly those who were already facing barriers to healthcare. At Not A Phase, we’re hearing from people who are scared, desperate and struggling to understand how they will continue their transitions. For many, HRT is not just medication. It allows them to live in alignment with who they are, improving their mental health and overall wellbeing. Losing access overnight is not just distressing – it’s dangerous.”

In 2023 it was reported that some transgender people in England had waited up to seven years even for an initial NHS assessment. (After spending 1,023 days waiting for a first appointment, 20-year-old Alice Litman took her own life in May 2022. Following her death, Alice’s family said: “Alice described the years-long wait and the inadequacy of her care as leaving her feeling hopeless and helpless without an end in sight… We all deserve to live in dignity with access to the healthcare we need. We are asking NHS England to prevent further deaths by urgently addressing the crisis in trans healthcare.”)

Meanwhile, apprehension towards assisting medical transitions has undoubtedly been compounded following the highly critiqued Cass Review of April 2024, which resulted in a ban on the prescription of puberty blockers for transgender teens (even though they are still considered safe to use for cisgender teens). Add to this an overwhelmingly hostile anti-trans media bias, which frames gender affirming care as “unsafe” or “experimental”, with a disproportionate fixation on the subject of medical regret and detransition. In reality, gender affirming care is a diligently studied field that has existed since the early 20th century, in which regret rates for medical transition remain inarguably low.

In a 2022 study carried out by The Lancet, it was found that 98 per cent of transgender youth who had access to transgender healthcare continued their treatment into adulthood. These findings were reinforced by a 2023 study carried out by the Transgender Health Program, in which it was found that 99.7 per cent of transgender individuals were satisfied with their surgery, with a regret rate of 0.3 per cent – six patients out of a sample of 1,989. The study concluded that “a care environment that welcomes and normalises authentic expression of gender identity, affirms surgical goals without judgment, and destigmatises the role of mental health in the surgical process are foundational to mitigating the occurrence of any form of regret”.

While we should absolutely have compassion for the small number of those who do detransition, just as we should with anyone who regrets any medical decision, it’s important to acknowledge that a medical regret rate of less than one per cent should not be weaponised in this way. We wouldn’t restrict the ability for people to procreate because eight per cent of British parents regret having children, just as we would not ban knee surgery because six to 30 per cent of people express dissatisfaction with their knee replacements.

Yet we are witnessing our government and National Health Service encouraging and enforcing sweeping medical restrictions on gender affirming care. The politicisation of healthcare should never be accepted by anyone. If – due to an absence of policy – NHS doctors are allowed to refuse specific treatment to a specific minority group based on their personal beliefs or a lack of education, it creates a breeding ground for institutional discrimination and a dangerous, unacceptable precedent. What next? Access to abortion and birth control? Or HIV prevention? A targeted withdrawal of medication should alarm us all.

And so, the UK’s transgender community is now having to contend with yet another government making it harder to exist as a trans person, instead of addressing or fixing the mounting issues trans people face in their day to day lives. Systemic transphobia is being presented as the solution, while transgender people are reduced to the status of a “problematic ideology”. And it doesn’t stop at British healthcare policy – or indeed in Britain. We are living in an era of multinational governments clamping down on the existence of transness within public life itself, with our supposedly closest political ally, America, introducing some of the most shockingly restrictive anti-trans policies in history. A memo issued by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, which could result in all international transgender people being banned from visiting the country, is just the latest in a recent run of epic discrimination”.

Published tomorrow (5th June), Munroe Bergdorf’s book, Talk to Me: How to talk about the things that matter is one that everyone should own. I heard her talking about the book (and the upcoming film) with Nick Grimshaw on BBC Radio 6 Music on Monday. It was a really good interview. I have known about Munroe Bergdorf and her work for years now but I am learning new things about her. I am interested to see what Love & Rage: Munroe Bergdorf delivers. Her new book looks incredible. Go and order a copy now:

“Have you ever felt really passionately about something but struggled to put it into words?
Or found yourself in an argument with someone who won't listen?
Or felt regret about the things you didn't say in the moment?

Conversations can be tricky, whether it's with friends, family, people online or a room full of strangers. And someone who knows this all too well is writer, activist and model, Munroe Bergdorf.

Covering topics from beauty standards, cancel culture, gender identity and more, Talk To Me gives you the tools to navigate tough discussions, change people's minds, accept when you're wrong and know when to step away.

We need to start talking now”.

I am going to leave things there. I wanted to put this feature out ahead of the release of Munroe Bergdorf’s book tomorrow. During Pride Month, of course I am spotlighting great L.G.BT.Q.I.A.+ artists. Also, I will look at hugely important figures outside of music who are influencing and inspiring the L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ community. As a fan of Munroe Bergdorf, I am looking forward to reading reviews for Love & Rage: Munroe Bergdorf and Talk to Me: How to talk about the things that matter. As a member of The Trouble Club, I was wondering whether Bergdorf is in their sights and a possibility. She would be a brilliant guest! Not to sway them too much, though it would be incredible hearing Bergdorf speak to Trouble members about her life, career and new work. I feel so much sympathy for the trans community. A time when they are under attack and marginalised more than they ever have been, we have taken a huge step back regarding trans rights. I know that Munroe Bergdorf gives so much power and strength to other trans people. It has been a real honour shining a light on…

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AN L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ role model.

FEATURE: Spotlight: Skye Newman

FEATURE:

Spotlight

Skye Newman

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AN artist who is rightly…

being talked about as a massive star of the future, I am taking the opportunity spotlight Skye Newman. This is someone who I have known about for a little while now. This year has really seen her blow up. So many people looking in her direction. I am going to come to some interesting information about this exceptional artist. Before then, here is some biography that gives you some insight into one of the U.K.’s most promising artists. Someone who is beyond compare. Such a staggering young talent with decades ahead of her:

“Skye Newman is a raw and unapologetically authentic voice emerging from the UK music scene. Having moved countless times throughout her life, she considers South East London her true home – having shaped her artistry through its diverse cultures, working-class resilience, and the real-life struggles she witnessed firsthand.

Growing up in low-income households, and moving often, Skye references being surrounded by people who came from nothing, and channels these experiences into her music, offering a voice to those often overlooked in mainstream narratives.

Inspired by the storytelling of rap and the emotional depth of soul, Skye’s musical journey began with her aunt, a jazz and blues singer, who introduced her to the magic of songwriting and studio life. Later influences like Amy Winehouse, Adele, Bob Marley, and Eminem further shaped her sound – working closely with her musical friends, Skye found her sound, blending poetic lyricism, raw emotion, and a fearless approach to honesty in her music.

Backed by a fiercely loyal support system of family and lifelong friends, Skye’s artistry is deeply personal, yet universally relatable. Whether she’s pouring her heart into her lyrics, vibing with her girl gang, or finding freedom in creative outlets like ice skating, she brings an energy that is both electric and deeply introspective.

With a voice that carries the weight of real-life experiences and a passion for storytelling, Skye Newman isn’t just making music – she’s creating a movement”.

As she is quite a new artist, I can find no published interviews with her. Only a very small selection of useable photographs too. I hope that this changes very soon.. There is some filmed bits and pieces and some interesting TikTok and Instagram stuff but nothing really in the way of anything else. It is quite rare that I highlight an artist where there is nothing really from them. Rather than rely on personal insight and words from the artist herself, I am instead going to bring in other features and people. I found this article from Music Week, where Columbia Records President Dipesh Parmar has hailed the chart success of Skye Newman. She achieved top twenty lacings for her first two singles. Not many other artists can claim that:

“At a time when UK talent has faced increasing competition on the domestic charts from US superstars, there are now signs of a resurgence for British acts – with Sony Music leading the way so far this year.

Sony Music UK has released half of the new domestic tracks in the Top 200 streaming chart so far this year, including tracks from Myles Smith, Central Cee, Skye Newman, Calvin Harris, Rudimental, Denon Reed, Shallipopi and Jade. 

The Sony streaming results for the year to date cover UK-signed artists benefiting from investment from the major. If you included US-signed chart stars such as British metal band Sleep Token, who have made a Top 10 impact, the Sony market share would be even bigger.

Despite pressure from global hits on the domestic charts, Sony Music has managed to increase their number of domestic entries in the Top 200 streaming chart. The numbers were up in 2024 compared to 2023. So far in 2025, year-to-date domestic entries are in growth for a second consecutive year. 

Crucially, the results represent a growth in market share based on an actual increase in the number of tracks entering the Top 200. In other words, Sony Music is improving its results for new UK music rather than just achieving a gain in share based on a favourable comparison with other majors.

According to Sony Music, 41% of UK representation in the Top 40 is signed to the major (including The Orchard), which puts Sony ahead of both Universal Music UK and Warner Music UK.

South London singer-songwriter Skye Newman has secured a significant breakthrough with a Top 20 double in the latest chart. As well as a new peak for debut hit Hairdresser at No.16 (18,717 units – up 38.6% week-on-week), Newman secured her first Top 10 single with a new entry for Family Matters at No.8 (25,305 units). Family Matters was streamed 3.2 million times in the UK in the past week, according to the Official Charts Company.

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Skye Newman is the first UK female solo artist to reach the Top 20 with her debut single and follow-up since Ella Henderson in 2014. It’s a rare chart achievement for a new artist to chart in the Top 20 with their first two singles – Jessie J did it in 2011, as did Ruby Murray way back in 1955.

Newman is one of several domestic success stories in the UK chart for Sony Music – the major has four British tracks in the Top 20, three of them signed to Columbia.

Calvin Harris has secured his 31st Top 10 single with Clementine Douglas collaboration Blessings climbing to a new peak of No.7 (28,055, up 14.5% week-on-week ). The track is charting in more than 15 markets worldwide on Spotify. 

Dipesh Parmar, president, Columbia Records, said: “Skye is a truly authentic artist and an incredible songwriter. I can’t remember a time where we’ve seen a British artist have two debut singles chart in the Top 20 at the same time, and this is only the beginning for her. 

“Artist development is the heartbeat of what we do and to see Skye have her first taste of chart success alongside a British superstar like Calvin Harris, who has achieved 31 Top 10 singles, demonstrates the breadth of talent we are working with at Columbia, and proves that great music and exceptional talent can cut through.”

Columbia has also seen the highest entry to date for Wolf Alice with Bloom Baby Bloom – the band’s first single on the Sony label – cracking the Top 75.

Meanwhile, BRITs Rising star winner Myles Smith is at No.13 with his latest Top 10 single, Nice To Meet You (525,191 units to date), while his global hit Stargazing remains in the Top 50 (1,399,028 units to date). He is now chasing a third Top 20 hit with new single Gold.

Having secured the biggest global breakthrough for a UK artist last year, Myles Smith continues to perform well in global markets. Stargazing remains on Spotify’s Top 100 Global chart (No.73) with 12 million streams in the past week (and approaching 800m to date on Spotify alone). 

On the albums chart, Sony Music has achieved four No.1s from UK artists so far this year – Robbie Williams, Central Cee, Sleep Token and Pink Floyd, following the rock legends' move to the major.

Central Cee became the first UK rapper in over a year to have a No.1 album domestically. With the release of Can’t Rush Greatness, he had the biggest streaming day of all time for a UK rapper globally on Spotify.

RCA-signed Jade won her first BRIT award as solo artist and saw a subsequent chart boost for debut single Angel Of My Dreams, which she performed at the ceremony”.

IN THIS PHOTO: Skye Newman alongside her pianist

In May, for NOTION, Skye Newman shared behind-the-scenes photos of her tour with Sienna Spiro. It would be nice to see some interviews with Newman. I am going to end with a review of Family Matters from Neon Music. There will be a lot of people excited about future possible music and a debut album.

“Skye Newman’s Family Matters doesn’t ease you in—it throws you into the middle of her story and dares you to look away.

After making waves with her debut single Hairdresser, a track that cracked the UK Top 30 with its dry wit and understated charm, Newman has followed up with something far more exposed.

Family Matters, released 16 May 2025 via Columbia, marks a shift from biting social commentary to raw autobiography.

Born out of what she’s described as “pure dysfunction,” the song doesn’t try to universalise trauma—it personalises it. It offers no resolution, only recognition.

The opening verse wastes no time on warmup.

“You’ve never worn these shoes / Don’t mean my new balance in blue”

It’s part clever wordplay, part accusation. A warning: this won’t be sugarcoated.

“Raised on pure dysfunction / But sleep I’ll never lose”

This isn’t about overcoming; it’s about learning to function with the mess still in the room.

“Got old wounds and fresh ones / But you won’t see me bleed”

What sounds at first like poetic stoicism lands more like a coping mechanism.

The line reads as someone who’s trained themselves to bleed internally—quietly.

The chorus carries a different kind of heat.

“Bitching ’bout problems / Like they’re stuck on your lips / You’re so dramatic”

It plays like a takedown—but not of a specific person. It’s the kind of resentment that builds when people trivialise your reality with gossip-level empathy.

“I could tell you ’bout me / But you won’t understand”

There’s a jadedness here. Not born from bitterness, but exhaustion. Explaining doesn’t help if the audience doesn’t have the language.

“No caller ID / It’s the police again / No pills to be out / But there’s no kids around”

Newman stacks these lines like flashes of a childhood she never asked for. Police, pills, absence. They don’t tell a full story, but they tell enough.

“Death knocked down my door / Walked in unannounced”

This is the lyric that’s stuck with most listeners. Not because it’s abstract—but because it’s terrifyingly plain. There’s no metaphor here. Just memory.

“A line meant two things / Since I was like five / Starved ’cause his words / But at least I’m alive”

Here, Skye Newman folds in dual meanings with eerie ease—“a line” could be punishment, drugs, expectation. Whatever it is, it’s shaped her since childhood.

“It is what it is / You call it traumatic / But it is what it is / It’s just family matters”

The refrain is devastating not because it’s dramatic, but because it’s numb. This is not catharsis. It’s emotional flatlining. A lived-in resignation many recognise and few articulate this clearly.

The second verse shifts from past to pattern.

“There’s times I can’t keep focused / ’Cause they’re all fucking raging”

The chaos didn’t end with childhood. It just got louder.

“A spliff stops my explosion / Bad habits I’m not facing”

She’s not romanticising the weed. It’s a pressure valve, not a plot twist.

“Then my brother’s drugs got harder / It became substance abuse”

The story expands. This isn’t just personal. It’s systemic. The kind of environment that passes down damage like a family recipe.

“So he’s a stupid bastard”

It’s blunt and bitter—resentment sharpened by helplessness.

By the time we reach the final stretch, the mask is fully off.

“I don’t eat, I feed / That’s who I am”

It’s not a line designed to impress. It’s a line that makes sense when you’ve grown up keeping everyone else afloat.

“You take the piss / Baby I burn / My fire’s hot / Yeah I’m fucked up”

This is where the polish drops. It’s the part of the song that feels less written and more confessed.

“But you haven’t met my family / So you’re in luck”

No fake smiles. Just the truth said with a half-smirk and a full scar.

The production here—by Boo and Luis Navidad—is intentionally threadbare. A fingerpicked guitar sets the tone.

A few background harmonies drift in and out, never overstaying. The effect isn’t lo-fi—it’s near-silent witness. Like being let into someone’s voice memo at 2am.

Newman’s delivery? Flatlined just enough to sound real. There’s no attempt to belt her way out of the pain.

Instead, she walks you through it in a steady, almost detached voice that hits harder for its restraint.

Listeners have said it feels like “listening to someone name the things you were never allowed to say.”

Newman’s writing doesn’t chase relatability. It invites discomfort. And that might just be what makes it essential”.

She has a couple of gigs coming up later in the year. There is a lot of understandable exactment around Skye Newman. She is a very special artist that is one of our very best. I am going to finish things here. Anyone who has not discovered her music yet, I would advise you follow her on social media. It may be early days for Newman, but you can see her ascending to the same heights as the best of the contemporary mainstream. When it comes to this simply incredible artist, it is clear that her…

FUTURE looks so bright.

____________

Follow Skye Newman

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/skyenewman__/

TikTok:

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

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/4UoEzpWZrFWvlGYOzTEn1M?si=eS2T5qmoQ12oI45xU95axw

FEATURE: Spotlight: SAILORR

FEATURE:

 

Spotlight

PHOTO CREDIT: Tray Nguyen

SAILORR

__________

I am using this feature…

PHOTO CREDIT: Tray Nguyen

to discuss the unique and truly brilliant SAILORR. I am new to her music though there are some interesting interviews out there that shed more light on a wonderful artist who is going to go very far. Her debut album, FROM FLORIDA’S FINEST, is one I am digging into at the moment. I will end this feature with a review of that album (or whether she would call it a mixtape). To begin, I want to explore a few interviews with SAILORR from earlier in the year. I am starting out with an interview from FADER. They spoke with SAILORR about her upbringing and the crash-out anthem, Pookie’s Requiem. I want to source the opening of the interview:

“The thing about SAILORR is that she’s Florida through and through. The 26-year-old Vietnamese-American singer from Jacksonville curves her words slightly when she speaks, especially prominent when she peppers in words like “hella” and “vibe.” It shapes the way she croons “To whatever bitch you got in Bushwiiick” on “Pookie’s Requiem,” the November 2024 song that introduced the world to her lovelorn R&B. The single that followed, “Cut Up,” takes its title from slang used widely across Florida and the South (to cut up: to start acting up over something). SAILORR is built different, and her music’s approach to love — finding it, losing it, and crashing out — reflects her distinct structure.

“Growing up [in Jacksonville], I feel like I didn't really adhere to any social norms or whatever boundaries and binaries people tried to put on me,” SAILORR says on a recent March morning. We’re talking over a video call and she’s still in bed, dressed in a slouchy black tee and out of her usual uniform of pink, frills, and bows. “The South, it’s very traditional and almost conservative there. When you find your little pockets in communities that you do resonate with, it's a very beautiful thing.”

She’s speaking to me from her new home in Los Angeles, where she moved in January as her life began to change. In the five months since “Pookie’s Requiem” became ubiquitous on TikTok, SAILORR skyrocketed from being a virtual unknown to an artist covered by Halle Bailey, posted by Justin Bieber, and remixed by Summer Walker. In March, news broke that her label BuVision, run by Akon’s brother Abou Thiam, would be merging with Atlantic Music Group, sending her further into the big leagues. All the attention has brought countless new eyes, and she’s feeling it.

Growing up in a large, traditional Vietnamese family to blue collar immigrant parents, SAILORR found refuge watching music videos on MTV during family functions and stealing her sister’s iPod to put herself on: “André 3000 and Erykah Badu,” she lists. “I have a very deep love for neo soul.” An avid journaler and performer, she took up the musical theater track at a local performing arts high school. But after realizing she didn’t enjoy “telling other people's narratives,” she pivoted to teaching herself how to make her own beats: first on a SP-404 digital sampler, then D.A.Ws like Fruity Loops and Ableton. From there, she integrated herself in a community of music-making friends.

Before she was SAILORR, she released music under the name Sailor Goon, a moniker inspired by the Japanese anime Sailor Moon that nodded to the “soft but also hard” style of her personality. “I have gone through a lot of shit in my life and had to grow up to be a super, hyper-independent person,” she says, declining to go into detail. Her early sample-driven songs showcased her fluid runs and deep, resonant voice (most, if not all, of these songs have since been taken down). But it was in “Pookie’s Requiem,” her first major release under the abbreviated name SAILORR, where she found her pocket”.

The next interview I am sourcing is Teen Vogue. Published in May, SAILORR discussed FROM FLORIDA’S FINEST, cultural appropriation and being a reformed crashout. If you have not heard SAILORR and are fresh to her music then do make sure that you spend some time with her. Someone who is very much carving her own path through the music scene:

“TV: When you're creating music, do you think about how people are going to receive it, or do you just do it for yourself, and then whatever comes next is up to fate?

SAILORR: I don't feel much pressure or constraints to create anything, thankfully, because I know that pressure does build over time for many artists. My music is definitely for me. I feel like maybe three-quarters into writing, I'll think about it and be like, “Is this going to hit with people? Is it going to resonate with anybody?” But if it resonates with me, that's all that really matters. I don't get too heady.

TV: You previously said that music has always been an intimate thing for you, and you didn't expect people to see what you were creating. Has that changed since “Pookie's Requiem”? Has it changed your approach to making music?

SAILORR: No. It is very much an intuition thing. I'm always going to follow my gut and what feels right… Censoring how I feel or what I say just goes against my entire ethos — of course, with limitations to not harming other people and not harming yourself. I think that, in general, you should never put any boundaries on yourself because then that's stifling a lot of solid groundwork that you could be making on getting to know yourself.

This project in itself was a huge learning opportunity for me as a certified people pleaser all my life. I was always told to just be as small as possible and not be true to what I actually want and say. It was a challenge for me to get over that and be like, “This is my music. Nobody else is gonna write this sh*t for me.” I needed to bear how I really feel and think about what the f*ck I want to say and just say it.

TV: When you released “Pookie's Requiem,” you got a lot of attention but a lot of detractors and critics. Speaking to The Fader, you said that you always try to pay homage to the artists that came before you, but also show respect and not piss people off. How do you toe that line? I would love to get your thoughts on how artists as a whole can approach the whole cultural appropriation versus appreciation conversation thoughtfully.

SAILORR: At the end of the day, there's a multitude of ways you can cause harm to people that you may not even be aware of, and that's the root of cultural appropriation. I think that when you make music and art, it needs to be genuine to your authentic self. That's all you really know, and that's all you can really stick to.

The key is to try your best to just continue learning because there is always [so] much to f*cking know — so much history and so much future. I feel like I took a lot of time to just be a student of music in general and just the world and learn where my place [is] in it. Art makes the world go around, and you have to be aware of your place in it before you put it out there.

PHOTO CREDIT: Alex Figs

TV: When did you realize that art made your world go around?

SAILORR: Probably a couple of years after high school. 2020 was when I really wanted to delve into it. That's when I started learning how to sample and make beats in Ableton. I actually started in Fruity [Loops or FL Studio], but that was a feat within itself. Honestly, the pandemic really set that sh*t off. You're at the crib, you literally have nothing else to do with your time, so it definitely sparked that first catalyst.

TV: I feel like you mention your pen a lot. Did you do any writing before you started playing around with sampling?

SAILORR: I feel like I have a strong basis in writing scripts for the stage and film because I’m just bored. I was helping my friend Liz at the time with her short film, and we just had a lot of aspirations and fun making really low-budget things at home. That was my basis, I suppose, is just making scripts that probably nobody would ever read and I would never ever produce, but it’s for me. It's my practice.

TV: What's your main goal when you're making music?

SAILORR: I go into the studio trying to find the most niche way possible that I can relate to somebody — like “DONE SHAVING 4 U.” It's fun to find very specific situations that most people can relate to — well, really, women. I write songs for ladies. I don't give a f*ck about the boys.

No, that's not true, but this entire project is about ingenuity and femininity and just literally having to make something out of nothing my entire life, and I think that that's what women have to do in general. We fight the good fight. So I'm going to find the most mundane ways to just hit home for people that also really exhibit a certain feeling or a memory.

TV: It's funny that you said you make music for women, because I've read another quote from you where you said everything you do is inspired by women. Who are the most influential women in your life?

SAILORR: Within my inner circle, I would say probably my grandma and my older sister, but generally speaking… [beat] I've never actually been asked this. I'm like, “Damn.” I think Nikki Giovanni, as a person overall, has always inspired me. She's fire. There are so many women out in the world who just do great things, but that's off the top.

TV: Right now, while we're speaking, the album is days away. What's going through your mind at the moment?

SAILORR: I'm like, “Finally! Damn.” The day that we turned in the project, I was like, “This just doesn't feel right. I'm like, what do we do?” I mean, obviously, there's so much more work to be done. But in terms of the actual music itself, I just wasn't ready to let go of it. I could sit here for another three years and think about this. But I had to force myself into the mindset of “I'm ready to put this out.”

It's weird listening back to a lot of the music sometimes, because some of it I don't resonate with anymore. Of course, I love the music and I love all these songs, but I think that in general it was writing from a place that I'm not in anymore, so it's like opening a random page on your diary and being like, “Damn that's what I was doing that day?”

TV: How does it feel to see your thoughts from that time period? Because there are a lot of breakup-inspired songs, and speaking to Apple, you said you're in a happy relationship now…

SAILORR: Thank God. If anybody stresses me out like that again, I'm crashing out. But no, it's cool. I think it's also because healing is so nonlinear. I'll listen back to the songs and I'll be like, “Damn girl, I know what you're talking about.”

Similar to that diary entry, when you read it back, you love that other person still — not my ex. I'm talking about me. The younger version of myself who wrote that entry. I mean, I got love for my ex, too. It is very important to the human experience to reflect back on all of that time because it does force you to see the imperfections and makes you have grace for yourself and for that other person.

Hearing the songs, I wish I could go to my younger self and tell her it was going to be okay, because it's great now! I can still feel those things. They will never go away. But I definitely don't resonate with trying to go fight somebody's mom. I'm definitely not going to do that.

TV: How did you go about selecting the singles? What made them stand out to you to be like, "Yeah, this needs to be out before the album"?

SAILORR: I wish I could say I was more calculated about things, especially when it comes to my rollout, but honestly, I literally was just like, "This feels good. Put it out." Boom. I really like [Martin] Scorsese, you know what I mean? It wasn't super calculated to where I knew what the next five singles were, but it definitely felt like I was tracing a bit of a world, and I knew that I wanted to open up the project with at least the five pillars of what makes the music me.

I wanted people to hear the writing. I wanted people to just feel the production, because I feel in general Zach [Ezzy] and Adam [Krevlin] are so crazy. Two geniuses, bro. I love them so much. We just all crafted such a unique sound, so I really wanted to spend my time with the singles sharing that”.

The final interview I want to highlight is from NME from earlier in the year. There are other interviews I want to direct people towards. This UPROXX interview is well worth a read. You need to go and follow SAILORR now. She is an exceptional talent. I am excited that SAILORR is coming to the U.K. She plays London’s Jazz Club on 2nd July. That is going to be a very special gig. She has a lot of fans here, though I feel she will pick up plenty of new ones that night:

“What inspires you?

“It can be anything: a feeling, a colour, or a scene out of a movie. Honestly, I pull a lot from memes. I’ll find a funny ass one and take a one-liner from it and build around that. That’s pretty much how I’ve been making all of my music for the past year. The only way for you to cut through to people is by balancing honesty and vulnerability with humour and wit.

“[When I was in sixth grade,] I finally got my own means to listen to music and dove into stuff like Lana Del Rey, Modest Mouse, and, of course, Odd Future. Tyler, The Creator made me feel like, ‘Damn, you can be alternative and people will fuck with you.’”

“When I made ‘Pookie’s Requiem’, I was really talking shit in the studio. I was really on one”

You sing a lot about love…

“Being a recovered people-pleaser, I have had to unlearn a lot of shit about love growing up. Without all these relationships and experiences, though, I wouldn’t have a very clear view of what I want and what I stand for. When you have intimate relationships with people, even friendships, it’s a huge teller of what your boundaries are. So, yeah, what can I say – I love love!”

What moment made you realise music was for you?

“I don’t think I ever felt that. I never knew it was going to work. I just did it because it was the only thing that made sense to me.

“That feeling of your music falling on deaf ears is one of the fucking worst feelings ever because this is your art and it’s so personal, so I’ve conditioned myself to [say], ‘Look: you don’t do this for the listeners, you don’t do this for anybody else but you!’ Once I tapped into that, that’s when shit started working.’”

Is it important to bring your Vietnamese heritage into your artistry?

“With everything I do, I want to give proper respect to those who came before me: whether that’s R&B and Black culture in general – like, all music is Black art, let’s be for real – or, of course, my own heritage. Having grown up in an immigrant family, that already bleeds into who I am. So, it’s not a conscious thing for me to be like, ‘Oh, I want to do a fan dance [for From The Block] because it’s going to highlight me as a Vietnamese person. That’s a product of my environment.”

What do you hope your music does for years to come?

“I do music to open myself and those I love up to opportunities we wouldn’t otherwise have. In the world of art – we all mesh them together to make the world a better place. With my music, I want to make people feel like, ‘Yeah, I can and I will do what I want’”.

I will finish with another piece from NME. This is a review of FROM FLORIDA’S FINEST. It is one of the best albums of the year. I do hope that SAILORR has more gigs planned for the U.K. I am not sure if I have heard her music played on the radio here. She does deserve for more stations to feature her stuff. It is wonderful and needs to be heard by as wide an audience as possible:

“That ability to cry one moment and crack up the next defines ‘From Florida’s Finest’. Between emotional verses and tender melodies, Sailorr peppers the tape with unhinged skits that feel lifted from her camera roll. There’s the snot-nosed outro on ‘Pookie’s Requiem’, her hyping up a friend’s freestyle on ‘MSG’, and trying to wrangle her delusional “male-centred” friend after she hits the curb on ‘Gimme Dat Lug Nut’. These aren’t throwaway moments – they’re windows into her world, blurring the line between heartbreak and voicemail, pop and parody.

She blurs the lines well. ‘Down Bad’ and ‘Grrl’s Grrl’ are moreish servings of fluttery vocals, trampoline-like 808s and comedic storytelling. But ‘Done Shaving 4 U’ and ‘Itadakimasu’ are the funniest tracks on the mixtape. The former calls out all the “bums” who’ve played with Sailorr’s heart, delivering an earnest track about cutting ties with a man who can’t make an effort, all wrapped in a signature Sailorr-ism: “Couldn’t get me no drink from the corner store / On the bed, no frame, straight on the floor / Boy, you a waste, so I ain’t shaving my legs for you no more.”

Meanwhile, ‘Itadakimasu’ sparkles with twinkling chimes and lush organ chords, evoking a nostalgic 2010s minimalism found in Tumblr-era hits. Lyrically, it’s one of her funniest, commanding a potential suitor to “come bless this (meow) for you” and joking, “I like my men soft-spoken, but real loud with their pockets.” That cheek, paired with her silky tones, places her squarely in the orbit of SZA, Doja Cat, and Summer Walker – and on ‘From Florida’s Finest’, she belongs right alongside them.

However, that comparison doesn’t always work in her favour. ‘Cut Up’ – although a sultry and soulful toxic tale of unrequited love – does feel like a watered-down version of a SZA song. ‘Bitches Brew’ is twinkly and slick while dripping with baddie energy, but its overly glitzy production and sugar-coated chorus veer dangerously close to ‘Planet Her’-era Doja Cat. Although the ethos of letting chaos boil and getting your lick back works well in theory, the song’s syrupy, subdued style weakens her usual bite and stops it from becoming the empowering anthem it could be.

When Sailorr doesn’t compromise her artistry, she strikes gold. Yes, she sometimes slips unknowingly into repetitive pop formulas, but her headstrong flair and inimitable pen game elevate her beyond just another viral sensation. She’s not quite gunning for a spot next to Doja, SZA or Summer Walker, but she’s circling the same orbit, carving out a lane with just as much attitude. ‘From Florida’s Finest’ is more than an introduction – it’s a love-soaked, meme-sprinkled dispatch from the generation of oversharers”.

Do make sure that you seek out SAILORR. This is an artist that I really know is going to enjoy this very long career. Even though I am new to her music, it made an instant impression on me! I am determined to follow her career and see where she goes from here. This is an artist that you…

CAN’T miss out on.

___________

Follow SAILORR

PHOTO CREDIT: Alex Figs

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/sailorr/

TikTok:

https://www.tiktok.com/@fromfloridasfinest?lang=en

Twitter:

https://x.com/fromflfinest

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/6ucHomyCWjxmvbyqAAbSci?si=B8KODsVIQtCNJsN9YHoUbg

YouTube:

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

FEATURE: Snowed In: For Those Who Do Not Rate Kate Bush’s Modern Work As Highly As Her 1980s Albums

FEATURE:

 

Snowed In

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 2005 around the release of Aerial/PHOTO CREDIT: Trevor Leighton

For Those Who Do Not Rate Kate Bush’s Modern Work As Highly As Her 1980s Albums

__________

I do think that…

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in a promotional image for 2011’s Director’s Cut/PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush

there is assumption in the Kate Bush fan community that her very best work came in the 1980s. That is hard to argue against. 1980’s Never for Ever was a step forward from her 1978 albums, The Kick Inside and Lionheart – even though the former is my favourite album ever - and there are some all-time best Kate Bush songs on that album (including Babooshka, Army Dreamers and Breathing). 1982’s The Dreaming is experimental and dense. Kate Bush creating something more akin to art rather than music. The Fairlight CMI creating this sonic world. Hounds of Love is ambitious and grand more had more accessible moments compared to The Dreaming. The classic singles on the first side and the sublime and genius The Ninth Wave on the second side. The brilliant yet underrated The Sensual World in 1989. Bush’s best decade for album releases, when we rank her output, many people will put Hounds of Love first and then The Dreaming will be top three. Maybe Never for Ever will come in the top three or possibly fourth position. However, as hard as it would be to say 2011’s Director’s Cut should rank alongside her very best work, I do think it gets dismissed out of hand without people giving it a chance or truly listening. Understanding the importance of the album and the fact Kate Bush reworked and re-recorded songs from The Sensual World and 1993’s The Red Shoes. However, 2005’s Aerial and 2011’s 50 Words for Snow should be seen as among her best work. Again, when it comes to album rankings, Aerial fares better than 50 Words for Snow. That said, neither album scores as highly as it should. People perhaps unable to get past the 1980s and being stuck in this assumption that nothing can beat those albums. That work that came later is vastly inferior. I confess Hounds of Love especially has this incredible production sound. Bush, as producer, creating so many pages of notes; spending so long with the songs. She created this masterpiece.

Listen to Aerial and the masterful production on that album. I would argue the album is grander and more evocative than Hounds of Love. Bush consciously having another conceptual suite, twenty years after she recorded one for Hounds of Love. Aerial’s second disc is A Sky of Honey. The songwriting is exquisite. The diversity of themes. From celebrating her young son to talking about Pi through to memories of her mother, it is an album that has home and family at the heart. I have talked about this before. Some of its most beautiful moments come on the first side. Underplayed songs like Joanni, How to Be Invisible and A Coral Room are not only unique and extraordinary songs in terms of their lyrics. The production on those songs is phenomenal. The almost cinematic A Sky of Honey one of the best things Kate Bush ever recorded. 50 Words for Snow, again, is defined by its flawless production. Bush able to bring the listener into the songs. Maybe people were less awed of this album because it has longer songs and requires a bit more patience. At seven tracks, it focuses more ion songs unfurling and creating this sonic world. Kate Bush, by 2011, no longer concerned with radio playlists or recording songs that are obvious singles (though Wild Man was released as a single, possibly as it is the shortest track on the album!). There is this division between Bush’s 1980s best and her ‘modern’ albums – those that came in the twenty-first century. I am very much a fan of her later work. Not to say people are ignorant to the brilliance of Kate Bush’s recent albums. I just think there is this sweeping view that her earlier albums, particularly Hounds of Love, are the very best and that the likes of 50 Words for Snow are not in the same league. It bring to mind another interesting point to consider. Look at the reviews for Aerial and 50 Words for Snow and there are more four and five-star reviews than there are for The Dreaming or Never for Ever. Maybe Hounds of Love tops them but, in terms of aggregate reviews, there is not a lot of space between Hounds of Love and Aerial/50 Words for Snow.

Reviewers in 2005 and 2011 dolling out massive praise to albums that they viewed to be among the best of that year. It is strange that, when they rank Kate Bush’s albums, releases that were reviewed more poorly are seen as superior. I would say there does seem to be this instant and understandable rush of love for any new Kate Bush album. However, when it comes to putting some distance between themselves and the albums, critics will perhaps consider them less fondly. Even if 50 Words for Snow got quite a few five-star reviews, that does not mean it will be ranked alongside Hounds of Love. I guess it is a subjective thing. The albums are vastly different. I do hope that those who feel Aerial or 50 Words for Snow are not as interesting or worthy as the albums Kate Bush released in the 1980s to properly investigate these albums. These newer works. I have considered this before. However, today, I wanted people to listen to the production. The arrangement of the songs and the atmospheres that Kate Bush summons. The track sequencing as well. They are sublime and fascinating albums that have so more depth to them. Many people do not recognise this. I am going to wrap up in a minute. However, I was keen to almost come to the defence of Kate Bush’s more contemporary work. Of course, 50 Words for Snow is her most recent album. When she does release a new album, you know it will get ecstatic reviews. In years to come, will this album gain the same sort of affection as Hounds of Love or The Dreaming?!

Here is an example of an album ranking list where 50 Words for Snow was placed tenth (out of ten) and Aerial was fifth; this one a little kinder to 50 Words for Snow. I guess fifth place for Aerial is not too bad. However, the album does not get played as much as others. Not discussed widely. It turns twenty in November, so let’s hope it is given overdue appreciation and spotlight. Perhaps this 2019 NME ranking is the fairest when it comes to the power and potency of Aerial and 50 Words for Snow. I know rankings are subjective. Even so, you can argue that two of Bush’s best albums remain underrated. How do we get past that? Can you ever really turn people’s opinions?! I guess we need to highlight the brilliance of the albums and the incredible production work. People need to listen to Kate Bush interviews from 2005 and 2011. I wonder if a new generation of Kate Bush fans even know about Aerial or 50 Words for Snow. They are albums not really featured much on TikTok or played on the radio. They do not feature on T.V. shows or film and they are albums that demand the listener is immersed and focused. Aerial is a double album and is very long whilst 50 Words for Snow has no typically ‘short’ song. Compared to the tracks on Never for Ever or Hounds and Love and it might be understandable why these are seen as more digestible. I would love to see someone produce short videos and clips online backed by songs from the 2005 and 2011 albums. Interspersed by Kate Bush interview audio. There are not that many features written about Aerial or 50 Words for Snow. This really needs to change. I cannot begrudge people for heralding Kate Bush’s 1980s albums. I love them too. However, we need to give Aerial, 50 Words for Snow and even Director’s Cut more props. Once you truly listen to the albums, you understand Kate Bush is as fine a producer and visionary as…

SHE was in the 1980s.

FEATURE: Pride Month 2025: Modern L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ Tracks

FEATURE:

 

 

Pride Month 2025

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Nash/PHOTO CREDIT: Emily Marcovecchio

Modern L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ Tracks

__________

BECAUSE it is…

PHOTO CREDIT: Markus Spiske/Pexels

Pride Month, I am keen to put out a few features. The first one is a playlist of L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ tracks. Ones from the past year or two. I have talked recently about Kate Nash’s new pro-trans song, GERM. It is one of the best tracks of the year and also one of the most needed/important. Not only does it take swipe at supposed feminists who are anti-trans – such as JK Rowling -, but it is a song that shows solidarity with the trans community – one that constantly comes under attack. With their rights being stripped and with the Supreme Court stating a woman is defined by sex (and not their gender), it is another attack on the trans community. Glamour reacted to the new Kate Nash single:

“Kate Nash has released a scathing track condemning TERFs (and specifically J.K. Rowling), titled “GERM.”

The singer dropped the song and its accompanying lyric video on Wednesday. It opens with a refrain that explains the meaning behind the acronym: “Girl listen up / You’re not radical / Exclusionary, regressive, misogynist / Germ! Germ / Nah you’re not rad at all.”

The rest of the song consists of Nash speaking over an instrumental, percussion-heavy track. With each verse, she dispels TERF talking points with some cold, hard, surprisingly well-researched facts.

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For example, part of the second verse is, “Women are facing serious dangers / Not during boxing matches or from trans people needing a piss / But from actual violence that is carried out against them every week / According to End Violence Against Women, every 3 days a woman is killed / By a man / More than 100,000 girls are at risk and living with the consequences of FGM, forced marriage and honour-based abuse.”

But as with all good protest songs, Nash includes not just data, but feelings, including the memorable couplet, “It’s just a social construct / It’s all a load of bollocks.”

That research-heavy tone is likely due to the fact that the song originally took the form of an essay, as Nash explained in an interview with Attitude. But when the UK Supreme Court issued its recent ruling, stating that trans men and women cannot legally be considered men and women, the musician “just reacted.”

“I just wanted it to be on record, in music history and in feminist history, for there to be somebody else in culture that is saying that I just don’t believe that’s feminism,” Nash told the magazine.

It was especially meaningful for her as a British public figure “Because at the moment, the loudest cultural voice in the room, who created one of the most successful things ever to come out of the UK, Harry Potter, is transphobic, and is very cruel online and very crass, and it’s just become so nasty.” Nash was referring to J.K. Rowling, who recently founded an organisation that will provide funding for cis women pursuing court cases against trans people.

The J.K. Rowling Women’s Fund (JKRWF) website reads, “JKRWF offers legal funding support to individuals and organisations fighting to retain women’s sex-based rights in the workplace, in public life, and in protected female spaces. It provides women with the means and confidence to bring to justice cases that make legal precedents, force policy change, and make positive contributions to women’s lives in the future.”

Nash even went so far as to post a picture of Rowling on her Instagram story (and specifically, the photo that the author posted to X after the ruling was announced). Over the photo, Nash wrote, “A trans exclusionary feminist will always be a GERM. Even if it decided to identify as a feminist for the purposes of this celebration. It would remain objectively provably & demonstratively… a GERM”.

The mixtape at the end not only are songs relating to the L.G.T.Q.I.A.+ community. There are many brilliant songs by artists who are L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ I have not included every artist, though I have featured quite a nice selection. I will do other features to celebrate this Pride Month. It is such an important time to recognise and support the L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ community. Whether that is through sharing posts, spotlighting artists or putting together a playlist, there are many ways to…

PHOTO CREDIT: Joshua Mcknight/Pexels

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