FEATURE: More Love: The Iconic Smokey Robinson at Eighty: The Playlist

FEATURE:

 

More Love

The Iconic Smokey Robinson at Eighty: The Playlist

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IT is always great celebrating a music birthday…

and I could not pass up the chance to mark Smokey Robinson’s eightieth birthday today (19th February)! He is an artist that I grew up listening to, and was instantly fascinated by. As a solo artist or with The Miracles, there is nobody who has the same sort of range and talent as Robinson! Seen as The King of Motown, Smokey Robinson is credited with four-thousand songs, and thirty-seven Top-40 hits, including Tears of a Clown, Tracks of My Tears, and Love Machine. Robinson also served as Vice President of Motown Records, writing and producing hits for groups such as The Temptations (My Girl) and Mary Wells (My Guy). William ‘Smokey’ Robinson Jr. was born on 19th February, 1940, and is a truly legendary American singer, songwriter, record producer, and former record executive. Robinson is the founder and lead of the Motown vocal group, The Miracles. He fronted the group from 1955 until 1972, but announced his retirement from the group to concentrate on his role as Motown's Vice President. Robinson came back to music as a solo artist the next year - following the sale of Motown Records in 1988, Robinson left the company in 1990. Quite rightly, Robinson was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987. There is no telling just how far his influence spreads as, as we have already discovered, he has written so many songs and his genius seems to know no limits!

I want to bring in an interview from 1968, where Rolling Stone declared Robinson the ‘reigning genius of the top 40’. It was clear, even then, how much music and creating meant to him:

“Smokey does four tunes an afternoon because he is a Top-40 hitmaker, a professional. He is Mr. Motown; small, agile, and very lightskinned, his physical presence is the opposite of the late Otis Redding‘s. In his dressing room after a show at a plush, white middle class club in San Francisco, he whipped off the orange handkerchief he had put over his closely razored process when he noticed pictures were being taken; the do-rag, apparently, is not the Motown image.

Interviewed, he was like a bright salesman for a progressive company. Yet his politeness, good nature, and respect for all performers, while the cliched public attributes of a showman, seemed also the virtues of a man beyond vanity. He and his group, he said, “just dig music, jazz, pop, rock and roll, folk, blues, or whatever.”

Up at the top of his great list (also on it are Henry Mancini, Bacharach and David, Otis Redding, baseball, basketball, swimming, and Motown – “one big happy, spiritual family, man”) are the Miracles. “We’ve stayed together because we legitimately love each other. Some groups, everything becomes more important to the group than the members. You see groups of cats, and they’re falling out about a different girl or this and that. It’s a drag.

IN THIS PHOTO: Smokey Robinson performs at the BET Awards on 28th June, 2015 in Los Angeles/PHOTO CREDIT: MPI10/MediaPunch/IPX

“Staying together has a lot to do with the way you treat people and the simple aspect of being lucky that people dig you for that long – because people don’t have to dig you. This is one thing that recording artists get off into where after they’ve had a few hit records they think it’s them. They think, ‘well, if I was the milkman, when I was coming down the street all the girls would come out of the house and say “oh, he’s coming with the milk,” and tear their clothes off’.

I wonder whether we will see another album from Smokey Robinson. He released Christmas Everyday (Amazon Original) through his Smokey Robinson label, and Smokey & Friends through Verve Records in 2015. As the wonderful, one and only Smokey Robinson celebrates his eightieth birthday, I have compiled a playlist below contained some of his best songs. I have skimmed his history and legacy, and I would encourage people to read up and look at interviews he has conducted to learn more about the great man. In this 2018 interview, Robinson was asked what it was like being a central figure of the Motown label:

“You were a central figure in the most important label of the century, in terms of music and in terms of social impact. What does that mean to you?

That means everything to me, man. That’s beyond our wildest dreams. Berry and I talk about it all the time. We never dared to dream that Motown would become what it has become. The very first day of Motown, there were five people there. Berry Gordy sat us down and said, “I’m going to start my own record company. We are not just going to make black music — we’re going to make music for the world.” That was our plan, and we did it”.

Just listen to Smokey Robinson’s amazing and decades-spanning back catalogue, and one realises there is nobody else in the world quite like this…

SIMPLY masterful songwriter.  

FEATURE: Part of the Crowd: Making the Gig Experience Accessible to Everyone

FEATURE:

Part of the Crowd

PHOTO CREDIT: @marvelous/Unsplash

Making the Gig Experience Accessible to Everyone

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I was listening to the radio the…

PHOTO CREDIT: @chrisjoelcampbell/Unsplash

other day, and a caller was saying how his daughter, who has autism, was only really free and confident when she was going to gigs. The rest of the time – at home and out and about – she was a lot more nervous and anxious. There are great organisations like Gig Buddies that pair up those with learning difficulties and autism to ensure that they can go to events. It is a great organisation, and one that enables those who can feel isolated become more involved and part of a community. I think an initiative like Gig Buddies is brilliant. On their website, you can discover what they are about:

“The idea behind Gig Buddies is that we want to enable people with learning disabilities and/or autism to enjoy all the great things going on in their community, especially live music. Gig Buddies is a project that pairs up people with and without learning disabilities (and/or autism) to be friends and to go to events together. The Gig Buddies project aims to make volunteering easier for people in Sussex by enabling volunteers to go to gigs they’d already probably be going to anyway, but with someone with a learning disability.

This means they’ll be sharing their passions with each other and be able to fit their volunteering around their other commitments.

Gig Buddies people come from all over Sussex, including Brighton and Hove, Worthing, Chichester, Lewes, Uckfield, Eastbourne and Hastings”.

Whilst Gig Buddies is growing and is helping so many people, it got me thinking about my own predicament – and so many people similar to myself. It is wonderful for people who can go to gigs confidently and blend in but, for so many people, that is not a reality. I have been to gigs in the past, but I find it quite challenging contemplating gigs; the idea of a festival is appealing but, when it comes to navigating my way around and feeling comfortable, it is not something I can do alone. Last year, it was announced that Lewis Capaldi was making his gigs more accessible to those with anxiety and mental-health problems. Whilst it is not possible for every artist to do this for every gig, I do wonder whether a wider scheme can be run. There are plenty of dating websites and apps, but I wonder how many equivalent sites there are when it comes to partnering people for gigs. There are so many people who want to see an artist but have nobody to go with; there are others who feel intimated at gigs and would benefit from someone more experienced and confident partnering with them. It would be similar to Gig Buddies, but I think one could develop an app that catered specifically to gig-goers who have autism, mental-health issues, or feel isolated and in need of company.

PHOTO CREDIT: @timscreate/Unsplash

I think the status of live venues around the country will improve; more and more will be secure and get the funding they need. With that, so many acts are going to be out there and cutting their teeth. One cannot get the gig experience online, so they need to be in venues and at festivals. There are so many people in society that are made nervous at the thought of going to gigs alone, even if they sorely want to see that audience. Maybe it is a problem with social interaction or a sense of feeling trampled when in large crowd. In any case, I do think there is a market for a website or organisation that goes nationwide and provides gig companions – I’ll avoid saying ‘buddies’ to avoid copyright - for those who struggle on their own. Over the next couple of days, I am writing a couple of features that suggest ideas in the music industry – I am writing about an interactive music museum and the return of MTV (in its classic form) very soon. I know there are a lot of people who are confining themselves to home, because they cannot handle the gig/festival experience on their own. Whilst an app or national incentive might be great for pairing people together, what about venues and festivals in general? Whilst some big artists (like Lewis Capaldi) are ensuring there are safe spaces at their gigs for people with anxiety and other mental-health concerns, how realistic would it be for all venues and festivals to make similar accommodations?

PHOTO CREDIT: @aranxa_esteve/Unsplash

Some argue those with physical disabilities and restrictions are not catered for when it comes to big venues – another area that needs to be addressed. The live music scene is wonderful, and every artist wants as many people to see their gigs as possible. It is going to be costly and time-consuming making sure venues are comfortable for all gig-goers and, right now, the sheer power and importance of having someone by your side cannot be undervalued. I like the fact that Sofar Sounds host smaller gigs at random locations, which can be less intimidating – even then, those with autism and other mental-health problems can still feel exposed. I realise there are various forms of autism, and not just anyone can pair up and be able to cope with an illness that can be quite hard to understand. There is a lot to work out, but it all comes back to that radio call-in – that I mentioned right at the top – and how, wonderfully, gigs can be a lifeline to those with conditions like autism. I think there are short and long-term ways to make sure venues and festivals are open and accommodating to everyone. As festivals announce their line-ups and there are tantalising gigs happening all around the world, I have a desire to go and see a few – though I often feel worried about venturing out on my own or sort of getting lost in the crowd. That’s why I think new initiatives would help me and many other people feel…  

PHOTO CREDIT: @maximebhm/Unsplash

INCLUDED and safe.  

FEATURE: Spotlight: Ali Barter

FEATURE: 

Spotlight

Ali Barter

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THIS year’s festivals are announcing their…

PHOTO CREDIT: Lindsey Byrnes

line-ups, and there are a few that have been in the press because of the lack of female representation – most recently, Reading & Leeds. My eye has been drawn to the ever-reliable The Great Escape which, down in Brighton each year, showcases the best new talent around. Make sure you catch Ali Barter at the festival alongside all the other great acts – a celebration of the finest rising artists and, with that, we get equality and variation in spades! Barter is one of these artists who can mix a more sugared Pop sound but provide deep and layered music with plenty of bite and edge; capturing you with her amazing voice and keeping you engrossed with her music, which seems to unfurl and reveal new things every time you listen. Barber was born in Melbourne in 1986. An internment childhood involved time in Lae, Papa New Guinea; the family then relocated to Cairns before ending up in Melbourne. Barter trained as a classical violinist and spend eight years singing as part of the Australian Girls Choir. Maybe that life and sound was too constrained, and Barber sound isolated herself from the choir – by her own admission, she did not contribute a huge amount. I have included all the Ali Barter social media links at the bottom of this feature – make sure you follow her and check out her music.

I will do a bit of a chronological look at her career so far, mentioning her two studio albums. Before her accomplished 2017 debut, A Suitable Girl, Barter put out the E.P.s Trip (2012), Community (2014), and the excellent AB-EP (2015). Although A Suitable Girl reached number-seventeen in the Australian chart, it did get coverage from media sources around the world. Singles like Far Away, Cigarette, and Please Stay are remarkable moments that formed part of a varied and personal album. Even before the album arrived in 2017, Barter was turning heads and shaping up to be a name to watch. In 2016, she was interviewed by Howl & Echoes. Barter was asked about her recording and preparation of her debut album:

 “On Instagram, you have been sharing pictures from the studio. Is it ever a challenge getting your backing band on board with what you are doing musically?

I write all my own music, so I start off writing by myself and then I do some co-writing with other people before bringing it to the band. I’m lucky that they like what I bring to them, they are pretty chill. They just like to play music and they play with various other bands to so I’ve never had to deal with issues. They might think bad things but they never say it.

One of the highlights of 2016 for was collaborating onstage with Ecca Vandal for Triple J’s 10 years of Unearthed party. Are there any big collaborations coming up for you over the next 12 months?

I did some co-writing on the album I’m currently writing which was fun. Nobody is performing on the record, but Bertie Blackman and I did some co-writing, and I also some co-writing with Adalita which was a dream co-write, despite the fact that she had a horrible cold and was only there for two hours, with me feeling really bad that she had come such a long way just to write a song with me. She was amazing, though.

You’ve said in the past that “classic songwriting” is what you really love and aim for. How do you define this personally?

I grew up listening to Frank Sinatra, my dad and I would listen to him along with Cole Porter and Geroge Gershwin and all those old standard writers. When I think of classic songwriting I think of really simple structures, like “verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, chorus.” Song. Done. I also love pop music so I love a catchy hook or a tag-line, similar to Sia in Chandelier. I guess they are two artists that I look to. Country music also has classic songwriting. Stuff that has a really nice melody and simple structure, plus a message”.

It is interesting reading Barter describe her influences and the combination of acts/sounds that influence her own music. Every artist grows up around different music, and it seems like Barter’s musical upbringing was a remarkably good and eclectic one.

 PHOTO CREDIT: @charlesengelken

I stumbled upon Barter’s music just before she put out her second album last year, so I have been working backwards in a way and digging into her earliest material now! Although most of the reviews (by and large) for A Suitable Girl were from Australia and New Zealand, there was plenty of positive proclamation and support. This NZ Herald review is full of praise:

 “Is it time for the grunge revival yet? What about Britpop? Ali Barter probably doesn't fit snugly in either pigeonhole, but the very notion should be enough to tell you where her sound is coming from.

The Melbourne-based singer songwriter's debut album is loud and proud, like Courtney Barnett turned up to 11.

But don't get lost in the catchy guitar hooks, Barter has a way with lyrics too. Her breakthrough single Girlie Bits details the treatment of women in the music industry: "Give us a smile, princess, it's better for business," she sings sweetly. "You don't understand what it's like to be a man," she repeats.

Another standout track is Cigarette, which asks questions about male superficiality, about the reduction of a woman to her looks. "If I shaved my head would you tell your friends you don't really care."

The album harks back to the 90s guitar pop era, with Barter's vocals a meeting of L7 and Veruca Salt, and the odd nod to Smashing Pumpkins in the music (she has cited Billy Corgan as an influence).

Beware: the heavy guitars can be a bit of an onslaught for the ears, but like all good rock music, that's what we're here for”.

I have scattered some songs through this feature, and you can see an artist evolving all the time; from her 2017 debut album to now, Barter has grown and gained new confidence. There was a lot of fascination from the media around the time of her debut album. Barter spoke with London in Stereo in 2017. Here, we learn more about her recording path and break into music:

 “Her creative journey saw her develop first through open mic nights and then through a series of EPs. Tracing her songwriting lineage she describes a period of the latter as one where “at some point I thought I should be more creative and I should use more complex metaphors and it should be darker and moodier.” Listening to the songs that form 2014’s Community, there’s an undercurrent of widescreen nocturnal drama running throughout, a world apart from from the sharp bursts that have come to characterise the earlier offerings of recently released debut album A Suitable Girl. It’s a record that draws from personal experience to create a soundtrack to a romantic drama, and draws from a Barter wanting to write a pop-punk album. “When I was writing it I was listening to a lot of Weezer and I’ve always loved people like Katy Perry and Britney Spears. I just wanted to write in a pop style and for it to be immediate and ‘wham-bam-thank you ma’am’. Big choruses, big fun beats and short, sharp songs.” It also marks an about-turn in her songwriting practices, with Barter summarising her style as “closer to the ones I wrote when I first started, and in the middle. My work when I first started – as it is now – was built from a place of wearing my heart on my sleeve with simple chords and lyrical honesty.”

But if a greater appreciation of women in music history needs a serious overhaul, Barter thinks the current situation has improved with “many [more] women in the Triple J Hottest 100 compared to years gone by. There’s so much more awareness about it now – it used to be where women could either be a rock chick or a pop princess. They can still be, those things still exist, but now we’ve got people who work in a folk style or with beats or people like Camp Cope being quite grungey. We have women who combine so many different aspects of their femininity to their music in an incredible way and it’s great to see. It’s not perfect by any means but it’s certainly better than it was.”

Not one to stand still, Barter has ambitions overseas. “I love playing in Australia but I definitely would like to go playing overseas at somepoint too, [but] the timing has to be right for that kind of stuff. If there’s interest, I’d love to go,” she says. “I think everyone wants to go overseas because Australia’s quite a small market and it’s very difficult to break through over here. I think deep down everyone has big ambitions and the internet has made it so easy for people to know who you are without leaving the country”.

It is interesting hearing Ali Barter talk about her desire to play overseas because, from April, she is in the U.K. and playing a few dates. I am sure there will be U.S. dates before long, but the fact there is a lot of interest in Britain shows how her music has translated and resonated far across the globe.

PHOTO CREDIT: Kane Hibbard

I am going to skip ahead and bring things up to next year and the run-in to her latest album, Hello, I’m Doing My Best. I want to pick out a couple of interviews from 2019; I also want to source from a review of the album. Barter is, as I said, an artist who developed and incorporated new aspects into her mix from her debut to sophomore album. By the time Hello, I’m Doing My Best was released last October, there was a fresh wave of attention at her feet. When she chatted with XS Noize, that question of upbringing and influence came up; she was also asked about the songwriting process for the second album – and whether she had ideas ahead of the recording:

 “Hi, Ali, can you remember when you first discovered your love for music?

AB: There was always music in my house growing up. My mum loved Patsy Cline and Fleetwood Mac but it was really my dad who played the most music. It was usually Frank Sinatra records and musicals, so I have memories singing ‘On My Own’ from Les Miserables in the mirror when I was very young. Music has always been my greatest passion.

Who were your musical influences growing up?

AB: I loved The Spice Girls and Sheryl Crow as a kid and then I moved on to Oasis and the Foo Fighters in my teens. I loved music with a strong melody and big anthemic choruses. I later discovered Cat Power and Liz Phair and found female songwriters and performers that I could relate too and emulate.

You release your second album ‘Hello, I’m Doing My Best’ on October 18th. Did you go into the recording with any preconceived ideas on how it should sound and the kind of songs you wanted to write about?

AB: I wanted this record to be less polished than the first one. More ‘band in a room’ style. I listened to the Weezer record ‘Pinkerton’ and lots of The Breeders. I wanted to have more space and fewer tracks, fewer guitars, and vocals mainly. I was intentionally writing songs that were more fun but the subject matter remained very autobiographical and honest. More so this time. Some of the topics are very raw.

What is your songwriting process for this record?

AB: I started out alone, getting my new ideas and intentions out, then I wrote with Oscar, my husband, and producer of the record to develop the sound of the songs. I also spent some time overseas writing with people I have written with before. I enjoy being out of my comfort zone when writing. It’s when all my feelings come up. When I’m home with all my safety nets, I don’t really write. I need to be lonely or scared or stressed to write”.

When she spoke with Stack, Barter was asked about why, when writing the album, she was pushing against herself:

“You also said that during writing, you discovered the “thing [you] were pushing against was [yourself].” That’s a pretty massive detection. Do you suspect that more of these kinds of personal revelations are coming in the future?

Haha, yes, always. I’m a very introspective person, so I’m always looking in to work out why I feel the way I do. It helps me to move forward. I’m definitely writing about stuff for the third record that is spinning me out a bit! But it’s all good and I enjoy digging out my flaws and letting them go. Or just accepting them, because some fears or flaws never leave – they just become quieter”.

I think Hello, I’m Doing My Best was one of 2019’s most-underrated album, and one that warrants a lot of fresh ears and investigation. I will wrap things up soon but, just now, I want to quote from The Line of Best Fit’s review of Barter’s stunning second studio album:

“A remarkable singer, Barter’s vocal confidence and skill is handed a refreshing lease of life throughout, and there is no doubt it is the right course of action. Plenty of high-pitched notes are delivered, and a balance is achieved with some of the deeper vocal range of her voice. “January” is an obvious, irresistible winner on this respect.

In terms of themes, there is plenty of consistency, and Barter is able to make sure a healthy amount of ground is covered. With her natural gift for the observational and the tragicomic, she tackles previous relationships, sobriety and people she has known. Sounding quite girlie at times, it is a record full of self-assurance and side-tracked by a brave, impossible-to-find honesty and vulnerability. Similar records may well have been made in the past, but they don’t project the same heartfelt vibe as this one.

It is possible to be fooled by the compelling, sugary pop song layers that unfold on this record, but there is so much more going on underneath it all and therein lies some of the complexity and fascination”.

Barter is coming to the U.K. very soon, and go and see her perform if you can. I am excited to see where Ali Barter might go and what lays ahead. Her music is the kind that definitely impacts when you first hear it – because of her amazing voice and knack of getting under the skin -, but one is compelled to keep listening, as these are tracks that bury themselves in the mind and grab the senses. If you are unfamiliar with Melbourne’s Ali Barter, take some time to get acquainted with this…

SENSATIONAL artist.

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Follow Ali Barter

Official:

https://www.alibartermusic.com/

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/alibmusic/

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/AliBarter_Music

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/alibarter/

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/1nqY30Z4Bj4NNqZITdGqpX?si=Viy13l68SvWzZzZrXmh06Q

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCULNHh-ovHefY2VvGR1iWQ

FEATURE: Modern Heroines: Part Twenty: Grimes

FEATURE:

 

Modern Heroines

Part Twenty: Grimes

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MY twentieth edition of this feature…

is quite timely. Whilst Grimes has only a few albums under her belt, I think she is an idol of the future. Certainly, she is someone who inspires others; she is an artist who does things like no other. Her album, Miss Anthropocene, is out on Friday (21st), and she has just released a new single: Delete Forever is an intriguing song and something she has not really done before. In terms of sound, it is a mix of Oasis and Country music and, if you know her previous work, it is quite a departure! She said that this was the first song that made her feel like she was a singer. Rather than experimentation and electronics, there is a more natural performance but, even if she has stepped away from her usual blueprint, it is a fantastic song that could only come from her mind! Miss Anthropocene is one of the most anticipated albums of this year, and I know it will be met with huge critical acclaim. Claire Elise Boucher is Grimes; born in 1988 in Canada, she is a multi-talented singer, songwriter, and producer – not to mention a visual artist! One reason why I think she is an idol is that her music mixes all sorts of sounds together. You get all these exotic tones and strange beats; it all melts together naturally, and you are transported into a new world.

Grimes was born and raised in Vancouver, and she began releasing material independently in the late-2000s. Grimes released two albums in 2010 – Geidi Primes and Halifaxa – more on them soon. Those albums were released through Arbutus Records, but she soon signed to 4AD. Just to track back a second…Boucher relocated from Vancouver to Montreal in 2006, where she attended McGill University; she studied for a double major in Neuroscience and Russian Literature – which might explain why her music is so damn smart and remains in the brain long after you have heard it! Although she left in 2011 before she got her degree, I can how her academic studies would have impacted her creativity and what she addressed in her music. Grimes released music on MySpace in 2007 – remember that great site?! – and her name came about because artists had to list their three favourite genres – ‘Grime’ was one of them Boucher chose! By 2010, Geidi Primes was out in the world. It was released on 10th January by Arbutus Records, and it was released in the U.K. the following year. As you’d expect from Grimes, her debut album was not conventional and lacking in depth. It is a concept album based on Frank Herbert’s novel, Dune, and David Lynch’s 1984 film adaptation. Despite the fact it would be a little while before Grimes accrued worldwide attention, her debut album did get a lot of positive reviews. This is Pitchfork’s reaction:

“As a vocalist, Grimes knows how to work her range. Though she's become known for her impressive falsetto (which she pushes to rapturous, Donna Summer-like heights on the Darkbloom single "Vanessa") and she can occasionally pull of a spooky low tone that's faintly reminiscent of Karin Dreijer Andersson, she spends much of Geidi Primes in mid-range, tuneful deadpan, which lends wry humor to the lines she coos to a lover on "Zoal, Face Dancer": "Everybody thinks that I'm boring/ Many people think I've got no clue." Just because she's spacey-- yes, nerds, those are Dune references scattered throughout the track listing-- doesn't mean she's without earthly wit. It takes a pretty good sense of humor to write an utterly gorgeous closer and call it "Beast Infection".

Given her restlessly prolific creativity (she followed up Geidi Primes with another solid 2010 release, Halfaxa) and the bounding artistic strides she's displayed with her recent singles, Grimes could very well be poised for a meteoric rise with the release of her next full length. But Geidi Primes shows that even her earliest recordings displayed a distinct point of view and an oddly mesmerizing quality. There’s something refreshingly "post-Internet" about that too-- a dreamy soundscape that invites an escape from the glitchy universe, a brief provocation to let go and just bliss out.

People spotted potential and brilliance back then, and it is over ten years since that album came out! I am not sure when I discovered Grimes, but it was probably around 2016 or 2017 – quite late to the party! After a successful and unique debut, Halifaxa cemented Grimes’ reputation as an artist to watch very closely. Grimes does mix a lot together and she covers a pretty large spread when it comes to genres. She is never reckless and scattershot when putting sounds together. Halifaxa is a superb album where Grimes is always in control and never sound disconnected. It is hard to describe the album; it is one that you need to come back to a few times as it has so much going on. In their excellent review, this is what the BBC wrote:

 “But it’s not a difficult set, really, not after revisiting its tracks a few times. Constituents might echo from distant homes, spread across the genre spectrum, but Boucher’s quite the craftsman when it comes to weaving a common thread between the elements. Ultimately, one arrives at a clutch of comparison-worthy acts – Gang Gang Dance being the most obvious, though only when the New Yorkers have turns their beats down and their ambient weirdness up. Also crawling, rather than springing, to mind are Salem, whose robust production is summoned on occasion; and Toro Y Moi, in the occasional shaft of sunlight that breaches the otherwise all-consuming darkness. There’s also a retro feel to some of the more upbeat moments – not exactly Studio 54, but certainly brighter than some other ‘net-charming solo sorts recalling 70s and 80s dancefloors behind their digital haze.

Spend long enough in Boucher’s company and one could conclude that, actually, this isn’t as clever as it thinks it is. Not true, though: that she’s made such an initially impenetrable album come brilliantly to life after a second or third spin is a clear sign of (quite a singular) talent. Halfaxa is literally a grower: come back again, and again, and it spreads a second-skin over the listener, one that feels like it was always there. Highs are hard to isolate given the album’s well-designed overall arc, but nevertheless: Weregild breaks from 16-bit twitchiness to some arrestingly witchy vocals and surrounding atmospherics; Devon is a delightful drift that represents one of the record’s most accessible pieces – part Washed Out, part Enya, incredibly; and Hallways glitches and sloshes like Hudson Mohawke trapped in a haunted dungeon.

Persevere, then, and Halfaxa is quite the beguiling beauty – though it’ll likely have you waking in a cold sweat if enjoyed right before bedtime.

It was 2012 when Grimes started to really get into the consciousness of the worldwide media. Her albums in 2010 are brilliant, but it was 2012’s Visions that took her to a whole new level. It was her first album for the 4AD label, and Visions was recorded entirely on Apple’s GarageBand. Now, artists are recording albums on phones and using technology to replace the studio. It was happening in 2012, but not nearly as much as it is now. I am not saying Grimes inspired artists today to record in a less expensive and more accessible way, but the groundbreaking Visions definitely went a long way to change the way artists record and release their music.

With songs like Genesis and Oblivion, Visions is an album that was always going to garner a lot of praise and focus. Still, Grimes was this very original and experimental artist, but I feel like Visions is actually pretty accessible. One does not need to be steeped in any knowledge of a particular genre to appreciate the brilliance of the album. I am going to spend a bit more time – compared with her other albums – on Art Angels, but I want to introduce a couple of reviews of Visions, showing how critics felt about this remarkable work. AllMusic wrote a detailed and interesting assessment:

"Genesis" begins with what sounds like the ethereal atmospheres of old-school sounds of her label 4AD before coalescing into irresistibly bouncy pop. Boucher performs a similar trick on the brilliant "Oblivion," which sets lyrics inspired by a sexual assault to deceptively radiant synth pop buoyed by an insistent, instantly recognizable bass line. While Visions' songs are still largely free from obvious structures -- "Symphonia IX (My Wait Is U)" segues into a minor-key passage like a dream turning dark -- Boucher has learned the values of space and control, as the intricate layers within "Infinite Love Without Fulfillment" and "Visiting Statue" attest. And though "Know the Way" and "Skin" spotlight Grimes' flair for ethereal sensuality, Visions' most kinetic songs are the most distinctive, and allow her to draw on many different influences and sounds.

"Be a Body" boasts a surprisingly funky bass line; on "Circumambient," the song's shadowy R&B leanings are only heightened when Boucher busts out a super-soprano trill that would do Syreeta or Minnie Riperton proud. When she borrows from '80s pop, it never feels slavish, even when she uses frosty Casios on "Vowels = Space and Time" or lets "Colour of Moonlight (Antiochus)" ride on a beat that sounds borrowed from "When Doves Cry." Instead, these retro winks end up bringing out the darkly rhapsodic, kinetic heart of Boucher's music as much as the Asian-tinged melodies, harps, and operatic samples she uses elsewhere. Though little sounded like it when it was released, the impact of Visions' futuristic fantasies was felt, and heard, for years to come”.

Visions is a remarkable album, and one of the best releases of the 2010s. It is all the little details, voices and elements Grimes puts into an album that makes it so remarkable and interesting. I am excited to hear what her new album has to offer but, in 2012, she was riding a critical high. Actually, rather than bring in another review, I want to quote from an interview in The Guardian. They spoke to Grimes and we got to learn a lot more about this extraordinary musical talent:

"From an early age I knew I would be unhappy if I wasn't doing something creative," she says, settling into an old wheelchair that constitutes La Brique's most comfortable seat. "It could have been art, it could have been architecture. I was always really into painting but I didn't feel like I would be able to do anything new, whereas with music there's still so much to be explored."

A former goth kid from Vancouver, Claire originally moved to Montreal to study Russian literature at McGill University, before switching to the neuroscience course. Music never seemed like a viable option until she started hanging out at La Brique's predecessor Lab Synthèse, where she was encouraged to produce her own tracks by her now-manager and engineer Sebastian Cowan. When Lab Synthèse's co-founder David Matthew Peet killed himself in 2008, she decided that she owed it to him to submit to her to true calling.

"I was like: 'Fuck, I could die. We could all die, at any time. Why the hell am I wasting my time? I'm just going to do what I want to do for the rest of my life. I don't need money.'" To the mild horror of her parents, Claire turned her back on the world of brain biology to pursue Grimes full time. "I've completely fucked my life," she admits cheerily. "I don't live anywhere, I don't see my friends. You have to sacrifice a lot of things to do this. But the pay-off is this incredible freedom."

She concedes that this narrative might be difficult to glean from her lyrics, which are generally elusive and impressionistic, shying away from specifics. "I feel Visions could go a lot further emotionally. It worked for me at the time but now it does seem like I was hiding. I definitely want the next record to be a lot more direct."

PHOTO CREDIT: Ben Grieme for FADER

The names of Nine Inch Nails and notoriously uncompromising noise band Swans are mentioned. But then so is Michael Jackson. "I still want to make pop music," she assures. "I want the music to be more assaulting but more comforting at the same time." Claire gazes happily around the vibrant clutter of La Brique. "That's the basis of this whole Montreal scene. Everyone is really into pop music, everyone has a strong image and everyone is into branding. But everyone also does tons of drugs, makes really experimental music, does crazy shit and lives in a hovel with no heating".

The immense follow-up to Visions, Art Angels, took Grimes from an artist with a huge future to a modern-day idol. Released on 6th November, 2015 (digitally; 11th December on all other formats), Art Angels is a stunning work. I think, as time elapses, Grimes is becoming more accessible, but she is still on a different plain – an artist who can connect with many people, but she does not compromise her vision and ambitions. Featuring appearances by Taiwanese rapper Aristophanes and American singer Janelle Monáe, the album’s two singles- Flesh Without Blood, and Kill V. Maim - are phenomenal; they sport incredible videos! In their review of Art Angels, Billboard remarked the following:

“Throughout Art Angels, she equates love with derangement and disappointment: “Your love kept me alive and made me insane,” she sings in “Realiti,” italicizing the lyric by switching from her usual light and airy voice to something more nasal and choked. She punctuates other tracks with images of blood, destruction, death and defeat. Even though top 40 radio has gotten much weirder recently, as the The Weeknd or Major Lazer’s oddball “Lean On” proves, Grimes’ album probably doesn’t have a career-catapulting single, akin to Talking Heads’ “Burning Down the House” or the Tubes’ “She’s a Beauty.” Radio likes a vocal to be shockingly clear and loud in the mix, but Boucher prefers to hide and distort her voice, which is her least impressive, most commonplace tool.

Boucher directs her own videos, paints her album covers, exhibits drawings, curates a great Tumblr, and gives hilarious and nuanced interviews. Even discounting for the tendency of Americans to perceive Canadians as intellectually superior (Marshall McLuhan was a Canuck, but so were Bachman-Turner Overdrive), she’s a canny, self-aware performer. Grimes is an art project at risk of going mainstream, and Boucher knows it. She closes Art Angels with “Butterfly.” Boucher starts the beat, then briefly halts it. The lyrics seem to be about deciding to speak up, in addition to environmental damage. After an album that’s so happily angry, it’s soothing to float above nature. Butterfly is also the name of an out-of-the-cocoon album by Mariah Carey, whom Boucher loves, unironically, and the song feels like a coy, coquettish come-on from a pop star putting herself up for sale, especially when she repeats the sibilant line “Sweeter than a sugarcane.” But the last sound on the album is Boucher, softly vowing, “I’ll never be your dream girl.” Everything she is, she also isn’t”.

I remember hearing about Grimes not that long after Art Angels came out – maybe the year after -, and diving into this immersive and hugely intoxicating album. From what we have heard of Miss Anthropocene so far, it looks likely she has crafted another triumphant album. There was universal acclaim for Art Angels and, five years on, and it still sounds so fresh and interesting.

I will bring in one more review, because it is an album that won a lot of love. The Telegraph were keen to show some affection for Grimes’ fourth studio album:

“…Or SCREAM, which pits a whispered-punchy Taiwanese rap against a springy nu-metal groove and ends with military drums. This may make it sound like a difficult record, but the perfect polish of  Grimes' s production enables listeners to surf her quick-fire tangents as easily as an aural internet.

As she opens windows of sound and then clicks them closed before boredom has a chance to settle in, you catch snatches of Taylor Swift, Madonna, Nicki Minaj, Prodigy, Aphex Twin and many, many more scudding past.

All the while, she is delivering her own big, melodic hooks (Flesh without Blood) and club bangers like feminist Venus Fly (featuring Janelle Monáe) with its haunting, gallic instrumental break. all adds up to a fearless and fascinating record”.

I am going to move on soon, but I want to bring in an interview from 2015, where Grimes she was very open and revealing. Not that she had been insular beforehand, but I think part of her magic comes from a sense of mystery. It is amazing to think how far Grimes came from that debut album in 2010 to Art Angels in 2015.

Her music was always outstanding, but her fourth album is a revelation. This interview from The Guardian is a fascinating read:

“With Grimes, 27-year-old Claire Boucher has never made any secret of the fact that what you see is not what you get. When she released her last album Visions in 2012 – a collection of phantasmal, banging electropop that sounded as if it had been fed through both a rasping old desktop and the prism of a dream – its rapturous reception took the Vancouver native from cult concern to internet darling (Oblivion, the album’s best known song, was last year named Pitchfork’s track of the decade so far). At the time, Boucher spoke of Grimes as a business venture – a sort of Svengali-meets-singer deal in which she played both parts, exploiting her own self for her own ends. It was an idea that highlighted her creative clout, but it was also a coping mechanism, forming a pop-star proxy to deal with the invasiveness of fame.

“There are things I would never say in interviews that are my opinions. I’m way more political than I am publicly – significantly more extreme,” Boucher tells me when I ask how the Grimes persona manifests itself on occasions such as this (that is, being asked questions by a stranger while perched on the bed of a London hotel room). “There’s lots of people I hate,” she says. But Boucher is struggling to keep up anodyne appearances.

PHOTO CREDIT: Chuck Grant for Interview Magazine

As an enterprise, Grimes has always seemed like a scuffle between creative abandon and calculated moves: what happens when a highly inventive mind attempts to construct a consumer product. The Grimes aesthetic – discordantly multi-coloured hair, not-quite-trendy clothes, album art that looks as if it was done on the inside of a ringbinder during double maths – I’d already describe as pretty unselfconscious-seeming. But Boucher insists her visuals are designed to appease the public.

“In my life, I’m a lot more weird than this,” she explains. “Grimes is more palatable for humans. If it was up to me maybe I’d wear a moustache or something,” she continues, as I start seeing her less as a hipster making bleeding-edge pop, more a kindred spirit of Vic Reeves”.

There has been quite a bit of activity since 2015, but Miss Anthropocene is her upcoming fifth album – it is out on 21st February. Make sure you pre-order the album but, before continuing on, I want to source from an excellent interview that Grimes gave last year. In it, she was asked about her relationship with Elon Musk and how she is perceived by others – especially the media:

 “Alongside her artistic output, Boucher has consistently proved herself unafraid to speak out on the political issues that are important to her. In 2016, in the face of a Trump presidency, she recreated a 1964 Lyndon B. Johnson advert in support of Hillary Clinton, stating that in the coming election: “The stakes are too high for you to stay home.” The following year, after President Trump announced a travel ban on seven predominantly Muslim countries, she tweeted that she would match donations up to $10,000 for the Council on American-Islam Relations. Last year she joined protesters in British Columbia against Kinder Morgan's Trans Mountain pipeline expansion.

It was in this context that Boucher and Musk’s relationship was swiftly and mercilessly dissected in the press. Many publications were quick to link (Elon) Musk to Boucher’s decision to remove the phrase “anti-imperialist” from her Twitter bio. In an article headlined The Trouble with Elon Musk and Grimes, the New Yorker painted their pairing as nothing less than the final collapse of indie culture. “What if ideological distinctions still mattered and were not so easily swept away by a levelling torrent of information and capital?” asked staff writer Naomi Fry. “What if anything still meant something?”

It’s a difficult realisation for anyone who finds themselves in the public eye that they’re no longer in control of their own narrative. But it seems like a particularly cruel irony for Boucher after she worked so hard for so long to make sure she had complete artistic control over every aspect of Grimes. She self-produced every song on every Grimes album, drew her own artwork and directed her own videos, creating a distinct aesthetic universe influenced by Japanese manga and gothic dystopias but became something all of her own. She has never relied on anybody else. “For most artists if you’re not cool for 20 minutes then you can’t get in a room with a good producer and your career is fucking over,” she says. “I never want to be in that situation. I want to be in a situation like I am now where my reputation is at an all-time low and I can still make sick-ass fucking music because I don’t rely on anybody.” 

Where does she go from here? The answer, to Boucher, is simple. “If I’m stuck being a villain, I want to pursue villainy artistically,” she says. “If there’s nothing left to lose, that’s actually a really fun idea to me. I think it has freed me artistically. The best part of the movie is the Joker. Everyone loves the villain. Everyone fucking loves Thanos. Let’s make some Thanos art.”

All of which goes some way to explain why the next Grimes album will be, in Boucher’s words, “an evil album about how great climate change is.”

I think Grimes has overcome a lot of judgement from certain quarters, but she has responded with grace and honesty. Her music is what matters most and, as we are less than a week away from her new album, I wanted to celebrate an artist who is on course to becoming a legend; someone that people will look back on years from now and mention alongside the greats. Some might find that rash of me, but one needs to only…

LISTEN to her music to find out.

FEATURE: A Wonderful Escape: The Superb Artists Confirmed for Brighton’s Festival for New Music

FEATURE:

 

A Wonderful Escape

IMAGE CREDIT: @thegreatescape

The Superb Artists Confirmed for Brighton’s Festival for New Music

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EVEN though I have already provided a…

IN THIS PHOTO: Sinead O’Brien/PHOTO CREDIT: Matilda Hill-Jenkins for Loud and Quiet

smaller playlist of artists booked for Brighton’s The Great Escape this May (13th-16th), more names have been added to the line-up. We are less than three months away and, whilst I may update the playlist, I wanted to put together all the artists that are confirmed so far – those that have their music on Spotify, that is! It is a marvellous festival and, as the weather is so horrid at the moment, I think staying in and checking out these artists is a good idea! Not only is The Great Escape a festival that is more varied and gender-aware than most of the bigger festivals in this country; one also gets to see and hear the acts that will define the coming year – these artists that you need in your life. Without further ado, here is a bumper playlist of artists that you need to go and see. Order your ticket now because, in this playlist are some seriously big stars…

IN THIS PHOTO: Odunsi (The Engine)

OF the future.  

FEATURE: Black Diamond, Solid Gold: A New Era for Janet Jackson: Her Ultimate Cuts

FEATURE:

 

Black Diamond, Solid Gold

A New Era for Janet Jackson: Her Ultimate Cuts

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I know I have included Janet Jackson…

on this blog before, and I have collated playlists of her biggest hits. I think it is important to revisit a musical icon who has just announced her Black Diamond World Tour and album of the same name. Here are some more details from Pitchfork:

 “Janet Jackson will be hitting the road this summer with her new “Black Diamond World Tour.” The shows will feature music from a forthcoming album called Black Diamond, as well as “a special performance of Rhythm Nation 1814,” according to a press release.

Jackson’s tour begins in June. Find her poster below. Get tickets here. (Pitchfork may earn a commission from purchases made through affiliate links on our site.)

On The Tonight Show, Jackson talked about the new album’s title in her interview with Jimmy Fallon. “It’s the toughest of the stones—of the diamonds—to cut. And I heard that immediately as it’s hardest to hurt and destroy. And I’ve come to realize in recent years that I’m incredibly strong. U see myself as this rock.” Watch the interview below.

Janet Jackson’s last new album, Unbreakable, was released in October 2015. She reissued Rhythm Nation 1814 last year to celebrate its 30th anniversary”.

The last year or so have been quite busy for Janet Jackson. She was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame last year, and it was a well-deserved honour, as Jackson has been responsible for some of the most groundbreaking and spectacular albums in music history. Albums like 1986’s Control moved her a step closer to Pop domination and, to many people, Jackson is an icon. Certainly, she is someone who takes control of her music and legacy, and her last studio album, Unbreakable, was released in 2015. Jackson’s appearance at Glastonbury last year showed that she is one of the music world’s finest performers – even if there were sound hitches -, and she is heading full steam into the 2020s with a new tour and album. I will move on to a playlist, but I want to source from a BBC article from last year that argues why Jackson is one of Pop’s most underrated artists – something I completely agree with:

“Janet’s creative and commercial breakthrough came in 1986, when she teamed up with Minneapolis-based producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis to make Control, a game-changing dance-pop-R&B album that paved the way for the new jack swing sound of the late-'80s. When Janet declared “this time, I’m gonna do it my way,” on the title track, she meant it: Jam and Lewis’s sleek, teak-tough beats gave her a state-of-the-art platform to establish her own powerful pop persona – that of a strong, self-assured young woman who had no time for “nasty boys”. Then, with 1989’s formidableJanet Jackson’s Rhythm Nation 1814 album, she became more overtly political. "Join voices in protest to social injustice," she sang on the title track. "A generation full of courage, come forth with me."

"Long before Beyoncé was flashing the word 'feminist' in the background while performing on stage, Janet was exploring how navigating the world as a black woman is never not political," says Dr Kirsty Fairclough from the School of Arts and Media at the University of Salford. "Her music and image melded to explicitly address racism and sexism with songs about trying to flourish as a person in an environment ruled by both. In a 1987 interview following the release of Control, Jackson responded to a question about being a feminist by saying, 'If it’s someone, a woman, who’s taking control of her life as well as her career, then I say that I am a feminist.'"

These two albums contain some of Janet’s most enduring songs, including What Have You Done for Me Lately?, Escapade and Nasty, on which she delivers an iconic rebuke to disrespectful males: “No, my first name ain’t baby – it’s Janet, Miss Jackson if you’re nasty.” They also established her as one of the most dynamic music video creators of all time. When I Think of You is a joyous homage to old-school Hollywood musicals directed by Absolute Beginners’ Julien Temple; The Pleasure Principle contains a dazzling dance performance from Janet that peaks with a famous chair sequence that Britney Spears referenced in her 2000 video for Stronger.

But in recent years, Janet’s reputation has definitely enjoyed a revival. Her 2015 album Unbreakable debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, and her recent tours have won appreciative reviews. “When [acclaimed French singer-songwriter] Christine and the Queens did a segment on my radio show called Your Song [in which guests select a song that is special to them], she chose Janet’s The Pleasure Principle and she was just so elated when she was speaking about it,” says Clara Amfo. “Janet has and continues to be a template for so many artists: Christine, Ciara, fellow Glastonbury performer Janelle Monáe, MNEK, Beyoncé, the list goes on”.

Let’s hope Janet Jackson comes back to the U.K. later this year, as there are many people here who will want to experience her Black Diamond tour and, ahead of the album of the same name, spend some time revisiting her incredible back catalogue; go and get classics like Rhythm Nation 1814 on vinyl, and witness a truly awesome talent. It is clear that Janet Jackson is one of music’s…

RAREST and most precious gems.

FEATURE: Forty-Five Years Gone: Celebrating Led Zeppelin’s 1975 Masterpiece, Physical Graffiti

FEATURE: 

Forty-Five Years Gone

Celebrating Led Zeppelin’s 1975 Masterpiece, Physical Graffiti

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HOW many bands around…

IN THIS PHOTO: Led Zeppelin at Earls Court in 1975

start so strongly and then barely drop a step until very late in their career?! In a way, Physical Graffiti was the final album in that golden run. Presence arrived in 1976 and, with it, an album that did not resonate as hard as previous works in the Zeppelin cannon. I am not saying that album is bad, but it had a lot to live up to after Physical Graffiti was unleashed into the world on 24th February, 1975! I look back at Zeppelin’s output prior to 1975 and the quality boggles the mind! Although Physical Graffiti, now, is seen as one of their greatest works, there were some at the time who could get behind their sprawling double album. Released through Led Zeppelin’s Swan Song Records, it had its detractors in 1975. The band composed and recorded eight new songs for the album in early-1974 at Headley Grange. The idyllic setting provided few distractions, so they were free to experiment more and write in a different way. They found, soon enough, that their efforts would take up three sides of an L.P., so this would be a double album. Alongside these new tracks were unreleased songs from the majestic Led Zeppelin III, Led Zeppelin IV, and Houses of the Holy. The fact Zeppelin were dusting off tracks not included in previous albums might suggest weaker material was coming onto Physical Graffiti. Sure, there are some less-than-biblical songs on the double album, but there is plenty of gold.

Look at a double album Like The Beatles’ eponymous album of 1968, and there are cuts on there that are not their finest – yet the album is heralded as a work of genius by many! What is startling about Physical Graffiti – among many other things – is the width of sound and ambition on the record. Whilst the band were never stingy regarding scope previously, they really dug deep and offered up a feast for the senses on Physical Graffiti – covering Hard Rock, Folk, and so many other styles. The origins of Physical Graffiti’s recording go back to 1973, where John Bonham (drums) and Jimmy Page (guitar and production) were stationed at Headley Grange – this is where they recorded their untitled fourth album (or ‘Led Zeppelin IV’). There was some motion and productivity, but the studio facility was turned over to Bad Company so they could record their debut album. There were tensions around the time, and John Paul Jones (bass and keys) became dissatisfied with touring and considered leaving the band. The band reconvened and set to work in January and February 1974 and, sojourned at Headley Grange, they recorded eight tracks for their new album – the improvisational nature of the sessions was new for Led Zeppelin, and they were given freedom to re-record tracks and spend longer on them. John Bonham especially was pivotal during the sessions; offering up suggestions and making a big impact throughout. Although I love the songs on Physical Graffiti, it is the iconic sleeve – designed by Peter Corriston (themed around a tenement block in Manhattan, New York) – that really wowed me as a child.

I think Physical Graffiti is still in my parents’ record drawer and, every time I look at it, I am intrigued by what is on the vinyl and whether any of the songs would represent different tales from that apartment block – like there is a song dedicated to each resident. Led Zeppelin’s sixth album contains some of their best material, and I think each of the four sides contains a nice blend of belters and songs that take a while to embed. Consider the first side, which, actually, is all gold! Custard Pie, The Rover, and In My Time of Dying is twenty-one minutes of brilliance that ranges from the tighter first two numbers and the epic side-closer! Side two, too, is a right classic – the first two sides are stronger than the second two. Houses of the Holy, Trampled Underfoot, and Kashmir are three of Led Zeppelin’s best works. All four members of the band agreed Kashmir is one of Led Zeppelin’s best compositions. it was written by Jimmy Page and Robert Plant (with contributions from John Bonham) over a period of three years - with lyrics dating to 1973. Although the final two sides contain fewer classics, we still have In the Light, Ten Years Gone, and The Wanton Song sitting alongside underrated gems like Night Flight, and Black Country Woman. There were, as I said earlier, some fans and critics who were a little tepid towards Led Zeppelin’s new release in 1975. Maybe it was the scale of the album, or the fact it was less tight than their previous work; more genres playing out.

Retrospective reviews have been even more positive than contemporary reviews; perhaps the passing of time and the influence of Physical Graffiti has led to this fresh wave of affection. Here is what AllMusic wrote in their review:

“Led Zeppelin returned from a nearly two-year hiatus in 1975 with the double-album Physical Graffiti, their most sprawling and ambitious work. Where Led Zeppelin IV and Houses of the Holy integrated influences on each song, the majority of the tracks on Physical Graffiti are individual stylistic workouts. The highlights are when Zeppelin incorporate influences and stretch out into new stylistic territory, most notably on the tense, Eastern-influenced "Kashmir." "Trampled Underfoot," with John Paul Jones' galloping keyboard, is their best funk-metal workout, while "Houses of the Holy" is their best attempt at pop, and "Down by the Seaside" is the closest they've come to country. Even the heavier blues -- the 11-minute "In My Time of Dying," the tightly wound "Custard Pie," and the monstrous epic "The Rover" -- are louder and more extended and textured than their previous work. Also, all of the heavy songs are on the first record, leaving the rest of the album to explore more adventurous territory, whether it's acoustic tracks or grandiose but quiet epics like the affecting "Ten Years Gone." The second half of Physical Graffiti feels like the group is cleaning the vaults out, issuing every little scrap of music they set to tape in the past few years.

That means that the album is filled with songs that aren't quite filler, but don't quite match the peaks of the album, either. Still, even these songs have their merits -- "Sick Again" is the meanest, most decadent rocker they ever recorded, and the folky acoustic rock & roll of "Boogie with Stu" and "Black Country Woman" may be tossed off, but they have a relaxed, off-hand charm that Zeppelin never matched. It takes a while to sort out all of the music on the album, but Physical Graffiti captures the whole experience of Led Zeppelin at the top of their game better than any of their other albums”.

When Physical Graffiti was remastered to mark its fortieth anniversary in 2015, there was a batch of new appreciation and reviews. In their spotlighting, The Guardian examined, perhaps, Led Zeppelin’s finest moment:

“Not many of those copies went straight to secondhand stores, because Physical Graffiti turned out to be a masterpiece. It’s not without its oddities: the second side of its vinyl iteration (and its pacing really does work much better across four sides of vinyl) might be the most monumental 20 minutes or so in rock. The heavy, riffy southern R&B of Houses of the Holy moves into the extraordinary, Stevie Wonder-inspired Trampled Under Foot, which manages to invent funk rock and – by virtue of John Bonham’s no-city-left-unrazed approach to drumming – be deeply unfunky at the same time, before concluding with Kashmir, the cod-mystic epic that defies you to laugh at it, but offers not a single dull moment across its eight minutes.

IN THIS PHOTO: Led Zeppelin in New York City, 1975/PHOTO CREDIT: Lynn Goldsmith

This is the Led Zeppelin that shouted from the top of mountaintops, the group you might reasonably expect to be announced as your new overlords were their private jet – the Starship – to land at your local airport. So why is it side two? It feels for all the world like a side four. It’s even odder on CD, where those three tracks are preceded by the equally towering In My Time of Dying, which rather overbalances the disc.

But some of Physical Graffiti’s best moments are the less dramatic ones. In the Light would be a standout on an album less frontloaded with the kind of songs that routinely crop up high on magazine polls. Down By the Seaside, originally recorded for the fourth album, on to which it would have fitted about as well as gatefold photo of Ken Dodd instead of that picture of the old hermit, is delicious. Though everyone who has ever listened to Led Zeppelin knows they were about far more than stürm und drang, they stürmed and dranged so persuasively that it’s easy to forget they could be nostalgic and wistful and utterly unpompous when the mood took them. Page’s mastery extended not just to studio techniques and soloing and making up riffs: he was fantastic at creating and changing atmospheres, and for all the musical themes that crop up again and again across the group’s catalogue, he rarely repeats himself”.

I really like all of the songs on Physical Graffiti and, through the years, journalists have ranked the songs; to be fair, it is hard to beat anything as majestic as Kashmir! In this interview, Jimmy Page reflected on the recording of Physical Graffiti:

“The essence of Physical Graffiti is the fact that we go back to this house, this residential house in the countryside called Headley Grange, where we recorded the fourth album. It's in a residential house and it's the equivalent of the sitting room, the lounge, the main formal room where you'd have your Christmases, in a large house. And there was a fire in there, you could put logs on the fire and it was all really, really nice. And you had a multitrack recording studio so you could actually get to work on this stuff without having to necessarily go into a studio and comply by other peoples' hours. With this you could just wake up in the morning, have your breakfast, get into the music. Have an evening meal. (I can't remember now what we used to have for lunch.) But I really, I just remember the sort of whole work ethic of this, and it was just so productive.

It was always a fascinating prospect going in to record, to be honest with you, because it was always gonna be a sort of summing up of where we were at any given point in time and where we were trying to push ourselves collectively. And in the process of that, because of the quality of these four musicians individually, let alone collectively, we were pushing the boundaries of music and [we were] aware of that. And on this album, I should say the double album Physical Graffiti, the whole thing is just full of character, sort of statements of music and numbers, and some are really, really groundbreaking. You get things which may be very sensitive and caressing. You get other things which are really hard and coming at you.

I always consider Led Zeppelin to be a perfect group, in so much as you have four supreme artists together that have few equals. From the impassioned and remarkable vocals of Robert Plant to Jimmy Page’s guitar wizardry; John Bonham’s immense drumming and John Paul Jones’ eclectic musicianship – not to mention Page’s role as producer and Jones’ compositional brilliance -, here is this staggering band who, in 1975, were at the peak of their powers. Led Zeppelin announced their split in December 1980 (two months after the death of John Bonham) and, although Physical Graffiti was not their final studio album as a four-piece (that would be In Through the Out Door of 1979), I don’t think they ever matched the genius of their sixth studio album. If you have not got this album in your vinyl collection, rectify that, and witness a musical banquet… 

LIKE no other.  

FEATURE: Vinyl Corner: Tears for Fears – Songs from the Big Chair

FEATURE: 

Vinyl Corner

Tears for Fears – Songs from the Big Chair

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ON 25th February…

Tears for Fears’ second studio album, Songs from the Big Chair, turns thirty-five! It is an album that played a role in my very early life and, whilst it is not as celebrated as their debut, The Hurting (1983), it is a magnificent album. Tears for Fears formed in Bath in 1981 by Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith- Manny Elias and Ian Stanley are former members. Songs from the Big Chair is looser and more experimental than their debut – as many critics have remarked – and some felt that the band lacked real depth on the album. Regardless of some doubts and ho-hum reviews, the album reached number-two in the U.K. and peaked at number-one in the U.S. and Canada. If The Hurting boasted classics like Mad World, Songs from the Big Chair had more than its share of big tracks: Mother’s Talk, Shout, Head Over Heels, and the monster that is Everybody Wants to Rule the World among them. The album’s title derived from a 1976 television film, Sybil, which concerned a woman with multiple personality disorder; she feels safe sitting in ‘The Big Chair’. Even though I was too young to realise the messages and meanings behind songs like Everybody Wants to Rule the World, I was hooked and seduced by the incredible production (by Chris Hughes), and the catchiness of the songs. I am baffled why some critics felt (and still do) the album is not that deep and serious.

If you did not see the Classic Albums documentary about Songs from the Big Chair, you must see it, as it was illuminating and full of great insights. Although many songs on the album have a Pop sheen, the lyrics are pretty effecting. Shout is about the aftermath of The Cold War and an encouragement to protest; Everybody Wants to Rule the World is about desire humans have for control and power – not many Pop contemporaries were writing songs as political and serious. Regardless, I think Songs from the Big Chair is a perfect blend of observational and socially-aware lyrics and accessible compositions. Make sure you buy Songs from the Big Chair on vinyl and experience an album that is almost thirty-five years old. I think many of the songs seem more relevant now than they did in 1985, what with the rising awareness of climate change and politicians’ ignorance and zeal for power. I think there has been more love and respect for Songs from the Big Chair in the years since its release, as opposed to its 1985 launch. It is a terrific album that deserves a lot of attention as it approaches its anniversary. Here is what AllMusic wrote in their review:

 “If The Hurting was mental anguish, Songs from the Big Chair marks the progression towards emotional healing, a particularly bold sort of catharsis culled from Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith's shared attraction to primal scream therapy. The album also heralded a dramatic maturation in the band's music, away from the synth-pop brand with which it was (unjustly) seared following the debut, and towards a complex, enveloping pop sophistication. The songwriting of Orzabal, Smith, and keyboardist Ian Stanley took a huge leap forward, drawing on reserves of palpable emotion and lovely, protracted melodies that draw just as much on soul and R&B music as they do on immediate pop hooks.

The album could almost be called pseudo-conceptual, as each song holds its place and each is integral to the overall tapestry, a single-minded resolve that is easy to overlook when an album is as commercially successful as Songs from the Big Chair. And commercially successful it was, containing no less than three huge commercial radio hits, including the dramatic and insistent march, "Shout" and the shimmering, cascading "Head Over Heels," which, tellingly, is actually part of a song suite on the album. Orzabal and Smith's penchant for theorizing with steely-eyed austerity was mistaken for harsh bombasticism in some quarters, but separated from its era, the album only seems earnestly passionate and immediate, and each song has the same driven intent and the same glistening remoteness. It is not only a commercial triumph, it is an artistic tour de force. And in the loping, percolating "Everybody Wants to Rule the World," Tears for Fears perfectly captured the zeitgeist of the mid-'80s while impossibly managing to also create a dreamy, timeless pop classic. Songs from the Big Chair is one of the finest statements of the decade”.

I think the passing of time has revealed the album in a new light and, as I said, Songs from the Big Chair seems more relevant now than ever. When they tackled the album in 2017, here is what Pitchfork said:

 “Tears for Fears synthesize all of the threads on Songs From the Big Chair—intricacy, romance, psychology, and politics—on the album’s centerpiece, the everlasting “Everybody Wants to Rule the World.” Hughes says that he, Orzabal, and Stanley put the song together in a week, astonishing because the track has so many components: the twinkling synth at the beginning joined by a spider-like guitar, the snappy instrumental lead-up to the opening verse, the shuffling drum beat, the chorus, the galvanizing bridge, a moody instrumental passage, a guitar solo, a new melody for a verse afterwards, another guitar solo. And the genius of “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” is how it escalates, how each part increasingly amplifies the passion of the music.

More than any other Tears for Fears track, “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” most successfully transposes Janov’s psychological texts into a pop song with global resonance. Though “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” is obviously a meditation on power, you could project virtually every major issue of the 1980s onto the lyrics: the environment (“Turn your back on mother nature”), the fleeting nature of financial success (“Help me make the most of freedom and of pleasure/Nothing ever lasts forever”), authoritarian rule (“Even while we sleep/We will find you”), and the Cold War (“Holding hands while the walls come tumbling down”).

“Everybody Wants to Rule the World” is a song with a near-universal appeal, and likewise Songs From the Big Chair seemed to resonate with everyone—jocks, goths, pre-teens, adults. “At our gigs, you’ll get young girls at the front, the Joy Division fans at the back and even some hippies putting in an appearance,” Smith told Hall. “Our fan mail is certainly very varied, containing letters from everyone from twelve-year-old girls to mothers with five-year-old daughters”.

Make sure you buy the album if you have not heard it or, if you cannot afford it, go and stream it instead. It is a remarkable record that has so many huge numbers. I am not sure whether Tears for Fears are still touring, but one looks back at albums like the genius Songs from the Big Chair and listens in amazement! Its brilliance, legacy, and power still moves me…

TO this day.  

FEATURE: Rage Within the Machine: Will the Touring Return of the Los Angeles Legends Lead to a New Album?

FEATURE:

Rage Within the Machine

Will the Touring Return of the Los Angeles Legends Lead to a New Album?

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THINK about the music scene when…

Rage Against the Machine arrived. Their eponymous album was released in 1992 and, at the time, they were heading into a landscape that was seeing Grunge acts like Nirvana rule. It was clear that there were these bands who could articulate a frustration that, perhaps, was not common at the time. Although Nirvana’s lyrics were more personal in nature, Rage Against the Machine were more political. George H.W. Bush was U.S. President in 1992, and it is not a surprise a band like Rage Against the Machine would appear and represent a fury and sense of isolation many Americans were feeling. Their debut remains one of the greatest ever, and it combines Zack de la Rocha’s intense and mesmeric vocals; there is Tom Morello’s insane and genius guitar work; Tim Commerford brings his epic bass chops to the party, whilst Brad Wilk’s percussion gives the album intensity and heartbeat. Songs like Killing in the Name became anthems for the disenfranchised youth, and it is a song that sounds relevant and timely today – police brutality, racism and oppression. Rage Against the Machine continued to impress, and they released Evil Empire in 1996; The Battle of Los Angeles came out in 1999, and Renegades (an album of covers) came out the year after – that was the last studio album from the band. 2020 is an important year, as it is twenty years since their last album but, as we are seeing political tensions and a lot of anger swell up, their return is very welcome!

There have been a lot of articles released this week, as the band has been announced as a headliner for the Reading and Leeds festivals. Here are some more details from NME:

“Rage Against The Machine have been confirmed as headliners of this year’s Reading & Leeds Festival.

The political rock icons, who’ve also announced they will top the bill at France’s Rock en Seine festival alongside a host of other dates, are set to play Leeds festival on August 28 and close Reading festival on August 30”.

It is not only Reading & Leeds Rage Against the Machine will play this year. It seems like they are in full frontal, and there are many other dates confirmed. In this feature from Pitchfork, we learn more about their plans:

“After announcing a string of reunion shows, Rage Against the Machine have unveiled a full tour, as Rolling Stone notes. Featuring support from Run the Jewels, they kick things off next month in El Paso, Texas and currently wrap up in Krakow, Poland in September. Their “Public Serve Announcement Tour” itinerary also includes a headlining slot at Coachella. Proceeds from the band’s shows in El Paso, Phoenix, and La Cruses will go to immigrant rights efforts, the band announced in a statement, according to the Detroit Free Press. Proceeds will go toward different activist groups in other cities.

According to a press release, Run the Jewels’ return to the road will accompany the release of their long-awaited new album Run the Jewels 4. It was recorded at Rick Rubin's Shangri-La Studios as well as Electric Lady in New York. While a specific date has not yet been confirmed, it is due for release this spring”.

It is excited the band are back, as there has been talk and speculation for many years. Although they did play a gig at Finsbury Park in 2010, there has been nothing as extensive as a tour since then. Tom Morello has done some work with his other band, Prophets of Rage, and the other members of the band have done bits here and there. There is that debate as to whether this is a sort of one-off tour and the band are getting back together to fulfil the dates they have committed to already. Many fans will ask whether this reunion means we will see another album. There have been no announcements made just yet, but one feels it will only be a matter of time before something comes to the fore. As much as anything, the music scene now is full of artists who are speaking against hate and have that Rage Against the Machine-like bite. With that said, does it mean the Los Angeles band is almost like the old guard in a sea of younger acts?! Is this nothing more than nostalgia, and can a band where its members are quite wealthy and a lot older than they were when they came through in the 1990s resonate and connect in 2020?

One can argue a case to state Rage Against the Machine’s salad days are gone, but it nice that they are touring again. I think there is as much appetite for this music now as there was in the 1990s. If anything, the world is in a worse state than it was in 1992, and age does not mean the band have lost their edge and meaning. Touring will sharpen their skills, and there will be so much love from the fans. Will that spark the imagination of the guys and lead to a new studio album? Certainty, there are plenty of bands who return after decades away and release albums that sound evolved but retain their spark. I do think there will be another album, because the guys are back together and it wouldn’t make much sense them returning for a few gigs and going their separate ways again. They are not short of cash, and I feel they are shaping up for something; maybe it will be a new track, but there are many who would love to see an album. Some have asked whether a band that railed against the government and were these acolytes of truth will stand out in a scene where they have plenty of competition. Is the ‘machine’ now something they are part of, in the sense artists have bandied together and are not this united organism for change and progress?

They are valid points, but I do think the band has inspired so many others, and a new album will definitely speak to other artists coming through. It is exciting, none the less, that Rage Against the Machine are a unit again, and they will be heading to Reading & Leeds this summer. I have been listening back to their classic albums and, as we look ahead, many will speculate what comes next. Will the band keep the touring juggernaut going, or will they head into the studio and pen a new album? If Trump remains President after the U.S. Election later this year, you just know the band will have something to say about it! That is what leads me to believe there will be an album coming soon enough. A band that shot into the consciousness because of their thought-provoking and powerful songs would not just reform to do a few dates, surely?! I think they have a lot to say and, as this year reveals surprises, great announcements, and stunning albums, will we hear more from the Rage Against the Machine boys? Those who doubt their purpose and motivation for touring need to listen back to albums like Rage Against the Machine and Evil Empire and realise how important these albums are. Their upcoming shows will be immense, and it provides an opportunity for those who did not hear the band back in the 1990s to get their first experience of Rage Against the Machine. If they do indeed head into the studio, I think the resultant album will prove…

JUST how relevant they still are.

FEATURE: Sisters in Arms: An All-Female, Winter-Ready Playlist (Vol. VI)

FEATURE:

 

Sisters in Arms

IN THIS PHOTO: PINS

An All-Female, Winter-Ready Playlist (Vol. VI)

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LIKE last weekend…

IN THIS PHOTO: Daughters of Reykjavík

there is a lot of wind and rain about. We have another big storm here, and most people are going to be affected around the U.K. As many will be staying in, have a listen to this great selection of tracks from some of the finest female artists (and female-led bands) around. It is another bumper week of terrific music that covers so much ground! This week has seen gender imbalance in the news. Reading & Leeds’ line-up is male-heavy and, like so many festivals, there is a long way to go. It is very obvious there are so many awesome women out there who would be perfect for any festival. As you can see from the playlist below, the women of music…

IN THIS PHOTO: Arlo Parks/PHOTO CREDIT: Pamela Boland for Love Letters Zine

DESERVE to be heard! 

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I Break Horses – I’ll Be the Death of You

PHOTO CREDIT: Alex Lovell-Smith

Nadia Reid – Oh Canada

Harkin – Nothing the Night Can’t Change

Grimes – Delete Forever

Hilary Woods – Orange Tree

Daughters of Reykjavik – Fool’s Gold

Robinson – I Tried

Matilda Mann – The Loch Ness Monster

Bad Honey – Circles

PINS – Hot Slick

King Princess – Back of a Cab

Ingrid Andress – Life of the Party

Sabrina Carpenter – Honeymoon Fades

Katie Gately – Allay

Natalie Shay – Not the Girl

Madison Beer – Selfish

Nova Twins – Taxi

Store Front – You Gave Me

Laura Veirs – I Was a Fool

Arlo Parks – Eugene

BLOXX – Coming Up Short

Caroline Rose – Freak Like Me

PHOTO CREDIT: Laurie Barraclough

Wyldest – Quiet Violet - Redream

Becca Stevens - Feels Like This

PHOTO CREDIT: Colin Medley

U.S. Girls – 4 American Dollars

PHOTO CREDIT: Melanie Hyams

Drug Store Romeos – Frame of Reference

PHOTO CREDIT: James Hornsby

Alex Lahey – Sucker for Punishment

Kim Petras – Reminds Me

FEATURE: The February Playlist: Vol. 3: Heartbeats, a Slow Rush – and a Spy Who Doesn’t Love Me

FEATURE:

 

The February Playlist

IN THIS PHOTO: Tame Impala/PHOTO CREDIT: Neil Krug

Vol. 3: Heartbeats, a Slow Rush – and a Spy Who Doesn’t Love Me

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ALTHOUGH there are fewer tracks…

in the playlist than normal, there are some pretty hefty releases in the pack! Not only is there new material from Billie Eilish, Tame Impala, and Grimes; we have some cool tunes from Sam Fender, Mystery Jets, and The Strokes. It is a busy week, and one where some serious big-hitters have come out. In the mix are King Princess, Sam Smith, and Tim Burgess. If you need to get your weekend off to a pretty epic start, you could do worse than have a listen to this seriously good rundown. This year has got off to a flyer, and each week provides some serious gold and surprises. It is going to be pretty rough weather this weekend, so stay warm and listen to…

IN THIS PHOTO: Sam Fender/PHOTO CREDIT: Sarah Louise Bennett

THESE gems.

ALL PHOTOS/IMAGES (unless credited otherwise): Artists

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Mystery Jets – A Billion Heartbeats

Tame Impala – On Track

Billie Eilish – No Time to Die

Grimes - Delete Forever

The Strokes – At the Door

Tim Burgess – Empathy for the Devil

Sam Fender – Hold On

Arlo Parks – Eugene

Sam Smith – To Die For

King Princess – Ohio

PHOTO CREDIT: Melanie Hyams

Drug Store Romeos - Frame of Reference

PHOTO CREDIT: Gemma Dagger

Catholic Action – Another Name for Loneliness

Pumarosa - Lose Control

Inhaler - We Have to Move On

Gregory Porter – If Love Is Overrated

Caroline Rose – Freak Like Me

PHOTO CREDIT: Dan Monick

Cold War Kids - Who's Gonna Love Me Now

PHOTO CREDIT: Kevin Tachman

Jake Shears – Meltdown

PHOTO CREDIT: Photography by Daniel Stark

The Pale White – Polaroid

VC Pines – Bluebirds

David Gray – Walking in Circles

Kodak Black – Because of You

You Me at Six – Our House (The Mess We Made)

Sofia Reyes – IDIOTA

New Hope Club – Why Oh Why

FEATURE: Spotlight: Dry Cleaning

FEATURE:

Spotlight

PHOTO CREDIT: Jody Evans for Loud and Quiet

Dry Cleaning

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I am going to break one of my cardinal rules…

PHOTO CREDIT: Ed Miles for DIY

when covering and investigating Dry Cleaning. I am one who does not include artists on my blog who are not on Twitter. Whilst, previously, I have included some non-Twitter users, I ensure that every musician included – whether it is a standalone feature or playlist – is on Twitter. Dry Cleaning’s reasoning for not being on Twitter is, I think, that there is no real upside; no benefit or point beyond being on there. I can understand why some acts would want to avoid being exposed, but for a new act these days, Twitter is invaluable. Whilst I empirically disagree with Dry Cleaning’s stance on social media – their Instagram is a bit crap too -, their music is pretty decent. Maybe, when they put together their debut album, they will reverse their Twitter embargo but, right now, I shall continue. I know their music but, really, I do not know too many details about the band themselves so, largely, I am going to bring together features and interviews to flesh things out – and include some key tracks to give you an idea of the band’s vibe. The band consists bassist Lewis Maynard, drummer Nick Buxton and guitarist Tom Dowse. Florence Shaw leads and writes lyrics that seem almost random and cut together but are incredibly meaningful and relatable. I think, when it comes to background and getting a taste of Dry Cleaning, The Quietus’ interview from October of last year does a pretty good job:

 “Maynard, Buxton and guitarist Tom Dowse had been friends and musicians in various projects for a while before they packed in their respective groups and formed Dry Cleaning at a karaoke night. “The previous band me and Nick were in had got to the point where we were trying to bring a choir and a horn section on stage,” laughs Maynard of his time in wonky-slick indie quintet La Shark. “We had to make this one quite simple: let’s never have to do a soundcheck ever again.”

Dowse, who had been performing in hardcore band Sans Pareil (formerly Pariah), was brought in on guitar, and the three went lo-fi, cramming their equipment into Susan’s garage, made even more cramped because it had been double walled owing to a lack of planning permission. “It was such a small space so we were literally on top of each other,” says Buxton. “It was touch and go if Flo could join the band at all because we didn’t know if she could actually fit in the room.”

Florence Shaw, a visual artist, drawing lecturer and picture researcher, was recruited by Dowse, who she knew from art school. She had no prior experience in music, other than two years’ worth of piano as a child, but had incorporated the written word into her art. In a pub, after a friend’s exhibition, Dowse played Shaw some phone recordings of what he, Buxton and Maynard had been working on in the garage. “Something about it seemed to click, those two worlds meeting, Florence and the music.”

Shaw has a keen interest in language, especially the particularly close kind of weirdness that can occur in its most mundane forms, like advertising jargon and greetings cards. “There’s something really interesting about things written from a marketing perspective or written to a template, and how that makes up so much of what you actually read,” she says. “It tells you a lot about how people’s brains work. It’s that thing of ‘how do you write something that’s tantalising, and makes you want to know more, and doesn’t give you enough information, and is still a bit mysterious?’ I find that really compelling, I think so much writing on the internet is like that, or the opposite of that where there’s way too much information, YouTubers unboxing something for 50 minutes; you think ‘My god! I want less!’ Have you seen that video ‘all my pets’? It’s a girl showing off all her pets, she’s got like 80 pets. You’re intrigued for like 10 pets. That’s my pet threshold.”

The lyrics to ‘Goodnight’, the first song on their first EP, come from a selection of YouTube comments culled from an Aphex Twin YouTube binge, a particularly rich arena for witterings both inspired and insane. “During what was probably the longest two and a half months of my life after a near death experience, I could not sleep. I was on edge at all times and the only thing that kept me going was Saw 2,” comes the first. Then, without a shift in voice, we’re in the midst of another. “My cat died three months ago at 17 years old. When this song plays I can remember the good old days when I was a kid how we played together with my cat at home alone with my brother and all the good days I had with her...goodnight sweet princess.” Then again: “She said have you ever spat cum onto the carpet of a Travelodge?”

I think I have renewed my interest in Dry Cleaning because of their track of last year, Viking Hair. It has this sort of moody and gothic quality, but there is energy and tension bubbling through. It is hard to describe the song, which proves Dry Cleaning have their own sound and, as many people have predicted, they are primed for bigger things. I am going to come to their two E.P.s very soon but, now, one more interview from last year.

DIY put the band in their Class of 2020 feature: predicting the best acts of this year and those who we should know about – I think they are also included in NME’s list of ones to watch this year. This excellent feature from DIY makes for very interesting reading:

 “Describing their early mantra as aiming to be like “a cheap date” (“We never wanted to soundcheck; we wanted to be as easy as possible, just play a few parties for friends”), Dry Cleaning happily puttered along for a year, penning their strange tales - a combination of sparse, propulsive post-punk music and idiosyncratic storytelling - for themselves. It was only after a friend heard an early demo and offered them a support slot at London’s Shacklewell Arms that the band began to properly entertain the idea of playing live - a development that brought its own preparation. “We definitely had a few chats around ‘what gigs are like’, which was for my benefit,” laughs Florence. “Before then, we hadn’t had that much feedback on what we were doing at all. I didn’t have much of a clue how it would go down, or if people would respond to it in any way, so it was nice. People stayed until the end... they clapped...

“I’m quite pragmatic so I’d thought about it in terms of ‘How do I deal with this problem?’” she continues. “I don’t really dance, and I’m not a natural performer in that way, so I was always like, ‘Oh crap’. I had all these problems in my head where I wasn’t traditionally that kind of person, so my main plan was that if I feel nervous, I’m just going to show it. If I feel worried, I’m gonna look worried; I’m not just going to smile my way through it and be fake. I can just think about how to deliver the words, and just look however the hell I ended up looking.”

“The sheer logistics of being in a band are crazy. The amount of shit you have to sort out could easily overtake the creative side, if you let it. And I think our mindset is that we’re quite protective of that, and up for whatever can help us to remain creative with the additional attention that we’ve got,” nods Florence. “This last year, when things have been picking up, we’ve said we just want to do whatever helps the band’s output progress. So if someone’s expecting us to tour for two-thirds of the year, which probably won’t help us write stuff, then that’s probably not the best idea,” continues Lewis. “We’re finding our feet with what brings out the best in us as a band”.

The Sweet Princess EP was released last August, and that was followed up pretty quickly with a second E.P. Some asked why the band did not just combine the two into an album. You can check it out on the band’s Bandcamp page, and  it makes for very interesting listening. I think one or two of the songs were available before the E.P. arrived, but it is nice having the full thing and listening in a single sitting. I also love the artwork of their E.P.s, and one gets a real sense of identity from Dry Cleaning. I am interesting seeing what they produce this year but, whilst some were still unaware of Dry Cleaning when the Sweet Princess EP arrived, the people at Pitchfork were ready to review. Here is an example of what they had to offer:

 “Enter Meghan Markle. From the Sex Pistols to the Specials, British punks have long rallied against their heads of state. But over spirals of guitar that conjure memories of the Raincoats or the B-52’s, first single “Magic of Meghan” offers a staccato accounting of Markle’s graces. The Duchess of Sussex is illustrated as if she’s a young guidance counsellor who lets Shaw call her by her first name, or a friend from school she admires from afar. On the day of Markle’s engagement, we learn, Shaw was moving out after a breakup. The way she writes about Markle is almost like fan fiction: a morsel of celebrity bent and manipulated until it forms a new narrative specific to its author. It’s so endearing that it could almost stand to be a touch more critical of, you know, the monarchy.

Like empty bottles melted down and repurposed as stained glass, Dry Cleaning’s assembled observations capture the distortion of life on and off the internet, of spewing our deepest emotions into an anonymous void but biting our tongue when we encounter a real person. Type what you really feel, then close the tab and delete your history—maybe Florence Shaw will find it”.

I remember BBC Radio 6 Music playing Dry Cleaning quite a bit when their first E.P. came out and, like all bands who have a bit of mystery, there was great fascination as to who they were and where they were heading. I was surprised Dry Cleaning released another E.P. a short time after their debut. The fabulous and engaging Boundary Road Snacks and Drinks EP came out in October, and it sort of continues where the previous E.P. left off, but I think the tunes are stronger and the band seem tighter – even if songs from both E.P.s were laid down pretty close to one another. I do recall seeing Prescription Music put out some details regarding the E.P. and I was intrigued:

“Lyrically, Sit Down Meal is about being lost for words; there is some reference to both the language of placeholder text and greetings cards throughout the song.

Vocalist Florence Shaw has said the following about the inspiration for the single:

"It’s set at the moment just after being suddenly dumped. You cling to details, things you did together and reel at their significance. If you smell their perfume on someone else you feel overwhelmed, but immediately and painfully aware of how lightning quick a relationship can evaporate into thin air."

Boundary's collection of songs takes its name from the location and context of a shared genesis, and marks a significant chapter for the band as the last tracks to be written in their original rehearsal space.

The offering displays a more evolved sound than its predecessor; more textured and confidently realised without overlooking the melodic subtleties or minimal approach implicit on their debut.

There is a pop sensibility to the lyrics and a sense that this writing process has become more fluid; words are consciously used with more economy and are often repeated.

With this new recording, Dry Cleaning are seeking to expand the palette of their sound without nagging the simplicity and directness of their songwriting”.

Viking Hair and Spoils are terrific tracks that are full of bite, keen observations and humour. I especially like Spoils, as it jabs at the sad men of the Internet who are ripe for condemnation and mockery. I love Shaw’s delivery, which goes from spoken word to singing. I know some people do not like talk-singing, but I think Dry Cleaning’s music is at its most affecting when delivered in this manner. As I said, I will bring in more reviews and bits and pieces. I love both of the band’s E.P.s, but there is an extra edge or quality to Boundary Road Snacks and Drinks EP that makes the mouth water for 2020 promise. Again, a few sites and journalists reviewed the band’s second E.P., and I hope more people tune into their music and get involved with them – maybe a lack of Twitter presence is a reason why they have not been shared and exposed as they should have been.

Here is what Under the Radar wrote when they assessed Dry Cleaning’s second release:

“The purposely off-titled "Spoils" taunts the comically inadequate men of the Internet, romanticizes video games pretty effectively, and even takes the time for a cruelly basic guitar solo that sounds like a middle finger to guitar solos. "What's your problem, huh?/Hot cuties ignore you," Shaw enquires, before demanding "Stream my favorite shows/Just tell me who dies, tell me who finds love," a numbed, tired request that rattles against the furious heat of Nick Buxton's drums, Lewis Maynard's bass, and Tom Dowse's guitar behind it.

"Bullshit masculine mountain conquering crap," she concludes harshly on the wonky post-punk-funk of "Jam After School," which skewers the mores of middle England's middle classes while Dowse just riffs gloriously all over it, painting it huge and red and angry.

"You're nothing but a fragrance to me now," Shaw dismisses a former dinner date as the band lurch into a heads-down doom groove sparked with spectacular splurges of guitar as exciting as the title "Sit Down Meal" is heroically banal.

It's this wondrous and simple-seeming clash of hefty, post punk with snarky sarcasm and stoic poetry that lifts the band out of the realms of the many soundalike new-New Wave UK bands and places them firmly in the territory of a band it's unwise to ignore.

Dry Cleaning's blend of American indie influenced music and strange, dissociated, listicle-like lyrics is a beguiling potion. The phrase "I could listen to them read from the phone book" could never be more applicable”.

If you have not seen Dry Cleaning do their stuff, they have some dates upcoming, so you might be able to go and see them if you are nearby. If you think the band sound great in the studio – and they do! -, then they seem to sound even stronger when they are on the stage. The band played Ramsgate last month, and Contact Music were there to catch the show. Here are their impressions:

“Shaw's ability to capture, or steal or recognise, a phrase and re-present it along with other seemingly random anecdotes is what sets Dry Cleaning apart from many other bands. Yes, the soundtrack is compelling, very well delivered, full of hooks and ear worms but it is the lyrical prowess of Florence Shaw that makes Dry Cleaning something rather special. Her understated delivery with a hint of a smouldering soulful undercurrent is the perfect vehicle for her very creative and inspired words. "You're nothing but a fragrance to me now", Shaw sings as she imparts the tale of a failed relationship in 'Sit Down Meal'. While the guitar whirls around her, the bass rumbles on and the drums pound out the beat Shaw remains calm and centred throughout as if somehow deliberately detached and distant giving yet more gravitas to the performance.

Dry Cleaning played one new, as yet unreleased, song on the night, 'Unsmart Lady'. With a fevered drum roll from Nick, who was playing through an injury to his hands incurred earlier in the week, Dry Cleaning unleashed another potent song on the audience. "Don't mess it up", came a shout from the partisan crowd. Penultimately, and poignantly, on the eve of the 'Sandringham Summit', Dry Cleaning played arguably their biggest song to date, 'Magic Of Meghan'. The two youngest members of the audience clearly enjoyed this song, in appreciation of Meghan Markle, the most. As Shaw whooped her way through the song. "She's a smasher, perfectly suited to the roll... Just what England needs, you're going to change us."

Florence and her band closed out the night and their set with another track from 'Sweet Princess', 'Conversation'. Shaw's ability to deliver the trill of the phone ringing was something quite amazing in itself! On the Kent coast Dry Cleaning gave a great account of themselves highlighting why they are garnering so much attention and critical acclaim. Their collective musical artistry is something quite extraordinary and the fascinating lyrical construction that Shaw has made her own is nothing short of genius at times. A short but very sweet set from a band that are surely destined for bigger and better things”

Go and follow them on Facebook; check out their music on Spotify and Bandcamp – links are at the bottom -, as you will hear a lot more from Dry Cleaning this year. They have already put out two strong and unique E.P.s, and I feel 2020 is a year when they will…

REALLY lay down their mark.

___________

Follow Dry Cleaning

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/drycleaningband/

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/drycleaningband/

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/7DlD7rLG9MKuvXtTeACzkO

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYAb_yLdag6D098es0-agwg

Bandcamp:

https://drycleaning.bandcamp.com/

FEATURE: Heart-Shaped Box: The Alternative Valentine’s Day Playlist

FEATURE:

 

Heart-Shaped Box

PHOTO CREDIT: @amyshamblen/Unsplash 

The Alternative Valentine’s Day Playlist

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WE all know it is Valentine’s Day…

 PHOTO CREDIT: @yirage/Unsplash

tomorrow, so that will mean a slew of romantic songs - from the classics to new love songs, we will be inundated with sounds that celebrate love and togetherness. Whilst I think it would be better to have a universal Valentine’s Day – throwing love at the world and those without others in their lives -, we have to endure another day of smoochy, cheesy love songs. There are many of us – myself included – who sit Valentine’s Day out as we are single; it is another day to us but, rather irksomely, there is an added element of rubbing things in. To honour those who are tired of the same love songs being played this time each year, I have compiled a list of edgier/alternative love songs and cuts that rally against love altogether. Some might find that combative and bitter – true enough! – but it is nice to speak for those without love and those not invited to the prom this year. Here, in all its glory, is a selection of tunes for those who…

 PHOTO CREDIT: @jamie452/Unsplash

LIKE their love songs ‘alternative’.

FEATURE: Levelling the Score: The Importance of Hildur Guðnadóttir’s Oscar Win – and Why There Are Still Big Problems That Need Addressing

FEATURE:

 

Levelling the Score

IN THIS PHOTO: Hildur Guðnadóttir/PHOTO CREDIT: Timothée Lambrecq

The Importance of Hildur Guðnadóttir’s Oscar Win – and Why There Are Still Big Problems That Need Addressing

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LAST Sunday was Oscars night…

and it was a chance to celebrate the finest in the film industry. Most of the attention goes to the films, actors, and directors; few look further down the list and nod to the costume designers and composers. As a music journalist, I was particularly interested to see who would win the music categories. You can see all the winners here - but it was a good night for Bernie Taupin and Elton John – they won Music (Original Song) for (I’m Gonna) Love Me Again from Rocketman. The Music (Original Score) Oscar went to Hildur Guðnadóttir. It is a big deal, because Hildur Guðnadóttir is the first woman to win in the best Original Score category since the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences combined all of the Score categories into one in 2000. Guðnadóttir is one of only seven women to be nominated in any score composition category - only three have won. I have seen articles and tweets put up that highlight Guðnadóttir and, predictably, there is a mass of sexist comments that follows. People are either not bothered by the imbalance or they feel like women need to do better. The apathy and sexism are shocking, because there are plenty of talented women who compose, but are not given the same attention and opportunities and men. Before I move on, here is a statistic that outlines the problem we have:

“On the top 250 grossing films of 2019, women comprised 6% of composers. This represents no change since 2019. (Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film)”.

PHOTO CREDIT: @kaelbloom/Unsplash

It was a good night for Hildur Guðnadóttir and her remarkable score for Joker. Let’s hope that her accomplishment opens eyes and ears to the brilliant female composers out there: This Pitchfork article reacts to her win:

“Hildur Guðnadóttir has won the 2020 Oscar for Best Original Score. The Icelandic composer took home the trophy for her work Joker, which previously netted her the Golden Globe for Best Original Score. She won the Academy Award over John Williams (Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker), Alexandre Desplat (Little Women), Randy Newman (Marriage Story), and Thomas Newman (1917).

“To the girls, to the women, to the mothers, to the daughters who hear the music bubbling within, please speak up,” Guðnadóttir said in her acceptance speech. “We need to hear your voices.” Watch her speech below.

Guðnadóttir is the seventh woman in Oscars history to be nominated for Best Original Score and only the fourth ever to win in the category. She’s also the first woman ever to win the Golden Globe for Best Original Score”.

Her score for Joker is sensational, and I suggest you listen to it when you can. Like all fantastic composers, Guðnadóttir uses instruments like the cello and characters and voices; she connects her music with the character in a way that heightens the performance and adds something remarkable to the film. In this BBC article, Guðnadóttir discussed her process and how she came to work on Joker:

"Joker is the story of basically one person, so it felt fitting that one instrument was leading the way into his head, leading us forward," she tells BBC News.

Of all the instruments at her disposal, she chose the cello. "It's my instrument, so it was convenient as I played it on the soundtrack," she says.

Hildur was lured into working on the Joker origin film by director Todd Phillips, and she recalls: "The script was just fantastic - it struck me very hard."

She collaborated on Arthur's transformation into Joker with Phillips and Phoenix, the favourite to win best actor at the Oscars.

"I fell in love with the film and wrote all the main themes before they started shooting, so they were able to use that music, and I was able to be a part of that."

Indiewire reported that Hildur's score became "the actor's muse" and "thereafter, he could be seen listening to the music in his ear piece on set throughout the shoot".

Hildur, whose work includes composing the score for last year's TV series Chernobyl, has already caused a stir with her recent winning streak at the award ceremonies.

So far she's notched up a Bafta and a Golden Globe for Joker and an Emmy for Chernobyl”.

PHOTO CREDIT: @jan_strecha/Unsplash

There are a few reasons why there are so few women being recognised and honoured for their work. The number of women in orchestras is pretty low, and I think there is this assumption that orchestras are a man’s domain; there is sexism and barriers that women have to face. The above article from 2012 highlights some problems:

“Is, then, the explanation for the low numbers of women in orchestras that of indirect sexism rather than outright prejudice? Women not wanting, or not being able to afford, to combine Kinder and Küche (if not now Kirche) with concert tours? It is surely no coincidence that the Berlin Philharmonic, the orchestra with the heaviest touring schedule of any in Germany, is only 14 per cent female. Sarah Willis, a horn player with the orchestra for the past 20 years (and thus part of the ostensibly clubbish boys' brass section), states that she has never been witness to any sexist behaviours within it – either day-to-day or during auditions.

She has, however, spoken to young female musicians who are put off by the lack of family-friendly working practices. This is surely why the thesis that over time the proportion of men and women will naturally continue to level out fails to hold water. Admittedly the number of women in the Bavarian Radio Orchestra has doubled since Schwaabe joined in 1994 – but that only takes the numbers from 14 to 29. 

PHOTO CREDIT: @albertobigoni/Unsplash

An important building block in the argument that orchestras are moving naturally towards equality is the fact that, by and large, the gender split in youth orchestras is already 50:50 and this can be taken to signify that the gender balance of major orchestras will inevitably even out in the future. Sara Nigard Rosendal, a young female percussionist with the European Youth Orchestra, is adamant that she will make her career in symphony orchestras and will not allow children to get in her way”.

The numbers have slightly improved since 2012, but I feel like so many talented female players and composers are put off because of issues like a lack of family-friendly working practices. Look out at the music industry, and there are some fantastic composers and songwriters. Artists like Anna Calvi are crossing over into film and T.V., but are enough doors being opened for women!? I think a lot of film producers and studios hire men to compose their scores, because of history and the assumption there are very few good female composers out there. Now that women from mainstream music are showing they can compose fantastic scores; I think we need to dispense with the assumption that female composers can only be found in orchestras. Even in orchestras, there is a shocking imbalance that some would argue means there is a lack of girls and women who want to join orchestras. A lot of girls are directed to play instruments like violins and pianos; instruments that are considered appropriate and ‘girly’.

Maybe there is a feeling that they (girls and women) are limited in their capabilities and should stick to instruments that ‘suit them’. There are a lot of women in charities and working in orchestras but, when it comes to executives and those who can make the decisions, there are fairly few women. Work by women is being featured and celebrated more, but there is still a way to go. This illuminating article raised some interesting points:

“When we think of the great movie composers, these are the names that come to mind: Hans Zimmer; John Williams; Nino Rota; Danny Elfman; John Barry; James Horner and Alan Silvestri. All men. Most people can name one female film composer, but can you name two?

Zimmer, known for his work on blockbusters such as The Dark Knight Trilogy and Interstellar, has recently been hired for Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman 1984. This isn’t just a missed opportunity for a female oriented film to also employs a female for the soundtrack, but it’s also the latest example of women being largely unheard in the world of film composing. A study by the University of Southern California in 2018 found that, of the top 100 fiction films at the box office every year from 2007 to 2017, only 16 female composers were hired, in comparison to 1,218 men.

Additionally, a supporting report from the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film revealed that 94 per cent of the top 250 films at the domestic box office in 2018 used male composers. In an era of Time’s Up, an organisation set up in support for equal pay and opportunities, female composers are still lingering in the shadows behind the men who hold domination in this industry”.

There are some brilliant women composing for film, and I think Hildur Guðnadóttir’s Oscar triumph will break down a lot of barriers and force the industry, orchestras, and film studios to work towards inclusivity and accept the fact that there are some remarkable women who warrant focus. As things stand, the figures are alarming:

“Another report, from the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film, showed that of the top 250 films at the domestic box office in 2018, 94 percent were scored by men.

“The numbers are bleak, but the landscape isn’t,” said Laura Karpman, a veteran film composer (“Paris Can Wait”) and a governor in the music branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. “People are reaching out in a way that I’ve never seen it my whole career.”

Karpman was instrumental in expanding the diversity of her branch’s membership, which now includes the Russian composer Sofia Gubaidulina. Karpman also spearheaded the creation of a shortlist in the score category of the Academy Awards. “Had we had a voted-upon shortlist last year, I think we would have more diversity,” she said. Citing the composers behind “Get Out” and “Mudbound,” she added, “I want to see Michael Abels and Tamar-kali on Oscar shortlists.” (Karpman spoke before the shortlist was announced in December. It includes Terence Blanchard’s score for “BlacKkKlansman” — his first Oscar nomination if he moves to the next round — but, alas, no women.)

Tamar-kali is one of several new voices in a persistently white male milieu. “Mudbound,” directed by Dee Rees, was the Brooklyn artist’s first score, which she followed with the Netflix drama “Come Sunday.” She’s also reteaming with Rees for an adaptation of the Joan Didion novel “The Last Thing He Wanted.” As an Afro-indigenous woman in the New York punk rock scene, she said, she was already used to being “an outlier within the outliers.”

“It just kind of fuels your creativity,” she explained. “The ethos means even more to you, because you’re practicing it every moment — even in the pit, even at shows.”

The women interviewed for this article offered a variety of reasons for the longstanding inequality: institutionalized sexism; a lack of precedents and female role models to inspire girls to go into the field; and the social conditioning of women to be selfless caretakers and not seize the spotlight.

Increasingly, women are entering the profession, but are still outnumbered by men. The film scoring certificate program at the University of California, Los Angeles has produced 120 graduates since 2013, of which only 25 percent were female. Likewise, only a quarter of applicants to the film scoring graduate program at U.S.C. this year were female — although the school invited seven women to join its 20-student program.

(Portman suggested that universities pumping so many aspiring composers into such a small competitive field might itself be a problem.)”.

I know things will not change overnight, but there will be girls and women out there inspired by Hildur Guðnadóttir’s Oscar win who will strive to get to where she is. I feel the fact schools in the U.K. and U.S. are reducing music’s visibility on the curriculum, but, even with that aside, orchestras need to be a lot more welcoming of women and dispose of the culture of sexism. I know there are orchestras where there is parity and equality, but so many are male-dominated, when there are phenomenally eager and talented female musicians and composers. Just seeing someone like Guðnadóttir acclaimed and speaking out means people will open their eyes. I do not think we will wait very long before another female composer is celebrated at the Oscars or BAFTAs. I accept there are fewer female composers in general, but that does not mean that the talent pool is dry; orchestras need to do more and commission their work. The film and music industries have a problem with sexism, and those in charge need to work harder to foster women and make improvements. There are some fantastic women kicking down misconceptions and showing that they are as talented as their male counterparts. Maybe true equality is a way away, but we will still small steps and changes. Hildur Guðnadóttir’s Joker genius – and her female peers’ brilliant work -, will go a very long way to…

LEVELLING the score.

FEATURE: Not One of Us: Reading & Leeds and a Continuing Sexism Problem

FEATURE:

 

Not One of Us

Reading & Leeds and a Continuing Sexism Problem

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ANOTHER festival has announced their line-up…

IN THIS PHOTO: Stormzy has been announced as one of the Reading & Leeds headline acts, alongside Liam Gallagher, and Rage Against the Machine/PHOTO CREDIT: Louie Banks

for this year and, predictably, Reading & Leeds’ poster raises a common question: Where are the female artists?! I am excited Rage Against the Machine are headlining, and it is good to have the band back on a big stage! Even if you have Rage Against the Machine headlining, that leaves two slots that could have been filled by women – even a single female artists would have made the line-up look less sexist! The Guardian report the news of this year’s Reading & Leeds line-up:

“Rage Against the Machine, Stormzy and Liam Gallagher have been announced as the headliners for 2020’s Reading and Leeds festival.

Rage Against the Machine’s sets are part of a newly announced 40-date world tour for the political rap-rockers, who are playing together for the first time since 2011. The tour includes two nights at New York’s Madison Square Garden, and seven dates across Europe. It comes after a short spring tour where they will perform gigs close to the US-Mexico border, as well as the Coachella festival in California.

Stormzy’s Reading and Leeds sets come amid a major world tour, featuring 55 dates across five continents, and will be his first UK festival headline slots since his triumphant appearance at Glastonbury in 2019. Liam Gallagher was originally announced in November for the pair of festivals, which run simultaneously in both cities.

Other rock and indie names include the Courteeners, Gerry Cinnamon, Two Door Cinema Club, Sam Fender and Idles, while rap is represented with Migos, AJ Tracey, D-Block Europe and Run the Jewels.

Typically for the festivals, the top 13 announced artists are all male – Mabel, Mahalia and Beabadoobee are among the female names to have been announced further down the bill.

Reading and Leeds takes place 28-30 August, with tickets going on sale at 9am on 13 February”.

Look down the poster, and the sheer lack of women on the bill is shocking! There are no female headliners, and one has to scan pretty hard to see any women at all! The line-up proves that the tone is not all Rock and Alternative – as Mabel and Joy Crookes are booked -, so why the lack of female representation? It seems uninspired having Liam Gallagher and Stormzy headlining. Stormzy is a great act, but he headlined Glastonbury last year, and I wonder what more he has to add and whether his booking is a reaction to that set last year. It is good to have some Grime and Rap headlining, but it seems like a lazy booking. Liam Gallagher, too, seems like a throwback to older days or someone who is booked because of his Oasis fame. He will put in a good set, but it is hardly original or bold for a festival(s) that lacks the clout and quality it did years ago. Look down the bill this year, and there is not a lot of spark or fascination. There are some boring bands, and a lot of artists who will struggle to raise the temperature. Every time a major festival announces their line-up, you have to wonder why so few women are included.

Reading & Leeds could have booked artists like Nadine Shah, Sharon Van Etten, and Anna Calvi, yet they have been ignored. In fact, as the event does not cater to a single genre, there are so many female artists who could have been included – Self Esteem, The Big Moon, and Grimes spring to mind. What about Dua Lipa or Brittany Howard? Even female-fronted bands like Amyl & the Sniffers or Big Thief could have been included, not to mention PINS or Wolf Alice. I know there are more acts to be included, but look back at Glastonbury’s bill last year and the fact they almost hit a fifty-fifty balance and ensured the bill was full of gold and variation. Look at the incredible line-up for The Great Escape in Brighton this year, and Primavera Sound and their continued gender balance and inclusion. Every year, Reading & Leeds announce their line-up and they get accused of being terrible and boring. Whilst 2020’s line-up has some brilliance and a lot of boredom, I think it is the continued exclusion of women that worries me and so many. Reading & Leeds are not even close to fifty-fifty at a time when so many festival-worthy women deserve exposure. I have only named a few artists, but one could easily have removed a dozen or so weaker male acts on the bill and replaced them with equally popular female artists who are stronger. So many festivals, year after year, lack gender diversity - and they are not doing their bit to ensure there are more women on the bill. Reading & Leeds is one of the very worst offenders and, predictably, I do not think we will see a major change next year! Male artists need to use their platform to rebel and campaign because, if they do not, there will be slow movement. In a world where scores of wonderful women are producing sensational work, festivals like Reading & Leeds are letting them down. I was hoping 2020 was going to be a year when the festival opened their eyes and changed their ways but, lo and behold, it is a case of the…     

IN THIS PHOTO: Dua Lipa would have been a great inclusion to the Reading & Leeds bill

SAME old excuses and problems.

FEATURE: Eponymously Yours: Peter Gabriel at Seventy: His Five Finest Albums

FEATURE: 

Eponymously Yours

Peter Gabriel at Seventy: His Five Finest Albums

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AS the sensational Peter Gabriel…

PHOTO CREDIT: York Tillyer

turns seventy on 13th February, I have been thinking about his music and have already written a feature. I think Gabriel is an artist who is very underrated, considering the brilliance he has put into the world! I am not sure whether there will be much celebration on Thursday, but I hope there are a few nods and songs of his played on the radio. To continue my salute of a musical pioneer, I have collected together Gabriel’s five finest albums; those that you definitely need to own. Whilst there are a couple in particular that stand out from the pack, I think all five of these albums provide great spread and representation of an artist through the years. I am including only solo albums in this feature because I am celebrating Perter Gabriel’s work, rather than that of his former band, Genesis. Have a look at the selection below and familiarise yourself with the work of…

IN THIS PHOTO: Peter Gabriel in Bath in 1978/PHOTO CREDIT: Clive Arrowsmith

A true great.

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Peter Gabriel 1: Car

Release Date: 25th February, 1977

Labels: Charisma (U.K.)/Atco (North America)

Producer: Bob Ezrin

Key Cuts: Modern Love/Slowburn/Here Comes the Flood

Review:

“Peter Gabriel tells why he left Genesis in "Solsbury Hill," the key track on his 1977 solo debut. Majestically opening with an acoustic guitar, the song finds Gabriel's talents gelling, as the words and music feed off each other, turning into true poetry. It stands out dramatically on this record, not because the music doesn't work, but because it brilliantly illustrates why Gabriel had to fly on his own. Though this is undeniably the work of the same man behind The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, he's turned his artiness inward, making his music coiled, dense, vibrant. There is still some excess, naturally, yet it's the sound of a musician unleashed, finally able to bend the rules as he wishes. That means there are less atmospheric instrumental sections than there were on his last few records with Genesis, as the unhinged bizarreness in the arrangements, compositions, and productions, in tracks such as the opener "Moribund the Burgermeister" vividly illustrate. He also has turned sleeker, sexier, capable of turning out a surging rocker like "Modern Love." If there is any problem with Peter Gabriel, it's that Gabriel is trying too hard to show the range of his talents, thereby stumbling occasionally with the doo wop-to-cabaret "Excuse Me" or the cocktail jazz of "Waiting for the Big One" (or, the lyric "you've got me cookin'/I'm a hard-boiled egg" on "Humdrum"). Still, much of the record teems with invigorating energy (as on "Slowburn," or the orchestral-disco pulse of "Down the Dolce Vita"), and the closer "Here Comes the Flood" burns with an anthemic intensity that would later become his signature in the '80s. Yes, it's an imperfect album, but that's a byproduct of Gabriel's welcome risk-taking -- the very thing that makes the album work, overall” – AllMusic

Standout Track: Solsbury Hill

Buy: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Peter-Gabriel-1-Car-VINYL/dp/B01MPXVBD3/ref=sr_1_9?crid=1ZZTE6QNI7VVF&keywords=peter+gabriel+vinyl&qid=1580841793&sprefix=peter+gabriel+viny%2Caps%2C151&sr=8-9

Peter Gabriel 3: Melt

Release Date: 23rd May, 1980

Labels: Charisma (U.K.)/Geffen (North America)/Mercury (Original U.S. L.P. pressing)

Producer: Steve Lillywhite

Key Cuts: Intruder/Family Snapshot/Biko  

Review:

“PG3 is where Gabriel ascends, where he hits the perfect point on the curve between artistic ambition and accessibility, between dark and light, between floridness and reticence. Songs, themes, sonics and presence come together to create a cohesive yet many-limbed piece which pitches up somewhere between Lodger and Scary Monsters. Challenged by the NME at the time about Bowie comparisons, he replied defensively, “I get the feeling he’s more calculating. There’s not too much coincidence emanating. With me there is still quite a large functioning of randomness, accident and mistakes.” Going on to praise Bowie’s willingness to keep moving, he added, “You must let go of what you’ve got, cause if you try and clutch on to something which you think is yours, it withers and dies.” It would be facile to pin this album as an anti-Genesis statement though: much of it is every bit as self-important. It’s just leaner, sharper, quicker to make its points. It’s speed (with all the nervous glances over the shoulder), not dope, not comfortable or relaxing.

While this will not turn into a detailed discussion of drum sounds, it has to be mentioned that the outstanding, ominous opener 'Intruder' is where the “gated drums” technique which so dominated and ultimately defiled the subsequent decade was invented.

Gabriel and (the then very fashionable) co-producer Steve Lillywhite banned cymbals, asked Collins and Jerry Marotta to adopt a less-is-more approach, and found the results to be sinister, dramatic and arresting. (Freeing up the higher frequencies thus allowed room for exploration that few artists had realised was possible. They used the spaces for creaks, screeches, whistles, sirens and found sounds that are just as important to the record’s feel as the conventional keyboards, guitars, etc. This subsequently became common practice for a while, then it wasn’t, and now – in a period where music has a chronic lack of drama - it would be good if it was again.)” – The Quietus

Standout Track: Games Without Frontiers 

Buy: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Peter-Gabriel-3-Melt-VINYL/dp/B01MDRVO7M/ref=sr_1_6?crid=1ZZTE6QNI7VVF&keywords=peter+gabriel+vinyl&qid=1580841899&sprefix=peter+gabriel+viny%2Caps%2C151&sr=8-6

Peter Gabriel 4: Security

Release Date: 6th September, 1982

Labels: Charisma (U.K.)/Geffen (U.S.)

Producers: David Lord/Peter Gabriel

Key Cuts: The Rhythm of the Heat/I Have the Touch/Kiss of Life

Review:

“Album number four had a lot to live up to. Starting with two of Gabriel’s most ambitious pieces, The Rhythm Of The Heat and San Jacinto, from the off it was clear that PG4 was taking the promise and the core elements of Melt even further. Gabriel’s voice was full, throaty and emotional, and the music – sounding simultaneously ancient and ultra-modern – had more space to roam and a greater dynamic range.

“Lyrics about Jung’s experiences in Africa, US cultural imperialism and the ritualistic nature of the seemingly mundane, mingled with the claustrophobic and poignant prisoner of conscience narrative of hymnal highlight Wallflower.

“As on Melt, Gabriel’s use of revolutionary instruments (like the Fairlight CMI, the LinnDrum and the Stick) served to illuminate his song’s contents rather than swamp them with pointless novelty.

“Like the album’s opening pieces, deep cuts Lay Your Hands On Me and The Family And The Fishing Net were as epic as anything Gabriel had written with Genesis, yet shared almost nothing of his former band’s musical vocabulary (or anybody else’s for that matter).

“PG4 was (and remains) a shining example of a truly rare thing, genuinely innovative genuinely popular music” – Louder Sound

Standout Track: Shock the Monkey 

Buy: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Peter-Gabriel-4-Security-VINYL/dp/B01MCZ7B85/ref=sr_1_3?crid=1ZZTE6QNI7VVF&keywords=peter+gabriel+vinyl&qid=1580841899&sprefix=peter+gabriel+viny%2Caps%2C151&sr=8-3

So

Release Date: 19th May, 1986

Labels: Charisma/Virgin/Geffen

Producers: Peter Gabriel/Daniel Lanois

Key Cuts: Red Rain/Don’t Give Up/In Your Eyes

Review:

“Thanks to his deep engagement with Jung, Gabriel believed that dream interpretation was the most important key to personal emotional transformation. “I take dreams very seriously,” he told Spin in 1986. “I think everyone should.” Imagery drawn from the unconscious suffuses So from the first verse of the first song, the U2-sized “Red Rain”: “I am standing up at the water's edge in my dream/I cannot make a single sound as you scream.” Dreams are the subject of “Mercy Street,” as well, inspired by a posthumously published work by Pulitzer-winning poet Anne Sexton. Sexton started writing poetry while recovering from a breakdown, and her therapist encouraged her to pull subject matter from her dreams. Gabriel was drawn to her poem “45 Mercy Street,” where Sexton recounts wandering through a dreamscape, looking for the imaginary address through which she could access a fictional idyllic past. With misty synths muting Djalma Correa’s ululating percussion, Gabriel offers an exegesis of Sexton’s work and then expands her narrative universe, ending with the poet peacefully sailing on the ocean with her father.

The heady emotional state of So was further complicated by the fact that Gabriel’s 15-year marriage was on the verge of collapse. His side-relationship with Rosanna Arquette was an open secret, and the album’s lyric sheet is rife with references to fledgling attempts at personal communication. Though “That Voice Again” has the album’s most appealing non-“Sledgehammer” chorus, it also contains the album’s most biting lyric, which could have been drawn straight from a counseling session: “I want you close I want you near/I can’t help but listen/But I don't want to hear/Hear that voice again.” In this context, the album’s inclusion of longtime concert staple “We Do What We’re Told (Milgram’s 37)”—named for the notorious psychological experiment that claimed to prove humans were innately predisposed to harm others—gains an added layer of resonance” - Pitchfork

Standout Track: Sledgehammer 

Buy: https://www.amazon.co.uk/So-VINYL-Peter-Gabriel/dp/B01M72DIR1/ref=sr_1_2?crid=1ZZTE6QNI7VVF&keywords=peter+gabriel+vinyl&qid=1580841899&sprefix=peter+gabriel+viny%2Caps%2C151&sr=8-2

Passion (Soundtrack for The Last Temptation of Christ)

Release Date: 5th June, 1989

Labels: Geffen (U.S. & Canada)/Virgin/Real World

Producer: Peter Gabriel

Key Cuts: Gethsemane/ Lazarus Raised/ With This Love

Review:

“Passion is the belated release of Peter Gabriel’s two-LP soundtrack for Martin Scorsese’s riveting, controversial film The Last Temptation of Christ. It works as both amplification of Scorsese’s obsessively vivid rendering of the biblical tale as well as an opportunity for hitmaker Gabriel to hop off the rock-industry merry-go-round for a while and experiment with some different rhythms and styles. In this way, Gabriel’s journey is just as deeply felt as Scorsese’s.

As evocative as Passion‘s twenty-one tracks are for those who have seen Last Temptation, the collection also stands as a testament to the breadth of Gabriel’s interests, as well as his talents. Quite simply, Passion is that rare progressive-rock album that isn’t so enamored of its own cleverness that all it does is show off its own technical achievements. Working with his usual collaborators (among them guitarist David Rhodes and violinist Shankar, as well as occasional contributors David Sancious and Youssou N’Dour), Gabriel conjures up moods that seem at once period specific (many of the tunes are expansions of centuries-old Armenian, Egyptian and Kurdish motifs) and up-to-date.

Cuts like “Gethsemane” and “Of These, Hope” successfully accommodate third-world melodies and cross-rhythms in a Western pop context. Passion is stirring, stunning stuff: You won’t hear it on the radio like you heard “Sledgehammer” or “Big Time,” but if you do search it out, you’ll find a piece of work by an artist who remains idiosyncratic without being obtuse” – Rolling Stone

Standout Track: Stigmata

Buy: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Passion-Half-Speed-Remaster-VINYL/dp/B071CMZ6SK/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Passion+%28Soundtrack+for+The+Last+Temptation+of+Christ%29&qid=1580842469&sr=8-1

FEATURE: Vinyl Corner: Hole – Celebrity Skin

FEATURE: 

Vinyl Corner

Hole – Celebrity Skin

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THERE are a couple of reasons why…

IN THIS PHOTO: From left: Hole’s Samantha Maloney, Melissa Auf der Maur, Eric Erlandson, and Courtney Love in 1998/PHOTO CREDIT: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic

I am including Hole’s Celebrity Skin in my Vinyl Corner section. For one, Courtney Love – the band’s lead singer – will pick up NME’s Icon Award on Wednesday (12th). In their article, NME highlight why Love is such an inspiration. Here is a snippet:

“One of the most influential figures in the past 30 years of alternative culture, there are countless reasons why she’s worthy of the award. Here are just a few.

Think of Courtney Love, and quite reasonably, her band Hole will be the first of her musical project to spring to mind. Their 1991 debut album ‘Pretty on the Inside’ was co-produced by none other than Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon, and made immediate ripples across the punk scene. The more polished but no less powerful multi-platinum ‘Live Through This’ and rip-roaring ‘Celebrity Skin followed. Years later, in 2010, came another Hole record, ‘Nobody’s Daughter’ – and album cut ‘For Once in Your Life’ is one of the more understated gems from her discography.

But there’s so much more. There was her first band Sugar Babydoll, the short-lived Pagan Babies and she’s also put out a whole bunch of solo material. In 2004, she released her debut solo album ‘American Sweetheart’ – and though she’s since spoken negatively about it (she later called it a “really crap record” during a talk at Oxford Union) it’s hard to deny its force. “Believe it or not, ‘All the Drugs’, ‘Sunset Strip’, ‘Mono’ and ‘But Julian…’ are all good songs,” she said in 2006. She was bang on”.

Hole have released some cracking albums, but Celebrity Skin is one of their most-famous and accomplished. After 1998’s Celebrity Skin, the band would not release another album until 2010’s Nobody’s Daughter - one wonders whether we will see another album from them. Whereas some prefer 1994’s Live Through This – boasting songs like Miss World and Jennifer’s Body -, I find myself coming back to Celebrity Skin. I will talk about the influence and impact of Celebrity Skin later but, now, a bit of information about the record. Released on 8th September, 1998, Celebrity Skin is the third album from Hole. The band dissolved in 2002 so, in a way, this is like a farewell – whether they knew it at the time or not. The band wanted an album that diverged from the Grunge influences of albums like Pretty on the Inside (1991) and Live Through This. The band brought in producer Michael Beinhorn to record Celebrity Skin over nine months, which saw Hole record in California, New York, and the U.K. California was especially important for Hole, and saw Celebrity Skin as a ‘California album’. The Celebrity Skin album saw Hole experimenting more; Smashing Pumpkins’ Billy Corgan co-wrote the musical arrangements on five songs. Also featured on the album was Go-Go’s guitarist Charlotte Caffey. Life in the Hole camp was a bit of a whirlwind prior to 1998. In 1995, Hole completed the final leg of their promotion for Live Through This – one of the best albums released in 1994. Rather than rest, the individual members worked on their own stuff. Courtney Love appeared in The People vs. Larry Flynt; lead guitarist Eric Erlandson collaborated in a side project, and the band members were keeping busy.

After Love completed promotion of The People vs. Larry Flint, the band reconvened. Initial sessions were not promising; songs were a little underwhelming but, as Hole relocated to different parts of the U.S., things started to shine and take shape. Whilst they were in New Orleans, the band recorded an early version of Awful. One of the reasons why I think people need to listen to Hole is because of the depth and strength of the lyrics. First off, go and get Celebrity Skin on vinyl, as it is a record that should be cherished. For Celebrity Skin, Courtney Love included several literary references, including T.S. Eliot. The song Celebrity Skin quotes from The House of Life by Dante Rossetti; there are also references of Neil Diamond, too – quite an eclectic album! I love the fact Love, as a writer, was not copying everyone else and writing about love in a very ordinary and cliched way. Instead, she penned tracks that takes from literature; it looks at L.A. in a positive way as, by 1998, Love was an A-list star – contrasting earlier material which cast L.A. in a more shallow and dirty light.

The 1990s was a rich and stunning decade for music, and it would be a very successful one for Hole. Although they split – albeit it temporarily – in 2002, look at the music they put out in the 1990s and it rivals the best from anyone else. Celebrity Skin is a remarkable album with some serious highlights. I want to source from two interviews. One is from 1998 – when the album was released -, whilst the other was written twenty years later; one can see how Celebrity Skin was viewed the immediate aftermath and how it has survived and affected so many years later. This is Rolling Stone’s take in 1998:

“The album teems with sonic knockouts that make you see all sorts of stars. It’s accessible, fiery and intimate — often at the same time. Here is a basic guitar record that’s anything but basic. On high points like “Awful” and the gorgeous “Malibu,” Hole act as though making big radio-ready hits smart now equals pure punk rock.

Love herself is a combination of Los Angeles messiness and London obliqueness, a mix of the ungovernable expressiveness of Stevie Nicks and the refracted psychedelicism of a British loner like Julian Cope. Producer Michael Beinhorn — who steered Soundgarden through the wiry heavens of guitar rock on Superunknown — helps pull together these two unlikely sides of Love’s artistic personality. The result is more shiftingly special than the heavy-handed grunge of Live Through This. Celebrity Skin is all minimalist explosion, idiomatic flair and dead-on rhythms. On “Malibu,” a ballad about separation and escape, Erlandson’s guitar changes from silveriness to something rougher in a heartbeat. This is rock & roll that’s supple enough to handle Love’s amphitheaters of emotion.

It’s wavy, like the Pacific Ocean. That’s one of Love’s other obsessions on Celebrity Skin: the promises and the agonies of Southern California. Sold-out sluts, fading actresses, deluded teenagers, “summer babes” and hunks — all this “beautiful garbage” crowds the roadside of the album. So Billy Corgan, Hole’s other major collaborator, who co-wrote five superb songs on Skin, makes real sense here. By advocating structure in ’92 with the Smashing Pumpkins, Corgan stood firm for the L.A. tradition of closely considered studio rock as an avenue to freedom. The songs he worked on here include “Hit So Hard,” an unhurried groove about full-on crushes that never lays back; “Dying,” a slightly electronicized ballad where Love reveals her need to be “under your skin”; and “Petals,” whose subtle minor-key remembrances and grand demands build to a spectacular climax. Clearly, Corgan has shown Hole how to relax and go for it”.

In spite of the fact Love was more successful and well-known than she was previously, there is that dissatisfaction and sense of discomfort. Vivid images of failed stars and beautiful bodies mingle in an album that is more like a film soundtrack; a film noir about L.A. in the late-1990s, penned by someone who has experienced the ups and downs of the music and film industries. I can remember the album coming out in 1998 but, apart from singles like Malibu, I don’t think I investigated that closely. More recently, I have been listening to Celebrity Skin and seeing it in a new light. It is interesting seeing how an album ages and whether it sounds dated. I think Celebrity Skin is a record that sounds so relevant and important in 2020.  

In their review of 2008, this is what Spin had to say about Hole’s Celebrity Skin:

“Pop” is the crucial term: Celebrity Skin carries the conversation beyond the traditional postpunk loop of raw power and pretty poison, dirty glam and curdled self-loathing. These things all figure. But Love manages also to chat up early pop star Shakespeare and latter-day saint Stephen Malkmus, hi-cred novelist Denis Johnson, and lo-life Art Alexakis; the title off-quotes Burt Bacharach. Twice.

Still, pop isn’t a reference game; it’s a way of life on which the record bets everything. Celebrity Skin is likely to piss off anyone still indulging in the fantasy of Courtney as punk Goddess/feminist Fury; if you want the howl and the open wound, you’ll have to dredge Puget Sound. But that’s not where this record is calling from; it dials in from a more southern Pacific. After various production peregrinations, Michael Beinhorn ends up finding a bastard mix of sweetness and weight: ice cream grunge, with a shock of fab guitar parts from Eric Erlandson plus a gang of new-wave synthesizers. Most of the music was written by the band, with free advice from a Smashing Pumpkin (five tracks) and help from both a Go-Go and a Blinker the Star on “Reasons to Be Beautiful.” In exchange for the astonishing consistency of mood that made Live Through This a breakwater of ‘90s rock, Celebrity Skin produces a cataract of great songs, spectacularly polished.

The challenge for Celebrity Skin is whether it can be heard above the din, the life stories and public displays of affliction. But like all great records, it’s at its best when it attempts the impossible task of swallowing all that noise. At the end of “Reasons To Be Beautiful,” rather than turning away from the tell-all, the singer puts her back into it until the song trasmutes into an answer to her husband’s suicide note, talking back to the lost summer: “When the fire goes out / You better learn to fake,” she sings, knowing the last say counts for nothing and having it anyway. “It’s better to rise than fade away,” she promises, as if all pop stars weren’t doomed to do both”.

Look around the music landscape now, and one can find artists and albums that pick up little pieces from Celebrity Skin. Whether it is the rich compositions or the striking lyrics; the panache and power of Love’s vocals or something else…Celebrity Skin is an album that has influenced through the years. I will wrap up soon but, before then, I want to bring in an article that examined Celebrity Skin twenty years after its release:

 “Despite the cultural whitewashing of Hole’s significance stemming from fear of strong women and the questionable personal actions of lead singer Love, the huge significance of Live Through This – a feminist punk rock album – on modern rock and even mainstream pop music is astounding. Females who are taking over the pop industry or fulfilling Courtney Love’s wish that ‘Every girl in the world would pick up a guitar and start screaming’ are joined by a battalion of rule-breaking queer men and women alike.

Bands that are loud and impossible to ignore and have the rebellious and unwavering spirit of Hole at heart – disavowing the patriarchal sentence placed on Hole to become lost in history at every turn. To state my opinions on the sexist treatment of Hole’s legacy would be one thing, but – instead – let’s explore the sheer amount of significant contemporary artists from all genres affected by that legacy. That’s right, I brought receipts.

The teachings of saint Courtney have not escaped some of rock’s heavyweights as well. UK Alt-rock giants Garbage’s 2001 Record ‘Beautiful Garbage’ is named after a quote from Hole’s 1998 mega-hit, Celebrity Skin. A dingy, begrimed, rock song about the cult of Hollywood hidden behind a snarling eye-roll of pop overtures. It lies somewhere closer to the bastard child of Fleetwood Mac and Blink-182 than it does Nirvana. Brody Dalle of the Distillers is another example and is probably the artist who owe’s the most to the first lady of grunge – Brody’s ‘Signature growl’ is her version of a vocal technique that Courtney coined.

Inspiring women who have become icons themselves, the girl-rockers of today also pay homage to their virulent mother. Upcoming superstars from bands like Pale Waves, Dilly Dally and Skating Polly all look like clones of each other because they’re all drawing inspiration from the ‘Kinderwhore’ fashion trend coined by Love. Every time you see an angry goth-girl in a Wednesday Addams dress and Dr Martens, or a girl with bangs chain-smoking in a leopard print fur coat, it’s down to the girl with the most cake. The alt-rock grrl band Honeyblood suspiciously share a name with a lyrics from Hole’s ‘Gutless’.

In the same vein, other contemporary pop artists who may not sound similar to Courtney but acknowledge her influence on their artistry include: Charli XCX, Lorde, St Vincent, Marina and the Diamonds, Tove Lo, Sky Ferreira and Avril Lavigne. There you go Love-haters – IMAGINE LIVING IN A WORLD WITHOUT SK8TR BOI. But seriously, the blood Courtney shed throughout the nineties has seeped so deeply into the fabric of pop-culture whilst the male-dominated industry tried to hide the stain – if you look for it, and god forbid let women talk about what inspires them, it’s really not that hard to find”.

If you have not got Celebrity Skin on vinyl, make sure you grab a copy or, as I keep saying, stream it if you cannot get it on vinyl. Nearly thirty-two years after its release, this mighty album still sounds…

ABSOLUTELY amazing.  

FEATURE: Modern Heroines: Part Nineteen: Robyn

FEATURE: 

Modern Heroines

PHOTO CREDIT: Clare Shilland

Part Nineteen: Robyn

___________

I am not sure why it has taken me so long to…

include Robyn in one of my features like this – I am pretty sure I haven’t! -, but she is an artist that is going to be an icon of the future – she may well be already. Check out her Facebook page, and follow her on Twitter; go see her videos on YouTube, and follow her on Instagram. You can also hear her music on Spotify, and get involved with this wonderful artist. I will look through her career in a minute but, as it is a new year, there are gigs coming up for Robyn. I wonder why she has not been asked to headline Glastonbury before but, as we know she won’t this year, I do hope other festivals make her a headliner! One festival Robyn will be attending is London’s Lovebox :

 “The London festival has shared the complete program for its 18th edition.

Tierra Whack, Robyn and Kaytranada have been added to the bill at this year’s edition of Lovebox, which takes place at London’s Gunnersbury Park over three days from June 12 – 14 .

They join Tyler, The Creator, Charli XCX, FKA twigs, Little Simz and many more for the festival’s biggest lineup yet”.

PHOTO CREDIT: Luke Gilford for GARAGE Magazine

Also, adding to the above, Robyn is to be crowned Songwriter of the Decade at the NME Awards! It has been a busy and wonderful career for Robyn who, since her debut in the 1990s, has grown and evolved as an artist.  Born in 1979, the Swedish artist, songwriter, and producer burst onto the scene with her 1995 debut album, Robyn Is Here. Her latest album, Honey, was released in 2018, and it is a fantastic album. I shall come to that later, but I need to start at the beginning – or when Robyn was fifteen. She started her Pop career at this age, and she signed with RCA Records in 1994. She released her debut single, You’ve Got That Somethin’ in Sweden and, later that year, she got a breakthrough with Do You Really Want Me (Show Respect).

The singles would form part of her album, Robyn Is Here, in 1995. Although the start of her career was modest, she did lend her voice to a series of projects – she was Sweden’s pre-selection for the Eurovision Song Contest 1997. That debut album stands as a fascinating and strong work from an artist who, right from the off, created something stunning. It peaked at number-right in the Swedish chart, and it was certified double-platinum by the Swedish Recording Industry Association. Some debate when Robyn’s breakthrough came. Some say it was when she released her debut; others say a bit later in her career. No matter where your mind is, one has to admit that her debut is a fantastic offering. Although her debut arrived in 1995, we waited for four years until she followed it up with My Truth. Robyn co-wrote all of the album’s fourteen tracks, and the album was the culmination of a period of movement and transition. Whilst she was in Sweden for a lot of the time, she went to the U.S. several times to work on the album. Robyn felt it was important to contribute to all the tracks, and the idea for all the songs came from Robyn. Working with a range of producers, her second album is more experimental and varied than her debut. Whereas her debut was more Pop-based, My Truth brings together House and Rock vibes with Pop and R&B. If her debut was too heavy on R&B and Pop, the expansive and explorative My Truth is a lot stronger. Maybe the stronger material was a case of Robyn experiencing more and bringing that to the music. Electric and Play are incredible singles, whilst there are some underrated gems like My Truth still sound great. Everything from the relationship between love and hate and feeling misunderstood are covered on the album.

Reviews were pretty solid for My Truth, but I am not bringing any in at the moment, as I will scatter reviews through this feature to show how critics took to her albums. I think 2002’s Don’t Stop the Music was the first real breakthrough for Robyn. Released through BMG in Sweden, it peaked at number-two in the charts there. Singles such as Keep This Fire Burning and Don’t Stop the Music helped get the album worldwide acclaim and attention. I will bring in a review of Robyn’s eponymous album of 2005, as it is a terrific thing. In 2003, Robyn left her Jive Records label, as she felt she had little artistic freedom. I think Robyn was being marketed in the U.S. as a Pop artist like Britney Spears or Christina Aguilera, and there was a feeling that she had compromised and not produced work true to who she was. In 2003, Robyn also discovered the brother-and-sister duo The Knife whilst record shopping. She bought herself out of her existing contract and, reluctant to sign with a big label – inspired by The Knife – she started her own label, Konichiwa Records. This allowed Robyn the freedom to create and record as she felt fit. The lyrics are very strong and self-confident; I think Robyn said she returned to her youth, and that feeling of being on the subway and listening to Hip-Hop. There is also a fragility to the album; a mix of the strong and reflective. Maybe it was the break from her old record company that meant Robyn resonated harder than previous albums. Here is AllMusic’s take:

"I present to you/Unleashed in the East/Best dressed in the West/Sorted in the North/Without a doubt in the South/the queen of queen bees," intones the booming voice on Robyn's opening track, "Curriculum Vitae." It's not bragging if you can back it up, and Robyn does just that, channeling all the frustration of her creative differences with her previous labels into a freewheeling, accomplished pop album that is so fresh that it could pass for a debut -- and, as the first release for her own label, Konichiwa Records, it is a debut of sorts.

Robyn feels like she crammed everything she couldn't do before into a space that can barely contain it, starting with "Konichiwa Bitches," a sassy hip-pop manifesto with a title that could very well have been the first thing she said to her old bosses once she got her own label set up. On this song and the rest of the album, Robyn sounds equally empowered and irresistible, and doesn't hesitate to tell off labels, trifling boys, or anyone else who stands in the way of what she wants. She doesn't mince words on "Handle Me," but she purrs "you're a selfish, narcissistic, psycho-freakin', boot-lickin' creep" so sweetly that it stings even more. And even on the songs where she isn't so strong, like "Bum Like You" and "I Should Have Known"'s catchy recriminations, she's never the less than self-aware. She has a few words for the ladies as well: the cautionary tale "Crash and Burn Girl" is one of the album's funkiest tracks.

"Who's That Girl," the song that her old label didn't want to release, and sparked her emancipation from them, is also here, and its distinctive skipping, tropics-go-Nordic rhythms and aggressively buzzy synths -- courtesy of the Knife -- sound great, but it isn't even the best song here. That honor goes to one of two songs that really hit home that true independence can be the hardest thing. "Be Mine!" nails the complicated, sad yet liberated feelings surrounding an impossible relationship, celebrating "the sweet pain of watching your back as you walk away" as it propels itself on a buoyant rhythm. "With Every Heartbeat," the epic, Kleerup-produced breakup song that was Robyn's breakthrough single in the U.K., pushes her forward on percolating, escalating synths and strings until it peaks with the chorus echoing all around her. Not every independent moment on Robyn is so lonely, however. The way the album moves from whimsical tracks like the Teddybears cover "Cobrastyle" or "Robotboy" to subtle ballads like "Eclipse" and "Any Time You Like" just emphasizes that this album is a space for expression for and by Robyn. And like any self-titled album should, Robyn defines what she's all about. Even if it took a few years to put together the label and album (and a few more to get the album released everywhere), this is the pop tour de force that Robyn has always had in her.

If the first decade of the 21st century was Robyn finding her feet and making music on her own terms, she began the next with huge productiveness and intent – three albums were released in 2010 alone! Body Talk Pt. 1 was her first installment, and Robyn was eager to get music out there, having left a gap of five years between records. Many artists would pace albums out and take a few years between them. Robyn felt that she had all these great songs, so why wait?! Robyn’s thoughts were that she could release material and tour albums; she could then record more. If that sounds like a rather samey and machine-like, it is Robyn displaying a real passion. She was in fine creative form, and that shows on Body Talk Pt. 1. The albums songs were the first songs she finished during the previous spell of writing/recording. Here is what The Guardian had to say when they reviewed the album:

“It's possible that Robyn, the Swedish singer who reached No 1 with With Every Heartbeat in 2007, is a little bit too interesting ever to be a contemporary pop star. Certainly, opening a mini-album – the first of three she plans to release this year – with a song called Don't Fucking Tell Me What to Do and closing with a traditional Swedish ballad, Jag Vet en Dejlig Rosa, is not in the Simon Cowell playbook. But those bookends are clues to both her defiant independence of spirit and her versatility within the pop idiom, and show precisely why she should be treasured. Of the other six songs, Dancing On My Own's pulsing synths and electronic percussion manage to sound both jackbooted and ineffably melancholy, Cry When You Get Older is blessed with a melody that sounds as if it came from Celtic folk music but is here reshaped into sophisticated electropop, while the piano-and-strings ballad Hang With Me is blessed with a startlingly sincere performance that adds weight even to its lyrical clichés”.

I will bring in other albums soon but, to this point, I have not sourced from any interviews. 2010 was the first year, I think, when Robyn started to really talk about her music in positive and passionate tones. I came across a great feature from Dummy, who put Robyn under the spotlight:

“In a way, it’s funny that the Pop music Robyn started making in her mid-twenties would capture those teenage feelings of longing, loving and danced out frustration more authentically than anything she released as a teenager. I guess because when you grow up you realise those feelings never really end; you’re just better acquainted with them and subsequently more equipped to give them shape. While the Pop landscape has changed considerably over the last few years, as David discusses in his review of ‘Body Talk Pt.1’, Robyn is more relevant than ever and that’s because of her biggest strength – that authenticity. Big songs grab attention but staying power in Pop music comes down to the person and their ability to resonate with so many people across a whole multitude of walks and stages of life. Music industry ideas about universal appeal often dictate a generic approach, the something-for-everyone route, which is why much commercial Pop pedals sanitised emotion. But human hearts and minds don’t work like that when it comes to music. It’s the songs that break the rules (we can hazard a guess that it was Who’s That Girl’s subject matter of deep-rooted female insecurity that freaked out industry heads), pairing a catchy hook with a taboo subject, that are the ones we champion. Robyn has always known this. After all, this is the woman who wrote her first song aged 11 about her parents divorce. She gives voice to awkward emotions, the ones we all struggle to keep a lid on. That’s why her music continues to connect, and what makes Dancing On My Own such a perfect Pop song – at its heart is a pain we all recognise and that makes it powerful.

IN THIS PHOTO: Robyn in 2010/PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images

This album is a lot more clubby – there’s techno, dancehall, electro – I was wondering if you felt dance music, or club music, afforded you more freedom?

Yeah, I think actually after making With Every Heartbeat I found a way to be pop but also emotional in a way that I don’t really did before. I think that’s steered this album in the direction that it’s gone. It’s like the whole is a continuation of the last album but definitely of With Every Heartbeat as well. It was obvious to me that I wanted to take this album to a four to the floor world because of that song.

I completely relate to the feeling of, when you’re at you’re lowest, wanting to dance all night. Obviously something that Dancing On My Own continues. What I also liked was the theme of growing up in suburbia and wanting to escape. It feels like the night-time world is a place you can do that.

Yeah, it’s funny with clubs. It’s a grown-up playground where people just let everything hang out and get stupid drunk. It’s where you let your emotions out if you’re happy or unhappy, sad or in love – whatever it is, it tends to come out when you go out. I think it’s an important place for our generation; it has a role in our everyday lives that you could almost compare to a church or something that has a bigger meaning to people”.

Hardly pausing for breath, Body Talk Pt. 2 arrived a few months after the first chapter. Released in September 2010, it is the second part of the trilogy. Whilst the albums are closer to mini-albums than full albums, the consistency and quality is exceptional. Collaborating with Klas Åhlund, Kleerup, Savage Skulls, Diplo, Snoop Dogg, and Niggaracci, the songs for this second part were conceived and developed whilst she was working on Body Talk Pt. 1.

This is what The A.V. Club had to say about Body Talk Pt. 2:

“After ending Body Talk Pt. 1 on a low-and-slow note, Robyn bounds back onto the dance floor on Pt. 2 with seven breathless, synth-driven gems before taking another respite with the orchestral album closer “Indestructible,” which will likely receive the same sort of up-tempo reworking on Pt. 3 that “Hang With Me” gets this time around. Like any good sequel, Pt. 2 dials up its predecessors’ best parts: “Hang With Me” reprises the anthemic, emotional beats of Pt. 1’s “Cry When You Get Older”; “Criminal Intent” ratchets up the sexiness of “Fembot” and adds a Peaches-like electro-bounce; and the album highlight, “U Should Know Better,” has the same club-bumping energy and smirking sass of Robyn’s “Cobrastyle,” with a Snoop Dogg cameo as the cherry on top. Only “We Dance To The Beat” hews a little too close to the robotic chill of “Don’t Fucking Tell Me What To Do” to avoid feeling like a retread, but overall, Body Talk has more than enough life in it to power through into Pt. 3”.

In 2010, the third part of the trilogy arrived in the form of Body Talk. Released in November 2010, this is the best-reviewed and considered album of the three. I am not sure why that is, but the fact it has songs like Indestructible didn’t hurt! The former is one of the best songs of the 2010s, and it is Robyn’s signature track. I love the album, and I think it was the moment Robyn entered the next phase of her career; when her worked stepped up another gear and that lack of big label interference paid dividends! There are lots of great reviews for Body Talk, but I want to return to The A.V. Club:

 “With Body Talk Pt. 3, Robyn caps an exceptional run of EPs that combine to form what is hands-down the best dance-pop album of the year. (A compilation of most of these songs, called simply Body Talk, is also available.) At only five tracks, it’s the shortest of the bunch, but it also might be the best, a short, sweet burst of dance-floor delirium that proves there’s still room for smart, mature songwriting and heartfelt performance in the high-gloss world of club music.  

Unlike with the first two parts, there’s no space given over to a solitary ballad or minimalist electro pulse; Pt. 3 storms out of the gate with a joyfully pumped-up version of the Pt. 2 ballad “Indestructible,” and it doesn’t let up from there. “Time Machine” reunites Robyn with fellow Swede Max Martin for the first time since 1997’s “Show Me Love,” and the result is just as infectious, and hat-tips Back To The Future to boot. “Stars 4-Ever” and “Get Myself Together” nod back to the ’80s and ’90s, respectively, mining deep veins of nostalgia without being overly retro-cute. The record reaches its apex at its midpoint with “Call Your Girlfriend,” which turns the breakup-anthem conceit on its ear in a manner that makes getting dumped seem inspiring. Over the course of Body Talk, Robyn has proved that there’s real emotion to be found among the ones and zeros of electronic music, and Pt 3. is the culmination of that outlook: euphoric, personal, and inspirational to the last beat”.

Given the fact Robyn put out so much work in 2010, it is understandable she left it until 2018 to bring out Honey. She began work on Honey in 2015 following the death of a close friend and collaborator, Christina Falk. She also went through a breakup, so it was a difficult time for Robyn. She reached out to Joseph Mount of Metronomy, and they collaborated on a few occasions. More involved in the production side, Robyn recorded the album at studios in Stockholm, London, Paris, New York, and Ibiza. I think Honey is a lot softer and more sensual than any previous album. There are hot and electric moments, but the feel one gets from Honey is a more sensuous and warmer sensation. Honey was one of the most-acclaimed albums of 2018, and it was definitely in my top-five! There are some interviews that I want to source from, but I will bring in a review from The Telegraph first of all 

“Middle age is a difficult transition for a pop star. Yet at 39, it feels like Honey could be the moment Robyn gets her due as an artist in complete command of her medium. Deftly sketched lyrics of relationship travails glide across irresistible beats on gossamer melodies, driven by nimble bass figures, sparkling synthetic strings and off-kilter, earworm noises.

Because It’s in the Music evokes the bittersweet addictiveness of pop, memorialising a break-up tune (“The day they released it/ Was the day you released me/ And even though it kills me/ I still play it every night”).

Halfway through the album, she switches audaciously, between the sadness of Baby Forgive Me to the dynamic empowerment of Send to Robyn Immediately, when the same lyric is transformed from plea to ultimatum (“If you’ve got something to say/ Say it tonight”). From there, the only way is up, on a journey through sensual reconciliation (Honey) and joyous romance (Between the Lines) playing out on the delightfully buoyant Ever Again (“never gonna be broken-hearted, ever again”).

Robyn is not a vocalist given to diva-style over-singing but the feeling in her songs is utterly transparent. “All these emotions are out of date,” she gently laments on Human Being – but real emotion never gets old. Honey is moving in more senses than one, a hypnotically groovy dance floor opus, set to the beat of Robyn’s tender heart”.

I think, in terms of peaks, 2018 was another one for Robyn. Again, she had found new ground and proved that, twenty-three years after her debut album, she was one of the finest and most original artists around. There are a lot of interviews online from 2018, and there have been features since then I want to first bring in an interview from The Standard, where Robyn talked about Honey in terms of rediscovering the purpose of music:  

 “It was all about rediscovering her purpose. Or, the purpose of her music. “I thought: ‘What is so special about me that I have to take up all this space in people’s consciousness and tell them about my feelings? What can I offer them?’

“Maybe that’s why I like people like David Bowie and Prince. I seriously feel like Bowie was an astronaut who went into space and experienced things and brought back these... treasures,” she says, beaming.

The psychoanalysis, she concludes, made the music better. “In a way, that was my space trip.”

It was the album’s title track that was the breakthrough. She had sent an unfinished version to superfan Lena Dunham, who had requested something new for the soundtrack to last year’s final season of her hit TV comedy Girls. Its airing caused clamorous excitement — was the Robyn comeback finally afoot?

It wasn’t, and she admits with another laugh that she found that expectation really stressful. “Part of me was thinking, ‘Maybe I should just release Honey the way it is. Am I just being silly, thinking I can do something special here?’ But I decided not to, to try and get to where I wanted to get to. And I got there, I think.”

Robyn will be touring next year, although certainly not to the extent of the three-year trek she undertook in support of Body Talk. But certainly the creativity of this daughter of experimental Swedish theatre folk is, once more, firing on all cylinders.

“Honey was the first song I wrote where I was really enjoying myself again, after questioning the idea of being an artist,” she admits”.

It is clear that the Robyn of her 1995 debut was different to the one on 2018’s Honey. Of course, a lot of time had passed, but I think there is more than that. She seems like a more confident artist now, and I actually think Honey is her finest work. Few artists experience that upward trend and get stronger as they get older. There is a softness on Honey that was not necessarily present as prolifically beforehand. This interview from Vice reveals more:

 “This album is a lot softer than what you’ve done before. Why do you think it came out like that?

I was in a very vulnerable state. Before, my go-to way of dealing with challenges was to push through them, but I don’t think I could with this. When I wrote this album, I was really sad and reflective. My instinct was to calm down and try to be more present in my life. I had to find a more comfortable, relaxed space where I could learn how to take care of myself. When I started making music, it was from a place of doing things to make me feel good; listening to music I like, dancing. So I kind of had to seduce myself again – not push, but lure things out of myself.

Did you find therapy helped you get back to a place in which you could express certain feelings and experiences, for this album?

I think that’s what therapy is about, figuring out how you feel, not necessarily solving anything directly but understanding how you feel. It’s a long and complicated, indirect process. I was in therapy for another three years after that.

Pretty soon afterwards I was able to write again, once I’d made space for it. My therapy started working and I was writing properly and spending all my time on the album by mid-2015. But it was also a quiet period for me. I was back in Stockholm in the studio, sometimes travelling and seeing friends, but I wasn’t working all the time. It was very luxurious in a way, to be able to do that”.

If you can see Robyn play live, then do so, as she is a tremendous performer. I cannot wait to see what comes next and whether we see any new material in 2020. After the acclaim Honey received, that must have resonated and spurred her on. Maybe she is focusing on touring this year, but I’d like to think there will be something out later in the year. Robyn is one of the music world’s finest artists, and she has inspired so many other artists. This phenomenal artist will continue to rule the music scene…

FOR years to come.

FEATURE: God’s Jukebox: Is It Possible for a TRUE Music Lover to Have a Favourite Album or Song?

FEATURE:

 

God’s Jukebox 

PHOTO CREDIT: @kellysikkema/Unsplash

Is It Possible for a TRUE Music Lover to Have a Favourite Album or Song?

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IT may be a simple case of…

PHOTO CREDIT: @stairhopper/Unsplash

a person’s view differing from someone else’s, but I have heard a couple of musicians say lately that, if you are a true music lover, you cannot have a favourite or song – there is too much choice for a start! To be fair, I say my favourite year for music is 1994 and, when I listen to some other classic years, I wonder whether I am right. I was especially annoyed, as I have a favourite track (Steely Dan’s Deacon Blues) and album (Kate Bush’s The Kick Inside) and am not going to change my view. Those choices have not been there forever: when I was younger, other albums and songs were favoured. One might say that this proves the point that, truly, one cannot limit music to a single album or song. Maybe other people struggle to rationally choose one album and single that is better than all the rest. I think each music fan differs and, to be honest, I can say with great certainty that my favourite band are The Beatles; I can also say that my favourite solo artist (and the artist I covert most) is Kate Bush and, to my dying day, this will be the case, in spite of the fact there are thousands of options! On the subject of The Beatles, I have been listening to them a lot lately – their final-released album, Let It Be, turns fifty in May. I love all of their albums, and I would place Rubber Soul, Revolver, and The Beatles (or ‘The White Album’) – and Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band – high in the mix.

PHOTO CREDIT: @rocinante_11/Unsplash

Even if The Beatles’ empirical brilliance and genius makes me rethink my choices regarding my favourite song and album, I am determined to stick by my convictions. Those who argue one cannot call themselves a proper music fan if they place a song and album above all the rest do so because of the staggering amount of options around. How can I say I hold The Beatles in such high esteem yet not put any of their albums or songs at the top of my list?! I have personal reasons for loving particular artists, albums, and songs, and my connection to Steely Dan’s Deacon Blues is stronger than any other when it comes to song. Maybe it is the memories summoned when I think of the track or a formula within the song that resonates hard. The same is true of Kate Bush’s The Kick Inside, in as much as I feel different listening to it compared with any other album. I acknowledge the fact that, yes, my mind can change in years to come, but I listen to more music than most people and I feel fine saying that I have a favourite album and song – and that there are so many other great tracks and albums that I adore and are so important to me. It feeds into a feature I am writing soon that asks why there isn’t a radio show/format that invites guests to chart their favourite music through the years – covering vinyl, C.D., and digital (I know there is Desert Island Discs and BBC Radio 2’s Tracks of My Years, but this is a bit different).

PHOTO CREDIT: @moco1384/Unsplash

I think music, at its core, is all about the emotional attachment and very little to do with science and numbers. Whilst many fickle and unadventurous young music fans will say their favourite album ever is a recent Pop smash, one feels they are just reacting to what is popular and, if they did some digging, they would find other albums that stand out more! I do not object to young fans latching onto new albums and saying it is their favourite, but I have been listening to music since I was a child, and I consider myself to be a music nut of the highest order! I don’t know why it bothers me when people say one cannot have a favourite song or album, and I can appreciate why people change their mind when they think of their choices. I have interviewed so many artists and ask them the question as to the albums they hold dearest. Some can answer with certainty, whilst others find it impossible to be so defined and concrete. Music is always changing and there is new stuff out all of the time. Maybe some leave their mind open and embrace everything equally, though I find it troubling people do not have a connection with an album or song that is so strong that it will not waver. I love the fact that I hold The Kick Inside and Deacon Blues in such esteem, and I also love a wide range of music and do not write anything off that fails to meet the heights of these fantastic recordings. I appreciate the fact some music fans cannot funnel down their music tastes to a defining album or song but, in my case (and so many other people), there is that one track and album that…

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MEANS more than the rest.

FEATURE: From the Ashes: The Apollo Masters Corp. Fire and the Impact on Vinyl Production

FEATURE: 

From the Ashes

PHOTO CREDIT: @halannahalila/Unsplash

The Apollo Masters Corp. Fire and the Impact on Vinyl Production

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WHEN I checked Twitter yesterday…

PHOTO CREDIT: Petr David Josek/AP/Shutterstock

I heard news that a Californian record plant for Apollo Masters Corp. was devastated by a fire on Friday. One might assume that a single factory/facility cannot threaten vinyl production, but they would be wrong. Apollo Masters is one of two manufacturers in the world that produced lacquer discs needed for vinyl masters. This article from Billboard explains more:

“The California plant is one of only two in the world that manufactures lacquers, vital to the production of vinyl records.

The manufacturing and storage facility for Apollo Masters Corp. -- a Banning, Calif.-based manufacturing plant that supplies the lacquer used for making master discs, which are then used to create vinyl records -- has burned down in a massive fire, the company confirmed in a statement posted to its official website.

“To all of [our] wonderful customers. It is with great sadness we report the Apollo Masters manufacturing and storage facility had a devastating fire and suffered catastrophic damage,” the statement reads. “The best news is all of our employees are safe. We are uncertain of our future at this point and are evaluating options as we try to work through this difficult time. Thank you for all of the support over the years and the notes of encouragement and support we have received from you all.”

The fire, which was first reported around 8 a.m. PT Friday morning (Feb. 7), broke out while employees were inside the building, though all escaped safely, according to The Desert Sun, which first reported the blaze. But the loss of the plant -- which, along with MDC in Japan, is one of only two worldwide that produces the lacquers needed to create vinyl records -- comes as a difficult blow to the booming vinyl record industry. Billboard reported just last month that 26% of all physical albums sold in the U.S. in 2019 were vinyl.

ILLUSTRATION CREDIT: Lucy-Rae Naylor

As to how the sudden shortage might be remedied going forward, Tamazyan says that short of Apollo rebounding, it will take either a new company acquiring Apollo's intellectual property and creating a new plant or MDC expanding its operations -- though he notes that even prior to the Apollo fire, MDC was falling behind. "They were already having a hard time keeping up with the demand," wrote Tamazyan, who says that as an existing MDC customer, Capsule Labs is at least temporarily in the clear. Still, he continued, "a U.S.-based supplier is imperative."

Also weighing in on the fire via social media was Duplication, a Canadian company that offers vinyl pressing, among other services. In a tweet, the company wrote that the Apollo plant’s destruction is a “disaster” for the vinyl pressing industry, noting the lacquer shortage resulting from the fire could possibly result in “plants having to close or scale back operations”.

It is a tragedy for the employees and those who rely on the plant but, as vinyl sales are so healthy and so many of us are huge vinyl fans, there is a fear that sales and production will be affected massively. It seems strange that there are only two facilities that produce lacquer discs needed for vinyl masters. Many people rely on digital music, so cannot appreciate how a record comes together and, after this fire, there will be great uncertainty and delay. In the long run, things will recover and there will be a return to normal but, right now, it is a very scary situation.

PHOTO CREDIT: Freepik

Maybe the effects will be felt hardest in the U.S., but there is surely going to be repercussions in the U.S. I am glad nobody was hurt in the fire, and I wonder how it started in the first place. Last year, we saw reports about the hugely distressing Universal Studios fire in Hollywood in 2008 that resulted in the loss of so much precious material and masters. I guess every building is vulnerable to fire, but when it hits the music industry like this, it has an impact on more than the people who work in these places – it spreads around the world and impacts consumers, artists, and record labels. This latest fire is not as devastating as the Universal blaze, but it makes me wonder whether new measures should be brought in to protect factories, facilities and buildings like Apollo Masters Corp. The fire occurred a couple of days ago, so there is no telling what financial and physical cost will result. I am seeing on social media a lot of questions from people who ask whether they can order vinyl; artists who are curious as to whether they will be able to put their upcoming records to vinyl – one can understand the anxiety being felt right across the industry at the moment.

PHOTO CREDIT: @florenciaviadana/Unsplash

This Wall Street Journal article reacted to the news and asked what impact this horrific fire will have on the vinyl sector:

“This is going to create a mess,” says Len Horowitz, a vinyl expert who is one of a handful of people who know how to fix sensitive electronic components involved in record mastering. Mr. Horowitz thinks that production of new records will be significantly hampered.

“This is very bad, especially for independent vinyl manufacturers in the U.S.,” says Jessa Zapor-Gray, a music and audio marketing and vinyl-production consultant.

In recent years, the vinyl business had settled into a steady, healthy clip after a period of booming growth. Sales of vinyl LPs in the U.S. rose 14.5% last year to 18.8 million units, up from 16.5 million, according to Nielsen Music. Despite its growth, vinyl revenues in the U.S. amounted to $224 million in the first half of 2019, the latest data available, according to the Recording Industry Association of America.

The lacquers are used to make the master discs behind individual vinyl albums. These master discs are, in turn, sent to vinyl-pressing plants, which use them to make “stampers,” from which thousands of copies are pressed.

Consumers won’t feel the effects of the fire for a few months, says Ms. Zapor-Gray. But “behind the scenes, the effect on the industry’s psyche has been immediate,” she says. The record-cutting professionals who rely on lacquers have existing stashes—but these aren’t likely big enough to last long.

IN THIS PHOTO: Jack White

Much of the industry’s infrastructure remains archaic and hard to replace. Many pressing plants rely on aging equipment.

There’s been significant investment into the business over the past few years—by rock star Jack White, for example—but the Apollo fire is a reminder of just how wobbly the supply-chain supporting the vinyl business is”.

It is simply awful hearing stories like this, considering there is this investment in the vinyl industry. So many fans and artists prefer vinyl over any other format but, at a time when it is so much less expensive and easy to stream and get music online, events like this in the U.S. will put strain on vinyl producers. We shall see how things pan out, but there is going to be this recovery and restoration process that will cost a lot of time and money. I hope the music industry will not suffer too much, and vinyl production is able to continue – although at a decreased capacity, I am sure. This horrible news will affect and shake all those who…

PHOTO CREDIT: @julemergener_/Unsplash

LOVE their vinyl.