FEATURE: Spotlight: Loose Articles

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

Loose Articles

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ON many people’s radars…

since 2019, the mighty Loose Articles are a group that everyone should follow, listen to and see live! I have yet to see them live, though I will rectify this at some point soon. Natalie Wardle, Tree Nah, Erin Caine and Louise Rivett comprise the Manchester band. Post-Punk queens who have released so much prime and golden music so far – including their 2019 E.P., Orchid Lounge -, maybe I am a little late extolling their virtues! To be fair, I have been a fan for a while now, though I wanted to wait a bit longer to include them in this feature. I am going to finish with some recent news and developments, as the band announced details of a new E.P., Chaos, and they have shared the title track. The E.P. is due on 1st July. The band also recently signed with the excellent stable, Alcopop! It is a busy and prosperous time for one of my favourite new bands. They are going to festival staples very soon. Go and see them perform if you can. I think they could whip up a lot of love in the U.S. or Australia. They definitely have potential to be worldwide treasures! Before getting to some recent words, I want to head back and start with a couple of interviews from early in their careers. NME chatted with Loose Articles in 2020 and asked them some cool questions:

“What’s your band called, mate?

Loose Articles

What do you sound like?

We’re a melodic post-punk quartet. Specialising in discord, repetition and radical politics.

Are you any good (honestly)?

100% … We’re Feminine & Threatening, Working & Class.

What’s your best song?

All of them are bangers if we say so ourselves. We’ll let you guys be the judge of our best tune.

What’s been your most memorable gig?

Ooer thats a tough one as we’ve had a fair few really mint ones. Probs playing Manchester O2 Ritz for Socialist Sunday – Manchester for a Labour Government. It was a mega gig with a massive line up and all for a mint cause to try get as many people to vote for Labour.

Tell us something really interesting about you, that isn’t to do with music.

Tree has had her debut TV appearance on Sunday Politics.

Louise used to live in Germany and designed footy kits.

Erin once had her sights set on Muay Thai Boxing world domination.

Natalie lived in a naturist park in Canada a few years back.

What is your karaoke song?

Erin dominates Blondie’s ‘Hanging On The Telephone’.

Natalie is all about Robbie Williams, ‘Rock DJ’

Tree’s is a toss up between Shania Twain’s ‘Man! I Feel Like A Woman’ and Dizzee Rascal, ‘Bonkers’

Louise would boss New Order – ‘World in Motion’

Scenario: We’ve given you a shit load of money to make a big budget video – what do you do

Big video shoot at a packed out Wembley football stadium. All the England team are our backing dancers and the whole day is sponsored with unlimited Stella Artois… obviously

What do you want to achieve with your music?

Ideally getting invited to play at Peter Andre’s birthday party… but if failing that playing Glastonbury will do.

If your tour bus was hanging over the edge of a cliff and you needed to throw out one band member as ballast, which member would it be and why?

Thats a well tight question that… none of us we’ll sacrifice the driver instead, soz.

Fill in the blanks: When you listen to our music it feels like this gang of northern lasses is boozing and shouting in your brain”.

A truly wonderful band who were epic and original from the start, but have only grown better and more promising, I think the rest of this year will see Loose Articles ascend to new heights. The Culture Slice spoke with the band in 2019. Fairly fresh out of the block, it is fascinating reading what they had to say:

“Ruminate on the term ‘girl band’ - memories conjure up of the Riot Grrrl movement, the existential nihilism of Hole and the tenacity of lyrics such as we’re Bikini Kill and we want Revolution Girl-style now! The notion that an emerging female band in 2019 can be groundbreaking and subversive is elusive, right? We stand corrected, a caveat has been served!

Loose Articles are, in my opinion revolutionising the sovereign state of punk rock – a genre arguably putrefying, as dreamy vocals and pop infused licks saturate the UK scene. A melting pot of vehement social commentary, snake-thumping bass-lines and unprecedented demeanour emancipate these women from their predecessors. The band’s narrative – a commix of politically charged poetry and tongue-in-cheek melodic bluesy vocals – acts as a culturally relevant tribute to a nation unhinged.

Airing genuine camaraderie, whilst remaining somewhat nonchalant, Erin, Tree and Natalie of Loose Articles gather at the plushly decorated Deaf Institute in Manchester. Salutes have to be made to the group’s effortlessly distinct style – draped in sunset brogues, an 80s boiler suit and emerald velvet denoting their enigmatic personalities. From the get-go it is clear that these women have a keen intuition for what works well, and DIY culture is ingrained in their DNA!  As they gear up for their first support slot, aligning with their comrades Afghan Sand Gang, I seized the opportunity to catch up with them.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Joe Roper

Having the honour of securing your first interview, it would be remiss of me to not scope out the backstory on how the band formed…

Tree: Basically I was pestering Nat and Erin at parties… and every time there were various boys that we knew in bands, we were like ‘we could fucking do that.’ So yeah, just after a bit of pestering we had a practice and thought this is alright.

That leads me onto the subject of you being female quartette There is a plethora of women at the moment, flying the flag for women in music, such as Anna Calvi and Sharon Van Etten. Did you gain any inspiration from this?

Natalie: What was our inspiration? I guess it was a gap in the market and, as Tree said, looking at a lot of our mates who are in bands, who are all guys and being like ‘oh well, we can do that’. Also, there is a lot of women who are in bands but none of them are from the north – there’s a few but not as many… it’s taken over by the London scene, there’s borderline who are northern working-class.

What I really like about you is that you have brought this tongue-in-cheek humour, during a period of trepidation, in relation to the current political climate. Is there something at the epicentre relating to struggle that has sparked your creativity?

Tree: Yeah I suppose in politics and in life things are a bit… shit. So that’s what we talk about.

Erin: I think that you’ve always got to talk about things that you know and things that are personal to you. Especially within music and art, you can only express things that you know really.

Tree: You might as well make it funny I suppose. It’s one of them things…

Erin: If you don’t laugh then you’ll cry. It’s not that bad but you know (laughs).

Natalie: That’s the thing – like a lot of stuff that I’ve always created anyway has always been tongue-in-cheeky kind of things (looks at Erin). Like your artwork as well.

Erin: Underlying sarcasm… because I think that’s a good way to get your point across to people.

Natalie: Make them laugh before they listen to you, that’s the best way to do it. If people laugh first, then they’ll start to listen to what you are saying. That’s how it will grab them, rather than just preaching in people’s faces about stuff… they won’t listen if you do that, they’ll think 'shut up!'

Erin: And I don’t think that’s necessarily because we are in an all female band either, because that could be seen as… when you look at for instance some female comedians mocking men. I don’t see it as a gender-based thing.

You delve into the issue of toxic masculinity in your song Lethal Weapon. One lyric quotes you misogynistic clown. Does this use of satire contain an undertone derived from personal experience?

Natalie: We’ve been in a band before, we’ve been DJ's… things like that in the music industry. Myself, the other person I DJ with, we’ve felt very much like we get talked down a lot of the time. We've had hilarious things of guys who aren’t DJ’s, just punters, coming up to us saying things like “Oh, are they your Dad’s records?” Then the worst thing was somebody asked us “Are they your boyfriend’s records?” It’s as though they think that we don’t know what we are doing with our music. We’re just two pretty faces… well I say I’m pretty. It’s as though two women are Deejaying so it must be a gimmick. That’s one of the experiences. Other experiences just being in everyday life – work, getting cat-called in the street.

Tree: Especially the work-related stuff, it is something that most women will relate to.

Erin: I work in design and technology and I went in the shop to ask for some varnish, and the shop assistant said “Oh, nail varnish?” He looked at me like I was asking for blood or something.

Natalie: It’s just normalised… the sort of language men use to speak to women. It’s been formed in a way that that’s how it is and it just needs to change from the word go! There’s so many other women doing what we are doing as well, that it’ll become normalised that women can do it.

Erin: It’s a society problem. We live in a bubble though don’t we? I suppose all our male mates are not like that. They’re just like us.

Tree: Then you go to work, or in public…

Erin: In the big world...

Tree: Yeah, you hear about when people talk about ‘the classic man at the office’. You’d say something and then the man in the room repeats it. You think surely nobody does that? My Dad would never do that. Then someone goes, “Oh! What about this?” And you think to yourself ‘I’ve literally just said that!’

I’ve been away from Manchester for a while now. Albeit from an outside perspective, it seems that currently there is some sort of magic in the air…

Erin: I feel that there’s a bit of magic in the air – yeah, definitely!

Natalie: Northern power again isn’t it?

Erin: There’s a lot bands in the north – especially with us in Manchester, we all tend to kind of back each other a bit and help each other out, which is nice.

Natalie: It’s nice as well because for quite a while there was nothing coming out of Manchester at all! Now there’s been quite a few bands that have actually started to do really well. It sort of makes you think 'hang on a minute…well if they can do well we can do well too!’ People are looking in Manchester for up and coming talent.

Tree: As well, as we were saying before – a lot of the female bands were coming from London and it feels that now it’s Manchester’s turn.

Erin: The north will rise again”.

Moving into last year, Wax Music reflected on a year where the band took new steps and released, to that point, some of their strongest music:

“Their debut Orchid Lounge EP was released in homage to Manchester’s China Town late night karaoke bar, which is frequented by many characters of the city at all hours. Continuing this slight hedonist theme, they followed up with the single ‘Up The Disco’, which kind of does what it says on the tin. There are dancehall tinged elements, like the brilliant scale-climbing chorus – but it still lies heavily within their post-punk comfort zone. It was also the track which caused an increase in their airplay when it was premiered by Steve Lamacq on BBC 6 Music.

2021 has seen two Loose Articles releases so far. The first of which was ‘Buses’, which is quite simply a vocal assault towards catching the bus. The local myth that Manchester’s Oxford Street is the busiest bus route in Europe means many listeners can relate. ‘Kick Like A Girl’ is their most recent release, which alongside it saw a stroke of marketing genius – custom made ‘LAFC’ football tops.

Their catalogue so far has caught the attention of many; including national radio stations, the prestigious Manchester International Festival, and also a certain Dave Grohl, who has invited them to open up for Foo Fighters at Manchester’s Etihad Stadium in 2022. No booking agent in sight.

You tend to use humour as a weapon for getting your message across.

Erin: If you don’t laugh, you’ll cry.

Natalie: You need to get people in with the funniness and then they might listen to you more.

Erin: The current political climate is a bit dire, so you have got to take the piss a bit, otherwise what’s the point?

Louise: We don’t take ourselves too seriously. We should probably take ourselves more seriously. We were two hours late for our own soundcheck a couple weeks ago. We live fifteen minutes down the road.

Erin: It was ‘cos it was Parklife and Ronaldo’s first game at Old Trafford, so getting a taxi was a fuckin’ nightmare. Some people from a sewing machine factory in Brunswick Mill, where we practice, ended up giving us a lift with all of our gear.

Louise: We hitchhiked to our own gig.

We can’t not talk about that certain support slot at the Etihad Stadium for Foo Fighters. How did it come about?

Erin: So basically we got asked by The Foo Fighters to support them.

Natalie: I’ve got the email from SJM. They basically say, “Hi, The Foo Fighters have requested if you’re free to open for them?”

Erin: We were like “I think I’m busy actually.”

Natalie: You said no at first because you love Nirvana! I was like “fuck off Erin”!

Erin: Yeah, I thought about it and realised we couldn’t really turn that down.

Louise: I don’t know that many Foo Fighters songs, and someone had them on at work. I asked who it was and they were like “It’s Foo Fighters, you’re supporting them!”

Erin: It’s funny how many people have come out of the woodwork saying “You’ve made it now.” It’s not this life affirming experience.

It’s pretty big though considering you’ve no booking agent either

Louise: I don’t know if it’s true but Dave Grohl hand picks all the bands to support him.

Erin: He’s supposed to be one of the nicest men in music. I guess we’ll find out. If he can take us to Glastonbury then I’ll believe that.

Have you done anything different to prepare for a stadium show?

Erin: I’m gonna borrow my mate’s amp. I’ve got this 11kg Orange amp because I like to travel light. So I’ve arranged to borrow a Fender Hot Rod and my mate’s gonna carry it. So that’s how I’ve prepared, don’t know about you two?

Natalie: I’m going to try and learn how to play bass, and maybe get some singing lessons.

Louise: I’m gonna get a drum kit that’s not £50. Also we need to get sponsored.

Erin: If Fender wanna sponsor us for a Hot Rod amp that would be great. And also a person to carry it for me, cos I’ve not got time to go to the gym.

As things are snowballing, what’s lined up release wise for Loose Articles?

Erin: We’re just waiting for a multimillion pound record deal. D’you know anyone?

Natalie: Someone just needs to like us enough.

Erin: We’ve got all the songs there, and we’ve done loads of recording, we’re just waiting for the right moment to pounce. We’ve gotta do it proper. We’re just waiting for the right person to come along who believes in us as much as we believe in them”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Piran Aston

Prior to wrapping things up, it is worth coming up to date. Loose Articles are putting out a new E.P. in July. Maximum Volume Music reported some exciting news about one of the most exciting releases of this year:

“Manchester punk quartet Loose Articles are delighted to announce that they have signed to Alcopop! Records for their second EP, titled Chaos and set for release on 1st July 2022.

To celebrate the news, the band have revealed the EP’s title track and lead single ‘Chaos’ which is released on 23rd February 2022 via all good digital service providers.

The four piece have already announced a string of headline dates and festival appearances  for 2022 including Gold Sounds Festival and Stockton Calling, and also have the pleasure of supporting Dave Grohl’s rock legends Foo Fighters at Old Trafford Cricket Ground, Manchester on 25th June 2022

Commenting on the title track, the band say: “The tune was inspired by a particularly warm winter, when we were sitting around in beer gardens way too early in the year and all feeling a bit guilty for enjoying ourselves in the knowledge that the weird weather was definitely due to man made climate change and not some kindly weather god giving us northerners a well deserved break from the cold & rain.”

Specialising in discordant, hypnotic repetition, tales of boozy nights out, and radical politics, Loose Articles are a punk quartet with plenty to say. Their music speaks to all those determined to get through the age of austerity with tongue in cheek, pint in hand, and two feet firmly on the dance floor. Plying repetition (repetition, repetition…) with ragged edges and a sardonic, sarcastic drawl delivered with fierce, in your face, punk-fuelled attitude, both feminine & threatening, Loose Articles are here to make a point.

The band released their debut EP Orchid Lounge in 2019, following up with a string of standalone singles during the pandemic including ‘Up The Disco (2020), ‘Buses’ (2021) and ‘Kick Like A Girl’ (2021).

Loose Articles describe their forthcoming second EP Chaos as: “a satirical examination of the hazards of modern life—keyboard warriors, the death of the independent pub, sexist footy fans, and the hopelessness that the woman in the street often feels in the face of impending doom. Whilst politicians fly their private jets to climate change conferences only to sit around scratching their collective heads as to why it’s so warm in February, all that’s left to do is head to the nearest beer garden and watch the world burn.”

Already heavily championed by Steve Lamacq at BBC 6music (where they’ve also seen strong support from Chris Hawkins, Tom Robinson and Amy Lamé) the band have also picked up love from John Kennedy at Radio X, and appeared on Spotify’s The Punk List.

Elsewhere they’ve been covered by NME as one of The NME 100 list, endorsed by punk-friendly fashion labels Fred Perry Subculture and Underground England, named as one of Under The Radar Magazine‘s 22 for 2022, and have appeared on BBC One’s Football Focus as keen amateur pundits and fans of the beautiful game”.

If you are unaware about the brilliance of Loose Articles, then get involved and investigate! The terrific Manchester band have crafted their own sound and are picking up fans all around the world. As I said, I would not be surprised if they were touring right around the world very soon. With such a connection and chemistry between them, you can feel and sense how important it is to them that their music connects with people. You only need to take one listen to any of their songs until they are lodged in the head. Long may Loose Articles continue to reign. They are one of this country’s…

VERY best groups.

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Follow Loose Articles

PHOTO CREDIT: Piran Aston 

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/_loosearticles

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/loosearticles/

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/loosearticles/

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/07NWIkIKcZnWWmebfHcOxT

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsICRiG2rWtI-JDe9_JZbnw

FEATURE: Paul McCartney at Eighty: Thirty: With a Little Help from My Friend: Paul and Ringo: A Great and Lasting Bond

FEATURE:

 

 

Paul McCartney at Eighty

IN THIS PHOTO: Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney premiere of Ron Howard’s Beatles movie, The Beatles: Eight Days a Week - The Touring Years, in London on 15th September, 2016/PHOTO CREDIT: AP.

Thirty: With a Little Help from My Friend: Paul and Ringo: A Great and Lasting Bond

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THERE is something bittersweet…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Mike Coppola/Getty Images

about there being two surviving Beatles. Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr are the last members of the greatest band ever. In this feature as part of a run of forty ahead of Paul McCartney’s eightieth birthday in June, I wanted to discuss McCartney’s friendship with Starr. I have already discussed his bond with John Lennon. I might explore that more closely to June. Now, as there is recent news that McCartney and Starr met, I wanted to go into more depth:

“Get back to where you once belonged! Paul McCartney, 79, and Ringo Starr, 81, were spotted having a good ol’ time together last week in Los Angeles, sharing a low-key dinner with their wives, Nancy Shevell, 62, and Barbara Bach, 74. The duo, who worked together on such beloved Beatles hits like “Help!”, “Eleanor Rigby”, and “Let It Be”, both wore casual black looks for the outing and were spotted chit-chatting after the meal and also sharing a tender hug before heading off.

For Beatles heads, it’s nice to see the guys coming together again and enjoying life! Since the inception of their groundbreaking pop rock group that hit it big in the 1960s (and sadly parted ways in 1970), Paul and Ringo have remained good friends — and apparently their wives have, as well. The pair also seem to be keeping each other great company since the other two members of their group, John Lennon and George Harrison, passed away in 1980 and 2001, respectively”.

The two have worked together post-Beatles. McCartney has appeared on Starr’s music, and that has been reciprocated (both McCartney’s solo work and with Wings). It is great that they remained so close when the band broke up in 1970. Starr has already turned eighty, and you know he will be among the first to wish his mate a happy eightieth on 18th June! Although one feels the biggest bond in The Beatles would have been between McCartney and Lennon, the bass (McCartney) and percussion (Starr) link was immense. They had such an understanding and respect for each other. Although there were tensions at times – Starr famously left the band when McCartney suggested his tom tom playing on Back in the U.S.S.R. (from 1968’s The Beatles) was not up to scratch -, there has been this decades-long love that has remained to this day. They may not catch up as often as they should – as they live in different parts of the world -, but you know the conversations they have are must-hear! The natural chemistry and brotherhood they share means that they will collaborate with one another for years. I do hope that we hear them appear on one another’s albums in the coming years. Flaming Pie turns twenty-five next month. It is one of McCartney’s best albums, and it features Ringo Starr. I feel that the next album Macca puts out will feature the drumming brilliance of his pal. The two have performed on stage together. Unannounced, they would be on stage together and fans would get this real treat! As both are excellent drummers, they could play for one another, or both be in the spotlight and sing alongside each other.

Because McCartney is headlining Glastonbury in June, it would be amazing for the two to appear and perform a couple of songs. McCartney is current in the U.S. as part of his Got Back tour, and there might be a surprise appearance from Ringo Starr before long! I feel there is something special about Glasto that means them appearing together would be iconic. Maybe singing a Starr-led Beatles song like With a Little Help from My Friends, or Starr drumming for McCartney. There have been no announcements but, when it comes to these two, you never know! I always got the sense that, when The Beatles were splitting and there was division between McCartney and the other three, Starr was a peace-keeper and was a lot fairer to McCartney. There has been this musical and personal bond between them that is unlike any other in music. It would have been both weird and emotional for both of them to watch the recent Peter Jackson documentary, The Beatles: Get Back. You can see throughout that how there was this friendship between the two. One of my favourite moments of all was when Starr was watching McCartney play piano and you could see this genuine respect and love. He said how he could watch his bandmate play for hours – and you knew that he was being genuine!

These two amazing and legendary musicians have, with their two friends, changed the world. They had to face a strange split in 1970, where you didn’t know whether they would work together and how their friendship would fare. I am so glad that they hang out and there is this genuine desire to see one another. Their collaborations on record post-Beatles have been great. Let’s hope that this continues for a lot longer. One feels that it is inevitable that something that will happen between them at Glastonbury. I look back at both of their music through the years, and you just know they were in touch when an album came out to see how the other was doing. The two chat online a lot, and see each other when they can. It is inspiring to all of us! Although both are incredible solo artists, there is that extra touch of magic when they are working together. We will see it again for sure. Before Paul McCartney turned eighty in June, I wanted to explore his career and life from a number of different angles. I have dropped in a couple of songs where the two have played alongside one another. It is so wonderful to hear and feel Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr’s music being gifted with the touch of friendship. It is mindblowing realising that these two incredible people have been making music and bonded together…

FOR sixty years.

FEATURE: An Incredible Array of Talent… The Great Escape 2022 Playlist: Part Two

FEATURE:

 

 

An Incredible Array of Talent…

The Great Escape 2022 Playlist: Part Two

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THE full line-up…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Katy J Pearson

for this year’s bonanza, The Great Escape have been announced. Because of that, I am putting out playlists of the artists included. There are a lot to get through, so I have divided it into playlists. Covering the terrific talent that will be play in May, it is a tantalising and wonderful collection of songs. This second feature covers most of the second half of the line-up. I will do another section that covers the rest. Here are some awesome artists who will head to Brighton to wow the crowds…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Sinead O’Brien

NEXT month.

FEATURE: Groovelines: Billie Eilish - all the good girls go to hell

FEATURE:

 

 

Groovelines

Billie Eilish - all the good girls go to hell

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BECAUSE Billie Eilish is headlining Glastonbury…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Lars Crommelinck Photography

very soon, I wanted to use this opportunity to focus on one of her songs for Groovelines. From her debut album, WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?, all the good girls go to hell is a truly terrific song. A remarkable debut from the Californian artist, it was remarkable to hear her come through in 2019. As the album has not long celebrated its third anniversary (back in March), this Groovelines is about one of the best cuts from her debut. Last year’s Happier Than Ever was another tremendous album from Eilish - and, if anything, stronger than her debut. One reason why I love all the good girls go to hell is because it is a clear highlight from WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?. The track was written by Eilish and her brother, Finneas O'Connell; O’Connell produced the song. Released as the sixth single from the album, all the good girls go to hell is a song that looks at climate change and take the point-of-view of the Devil and God. They antagonise the human race for destroying the earth. Before coming to some critical reaction to all the good girls go to hell, Seventeen took a look at the song’s remarkable and hugely memorable video:

“Billie Eilish's new video for "All the Good Girls Go to Hell" is her creepiest one yet, and that's saying a lot. The vid is Billie at her finest: crooning to a great beat, slinking around, and attempting to change the world all at once.

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While at first, the concept seems like a random, hellish landscape that came to Billie and exemplified the lyrics of the song, but there's actually a lot more to it. It's part of a bigger message about climate change, timed with the UN's 2019 Global Action Summit, which will take place later this month. Billie's music video alludes heavily to climate change in an extremely simplistic and artistic way.

While in the beginning, Billie is a creature with beautiful white wings, she quickly becomes covered in oil, a phenomenon that, unfortunately, affects many animals living in oil-contaminated areas. You see how the oil affects Billie, slowing her down and inhibiting her abilities. Meanwhile, the world is burning around her, most likely signifying global warming and the burning of the Amazon rainforest.

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Of course, filming this video wasn't easy. The stylist on the video revealed in an Instagram post that Billie "suffered greatly for this beauty, hanging off a crane and dragging 25 foot long wings saturated in black slime weighing much more than her in agonizingly long takes." She also added that Billie envisioned the concept and put in the effort to fully realize it.

"Right now there are millions of people all over the world begging our leaders for attention," she wrote. "Our earth is warming up at an unprecedented rate, ice caps are melting, our oceans are rising, our wildlife is being poisoned and our forests are burning." She also shared info about the UN Climate Action Summit, as well as two strikes that will occur on September 20th and September 27th, when "millions of us will walk out of our workplaces and homes to join young climate strikers on the streets and demand an end to the age of fossil fuels," according to the Global Climate Strike's website. You can learn more about their initiative here”.

I am going to finish off with some reaction to a remarkable song from Billie Eilish. One of the finest artists of her generation, it is exciting thinking how far she can go! She has just headlined Coachella, and she will do the same at Glastonbury in the summer. From her exceptional debut album, all the good girls go to hell received praise from critics:

“All the Good Girls Go to Hell" has received mainly positive reviews from music critics. Madeline Roth of MTV described the song as a "jaunty, stuttering gem". Jon Pareles from The New York Times viewed the song as a "mocking, music-hall" track. Kenneth Womack of Salon magazine labeled the track as "playful". Christopher Thiessen from Consequence of Sound named "All the Good Girls Go to Hell" one of the essential tracks on When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? and called it a "banger". Roisin O'Connor, in his review for The Independent, had negative thoughts for the album's first four tracks, saying it "takes until track five – 'All the Good Girls Go to Hell' – for the album to gather any kind of momentum". In Clash, Yasmin Cowan described the song's title as "misleading" and "genius". musicOMH writer John Murphy stated that Eilish's track "Xanny" has an "appropriately narcotic haze [that] makes you yearn for the party anthems like 'All The Good Girls Go To Hell'". In 2020, The New York Times listed the song in their top 10 list of songs about climate change.

Writing for NME, Thomas Smith commended the song's chorus, saying it proves to be a "sparkling gem with jaunty piano and stuttering beats". David Opie of Highsnobiety wrote that "All the Good Girls Go to Hell" is "full of subversive lyrics that slither across the beat". Sean Ward, for The Line of Best Fit, compared the song to the Spice Girls "Say You'll Be There" (1996), and interpreted it as being a "haunted" version of the latter. He further noted Eilish's distorted vocals "whispering the ungodly hook of 'my Lucifer is lonely'" and that she "flips so effortlessly between religious metaphor and relationship disputes, using the two to enhance the track's overall narrative".

Insider's Libby Torres described it as an "absolute gem", saying that "Eilish's invitation to come and join her and her friends in hell sounds pretty damn appealing". Jules LeFevre, writing Junkee magazine, placed the song at number 16 on her Every Billie Eilish Song Ranked From Worst To Best list, saying the "dark Christian imagery fits Eilish's aesthetic like a black glove" while commenting that the song is "let down slightly by the lack of differentiation in rhythm and melody", leaving you "hoping that something would lift it off the ground, but it never happens".

A tremendous song that has an important message and boasts a video that is hard to forget, all the good girls go to hell is one of the many gems from Billie Eilish’s 2019 debut album, WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?. An artist who is going to go down as one of the all-time greats, the twenty-year-old goes from strength to strength. The music world is so…

FORTUNATE to have her

FEATURE: Reel-to-Real: Jonathan Glazer: Radiohead – Karma Police (1997)

FEATURE:

 

 

Reel-to-Real

Jonathan Glazer: Radiohead – Karma Police (1997)

__________

ONE of the biggest albums…

ever released, Radiohead’s OK Computer turns twenty-five next month. It is such a seminal and important release. After twenty-five years, the band’s third studio album remains so inventive and vital. One of the greatest and best-known songs from OK Computer is Karma Police. Released as a single on 25th August, it is one of Radiohead’s very songs. I especially love the video for Karma Police. Directed by the  hugely acclaimed and talented Jonathan Glazer (who, in addition, has directed the video for Jamiroquai’s Virtual Insanity), I wanted to go into more depth about one of my favourite videos. Spectrum Culture looked inside a music video that is so innovative and memorable:

“The music video for Radiohead’s “Karma Police,” directed by Jonathan Glazer, is futuristically, undeniably tactile. The inflexible metal of a Chrysler car, the automobile’s velvety interior, the bruising ruggedness of the asphalt road, the soft heat of the headlight glow, the eventual alchemical transformation of this glow into the fuller blaze of fire—these seem to make contact with us directly. Even the texture of Thom Yorke’s head gently presents itself to our grasping fingers.

For those not familiar with the video, its basic premise goes something like this: a car drives forward in the night, while Thom Yorke slinks down and listlessly lip syncs in its backseat. Its headlights discover a man who runs and runs, presumably fleeing the vehicle. But when the car stops, it suddenly becomes clear that this man has sinister plans for the petrol that the auto has pissed out onto the asphalt. Behind his back, he lights a match and lets it fall onto the gas-soaked ground to create a blaze that moves towards the car. The tables have turned. The vehicle reverses to avoid the flames, but, in the end, it cannot elude them. It’s set ablaze, but somehow the camera contorts to reveal that Yorke has disappeared from the backseat.

It’s a simple scenario that feels somehow both constructed and real: it’s a parable but a palpable one. The song’s lyrics reinforce this. “This is what you’ll get/ When you mess with us,” goes its notorious refrain. Stated Jesus-style, the message might say, “Blessed are those who don’t fuck with others, for they shall avoid getting fucked over themselves.” It helps that flames of terror are involved—the driver of the car has hell to pay for the initial pursuit. And what a frightening hell this is, where the sheer panic felt in response to approaching fire lasts an eternity, only to lead to a second eternity of actual burning. “For a minute there, I lost myself,” Yorke wails. This too plays out in the video, but the line is both blessing and curse: the disappearance at the end is mysterious bliss but temporary. When the minute’s up, deathly tortures will undoubtedly rain down.

It’s actually sort of amazing that the song’s content and its video match up so nicely. Story goes that Jonathan Glazer, the video’s director, initially pitched the idea to Marilyn Manson for a different song entirely. Manson rejected him, so the concept ended up in the video for “Karma Police.” It’s as if some kind of supernatural, freely associating force led to this result. Every police needs a car; every key change needs some ignition. The song’s transition is haunting, sudden and brutal, and we can certainly say the same for the video’s literal shifting of gears.

One might be tempted to see all of this as just pouring out more praise in favor of a rather obvious choice for the best music video ever. Peter Tabakis wrote in his piece about the best band ever that it’s really not very much fun to choose as “the best” what people already expect. The “Karma Police” video has plenty of accolades already: see this oral history on Pitchfork or the video’s appearance on myriad “Best Music Videos of the ‘90s” lists (this or this, for example). Furthermore, to be shamefacedly self-critical for a second, it’s easy (and right) to criticize my choice as yet another example of a white male critic choosing white male objects as the best or greatest of all time. And this for a medium that, when it’s working on all cylinders, tends to celebrate multicultural realities and camp sensibilities.

But part of the pleasure of “Karma Police” à la Glazer involves tracking its inspirational bloodline to a coterie of diverse artists, videos and films. On the paler side of the pavement, there’s the Cillian Murphy-starring video for Fionn Regan’s “The Meetings of the Waters” or Glazer’s own Under the Skin, both of which rely heavily on the mystery of driving while shrouded in darkness. (See also the vids for Angel Olsen’s “Shut Up Kiss Me” and Chelsea Jade’s “Laugh It Off” for ludic takes on a similar phenomenon.)”. 

One of the very best music video directors, I feel Karma Police is among the very best that Jonathan Glazer ever directed. A song as wonderful as Karma Police needed a video that good! That said, how many other directors would have thought of the concept he did? Pitchfork provided a detailed look at the video back in 2017. They spoke with, among others, director Jonathan Glazer about a mind-blowing video:

“Making its debut on MTV’s “120 Minutes” on September 21, 1997, the “Karma Police” video came along in an era when vanguard bands and directors were encouraging each other to push at the format’s limits on a regular basis. (An influx of industry cash thanks to the CD boom did not hurt—the clip’s budget was around $200,000 at the time, a generally unheard-of sum for a video nowadays.) And Glazer was among a generation of music video auteurs, including Spike Jonze, Michel Gondry, and Mark Romanek, who helped to turn an inherently craven medium into something genuinely inventive.

MATT PINFIELD [former MTV VJ and host of “120 Minutes”]: When I was at MTV, the industry was trying to write off the band as a one-hit wonder with “Creep,” but I absolutely loved The Bends as well. We would get heat from other record companies, they would say to us, “Our record sold 20,000 more than Radiohead this week, why do you keep promoting their record?” And we said, “Because it’s great!” We stood our ground, and it was something that the band really appreciated.

When Thom handed me a gold record for The Bends, he was actually in tears. He said, “I know you guys took a lot of shit for standing behind this album and these videos and the band, and I just want to tell you how much I appreciate it.” That’s what this is really all about. And of course, we were right there with OK Computer as well. I’m very proud of having a gold record for OK Computer and for The Bends. It’s not just about material things, I believe in the records and the band so much.

IN THIS PHOTO: Jonathan Glazer/PHOTO CREDIT: Camilla Morandi/REX/Shutterstock 

JONATHAN GLAZER: I was flown over to New York to see a private screening of David Lynch’s then new film Lost Highway because Mr. Manson wanted the video to relate to it somehow. Anyway, all I remember from that screening were the opening credits of a rushing road beneath the camera. Next thing I knew it was the closing credits—I’d had a big night, no sleep, and nodded off. So yes, that scene must have entered my subconscious, and the idea for “Karma Police” came out of it. It’s the only time I’ve written something for one artist and ended up making it for another.

RANDY SOSIN [former video commissioner at A&M and Interscope]: I remember having dinner with Manson’s manager right as the “Karma Police” video came out, and he told me that Jonathan Glazer had pitched a similar idea for a video with Manson for his song “Long Hard Road Out of Hell,” which would make sense with the car on fire at the end and everything. I had a similar thing happen once, when Michel Gondry pitched an idea for Soundgarden’s “Burden in My Hand” that later became a Cibo Matto video called “Sugar Water.”

As far as why Manson passed, I just feel like he didn’t necessarily want to be a piece of another artist’s work. I don’t remember him ever saying, “Oh, why didn’t I make that video?” It’s just that music video directors in particular tend to have a very specific vision and they see which artists are willing to go there.

SEAN BROUGHTON [“Karma Police” visual effects supervisor]:: Jon wanted to have the fire chase the car at the end of the video, and as effects supervisor, I had to figure out a way for that to happen. We couldn’t really have a quarter mile of fire chasing this car because you’d light one end and it would burn the full distance in a few seconds and probably set fire to the car and blow it up.

So we actually shot the fire in a dark shed with a locked-off camera during the shoot, about a half mile away from where Thom was. Then we had to actually track that fire into the shot. We had about 100 cones that were covered with a reflective tape, and we put two down on each side of the road for a quarter of a mile. The angle of the cones were such that when the car headlights shone onto them, the tape would glow, and we used those cones in order to track each section of fire into the roadway. There were people looking at us like we were mad: “Why are there people struggling to carry 30 boxes of cones into the countryside? What the hell are you doing? Why can’t you do it another way?”

We worked all night on it. At about one o’clock in the morning, Jon turned up, having not seen any part of the fire, and sat there in silence and watched it for the first time. He just went, “Nailed it.” That was it. It was a good feeling”.

A music video that will always rank alongside the very best, I felt it was necessary and important to highlight Jonathan Glazer’s sterling efforts on Karma Police. Because OK Computer is twenty-five next month, people will pour over songs like Karma Police and its amazing video. All these years later, it still moves me…

EACH time I watch the video.

FEATURE: An Incredible Array of Talent… The Great Escape 2022 Playlist: Part One

FEATURE:

 

 

An Incredible Array of Talent…

The Great Escape 2022 Playlist: Part One

__________

THE full line-up…

IN THIS PHOTO: Abby Roberts

for this year’s bonanza, The Great Escape have been announced. Because of that, I am putting out playlists of the artists included. There are a lot to get through, so I have divided it into playlists. Covering the terrific talent that will be play in May, it is a tantalising and wonderful collection of songs. This first feature covers the first half or so of names. I will do another two sections that covers the rest. Here are some awesome artists who will head to Brighton to wow the crowds…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Jelani Blackman

NEXT month.

FEATURE: Inspired By… Part Sixty-One: Donna Summer

FEATURE:

 

 

Inspired By…

Part Sixty-One: Donna Summer

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AN artist that I really love…

PHOTO CREDIT: Harry Langdon/Estate of Donna Summer Sudano

the sensational Donna Summer definitely stands as hugely influential. Though she died in 2012, she has gone on to inspire artists to this day. A phenomenal talent and legend of music, this Inspired By… ends with a playlist of songs from artists who are either similar to Summer or they have a bit of her about them. Prior to that, AllMusic provide some biography about the iconic Donna Summer: 

“Donna Summer's title as the "Queen of Disco" wasn't mere hype. Like many of her contemporaries, she was a talented vocalist trained as a powerful gospel belter, but she set herself apart with her songwriting ability, magnetic stage presence, and shrewd choice of studio collaborators, all of which resulted in sustained success. During the '70s alone, she topped the Billboard club chart 11 times with high-quality, often high-concept material that included the rapturous "Love to Love You Baby" (1975), the innovative "I Feel Love" (1977), a radically transformed "MacArthur Park" (1978), and one of her five Grammy-winning recordings, "Hot Stuff" (1979). These crossover hits embodied the disco era with audacious musicality and uninhibited eroticism. After her subgenre was declared dead, Summer was very much part of the evolution of dance music. Through the feminist anthem "She Works Hard for the Money" (1983), she became an MTV star, and she continued to top the club chart with disco-rooted house singles through 2010, 35 years after her breakthrough. Summer died from cancer in 2012 and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame the next year.

Summer was born LaDonna Andre Gaines on December 31, 1948, and grew up in Boston's Mission Hill section. Part of a religious family, she first sang in her church's gospel choir, and as a teenager performed with a rock group called the Crow. After high school, she moved to New York to sing and act in stage productions, and soon landed a role in a German production of Hair. She moved to Europe around 1968/1969, and spent a year in the German cast, after which she became part of the Hair company in Vienna. She joined the Viennese Folk Opera, and later returned to Germany, where she settled in Munich and met and married Helmut Sommer, adopting an Anglicized version of his last name. Summer performed in various stage musicals and worked as a studio vocalist in Munich, recording demos and background vocals. Her first solo recording was 1971's "Sally Go 'Round the Roses," but success would not come until 1974, when she met producers/songwriters Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte while working on a Three Dog Night record. The three teamed up for the single "The Hostage," which became a hit around Western Europe, and Summer released her first album, Lady of the Night, in Europe only. In 1975, the trio recorded "Love to Love You Baby," inspired by Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin's lush, heavy-breathing opus "Je T'aime...Moi Non Plus." Powered by Summer's graphic moans, "Love to Love You Baby" became a massive hit in Europe, and drew the attention of Casablanca Records, which put the track out in America. A 17-minute, side-long epic on the LP of the same name, its single version topped the Billboard club chart and climbed to number two on the Hot 100.

In the wake of "Love to Love You Baby," albums (as opposed to just singles) became an important forum for Summer and her producers. The 1976 follow-up Love Trilogy contained another side-long suite in "Try Me (I Know We Can Make It Work)," and demonstrated Moroder and Bellotte's growing sophistication as arrangers with its lush, sweeping strings. Four Seasons of Love, released later in the year, was a concept album with one track dedicated to each season, and 1977's I Remember Yesterday featured a variety of genre exercises. Despite the album's title, it produced the most forward-looking single in Summer and Moroder's catalog, the monumental "I Feel Love." Eschewing the strings and typical disco excess, "I Feel Love" was the first major pop hit recorded with an entirely synthesized backing track; its lean, sleek arrangement and driving, hypnotic pulse laid the groundwork not only for countless Euro-dance imitators, but also for the techno revolution of the '80s and '90s. It became Summer's second Top Ten hit in the U.S., and she followed it with Once Upon a Time, another concept album, this one retelling the story of Cinderella for the disco era.

Summer's albums were selling well, bolstered by her popularity in the dance clubs, and she was poised to become a major pop hitmaker as well. Her acting turn in the 1978 disco-themed comedy Thank God It's Friday produced another hit in "Last Dance," which won her a Grammy for Best Female R&B Vocal (as well as an Oscar for songwriter Paul Jabara). Doubtlessly benefiting from the added exposure, the double-LP set Live and More became Summer's first number one album later that year. It featured one side of new studio material, including a disco cover of the psychedelic pop epic "MacArthur Park" that became her first number one pop single early the next year. Her 1979 double-LP Bad Girls featured more of her songwriting contributions than ever, and went straight to number one, as did the lusty singles "Bad Girls" -- co-written with husband Bruce Sudano -- and "Hot Stuff," which made Summer the first female artist ever to score three number one singles in the same calendar year. ("Hot Stuff" also won that year's Grammy for Best Rock Vocal Performance, Female.) Her greatest-hits package On the Radio topped the Billboard 200, the first time any artist had ever hit number one with three consecutive double LPs; the newly recorded title track became another hit, and Summer's duet with Barbra Streisand, "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)," became her fourth number one single.

At the peak of her success, Summer decided to leave Casablanca, and became the first artist signed to the new Geffen label. Sensing that the disco era was coming to a close, Summer modified her style to include more R&B and pop/rock on her first Geffen album, 1980's The Wanderer; the album and its title track were both hits. Not wanting to alienate her core audience, Summer returned to pure dance music on an attempted follow-up; however, Geffen deemed I'm a Rainbow not worthy of release (it was finally issued in 1996). Instead, Summer ended her collaboration with Moroder and Bellotte and teamed up with Quincy Jones for 1982's Donna Summer. "Love Is in Control (Finger on the Trigger)" was a significant hit. With producer Michael Omartian, Summer moved back into post-disco dance music and contemporary R&B with 1983's She Works Hard for the Money. Its title track was another crossover smash, given an extra boost by its highly choreographed video, and was nominated for multiple MTV Video Awards. At the same time, Summer had success with faith-based material; "He's a Rebel," also off She Works Hard for the Money, and "Forgive Me," off 1984's Cats Without Claws, made Summer a back-to-back winner of the Grammy award for Best Inspirational Performance.

After the 1987 effort All Systems Go, Summer hired the British production team of Stock, Aitken & Waterman and scored her last major mainstream hit with the 1989 Top Ten single "This Time I Know It's for Real," from the album Another Place & Time. She released only one proper album the following decade, 1991's Mistaken Identity, but she did make some noise in clubs with "Melody of Love," from the 1994 retrospective Endless Summer, and reunited with Moroder for the 1997 non-LP single "Carry On," which won the inaugural Grammy for Best Dance Recording.

Summer subsequently signed a deal with Sony, which primed her for re-establishment with 1999's VH1 Presents: Live and More Encore!, a recording that featured the new song "I Will Go with You (Con Te Partiro)," another number one club hit. After a couple additional non-album singles, she released the energetic and eclectic Crayons. Four of its singles scaled to the top of the dance chart. Summer remained intermittently active with concert and TV appearances during the next several years, and released "To Paris with Love," her final chart-topping single, in 2010. Summer died from lung cancer on May 17, 2012. The following April, she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame”.

To show the influence and legacy of Donna Summer, the playlist at the bottom contains artists who have definitely been inspired by her. It is an impressive roster of artists that are carrying her spirit with them. One of music’s all-time greats, there will never be another artist…

QUITE like Donna Summer again.

FEATURE: Inside Kate Bush’s The Dreaming at Forty: Track Four: Suspended in Gaffa

FEATURE:

 

 

Inside Kate Bush’s The Dreaming at Forty

Track Four: Suspended in Gaffa

__________

BECAUSE Kate Bush’s…

underrated and excellent fourth studio album, The Dreaming, is forty in September, I am going to write many features about it. One run is a track-by-track look. I am at the fourth track and the mighty Suspended in Gaffa. A song I feel should have been released as a single in the U.K.,  it was released as a single in Europe. Here, There Goes a Tenner was released. One of the most musically-rich songs on The Dreaming, I love the video especially. It is very uncomplicated. Bush was keen to keep it that way, so that there are minimal effects and extras. In fact, her mother is the only extra (as shown in the photo above). It is a beautiful video where we concentrate on Bush’s dancing and her entrancing performance. On an album that is quite complex and layered, the video for Suspended in Gaffa is much barer and more direct. I will nod to the lyrics in a minute. After three very different songs, Suspended in Gaffa reminds me, rhythmically, of There Goes a Tenner (the track is follows). Each of the ten tracks on The Dreaming has a distinct sound and origin. The Kate Bush Encyclopaedia collated interviews where Bush discussed the origin of the song:

“I could explain some of it, if you want me to: Suspended in Gaffa is reasonably autobiographical, which most of my songs aren’t.  It’s about seeing something that you want–on any level–and not being able to get that thing unless you work hard and in the right way towards it. When I do that I become aware of so many obstacles, and then I want the thing without the work. And then when you achieve it you enter…a different level–everything will slightly change. It’s like going into a time warp which otherwise wouldn’t have existed. (Richard Cook, 'My music sophisticated?...'. NME (UK), October 1982)

‘Suspended In Gaffa' is, I suppose, similar in some ways to 'Sat In Your Lap' - the idea of someone seeking something, wanting something. I was brought up as a Roman Catholic and had the imagery of purgatory and of the idea that when you were taken there that you would be given a glimpse of God and then you wouldn't see him again until you were let into heaven. And we were told that in Hell it was even worse because you got to see God but then you knew that you would never see him again. And it's sorta using that as the parallel. And the idea of seeing something incredibly beautiful, having a religious experience as such, but not being able to get back there. And it was playing musically with the idea of the verses being sorta real time and someone happily jumping through life [Makes happy motion with head] and then you hit the chorus and it like everything sorta goes into slow mo and they're reaching [Makes slow reaching motion with arm] for that thing that they want and they can't get there. [Laughs] (Interview for MTV, November 1985)”.

A stunning song that should have been a single here, it is one of the strongest cuts from The Dreaming. In every Kate Bush track, there is a verse or lines that jump out and blow the mind. Suspended in Gaffa is no exception! My favourite section is: “That girl in the mirror/Between you and me/She don't stand a chance of getting anywhere at all/Not anywhere at all/No, not a thing/She can't have it all/"Mother, where are the angels? I'm scared of the changes". There are other songs on The Dreaming where Bush references and alludes to God and that search for deeper truth and meaning. I think that Suspended in Gaffa is one of the most personal songs on the album. One can definitely feel something revealing and emotional from Bush. Even though the tempo and sound of the song is quite springy and jaunty, you only need to read the lyrics and hear her sing to realise that something heavier and deeper is at work. A remarkable song from an album that, ahead of its fortieth in September, warrants more love, Suspended in Gaffa hits you pretty much from the first note! Another track where Bush’s production talent and instinct means that the potency and brilliance of every aspect – vocals, composition and performance – comes to life and resonates. The fourth track on The Dreaming, Suspended in Gaffa is a magnificent diamond from…

A classic album.

FEATURE: Woman in Love: Barbra Streisand at Eighty: Her Finest Cuts

FEATURE:

 

 

Woman in Love

PHOTO CREDIT: Snap/Shutterstock 

Barbra Streisand at Eighty: Her Finest Cuts

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AN artist I have not included on my site before…

I couldn’t overlook the upcoming eightieth birthday of Barbra Streisand. She turns eighty on 24th April. Because of that, I have compiled a playlist featuring some of her best and best-known songs. Before I come to them, AllMusic provide some detailed biography about an icon and superstar:

“With her highly resonant and sophisticated vocal prowess, charismatic personality, and strongly independent spirit, Barbra Streisand rose to fame as one of the most creatively and commercially successful performers of her lifetime. As a singer, Streisand's rise was remarkable not only because her popularity was achieved in the face of a dominant musical trend -- rock & roll -- which she did not follow, but also because she used her vocal skills as a stepping stone to other careers, as a stage and film actress and as a film director. From the start, she was a lauded performer, earning a Tony nomination and New York Drama Critic's prize for Best Supporting Actress for her Broadway debut in the 1962 musical comedy I Can Get It for You Wholesale. Multiple Grammy and Academy Awards followed, including winning two Grammys for her 1963 debut album The Barbra Streisand Album, a best actress Oscar for her film debut in 1968's Funny Girl, and Grammy and Oscar for her work in 1976's A Star Is Born. Her film work has had an equal cultural impact, and includes classics like the aforementioned Funny Girl, 1972's What's Up, Doc?, and 1973's The Way We Were with Robert Redford. She is also the first woman to win best director at the Golden Globes for 1984's Yentl, in which she also starred and supplied the soundtrack. Nonetheless, her singing remains dominant, with 11 number one albums, the most for any woman, including for 1964's People, 1980's Guilty with Barry Gibb, 1997's Higher Ground, and 2014's Partners. She returned to the Top 20 with 2018's Walls and has showcased rare and unreleased material from throughout her career on her Release Me and Release Me 2 collections. Among her other accolades are five Emmy Awards, a Kennedy Center Honors prize, four Peabody Awards, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and nine Golden Globes. Away from performing, Streisand is an outspoken civil rights and environmental activist and created the Streisand Foundation.

Born in 1942 and raised in Brooklyn, New York, she struggled briefly as an actress and nightclub singer in New York during the early '60s before landing her first part in a Broadway show, I Can Get It for You Wholesale, in 1962. The cast album for that show, as well as a subsequent appearance on a studio revival of Pins and Needles, were her first recordings. Signed to Columbia Records, she released her first album, The Barbra Streisand Album, in 1963. It became a Top Ten, gold-selling record, thus paving the way for Streisand's status as one of the best-selling recording artists of the early '60s.

But despite three successful albums by early 1964, Streisand turned her back on potentially lucrative concert bookings in favor of a starring role in the Broadway show Funny Girl, in which she appeared for more than two years. The song "People" from that show became her first Top Ten single, and the People album her first chart-topping LP. She turned to television in 1965 with My Name Is Barbra, the first of five network specials. In 1967, Streisand went to Hollywood to film Funny Girl, for which she would win an Academy Award. But by 1970, with her second and third films flopping and her recording career flagging in the face of rock, she seemed consigned to Las Vegas before turning 30. Instead, she returned to hitmaking with a Top Ten cover of Laura Nyro's "Stoney End" and a successful non-singing performance in the comedy The Owl and the Pussycat.

In the '70s, Streisand successfully combined her musical and film acting interests, first in The Way We Were, a hit film with a theme song that became her first number one single, and then with A Star Is Born, which featured her second number one single, "Evergreen," a song she co-wrote. From that point on, every album she released sold at least a million copies. In the late '70s, she found recording success in collaboration: her duet with Neil Diamond, "You Don't Bring Me Flowers," hit number one, as did "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)," a dance record sung with Donna Summer. She had her biggest-selling album in 1980 with Guilty, which was written and produced by Barry Gibb of the Bee Gees and contained the number one hit "Woman in Love." In 1983, Streisand's first directorial effort, Yentl, became a successful film with a Top Ten soundtrack album. In 1985, The Broadway Album returned her to the top of the charts. The year 1991 saw the release of Just for the Record..., a box set retrospective, and her second film as a director, The Prince of Tides. Streisand returned to the concert stage in 1994, resulting in the Top Ten, million-selling album The Concert. In 1996, she directed her third film, The Mirror Has Two Faces, and in 1999 she released A Love Like Ours.

Timeless: Live in Concert, which was recorded at her Las Vegas show on New Year's Eve 1999, was released on both CD and DVD in 2000. A year later, the new holiday album Christmas Memories arrived, followed in 2003 by a sequel to The Broadway Album entitled The Movie Album. A deluxe CD/DVD reissue of the original Guilty appeared in 2005 and was followed a month later by Guilty Pleasures, a new album that reunited Streisand with Gibb. She returned to the concert stage in 2006, a move that was documented in the 2007 Sony release Live in Concert. For her final release of the decade, Streisand turned her attention to jazz standards, and Love Is the Answer found her singing such songs as "Here's to Life" and "In the Wee Small Hours." Released in 2011, What Matters Most: Barbra Streisand Sings the Lyrics of Alan and Marilyn Bergman, featured ten Bergman tracks that the singer had never tackled, including "The Windmills of Your Mind" and "So Many Stars."

In 2012, a collection of previously unreleased material came to light, featuring tracks collated from hundreds of hours of '60s acetates and 48-track tapes by Streisand and co-producer Jay Landers. Titled Release Me, the compilation includes recordings from 1967-2011 that provide a wonderful representation of her varied career. Streisand toured heavily in support of the release. One of the biggest dates on the tour was her first-ever show on her home turf, at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, which featured guest appearances from trumpeter Chris Botti and poperatic trio Il Volo. The show was recorded, and released in 2013 as the double live album Back to Brooklyn.

In 2014, Streisand returned with the Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds-produced duets album Partners, featuring such guest artists as Michael Bublé, Andrea Bocelli, Lionel Richie, and John Mayer. Two years later, she followed up with Encore: Movie Partners Sing Broadway, which found her duetting on classic Broadway musical numbers alongside Alec Baldwin, Anne Hathaway, Hugh Jackman, and others. Both releases topped the Billboard 200. Streisand launched a concert tour in support of the Encore: Movie Partners Sing Broadway release, with the star performing 16 shows in 14 cities between August 2016 and May 2017. Streisand's December 5, 2016 performance in Miami was documented on both audio and video; an album, The Music... The Mem'ries... The Magic!, was released in December 2017, while an accompanying concert video debuted on Netflix on November 22, 2017. The following year, she issued the Grammy-nominated Walls, a politically minded, socially conscious album borne out of her concerns over the state of the world and American democracy. It hit number six in the U.K. and reached number 12 on the Billboard 200. Her second volume of rare and previously unreleased material, Release Me 2, arrived in August 2021”.

To celebrate and salute a hugely influential and loved artist and actor, the playlist below is a selection of Barbra Streisand classics and newer cuts. As she approaches her ninth decade of life, I am sure we will hear a lot more from her. Even though I have neglected her music up until this point, there is no denying…

WHAT an impressive catalogue she has!

FEATURE: Revisiting... Camila Cabello - Romance

FEATURE:

 

 

Revisiting...

Camila Cabello - Romance

__________

AS her excellent…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Christine Hahn

new album, Familia, is out and has won lots of acclaim, I wanted to revisit her previous studio album, Romance. Released on 6th December, 2019, it is a terrific album that I don’t think got as much praise as it should have. Though many critics did provide it a positive review, there were others who were less excited and positive. In any case, it is an album that we need to hear more from. Reaching number three in the U.S. and boasting seven excellent singles, a lot of the album was inspired by her relationship with Shawn Mendes. It is a wonderful album that I would recommend everyone checks out. Not purely Pop, there is Rock, R&B and Latin vibes running throughout. Although there are quite a lot of producers and writers credited, it is a case of the artist themselves being the dominant force. Camila Cabello has such presence and gravitas that she makes every song her own. Familia is much more about family rather than Mendes. I think the two have parted ways, so one can understand why her third album takes on a different lyrical direction. In any case, Romance is engrossing and satisfying listen. As Forbes wrote in 2020, Cabello discussed themes and influences on Romance as a part of her whirlwind promotional duties:

“1- Her relationship with Shawn Mendes inspired much of the album

While Cabello never called him out by name or outrightly talked about her real-life romance with fellow pop royalty Shawn Mendes, she alluded to being in love throughout the evening – and especially how it helped her songwriting.

“Now I just have pages and pages of notes in my phone about details of what I’m experiencing, which is so much easier to write about because it’s an almost endless well,” she said. “When you don’t have a person to write about that you’re not experience fully, it’s all in your imagination or you’re writing about a feeling as opposed to the calluses on your fingers.”

2- Her sophomore album is more genuine

After releasing three studio albums from 2015 to 2017 as part of Fifth Harmony, Cabello made her solo album debut (titled Camila) on January 12, 2018, with this second Romance one being released December 6, 2019 — and even she can feel the difference in the song-making process.

“On the first album, I just really wanted to impress the people I was collaborating with,” she admitted. “I feel like this time around, I really got to bond with the people that I was collaborating with because I wasn’t trying to impress anyone anymore.”

Also, many of the songs are now rooted in what she’s experienced the since that last album. “You can’t make that stuff up, you have to live it. That just came from real experience,” she said of the emotions of the album. “I think that’s what I enjoy the most.”

3- Emotions drive her best songs

While some have hypothesized that “First Man” may be about Mendes, during this session, she said it stemmed from her relationship with her father, Alejandro Cabello.

“I’m realizing as I get older just how many things in life are paradoxical,” the Cuban-born singer started off. “If I sat down to write down a song with the intension of touching dads and daughters’ hearts, it would never happen. My best songs have just come out when the memory itself I’m talking about is more important than the act of writing the song. And for me, I was just thinking about my dad — that’s the strongest emotion, love for my family.

That ended up being the first song she wrote from the album, as she headed in with one goal: “My intension going into the studio is always: How can I be the most authentic version of myself? How can I be the most true to what I’m experiencing right now?”

Unfortunately, the song was leaked and she didn’t get to reveal the song to her father herself, but says his reaction was just as powerful: “I never saw my dad cry before.”

4- She still aspires to be “Shameless”

Despite being a picture of confidence and assuredness on stage, Cabello says she started the album off with “Shameless” since it’s a vibe she’s still trying to achieve.

“I want to be the embodiment of the song,” she said. “That song is like, I don’t give a f*ck. It’s just so fearless. I’m putting myself on the line. I want to be like that song. I want to be that song. I’m still ‘Dream of You’ Pisces energy though. I’m still used to this frickin’ Pisces sensitive energy.”

5- Some of the tracks have been years in the making

The jealousy of an ex moving on faster comes to life in “Cry For You” — but she clarifies that experience from a time in the past.

“I love being petty on this song. That was actually from an idea I had when I was way younger,” Cabello said. “That’s not something really something that happened in my life this time around.”

When she was 16, she did write a song with the same mentality — which she sang a few lines of to the audience with the lyrics: “I’m pissed off, you’re happy.”

“It was so stupid,” she said. “’Cry For Me’ is way older, petty big sister.”

6- She wants people to fall in love

She also mused throughout the evening about what makes relationships so special.

“I honestly just think that those quirks and those details about people are what makes you fall in love with them,” the singer said. “Those things that are imperfect, really specific details of a person, especially the imperfections are what makes you fall for them.”

And she hopes to spread that feeling to those listening to her songs. “I get excited from tweets of people who are like, this album makes me want to fall in love,” Cabello said. “I just wanted to inspire people to dare to feel something and dare to put yourself out there fully and love boldly”.

I am going to end with a couple of reviews for the brilliant Romance. This is what AllMusic wrote in their review. This is an album that is not only for fans of Camila Cabello:

“Is there a name for the opposite of a break-up album? Because that's what Camila Cabello's sophomore effort Romance feels like: a record as bursting with ecstatic emotion and erotic desire as the exuberant delirium of having just fallen in love. It's a palpable vibe she put on display during her blush-inducing performance of the single "Señorita" with her duet partner (and boyfriend at the time) Shawn Mendes at the 2019 American Music Awards. The performance ended with Cabello and Mendes teasing a kiss, a bold move that left the audience excited for what the rest of Romance would hold. What Cabello does reveal on Romance is an artist continuing to refine her distinctive pop persona as she happens to be deep in the sway of love. Working with a respectable cadre of songwriters and producers including Andrew Watt, Finneas O'Connell, Justin Tranter, and others, Cabello digs deeper into her Cuban heritage with songs like the aforementioned "Señorita," the horn-accented "Liar," and the yearning "Used to This," that display her growing sense of maturity, balancing pop, reggae, and R&B flourishes with even more Latin embellishments.

If 2018's Camila was about striking out on her own after leaving her former group Fifth Harmony, then Romance is about Cabello defining herself in the pop landscape and setting herself apart from contemporaries like Ariana Grande, Dua Lipa, and Taylor Swift. Consequently, the album feels bigger in scope with a slicker pop production aesthetic than her charmingly pared down debut. There is one break-up song on the album in "Should've Said It," a defiantly steamy anthem in which Cabello reclaims her independence from a former flame against the backdrop of a Santana-esque guitar hook. She strikes an equally swaggering, rock-inflected stance elsewhere, leaning into her throaty, scritch-scratch vocals on "Shameless" and showcasing her knack for soaring falsetto balladry on "Living Proof." Along with catchy hooks, what makes Romance particularly compelling is Cabello's candor and willingness to share her experiences and emotions in striking detail. On "Easy" she sings, "I never like my crooked teeth/You tell me they're your favorite thing/Anything else?/The stretch marks all around my thighs/Kiss 'em 'till I change my mind about everything else." If Romance is an album about Cabello feeling loved and seen by someone else, it's just as much about her seeing and understanding herself as an artist”.

The last thing I want to source is the review from Rolling Stone. A more confident and rounded album than her debut, Camila (2018), Romance won a lot of love. This is what Rolling Stone had to offer:

 “On her 2018 self-titled debut, Camila Cabello was a sultry pop singer who didn’t mind looking inward in her music, exploring an emo intimacy with a classic-feeling soulfulness. On Romance, she’s just as much of an open book. This past year the singer ended one relationship and then found herself in a new one — coupled up with Canadian crooner Shawn Mendes — and she uses that narrative as a backdrop to sharpen her writing and deepen her sound.

Cabello explores romance in all its forms: love, lust, and, in her most adventurous moments, the toxicity that can come from it all. She pushes her voice to new places on the opening track, “Shameless,” an explosive pop-rock standout where she piercingly sings about submitting to a consuming obsession: “My emotions are naked, they’re taking me out of my mind.” On the vengeful “Cry For Me,” she snaps and wishes an ex all the worst over Eighties-huge guitar shredding. “Why won’t you cry?” Cabello wails in desperation.

Like her friend Taylor Swift, Cabello has mastered the art of playing fleeting relationship moments for maximum dramatic impact. She finds vulnerability in her pen game on the doo-wop ballad “This Love,” hitting her stride while trying to free herself from an “It’s Complicated” affair. “You know how to fuck me up, then make it okay,” she belts, then adds, “Get out of my veins,” a line that brings to mind the way she likened a crush to shooting heroin on her hit, “Never Be the Same.” Billie Eilish’s brother Finneas drops in to produce and co-write “Used to This,” a hot and haunting ode to her latest relationship. Camilla’s writing is confessional and rich as she breathily sings, “The calluses on your fingers I admire them from a distance/Now they’re on my cheek.”

With “Havana” hit-maker Frank Dukes back onboard, Cabello continues to explore Latin-influenced sounds that reflect her Cuban-Mexican roots. Curiously, “My Oh My” is a digital-only track — maybe it wasn’t completed in time for the hard copy? But it’s the juiciest moment here — a “Havana” sequel where Cabello indulges in an epic, after-hours fling. “He’s only here for one thing, but so am I” she slyly admits. DaBaby’s fresh feature makes it a certified banger. Latina Camila also thrives on the brassy and sassy “Liar.”

Romance includes her smash Mendes collaboration “Señorita,” which fetishizes her own Latinidad as the two sing about a night of ooh la la‘s and dancing amid a “tequila sunrise.” It may be their biggest hit to date, but that cliched lovers’ story feels out of place within an otherwise revelatory album, where she discovers new ways to give her artistry a new edge”.

I shall end up there, only to say that people should check out and spend time with one of the best albums of 2019. Familia is an even stronger album; signs that Cabello is growing all of the time as an artist. Romance did get a few mixed reviews, and I don’t think its tracks are played as much now as they should be. One listen of Romance is enough to make you…

FALL for it hard.

FEATURE: Spotlight: Miraa May

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

Miraa May

__________

ANOTHER artist who…

has been around for a little while but is making their biggest and most important moves now, I wanted to highlight Miraa May. As her debut album, Tales of a Miracle, is out on 27th May, it is a great time to spotlight a phenomenal British artist. She was planning to put out an album before now, but the pandemic has shelved any plans. There will be other interviews and features closer to the release of the album. At the moment, I could only see some from 2020 and last year. I want to bring in a couple that are pretty interesting. I will finish up with some details about Tales of a Miracle. It is an album that has been in the works a while, but it is looking like it will be among the best of this year. CLASH spotlighted and highlighted the incredible Miraa May in 2020:

“North London has inspired Miraa May’s music so much that you have to look for a point where it didn’t. “Think about who’s from Tottenham, it’s such a musically enriched place to be from,” she explains. “If you’re musically inclined and you grew up in Tottenham, that inclination is only going to come out even more.’

Born in Algeria but raised in the ends, Miraa May is the name on everybody’s lips, even across the pond. With soulful remedies and head boppers enlisted upon her Soundcloud since 2014, her claim to full-fledged acknowledgement is seemingly earned. Rather than sticking to the usual conventions of R&B, her North London influence is evident especially on her most recent EP, ‘Care Package’. That EP’s cover features a manga-fied Miraa May, reflection the inspiration she draws from female-empowered narratives of animes such as Sailor Moon.

But this narrative isn’t the basis of her music. Miraa’s music, she says if fuelled by emotional instinct: whatever you feel is up to you. “Anything,” she confirms. “Whatever you want to feel. If you want to be pissed off, good. Feel something. I would hate for my music to be background noise.”

Describing the music industry as a journey of ups and downs, as the ascendant star reviews her progress so far, the 23-year-old relays a message to her old self: “Take time, relax and it’s not that deep. I would like to give my old self a whole paragraph of advice.”

With this just being the genesis in her music adventure, there are large goals in Miraa’s foresight. “I see myself in a very big house with my friends in close distance. I see my music out there, doing what it does, penetrating the minds of young people”.

I hope that there are more new interviews with Miraa May soon. Since 2019/2020, her profile and stock has risen! She is going to go on to become one of our biggest artists and most celebrated names. PAUSE her met Miraa May in October 2020. The recent birth of her son, clearly, affected how she was writing. Her perspective altered:

“Tomi: You’re releasing your debut album this year in the middle of a pandemic. Does this add or take away pressure from the release?

Miraa: No I’m not releasing an album.

T: Oh?

M: I would have loved to release an album this year but obviously I had a baby so I need to take time to look after my child because he’s only going to be small like this for a short time. Also we’re in a pandemic so you can’t really go and push the album. Personally I don’t think there’s a point when you’re a newer artist like me and you haven’t done big numbers before. I think it’s best to wait for when the world gets back to normal.

T: Congratulations on the birth of your son! Your single ‘Baby’ is an ode to him. What has motherhood taught you about yourself and how has this then influenced or changed your artistry, if at all?

M: Motherhood has taught me that I can do it all and that there’s no limit to my ability to do it all. It’s also taught me more than ever that I’m human because there’s this specific image of being a mother and what you’re supposed to do. Artists such as Cardi B and Kehlani have proved against that certain image and that you can just be yourself even with a child. Your mothers are humans too with their own hopes and dreams.

T: What’s your favourite part of process when it comes to making a new song?

M: Listening to the demo, it doesn’t get old. You get this thing called demoitis, it’s when you’ve made a demo and it sounds very different from the first listen to when it’s actually released. Sometimes you’re stuck with the way it sounds at the demo stage and you obviously can’t release it like that but sometimes you feel like you should”.

I would recommend people pre-order Miraa May’s Tales of a Miracle. It is out on 27th and it is going to be one of the biggest albums of 2022. A wonderful artists whose music is absolutely remarkable:

“One of the most prodigiously talented artists in the UK, Miraa May releases her much-anticipated debut album Tales of a Miracle. Already having co-written for the likes of Jorja Smith on her single ‘Be Honest’, Mahalia on her single ‘Jealous’ and Little Simz for her short film ‘I Love You, I Hate You’, the Algerian born singer has enlisted a female dominated team to deliver this exquisite body of work. The project is a personal ode to her childhood adversities, and intimately describes her survival as the miracle that rose from them. 'Wild Things' embodies all that Miraa has to offer as an artist: honesty, strength, vulnerability, humour and passion. Much like the three singles before it ('Go Girl' with pop heavyweight RAYE, 'In My Feelings' and 'Big Woman' featuring powerhouse Stefflon Don); 'Wild Things' appears to have the makings of an instant smash hit and parades the magic of Miraa May effortlessly. In a career first for Miraa the track has secured a first play as Radio 1’s Hottest Record In The World. The unstoppable graft of the young singer has enabled her to capture the hearts and ears of over 920k monthly listeners. A noticeable feat by Spotify, who have made her the current face of their flagship female playlist 'EQUAL'. With love, integrity and energetic female energy woven into each track - This compelling debut is sure to make long lasting impressions within the industry, cementing Miraa May as one of the best singer/songwriters to come out of the UK”.

I wanted to spotlight Miraa May, as she is an incredible artist who has already released so many terrific tracks. With an album due very soon, so many more people are going to turn onto her music. I think that she will get demand around the world, and there will be big festivals and U.S. dates before too long. The forthcoming Tales of a Miracle is a stunning album from a young artist who…

SHOULD be celebrated.

___________

Spotlight Miraa May

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/miraa_may

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/miraa_may/

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/2fOvE1l01YyORhYzwoaLCM

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/user/MiraaMay

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/Miraa-May-161547714417849/

FEATURE: Spotlight: Panic Shack

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

Panic Shack

__________

I am putting a run of Spotlight features out…

as there are exciting artists who are either embarking on big tour dates or have put our an E.P. or album. In the case of the remarkable Panic Shack, both can apply. They have some great dates coming up, and they released their debut E.P., Baby Shack, earlier in the month. I will get to a review of that at the end. Before that, there are a few interviews online where we discover more about the amazing group. The Cardiff group - Sarah Harvey (vocals), Meg Fretwell (guitar/backing vocals), Romi Lawrence (guitar/backing vocals), Em Smith (bass) - formed in 2018 and, since then, they have made big strides. Courting attention from stations like BBC Radio 6 Music and being tipped as ones to watch closely this year, everyone needs to get behind them! The band’s line-up has changed a little, whereas they have had different drummers playing with them. I am focusing on the ‘core members’ of Harvey, Fretwell, Lawrence, and Smith. Apologies if there are any snippets of interviews with former band members. I am keeping a close eye because, as is the way with bands who have been around for a little while, the line-up does change. In any case, I will start out with an interview that discusses their 2018 formation (as a quintet), but they are, to me, a quartet. Apologies if that contradicts how they see Panic Shack…

I am getting hung up on numbers and formation! I shall plough in to interviews! PRS for Music introduced the band in their feature from April 2021:

“Who?

Panic Shack

From where?

Cardiff

What’s the Story?

Formed in 2018, DIY punk outfit Panic Shack have been capturing the mood of the nation through the charged and pointed subject matter of their releases. Dissatisfied with the male dominated music industry, most of the members of Panic Shack began to learn their instruments from scratch when starting the band, intent on carving out a space within the local Cardiff scene and beyond.

Releasing through independent Welsh label Clwb Creative Records, Panic Shack have already garnered considerable airplay, as well as securing bookings at taste-making festivals, such as Focus Wales. Although only three official singles have been shared so far, a considerable buzz around the band is on-going, with the indie music press at large taking note of their every move.

Most recent single, I Don’t Really Like It, takes aim at the issues surrounding toxic masculinity and predatory male behaviour, accompanied by driving riffs and a melodic sensibility that elevates the band from being pigeonholed as simply ‘punk’.

The poignancy and relatability of their music is matched with a sardonic wit and often jocular approach to word-play: ‘I do jiu-jitsu, I’m gonna jiu-jits you,’ for example.

Sounds like?

An exciting and modern take on the classic punk sound, with notes of Amyl and the Sniffers, that points towards a musical ambition superseding the confines of the genre.

Predicted to?

As soon as gigs are back up and running, expect to find Panic Shack in venue near you. This is music to be fully appreciated in a live setting”.

There are a couple of other interviews that attracted me. I found one from Guitar from the end of 2020 (sorry to screw with the chronology!), where Panic Shack reject their ‘Punk’ label – and they very much flying the flag for working-class women in music:

“What first inspired you to pick up a guitar?

“We’re actually pretty new to guitar playing. Emily has played bass in another band for a few years so she’s our ‘real’ musician. As for myself and Meg, we are really new to it. We’ve basically been teaching ourselves to play ever since we decided we were going to properly form this band – so a little over a year. I guess it just came down to being fed up of complaining that there aren’t enough female guitarists and putting our money where our mouth is. Meg said it was School of Rock for her.”

Tell us about your main guitar and pedal setup…

“I play a Squier Tele through a distortion pedal and Blues Driver, and Dave’s [drummer] old guitar amp. Meg uses a Squier Strat, distortion pedal, chorus pedal and again, you’ve guessed it, a borrowed amp. Emily plays a Fender Precision (borrowed from her dad, because her Squier wasn’t quite cutting the mustard), a fuzz pedal, and whatever amp she can get someone to lend her. This set up is, of course, all temporary until we get our Fender endorsement!”

 You say you formed the band to counter the growing feeling of music becoming even more elitist and closed off to working-class people – how do you hope to inspire that change?

 “Just pushing as hard as we can to exist in this sphere, we hope, will inspire more girls especially those from working-class backgrounds, to have a crack at it. When we were younger all you saw were men in guitar bands, so it didn’t cross our minds that it could be something, we, as girls, could ever do. If us being a band that other girls can look to and be inspired to pick up an instrument by or write a song, then our job is done. Also in terms of guitar playing it can be super intimidating to put yourself out there when you don’t necessarily feel like a ‘guitarist’ especially when you’re backstage with a load of guys who are amazing guitar players – what we’ve learned over the past year is that music is just about conveying a message and making sound. Music is subjective and you don’t need to be shredding solos until your fingers bleed to write an amazing song – look at The Slits!”

Where do you see yourself in ten years’ time?

“After countless world tours we probably would’ve settled into our Hollywood mansions. Panic Shack remain at the top of every chart worldwide and we eat caviar for every meal. Meg is running for president, Sarah and Harry Styles are expecting their third child, Emily resides in her cat sanctuary, I’m back in rehab and Dave’s playing in a Beatles cover band. We haven’t really given it much thought to be honest.”

Finally, tell us something interesting about yourself that has nothing to do with guitar…

“As well as writing music together, we’re all part of Cardiff’s first mixed sex synchronised swimming team. Crazy but true!”.

I am going to end with a review for the amazing and instantly memorable Baby Shack soon. Before that, God is in the TV featured Panic Shack last month. They are, undeniably, a group with a very bright and busy future:

“Welcome Panic Shack!  Good to meet you.  Can you tell us a little about how you got together?

Sooo we all became friends through living and working in Cardiff but the catalyst for starting Panic Shack was Greenman 2018.  We’d spoken about starting a band a lot over the previous year but after going to the festival and watching all the other artists on stage it just made us feel like we had to be up there too.  We had our first practice in megs spare room the month after we got back with a bunch of shitty acoustic guitars and it all went from there really.

Congratulations on ‘Mannequin Man’.  I love its frenetic energy and even though the video was produced during lockdown its perfect for the song.  I believe it was filmed back in March 2021.  Has it been a frustrating couple of years, or have you been able to be keep creative?

Correct!  It’s been frustrating having to sit on something for so long when you just want to release it into the world but every band around the globe I’m sure feels the same way.  I think at the start when we didn’t realise we had another two long years ahead of us we were quite positive and creative, trying to make the best of a bad situation though as time went on that dwindled slightly.  BUT now that gigs are going ahead and we’re allowed back out into the world those creative juices are flowing and we got loads of bangerz ready and lined up for ya.

The debut EP Baby Shack is set for release 8 April on Brace Yourself Records.   What is your song-writing process and what do you take inspiration from? 

So our songs normally start from a silly remark that one of us might make or from a situation where one of us is pissed off, then we all kind of hype each other up and start shouting shit into a voice memo on our phones.  The inspiration for our songs can come from anywhere and everywhere so be nice to us or we’ll be writing one about you next.

What gigs have you planned for 2022?   Am I right in saying you formed towards the end of 2018, so did you play gigs before the pandemic?

We only played a handful of gigs before the pandemic so we FEEL like a new band but in actuality we’re old hags now haha.  So far 2022 is looking like a lot of fun gig wise, we’re going on tour with Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard and we’re also playing Radio 6’s music festival which is being held in Cardiff this year.  You’ll have plenty of other chances to see us too but you’ll have to wait to find out.

If I looked in your fridge right now what would I find.

My fridge is pretty dire at the minute, I’ve got a mouldy cucumber in the salad drawer, half a litre of oat milk and enough condiments to sink a ship – Em

I’ve got Covid at the minute so there’s nothing in my fridge except some mouldy salad and 5 half empty bottles of mayo – Rom

My fridge contents are basically the same just condiments and questionable veg – Saz

Can’t get hold of Meg to find out what’s in her fridge but you can always guarantee she’s got some buds in there. Peace out love The Shack xxx”.

Let’s round off with a couple of things. I would compel everyone to check out and follow Panic Shack now. Go and listen to the Baby Shack E.P. and, if you are in a position to, go and catch them live near you. An irresistible and truly astonishing live band, they are head and shoulders above so many of their peers! This is what Punktastic wrote in their review for Panic Shack’s glorious debut E.P., Baby Shack:

“Attitude can get you a long way. If punk was a reaction to glam, Panic Shack are a reaction to groups of cocksure lads clogging up the Cardiff music scene. They embody the ethos perfectly; anyone can be in a band, everyone has something to say and these five, fiery upstarts have been tearing up the local scene with their accessible, lo-fi tunes. Their debut EP ‘Baby Shack’ collects six unruly songs, each reinforcing the idea that being in a band is like hanging with your mates, and you won’t be able to resist its easy charms.

While some bands describe themselves as ‘artists’ and delight in throwing around exotic guitar scales, Panic Shack are proud of their limited ability and freely admit that upon forming back in 2018 they could barely play. Guitarist Romi Lawrence even says that when writing the songs they would just “chuck a few notes together”.  It’s a direct and honest statement, reflected in the music here, which might be simple and straight-up but is also very satisfying. Whether it’s the easy strums of ‘Who’s Got My Lighter?‘ or the slicing chord riffs of ‘Ju Jits You’ it’s all urgent, bright and effortlessly catchy.

Five of the songs here are already available, so in many ways ‘Baby Shack’ plays like a compilation but that’s no bad thing, especially as it is structured to some degree with the almost experimental ‘I Don’t Really Like It’ opening things up. Beginning slowly and powered by a simple drum beat the song almost feels like a Meg-led White Stripes until it explodes into the jaunty guitar sound that defines the rest of their work. It’s a biting sound for sure, without being jangly, making for a lively weighty tone that distances them from indie-rock. It’s definitely not pop-punk polished or lacquered and there’s a layer of reality to their work that more abstract bands lack.

The band’s defining feature is Sarah Harvey’s spoken word vocals, which have the advantage of being both fun to follow and easy on the ear. She throws out some great statements on ‘Ju Jits You’ and there is something undeniably brilliant about a song that builds up momentum only to collide with the opening phrase of ‘Umm…’.

In many ways, the EP has a lot in common with the Arctic Monkeys’ first album only with a feminine zest, and the songs play out as conversations between friends. It’s not quite as brash musically but it’s a fair comparison as the two bands feel very similar, their work crammed with observations and clever lyrics. Where the Arctic Monkeys record depicted a lads nights out in Sheffield, here the stories are more specific, focusing more on people encountered in daily life, be it the strange living statue of ‘Mannequin Man’ or the woman assuming maternal instincts on ‘Baby’. Only ‘The Ick’ directly addresses romance and even then it plays out like a discussion amongst friends, albeit using a coffin nail as both a metaphor and a slick pre-chorus. While not being explicitly feminist, songs like ‘Baby’ challenge traditional gender assumptions and are wryly humorous. The best example being the line “Kids are not for everyone so ask before you give me one” which is a throwaway hook, a statement of intent and a cheeky swing at male listeners.

Tom Rees of Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard has guided the band’s career so far and as producer has really captured their vibe. This is important as Panic Shack’s whole schtick is their personal chemistry. This is explicit on the outro to ‘Ju Jits You’ which descends into a high energy-chant, but is threaded through all their work. It’s difficult to think of a record that is such a joyous celebration of friendship and this gives the record its strength. Similarly ‘Who’s Got My Lighter’ coasts on an uncomfortable verse as the words are close enough to a rhyme that they feel awkward every time they’re repeated. Luckily the song retains the band’s breezy energy and there’s a hook in the chorus to hold it together, making for a surprising hit.

Bubbling with undeniable chemistry ‘Baby Shack’ is an exciting, witty debut EP collecting the band’s work so far. Keenly crafted, with a simple sense of fun and a tonne of great observations it makes for a great listen”.

Even though I have not yet seen Panic Shack play – one of the great band names btw! -,l I have read reviews of their sets and fully intend to see them very soon on a London date. It is still sort of early days. I talked about how there have been different musicians in the fold, though it is that core and solid four-piece that have an indelible and unbreakable bond. The affection and respect they have for one another translates to their music. In turn, their fans have an enormous amount of love and respect for them. It is impossible not to bow down to the power and brilliance of…

THE amazing Panic Shack!

____________

Follow Panic Shack

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/panicshack

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/panicshack/

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/panicshack

Bandcamp:

https://panicshack.bandcamp.com/releases

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/26HCuM5PamldoaHII5Ifxc

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMV_H2YjdXmzp5DLRywnIYQ

FEATURE: Spotlight: Deyah

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

PHOTO CREDIT: Shot By Nee

Deyah

__________

ALTHOUGH the amazing Deyah…

has brought out other work since her prize-winning album, Care City, a lot of the interviews online were taken from that time (2020). In November of 2020, the Welsh rapper won the Welsh Music Prize for her phenomenal album. Last year, she put out the amazing Exit the Dance E.P. I feel like there is more to come this year in terms of an album or mixtape. She did recently put out the amazing HeART-Break NoTEL (THE FREESTYLES). A hugely prolific and talented artist, Deyah is someone everyone should have on their radars! I want to bring in a couple of reviews, in addition to a short feature about the Exit the Dance E.P. Huck spoke with an incredible talent back in 2020. Someone forging their own path:

“Deyah has covered more ground than the average 25 year old. Childhood trauma, pain, suffering. Addiction, loneliness, and more addiction. She has found God, nearly lost God, and lost a community of friends. She’s spiralled, spent time in rehab (again). And then, recovered. Renewed faith. She’s healing, giving, and growing. There’s health, there’s love, there’s optimism. You don’t need to speak with her to know this. It’s right there, in her music.

‘Deyah’ means ‘I’m there’. According to another source, it also means ‘from God’. It isn’t her real name, but it’s apt. “I’m a person of faith,” she says. In her Twitter bio, Deyah calls herself a disciple. “My purpose is to serve and do good by people, by sharing whatever it is I’ve learned,” she says. Deyah serves on the daily. Musically, through vivid bars, and in her 9 to 5 as a support work advocate: “I work with people who have learning disabilities and mental health illnesses.”

PHOTO CREDIT: Ben McConnachie 

We’re speaking because Deyah recently won the Welsh Music Prize for her eight-track LP Care City, released last April. Despite being in its tenth year, she’s the first artist that isn’t loosely folk or indie to win the prize, one of two hip-hop/alternative RnB artists to ever be nominated, the only to be nominated twice, and the first non-white artist to win.

The musical education came from her dad, who would play music constantly – “but literally, like all through the night, it was sometimes annoying” – and school her on rap groups, sounds, samples, subgenres and anything else. The writing came partly from rhyming games her mum devised to cure boredom, and partly because, she explains: “My childhood was a bit mashed up. So, a lot of the time I would write stuff down to deal with it instead of going around punching other kids.”

"

“I failed all music classes up to GCSE,” she says with a nervous laugh. Deyah didn’t study music at all from there, instead studying theology, including Greek and Hebrew, with the intent of becoming a preacher or a minister. She studied at Newbold College of Higher Education in Bracknell, where she still lives today. At the time of writing, the university offers five courses all within biblical, theological and pastoral education. These are just some of the events that have shaped her.

“I think being unique is a blessing. It works very well for me: my music stands out. There were no other mixed-race women rappers in the area.” Standing out might have helped, but it’s Deyah’s ability that secured a spot on the radio.

The catharsis in Deyah’s writing never left. You can hear the refinement in how she speaks, too. Her tone is always warm yet matter-of-fact. The words are candid yet polished, full of reflection and core-hitting emotion, the result of someone who has spent a lot of time working out who they are. Along with preaching in church, her writing process also helps: “I usually know I have something I want to say, so I’ll listen through my beats until one compliments it. I’ll put it on surround sound, then I’ll walk around the flat getting lyrics off my head for an hour or so. Then I’ll sit and write.”

Care City is just the latest manifestation of this. It’s an album which encompasses many of themes explored on her previous record, Lover Loner, and  ‘Therapy Sessions 77’ – an 18-track album she uploaded to SoundCloud in 2017 under a former moniker, NONAMEDISCIPLE”.

Also from 2020, The Lowdown were keen to know more about the sensational Deyah. Such a busy and amazingly versatile and confident artist, it was clear that Care City was going to be hugely successful and lauded:

“Following up 2019’s Lover Loner EP, Deyah’s new project, Care City is an extensive blueprint for a tumultuous few months, the darkest period of her life so far. Passionate and wholeheartedly to the point, it embodies a journey to the murky depths and back again, her mental state meticulously documented and relayed with brute and asserting honesty. A conceptual masterpiece,Care City searches for light in the eternal gloom.

The video to her new single, ‘Venthouse Suite’ is out now, addressing the torment of being judged and mistreated by others, together finding forgiveness in anguish and despair.

Few artists are able to replicate the raw, unashamed candour of Berkshire-based rapper, Deyah. A gripping open book, her confessional lyrics are articulate and unapologetically frank. An opposing blend of rousing narration behind lethargic, lo-fi beats, she excavates her deepest insecurities, probing and scrutinising the essence of her innermost vulnerabilities. Unconstrained by self-interest and armed with purposeful integrity, Deyah is free to pursue her own unique vision.

She was nominated for the 2019 Welsh Music Prize and has performed at notable festivals such as Reading & Leeds, Boomtown, Outlook and BBC’s Biggest weekend.

Hi Deyah, welcome to The Lowdown! Let’s get you introduced to our readers. Tell us who are you and what it is that you do?

"Lowdown! wagwan.. ok so i’m a chilled out non-cussing rapper/singer/song writer who lives my life wanting to serve others…"

How long have you been making music?

"I’ve been making music since i was 16 but it was only last year that i actually took it seriously."

How many releases have you had?

"I’ve just recently released my fourth EP."

What made you fall in love with hip-hop music?

"I grew up listening to hiphop material from early, everything about it is a vibe to me; i don’t just hear the music, i feel it."

How would you describe your music in one sentence?

"Chill and truthful."

How do you want your listeners to feel when they listen to your music?

"I’d like it if the listeners felt an openness, the ability to relate, a safe space, freedom, lack of judgement, faith and authenticity through the music."

Your most recent project is your ‘Care City’ EP. Can you tell us a little bit about its content?

"Care City is purely documentation of a very dark season i endured. During that time, I learnt so many life lessons that i transferred over into my methods of creating. There’s such a freedom within this new project. I’m no longer controlled by the expectations of others or their wants regarding the music i create, I create what i want to create. Care City is me being me."

Do you feel like ‘Care City’ is a significant milestone in your career so far?

"I’d say the creation of Care City is a landmark in my personal life as well as my music career. It is for sure a significant milestone. It’s the first time I’m genuinely proud of a body of work I’ve created”.

I am not sure what this year holds in store for Deyah in terms of E.P.s or albums - as she has already put out a freestyles release a month ago. She is a sensational and unstoppable artist who is helping put Welsh Hip-Hop on the map. It is shameful there is still a lot of ignorance when it comes to Welsh music. With amazing artists like her, Adwaith, The Anchoress and their contemporaries producing simply amazing music, more eyes need to be trained on artists based in or coming out of Wales! TRENCH covered the amazing Exit the Dance E.P. last year:

“It was only June this year that Deyah put out her debut project THAT WorLD. tapes, but the Cardiff-hailing rapper is already back with a new EP, Exit The Dance. She's been priming listeners for the drop for a few months now, sharing one of the EP's singles, "Shoreditch" as well as other clips and tidbits on her Instagram.

Exit The Dance sees the rapper weave elements of her native roots into her rap style, enhancing the overall storytelling and delivery. Project opener "Wahala" features Dutch-Nigerian artist Loshh and is the only feature across the EP, allowing Deyah to centre her lyrical abilities and melodic flow in every track. "Native Ego" follows next, where she explores a slightly sinister soundscape with trappy hi-hats and a pounding bass to sit beneath her effortless flows as she spits her truth.

The production of the project is handled by Ten Billion Dreams, who is the mastermind behind the production on a large portion of Ghetts' Mercury-nominated album Conflict Of Interest. Exit The Dance is the work of an artist rising from strength to strength with each new release. Get familiar with it below”.

Get acquainted with the spectacular Deyah! An artist who is going from strength to strength, she is a definite future legend of Hip-Hop. Forging her own path and producing consistently strong work, go and follow her on social media. Even though she has been on the scene for a bit, her career and success story has…

ONLY just begun.

____________

Spotlight Deyah

PHOTO CREDIT: Shot By Nee  

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/iamdeyah

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/iamdeyah/

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/iamdeyah/

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/7FVYHSqy6wB2PCifeS81fb

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdca-N4VApXMccR42_AVIAQ

FEATURE: Inside Kate Bush’s The Dreaming at Forty: Track Three: Pull Out the Pin

FEATURE:

 

 

Inside Kate Bush’s The Dreaming at Forty

Track Three: Pull Out the Pin

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THE fortieth anniversary…

is in September, but I am interested in Kate Bush’s The Dreaming, as it is an album that gets overlooked or seen as a bit weird and experimental. Gaining more acclaim and love than it did back in 1982 – though it was a commercial success and there were some positive reviews -, I am going through each of the ten tracks on the album. I have reached the third track, Pull Out the Pin. Not that Sat in Your Lap and There Goes a Tenner are conventional, though Pull Out the Pin is the first sign that this is not a conventional album! I love all of the tracks on The Dreaming; Pull Out the Pin really demonstrates how far Kate Bush had travelled from her first few albums. Incredible layers of sound, epic production (by Bush) and one of her best vocal performances on the album, the lyrics are also phenomenal. I will come to them soon and highlight a few choice passages. Before that, and as I am leaning on the Kate Bush Encyclopaedia for information regarding the songs on The Dreaming, here is Bush discussing the inspiration behind Pull Out the Pin:

“We sat in front of the speakers trying to focus on the picture - a green forest, humid and pulsating with life. We are looking at the Americans from the Vietnamese point of view and, almost like a camera, we start in wide shot. Right in the distance you can see the trees moving, smoke and sounds drifting our way... sounds like a radio. Closer in with the camera, and you can catch glimpses of their pink skin. We can smell them for miles with their sickly cologne, American tobacco and stale sweat.

Take the camera in even closer, and we find a solitary soldier, perhaps the one I have singled out. Sometimes a Vietnamese would track a soldier for days and follow him, until he eventually took him. This soldier is under a tree, dozing with a faint smile and a radio by his side. It's a small transistor radio out of which cries an electric guitar. I'd swear it was being played by Brian Bath, but how could that be, way out here on our stereo screen. I pop the silver Buddha that I wear around my neck into my mouth, securing my lips around his little metal body. I move towards the sleeping man. A helicopter soars overhead, he wakes up, and as he looks me in the eyes I relate to him as I would to a helpless stranger. Has he a family and a lady waiting for him at home, somewhere beyond the Chinese drums and the double bass that stalks like a wild cat through bamboo? The moving pictures freeze-frame and fade - someone stopped the multi-track, there's more overdubs to do. (Kate Bush Club newsletter, October 1982)

I saw this incredible documentary by this Australian cameraman who went on the front line in Vietnam, filming from the Vietnamese point of view, so it was very biased against the Americans. He said it really changed him, because until you live on their level like that, when it's complete survival, you don't know what it's about. He's never been the same since, because it's so devastating, people dying all the time.

The way he portrayed the Vietnamese was as this really crafted, beautiful race. The Americans were these big, fat, pink, smelly things who the Vietnamese could smell coming for miles because of the tobacco and cologne. It was devastating, because you got the impression that the Americans were so heavy and awkward, and the Vietnamese were so beautiful and all getting wiped out. They wore a little silver Buddha on a chain around their neck and when they went into action they'd pop it into their mouth, so if they died they'd have Buddha on their lips. I wanted to write a song that could somehow convey the whole thing, so we set it in the jungle and had helicopters, crickets and little Balinese frogs. (Kris Needs, 'Dream Time In The Bush'. Zigzag (UK), November 1982)”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Pierre Terrasson

Featuring backing vocals by her mentor, David Gilmour, and drums by Preston Heyman, string bass by Danny Thompson, piano by Kate Bush and electric guitar from Brian Bath, the band on Pull Out the Pin are incredible! One of the most original and thought-provoking lyricists ever, Kate Bush always distinguishes her songs. I am not sure how she comes up with some of the words and lines she puts into her tracks! Pull Out the Pin boasts really striking and stirring images. One of my favourite verses is this: “You learn to ride the Earth/When you're living on your belly and the enemy are city-births/Who need radar? We use scent/They stink of the west, stink of sweat/Stink of cologne and baccy, and all their Yankee hash”. There is a mixture of the cryptic and direct in Pull Out the Pin. You need to listen to it a few times through before you can absorb all of the notes and ideas. Another fantastic verse is this: “I've seen the coat for me/I'll track him 'til he drops/Then I'll pop him one he won't see/He's big and pink, and not like me/He sees no light/He sees no reason for the fighting”. It is important to salute the variety of wonderful tracks on The Dreaming. It turns forty in September, and I hope a lot of people come to the album and spend a lot of time with it. Stunning production, writing and performing from Bush throughout, this is an album that was ahead of its time. With ten wonderful and individual tracks on the album, Pull Out the Pin is one of…

ITS brightest and most bewitching gems.

FEATURE: Supergrass’ In It for the Money at Twenty-Five: One of the Most Important Albums of the 1990s

FEATURE:

 

 

Supergrass’ In It for the Money at Twenty-Five

One of the Most Important Albums of the 1990s

__________

I have already written one feature…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Paul Natkin/Getty Images

about the upcoming twenty-fifth anniversary of Supergrass’ second studio album (on 21st April), In it for the Money. An album that everyone needs to own, I think that it is among the most important and best albums of the 1990. Whilst Supergrass’ 1995 debut, I Should Coco, is a remarkable album, In it for the Money is an even stronger and more varied follow-up. Released in a year when Britpop was starting to wane, there is a combination of the celebratory and experimental on In it for the Money. Jubilant sounds and infectiousness mixes with acoustic moments and the Oxford band venturing into new territory. Recorded at Sawmills Studio in Cornwall, there is still a lot of the fun and vibrancy Supergrass displayed on their debut. I feel that In it for the Money is a more textured and deeper album in terms of its sounds and lyrics. I feel the first seven tracks have a lot in common with what is on I Should Coco. In it for the Money took Supergrasss to a new level and confirmed they as a band to watch. If some felt their debut was a fluke or novelty, or Supergrass would not be able to match it on their sophomore album, they were proven wrong. Capitalising on momentum but also not rush-releasing a follow-up, In it for the Money is a defining album of the ‘90s. Twenty-five years after its release, the songs still seem so fresh!

Rather than the songs being of a decade and not able to resonate and impact years down the line, In it for the Money still explodes with life and meaning! It is an album that cemented the reputation and promise of a remarkable young band. Led by her charismatic and hugely talented Gaz Coombes, there is so much presence and range on the album. From the snarling Richard III to the Beatle-esque Going Out, through to the gorgeous and hypnotic It’s Not Me, In it for the Money covers a lot of music ground but retains consistency and identity. The reception for In it for the Money has been largely positive. In 1997, many were seeing the album in the context of what else was around and what Supergrass promised on their debut. With retrospective reviews, it is about how In it for the Money has stood up. A lot of albums from 1997 have been lost or not stood up. In it for the Money is as engrossing and will sound so important for decades to come. Pitchfork reviewed an expanded edition of In it for the Money last year:

“In It for the Money isn’t so much a departure from I Should Coco as a progression. Often, it feels as if Supergrass are attempting to offer a crash course in the history of British rock, cramming in elements borrowed from the swinging 1960s and 1970s classic rock, then filtering these well-known sounds through the irreverence of punk. They still sound vigorous—witness the rampaging single “Richard III”—but they lack the exuberance that fueled their first album. The shift was necessary for their long-term survival. “Alright” threatened to pigeonhole Supergrass as loveable teenage imps, a role they played to the hilt in the song’s supremely silly video. (They played their part so well that Steven Spielberg believed Supergrass would be ideal candidates for a gen-X spin on the Monkees.)

Supergrass turned down Spielberg, choosing instead to do the things normal rock’n’roll bands do: play an enormous amount of shows before hunkering down in the studio to make another record. It helped that Supergrass had arrived just as the Britpop wave crested, its rising tide not only lifting the shaggy group into the Top Ten but putting them squarely within a happening scene. They shared space on charts and festival bills with the amiably straightforward likes of Cast, Sleeper, the Bluetones, and Ash, yet they were qualitatively different, possessing punk-pop smarts to rival Elastica, a brawnier musicality than Oasis, and a self-evident sense of humor.

All of this comes to a head on In It for the Money, an album where the riffs and jokes are wrapped in woolly psychedelia, blaring horns, and splashes of sweet melancholy. Where I Should Coco blew by at a breakneck pace, In It for the Money unfolds with a deliberate sense of drama, slowly coming into focus with the menacing swirl of the title track and proceeding to ebb and flow across its 12 songs. The record feels so unified that it’s remarkable to realize they entered the studio in 1996 with only two completed songs in tow, forcing them to write the bulk of the album during the recording sessions. Along for the ride was Rob Coombes, a keyboardist who was the brother of Supergrass frontman Gaz. He’d been on the band’s periphery for a while, hammering out the piano to “Alright” and playing woozy organ on “Going Out,” the stopgap 1996 single Supergrass released between their first and second albums, but he’s an integral part of In It for the Money, earning writing credits on all 12 songs and adding distinctive color throughout. (Rob Coombes would officially become a member of Supergrass in 2002.)

Listen closely—or spend some time with the clutch of monitor mixes and rough versions that fill the second disc of the new 3xCD deluxe reissue of the 1997 album—and it’s apparent that Supergrass did indeed write In It for the Money in the studio. Many of the songs are rooted in vamps that blossom into full songs: The slinky funk that propels the verses of “Cheapskate,” the circular stomp on “G-Song,” the lazy, shambling gait of “Hollow Little Reign” all bear telltale signs of compositions that began as group jams. None of these songs sound tossed off, though, littered as they are with overdubs, backwards guitars, and sound effects. Supergrass couldn’t resist any bit of studio trickery when they were making In It for the Money, yet they retained their sense of concise craft. The record feels vibrant, not overstuffed.

The triple-disc reissue of In It for the Money can dampen some of the album’s energy. Some fine B-sides, such as the tuneful neo-music-hall ramble “Melanie Davis,” are buried among the alternate mixes and working versions on the second disc, a collection of ephemera that plays better as individual tracks than as an album. The disc of live recordings is another story. Anchored by a full show from January 1998, a concert given nearly a year after the release of In It for the Money, the live disc shows Supergrass at full roar, turning these studio creations into breakneck rockers.

The title of In It for the Money is a nod toward Frank Zappa’s anti-hippie classic We’re Only In It for the Money. Supergrass may not sound anything like the Mothers of Invention, but their choice reflects the extent to which they were steeped in rock history. Supergrass never attempted to be innovators. They were magpies who busied themselves with figuring out how to assemble pieces of glam, psychedelia, punk, and pop in fresh, surprising ways. They would continue to hone their craft, making sleeker albums than In It for the Money, yet the group’s enthusiasm and imagination are at a peak here. They sound delighted to discover their full potential, and that giddiness remains infectious decades later”.

Twenty-five on 21st April, In it for the Money is a remarkably important album. One of the key releases of the 1990s, I wanted to revisit an album that has some classic Supergrass in it. From the anthemic Tonight to Sun Hits the Sky, all of the tracks are absolute gold! The majestical In it for the Money, twenty-five years after its release remains…

A spellbinding album.

FEATURE: One for the Record Collection! Essential May Releases

FEATURE:

 

 

One for the Record Collection!

IN THIS PHOTO: The cover for Harry Styles’ forthcoming album, Harry’s House 

Essential May Releases

__________

MAY is fast approaching…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Zola Jesus

so I wanted to look ahead to albums due for release then. As I always say, these albums are confirmed as of the time of writing this feature (11th April), so things could change between now and then. That said, I am keen to explore those slated for release. The week ending 6th May has quite a few golden albums worth pre-ordering. The first is Arcade Fire’ WE. The legendary Canadian band follow up 2017’s Everything Now with their sixth studio album. This is one that you definitely need to pre-order:

“Produced by Nigel Godrich, Win and Régine, and recorded in multiple locales including New Orleans, El Paso and Mount Desert Island, WE paradoxically distills “the longest we’ve ever spent writing, uninterrupted, probably ever" (per the band’s Win Butler) into a concise 40 minute epic – one as much about the forces that threaten to pull us away from the people we love, as it is inspired by the urgent need to overcome them. WE’s cathartic journey follows a definable arc from darkness into light over the course of seven songs divided into two distinct sides - Side “I” channeling the fear and loneliness of isolation, and Side “WE” expressing the joy and power of reconnection. On the album’s cover, a photograph of a human eye by the artist JR evokes Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy. This stunning image - embellished by the distinctive airbrush color tinting of Terry Pastor (utilizing the same physical technique he employed on David Bowie’s iconic Hunky Dory and Ziggy Stardust covers) – is the visual expression of WE”.

Another marvellous album due on 6th May is Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever’s Endless Rooms. An album that I would urge everyone to pre-order, it is shaping up to be among this year’s most promising albums:

“Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever return in 2022 with Endless Rooms, the Melbourne quintet's third album proper. Described by the band – comprised of Fran Keaney, Joe White, Marcel Tussie and brothers Tom Russo and Joe Russo – as them “Doing what we do best: chasing down songs in a room together”, Endless Rooms stands as a testament to the collaborative spirit and live power of RBCF.

While initial ideas were traded online during long spells spent separated by lockdowns, the album was truly born during small windows of freedom in which the band would decamp to a mud-brick house in the bush around 2hrs north of Melbourne built by the extended Russo family in the 1970s.

There, its 12 tracks took shape, informed to such an extent by the acoustics and ambience of the rambling lakeside house that they decided to record the album there. The house also features on the album cover. For the first time, the band self-produced the record (alongside engineer, collaborator and old friend, Matt Duffy), creating their most naturalistic and expansive document yet. The result is a collection of songs permeated by the spirit of the place; punctuated by field recordings of rain, fire, birds, and wind.

“It's almost an anti-concept album,” say the band. “The ‘endless rooms’ of the title reflects our love of creating worlds in our songs. We treat each of them as a bare room to be built up with infinite possibilities”.

There are another three albums due on 6th May that you need to order. Sharon Van Etten’s We've Been Going About This All Wrong is an essential purchase. Available on a range of physical formats, Sharon Van Etten is one of the greatest songwriters and artists in the world:

“Sharon Van Etten has always been the kind of artist who helps people make sense of the world around them, and her sixth album, We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong, concerns itself with how we feel, mourn, and reclaim our agency when we think the world - or at least, our world - might be falling apart. How do we protect the things most precious to us from destructive forces beyond our control? How do we salvage something worthwhile when it seems all is lost? And if we can’t, or we don’t, have we loved as well as we could in the meantime? Did we try hard enough? In considering these questions and her own vulnerability in the face of them, Van Etten creates a stunning meditation on how life’s changes can be both terrifying and transformative. We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong articulates the beauty and power that can be rescued from our wreckages.

We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong is as much a reflection on how we manage the ending of metaphorical worlds as we do the ending of actual ones: the twin flames of terror and unrelenting love that light up with motherhood; navigating the demands of partnership when your responsibilities have changed; the loss of center and safety that can come with leaving home; how the ghosts of our past can appear without warning in our present; feeling helpless with the violence and racism in the world; and yes, what it means when a global viral outbreak forces us to relinquish control of the things that have always made us feel so human, and seek new forms of connection to replace them.

PHOTO CREDIT: Michael Schmelling 

We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong is intensely personal, exploring themes like motherhood, love, fear, what we can and can’t control, and what it means to be human in a world that is wracked by so much trauma. The track “Home To Me,” written about Van Etten’s son, uses the trademark “dark drums” of her previous work to invoke the sonic impression of a heartbeat. Synths grow in intensity, evoking the passing of time and the terror of what it means to have your child move inevitably toward independence, wanting to hold on to them tightly enough to protect them forever. In contrast, “Come Back” reflects on the desire to reconnect with a partner. Recalling all the optimism of love felt in its infancy, Van Etten begins with the plain beauty of just her voice and a guitar, building the arrangement alongside the call to “come back” to anyone who has lost their way, be it from another person or from themselves. Hovering between darkness and light, “Born” is an exploration of the self that exists when all other labels - mother, partner, friend - are stripped back.

The ten tracks on We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong are designed to be listened to in order, all at once, so that a much larger story of hope, loss, longing and resilience can be told. This is, in itself, a subtle act of control, but in sharing these songs it remains an optimistic and generous one. There is darkness here but there is light too, and all of it is held together by Van Etten’s uncanny ability to both pierce the hearts of her listeners and make them whole again. Things are not dark, she reminds us, only darkish”.

The penultimate album from 6th May you want to snap up is Sunflower Bean’s Headful of Sugar. Again, available on a range of formats, the New York band are putting out an album that everyone should get a copy of:

“New York trio Sunflower Bean - vocalist and bassist Julia Cumming (she/her), guitarist and vocalist Nick Kivlen (he/him), and drummer Olive Faber (she/they) – release their long-awaited third album Headful of Sugar via Lucky Number.

A psychedelic headrush, fuelled by the agony and ecstasy of contemporary American life, Headful of Sugar is about outsiders disillusioned with the modern world who, despite their alienation, refuse to be subdued; buoyed by the relief found in interpersonal relationships that counteract the daily barrage of cheap entertainment and convenience.

If their acclaimed second album Twentytwo in Blue, released in 2018, was a self-described “ode to the fleeting innocence of youth,” then Headful of Sugar shoves the listener into a new, dangerous world, one that is less safe but also less suffocating. “Tomorrow is not promised, no tour is promised, no popularity is promised, no health or money is promised,” bassist/vocalist Julia Cumming says. “Why not make what you want to make on your own terms? Why not make a record that makes you want to dance? Why not make a record that makes you want to scream?”

Headful of Sugar was produced and mixed by UMO’s Jacob Portrait, co-engineered by Olive Faber and Portrait, and recorded between Electric Lady and Sunflower Bean Studios”.

The final album due on 6th May you need to invest in is Warpaint’s Radiate Like This. This is an album that I am very excited about and will be checking out. If you have some spare pennies, then go and pre-order a copy:

“Radiate Like This - Warpaint’s much anticipated new record, not to mention their first in almost 6 years - arrives with its own very modern mythology intact, continuing the strange, brilliant, beautiful story of the band and quite neatly picking up where Heads Up left off. If the previous album was the coming of age, Radiate Like This presents Warpaint mk II in all their glory, a luminous coalescence of sound and vision which stubbornly belies its genesis, with the quartet of Kokal, Theresa Wayman, Stella Mozgawa and Jenny Lee Lindberg all recording their parts separately in various cities. “It’s the first time we’ve ever made an album like that, but in a weird way, it made us take our time with everything”, muses Kokal. “The process felt more meditative, less rushed”. This new sense of quiet confidence can be heard all through the album, in the hushed, slow build of first single “Champion” the beguiling push pull of “Proof”, the delicate intricacy and complexity of tracks like “Melting” and the winking “Send Nudes”. It’s an album that pulsates with ideas, energy and- most crucially – gorgeous melodies. Listen on in wonder”.

Florence and the Machine’s fifth studio album, Dance Fever, is out on 13th May. An artist (Florence Welch) who is always supernatural and otherworldly, the new album is going to be one you will need to pre-order:

“Florence releases her 5th studio album Dance Fever via Polydor Records.

Dance Fever was recorded predominately in London over the course of the pandemic in anticipation of the world’s reopening. It conjures up what Florence missed most in the midst of lockdown -clubs, dancing at festivals, being in the whirl of movement and togetherness -and the hope of reunions to come. It’s the album that brings back the very best of Florence – the festival headlining Boudicca, wielding anthems like a flaming sword.

Just before the pandemic Florence had become fascinated by choreomania, a Renaissance phenomenon in which groups of people - sometimes thousands - danced wildly to the point of exhaustion, collapse and death. The imagery resonated with Florence, who had been touring nonstop for more than a decade, and in lockdown felt oddly prescient.

The image and concept of dance, and choreomania, remained central as Florence wove her own experiences of dance - a discipline she turned to in the early days of sobriety - with the folkloric elements of a moral panic from the Middle Ages. In recent times of torpor and confinement, dance offered propulsion, energy and a way of looking at music more choreographically.

PHOTO CREDIT: Autumn De Wilde

Starting, as ever, armed with a notebook of poems and ideas, Florence had just arrived in New York in March 2020 to begin recording the record with Jack Antonoff when Covid-19 forced a retreat to London. Holed up at home, the songs began to transform, with nods to dance, folk, ‘70s Iggy Pop, longing-for-the-road folk tracks a la Lucinda Williams or Emmylou Harris and more.

Once back in London, ‘My Love’ was one particular track that shapeshifted from one entity to another with the help of Dave Bayley from Glass Animals. Welch had written the song in her kitchen as a “sad little poem”, and when she recorded it acoustically it just didn’t seem to work. Bayley suggested using synths and it soon expanded with floor-filling, chest-thumping energy.

With Dave’s love of synths and Florence’s fascination with all things gothic and creepy a kind of “Nick Cave at the club” sound started to emerge to shape the record. Lyrically, she took inspiration from the tragic heroines of pre-Raphaelite art, the gothic fiction of Carmen Maria Machado and Julia Armfield, the visceral wave of folk horror film from The Wicker Man and The Witch to Midsommar.

Dance Fever is an album that sees Florence at the peak of her powers, coming into a fully realised self-knowledge, poking sly fun at her own self-created persona, playing with ideas of identity, masculine and feminine, redemptive, celebratory, stepping fully into her place in the iconic pantheon”.

I would also advise people to pre-order Mandy Moore’s In Real Life. Due on 13th May, it is a great album that you will want to investigate further:

“On her new album In Real Life, Mandy Moore shares a window into her world and all that illuminates it: the quiet heartaches and ineffable joys, crushing setbacks and life-changing leaps of faith. The Los Angeles-based artist’s seventh full-length brings a new level of self-possession to her songwriting, imbuing each track with both detailed storytelling and lucid self-reflection”.

Although there are not a lot of other details online about it, the title track alone proves that In Real Life is going to be fantastic. Mandy Moore is one of the more underrated artists around. I hope that her new album will change that.

Let’s skip ahead to the albums out on 20th May that are definitely worth your money. The first, Everything Everything’s Raw Data Feel is going to be sensational! The Manchester band always release such original and captivating music. They are promising something special and must-listen with Raw Data Feel. Make sure you pre-order the album:

“Twice Mercury Prize nominated, 5 time Ivor Novello nominated and critically acclaimed, Everything Everything release their new studio album Raw Data Feel.

On Raw Data Feel, Everything Everything set about revolutionising modern pop music, with Higgs abandoning his own brain and letting technology do at least some of the thinking: feeding LinkedIn T&Cs, Beowulf, 4Chan forum text and the teachings of Confucius into A.I. automation processes and using its responses as a basis for the record's lyrics, song titles and artworking.

Produced by Everything Everything guitarist Alex Robertshaw and production partner Tom Fuller (aka Kaines and Tom A.D). This new phase is a rapturous return and - staying true to form - sees the band continue to push the ribbon on melody and rhythm with a heavy helping of electronic exploration”.

One of the most anticipated and hyped albums of this year is Harry Styles’ Harry's House. Although I am not a massive fan, there is no doubt that this album is one that should be checked out. From the album’s excellent cover to the fact there are some excellent collaborators in the mix. Styles’ album is one I want to point people in the direction of. I am looking forward to hearing what he has to offer:  

“Harry’s House is the third solo studio album from Grammy award-winning global superstar Harry Styles. The 13-track full-length album was recorded in multiple locations across the UK, Los Angeles and Tokyo from 2020 to 2021. It was written by Harry alongside frequent collaborators Kid Harpoon, Tyler Johnson, and Mitch Rowland”.

Porridge Radio’s Waterslide, Diving Board, Ladder to the Sky is going to be huge! A truly tremendous band, make sure you do not miss out on an album that is guaranteed to stay in your head long after you have heard it!

“When Porridge Radio’s Dana Margolin, one of the most vital new voices in rock, began to consider the themes of her new album, three vivid words began to emerge: joy, fear and endlessness. The artwork of the band’s third full-length, Waterslide, Diving Board, Ladder To The Sky, is a surreal image that evokes the ducks and dives, slippery slopes and existential angst of life in recent times. “To me, the feelings of joy, fear and endlesses coexist together,” says Dana. “You’re never just happy or unhappy.” Following Every Bad’s release in 2020, Margolin was quickly becoming regarded as one of the most magnetic band leaders around. But if Every Bad established Dana’s bravery in laying herself bare, her band’s third record takes that to anthemic new heights. While there are moments of guttural release, she also finds soft power on songs. “I used to think I had to be loud to be heard,” she admits, “but now I’m definitely less afraid of being gentle.”

The band’s first new single, Back To The Radio, sets out their stall, a lurching call to arms that contrasts Dana’s lyrics of panic and closing herself off. This song is just one of example in WDBLTTS that explores something that has long been an important part of Porridge Radio’s process: playfulness. “I think the album needed to have that balance,” Dana explains. Balance: that’s the word the album seems to be eternally striving for – joy, fear and endlessness in harmony but also self-acceptance. Dana is more aware of how she’s creating a persona as her star continues to rise, and how she’s singing personal songs that now belong to other people which gives her purpose. She says, “I wrote these songs for myself, but I think everyone wants to feel like what they’re doing is useful in some way. I’m ready to embrace it all now, whatever happens”.

SOAK’s If I never know you like this again is going to be truly awesome and must-buy. Their album is one I am pumped for and would urge people to pre-order and add to their May collection:

“With their new album, If I Never Know You Like This Again, Soak has finally shaken the hangover of their starry debut Before We Forgot How To Dream, and the pressures that came with it, hiding in the wings of their ambitious follow up album, Grim Town. Having come up through BBC introducing at the tender age of 15 before signing to Rough Trade Records as well as winning the RTE Choice Music Prize, The Northern Irish Music Prize and the youngest ever Mercury Prize nominee, Soak has again and again been described as ‘the voice of a generation.’

Showing from a young age an intensely artistic awareness of the poetry of memory, Bridie Monds-Watson, aka SOAK, would incessantly photograph and video everything, documenting and organising the material so it was always there for them to revisit. ”I always want to remember exactly how I felt at a certain moment.” Now, at 25, Soak’s third album If I Never Know You Like This Again, is naturally made up of what Bridie intimately calls “song-memories”.

Working closely with Tommy McLaughlin (Villagers), with whom Bridie has been collaborating with since the age of 15, and armed with influences from Pavement, to Radiohead to Broken Social Scene, they wrote most of the album together before recording it with the rest of the band in Attica Studios, Donegal. Throughout the album Soak pushes and pulls at melodies, but never milks their brilliance. Bridie masterfully glides their vocal melody slightly off-kilter above excitable compressed high hats and flourishing guitar lines. With the new direction of a grungier, more lo-fi production the swooning guitars are given a contemporary pop-edge, reflected in the rich and robust musicality of songs like ‘Bleach’, ‘Last July’ and ‘Pretzel’. There’s a constant pulsating beat at the album’s centre, propelling it towards a kind of dewy happiness, like the end credits of a 90s coming-of-age film. Bridie’s lyrics move through the songs almost as effortlessly and they sing them, and the songs when read, read like poetry. With this album Bridie is, as the title suggests, freezing time in the pursuit of truth: capturing their life into existence.

In the world of If I Never Know You Like This Again, a life is lived only because it's remembered”.

Prior to moving onto 27th May, there is one more from 20th May you need to reserve some money for. Zola Jesus’ ARKHON is one to pre-order, as it is a wonderful release that will entrance and enrapture you. Here is an artist like no other; creating music of the highest order:

“There is a way a voice can cut through the fascia of reality, cleaving through habit into the raw nerve of experience. Nika Roza Danilova, the singer, songwriter, and producer who since 2009 has released music as Zola Jesus, wields a voice that does that. When you hear it, it is like you are being summoned to a place that’s already wrapped inside you but obscured from conscious experience. This place has been buried because it tends to hold pain, but it’s also a gift, because once it’s opened, once you’re inside of it, it can show you the truth. Zola Jesus’s new album, Arkhon, finds new ways of loosing this submerged, stalled pain.

On previous albums, Danilova had largely played the role of auteur, meticulously crafting every aspect of Zola Jesus’s sound and look. This time, she realized that her habitual need for control was sealing her out of her art. Arkhon sees Zola Jesus’s first collaboration with producer Randall Dunn (Sunn O))), Earth, Mandy soundtrack, Candyman soundtrack) and with drummer and percussionist Matt Chamberlain, whose prior work appears on albums by Fiona Apple, Bob Dylan, and David Bowie

Arkhon runs the spectrum from songs whose weight lies in their bare simplicity, like “Desire,” an elegiac piano composition about the end of a relationship that was recorded acoustically in a single take, to towering, groove-oriented tracks like “The Fall” and the tight, interlocking percussion and samples of a Slovenian folk choir in “Lost,” which propel narratives of collective despair and mutual comfort in kind. Through these turns, Arkhon reveals itself as an album whose power derives from abandon. Both its turmoils and its pleasures take root in the body, letting individual consciousness dissolve into the thick of the beat. Despite the darkness curled inside reality, there is power, too, in surrendering to what can’t be pinned down, to the wild unfurling of the world in all its unforeseeable motion. That letting go is the crux of Arkhon, which marks a new way of moving and making for Zola Jesus”.

I will end with a few albums from 27th May that you need to look out for. Miraa May’s Tales of a Miracle is an incredible album from one of this country’s greatest talents. You absolutely need to pre-order an album from a sensational songwriter who is going to go very far:

“One of the most prodigiously talented artists in the UK, Miraa May releases her much-anticipated debut album Tales of a Miracle. Already having co-written for the likes of Jorja Smith on her single ‘Be Honest’, Mahalia on her single ‘Jealous’ and Little Simz for her short film ‘I Love You, I Hate You’, the Algerian born singer has enlisted a female dominated team to deliver this exquisite body of work. The project is a personal ode to her childhood adversities, and intimately describes her survival as the miracle that rose from them. 'Wild Things' embodies all that Miraa has to offer as an artist: honesty, strength, vulnerability, humour and passion. Much like the three singles before it ('Go Girl' with pop heavyweight RAYE, 'In My Feelings' and 'Big Woman' featuring powerhouse Stefflon Don); 'Wild Things' appears to have the makings of an instant smash hit and parades the magic of Miraa May effortlessly. In a career first for Miraa the track has secured a first play as Radio 1’s Hottest Record In The World. The unstoppable graft of the young singer has enabled her to capture the hearts and ears of over 920k monthly listeners. A noticeable feat by Spotify, who have made her the current face of their flagship female playlist 'EQUAL'. With love, integrity and energetic female energy woven into each track - This compelling debut is sure to make long lasting impressions within the industry, cementing Miraa May as one of the best singer/songwriters to come out of the UK”.

Wallis Bird is an artist that I really admire. Her forthcoming album, Hands, should not be ignored. Make sure that you pre-order this album from a remarkable and incredibly impressive artist. I cannot wait to discover what Hands holds in store, as Bird is a sensation:

“If 2019’s exceptional Woman represented an ambitious state of the world address, Hands – also known as Nine and a Half Songs For Nine and a Half Fingers – finds Bird turning the spotlight onto herself, raising issues that are sometimes far harder to confront, only to emerge optimistic and whole. Among these are issues of trust, alcohol abuse, stagnation, self-censorship and self-improvement, some addressed through personal recollections of crucial moments accumulated over the last two years. Each, however, is delivered by a voice uncommonly blessed with joy, ingenuity and empathy.

Where its predecesor was bathed in soul music, Hands adapts sounds from Birds’s early childhood. Barring the intimately confessional ‘I’ll Never Hide My Love Away’, its songs are flushed with bright colours, many familiar from the 1980s and ‘90s. Its bookends are ‘Go’, whose smooth R&B inflections provide a neat bridge from the album’s forerunner, and ‘Pretty Lies’, its euphoric conclusion powered by forty chunky chord progressions. In-between, Hands rarely pauses. The jubilant ‘What’s Wrong With Changing’ appropriates the rhythmic discipline of Janet Jackson’s Control, Rhythm Nation 1814 and janet., and ‘I Lose Myself Completely’ revels in Trevor Horn’s work, while the grinning ‘No Pants Dance’, written after witnessing neighbours celebrating lockdown’s end, would have delighted Prince, and ‘Dreamwriting’ – “a reminder to myself of one of my most favourite memories in recent years” – is full of warmth, lyrically and musically. ‘Aquarius’ dreamy chord changes and unexpected pedal steel, meanwhile, help unleash some of the prettiest instrumental sections 2022’s likely to enjoy, and there are pensive moments, too, not least ‘The Dive’, which describes a gesture Bird treasures as “one of the most brave and romantic memories I own” and which wields a muted trumpet and Mediterranean guitars while its melody skips along dreamily as though through a summer meadow. If the sonic palette is different, then, Hands is still defiantly, happily Wallis Bird”.

I will finish up by recommending Alfie Templeman’s Mellow Moon. Pre-order this gem. This is the debut album from an artist who has been building traction since 2018. This is an album that you definitely will want to investigate:

“Mellow Moon is the debut album from Alfie Templeman - an album that "feels like something of a miracle, landing somewhere between an otherworldly trip and a joy-filled ode to life back on earth". Like all journeys, the change in mood is palpable throughout Mellow Moon, with songs like the nostalgic '3D Feelings' or 'Broken', which is about "all the little wobbles of being a teen and figuring yourself out,” that bristle with the energy of a life being lived again.

There’s nuance in there, too. Candyfloss suggests that life can sometimes appear too good to be true, something Alfie has felt since was a kid. “There’s always a downside to the cool shit,” he says. “Candyfloss is what it all appears to be until you get deeper into it.”

The result is an easily accessible comfort place. Across 14 tracks Alfie closes his eyes and imagines another world, one where he’s at ease and not distracted by life’s many challenges. Inspired by modern influences like Steve Lacy, Khruangbin and Leon Bridges, as well as Alfie’s constant cosmic guide Todd Rundgren, Mellow Moon flows with an ease that belies its difficult creation. "It’s a moment in my life that I want to remember forever. I’ve put so much effort into this and it’s a real experience to listen to.”

Acting as both an intimate diary entry and a communal call to arms, Mellow Moon is Alfie’s most complete work to date and a platform from which he will surely use to propel himself further into the stratosphere. If ever proof were needed that music is a salvation or a transportative force, this is it”.

If you need guidance as to which albums to save some money for next month, I hope that my suggestions were of some assistance. There are many other great ones that you could look out for but, to me, the above are the very best. It is a busy and diverse month that promises something for everyone. There are plenty of brilliant albums that you can…

ADD to your list.

FEATURE: Produced or Engineered By… The Legendary Eddie Kramer at Eighty

FEATURE:

 

 

Produced or Engineered By…

The Legendary Eddie Kramer at Eighty

__________

A truly legendary and hugely respected…

producer and engineer, the brilliant Eddie Kramer turns eighty on 19th April. Having worked with some of the biggest artists in history, there are few in all of music who are as skilled in their field. I thought I would mark his upcoming eightieth birthday with a playlist featuring songs from albums where he has a producer or engineering credit. Before that, this AllMusic biography tells us more about the sensational Eddie Kramer:

“Unquestionably, one of the most renowned and well-respected producers/engineers in all of rock history is Eddie Kramer. The amount of legendary rock artists he has worked with over his long and illustrious career is staggering -- the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, and Kiss lead his long list of credits, as well as the original Woodstock soundtrack. Born in South Africa, Kramer studied classical piano, cello, and violin as a child, eventually attending the South African College of Music, and moving to England at the age of 19. Shortly after his arrival in England, Kramer recorded local jazz groups in a home-based studio, plus installed hi-fi equipment as a hobby. By 1964, Kramer was hired by Pye Studios and was immediately assigned to work with such esteemed artists as Sammy Davis Jr., Petula Clark, and the Kinks.

During the mid- to late '60s, Kramer made a name for himself with the rock crowd by engineering classic recordings by Traffic, Small Faces, the Rolling Stones (Beggars Banquet), and the Beatles (their singles "All You Need Is Love" and "Baby You're a Rich Man"), becoming a much in-demand studio man in the process -- leading to his fruitful association with Jimi Hendrix. Kramer engineered all four of Hendrix's groundbreaking albums the guitarist issued during his brief career -- 1967's Are You Experienced? and Axis: Bold As Love, 1968's double album Electric Ladyland, and 1970's Band of Gypsys. Along with his production/engineering duties, Kramer also helped Hendrix create and design a custom-built recording studio in New York City, Electric Lady. Although Hendrix wouldn't live to see its completion in the early '70s, Electric Lady almost automatically became one of the world's most popular recording studios.

In addition to his work with Electric Lady, Kramer continued to man the boards for other projects, including the best-selling Woodstock soundtrack, which made Kramer one of the most in-demand producers of live albums by rock artists of the era. He worked on live recordings by Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, Kiss, John Mayall, the Rolling Stones, Peter Frampton, Joe Cocker, Curtis Mayfield, Santana, David Bowie, and Derek & the Dominoes. Add to it several of Led Zeppelin's most enduring albums (Led Zeppelin II, Houses of the Holy, Physical Graffiti, and the motion picture soundtrack The Song Remains the Same), as well as overseeing several posthumous Hendrix collections throughout the remainder of the decade (Cry of Love, Hendrix in the West, War Heroes, among others), and you'd think Kramer's plate was full. But this proved not to be the case.

In 1973, two unknown musicians were owed money from Electric Lady from session work they'd done for the studio. But instead of asking for the money, the duo (Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley) asked if Kramer would be interested in producing their new group's demo tape. Kramer accepted, touching off a relationship with theatrical heavy metallists Kiss that would last throughout the '70s -- resulting in such hard rock classics as their breakthrough Alive, plus Rock and Roll Over, Love Gun, Alive II, Double Platinum, and Ace Frehley's 1978 solo album (in a strange twist of fate, Kramer chose to work on Kiss' Alive release instead of on the debut of another up-and-coming rock outfit, Boston).

Kramer spent the '80s producing and engineering primarily heavy metal acts (Fastway, Anthrax, Alcatrazz, Raven, Loudness, Triumph, Whitesnake, Ace Frehley's post-Kiss solo outfit, Frehley's Comet, etc.), with varying degrees of success. But the '90s saw Kramer once again getting involved with Kiss for their Alive III set, as well as numerous Hendrix projects (once Hendrix's family got the rights back to his music, Kramer was put back in control of overseeing subsequent releases) -- including the tribute albums Stone Free and In From the Storm, plus such further archival releases as First Rays of the New Rising Sun, Live at the Fillmore East, Live at Woodstock, BBC Sessions, and the four-disc box set, The Jimi Hendrix Experience. During this time, Kramer also co-authored the Hendrix-related books Hendrix: Setting the Record Straight and Jimi Hendrix Sessions.

Eddie Kramer continues to engineer/produce artists (including Buddy Guy's Grammy-winning 1995 release, Slippin' In) Kramer has also issued a three and a half hour instructional video, titled Adventures in Modern Recording, and appeared in the 1997 Hendrix documentary The Making of Electric Ladyland”.

To mark the approaching eightieth birthday of the decades-revered engineer and producer, the playlist below are songs from albums that he has a credit on. The songs below show why Eddie Kramer is one of the greatest engineers and producers ever. The music he has had a hand in ranks alongside…

THE greatest we will ever hear.

FEATURE: Groovelines: TLC - Waterfalls

FEATURE:

 

 

Groovelines

TLC - Waterfalls

__________

I am currently writing…

features about Paul McCartney, as it is his eightieth birthday in June. As part of this run, I looked at his album, McCartney II (1980). One of the best songs on that album, Waterfalls, inspired one of the best songs of the 1990s. TLC’s Waterfalls, whilst not a cover of the McCartney song, does definitely nod to his track. The line “Don’t go chasing waterfalls” is directly taken from Macca’s song. Written by Marqueze Etheridge and Organized Noize with a verse by TLC's Lisa ‘Left Eye’ Lopes, it was TLC’s third single from their second album, CrazySexyCool (1994). One of the definite anthems and iconic tracks from a phenomenal album, I wanted to spend more time looking inside Waterfalls. It addresses the illegal drug trade and HIV/AIDS. One of the first number-one song to refer to AIDS in one of its verses, Waterfalls is a very important and historic song. So much more than a mere Pop song, it makes you think and sing along. It is also sad that one of its writers, Lisa ‘Left Eye’ Lopes, is not with us to see the song’s success. We sadly lost in her in April 2002. Twenty years after her passing, I know she would be proud to see how Waterfalls has taken off and become such an iconic track! I will end with a bit concerning the critical reception to the TLC smash. Before that, The Guardian spoke with TLC’s two surviving and current members, Tionne ‘T-Boz’ Watkins and Rozonda ‘Chilli’ Thomas about Waterfalls back in 2018:

“Rozonda ‘Chilli’ Thomas, singer

Anything that’s self-destructive, that’s chasing a waterfall. We wanted to make a song with a strong message – about unprotected sex, being promiscuous, and hanging out in the wrong crowd. The messages in Waterfalls hit home. I think that’s why it’s our biggest hit to date.

When it first went to radio, nobody got it. They didn’t understand what we were talking about. It needed the video to bring the words to life. Even I don’t think I really fell in love with the song until I saw it. The moment I did, I knew it would be a hit.

The timing was perfect. Organized Noize produced the track. They’d been working with Outkast and Goodie Mob and that funky, soulful sound that was their signature. CeeLo Green sang backing vocals – way before he was a big star. P Diddy did some interludes on the album, CrazySexyCool, too. But obviously, once our voices got on there, it became a TLC record.

The song made us much more relevant – not just a fun girl group. We were bringing awareness to subjects people were nervous talking about. It was groundbreaking for us: from then on, we were seen as the real deal.

We definitely wanted to be role models. We felt like a lot of females didn’t have other females pulling for them – so every song we put out was a girl-power song. We told it from a woman’s point of view. Women liked that and men respected it.

Aids is still out there. You still have bullying. You still have drugs. But you have to continue to bring awareness so that people can become more responsible and want to do the right things. You can never have too many records like Waterfalls.

Tionne ‘T-Boz’ Watkins, singer

I always loved what you’d call alternative music. Nirvana, Kurt Cobain, Duran Duran, Billy Idol. Bennie and the Jets by Elton John was my thing. I was born in Iowa and moved to Atlanta when I was a child. Every time I tell people I’m from Iowa, they go: “There’s black people there?” I actually have a T-shirt that says: “Yes, there are black people in Iowa.”

I wanted Waterfalls to be our version of alternative music. When I heard an early version, I thought: “My god, this is perfect.” It was so left of what we’d done on our first album. It was amazeballs. When we had finished recording it, we played it for Clive Davies, the big kahuna at the label. He was the boss of Arista, which distributed our label La Face. He didn’t like it. He said it was too deep. He didn’t think people would bump up the street to it.

So went to LA Reid, who ran LaFace. We bought a giant poster and wrote on it: “Please believe in us, we’ll make the best video ever.” He went against Clive and put up the money. We called in  to direct the video. The first time he showed us the concept – which showed a kid getting killed selling drugs and a guy contracting HIV – we started crying. Aids was an epidemic at the time. Not long after the song came out, I was doing a book-signing and a man came up to me and held my hand. “I didn’t kill myself because of you,” he said. “I felt like nobody understood. But I felt like you guys understood how people can end up in my situation.”

We filmed the video in the lake where they shot Jaws. I was so worried about falling in

The day before recording, I’d been in a car with Lisa [“Left Eye” Lopes, who was killed in a car accident in 2002]. We saw a beautiful rainbow. That’s how her rap starts: “I seen a rainbow yesterday.” She’d been through a lot with the house burning down, she’d been locked up in the centre for drug and alcohol treatment. That was serious, what she said was real. It was for herself and everyone else who had been down the wrong path, chased the wrong things. And she really did see that rainbow – and it made her feel good about life and remember how precious it is. That song still has meaning 25 years on.

I will never forget the day we filmed that video. I can’t swim. It was 6am and I’m on this little plastic thing in the middle of 80,000 tonnes of water, in the lake where they shot Jaws at Universal Studios. That’s why my feet are planted. I do not move. I was so worried about falling in.

When we showed the video to Clive, he was like: “I knew it would be great!” And we were looking at him like: “What? Hush up!” We eventually fired people and got out of our deal. We were so underpaid. We made a lot of people wealthy. Being a black woman in the industry means you have so much going against you.

I’m not fearful about anything. If I believe in something and want to to talk about it, then that’s what we’re doing. I’m just happy that we were able to succeed in what we set out to do – make a difference”.

Before wrapping up, it is worth noting what critics thought of Waterfalls. Today, undoubtedly, it is one of the greatest songs ever, Its endurance, legacy and popularity is undeniable! This Wikipedia article collates critical reception and reaction to Waterfalls:

“Waterfalls" received critical acclaim from music critics. Bill Lamb from About.com stated that "slinky, gently insistent backing horns and guitar combine with smooth, languid vocals to create an instant R&B classic." Lamb noted that the song is "a disturbing commentary on street violence and its impact on the lives of young black men." Daryl McIntosh from Albumism said it is "a rare example of perfect production, poignant songwriting, and flawless vocal delivery." McIntosh added, "The lyrics offer cautionary tales of the allure of street life and uncontrolled sexual exploration. Interwoven by the melodic chorus". Christine Werthman from Complex wrote that "Waterfalls" "is drenched in water-droplet synth notes, live drums, rising horns, and a bass line that walks wherever it pleases." She noted that "it's a heavy song, but the warnings in the verses are buoyed by a rich, singable chorus, which certainly helped it get radio play." Entertainment Weekly described it as a "Prince-inspired ballad" that "hint[s] at the artistic greatness TLC might achieve if freed from commercial concerns." Music Week gave it four out of five, calling it "yet another radio-friendly hit", adding that "TLC swap wackiness for a more mature affair". James Hamilton from the magazine's RM Dance Update deemed it a "slinkily croaking and coing girls' US smash rolling slow sombrely worded message song". Nigel Butler of Sputnikmusic compared it to esteemed artists such as Sly and the Family Stone, Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder. Butler wrote, "The arrangement and instrumentation is absolutely fantastic - if a bunch of great melodies had an orgy, the result would something a little like this - and the lyrics are the best on an album that maintains a shockingly high standard of songwriting. Left-Eye drops the album's best rap on this track too."

The song was nominated for two Grammys at the 1996 Grammy Awards: Record of the Year and Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. Billboard named it No. 11 on their list of 100 Greatest Girl Group Songs of All Time. It was also ranked 13th in VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of the Past 25 Years and 8th on VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of the 1990s. In 2010, Billboard awarded the song the top position of summer songs in 1995”.

One of those tracks that is not just a relic of the 1990s, Waterfalls is a timeless work that will continue to be discussed and loved generations from now. Even though it has its origins in a Paul McCartney song from his 1980 album, McCartney II, it is very much TLC’s baby. There is no doubt that the awesome Waterfalls is…

A true masterpiece.

FEATURE: Spotlight: Gracie Abrams

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

Gracie Abrams

__________

ONE of the most talented and important…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Meg Young for CLASH

young artists in music today, I thought it was time to include the amazing Gracie Abrams in Spotlight. The twenty-two-year-old Pop artist from Los Angeles is a sensational songwriter and artist. Her debut E.P., Minor, was released on in July 2020. Her second E.P., This Is What It Feels Like, was released on 12th November, 2021. I wanted to include a few interviews conducted around the release of that sensational E.P. I am also going to include a review of it. CLASH spoke with Abrams back in November:

“The daughter of producer J.J. Abrams and producer Katie McGrath, Abrams grew up in a creative household. But the inklings of a music career really began with journaling, where her barebones thoughts would fill her pages. At eight, her parents enlisted her in drum lessons. While those didn’t take, she pursued piano and guitar. In-between, she found kindred spirits in artists like Elliott Smith and Joni Mitchell. “Growing up my parents would play [Coldplay’s] ‘Yellow’ in the house, and that kind of production is nuts,” Abrams laughs. “And it definitely made me feel like I could imagine different things, sonically.”

When the singer-songwriter started making her own music, she shared it privately at first, but later on SoundCloud and Instagram where she began garnering a following of her own. By 2019, she signed to Interscope. And even now, her parents’ involvement has remained non-existent — aside from support. “I love them, but I definitely would also love to be able to not be associated with what they do for work when it comes to what I do for work,” Abrams notes. Still, she’s “grateful and so aware of the privilege of being a part of this family,” she adds.

Despite releasing ‘Minor’ last year, Abrams has barely slowed down. In March, she teamed up with Benny Blanco for the stripped-down single ‘Unlearn’, and by May, she shared the downtempo pop anthem ‘Mess It Up’ rife with insecurities. “I felt like I was finding myself in situations where I would get really close to something being great and somehow find creative ways to break it all down,” she says of the track.

While Abrams doesn’t have concrete plans for a new release following ‘Mess It Up’, she’s continued to write and knows her music will be a departure from what fans heard on ‘Minor’. That, she says, came from “a more urgent confessional standpoint where I just like had the first real breakup of my life.” Now that she’s emerged from that transitional state, her work is coming from a different place. “I've been considering how to introduce myself more personally through this music,” Abrams says. “Not that it wasn't a reflection of me with ‘Minor’, because it so literally was, but it felt like a breakup record.”

Shifting her vision has also been a gift — it’s given — the pop singer the space to dream about future collaborations. For Abrams, she’s most intrigued by the prospect of teaming up with James Blake. “I just feel like watching him produce would be the craziest experience of all time,” she says. “Every time he puts anything out, it's raging jealousy that I feel. So, to be in the same space as him, I would love that more than anything.”

But right now, connecting with fans in person is something Abrams is really fantasizing about — something she couldn’t say a few months ago. “I've never heard anybody sing my songs back at me before,” the singer says. The thought makes her emotional: “I don't know what that's going to feel like, but I can imagine”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Meg Young for CLASH

I would advise everyone to listen to This Is What It Feels Like, Mature, nuanced and utterly engrossing, Gracie Abrams’ second E.P. is a remarkable release. Having released her debut E.P. during a pandemic, it would have been strange and hard to make an impression. Her second E.P. confirms her as one of the finest Pop artists in the world. The Forty-Five talked with Abrams about her (at the time) forthcoming and anticipated E.P. She has a remarkably level and wise head:

“Releasing her debut EP into the thick of the pandemic netted Gracie a unique duality in her musical success – an explosively popular and resonant project, but whose feverish reception played out entirely virtually, almost on “mute”. She has played to fans on “bedroom tour” for the last year, and made her Jimmy Fallon debut with a live-streamed performance from the foot of her childhood bed. The view from the front rows of her Sydney and Berlin “shows” looked the same, from the crumpled bedsheets in the corner to the glow of the desk lamp beside her.

This autumn, Gracie performed her album for a live audience for the first time. Watching her onstage at the London Omeara on her last night of tour, the palpability of the experience is contagious. She physically takes in the room, her eyes peering from corner to corner full of wonder as fans address her with familiarity and endearment in their hollers and cries. She peppers her performance with little waves and outstretched arms, directed at specific members of the audience each time as if she recognises each person from somewhere in particular. “This is literally crazy,” she beams in disbelief. 

The foundation of her musical craft, writing is also what gives Gracie the methodology and discipline to work on herself and keep growing. A lifelong and rigorous journaller, Gracie shares that almost all of her songs began as diary entries. She practices journaling almost like a science, using it as a grounding point and a way of working through things. Through this process, she has felt ready to shift her songwriting focus away from the minutiae of the Gracie Abrams relationship universe onto other themes. “As I grow up, I’m interested in being less self-centred, if you know what I mean. It’s so easy when we’re little to truly believe that we are the centre of our own universe, which is true, but of course only to a degree. I don’t want to be consumed by the relationships in my life and every detail of them. There is so much more that I’m inspired by that isn’t just the romantic relationship I’m in, or my immediate friendships. I’m looking to hold up less of a mirror to myself.”

As I grow up, I’m interested in being less self-centred, if you know what I mean. It’s so easy when we’re little to truly believe that we are the centre of our own universe, which is true, but of course only to a degree.

In music today, though, making everything about you is almost the name of the game. Gracie knows this, but wants to try fighting it anyway. “Joni Mitchell did not have Instagram. She did not have people telling her to post photos of her face all the time. I know we work in totally different times with different audiences, but I care much more about writing than the ‘artist’ stuff that’s all about me. I’ve always just loved how writing makes me feel.” She is begrudging about the trappings of streaming, algorithms fuelled by pictures of yourself, and the apparent necessity of all these ingredients for a viable music career. “In this job where my name and face are on everything I do, not only do I not recognise that person all the time, but I refuse to allow that to be everything about me.”

Her forthcoming project, ‘This Is What It Feels Like’, is an opportunity to channel this new perspective. It features her latest single, ‘Rockland’, which she wrote with The National’s Aaron Dessner, one of her heroes, at Long Pond Studios in upstate New York. Gracie is intentional and excited about this next chapter of her music. “I allowed myself a different kind of patience in making this project. I’m happy it isn’t ‘minor’ again, as this feels like more of an introduction to who I am as an individual instead of in relation to another person.”

The process of writing ‘Rockland’ alone was already different from how she made ‘minor’. “When you’re out at Long Pond, it feels like the place writes the song for you.” Creating the song with Dessner was effortless. “Aaron was in the booth layering a guitar riff. He was being a perfectionist, fine-tuning it a thousand times. I was outside the booth listening to him, and he couldn’t hear me. I went into a trance listening to him and ended up writing the whole song that way. When he came out of the booth, I had the full song ready. That was the whole process. It was bizarre, an almost 50-50 collaboration. We made it on the second day we met”.

There are a few more things that I want to include. I will get to a review of This Is What It Feels Like. NME featured Gracie Abrams last year and asked her about an E.P. that is more multi-layered and stronger than her debut:

“Abrams’ 2020 EP ‘Minor’ might have taken us into her very personal stories of heartache and break-ups, but she sees her more multi-faceted new project ‘This Is What It Feels Like’ as being a better introduction to who she is. “I took lots of months of failing, being unable to write and then just got very honest with myself,” she says. “When I wrote ‘Minor’ it was definitely in the middle of a break-up and feeling like it was what I needed to write about. I felt a weight was lifted when I put it out, but I feel like I had more patience with myself making this project and got a lot more honest with myself about my relationship with me versus my relationship with others.”

Writing and recording at Long Pond also gave her the space to dig deeper in her subject matter and tackle things she’s “never really addressed in songs” before. “It felt super necessary and I will carry it with me forever,” she explains.

Gracie’s generation pushes her to do her best work, in music and beyond

Gen Z are often spoken about as the generation that will save us all and for Abrams her peers are a constant source of inspiration to do better – whether that’s in music or other parts of her life. During the 2020 US election, the singer-songwriter worked as a poll worker in her area – something she says she was “inspired by friends to get involved with”.

“Unfortunately, for a really long time younger people had assumed we would be OK in the hand of the older generation, but clearly we can’t rely on them to shape the future that we want to see,” she notes.

“Being involved really mattered to me, but also when I think about songwriting, for example, and where I pull inspiration from, it’s not just other music or relationships in my life. It’s seeing people that are passionate about whatever it is they’re passionate about. I feel so compelled to do my best work when I see young people absolutely kicking ass – whether it’s political or from a writing standpoint, or at school or working in their local communities”.

Prior to getting to a final interview, there were a collection of really positive reviews for This Is What It Feels Like. Ones to Watch had their say about a remarkable E.P. that everyone needs to listen to:

“All throughout This Is What It Feels Like, Gracie Abrams brings her raw introspection to the most intimate of emotional experiences, including self-betrayal, insecurity, and painfully failed attempts at connection. True to her DIY roots, the 12-track record finds her taking a more significant role in the production process, working with The National’s Aaron Dessner, Joel Little, and her frequent collaborator Blake Slatkin to dream up each track’s minimalistic yet kaleidoscopic sound. Abrams also left her hometown of LA to write and record in such serene settings as the woods of Maine and Dessner’s Long Pond Studio in the Hudson Valley - a move that quickly brought greater clarity to her creative vision.

This Is What It Feels Like continues to explore the sonic and emotional territory heard on her previous project minor. The tone throughout is primarily cynical, but the vibe isn’t all negative. For example, the opener “Feels Like” finds Abrams in the throes of love and expresses that she “would do whatever you wanted/We don’t have to leave the apartment.” Listeners also can see Abrams broadening and slightly experimenting with a more rustic sound on “Rockland.” The track oozes with folky flavors that morph and blend with her gentle vocals and intricate guitar-picking, courtesy of Dessner.

Other tracks of note are the bright yet bleak, Haim-esque “The Bottom,” which examines Abrams’ self-awareness and self-loathing. She puts up her walls and warns the person trying to get close to her, “I’m going to drag you right down to the bottom” and “I’m happier when I’m sad.” Meanwhile, the poppy, “dance while you cry”-inducing, “For Real This Time,” and the soft, acoustic “Augusta” are also great examples of the aural growth and range Abrams has developed since minor.

Abrams is a name that has been popping up everywhere over the last year, and it’s easy to see why. Her smooth and soft vocals have a colorful, dreamy, imaginative element to them, making it a voice you can easily get lost in. In addition, her music elevates her organic, narrative-driven songwriting and passionate relatability”.

Rounding off, I wanted to include a quick-fire interview from Office Magazine. It is a good round-up and overview of when the inspiring Gracie Abrams got into music; a few of her inspirations and earliest memories:  

“When did you first get into music? 

My first instrument was the drums when I was 8. 

How did you discover your sound? 

I feel like everything I’ve ever been exposed to has informed my sound and I hope it only continues to develop as I live and breathe and all that. I loved musicals growing up so maybe that’s partly where I fell in love with storytelling in songs. 

Where do you find inspiration for your songs? 

People and my relationships with them. It’s such a joke because I’ve written some of my favorite ones based on literal minute-long interactions with people I know nothing about. I think I’m just a very romantic person, unfortunately.

 

How have the past two years been for you creatively?

Two years ago it was tough and as of November I’ve felt like myself again. I feel back in my body and I think therefore I actually connect to the words I’m writing. It’s a relief in a way I can’t even describe to you. 

You’re going on tour with Olivia Rodrigo, that’s so exciting! What are you doing to get ready for tour? 

I know, it’s gonna feel like a month long slumber party. Or like sleep away camp. We were talking about it this morning, being like, “thank god…” It’ll just be nice having each other on the road, I think. Touring is bizarre and incredible but also sometimes just disorienting schedule wise, so to get ready for it I’ve just been reminding myself that I’ve got her there with me.

 What is your favorite part of touring and performing in general? 

Oh my god. I mean, it’s all of it. Half of it is confronting the fear of performing I grew up with and then the other half is just being in such disbelief I get to meet new people every single night and feeling so immediately connected to all of them. Every show feels like a family reunion. And then it’s the joy of being in cities I’ve never gone to before, exploring when we have time off, all that. 

How does it feel to be prepping to be back on stage after this pandemic? 

Touring is obviously a complete 180 from our lives in quarantine. It’s daunting, but I’m constantly pinching myself because it’s such a dream to get to do it. 

What is going to be next for you after the tour is over 

Writing always”.

Go and follow Gracie Abrams and listen to her latest E.P. I know that she will be putting out more music soon. Her latest single, Block me out, came out a week ago. I wonder whether she is planning an album or another E.P. Whatever comes from her, it is going to be phenomenal. I am excited to see where Abrams heads. The Californian is…

SUCH a wonderful artist.

____________

Follow Gracie Abrams

Official:

https://www.gracieabrams.com/

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/gracieabrams

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/gracieabrams/

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/gracieabrams

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/4tuJ0bMpJh08umKkEXKUI5?autoplay=true

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwXDwwxNVRXPcPk7ABkakdA

FEATURE: Good for the Blood Circulation, Good for Releasing the Tension: Kate Bush’s Sublime and Extraordinary Symphony in Blue

FEATURE:

 

 

Good for the Blood Circulation, Good for Releasing the Tension

Kate Bush’s Sublime and Extraordinary Symphony in Blue

__________

WHILST I have mentioned the song…

on a few occasions, I don’t think I have spotlighted and gone into detail about Symphony in Blue. The opening track from Kate Bush’s second studio album, Lionheart (1978), it was one of a few new tracks she wrote for the album. With the remainder of Lionheart’s songs coming from her archives, Symphony in Blue is a song that may reflect a sense of where Bush’s head was at the time. As Lionheart was the second album she put out in 1978, there was this hectic schedule and sense of her feet never touching the ground. Along with the other newly-written songs, Coffee Homeground and Full House, there is a sense of unhappiness, reflection, paranoia and anxiety running throughout. Whereas the latter two are quite edgy and have dread in their bones, there is something elegant, sumptuous and beautiful about Symphony in Blue. One of Kate Bush’s best songs, one hardly hears it played on the radio (if ever at all). Although she did move away from the piano-and-vocal dynamic of The Kick Inside and Lionheart by the time Never for Ever came along in 1980 (not entirely, though her musical palette was broader), Symphony in Blue is a remarkably sensuous, hypnotising and accomplished song. Still only twenty when Lionheart came out, it is remarkable reading the lyrics of Symphony in Blue. It is believed that the lyric of the song is an attempt at describing Bush’s  belief system. The descriptions of God, sex and the colour blue seem to be inspired by reading about Wilhelm Reich's theory in A Book of Dreams.

I am going to get to the lyrics soon enough. With terrific accompaniment from her band (drums and percussion: Stuart Elliott, bass: David Paton, electric guitars: Ian Bairnson and Fender Rhodes: Duncan Mackay), Symphony in Blue is an overlooked masterpiece. Bush’s voice is angelic, feminine and swooping, though it also has so much character, emotion and maturity running throughout. An extraordinary performance and one of her finest set of lyrics, Lionheart opens wonderfully strong! I think the album as a whole is terrific and gets undue criticism. At ten tracks, it is quite lean and focused, and yet there is diversity in terms of sound and themes (perhaps more so than her debut album). With sex, death, life and so many deep subjects gracefully and poetically written by Bush, there is not a wasted word in Symphony in Blue. The song is structured so there is a verse about the colour blue, and thoughts/emotions associated with it. The following verse expands on that before getting to the chorus. The second half does the same with the colour red. I love the opening verse: “I spent a lot of my time looking at blue/The colour of my room and my mood: Blue on the walls, blue out of my mouth; The sort of blue between clouds, when the sun comes out/The sort of blue in those eyes you get hung up about”. Maybe it is about depression or a feeling or resignation. The idea of a blue mood, blue language and someone’s blue eyes nods to lust and anger and defeat. It is a rich and complex verse that is followed superbly: “When that feeling of meaninglessness sets in/Go blowing my mind on God: The light in the dark, with the neon arms/The meek He seeks, the beast He calms/The head of the good soul department”.

That idea of the power of faith and the notion that God provides light amidst the darkness. I love that last line and the concept of a ‘good soul department’! Bush’s incredible way with words means she can write verses that are unique and complex, and yet they have universal sentiments so that everyone can relate in some way. The vocal and intensity rises slightly as the verse comes in. Almost like the sun poking through the clouds, one hears a sense of energy and rush coming: “I see myself suddenly/On the piano, as a melody/My terrible fear of dying/No longer plays with me/for now I know that I'm needed/For the symphony”. Whether this refers to Bush finding purpose through music or she is using the piano as a metaphor for something larger in life, I am not too sure. Bush’s voice flows and twists through the verse so that all of the words come to life. The ‘blue’ half of the song seems to be about philosophical, religious and spiritual depth. The ‘red’ half is much more physical. Sex and passion come more to the fore: “I associate love with red/The colour of my heart when she's dead; Red in my mind when the jealousy flies/Red in my eyes from emotional ties/Manipulation, the danger signs”. It starts with blood and danger. That colour red being associated with forms of jealousy and fear, again, is very powerful and memorable! I think that Symphony in Blue contains some of Bush’s finest lyrics.

Before the verse comes in, Bush uses the colour red more to do with blood rushing to the head and the cheeks: “The more I think about sex, the better it gets/Here we have a purpose in life: Good for the blood circulation/Good for releasing the tension/The root of our reincarnations”. Other artists have used the colours red and blue to contrast one another. I was thinking about The Beautiful South’s Old Red Eyes Is Back (“Blue is a street without an end/Red is the colour of my hell/Blue is a greeting from a friend/Red is the colour of farewell”). Covering sex, rage, God, low mood and jealousy, you get so many visions and scenes racing through the mind as the song plays! Symphony in Blue was released as a single in Canada and Japan. I think that it could have been a successful single in the U.K. I would have loved to have seen a video made for the song! Bush performed Symphony in Blue during 1979’s The Tour of Life. The song also appeared in the 1979 Christmas special. A track that a lot of people do not know about, I feel we need to hear the majestic and utterly stunning Symphony in Blue played a lot more. A gorgeous composition, astonishing vocals and some of Kate Bush’s most remarkable lyrics, few of her albums have opened as strongly as Lionheart! If ever you need convincing that the album is well worth diving into, then Symphony in Blue should convince! A beautiful deep cut that does not get fair recognition, Symphony in Blue is a wonderful song that…

BLOWS the senses.