FEATURE: Groovelines: Rod Stewart – Maggie May

FEATURE:

 

Groovelines

Rod Stewart – Maggie May

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MAYBE a musical reaction…

to The Beatles’ Let It Be, Rod Stewart released Maggie May in 1971. The Beatles included a song called Maggie Mae on 1970’s Let It Be. It may be a coincidence, though I feel Stewart was inspired by The Beatles (Maggie May (or Maggie Mae) is a traditional Liverpool Folk song about a prostitute who robbed a "homeward bounder”). As Stewart plays the legends slot at Glastonbury this week, I wanted to go deep with one of his best-known songs. Co-written with Martin Quittenton, it is a track taken from his album, Every Picture Tells a Story, released in 1971. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked it number 130 in The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. It is amazing to think that this song was a B-side! Its A-side, Reason to Believe, is a good song but not remembered as fondly as Maggie May! The woman who inspired the song was not called Maggie May. An older woman who took Rod Stewart’s virginity in the 1960s, there are some unpleasant memories associatyed with the song. The sexual encounter not consensual. The woman dragging Rod Stewart into a tent at a musical festival. Despite it being this hugely popular and celebrated song, there is some controversy to it. Far Out Magazine wrote about Maggie May for a feature, where they addressed the origins of the song:

“The situation, which is problematic through today’s lens, tells the story of how the woman had her way with him in a festival tent and “stole” his “soul” in the process, according to the lyrics of the song. If we are to believe those words, when morning came, she kicked him in the head – literally or metaphorically – putting a painful end to proceedings, leaving him bruised emotionally, or worse.

In his more recent retellings of the story, Stewart makes the whole thing sound like an uncomfortable, unwarranted and somewhat sinister experience. He implicitly calls into question whether he consented to the act.

But the song tells a different story. One of a jilted young lover enamoured by his more experienced seductress, who “stole” his “heart” – “and that’s what really hurt”. The line “Maggie, I couldn’t have tried any more” with its melancholic minor passing chord also suggests Stewart was hurt because he feels he failed to live up to the woman’s expectations.

It could be that turning the episode into a song about lost love was simply his way of processing what happened in retrospect. Perhaps the idea of a stolen heart is a euphemistic metaphor for something else Stewart feels was stolen from him. Or maybe, nine years later, he just found the story a nice idea for a song and needed to sanitise the lyrics to appeal to a wider audience.

Whatever the truth about Stewart’s deeper feelings on the matter and the specific identity of the real ‘Maggie May’, the song’s version of events is what will go down in history. And so, an unknown 30-something attendee of the 1961 Beaulieu Jazz Festival is destined to be marked for all time by the name of a legendary Liverpool prostitute. If Stewart really felt violated by the event, perhaps this is the best form of vengeance he could have served as his own recompense”.

A number one single in 1971, the background to the creation of Maggie May is fascinating. I know that there was a period when Rod Stewart did not want to perform the song live. I wonder whether it would be included in the setlist of his Glastonbury set on Sunday (29th). I have a couple of other features I want to include before rounding things off. Stereogum examined the song as part of their The Number Ones feature:

“In the summer of 1961, Rod Stewart climbed into a drainage pipe in the south of England. Stewart, a 16-year-old London dropout and aspiring footballer, was with a few friends, and they were all sneaking into the Beaulieu Jazz Festival, one of the first big festivals in the UK. (Stewart later said that this was when he “just coming out of [his] beatnik phase, wondering whether [he] should become a mod.”) When the friends got into the festival, they went straight for the beer tent, where Stewart met an older woman, who — again, per Stewart — “was something of a sexual predator.” That day, Stewart and the older woman snuck off somewhere, and Stewart lost his virginity: “It was over in a few seconds.” A decade later, Stewart took that experience and made one hell of a song out of it.

In that decade, Rod Stewart had done a lot of things. He’d started protesting for left-wing causes, getting arrested a few times. He’d drifted around Europe, getting himself deported from Spain. He’d moved in with an art student and fathered a daughter, who was put up for adoption. He’d discovered Otis Redding and gone all-in on the mod thing. And he’d started playing music.

Stewart had started out in 1963, playing harmonica in a group called the Dimensions. He’d bounced around the London scene, getting into short-lived collaborations with future members of the Kinks and Fleetwood Mac. Eventually, he’d teamed up with Jeff Beck, the ex-Yardbirds guitar hero, and begun singing in the Jeff Beck Group.

When that band broke up in 1969, Stewart and his Jeff Beck Group bandmate Ronnie Wood (still six years away from becoming a Rolling Stone) joined the Small Faces, a pretty great London band who were huge in the UK and who’d had some success in the US. Frontman Steve Marriott had just left the band to form Humble Pie with Peter Frampton. So Wood and Stewart came in to replace him, and the Small Faces became the Faces, leaning into Stonesian blues-choogle and enjoying another pretty-great run. (The Faces’ highest-charting song was 1971’s “Stay With Me,” which peaked at #17.) But Stewart had also started recording his own solo albums in 1969. And thanks to the song that Stewart wrote about that afternoon in 1961, his solo records soon came to overshadow anything the Faces did.

Stewart co-wrote “Maggie May” with Martin Quittenton, guitarist for the blues-rock band Steamhammer. Ray Jackson, of the folk group Lindesfarne, improvised the mandolin intro. (Jackson only got session-musician pay for that, and no songwriting credit, and he was pissed off about that for decades.) For two albums, Stewart had been figuring out his own solo style, which built folk instrumentation and sloppily cluttered rock arrangements around his beautifully whiskeyed white-soul rasp. On paper, that combination looks a little too neatly triangulated, but that’s not how it sounds. It comes out organic, as if Stewart had drunkenly stumbled upon this sound. Every Picture Tells A Story, the album that gave us “Maggie May,” remains an absolute motherfucking front-to-back burner. Nobody sounded anything like Rod Stewart. Probably, nobody could.

“Maggie May” is the sound of a guy processing a formative experience. Something has happened, and he’s not sure how it’ll affect his life, but he knows he’ll never be the same again. He’s mad about it, but he’s not sure why he’s mad. There’s no chorus to the song, no structure. It’s not contrived. It’s more of a freeform unburdening, a wild parade of accusations and equivocations and confessions of love. It’s quite a ride.

I will finish off with part of an article from Culture Sonar. In terms of Rod Stewart’s relationship with the song. Even if Maggie May found its origins from a somewhat uncomfortable or unwanted moment, it has gained so much acclaim through the years. It would be great if he performed the song at Glastonbury! One of the greatest songs of the 1970s, it is played widely to this day. A track that I first heard when I was a child. It is so recognisable and acclaimed:

“Nonetheless, this personal experience led to Stewart’s first substantial hit as a solo performer and truly launched his career. Despite having done fairly well with two previous album releases, Rod Stewart – approaching twenty-seven – had yet to become the true rock star he’d dreamt of being, like his heroes, The Rolling Stones.

When he recorded and released Every Picture Tells a Story, the British rocker didn’t expect “Maggie May,” to become a hit. His collaborators criticized its lack of melody. In fact, the track was the B side of the single, “Reason to Believe.” According to Stewart, it was a DJ in Cleveland who flipped it and first aired the song.

Even today, this look back on a past romantic relationship remains relatable. No wonder the British singer included “Maggie May” in his MTV Unplugged episode where he reunited with his Faces bandmate Ron Wood, leading to one of Stewart’s best-selling albums ever.

In 2015 Stewart reflected on his breakout hit: “At first, I didn’t think much of ‘Maggie May.’ I guess that’s because the record company didn’t believe in the song. I didn’t have much confidence then. I figured it was best to listen to the guys who knew better. What I learned is sometimes they do and sometimes they don’t”.

Perhaps Rod Stewart’s defining track, I wanted to spend some time with Maggie May. One of the most famous B-sides ever, it is amazing that the record executives were cold towards the track. Rod Stewart himself almost convinced that Maggie May was inferior. I am glad that it was not buried and has since been hailed as a classic. A sensational and powerful song in 1971, it still makes its mark…

OVER fifty years later.

FEATURE: Kashka’s Sister: Kate Bush: A Pride/L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ Icon

FEATURE:

 

Kashka’s Sister

PHOTO CREDIT: Claude Vanheye

Kate Bush: A Pride/L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ Icon

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IT would be interesting…

PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images

putting together as playlist of songs from Kate Bush that are Pride-related. That are empowering to the L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ community or, in the case of Lionheart’s Kashka from Baghdad, feature two male lovers. That was unusual in 1978. Not many mainstream artists recording songs of that nature. That is not the only example of Bush speaking with the L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ community and resonating. Even if she has not come out explicitly as an ally or spoken about them, there is no doubt she has been taken to heart by many L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ people. Last year, I did write how Kate Bush is this idol and source of strength for outsiders. I may repeat a little of what I shared back then. However, as it is Pride Month, I did want to take the opportunity to explore Kate Bush as someone who many see as an icon. A gay or queer icon. Someone who has not been discussed as much in these terms as she should be. Starting out with an article/thesis from 2022, there are interesting examples of queer identity being explored and examined in Kate Bush’s music – especially on early songs (when Bush was still a teenager):

“One of those identities is a queer identity. Bush’s inclusion of queer identity in her music is not surprising considering that she once mentioned in an interview “I like to think I’m a man […] in the areas that they explore. […] I just think I identify more with male musicians than female musicians, because I tend to think of females musicians as…ah… females.”[5] Her statement shows that Bush does not want to be limited in her music by what people would consider to be appropriate for a female. She wants to explore on her own terms. This identity exploration is expressed in the album Lionheart from 1978. The cover of Lionheart is the first sign that the Bushian Feminine Subject has undergone a change. Bush is portrayed in a lion costume which creates gender ambiguity.[6] Her hair is long, but her staring fiercely at the ‘audience’ who sees the cover, with make-up that is suggestive of the individual being male, creates confusion and ambiguity.

The song ‘In Search of Peter Pan’ from the album Lionheart provides an opportunity to analyse the BFS’s exploration of queer identity. In the opening verse, the BFS seems to be a child or at least of younger age because they are told “when I get older / That I’ll understand it all.”[7] Their high pitched and somewhat “squeaky” sounding singing voice supports the child identity.[8] The high pitch creates a feeling of discomfort in the listener which might reflect how the BFS is feeling as a child being told they are “too sensitive.” Withers points out how being too sensitive is a common stereotype applied to females.[9] This stereotype is juxtaposed with the BFS feeling “like an old man.”[10] As Withers notes, this juxtaposition causes confusion in the listener[11] but also clearly contrasts the BFS from the stereotypical societal female they do not want to become.

The chorus highlights a true wish and frustration about societal standards at the same time. The BFS wishes to be a man. At the same time, the BFS makes us aware that in our cliché-based society, they would have to be a man in order to become an astronaut.[12] Them, trying to “find Peter Pan” (an androgynous figure) expresses the wish for freedom and self-actualisation in a world where they feel like this is only granted to men. Their shift to a lower voice for the pre-chorus “They took the game right out of it,” indicates a change of lyrical content which is emphasised with the lowest voice thus far on “out of it” in the second line of the pre-chorus.[13] Following right after is the chorus starting with “When I am a man” for which the pitch increases again. Particularly on the word “astronaut,” the BSF returns to an uncomfortable high pitch which could highlight the metaphor of the astronaut by opposing the male-gendered astronaut with a female voice”.

Even if Kate Bush has not really framed herself as a queer icon or someone who is reparenting the L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ community, her music has been embraced and taken to heart by many fans who feel more heard and seen. A campness in her early videos definitely proves that Kate Bush has always allied herself to the L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ community. Kashka from Baghdad was a case of Bush addressing something somewhat taboo. Two gay lovers who fear persecution and hide themselves away, it sounds remarkably relevant to this day. In 2022, Stranger Things used Kate Bush’s Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God). A source of strength and hope for one of the show’s characters, Max, it is another case of Bush’s music speaking to a new generation of L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ people. Whilst Max Mayfield’s sexuality is not revealed, many feel that she is bisexual. This article explored queer representation on Stranger Things. This 2022 article from The Pink News writes why Kate Bush is this eternal gay icon:

“Though her work has become sporadic, successive generations have fallen in love with Kate Bush thanks to the enduring appeal of her songs. Right now, her 1985 hit “Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)” is captivating new fans after featuring prominently in the record-breaking fourth season of Netflix’s Stranger Things. 

The track is expected to return to the UK chart on Friday (3 June). It’s already reached the top of Spotify’s UK daily songs chart, displacing reigning pop prince Harry Styles, and became Spotify’s fourth-most streamed track globally.

Of course, it’s not just the television gods Kate Bush can thank for sustaining her over the years. As with many female pop stars through the ages, a driving force of her enduring popularity has been her deep-rooted connection with the LGBTQ+ community.

“Becoming acquainted with all of Kate’s work was such a unique experience that I’ve never had since. It was like meeting a great friend that you know will be in your life forever,” Olly Waldron, a 23-year-old gay male DJ and Kate Bush superfan, tells PinkNews. To Waldron, Bush’s music offers an escapism from the mundanity of day-to-day life which is very appealing.

“Of course, her earlier performances and videography were exceptionally camp and theatrical. However, the world she built, not only with her storytelling lyricism but also her production, is the most perfect escapism,” he explains. “Kate transcended all norms and genres that were present in the music industry at that time which I think a lot of queer people can relate to”.

It is important to not only look at the themes explored within Kate Bush’s music when identifying her as a queer/L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ icon. A lot of articles focus on the queer icon element, whilst there are few articles that embrace the fuller spectrum. How she speaks to trans people or those who identify as bisexual or asexual even. I will end with a 2018 feature from Attitude. They write why Kate Bush is an icon for the L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ community, forty years after her debut single (Wuthering Heights) was released:

“Her frank openness and recognition of a gamut of gender norms and of the reality of sexual fluidity became a recurrent theme in her work; ‘Wow’, a biting satire of the theatrical business, finds Kate singing “He’ll never make the scene / he’ll never make the Sweeney / be that movie queen / he’s too busy hitting the Vaseline.” If we were in any doubt as to her underlying meaning, her performance in the video removes all doubt as she taps her buttock on the payoff line.

Kate’s deep and thoughtful understanding of men in her songs is an underrated value in her arsenal; there are the men sent to war in ‘Army Dreamers’, or the kindly but increasingly distant father figure in ‘The Fog’, the misunderstood mathematician in “Pi,” and, most of all, the exquisite ‘This Woman’s Work’, where she sings about parenthood and birth from the male perspective. And no one could inhabit Peter Gabriel’s lyric as the voice of reason and comfort in ‘Don’t Give Up’ better than Kate Bush.

Perhaps most poignant of all, the father-son narrative of ‘Cloudbusting’ climaxes with the Shakespearean pun “your son’s coming out.” The rush of hearing Bush equate positivity, happiness, open-mindedness, and the promise of good things with the emergence – sexually or otherwise – into the world at large remains a profound thrill.

Kate made hits of these songs, and they remain enduring in the public consciousness. She brought the joys and sorrows of hidden human life to the forefront through normalising phrases and ideas, and streamlined all elements of her craft into a unique musical and visual style.

She studied movement with the choreographer and mime artist Lindsay Kemp at his dance studios in Covent Garden; Kemp had worked with Bowie and had a small but memorable role in 1973’s The Wicker Man as a sinister pub landlord. Bush had seen Kemp’s production of Flowers and was rapt.

Her theatricality didn’t just extend to her music, be it the cabaret Weimar camp of ‘Coffee Homeground’ or the flamboyant ‘Hammer Horror’: Her wide-eyed facial expressions, interpolation of mime, and her swooping, balletic movements made not just ‘Wuthering Heights’ but all of her early performance films iconic.

The fact that the Kate of ‘Wuthering Heights’ – a figure of incredible talent but, at the time (and to a lesser degree to this day), somewhat roundly mocked – blossomed into the art-pop auteur of 1982’s The Dreaming and 1985’s Hounds of Love, a woman of universally-acknowledged originality, creative excellence, and innovation, indeed an artist who changed the landscape of pop music forever, chimes with the gay audience too.

What at first the public may mistake for novelty, or frivolity, reveals itself over time to be intelligent, compassionate, and wise.

Kate Bush is an LGBT icon for several reasons, not least because she built a successful career, without compromise, on her own terms, with thorough originality, ingenuity, and, crucially, trueness to herself. She did, and continues to do, things her own way, and is undaunted in her distinctiveness and navigation of the peculiarities of life”.

I will end things there. From her fashion choices to her sexual liberation and freedom through her records, to the way she overcome so much criticism and narrow-mindedness from critics, there are multiple reasons why Kate Bush was and is a Pride/L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ role model. As we are in Pride Month, I wanted to revisit a subject I explored fairly recently. There are articles here and there that argue why Kate Bush is an L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+/Pride icon. It is something that needs to be…

TALKED about more.

FEATURE: Spotlight: Revisited: Greentea Peng

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight: Revisited

PHOTO CREDIT: William Spooner

Greentea Peng

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IT has been…

over four years since I put Greentea Peng in my Spotlight feature. The London artist is someone who may still not be known by some. In March, she released the album, TELL DEM IT’S SUNNY. One of the best of the year in my view, it has received some acclaimed but has passed by some people. It is a remarkable album that has that incredible voice at the centre. Smoky, beautiful and arresting, there are few as captivating as Greentea Peng. I wanted to revisit her because she has really grown over the past four years. Rather than repeat the interviews I included back in 2021, I am going to bring things more up to date. I will come to a couple of 2025 interviews and a review of TELL DEM IT’S SUNNY. Before that, I want to come to this interview from Firebird Magazine that was published in 2023:

“Hailing from South London, Greentea Peng’s journey to stardom has been a tumultuous one. As a child, she always loved singing and creating music, performing at school and even creating her own “funky house tunes.” However, by the time she was 15, Peng grew quite depressed, quitting music and losing confidence in performing. After leaving home at 17, Peng threw herself into a life of partying and, according to her, “a lot of drugs, drug-taking.” After years of working at bars and losing herself to the chaos of the London nightlife scene, Peng felt the need to escape the dark place she had been in, choosing to go to Mexico for some soul-searching. Her time spent traveling and meditating led her to join a local Mexican band, through which she fell in love with music again. Peng’s renewed sense of self-confidence led her to move back to London to record and release her debut EP, Sensi.

Peng’s music is undeniably beautiful; the delicate washes of sound in “Mind” on Sensi and the luxurious, deep vocals on her single “Soulboy (IZCO Remix)” are perfect examples of the earthy soundscape she creates. However, it’s her emotional complexity and her ability to transform life experiences into music that make her discography truly something unique. Combining swing-style reggae beats with elements of ska, funk, and even an occasional fiery electric guitar riff, you can almost hear the swirling emotions of her chaotic teenage life reflected in the erratic blending of genres. Yet at the same time, Peng’s soulful R&B-style vocals and psychedelic synths, present in songs such as “Moonchild,” provide a subdued sense of calm, balancing out the pandemonium and preventing it from being too overwhelming to the listener.

Peng’s voice could be the subject of an article all by itself. Her resonance is rich and deep, cut with a rasp reminiscent of Amy Winehouse. She combines this incredible tone with a Kali Uchis-like delivery, smooth and lush. Yet Peng isn’t merely a copycat of her predecessors; her voice shifts and transforms from song to song, always perfectly in step with the vibe of the music. In “Sane,” the penultimate track on the EP RISING, she utilizes vocal breaks and ornaments to punctuate her voice and keep up with the calm yet chaotic nature of the track. Other songs like “Mr. Sun (miss da sun)” contain that smooth, continuous delivery she’s so loved for. Peng’s voice is simply another element which adds to the perfect kaleidoscope of sound that she creates.

Despite the apparent chaos of her musical construction, Peng’s discography is remarkably accessible to the average listener. The many different genres she uses intertwine to create a truly multifaceted sound, one that draws in fans of many different types of music. This is best encapsulated in her 2021 album Man Made, which takes the listener on a journey of musical exploration. “This Sound,” the second track on the album, provides a funky, bass-filled instrumental, while the next song “Free My People'' displays a hypnotizing ripple of reggae-style rhythm, although the reggae influence is less obvious than in other projects, notably the 2020 single “Revolution”. Moving through the project, a huge variety of styles and influences emerge; the D’n’B beats in “Nah It Ain’t the Same”, grungy bass and electric guitar in “Sinner”, and enthusiastic jazzy style of “Jimtastic Blues” are just some examples. This all resides under her lulling neo-soul vocals, through which enthusiasts can recall the lush sound of Peng’s greatest inspirations, Erkyah Badu and Lauryn Hill. Clearly, there is something within her music for every type of listener.

Another incredible facet of Peng’s music is its psychedelically soothing sound. Although she avoids calling her music “spiritual,” it certainly possesses a mystical quality to it, evoking loungy images of profound late-night conversations, of incense burning in someone’s dimly lit studio apartment. It is spiritual in a general sense, not tied to any one culture or message; it is a perfect reflection of Peng herself, who—despite having the Om symbol tattooed between her eyes, posters of hindu gods plastered around her apartment, and countless shrines and cultural relics from around the world—does not subscribe to any particular form of devotion. She explains, “My spirituality is individual and universal … It’s not a formal practice and I don’t want to be branded.” Whatever the case, her music conveys a searching, transcendental quality that one might feel while stargazing or dreaming, or simply appreciating the grandeur of life. The yearning for something greater than ourselves is best represented in “Liberation,” in which Peng sings, “Yeah, I’m trying to lose my mind. To elevate, yeah, it takes a lifetime. I don’t mind, I’m searching for my liberation.” Celestial song titles such as “Saturn” and “Moonchild,” also display the universal scale on which she operates.

If the sound of her music perfectly encapsulates the essence of Peng, it’s the lyrics that truly show what’s going on in her mind at any given moment. If we zoom in, we can see that Peng touches on subjects that are very tangible. She speaks out about her own struggles in life through songs like “Downers,” with striking lyricism:

I can’t smell the flowers

Felt empty now for hours

Lost my powers

Now, I can’t smell the flowers

I’m sick of all these towers

Think I done too many downers

Many of her songs also focus on issues that affect the greater community surrounding her; a great example of this is her single “Ghost Town,” where the lines “London Bridge is fallin’ down… But you can’t take my city from me'' encapsulate the turbulence that gentrification inflicts on London. Her lyrics allow the listener to catch a glimpse of her anger, her turmoil, her sadness underneath the apparent musical tranquility. She has a sense of maturity and self-awareness that comes across effortlessly, and it is precisely this dichotomy between enigmatic abstractism and realism which provides yet another layer of allure to her music.

Greentea Peng is the perfect mix of new and old, bold and soft, sophisticated yet grungy. She's the perfect artist to recommend to those around you, a unique recommendation that they probably will not have heard of but perfectly approachable enough to be a hit in any circle. If you are a music enjoyer of any kind, take a listen and do a little soul searching of your own”.

I am going to come to this year. With the release of an incredible new solo album, there has been this fresh attention on Greentea Peng. I hope that TELL DEM IT’S SUNNY is in line for a Mercury Prize. In March, DAZED spoke with Greentea Peng. Discussing TELL DEM IT’S SUNNY, she has become a mother and channels something more introspective and personal through her third album:

“‘Tell Dem It’s Sunny,’ urges Greentea Peng’s third studio album, and, for the first time all year, it actually is. She sits in her favourite East London cafe in late February, the rare Winter sun beaming through the window behind her. Peng is hot off a photo shoot for the project and her numerous tattoos and trinkets are on full display, each hinting at a battle untold.

“Initially, Tell Dem It’s Sunny, but then having the black and white artwork, was almost sarcasm. Like, ‘Yeah, tell dem it’s sunny. Everything’s blessed.’ But everything’s not fucking blessed,” Greentea Peng tells me. “But then, after I made ‘Glory’, I realised it’s actually a philosophy. It is sunny, no matter how much shit they spray in the skies to block out the sun. I travel the depths with the sun in my chest.” Looking at the weather that day, the magic of such a philosophy was hard to deny.

It’s a hard-fought positivity that accompanies Greentea Peng’s turn inwards on this latest release. Where previous album Man Made was a colourful, psychedelic response to the madness of the lockdown era, Tell Dem It’s Sunny’s visuals are almost entirely grayscale, enlisting distorted guitars and cavernous dub basslines to soundtrack its tale of repairing a psyche worn down by external turmoil.

“There are no insecure masters, no successful half-hearters,” Peng proclaims on lead track “TARDIS”. The line arrives as a mission statement for Peng’s new direction on the project. “How could you possibly imagine being able to manoeuvre your exterior environment if inside you’re alien to your inner goings?” she says. “They’re intrinsically interconnected, a constant reflection of each other.”

This project does feel like a big turn inwards.

Greentea Peng: Man Made was a political statement in one of the most unprecedented times in my lifetime, especially as quite an outspoken person. So Tell Dem It’s Sunny is very much… What’s the opposite of introspective? Outtrospective? I make up words all the time. But, yeah. I’ve started to recognise a pattern within myself and the projects, going inward, outward, inward and outward again. This one’s definitely inward. A lot of the songs are addressed to myself. I like to think that I’m engaged in sonic journaling.

Most of the visuals are in black and white, too. Where did that come from?

Greentea Peng: I knew I wanted “TARDIS” to be in black and white, and then I knew I wanted “One Foot” to be in black and white. Then, before I knew it, I was like, actually, this whole album is black and white. I think it’s been easier to associate me with flowers and sunshine and hippy shit.

On a personal level, I’m obviously not a mother, but this journey resonates. I think there are lessons in here that are really important for people to hear.

Greentea Peng: It’s within all of us. It is a constant struggle and sufferation. It’s been a constant battle my whole life with my mental health, my personal narratives, my inner voice. It’s been a lot, and it still is, in many ways. But that’s where the beauty comes from, in the articulation and translation of them battles.

But sometimes I think about the ideal situation – would it be no pain whatsoever?

Greentea Peng: Probably not. Roses need shit to grow. Them good, good roses need that horse manure. I firmly believe that it builds character, and I got a lot of fucking character. So, yeah, I’m a big advocate of the journey within, coming back to centre. That only comes through the pursuit of knowledge of yourself. It’s not an easy task”.

PHOTO CREDIT: William Spooner

Before coming to a review of TELL DEM IT’S SUNNY, this interview from HUCK is worth including. It is a change for Greentea Peng in terms of the colour scheme and the themes addressed. Motherhood is a natural catalyst for more introspective and personal work. Not just in terms of how a child affects that artist but the way it in which they shape their vision of the world. Anyone who has not heard of Greentea Peng before needs to check her out:

“It must be a lot of work releas­ing an album – which I love by the way – while being a par­ent. What themes do you explore in it?

It’s an explo­ration of the self-polit­i­cal – every­thing from love to heart­break and just the exis­ten­tial shit that is always pre­oc­cu­py­ing my mind. It’s more of an intro­spec­tive album than MAN MADE, but it still trav­els those kinds of sub­ject, through songs like ​‘Glo­ry’. In the end, the over­all themes would be of tran­si­tion and sur­ren­der through­out the album, and just com­ing to terms with that – real human shit, you know. I felt torn, there was so much going on polit­i­cal­ly around the world that it would be mad to put out some­thing like MAN MADE, which was more overt­ly polit­i­cal, but actu­al­ly my own life has been kind of chaot­ic and that space was what I was sucked into.

Can you talk about the album name, TELL DEM IT’S SUN­NY? Who needs to know that it’s sunny?

Just tell them, innit. Everyone’s try­ing to drown us in dread, spray the skies with shit – like tell them it’s sun­ny inside. You can’t damp­en that inter­nal sun­shine, no mat­ter the dread, no mat­ter the chal­lenges we’re faced with– it’s a kind of ​‘we shall pre­vail’ sen­ti­ment. Ini­tial­ly it was kind of an oxy­moron, because it’s quite a moody album. The artwork’s moody, it’s in black-and-white, and it’s a moody time for me. But with­in that I know there’s light to be tapped into.

Do you think it’s your dark­est album yet?

Yeah, I think it is. I feel like it has been easy for peo­ple to just asso­ciate me with this hip­py-esque, sun, flow­ers, peace and love [vibe]. But this record is very, very hon­est and an explo­ration of me and all my forms. I’m an eclec­tic per­son and a com­plex indi­vid­ual as a lot of us are. And actu­al­ly, I spend a lot of my life in the dark­ness. The first cou­ple of records I put out was me com­ing back to music and it was a beau­ti­ful time, but I felt com­fort­able enough in this record to explore that dark­ness and hon­our it. Because you can’t have dark with­out light. All the videos are quite dark – I’m an hon­est per­son and I just express what I’m feel­ing at the time, so it’s a reflec­tion of how I’m feel­ing right now.

We’ve spo­ken about the dark time it is in the world at the moment – the rise of the far right march­es on, every­one is broke, and AI is prob­a­bly going to take everyone’s jobs at some point – what does heal­ing mean to you in 2025?

You know what? I ques­tion and think about this shit a lot, because in the west this idea that we’ve got of heal­ing – going to yoga class, drink­ing matcha and going on fuck­ing retreats. I feel dis­il­lu­sioned with the whole nar­ra­tive over here to be hon­est. There’s women and chil­dren dying all around the world, our broth­ers and sis­ters every day – every fuck­ing day – to feed this con­sumerist, fake life that we’re liv­ing over here, which is a com­plete bub­ble. It makes me ques­tion everything.

Obvi­ous­ly, there’s a lot of beau­ti­ful, beau­ti­ful things, but I strug­gle to con­cep­tu­alise heal­ing – I don’t know what it means. It’s a time where peo­ple real­ly need to tap into what is it to be human? What is it to be part of this human fam­i­ly? What is it to love thy neigh­bour? To look after each oth­er rather than just look after your­self. Every­thing seems kind of super­fi­cial to me right now, even myself if I’m honest”.

It is great that those who did review TELL DEM IT’S SUNNY were very positive. I want to round up with DIY and their opinions about Greentea Peng’s new album. I wonder what she has planned for the rest of the year. It has been a busy one for her, though you know that she must be thinking ahead to what is next. Whether that is another album or something else, it is going to be amazing:

“If anyone can attest to the sentiment ‘healing is not linear’, it’s Greentea Peng. The self-described psychedelic R&B artist – real name Aria Wells – has always candidly shared her journey of self-reflection and spiritual connection through music. 2021 debut ‘MAN MADE’ and subsequent mixtape ‘GREENZONE 108’ translated the chaos of the objective world into creation, detailing a return to source characterised by self-discovery, love and growth atop a vast backdrop of neo-soul, jazz, dub and hip hop influences. Meticulously produced with consideration of the most vibrational details (such as recording her debut’s title track one frequency below industry standard to mirror the natural frequency of the universe), Greentea has an established gift for creating optimal collections to expand your consciousness.

‘TELL DEM IT’S SUNNY’ delves further into this awakening with a nuanced examination of the self – the light and the dark – and an acceptance of surrender, best summarised by ‘GREEN’: “Come over and in, and let the healing begin / That’s how we solve business when shedding one’s skin / Feel it all around and let it enter within / There’s no resisting, you may as well give in.” Positioned later in the record, it feels like the heart of the work, with its resonant point of embracing lessons and uncomfortable change serving to contextualise the album’s broader themes. Opener ‘BALI SKIT PART 1’ invokes a trance-like state with rotational synths, a low-flowing bassline, and otherworldly vocals; elsewhere, Greentea feels around for a sense of belonging on the synthpop-powered ‘NOWHERE MAN’, bears baggage on the shadowy ‘MY NECK’ (featuring Wu-Lu), consolidates oneness on the grit-edged ‘CREATE AND DESTROY’, and seeks tranquility through the experience of being malleably human on the patter-pulsed ‘THE END (PEACE)’.

Much like the process of inner work, ‘TELL DEM IT’S SUNNY’ is gently transformative; it channels patience and expansion, ultimately speaking to the heart as a continuation of the unending path that Greentea has shown listeners thus far. Healing may not be linear, but for Greentea Peng, the journey feels like it’s headed in the right direction”.

It has been great returning to the music of Greentea Peng. A sensational artist that everyone should know about, go and follow her on social media and listen to TELL DEM IT’S SUNNY. I knew in 2021 that she would go on to great things. A tremendous songwriter and artist, she has a voice…

THAT always stuns me.

_________

Follow Greentea Peng

PHOTO CREDIT: William Spooner

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/greenteapeng/

TikTok:

https://www.tiktok.com/discover/greentea-peng

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/5z9wLR0RGBcWMXr4fCZW0K?si=_0JtD8vQSvWxD48ypErvxA

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCRAEpTfF75VPJlChgCRMAA

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/GreenteaPeng/

FEATURE: The Great American Songbook: Taylor Swift

FEATURE:

 

 

The Great American Songbook

PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images

Taylor Swift

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CONTINUING this feature…

PHOTO CREDIT: Gareth Cattermole/TAS24/Getty Images

that spotlights incredible American artists and their catalogue, I assemble a twenty-song mix that demonstrates their brilliance. One of the most recognisable and popular artists of today, Taylor Swift is a global superstar. I have featured her in various forms throughout the years. Today, I have charged myself with distilling her incredible work into a short mix. However, the songs selected highlights her brilliance and unique songwriting voice. One of these artists who will go down in history and discussed for generations to come, I am going to wrap things up there. Taylor Swift fans will know these tracks, though there are some people who may not be aware of many of them. This is a twenty-song mix containing the very best of…

ONE of the greatest artists ever.

FEATURE: Stand By Me: An Oasis Megamix

FEATURE:

 

 

Stand By Me

PHOTO CREDIT: Simon Emmett

An Oasis Megamix

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THERE will be a lot of attention…

IN THIS PHOTO: Noel and Liam Gallagher of Oasis/PHOTO CREDIT: Johannes Leonardo/Adidas/PA Wire

around Oasis on 2nd October, as that is when their second studio album, (What's the Story) Morning Glory?, turns thirty. Before that, on 14th August, Roll with It turns thirty. This was a big single that went up against, and lost to, to Blur’s Country House in a summer Britpop battle. Before that, Oasis are starting a tour. One that was a huge surprise for fans, there will be a lot of eyes on Liam and Noel Gallagher on their first date. To see how they gel on stage and whether they can recapture any of the power and magic of the '90s. I am marking this approaching tour with an Oasis megamix. A career-spanning playlist of their biggest songs and some deeper cuts. Before that, this NME article discussed an advert where Noel and Liam Gallagher featured. It was for Adidas Originals:

“Oasis have reunited in a new ad for Adidas Originals.

The video was launched this evening (June 19) as part of the Noel and Liam Gallagher‘s preparation for their upcoming reunion tour. Fans can get their hands on Adidas Originals gear including Firebird tracksuits, raglan sleeve jerseys, bucket hats and coach jackets – as featured on Liam in the ad itself.

Both Oasis and Adidas had been teasing an announcement throughout the day, sharing a clip on social media this afternoon with the caption, “Original Forever. All will be revealed,” and telling fans to tune into Channel 4 at 9pm.

In the three-minute-long video, the band’s 1994 hit ‘Live Forever’ plays over old and new footage of Noel and Liam wearing Adidas, including some new content that seems to tease the new merchandise as well as throwback clips of iconic moments like Knebworth and Heaton Park, before the two brothers appear together at the end of the video.

“After 30 years of shared history, Adidas Originals and Oasis join forces to celebrate an undisputed connection rooted in music, fashion and British identity,” the description on the video reads. “Original Forever is more than a campaign. It’s a nod to a moment, a movement and a time that defined it all.

“With the return of the band for Live 25’, the collaboration brings a new era of looks into the now, reworking era-defining silhouettes with a modern edge. From Firebird tracksuits to classic jerseys and jackets, the Live 25’ collection honours the past while living in the present.”

“This film captures a journey from the city streets to stadiums, ’90s anthems to the now. It’s a tribute to two brothers, two icons, one band, and a brand that’s been with them every step of the way.”

Liam and Noel were filming for the video in a London pub in the spring, and it was reported that neighbours complained about the noise. They were seen at the working men’s Mildmay club in London’s Newington Green on April 24, and it was rumoured that local residents weren’t impressed with a source telling The Sun, “The din was huge”.

It was rumoured that they were playing a show there, before Liam revealed on X (Twitter) that no live music was played. Noel then confirmed on TalkSport the following day that he’d met with Liam, saying: “He’s great. I was with him yesterday actually. He’s alright, he was on tip-top form. He can’t wait – none of us can wait.”

The new range will be sold in Adidas stores, on adidas.co.uk, on oasisnet.com, and at the live dates this summer.

For fans who don’t want to wait until the tour, which begins on July 4, it was announced earlier this week that pop-up stores are to be launched around the UK beginning tomorrow (June 20) with one in Manchester. Other stores are planned for Cardiff, London, Edinburgh, Dublin and Birmingham, and you can find tickets to get into the stores here”.

I am going to get to the megamix. A celebration of a band who were one of the defining acts of their time. Classic albums like (What's the Story) Morning Glory? and their debut, 1994’s Definitely Maybe. If you are a superfan of the band or more causal, then I think this mix will appeal. Ahead of one of the most anticipated live events in living memory, here is a reminder of…

WHAT Oasis are all about.

FEATURE: The Digital Mixtape: Jack White at Fifty

FEATURE:

 

 

The Digital Mixtape

IN THIS PHOTO: Pari Dukovic for The New Yorker

Jack White at Fifty

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A multi-talented musician…

IN THIS PHOTO: Meg and Jack White photographed in 2001/PHOTO CREDIT: Gie Knaeps/Getty Images

who has featured in a number of different groups, Jack White is someone that you cannot pin down and define. He is releasing solo material, but you can never bet against him joining another group like The Dead Weather or The Raconteurs. Known best as the lead of The White Stripes (alongside Meg White), I wanted to look ahead to 9th July. Jack White turns fifty. It is going to be a big day where stations and music websites will salute someone who is considered one of the best musicians of his generation. The White Stripes were recently inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. I am going to salute him with a mixtape that combines his solo work, White Stripes, Raconteurs and Dead Weather songs together. Spanning his entire career. Before getting there, AllMusic published a biography of Jack White:

“Jack White is one of the great rock conceptualists of the 21st century. He came to fame as the leader of the White Stripes, the Detroit-based garage-punk duo who were unexpectedly one of the biggest rock acts of the 2000s. The White Stripes established White as a roots rocker -- he made sure they covered blues chestnuts from Son House -- to such a degree that his modernist art instincts were somewhat overshadowed during the band's peak. These dueling, sometimes complementary instincts, fueled White's myriad artistic pursuits both within and without the confines of the White Stripes. He started stepping out on his bandmate Meg almost immediately after White Blood Cells gave the group a blockbuster in 2001, producing Loretta Lynn's Van Lear Rose and forming the Raconteurs with Brendan Benson, then the Dead Weather with Alison Mosshart of the Kills. His voracious musical appetite and strict work ethic flourished once the White Stripes called it a day in 2011, as he divided his time between his Third Man Records empire, the Raconteurs and Dead Weather, and a solo career that grew increasingly idiosyncratic with each new album. Blunderbuss and Lazaretto veered close to territory he covered with the White Stripes but the proggy oddity of Boarding House Reach didn't prove to be a detour, as the twin 2022 albums, Fear of the Dawn and Entering Heaven Alive, proved: the noisy rock of the former was complemented by the quiet, introspective adventure of the latter. 2024's Grammy-nominated No Name saw him reconnecting with no-nonsense, yet rocker-fueled blues rock.

John Anthony Gillis was born in Detroit on July 9, 1975. The youngest of ten siblings, he began playing drums at an early age and took inspiration from the world-weary blues of Son House and Blind Willie McTell. A fascination with guitar followed in his teenage years. After launching his own upholstery business in Detroit, White began to infiltrate the city's music scene as the drummer for Goober & the Peas, a local cowpunk band that split in 1995. While continuing to play drums for other groups, he crossed paths with a bartender named Meg White, and the two were married in 1996. Jack took Meg's surname, and the pair formed the White Stripes after a Bastille Day jam session showed promising results.

With their color-coded image and raw, punky sound, the White Stripes became a key component of the garage rock revival of the late '90s. In addition to their music, the bandmembers stirred public interest by claiming to be siblings, a declaration that seemed slightly less incestuous when Jack and Meg White divorced in 2000. Despite the split, the White Stripes only grew in popularity as the decade progressed, eventually winning three consecutive Grammy Awards and issuing several platinum-certified albums.

Following the release of Elephant in 2003, Jack White took a break from the group to produce Loretta Lynn's Van Lear Rose. A critical smash, the album helped endear Lynn to a new generation of fans, thanks in part to White's credibility as a rock artist. He then returned to the White Stripes for the release of Get Behind Me Satan, which saw him expanding his instrumental range with piano and marimba. Shortly thereafter, he launched a concurrent group, the Raconteurs, with friend Brendan Benson and two members of the Greenhornes (who, incidentally, had served as backing musicians on Van Lear Rose). The Raconteurs made their debut with 2006's Broken Boy Soldiers and toured in support of the album, while White publicly stressed that his work in the band should not be seen as a side project or a diversion from the White Stripes. Thus, he began juggling his responsibilities to both groups, partnering with Meg White once again for the White Stripes' 2007 release Icky Thump before returning to the Raconteurs for 2008's Consolers of the Lonely.

While touring in support of the latter album, White suffered from bronchitis and often lost his voice, prompting singer Alison Mosshart (from the Raconteurs' touring partners the Kills) to climb on-stage and contribute her own vocals. The chemistry between Mosshart and the Raconteurs proved alluring, and the musicians opted to form a separate group named the Dead Weather. With Jack White now handling drums, the band retreated to the studio and recorded an energetic debut, Horehound, in a matter of weeks. Released in 2009, the album was well-received on both sides of the Atlantic, cracking the Top Ten in America and peaking at number 14 in the U.K. Encouraged by such success, the Dead Weather began working on a second album during the fall, with the intention of previewing several new songs during an Australian tour in early 2010. In the meantime, White secured enough free time to appear in a movie -- the guitar-themed It Might Get Loud -- and produce an album for his wife, songwriter Karen Elson.

The first solo outing from White, the bluesy, typically idiosyncratic Blunderbuss, named for a muzzle-loading firearm that was a precursor of the shotgun, arrived in April of 2012. It promptly debuted in the American charts at number one, the first White-associated album to do so. Blunderbuss also earned several Grammy nominations, including Album of the Year, Best Rock Album, and Best Rock Song for "Freedom at 21." White's second solo album, Lazaretto, followed in June 2014, preceded by the single "High Ball Stepper." It debuted at number one on the pop charts and earned positive reviews. The Dead Weather released their third album, Dodge and Burn, in September 2015, and a year later White issued Acoustic Recordings 1998-2016, a double-disc compilation of acoustic numbers from his various projects. In April 2017, he released a surprise instrumental single called "Battle Cry." A lifelong baseball fan, it was announced that the song would be used as the walk-up music for Detroit Tigers infielder Ian Kinsler, with whom White co-owns the baseball bat company Warstic. In March 2018, the strange, sprawling Boarding House Reach was released, peaking at number one on the Billboard 200. The following year, he was back with the Raconteurs for the group's third album, Help Us Stranger.

In November 2021, White returned with "Taking Me Back," a single released in two versions: a noisy, gnarled rock incarnation and a softer acoustic variation. The rock spin on "Taking Me Back" heralded the April 2022 release of Fear of the Dawn, a nervy, noisy record that found White experimenting with digital effects. The jaunty acoustic revision anchored Entering Heaven Alive, a quieter but still restless record that followed in July while White was in the middle of a lengthy and eventful tour that saw him getting married onstage and playing Saturday Night Live for the fifth time.

After a period of little discernable activity, White surprised fans on in July 2024 with the release of a bares-bones, blues-influenced album titled No Name. It was packaged like a white-label promo with only the words "No Name" stamped on the sleeve and was given away to customers at Third Man records locations for free. It topped the U.K. Independent Albums chart, cracked the Billboard 200, and finished the year with a Grammy nomination for Best Rock Album”.

Because Jack White turns fifty on 9th July, I thought it was only right to showcase some of his best work. These are songs he either wrote or sings on. There are some co-writes in the mix. However, it is his solo work and material with The White Stripes that stands out most. Here is a career-spanning mixtape of cuts featuring…

THE great Jack White.

FEATURE: Kate Bush: Something Like a Song: Get Out of My House (The Dreaming)

FEATURE:

Kate Bush: Something Like a Song

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1982/PHOTO CREDIT: Pierre Terrasson

Get Out of My House (The Dreaming)

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THE last time I featured…

this song fully was in 2022. I wanted to come back to The Dreaming for This Kate Bush: Something Like a Song. Get Out of My House is the final song from Kate Bush’s fourth studio album. I have spent a bit of time with this album the past few weeks or so. I have discussed The Dreaming and its use of percussion. I have also talked about its first single, Sat in Your Lap. Although my favourite song from the album – and my favourite Kate Bush song – is Houidini (the penultimate song), I think that the album finale is as intense and hypnotic as Kate Bush ever got. In a way, it was a precursor to the scale and ambition of Hounds of Love (her fifth album arrived in September 1985). However, Get Out of My House was Kate Bush in intense and paranoid mode. Inspired by Stephen King’s The Shining, it is a song that is rarely played on the radio. I am going to bring in some information I have used in previous features about Get Out of My House. However, I think it is worthwhile bringing this information back in to illustrate a wonderful song. Here are some interviews where Kate Bush discussed Get Out of My House:

“The Shining’ is the only book I’ve read that has frightened me. While reading it I swamped around in its snowy imagery and avoided visiting certain floors of the big, cold hotel, empty for the winter. As in ‘Alien’, the central characters are isolated, miles (or light years) away from anyone or anything, but there is something in the place with them. They’re not sure what, but it isn’t very nice.
The setting for this song continues the theme – the house which is really a human being, has been shut up – locked and bolted, to stop any outside forces from entering. The person has been hurt and has decided to keep everybody out. They plant a ‘concierge’ at the front door to stop any determined callers from passing, but the thing has got into the house upstairs. It’s descending in the lift, and now it approaches the door of the room that you’re hiding in. You’re cornered, there’s no way out, so you turn into a bird and fly away, but the thing changes shape, too. You change, it changes; you can’t escape, so you turn around and face it, scare it away.

Kate Bush Club newsletter, October 1982

It’s meant to be a bit scary. It’s just the idea of someone being in this place and there’s something else there… You don’t know what it is. The track kept changing in the studio. This is something that’s never happened before on an album. That one was maybe half the length it is now. The guitarist got this really nice riff going, and I got this idea of two voices – a person in the house, trying to get away from this thing, but it’s still there. So in order to get away, they change their form – first into a bird trying to fly away from it. The thing can change as well, sothatchanges into this wind, and starts blowing all icy. The idea is to turn around and face it. You’ve got this image of something turning round and going “Aah!”‘ just to try and scare it away.

Kris Needs, ‘Dream Time In The Bush’. ZIgZag (UK), 1982”.

This is one of these songs that was never performed live or had a music video made. There are all these what-ifs when it comes to visuals and performances. It would have been amazing if we saw Bush bring this to the stage. However, the album version sounds incredible. So charged and exhilarating! Before rounding things off, I am bringing in a feature from Dreams of Orgonon. It is a fascinating article that you should read in full. I have highlighted a few passages that are especially insightful and illuminating:

“The Dreaming sees Kate Bush turning towards an epistemological centering of subconscious and repressed emotions. It calls to the listener, inviting them to unleash their trauma, rage, and fear in torrents of vital and horrible catharsis. Bush reveals that the adolescent optimism of her previous albums, while real and legitimate, masked deep-rooted emotions beyond neophyte positivity and bravado. While those other albums (particularly the doleful Lionheart and sometimes Delphic Never for Ever) contain great darkness themselves, The Dreaming sees Bush unleashing the id, allowing the powerful emotiveness of her work to reveal its full breadth and ability to be furious, wretchedly disconsolate, and full of hurt. As Deborah Withers describes it, the album is about “the deconstruction of certainties.” It may not be Bush’s magnum opus, but it is possibly her artistic apotheosis, a traumatic wound to culture and popular music that the world never recovers from.

The set of songs curated by Bush with engineer Hugh Padgham (which we’re completing with this blog entry) centralizes this embrace of the subconscious and the id. As new songs and engineers enter the picture, The Dreaming’s core ideas metastasize into disparate and musical thematic territories. But the Padgham session is arguably the “pure” version of The Dreaming, in its nascent stage of unleashing one’s id. The mélange of sounds and traumas contained in these first three songs is emblematic of the entire album. Before the global politics and lush excesses of instrumentation found on later tracks emerge, there’s the dark heart of The Dreaming in the Padgham-engineered tracks. Much of this consists of Bush forging her way through the early 1980s. Padgham coined the gated drum sound which emblematized 1980s pop music, and these early songs contain a self-abnegation, uncertainty, and reverberating over-mixing that can be found throughout the decade. As the age of neoliberalism collates into an obelisk of nuance-less accumulation, the broader culture is throw into an afflicting gale, less sure of itself than ever.

Uncertainty pervades “Get Out of My House,” The Dreaming’s brutal culmination. Catalyzed by its beleaguering yet urgent drumbeat and a lacerating lead guitar part from Alan Murphy, it is confrontational and purgative in its spectacular vocal menagerie, all in dialogue (often call-and-response) with one another yet seemingly not of an accord, as the bombastic and tremulous delivery of “when you left, the door was…” is answered by the siren-like, low-mixed B.V.’s crying “SLAMMING!” Adhering mostly to 4/4, “Get Out of My House” revolves through dizzying sequences of repetitive chord changes, with its first verse in G# melodic minor, confined to a progression of i-IV (G# minor – C#), moving to the natural minor in Verse Two with a progression of i-iv (G# minor – C # minor), signaling a domination of brutal repetition and minor keys without catharsis. With one of Bush’s most agonized vocals carrying the refrain (a genuinely harrowing and throaty “GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!”), the song emits agony, trauma, and expulsion.

In a newsletter, Bush wrote of “Get Out of My House” that “the house which is really a human being, has been shut up — locked and bolted, to stop any outside forces from entering. The person has been hurt and has decided to keep everybody out.” There are many things going on with this quote, but there are two points I shall make about it that pertain directly to “Get Out of My House.” Firstly, there’s the metaphor of the house as human body, which has appeared in semiotics and literature for millennia. Various accounts of this motif exist, but to a degree, the reasons are obvious. Houses, like bodies, are places where things are stored — memories, minds, belongings. They’re where a person is supposed to safe. As Bush observes, bodies (largely through with the help of the mind) will sometimes shut out malign presences, detaching themselves from hostile environments. When the body is incapable of overcoming an obstacle, it expires and resigns from continued organic living. There are limits to the metaphor, to be sure — for example, historian Peter Brown observes that the Old Testament speaks of tents with favor for emblemizing “the limitless horizons of each created spirit, always ready to be struck and to be pitched ever further on,” while houses are “symbols of dread satiety.” Yet what body doesn’t spend a portion of its time surfeited and dwelling in one place due to physical exhaustion or psychological dissociation? When we’re under duress from an external force, do we not instinctively protect our bodies? Pushing back and securing ourselves is difficult, but often instinctual. Even if we don’t know that we’re fighting back, our bodies and minds often do. Our duty is merely to listen to what our bodies and minds tell us.

My second point is how tremendously “Get Out of My House” deploys the house-as-body motif to address abuse and sexual violence. The meekness expected from women singers is absent from the song — Bush’s attitude is expulsive and agonized. Enough, she says. This epidemic of violence has lived with me too long. The song’s repetition conveys personal history and traumatic residue in its refrains of “slamming!” and “lock it!” The houses stands in for the body to an obvious degree throughout, through suggestive lines such as “this house is as old as I am.” An intruder is barred. They’ve broken through the barrier before — this isn’t Bush’s initial conflict with them. But it is a last stand”.

Get Out of My House is one of the best-ever Kate Bush songs. Although it does not feature high in polls when it comes to the best Kate Bush tracks ever, it is one of those gems that highlighted how original an artist Kate Bush was. A song that she produced and very much took the lead on, her vocals are at their peak. The range of emotions that she deploys. There are so many highlights on Get Out of My House. Many people note when Kate Bush and Paul Hardiman exchange donkey braying. Inspired by a scene in Pinocchio when the eponymous character and Lampwick turn into donkeys. It is played for comedic effect to start before turning terrifying. In a classic Disney film (released in 1940), it is also one of the scariest moments in film. It can rank alongside the great Horror film scenes. It is not the first time Kate Bush took inspiration from Pinocchio. As Far Out Magazine wrote in 2023, there are other examples:

“More specifically, Bush took inspiration from Pinocchio several times in her artistry, a character who first appeared in Carlo Collodi’s 1883 novel, The Adventures of Pinocchio, but was later adapted to screen in Disney’s 1940 film, Pinocchio. The character’s first influence on Bush was aesthetic – the idea for the album artwork for her debut studio record, The Kick Inside in 1978, was borrowed from Disney’s Pinocchio.

Rejecting her label’s requests to accompany the album with a sexy cover, Bush had other ideas. As Jay Myrdal, the photographer for the artwork, recalls it in a fan booklet: “Kate arrived at the studio with her father and a car full of bits of wood and painted paper from which he constructed the kite as it appears in the photograph.”

While Myrdal used ropes and a metal bar to rig the “rather fragile” kite to the black wall in her studio, Bush was being covered in gold paint. The result was the album cover that fans of Bush will now know well, which sees her hanging from the kite in front of an image of an eye. According to Myrdal, this was entirely Kate’s idea, and she took inspiration from Pinocchio.

The photographer explained: “The image was entirely Kate’s idea and Steve Ridgeway, the art director and I simply did more or less as we were told. The idea had come from the Disney animated film Pinocchio and the scene when Jiminy Cricket floats past the whale’s eye using his umbrella like a parachute.”

Bush’s artistic debt to Pinocchio continued into her sophomore album, Lionheart, which featured a song called ‘In Search Of Peter Pan’. Alongside the beloved children’s character in its title, the song also made reference to Pinocchio in its final verse, which quotes ‘When You Wish Upon A Star’. The song featured in the 1940 film version of Pinocchio, performed by Cliff Edwards as Jiminy Cricket in the film’s opening credits and final moments.

After repeating the line, “Second star on the right, straight on ‘til morning”, borrowed from the directions to Neverland, Bush sings, “When you wish upon a star, makes no difference who you are, when you wish upon a star your dreams come true”. In true Kate Bush fashion, it’s equal parts eerie and beautiful”.

In future editions of Kate Bush: Something Like a Song, I am going to move to other albums. Closer to the fortieth anniversary of Hounds of Love on 16th September, I am going to feature a track from that album. I think I will come to Aerial for the next. A great song from that album. I am definitely going to come back to The Dreaming very soon. It has been great spending time with this incredibly atmospheric and eerie song. One that warrants more attention and discussion. In a song where there seem to be spirits and a malevolent presence in this house, I would urge everyone to hear the song and ignore the warnings. Rather than stay well away, play the song loud…

IF you dare step in!

FEATURE: The Digital Mixtape: Summer Heat with a Hint of Chill

FEATURE:

The Digital Mixtape

PHOTO CREDIT: Toni Cuenca/Pexels

Summer Heat with a Hint of Chill

__________

THROUGH the years…

PHOTO CREDIT: Rebeca Gonçalves/Pexels

I have compiled playlists with summer-ready tracks. Some chilled-out vibes. As we are in July, I thought it was overdue a revisit. I have been looking around for some older and modern summer songs. Ones that are quite uplifting or have a certain heat. Pairing them with chilled and more relaxing tracks that are perfect for this time of the year. Many people might be thinking of escaping on holiday or spending some time abroad. Even though the weather is pretty nice here (in the U.K.), it is natural for people to think of a holiday. It is quite tempting! This is a sort of musical getaway. Whether transporting you to a beach or a warmer climate, there are some great tracks in the mixtape below. Songs that you all will definitely know together with a few more recent ones that you might not have heard a lot. I am splitting this into two halves. I am starting out with some warmer summer tracks that inspire sunshine and a certain bliss. The second half is designed to soundtrack the later hours…

PHOTO CREDIT: Rachel Claire/Pexels

AND cool you down.

FEATURE: Spotlight: Witch Fever

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

PHOTO CREDIT: Frank Fieber

Witch Fever

__________

I realise that this awesome band…

have been on the scene a while and one might not call them ‘rising’ or ‘new’. However, Witch Fever have some incredible gigs coming up and they have released a new single, THE GARDEN. The phenomenal Witch Fever are a band that I am fairly new to but have been struck by. They have also announced a new album will come out this Hallowe’en:

“Genre-defying four-piece Witch Fever signals a ferocious return with the announcement of their second full-length album, ‘FEVEREATEN,’ set for release on October 31, 2025, via Music For Nations / Sony. This highly anticipated follow-up promises a deeper, darker, and stranger evolution of their acclaimed sound.

Accompanying the album news, the band has unleashed the lead single and video, “THE GARDEN.” This brooding, cinematic track masterfully twists religious symbolism into a defiant anthem of liberation. It opens with a distorted alt-rock riff that ebbs and crashes like a tidal wave, with vocalist Amy Walpole subverting the Garden of Eden myth into a powerful rallying cry against patriarchal control. “THE GARDEN” follows their recent single, “DEAD TO ME!,” which hinted at their expanded, more experimental sound.

Since their formation in 2017, Witch Fever—comprising Amy Walpole (vocals/lyrics), Alex Thompson (bass), Alisha Yarwood (guitar), and Annabelle Joyce (drums)—has rapidly ascended within the UK alternative scene. Their 2022 debut, Congregation, garnered critical acclaim for its cathartic power and blistering intensity, fusing punk ferocity with gothic unease and raw vulnerability.

For ‘FEVEREATEN,’ the band collaborated with producer Chris W. Ryan (NewDad, Just Mustard). The result is a deliberate and expansive creative process, pushing their sound into uncharted territory. The record draws from metal, ambient, hardcore, and slowcore, layering cello, noise textures, and haunting melodies atop their signature pummeling foundation, capturing a band that has grown, sharpened its edges, and is poised for an impactful next chapter.

Of the album, and the single, the band state,

FEVEREATEN is raw, vulnerable, haunting and furious. Where our debut album Congregation dealt with my experience growing up in a Charismatic Christian church head on, FEVEREATEN takes a step back, finding horror in the subtleties of dealing with religious trauma, as well as mental health struggles, relationships and nearing 30 in a world that’s eating itself alive. Whilst the album is dark and unforgiving in places it is also heartfelt and joyful in others. It doesn’t take itself too seriously and asks you to find excitement and life in difficult times.

It was an absolute delight to write and record together. In the studio we bounced off our producer Chris’ excitement and ended up with a piece of work that we’re so proud of and excited to share. Chris is so talented and their enthusiasm for music and production is infectious. We hope it haunts you as it has haunted us, in a good way of course”.

Witch Fever are Amy, Alex, Alisha and Annabelle. I am looking forward to their sophomore album coming out. Following 2022’s Congregation, I think the amount Witch Fever have toured since then will add new dynamics and layers to their second album. FEVEREATEN is going to be an album you need to listen to. Witch Fever were among the artists who tackled and called out Download Festival (which ended yesterday) over their toilet policy. Initial guidelines and advice offered was that the festival would be “following the interim guidance issued by the Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC)” which “states that ‘trans women (biological men) should not be permitted to use the women’s facilities and trans men (biological women) should not be permitted to use the men’s facilities’”. This was rightly seen as creating division and stoking transphobia. That it was creating an unsafe environment for trans people and it was completely tone deaf. The festival rightly corrected their ignorance and said that the majority of toilets were now gender-neutral. It is sad that it had to come to that, but it shows that many festivals and sections of the music industry need to do better. On this Pride Month, it seems like a massive step backwards when it comes to trans inclusivity and recognition. The fact Witch Fever made their voices heard is another reason to respect them! Before wrapping things up, there are a couple of recent interviews that I am going to source from. I think there are various genes and sounds that are restricted to certain radio stations and do not really get more widespread focus. Maybe a station such as BBC Radio 6 Music would happily play Witch Fever (and have!), though I don’t know how many other mainstream stations will. Witch Fever are a sensational band that should get some big headline slots in the future.

Music Is to Blame chatted with Witch Fever’s lead, Amy Walpole. I was going to spotlight Witch Fever a few weeks back but there were no new interviews online. A couple have very recently popped up, so I am excited to spotlight them now. I predict massive things for this band:

“Culminated through mutual friends and a shared adoration for punk music, Witch Fever have made waves in the UK hardcore scene, and are currently gearing up for the release of their sophomore album.

Amy Walpole, lead vocalist, discusses upcoming tour plans, the surreal, career-altering experience of supporting My Chemical Romance and reveals her top three ‘desert island’ albums as part of the Seven Questions with Music Is To Blame Series.

Introduce yourself and where you’re from.

Hi! I’m Amy, the lead vocalist of Witch Fever. I am originally from near Bradford, but I’ve lived in Manchester for about 10 years now.

What do our readers need to know about you?

Readers should know that our music is very angry, and kind of intense but we’re all very nice and quite wholesome, and just trying to have a good time. My favourite animals are snails!

What have you got coming up that you’re most excited for?

We’ve got a tour at the end of the year with a band called Volbeat and a band called Bush, kind of a crazy line-up. Those guys are very metal and have been going for a very long time, but they’ve very kindly invited us on their tour and it’s two months of arenas. We’ve not done that before, we’ve done a stadium but never a tour of arenas which is amazing, so many bands dream to play venues like that so we feel super grateful that we can be doing that.

What’s the best run-in you’ve had with a fan?

Loads of them are so sweet! There is a couple of friends who’ve been to a few of our gigs and the first time we met them they were at the merch stand. I asked them how they know each other and they mentioned that they were at the same school, turns out they hadn’t been in school for about 10 years but they still talk about each other as if they’re still in school. I just thought that was so cute! I also had a girl give me a framed moth, which was so adorable and personal.

What’s been your biggest ‘I’ve made it’ moment so far?

It will probably be this tour at the end of the year, but we supported My Chemical Romance for one of their shows. I just couldn’t believe it. That was years ago now and so much has happened since then but that was a really pivotal moment, to be invited to play this massive stage with the most influential emo band. They gave us a shoutout on stage and I nearly died!

What are your three “desert island” albums?

‘The Lack Long After’ - Pianos Become The Teeth

‘I Got Heaven’ - Mannequin Pussy

‘Rage Against The Machine’ - Rage Against The Machine

Sum up your sound in three words.

Angry. Vulnerable. Cathartic”.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by WITCH FEVER (@witchfever)

I am going to finish off with a great interview from Kerrang!. Having previously awarded their 2022 debut album five-out-of-five, they were keen to catch up with Amy Walpole. I am wondering whether Witch Fever have been asked to play Later… with Jool Holland. I think they deserve it and would definitely add something different to the show! I also feel like there should be more people in the media looking their way. I am not sure what interviews are lined up, though I hope the likes of NME and The Guardian look their way:

“Very much a record primed to take them up a level or 10, it has already sent shockwaves with the fantastic lead single DEAD TO ME!. But this, it turns out, is only part of what they have in store this time.

“DEAD TO ME! was bridging a gap between our old album and the new album, but there’s stuff on FEVEREATEN that’s a little more experimental, a little less typical ‘riffy’,” Amy explains.

For proof, look no further than Witch Fever’s excellent new single THE GARDEN. Released today, it’s a spellbinding gothic ballad showcasing a whole new side to the band. Here, Amy tells us more about what to expect from their next chapter, including reappraisals of biblical figures, possible hauntings and the power of confronting a traumatic past head-on…

Amy, you have at your disposal a whole dictionary of existing words you could have named your new album after, but instead you’ve coined your own. What does the word FEVEREATEN mean to you?
“It has lots of different layers, but it’s a feeling of being consumed by something, and not being able to move past it or look past it. I like it because it can relate to mental health and it can relate to trauma, but [for me] it also relates to another idea. I grew up being told that God was all around me, constantly watching me for sin. So it plays on the idea that, for a lot of my life, I felt like I was being watched or haunted by something. I had never known whether it was my trauma, God, or something even more supernatural than God. I did a Master’s degree in English literature, but I specialised in horror and gothic fiction and I always felt like I could relate to characters like in, say, [Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s] The Yellow Wallpaper – women that had been diagnosed with hysteria, which was actually just a blanket umbrella term for any woman experiencing anything that a man didn’t like. I had an affinity with those women in films and books that were possessed and were ‘hysterical’. I just find it so fascinating. FEVEREATEN treads the line between my reality and fiction, as well. There are themes of hauntings, ghosts and stuff like that. There’s even a lyric about furniture in my house moving around…”

Your debut was incredibly candid in dealing with painful parts of your past. What do you think the Amy that created Congregation would make of these new lyrics on FEVEREATEN?

“I’m still the same person, but between then and now I’ve been diagnosed with autism, so I understand myself way more. I like myself way more, too – I know when I need support and I know why I need support, instead of not understanding why I’m struggling in a situation where everyone around me seems to not be struggling at all. I feel like I’ve grown up more, I’m more secure and less confused about myself. But also, a lot of Congregation was obviously about dealing with my experiences growing up as part of a church. In terms of writing lyrics [on Witch Fever’s debut], it was the first time I was really working through all that stuff, and I was like, ‘Fuck, I can’t stop writing about this – something in me is pushing me to keep writing.’ It felt very on top of me and very immediate, but now it feels a little bit further away. I’m still writing about it, but I’ve gone through a few years of growth and dealing with trauma. It’s quite a dark album, but I feel lighter. I just needed to write this second album.”

As well as rage, what’s so interesting this time is that your new single THE GARDEN showcases a very different side – what was the vision for that song?

“THE GARDEN is a little more of a ballad, a little more radio-friendly. It’s showing our softer side, because the album has both of it. We wanted a song that was a little bit softer, that would maybe prick the ears of people that wouldn’t necessarily choose to listen to us because we’re too heavy. I really love that song. Actually, it very nearly didn’t make the album, but we changed our mind. When we were first writing it, we were just playing it in the practice room, and I came up with the basic melody, Alisha did the basic chord progression and we played it a few times around and I was like, ‘Does this sound like a Christian rock song?’”.

Go and follow Witch Fever and show them plenty of love and support. The Manchester quartet have had some challenges along the way but seem to be at their strongest right now. The amazing Amy Walpole, Alex Thompson, Alisha Yarwood and Annabelle Joyce are leading Witch Fever into a new chapter. Ahead of the release of FEVEREATEN on 31st October, it is going to be fascinating to see where they go from here. Their fanbase growing and their name getting out to new corners of the industry. If you have slept on Witch Fever so far, then do make sure that you…

INVESTIGATE them right away.

_____________

Follow Witch Fever

Official:

https://www.witchfever.com/

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/witchfever/

TikTok:

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

Twitter:

https://x.com/WITCHFEVER

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/1Zdd7fqk5jtuMUwE7agpS1?si=VW378vPEQOGRXtmJwdfOZw

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsgn5oXDn_IRBjCjIJ1giCw

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/witchfever

FEATURE: Spotlight: Annahstasia

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

PHOTO CREDIT: Rio-Romaine for NME

Annahstasia

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AN artist I am fairly new to…

PHOTO CREDIT: Rio-Romaine for NME

I am going to start out with some biography before coming to some recent interviews and a review of her debut album, Tether. The artist in question is the incredible Annahstasia. If you have not heard of her or only know a little, I hope this feature is of use. Let’s start out with some biography of an artist who is not played on the radio as widely and much as she deserves. Not in the U.K. anyway:

“As a kid, singer-songwriter Annahstasia Enuke says she used to hear actor Morgan Freeman’s voice in her head. His distinctly rich baritone narrated her younger years as pleasantly as it does on screen. “The way I see things is very cinematic,” she says, touching on a childhood growing up in Los Angeles and classifying her identity and artistic practice as steeped in fantasy and romanticism. When Annahstasia writes a song, it embodies a world of its own. Her rose-colored perspective is elucidated by her enchantingly sumptuous and acrobatic voice, one she developed through a lasting appreciation for complex vocalists like Bill Withers, Nina Simone, and Janis Joplin, artists she was first introduced to via an iPod her uncle gifted her for her 14th birthday. “Those were the first musicians that I felt lended their voice to their music and not the music to their voice,” she explains. Annahstasia’s own stunning voice is the powerline that weaves together her forthcoming folk-rooted record, Revival, a delicately produced project that both renewed her love of music after a period of uncertainty, and facilitated a potent resurgence of self.

Annahstasia’s first experiments with music were self-taught, and her foray into the folk genre was more of a practical approach than a stylistic choice. The anthology of soul, blues and folk she discovered on the iPod was a history lesson that encouraged her to pick up a guitar for the first time.

“I would learn the guitar parts of the songs and then I would re-write over them in my own words,” she remembers. At 17, Annahstasia signed her first record deal when the parent of another student at school caught her singing after class let out. A producer, he offered her a session and Annahstasia was thrown head first into the music industry. “I spent three years being put in situations where my voice became more and more muddled,” she confesses, and after seven years, she found herself out on her own as a budding musician.

Annahstasia’s newfound independence panned out as a double-edged sword. Her first solo release, 2019’s Sacred Bull was an honest, no-frills experiment. Released without traditional industry support (no label, distribution, nor PR), the hypnotic, soul-lifting record nevertheless primed her for a promising path, opening doors to collaborations with the likes of singer Raveena, who features on her new record. That summer, Lenny Kravitz invited her to support him as an opener on his “Raise Vibrations” European tour, where she performed Sacred Bull live to arena crowds in over 17 cities. And yet, the trials of an independent career took a toll. “I was so burned out at the expectation to just keep going and make things happen on my own,” she says. “When COVID hit, it allowed me the proper time I needed to reevaluate my place in the industry and what I actually wanted to bring to it.”

Revival was born from the spiritual lessons Annahstasia learned during that period of stillness. Through a process she deems channeling, she reclaimed the dreamy and intuitive approach to creative expression she relates back to a younger Annahstasia—the one who experienced life like a film. She rarely, if ever, writes her lyrics down, instead preferring to imagine the spirits that live in her songs—how they might look, move, talk or dance—and speak to their identities in real time through her music. “I like to write from the fantasy of Americana, this very grandiose fallacy of the American dream,” she describes. Songs like “Power” and “Millionaire”, whose characters and stories explore the intricate dualities of human existence—of pain and joy, of the tumultuous beauty of her blackness—illuminate the spiritual foundation of Annahstasia’s personal revival. “I write my music from an earthly opulence, from that sense of abundance,” she says. “Everything is heavy and has weight, but you can always see the weight as gold”.

Before bringing things up to date, I am heading back to 2023 and an interview with Fifteen Questions. To coincide with the release of her E.P., Revival, we find out some interesting information about an artist who has only come under my radar this year. I am compelled to make up for lost time and learn as much about Annahstasia as I can. Her voice and songwriting is like nothing I have heard! Tether is an album that will not get the attention that many mainstream releases do. I think it is one of the most remarkable albums of 2025 and needs to be seen as such:

“What were your very first steps in music like - and how do you rate gains made through experience versus the naiveté of those first steps?

My first steps in music were quite triumphant. In the sense that in my lack of expectation I was presently surprised by the kernel of talent I found there. I already knew I liked being on stage but I didn’t feel a strong reason why until I sang on a stage by myself for the first time. From there music and I got to know each other slowly. I learned little kernels of her and she gave me words in return.

Gains of experience are satisfying and you feel a grand sense of will power but the gains and discoveries made in nativity are what make creativity exciting. The experience just tells you the general direction in which to look. But I’m always open to being surprised.

According to scientific studies, we make our deepest and most incisive musical experiences between the ages of 13-16. What did music meant to you at that age and what’s changed since then?

A lot changed for me in the window in terms of what I was listening to. At 13 I was listening to Disney channel, whatever came on the radio and the CDs I was gifted for holidays and birthdays. There wasn’t much curation, and music was mostly secondary in my life, I enjoyed it but I enjoyed almost anything I heard.

But then I had the chance to go on tour with a family member over summer break when I was 14 and to watch a group of people live in music was a great cognitive shift in the significance of sound, the magic in it. That same family member gave me an iPod full of music and from 15-16 I listened to those records on repeat. That was my introduction to soul, folk, rock, Motown, etc.

That’s when I found Bill Withers and Nina Simone and fell in love with their expression and started to desire developing that type of expression in myself.

Sound, song, and rhythm are all around us, from animal noises to the waves of the ocean. What, if any, are some of the most moving experiences you've had with these non-human-made sounds? In how far would you describe them as “musical”?

My favorite non-human sound is wind. How it makes all sorts of melodies as it rushes past different surfaces and material. It makes the world sing.

I’ve had many moments alone with wind that having been moving to me. The feeling though is always the same, the feeling of smallness, but like you’re a child of the planet and the mother is caressing you cheek as a way of reminding you that she’s there. And sometime the violent wind is more like being caught in the earths scream, and you become the rock as it thrashes against and around you and you feel like you’re still so small but this time you’re holding some minuscule part of that mothers hand as she cries.

All those stories illicit music.

If you could make a wish for the future – what are developments in music you would like to see and hear?

I would hope that music retains its material value again. The advent of streaming and data storage tech has completely devalued music as a physical thing that took time and labor and resources. Because it is so accessible it is easy to forget that what went into the making of it was not free and those artists need some reciprocity in order to live comfortably. There is no reason musicians should have to pursue super stardom in order to have a chance at living from their work.

I hope that through musicality we can learn to step away from capitalism and into collective forms of support and care. The reason music suffers so much from the current model of the world is because unlike a painting or a sculpture, music cannot be acquired and bragged upon, it cannot be a tax shelter, it cannot be presented in museum collections for all to ogle at. It is a living breathing and non-corporeal organism.

If we take a look at what our society values currently and what music is, it shows why musicians specifically suffer under the foot of capitalism. I wish in the future that our world aligns more with music, harmony, and love as the abundant forms of wealth that we value”.

In a 2024 interview where METAL spoke to an artist who tells them about “having a unique voice, her upcoming debut album, spirituality, and love as base principle of the universe”, I have highlighted some sections that I find particularly interesting and useful. Annahstasia was speaking with METAL around the release of her E.P., Surface Tension.

“I’ve read you got into music through the likes of Nina Simone and Janis Joplin, which your uncle recorded into an iPod he gifted you when you were fourteen. We’re speaking of incredibly unique, talented, powerful artists with voices that broke the mould and made it into the mainstream somehow. To me, your voice is very similar in that sense. Do you draw any parallels between yourself and those artists?

That’s a large compliment, thank you. Yes, I was gifted with a beautiful introduction to soul and singer-songwriter music by my uncle. Nina Simone, Janis Joplin, Bill Withers, Buffy-Saint-Marie, Leonard Cohen, Nico, etc. I was always drawn to unique voices because they felt like voices you could get used to and then you wanted to hear them all the time, telling different stories. The same stories change just because of how Nina would sing it versus Joni. I fell in love with those nuances and subtleties and spent those early years listening on repeat trying to quantify the differences.
I knew early on that my voice is unique, so most of my journey with learning to sing was focused on maintaining the rawness and tone of my natural choices. I would like to think I can defy the odds and make it in the ‘mainstream’ someday — just like the icons I look up to. It’s much more in the hands of the individual now that it ever was. The music industry barely has curation power anymore. The influence they do have, they use for the sake of selling you more stuff. I don’t think the goal has been the art for a very, very long time, it has always been about money.

You’ve just published the EP Surface Tension. You released another record just last year, titled Revival. So what prompted this new work in such a short period of time?

To me it hasn’t been a short time at all. I released Revival independently, so it took me three years to get it from recording to release. There is so much on the back end of being an indie artist that most people don’t see. There was so much patience involved with that process. So in the times I was waiting, I was also writing and wrote so much music.
Revival may have come out only last year, but that was my only recorded music since 2020. So for me, these projects are actually four years apart, which I would say is plenty of time. I’m very ready to share.

PHOTO CREDIT: Tatsiana Tribunalova

Both the songs in Surface Tension and Revival are very soothing, calming. They have a highly spiritual quality to them. Do you find making music spiritual? Do you feel it helps you connect with an ulterior force or achieve a different state of mind, perhaps?

I think that is mostly the quality of my voice that resonates as spiritual. Making music is undoubtedly a spiritual practice. Especially singing, where the whole body becomes an instrument. Sometimes when I really dig down deep, I definitely go somewhere else when I sing. It’s a nice feeling to leave your body for a little while.

You’re not only a musician; you’re also a model and a visual artist, mainly working in sculpture if I’m correct. When did your passion for art-making arise, and how do you balance all of these creative outlets? I mean, do you wake up and go to your studio to see if that day you’re more into writing lyrics or doing some ceramics?

My parents are artists, so it was instilled early. I always preferred to express that way. I am cultivating many media. Spiralling upwards in mastery of each of them through time. I paint, I make images, I sculpt, I sing — it’s all the same thing for me. Modelling paid the bills for a long time. It takes skill and is creative in a sense. It teaches you to relinquish control gracefully.
I’m not quite at the place yet where I have my own consistent art-making space, but I hope there will come a time when I can have all of it at my fingertips, and wake up and follow my whims. For now, I take it where I can get it in terms of studio time and access to certain things”.

Before coming to a review of Tether, I want to come to a recent interview from Wonderland Magazine. The hugely talented Folk artist discussed her debut album. Its creative process and her musical origins. I would recommend that everyone reading this go and listen to Annahstasia. She is someone that you cannot afford to overlook! I think that Tether genuinely ranks alongside the very best albums of this year:

“Describe your sound in a colour, an emotion and a culinary dish?

The Colour is brownish green like moss mixed with soil. The emotion is relief, culinary dish is homemade lentil soup with a side of fresh sourdough bread and some nice French butter.

Congratulations on your debut album, Tether! How are you feeling about releasing it?

Thank you!! I feel really great. I have been carrying this music for a long, long time and it will be a beauty to witness it’s spread throughout the world.

What inspired its choice of name?

“Tether” is a mantra for me through this last 3 years in my search for grounding through personal transformation and growth. It also represents a strong rooting, a solid starting point from which to grow tall.

How was the process of creation for the album?

It called for a lot of patience, and a lot of grit. I really had to confront and overcome so many interpersonal fears and industry traumas within me in the process. By the end it made for really fertile ground. The music leapt out of the air and into song.

What were the greatest challenges you faced?

The reoccurring seasons of doubt and depression in between all the waiting. That as well as finding balance between my love for spaciousness and my draw toward sonic maximalism.

The album is a long time in the running, a work that has been curated over a period of time. How did you decide that it was finally ready to be shared? Why is now the right time?

All the right champions came together, I think when you have waited for so long for the vision in your head to become real, it really isn’t so hard to recognise when all the pieces are there finally to assemble. I am only slightly in control of these timelines, the album in some way decided when it wanted to be born into the world. It got pushed back a few times and I never fought it much because I figure the universe knows exactly what it’s doing in regards to music and time.

What inspired the musical approach of the record?

I was really inspired by my favourite singer-songwriter records, and across all of them I found they all had the commonality of treating space and silence as an accompanying instrument. Used to craft and carve the dynamics. I wanted to be just as fragile and sacred about the production of these songs as well.Considering each choice in the arrangement as a colour in broader landscape.

What else is to come from you, this year and beyond?

I will be on the road much of the year, touring and sharing various experiences with the music and inspired by the music. After this year I will probably go back into my hermetic mode, rest, get my hands into a garden I have been yearning for specifically that type of tending”.

This NME review hails an artist taking Folk to new heights. That spellbinding and unforgettable voice very much in the spotlight. You do not need to be aware of or a big fan of modern Folk to fall under the spell of Tether. Currently touring in the U.S., Annahstasia plays the U.K. in November:

“Annahstasia’s debut album opens with a singular vocal – a fleeting moment before ‘Tether’ unfurls in all its exquisite, sprawling glory. Within this second of breathy solitude, she cements her philosophy as a songwriter, telling NME recently that “if you can’t strip a song down to its bare essentials and play it with one instrument and your voice, then it’s not a good song”. Here, this penchant for simplicity shines – her raw, unmistakable voice operating as the album’s unbudging anchor.

It’s been a long road to get to this point, and the journey is palpable, with ‘Tether’ the sound of an artist with something to prove. At 17 years old, Annahstasia took her first steps into the music industry and was quickly met by ghoulish exec figures keen to prod her into the shape of a palatable pop star, while dissuading her from making the folk music she longed to write. Now 30, her debut album highlights the sheer ridiculousness of those notions, flexing the vast scope of her artistry to those foolish enough to question her vision.

Here, she claims her rightful place as a pioneer of modern folk, propelling the genre to greater summits by weaving in moments of tense rock and intoxicating blues that constantly build to heavier, harrowing heights that just as quickly collapse into serenity like pale seafoam on a jagged shoreline. The result is an eclectic yet simultaneously streamlined record that balances the sweet, poignant lyrical observations of Labi Siffre and Joni Mitchell with the heavy sensuality of Sade’s ‘Love Deluxe’ and the immense vocal power of Nina Simone and Tracy Chapman.

And, after all these years, she has a lot to say. The punk-imbued ‘Silk and Velvet’ mimics the tumultuous internal monologue of attempting to create lasting art under capitalism with its ricocheting tempo and cutting lyricism: “Maybe I’m an analyst, an antisocial bitch/Who sells her dreams for money/To buy hеr silk and velvet.” Elsewhere, on intensely intimate ‘Villain’, she takes ownership of her wrongs, while the mesmerising ‘Slow’ enlists Nigerian musician Obongjayar for one of the album’s most romantic moments – their voices drifting weightlessly between each other over a glorious chorus of delicately plucked guitar strums, dreamlike harmonies and humming strings.

By the time closer ‘Believer’ comes around, it takes the form of a victory lap, with Annahstasia transformed into a fully-fledged rock star. Listening to her baritone growls interwoven with sludging baseline and heavy drums, it’s a mystery why a once-in-a-generation vocalist has spent almost half of her life trapped in a predatory, unproductive album contract. Perhaps now, though, Annahstasia has found peace in the process, with ‘Tether’ and all its weight and wisdom seeming to arrive right on time. “I’m going down in your history,” she asserts on ‘Overflow’ – and, listening, it seems unlikely that statement won’t come true”.

A truly phenomenal artist, go and follow Annahstasia. She is someone who you want to stay close to. Tether is an album that you will not forget. I will leave things there. As I said, even though I am very new to her music, I am fascinated and instantly struck! Annahstasia is someone who should be heard…

BY every person.

_____________

Follow Annahstasia

Official:

https://annahstasia.com/

TikTok:

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

Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/annahstasia/

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/1hElmDU1PFIf4JbkdOcMRE?si=c93ECk8aSN-4T6biG3U3tA

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChHQ9sso5wytIiyefz3EFng

FEATURE: The Great American Songbook: Steely Dan

FEATURE:

 

 

The Great American Songbook

IN THIS PHOTO: Steely Dan pictured in 1972 (including Donald Fagen (back right) and Walter Becker (far right)/PHOTO CREDIT: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images/colorised and edited by Nostalgia Rock

Steely Dan

__________

THE next outing…

of The Great American Songbook will feature a modern-day icon. Someone who has set touring records and is considered one of the greatest artists ever. This series focuses on a great American act. I compile a twenty-song mixtape that takes in essential songs from throughout their career. This edition is about Steely Dan. A group I feature a lot, I will include other bands real soon enough. I want to come back to them as it provides another opportunity to highlight their distinct and unique music. With no real modern equivalent, there is something bittersweet about listening to Steely Dan. The lack of modern-day followers. However, it is nice that we have the original sort of untarnished by lesser groups trying to copy their sound. I will use this space to select what I think are the twenty Steely Dan songs you need to listen to. From their incredible 1972 debut album, Can’t Buy a Thrill to their final album, 2003’s Everything Must Go, Walter Becker and Donald Fagen – they are the core members and songwriters but performed with other musicians – have crafted a catalogue that is more interesting and character-rich as any in music. You may know this group and be familiar with their music or do not know them at all. I hope that this mixtape…

STIRS your soul.

FEATURE: Modern-Day Queens: HAIM

FEATURE:

 

 

Modern-Day Queens

PHOTO CREDIT: David Brandon Geeting for GQ

HAIM

__________

EVEN if…

IN THIS PHOTO: Morgan Maher for i-D

I have written about HAIM a few times recently, there is good reason to come back to them. I am writing this ahead of their new album, I quit, being released (it is out on 20th June). HAIM are also rumoured to play Glastonbury. His secret set. It is an exciting time for them. For this Modern-Day Queens is an opportunity shine new light on this amazing group. I am going to start out with GQ and their interview from earlier in the month:

“The album came after a period of change for the three band members. Having returned from a euphoric post-pandemic tour, they found themselves all single again at the same time, with Danielle (36, middle Haim, lead vocals, drums, guitar) having split up with the band’s longtime co-producer Ariel Rechtshaid in early 2022 after nine years together. (I Quit is their first album without Rechtshaid, who does however have a co-writing credit on “Relationships”, which the band first started working on in 2017.)

“All of our songs are about our collective trauma and going through it,” Alana says. “A lot of our last album was us grappling with going to therapy for the first time and these emotions that had been bottled up for so many years, and I think with this album, we’ve done the work on ourselves, and now it’s time to party.”

It’s this stage of their lives that Danielle sings about on “Relationships”, the summery, post-break-up catharsis anthem – a time in which they were drifting in and out of flings, though Este (39, eldest Haim, bass guitar, backing vocals) would meet her now-fiancé after not too long. “I’ve been single for the last three years,” Danielle says. “It’s been so fun.” And it does sound fun: after the break-up, Danielle moved into Alana’s house. To give you an insight into the vibe: “I have a beer fridge,” Alana says. “I’m like a frat boy trapped in a girl’s body.”

During this time, she says, “My house turned into fuckin’ Animal House. Growing up, we were not the cool house. We didn’t have good snacks. My therapist calls it ‘a corrective experience’. So it was like, at my house, it’s gonna be ragers…”

The weekly house parties were all well and good – until, one weekend, Danielle was ill. “Alana was like, ‘I think I’m gonna have a few people over,’” says Danielle.

“I was like, ‘Just shut your room,’” says Alana.

“Literally, like smelling the cigarettes…” says Danielle.

“Danielle was like, ‘Can you guys stop smoking inside?’” Alana says. “I put an air purifier in her room. I think we partied ’til five in the morning.”

“And I was like, ‘What the fuck…’” Danielle says.

“Danielle moved out,” says Alana. And that was pretty much the end of that.

n social media, Haim are a record label’s dream – naturally funny, authentically themselves. “We’ve been performing as a trio and doing shows in our back yard since we were kids,” says Este.

“Este would do physical comedy to make me laugh as a baby,” Alana explains. “She would, like, trip and fall and I would laugh, and that was just our whole lives. Being on TikTok is just an extension of that. It comes naturally. And like, why not?” During their childhood they were obsessed with Saturday Night Live, and looked up to cast members like Cheri Oteri, Molly Shannon and Maya Rudolph. “We look at every TikTok as an SNL sketch – how do you make people laugh in 30 seconds?” Alana says. That they’re unafraid to be goofy is a key part of the band’s charm.

We talk about a viral clip of them performing the dance from their “I Know Alone” video live on stage. It’s an endearingly unserious – but not simple – dance, with lots of arm-swinging and knee-wiggling. Alana believes that some people miss that they’re taking the piss more often than not. “That’s where it gets lost in the sauce with people,” she says.

“Even though we’re a rock band, we love movement,” says Danielle.

“Prince danced,” says Este.

“I mean, Talking Heads – movement,” says Alana.

I sense this is a conversation they’ve had before, or at least it’s something that has bothered them before now. “It’s such an important part for us,” Danielle says, “I don’t know if the rock community…”

“Takes that as a weakness,” Alana says. “I don’t know why.”

The rock community has loomed as a spectre of disapproval throughout the past decade-and-change of their career. The beef has taken different shapes and sizes – one day it’s Portishead’s Geoff Barrow talking shit about them on Twitter (he only stopped after a 21-year-old Alana, who calls herself “the bulldog” of the family, confronted him about it at a music festival). The next it’s commenters under their live performance videos – “It’s always a guy,” Este says – who say that they’re not playing live because their guitars are not plugged in. “It’s like, my dog, we’re playing with wireless,” says Danielle. “Are you a fucking idiot?” These are the men – and yes, it is largely men – to whom they’re saying fuck off, we don’t need your approval on I Quit.

And another thing… Did you know that Haim have never had commercial radio success in the United States? It’s a matter that understandably confounds them to this day.

“We’re so lucky that we have incredible fans that have always supported us – like, we’ve never needed radio,” says Alana. “Alternative fucking rock fucking radio… You can tell how much I fucking love them.”

“For some reason, people that need to put people in boxes don’t get us,” says Danielle.

“It goes back to what we said,” says Alana. “We love to dance and we love to make people laugh, and for some reason that’s a no-go.”

“I think it’s all quite antiquated,” says Este. “The whole setup is... who gives a shit about that? It’s really old school. We quit caring about that shit”.

We might get some repeated information in these interviews. I do feel it is important to highlight brilliant chats with the HAIM sisters. I am moving to i-D and their recent interview. I love the interaction between HAIM during interviews. Learning about the period between the release of Women in Music Pt. III. It seems like the creative period for I quit was a lot smooth and harmonious. I think that the album will sit alongside the best of this year. One of the absolute best bands in the world. I wonder why they were not afforded a Glastonbury headline spot. With an absence of women headlining the Pyramid Stage, it would have been great having the likes of HAIM headline:

“Hey kid, wanna hear a horror story? Alana Haim has some crazy ones. All three Haim sisters do, actually: Over the past 20-odd years, they’ve dated their fair share of creeps, weirdos, and losers. One song on their fourth album—whose pithy, merch-ready title has to be withheld for now—is called “Take Me Back,” and it serves as a rose-tinted eulogy to all those crazy, unusual, or downright terrible lost loves. Such as: The time Alana tried to hook up with a guy she had the “biggest fucking crush on,” only for him to end up embarrassed and her to end up in need of a tetanus shot.

“You know that feeling when you’ve seen this person forever, and they don’t notice you, and then, you know, it’s on? I saw him from across the room—I was like ‘Oh my God, he’s never noticed me in my life’—and now he’s noticing me,” Alana says, gesticulating wildly. We’re crammed into a booth in Casa Vega, a “special occasion” Mexican restaurant the three went to as kids growing up in the valley, and now that Alana has had half a Corona, “I’m like, let me tell you everything.”

“We went back to his house, and we were lying on his bed. And when he tried to get on top of me, he farted. Full fart. Not a cute, like, under the radar fart—it was like, full fart,” she says, half amused, half mortified. (Danielle and Este, like a built in Greek chorus, offer murmurs of “Oh, God.”) “I was like, you know what? That’s cool. No shaming of farts, like go off. But then I think he got embarrassed, and he was just like, ‘Maybe we should go to bed.’ And I was like, ‘Whatever you feel’.”

So far, fairly normal, as far as dating stories go. But she’s not done. “His dog had come in at that point, and jumped on the bed. It was like, a tiny bed, and he had like, a big dog, not a cute little lap dog, he had a dog,” she continues, with the curt, matter-of-fact style of a journalist in a ’90s rom-com. “And in the middle of the night, it had jumped on the bed and nuzzled between me and the guy. So I guess I started spooning this dog by accident. I didn’t know the dog was there. I guess I twitch in my sleep because I’m a very active dreamer, so I think I did a movement, and the dog got so scared that it woke up and it bit my nose.

“It started bleeding, but I’m such a people pleaser, and I’m so embarrassed that I was like ‘It’s totally fine.’ I’m like gushing blood, cleaning myself up, don’t leave, and am like ‘Let’s just go back to bed’,” she says, hitting the gruesome ordeal’s beats with timing that suggest she’s told this one many times over. “I wake up in the morning and… how it was on. I was like, ‘We’re never gonna see each other again!’”

You could see that story as a warning about the horrors of swimming through the dating pool—I certainly did—but Alana wears it as a badge of honor. The fourth Haim album is a celebration of total freedom: to be by yourself, to make your own choices and, sometimes, to stay at a hookup’s place after you get farted on and, later, bitten. The tenuous middleground between breaking up and staying together has always been a favored topic for Alana, Danielle, and Este, and there’s certainly some of that here—lead single “Relationships,” released today, is about the torturous feeling of knowing you should break up but not wanting to. This time around, there’s also the crackling, almost adolescent messiness of single life mixed in

This new spirit has spread, maybe, into the way they’re talking about the music. Crammed into a booth in the back of the chintzy, low-lit restaurantDanielle, 36, in a black shirt, Alana, 33, in a baby-blue waistcoat, Este, 39, quiet between them in a cream knit and orange-tinted aviators—they seem animated and forthcoming, more willing to talk in specifics about the real-life inspirations behind the songs.

After the release of 2020’s Women In Music Part III—the band’s best, most acclaimed album ever, and their first to be nominated for Album of the Year at the Grammys—Danielle broke up with her longtime boyfriend and the band’s longtime producer, Ariel Rechtshaid. Haim 4 is the first album they’ve done without his involvement and, for the first time since 2011, Danielle found herself single. “I’m a serial monogamist–in high school, I was always wanting a boyfriend and I didn’t have one. All I wanted was for someone to ask me to prom, and no one did,” she says. After that, all she did was get into long-term relationships; “Being single now, I’m just trying to embrace it, because I’m… I feel like I’m the age where I need to embrace it,” she says, with a wry laugh.

PHOTO CREDIT: Lea Garn

“Relationships” finds Haim tapping back into the slick ’90s R&B sounds that they explored on their second album, 2017’s Something To Tell You—and, fittingly, it was written in 2017, as the first song for Women In Music, on a plane in Australia. Danielle, the band’s primary songwriter and co-producer, always had “some weird thing in my head that was like ‘You need to finish this.’” When this album,with its stories of heartbreak, weird mishaps, and avowed singledom, started to coalesce, it became clear that the track was about to have its time. Working with Rostam, another longtime collaborator, the band tried to “write songs like the Chili Peppers,” says Rostam over the phone—just getting into the room together and working stuff out live—and began to blend the raw, immediate feeling of Women In Music with the high-sheen qualities of their past records. “It was pretty freeing to just be in the room with an acoustic guitar, a bunch of acoustic guitars, and just drums,” says Este.

After Women In Music, the band started to feel like “totally different people,” says Alana, in part because Danielle moved in with her during the recording process for its follow-up, recreating the kind of family living situation they hadn’t experienced since Alana was 16. “Imagine, we’re both in our 30s, and we’re living together again. It was like, super fun to be like, dating, and having to be like to a dude ‘You should come back to my house’ and then having to remember ‘But, oh my god, I’m so sorry, my sister lives with me,’” she says. “I kind of saw what Danielle was going through, making an album – the work never really left, which was kind of inspiring.”

Alana describes this record as “the closest we’ve ever gotten to how we wanted to sound,” and says that it was a “completely different experience” recording this time around. As for the reason why, says Danielle: “Glaringly, this part’s a little hard for me to talk about, but we weren’t working with”—she lowers her voice and shrugs a little—”Ariel. There’s a lot to unpack there, but yeah. Working with Rostam, in general it’s very quick, kinetic with him, which I really love as an artist,” she says. “Maybe before, it wasn’t that way, it was kind of a more… longer, searching, labored situation”.

I am finishing off with a feature from DIY from this month. By the time this is out, there will be more reviews and excitement around I quit. It is going to be this huge and remarkable album. I have seen reviews already and it is going to be a really interesting and memorable listening experience:

“If there was ever any doubt about this early bond, the band have since collected a whole host of accolades to prove it: one BRIT Award, two Glastonbury Pyramid slots, three acclaimed studio albums (one of which saw them collaborate with megastar Taylor Swift), and four Grammy nominations, to name just a few bucket-list ticks. Despite all these accomplishments, though, the sisters are astonishingly down to earth, kept grounded by each other.

That’s been essential for surviving over a decade in an infamously fickle music industry. Originally forming in 2007, HAIM launched in 2012 with their anthemic single ‘Don’t Save Me’. It wasn’t long before they attracted attention for their genre-bending, instrument-swapping, harmony-driven, bass-face-making, fun-loving, familial approach to music - one that sits somewhere between Shania Twain and Bruce Springsteen. Unbound to a certain sound, the band’s music spans folk, country, pop, rock, electro, alt and R&B. Backing them is an onslaught of adoring fans, obsessed with their dance routines, irreverent attitude, and that enviable sisterly bond - one that seems to stretch right off stage and engulf anyone around into the HAIM family.

It’s first thing in the morning in California, and the band - who are currently in the middle of five rehearsal days - are nursing “bangovers”, a term they’ve coined for their post-practice exhaustion. Este is taking the call lying down, apparently suffering from a bad back caused by all the commotion that a HAIM rehearsal demands. It’s no surprise, really: they’re now in full swing preparing for the release and subsequent tour of their highly-anticipated new album, ‘I quit’.

“This record felt like an exhale,” says Danielle. “We could finally take a little bit of a breath. We made it this far, we’re doing something right!” she says with a humble smile. The trio’s refusal to assign themselves to any genre is evidenced wholly on the new record, which defies any pigeon-holing by bouncing between joyful pop, American rock and everything in between. “We’ve never really played by any rules music wise - even when we were kids,” says Alana. “We’ve always just been striving for the sound that’s been in our brains.”

That wasn’t always the case though; the band have definitely felt pressure to define themselves in the past. “We started to get in our heads about that,” says Danielle, recalling the early days when they would get feedback from “people in positions”. “We’d be like, ‘shit, do we need to put another guitar solo in this song so people think we’re a band?’.” Alana remembers it too: “People have been trying to put us in a box since our first album; they’re like, ‘where do you fit?’. But now on record number four, the sisters have officially shed any people-pleasing skin, armed by the confidence that success has afforded them. “With this album we really didn’t think about that, we just don’t give a fuck!”

And that shows. The 15-track album, co-produced by Danielle and long-time collaborator Rostam Batmanglij, is a euphoric, sunshine-soaked burst of energy. It feels fresh and new while remaining distinctly HAIM; there’s juicy guitar solos, hooky harmonies, and surprise harmonicas - what more could you want? The record glows with alleviated perspective, one that only comes on the other side of pain. It has a distinct relief to it, like a weight has been lifted. “It started when all three of us found ourselves single at the same time, for the first time,” says Danielle. It was also the first time the band had worked without Ariel Rechtshaid, the singer’s ex-partner and long-time producer of the band, with whom she had split before the making of the record.

Despite the change, it was apparently a breeze to make - a far cry from 2021’s ‘Women in Music Part III’, when the band had brains like “scrambled eggs”. “We were in a completely different state of mind [for our last album],” recalls Alana. “There was a lot of anxiety, stress, and it all just felt uneasy.” On the contrary, this new record sees the band - quite literally - quit their troubles. “There was just this lightness to being in the studio,” she reflects. “We were very much together again - single - and there was laughter, dancing and running around!” As a band who relish gigging, they couldn’t be more excited to take this energy on the road. “We make albums to tour, and this one feels like it’s gonna be the best tour of all time, because we just had so much fun making it!”

During the making of the record, Danielle moved in with Alana. “I would wake up in the morning to Danielle blasting some sort of GarageBand beat on speakers and I was like, ‘that’s fire, but I’m trying to sleep!’” laughs Alana, reenacting the scenario. The sisters still use the exact same process as they did in the early days. “As a songwriter it’s really stifling to be like, ‘I’m gonna write a full song today’. I think for us, it’s always just been about not putting too much pressure on yourself,” says Danielle of their foolproof technique. “Sit down, just write a part, just write a thing, just write one melody that you like, throw spaghetti at the wall!”

But despite ‘Relationships’ initially arriving so quickly, it took a lot of wasted pasta for it to finally come to full fruition. When HAIM tried to record the song, it just never quite fit. “It was the thorn in our side, but also as three sisters we knew there was something to it,” explains Danielle. Looking back, the group thinks it was meant to be that way. “It’s funny how the universe works,” says Alana. “Somebody up there knew this one wasn’t supposed to be on that album and they put every sort of roadblock in front of it so we couldn’t finish it.” But the song refused to quit, and when it came to the new album, ‘Relationships’ resurfaced. “It took seven years to get to that point and then it [got] finished really quickly,” says Danielle. “Somebody in the universe was like, ‘hold on, babes’,” says Alana before being interrupted by her sister. “We’re talking a lot about spirits,” Danielle laughs, “that’s a very LA thing.” “Well, you know what, I’m from LA, so fuck it!” Alana retorts.

This fourth outing isn’t all owing to the forces that be; rather, the sisters put all of themselves into the ‘I quit’ story. The record is their most vulnerable and open yet, with self-discovery at the front and centre. “We’ve just grown so much and we had the courage to be extremely vulnerable on this record,” says Alana. “We’re talking about one night stands, fucking around, being in your head, having fun, falling in love, and also thinking ‘what the fuck is going on?’… my parents are gonna love this album!” she grimaces, almost realising as she speaks that they’ll hear all of the above.

Despite their devotion to courage, they’re only human, and mental health doesn’t discriminate. “I struggle with anxiety, so it’s not like you can just shut that off and it’s gone forever,” admits Danielle. “Sometimes I get in my head about how I present myself to the world, even in very niche or small social interactions,” she pauses for a moment, “but I can’t live my life just always being in my head and worrying if people are gonna think a certain way about me.” This relatable fear is addressed on ‘Everybody’s trying to figure mme out’ - one of HAIM’s most exposed songs yet. “You think you’re going to die, but you’re not going to die,” Danielle repeats on the song. “I’ve just used it as a mantra for myself,” she explains. There’s these moments where you’re like, ‘fuck, how am I gonna get through this?’” Alana relates: “Like when you’re having a panic attack and you’re reminding yourself ‘this will pass and I’m not gonna die from this. I just need to take a second and come into my own’.”

But how have they got to this point? Alana, who refers to herself a “classic overthinker” admits she relies on her siblings to abate her worries. “It’s a group effort, and I think that you really need good people around you to not have that fear, to not overthink. Right before I go to bed, I’ll call one of my sisters and literally trauma dump - then I feel better, but I’ll give my trauma to them,” she laughs a little self-consciously, before gathering her thoughts. “I’m really lucky - it’s really nice to have two siblings that allow me to do that. They’ll constantly remind me, ‘don’t have fear, don’t overthink, just keep the vibes up, keep it going - it’s single summer!’”.

Rolling Stone U.K. wrote how I quit could be the soundtrack of the summer. One of the most exciting albums of the year, it has the potential to dominate. It would be great if HAIM are playing Glastonbury. We shall see! Go and follow them and order I quit. One of the most remarkably consistent groups of their generation, they will keep on putting up excellent music. I am interested to see where their sound takes them next. On the basis of what we have heard from I quit, this group keeps…

GROWING stronger and stronger.

___________

Follow HAIM

PHOTO CREDIT: David Brandon Geeting for GQ

Official:

https://www.haimofficial.com/

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/haimtheband

TikTok:

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

Twitter:

https://x.com/haimtheband

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/4Ui2kfOqGujY81UcPrb5KE?si=CgkRwPPiRUSa_oB2D2M8Tw

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9Dln8col-vr7GB1UTR789w

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/haimtheband/

FEATURE: The Kiss of Seedcake: Pitching a Kate Bush Seminar or Symposium

FEATURE:

 

 

The Kiss of Seedcake

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1989/PHOTO CREDIT: Kevin Cummins

Pitching a Kate Bush Seminar or Symposium

__________

I raised this idea…

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush with Ray Davies at the 1987 BPI Awards

back in 2021. I have written about how there needs to be more interaction among Kate Bush fans and ‘experts’. Whether a convention or a special event, I have been thinking whether there is any way to set something up pretty soon. I am always thinking whether I could undertake a larger Kate Bush project. I am still toying with a podcast. Not a regular thing but one that commemorates a special anniversary. Perhaps Hounds of Love is a perfect excuse. That album turns forty on 16th September. I don’t really think that I will ever write a book. I would like to think I could compile this tome that is a forensic look at Kate Bush’s career. Maybe a look back at her earlier life and take it right through to the current day. I feel like a convention or special event might be on the horizon, though it would take more money and organisation. The thing about something more academic is that you get to hear about Kate Bush’s work in a less conventional way. There was a convention/symposium held in Scotland years ago. I can’t remember who organised it, but the event saw people discuss Kate Bush. They had written essays and papers. Looking at her as a fashion icon or innovator for example. Rather than it being very dry and like a lecture, it was a much more accessible and loose affair. I wish I could pull up details of that event. However, it got me thinking how there is not much of that today. It would be wonderful to hold an event – what would the correct term even be?! – and have these discussions. Maybe authors who have written about Kate Bush. People ion fields like fashion, literature, film and radio who could talk about Kate Bush from different perspectives.

Maybe held in Scotland again, there is so much more to discuss about her now than ever. I would like to get involved. I am not sure whether I would take a special topic or would be more general. I feel like a discussion around The Kick Inside, her 1978 debut album, would appeal to me. Approaching that in a particular way. Maybe as a female album. One that was more mature and daring than anything released around that time. How it has impacted women in music since. Dissect some of the songs and their lyrics. It is good that there is online discussion about Kate Bush. That she is subject to so much interaction and debate. I recently wrote a feature asking whether it would be possible to get there legendary Kate Bush photographers in the same space. Gered Mankowitz, Guido Harari and John Carder Bush (her brother) have photographed Kate Bush at various different stages of her career. Exploring their photos and talking about Kate Bush as this photographic subject. There is so much to consider and unravel when it comes to this artist. Her influence is so strong today. Perhaps s mix of discussions and live performances. Maybe having it more like live podcasts rather than someone at a lectern or on a stage on their own. This year, as I have said a few times, is a big one for anniversaries. I am sure I can come up with something regarding Hounds of Love and an anniversary podcast. Or something a bit bigger. I know I am running out time. Less than three months to go! I do hope that someone somewhere does something special for Hounds of Love. In the meantime, I am looking around and all of these people across multiple fields who would be wonderful and engaging talking about Kate Bush.

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in a promotional photo for Aerial in 2005/PHOTO CREDIT: Trevor Leighton

I will finish off soon. If anyone has any interest in this or would have thoughts regarding who could be involved, it may be something to seriously ponder for the future. I am excited to see what the next year or two holds for Kate Bush. A new album will come along at some point. I am sure there will be other activity and engagement. She is always doing something, so who knows what more can come! It is a great and exciting time to be a Kate Bush fan. There are virtually no bigger events or projects about Kate Bush. Maybe because it takes a lot of time and money to pull it together. I would love for there to be this one or two-day event where we could have filmed podcasts, talks and live performances that celebrates Kate Bush. So many tantalising options regarding speakers and guests. Rather than it being another far-fetched idea that will come to nothing, I think this has more substance and potential. That it could genuinely be realised and a success. Not this year, though possibly in the next year or two. If anyone has any ideas or their own version of this then I would be eager to hear about it. There is no real limit to what could be talked about and features. She has influenced so many sectors and spheres of culture. Beyond that. All the artists of today who are clearly influenced by Kate Bush. A chance to put this under the spotlight. Talk about Kate Bush as one of the all-time best producers. In lieu of any documentaries or anything like that, this would be something that could be a great alternative. I am going to end with some obvious words from a Kate Bush song (the title of a song in fact) but they seem apt in this case. Having this incredible celebration and examination of Kate Bush. Something that could be streamed and people could attend too. A chance for people to come together and learn something new about a pioneering and truly remarkable artist. I would put my hand up, either to be involved or help organise things. There are few greater thrills than spending some valuable time discussing…

THIS woman’s work.

FEATURE: Spotlight: Revisited: Caity Baser

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight: Revisited

Caity Baser

__________

THIS is an artist…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What’s been your favourite performance so far?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A must-hear artist.

____________

Follow Caity Baser

 Official:

https://www.caitybaser.com/

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/caitybaser

Twitter:

https://x.com/BaserCaity

TikTok:

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

Spotify:

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

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/CaityBaserOfficial

FEATURE: Groovelines: The Beach Boys – Good Vibrations

FEATURE:

 

 

Groovelines

The Beach Boys – Good Vibrations

__________

BECAUSE the genius Brian Wilson…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

IN 2025.

FEATURE: Say You Love Me: Fleetwood Mac at Fifty

FEATURE:

 

 

Say You Love Me

Fleetwood Mac at Fifty

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THIS is an album…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

FIFTY years later.

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

FEATURE:

 

 

Beneath the Sleeve

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

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RELEASED in November 1971…

IN THIS PHOTO: Sly & The Family Stone

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Nile Rodgers

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

Greg Errico, drums, Sly and the Family Stone

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

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

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

Moor Mother

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

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

Speech, Arrested Development

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

EVERYONE needs to hear.

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

FEATURE:

 

 

The Class of ‘25

IN THIS PHOTO: Rose Gray

The Ten Best Albums of the Year So Far

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WE are over half-way through…

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

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

IN THIS PHOTO: HotWax/PHOTO CREDIT: Louise Mason

HAS their own top ten.

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Self Esteem – A Complicated Woman

Release Date: 25th April

Label: Polydor

Producers: Johan Hugo/Rob Milton

Standout Cuts: Mother/In Plain Sight/Lies

Review:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Key Track: Focus Is Power

Antony Szmierek - Service Station at the End of the Universe

Release Date: 28th February

Labels: Mushroom Music/Virgin Music Group

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

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

Review:

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

Key Track: The Great Pyramid of Stockport

Lambrini Girls - Who Let the Dogs Out

Release Date: 10th January

Label: City Slang

Producers: Daniel Fox/Lambrini Girls

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

Review:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Key Track: No Homo

Victoria Canal – Slowly, It Dawns

Release Date: 17th January

Label: Parlophone

Producers: Victoria Canal/Eg White/Kevin Farzad

Standout Cuts: Cake/Vauxhall/swan song

Review:

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

Key Track: California Sober

Heartworms - Glutton for Punishment

Release Date: 7th february

Label: Speedy Wunderground

Producer: Dan Carey

Standout Cuts: In the Beginning/Jacked/Warplane

Review:

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

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

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

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

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

Key Track: Extraordinary Wings

Sam Fender – People Watching

Release Date: 21st February

Label: Polydor

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

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

Review:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Key Track: Little Bit Closer

HotWax- Hot Shock

Release Date: 7th March

Label: Marathon Artists

Producers: Catherine Marks/Steph Marziano/Stella Mozgawa

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

Review:

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

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

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

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

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

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

Key Track: In Her Bedroom

Little Simz – Lotus

Release Date: 6th June

Labels: Forever Living Originals/AWAL

Producer: Miles Clinton James

Standout Cuts: Flood/Free/Lion

Review:

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

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

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

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

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

Key Track: Young

Pulp – More

Release Date: 6th June

Label: Rough Trade

Producer: James Ford

Standout Cuts: Spike Island/Slow Jam/My Sex

Review:

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

Key Track: Tina

Rose Gray – Louder, Please

Release Date: 17th January

Label: PIAS

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

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

Review:

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

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

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

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

Key Track: Angel of Satisfaction

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

FEATURE:

Kate Bush: The Tour of Life

ALL PHOTOS: John Carder Bush

Following John Carder Bush’s KATE: Inside the Rainbow

__________

I think the last time…

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

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

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

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

Includes original essays from Kate's brother:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

WE could only dream of.

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

FEATURE:

 

 

Footnotes

IN THIS PHOTO: CMAT

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

__________

THIS is a feature…

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Nash

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

IN THIS PHOTO: Lucy Cox

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

THIS music queen.