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

FEATURE:

 

Not One of Us

Reading & Leeds and a Continuing Sexism Problem

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ANOTHER festival has announced their line-up…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

SAME old excuses and problems.

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

FEATURE: 

Eponymously Yours

Peter Gabriel at Seventy: His Five Finest Albums

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AS the sensational Peter Gabriel…

PHOTO CREDIT: York Tillyer

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

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

A true great.

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Peter Gabriel 1: Car

Release Date: 25th February, 1977

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

Producer: Bob Ezrin

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

Review:

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

Standout Track: Solsbury Hill

Peter Gabriel 3: Melt

Release Date: 23rd May, 1980

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

Producer: Steve Lillywhite

Key Cuts: Intruder/Family Snapshot/Biko  

Review:

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

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

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

Standout Track: Games Without Frontiers 

Peter Gabriel 4: Security

Release Date: 6th September, 1982

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

Producers: David Lord/Peter Gabriel

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

Review:

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

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

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

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

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

Standout Track: Shock the Monkey 

So

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Release Date: 19th May, 1986

Labels: Charisma/Virgin/Geffen

Producers: Peter Gabriel/Daniel Lanois

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

Review:

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

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

Standout Track: Sledgehammer 

Passion (Soundtrack for The Last Temptation of Christ)

Release Date: 5th June, 1989

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

Producer: Peter Gabriel

Key Cuts: Gethsemane/ Lazarus Raised/ With This Love

Review:

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

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

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

Standout Track: Stigmata

FEATURE: Vinyl Corner: Hole – Celebrity Skin

FEATURE: 

Vinyl Corner

Hole – Celebrity Skin

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THERE are a couple of reasons why…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

ABSOLUTELY amazing.  

FEATURE: Modern Heroines: Part Nineteen: Robyn

FEATURE: 

Modern Heroines

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PHOTO CREDIT: Clare Shilland

Part Nineteen: Robyn

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

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

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

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

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

PHOTO CREDIT: Luke Gilford for GARAGE Magazine

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

FOR years to come.

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

FEATURE:

 

God’s Jukebox 

PHOTO CREDIT: @kellysikkema/Unsplash

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

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IT may be a simple case of…

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PHOTO CREDIT: @stairhopper/Unsplash

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

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PHOTO CREDIT: @rocinante_11/Unsplash

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

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PHOTO CREDIT: @moco1384/Unsplash

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

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PHOTO CREDIT: @rolinsndvl/Unsplash

MEANS more than the rest.

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

FEATURE: 

From the Ashes

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PHOTO CREDIT: @halannahalila/Unsplash

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

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WHEN I checked Twitter yesterday…

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PHOTO CREDIT: Petr David Josek/AP/Shutterstock

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

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

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

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

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

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ILLUSTRATION CREDIT: Lucy-Rae Naylor

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

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

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

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PHOTO CREDIT: Freepik

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

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PHOTO CREDIT: @florenciaviadana/Unsplash

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

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

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

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

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

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

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IN THIS PHOTO: Jack White

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

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

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

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PHOTO CREDIT: @julemergener_/Unsplash

LOVE their vinyl.

FEATURE: The College Genius: BBC Radio 6 Music As It Prepares for Its Eighteenth Birthday

FEATURE:

The College Genius

IN THIS IMAGE: Lauren Laverne presents weekday breakfasts between 7:30-10:30 on BBC Radio 6 Music/IMAGE CREDIT: BBC

BBC Radio 6 Music As It Prepares for Its Eighteenth Birthday

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I know its birthday is not until…

IN THIS PHOTO: Mark Radcliffe (alongside Stuart Maconie) presents weekend breakfasts between 7:00-10:00/PHOTO CREDIT: BBC

11th March but, with about a month to go, it is like celebrations of album anniversaries. You post something ahead of time so people are aware and, let’s be fair, so other people do not beat you to it! I have written about BBC Radio 6 Music quite a few times in the past (including this recent article) but, as the station is about to turn eighteen – and it can legally buy itself a beer! -, I think that is worth celebrating! Known as BBC 6 Music from its launch in 2002 to April 2011, it has added the ‘Radio’ since – I prefer it. BBC Radio 6 Music – I shall refer to it as such from here on -, was the first national music radio station to be launch by the BBC in thirty-two years. One can access the official site or tune your DAB in – you can also access the station on digital television. Whilst I am going to tip my hat to the presenters and everyone who makes the station run and grow, I wanted to focus on two things as BBC Radio 6 Music turns eighteen: its survival and how influential it is. BBC Radio 6 Music has always been dogged by the perception that it caters heavily towards Alternative music and guitars. Maybe that was partially true when they started – the first song played was Ash’s Burn Baby Burn -, but the station is broader than any out there. This is why I, and so many others, make it our station of choice! I hope that, one day, the station broadens out a bit when it comes to Pop and older songs; maybe picking up a few songs one might find on BBC Radio 2’s playlist!

IN THIS PHOTO: Steve Lamacq (pictured with Nadine Shah) presents weekdays from 4-7 p.m./PHOTO CREDIT: BBC

That is a minor quibble because, as you will notice when you tune in and listen to all the shows, there is a huge variety of music on display. I listen to the fabulous Lauren Laverne and Chris Hawkins a lot. I also listen to the brilliant Shaun Keaveny every weekday in addition to Steve Lamacq. From Cerys Matthews, to Gideon Coe, through to Craig Charles, Liz Kershaw, Iggy Pop, and Gilles Peterson, each presenter has their own flavour and theme - I cannot write a detailed appraisal of each presenter, but trust me when I say they are ace! Each person on the station adores what they do, and the fact so many of the presenters have been at the station for many years shows it is a place to be; a haven and station that does what others cannot. A few of the talent – including Chris Hawkins and Tom Robinson (who also presents the BBC Introducing Mixtape) – have been there since the early days, and one feels they will be at the station for many years more – let us hope so! Whether you love the wit of Mark Radcliffe and Stuart Maconie on weekend breakfasts or Mary Anne Hobbs’ expertise weekday mornings, there is something for every ear! I also love Miranda Sawyer’s Sound and Vision, Guy Garvey’s Finest Hour, and Don Letts’ Culture Clash Radio! I am going to try and tag every presenter and music news peep I can when posting this article but, if I have left too many people off, I hope they will forgive me! The BBC Radio 6 Music family is a united and strong one, where everyone there provides golden radio; one can hear the passion in every single moment. BBC Radio 6 Music have seen their listener figures increase, and the station is growing larger and stronger:

“And Virgin’s digital-only rival BBC Radio 6 Music had a stonking quarter, up 8.4% year-on-year at 2.49m – it’s now back in front of Kisstory (2.2m, up 22.1% year-on-year) and the biggest digital station. The result for 6 Music comes 10 years after the BBC announcement that the station would close - a decision later reversed. Meanwhile, 1Xtra is still hovering around a million, but slips back with a 6.5% decline year-on-year to 987,000. BBC Radio 3 had its biggest audience since 2016 (2.13m, up 16.4% year-on-year)”.

It is testament to the dedication of the broadcasters and the quality of the shows that means BBC Radio 6 Music will continue to swell and build its empire. It is shocking to imagine what could have been if the BBC had scrapped the station in 2010! There were plenty of articles published around the time perplexed by the BBC’s cut plans.

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IN THIS PHOTO: Mary Anne Hobbs at Jumbo Records in 2019 - Hobbs can be heard weekdays from 10:30 a.m.-1 p.m. on BBC Radio 6 Music/PHOTO CREDIT: BBC

Music news presenters like Matt Everitt, Georgie Rogers, Helen Weatherhead, Siobhán McAndrew, and Clare Crane keep us informed of all the latest happenings and need-to-know announcements…and one often overlooks the dedicated producers who do not get the same credit as presenters but are invaluable and ensure we actually get to hear a show! I think we can put the issue of diversification, sonically, to bed, as one of the most frequent things I see on social media related to BBC Radio 6 Music is how varied they are! Not only does this extend to the classics and well-known tracks, but the brand-new stuff. Not limited by genre, the station throws the door open to the best music around. I first encountered BBC Radio 6 Music quite a few years after it started, but I have found so many artists through them; many I have written about and follow closely. In the same vein, I am always picking up on songs I had forgotten about, those that BBC Radio 6 Music bring back into my life. Whether it is Jon Hillcock, Lauren Laverne, Tom Ravenscroft or Tom Robinson digging up some new brilliance, or Marc Riley and the ultra-cool Huey Morgan offering up some tasty cuts, there is no station like BBC Radio 6 Music! I have not even mentioned the wonderful Amy Lamé and Nemone - check out their incredible shows! (The marvellous Katie Puckrik and Huw Stephens are passionate stand-in presenters who would be popular in a larger role). It was only eight years into its life that BBC Radio 6 Music was faced with extinction. By July 2010, a BBC Trust announced that it had rejected plans by the BBC to close the station; though the mere suggestion BBC Radio 6 Music is expendable is laughable. The station has grown since but, even a decade ago, the BBC Trust knew that BBC Radio 6 Music was highly-valued and offered a rich contribution.

By 2018, BBC Radio 6 Music was the most-listened-to digital-only station; it brings new listeners in all of the time, and there will never be talk again of closures or cutbacks. The station is not perfect, I’ll admit: the comparative lack of female broadcasters is alarming (even if there is more balance in terms of gender when it comes to producers), and I think there could be greater recruitment in that area. We have Gemma Cairney (who presents The Leisure Society) and Georgie Rogers on the music news – who, as I have said many times, is qualified and popular enough to helm her own show. This is an aside because, aside from some minor quibbles, BBC Radio 6 Music goes from strength to strength! The dedication of its broadcasters, producers, and staff will ensure the station continues to draw in new listeners for decades to come. It is humbling to think that, in a matter of weeks, BBC Radio 6 Music will be eighteen! In 2002, albums like The Streets’ Original Pirate Material, Queens of the Stone Age’s Songs for the Deaf, and Norah Jones’ Come Away with Me were turning heads. In the middle of an eclectic and exciting year for music, this fledgling station was coming into the world. BBC Radio 6 Music responds with the times, and it keeps its music roster fresh and multifarious. There are great features one gets hooked on, and there is this addictive, warm quality that means, once tuned in, one is hooked!

In its third decade (making me feel old!), I can see new successes for BBC Radio 6 Music. The 6 Music Festival is back and coming from Camden this year. It runs from 6th-8th March, and you can see more details here. Keep abreast of all the latest happenings via the station’s Instagram and fantastic Twitter accounts. Go and see all the latest videos and live sessions on BBC Radio 6 Music’s YouTube channel. I think the fact BBC Radio 6 Music is alternative and strays away from the mainstream is appealing to people. Whereas other big BBC stations tend to have a defined demographic, BBC Radio 6 Music speaks to listeners of all ages and tastes. A decade after the station was threatened with closure, the future looks very bright for BBC Radio 6 Music! I think the success and growing popularity of BBC Radio 6 Music has inspired so many people to get into radio; it has influenced others to start their own podcast and, actually, I wouldn’t be surprised to see another digital station appear on the BBC that builds on BBC Radio 6 Music and adds in new angles and ideas – a sister station that would have a similar ethos. On 11th March, the station turns eighteen and leaves college; it is bound for university, it can buy alcohol and it is an adult. So many people remember when BBC Radio 6 Music was an infant and finding its feet - my, how our child has grown! Now, it is one of the jewels in the BBC crown, and a station that offers so, so much. Artists consider it a badge of honour being played on BBC Radio 6 Music and, with so many stations providing very little in the way of entertainment, variety and wide-ranging music, we are very lucky to have BBC Radio 6 Music! It is only left for us to raise a glass and wish this sensational station…

IMAGE CREDIT: BBC

ONE hell of a birthday!

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FEATURE: Her Sensual World: Kate Bush’s Language of Love

,

FEATURE:

 

Her Sensual World

PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush

Kate Bush’s Language of Love

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WE are heading closer to Valentine’s Day…

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush photographed on 23rd October, 1983/PHOTO CREDIT: Sunday Mirror/Mirrorpix/Getty Images

and I have been thinking about Kate Bush’s music. I have written a fair few features about her, but I don’t think, if I remember rightly, I have ever really talked about her sensuality and sexuality. One of the most affecting things about her music is its honesty and openness. Even on her debut, The Kick Inside, Bush was writing about desire, sex, and love in a very arresting and uninhibited way. It is one of the reasons I love that album as much as I do. Bush’s take on love, even as a teenager, was never of someone scornful and judgmental. One would be hard-placed to name many modern artists whose music has the same balance of sensuality, positivity and depth. I am reminded of a song like The Man with the Child in His Eyes. It is about a man having that innocence and child-like curiosity; Bush songs in a very impassioned and committed way. It was about her then-boyfriend, Steve Blacknell, and right throughout The Kick Inside, we hear this young woman exploring love and sex in a very positive way. Not only was Bush hopeful and lacking in any resentment, she could describe lust and attraction like nobody else. Phrases like “You came out of the night/Wearing a mask in white colour” (from L'Amour Looks Something Like You) is a superb image; Feel It is a gorgeously-delivered song where Bush sings: “Here comes one and one makes one/The glorious union, well, it could be love/Or it could be just lust but it will be fun/It will be wonderful”.

Whilst Bush would write more complex love songs later in her career, that combination of her angelic, arresting voice and the way she describes longing and affecting…it is like no other artist! I am not saying a positive outlook on love is rare – as plenty of artists have written songs that are hopeful -, but Bush has rarely penned a line where she scolds her lover or talks about the cruelty of love. Maybe some of her expressions and lyrics on The Kick Inside – “My heart is thrown to the pebbles and the boatmen/All the time I find I'm living in that evening/With that feeling of sticky love inside” from L'Amour Looks Something Like You veers from the poetic to the explicit in a manner of seconds – are not overly-sophisticated and, at times, they bordered on the explicit. The Kick Inside turns forty-two on 17th February, and I have been revisiting it quite a bit. When a then-teenage Bush sings of desire and sex, It does not sound like her contemporaries – rather juvenile and commercial -, but more like an older soul; one who has greater wisdom and curiosity and, with it, a much more interesting take on love and romance. Bush’s debut album came at a time when Punk was all the rage and, with very few comparisons out there, her songwriting was a breath of fresh air. I want to quote from Laura Snapes’ review of The Kick Inside where she discusses Bush’s musical urges and the way her writing/mindset differed from artists of the time:

“Besides, Bush had always felt that she had male musical urges, drawing distinctions between herself and the female songwriters of the 1960s. “That sort of stuff is sweet and lyrical,” Bush said of Carole King and co. in 1978, “but it doesn’t push it on you, and most male music—not all of it, but the good stuff—really lays it on you. It’s like an interrogation. It really puts you against the wall and that’s what I’d like my music to do. I’d like my music to intrude.”

But provocation for its own sake wasn’t Bush’s project. EMI not pushing her to make an album at 15 was a blessing: The Kick Inside arrived the year after punk broke, which Bush knew served her well. “People were waiting for something new to come out—something with feeling,” she said in 1978. For anyone who scoffed at her punk affiliation—given her teenage mentorship at the hands of Pink Floyd’s Dave Gilmour and her taste for the baroque—she indisputably subverted wanky prog with her explicit desire and sexuality: Here was how she might intrude. The limited presence of women in prog tended to orgasmic moaning that amplified the supposed sexual potency of the group’s playing. Bush demanded pleasure, grew impatient when she had to wait for it, and ignored the issue of male climax—rock’s founding pleasure principle—to focus on how sex might transform her. “I won’t pull away,” she sings almost as a threat on “Feel It,” alone with the piano. “My passion always wins.”

What made Bush’s writing truly radical was the angles she could take on female desire without ever resorting to submissiveness. “Wuthering Heights” is menacing melodrama and ectoplasmic empowerment; “The Saxophone Song”—one of two recordings made when she was 15—finds her fantasizing about sitting in a Berlin bar, enjoying a saxophonist’s playing and the effect it has on her. But she is hardly there to praise him: “Of all the stars I’ve seen that shine so brightly/I’ve never known or felt in myself so rightly,” she sings of her reverie, with deep seriousness. We hear his playing, and it isn’t conventionally romantic but stuttering, coarse, telling us something about the unconventional spirits that stir her”.

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PHOTO CREDIT: Trinity Mirror/Mirrorpix/Alamy

Bush was an artist who did not just write about relationships and love. A lot of modern artists could learn something from Bush when it comes to lyrics variety and imagination but, when she did put passions in the spotlight, she was always unique, original and engaging. Lionheart’s Don't Push Your Foot on the Heartbrake uses images of a vehicle and a slippery road to describe a woman (Emma) losing her flame. In the Warm Room begins with the evocative and stunning opening verse: “In the warm room/Her perfume reaches you/Eventually you'll fall for her/Down you'll go/To where the mellow wallows”. Some people – idiots – scoff at Bush’s gymnastic vocals and lyrics, thinking they are a bit ridiculous and hippy-dippy. Even from her first album, Bush was writing lines that took love away from the cliché and heartbroken to new realms and heights. I was actually going to write a feature about the song, Breathing, as it turns forty on 14th April; a gem of a song from Never for Ever (1980), it is a moment where Bush embraced the political in a way she had never done before. I digress. Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) from Hounds of Love (1985) is about Bush trading shoes/bodies with a man so they could see what the other goes through and, in doing so, have a greater understanding of one another.

There was a period of Bush’s recording life where she was actually writing more about subjects away from relationships – The Kick Inside (1978) to The Sensual World (1989). Even though I love Bush when stepping away from love, I find myself awed and dumbstruck when she sings of sensuousness and passion. I missed out on mentioning Wuthering Heights from The Kick Inside, where Bush plays the role of Catherine Earnshaw from Emily Brontë’s masterpiece; a spectral figure at Heathcliffe’s window. Bush steps beyond the personal and limited and incorporates literature, the natural world, and a variety of settings when she sings of love and passion. The title track from The Sensual World (1989) was inspired by Molly Bloom stepping out of the black-and-white, two-dimensional pages of James Joyce's Ulysses into the real world…and is immediately struck by the sensuality of it all. Love and Anger (from The Sensual World) is one of Bush’s finest set of lyrics: “Take away the love and the anger/And a little piece of hope holding us together/Looking for a moment that'll never happen/Living in the gap between past and future/Take away the stone and the timber/And a little piece of rope won't hold it together”. The Red Shoes’ And So Is Love is one of Bush’s most impassioned performances; 50 Words for Snow’s (2011) Misty – Bush showing she is as saucy, boundary-pushing and unique as she was on The Kick Inside – concerns a snowman lover who melts away after a night of passion.

It is almost Valentine’s Day and, on the radio, we will hear a slew of classic love songs that, whilst good, are riddled with clichés, hyperbole and, often, negativity. I have only mentioned a few of Kate Bush’s great songs but, on every occasion, she wrote something original and different to what came before. I have mentioned how Bush rarely wrote anything judgmental and bitter; she has a very positive attitude towards men and, when it comes to love, she could blend incredible poetry with racy images without losing focus. Bush’s voice is, obviously, very beautiful and varied, but few people mention her way with words when it comes to matters of the heart. If you are not a fan of Valentine’s Day or the usual kind of love song, spend some time investigating Kate Bush’s music and one will find something much more immersive and intriguing. Her incredible lyrical approach and majestic voice is a stunning blend that overpowers the heart and mind. I think a lot of songs that deal with love and relationships leave a bitter taste and can be quite forlorn. Even when Bush has lost love and is looking around for meaning – “Every day and night I pray/And pray that you will stay away forever/It's so hard for love to stay together/With the modern Western pressures” (Between a Man and a Woman, The Sensual World), there seems to be this hope; something the listener can take away or, at the very least, a set of lyrics that is miles removed from anything anyone else is doing. Bush is a masterful lyricist and is someone who can talk of war and loss as memorably as desire and passion. When it comes to matters of the heart and soul (and loins), Kate Bush is…

ONE of the all-time greats writers.

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

FEATURE:

 

Sisters in Arms

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IN THIS PHOTO: H.E.R.

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

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THIS weekend is going to be…

IN THIS PHOTO: Adwaith

a changeable one for weather, and tomorrow is especially rough. Many people will experience some wild weather, so I think it is a chance to stay in with some music and just relax. Rather than brave the elements, stay in with this collection of tracks from some of the finest women in music right now. Every week produces killer tracks from all corners of the musical map – this week is no exception. It has been a fantastic week for music, so have a listen to these golden cuts, and they will make you feel safe…

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IN THIS PHOTO: Isabelle Brown

AND warm.  

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La Roux – He Rides

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I Break Horses – Death Engine

Låpsley – Womxn

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PHOTO CREDIT: @andrea_savall

Hinds – Good Bad Times

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Sharon Van Etten – Beaten Down

Ina Wroldsen – Pale Horses

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MARINA – About Love (from the Netflix film, To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You)

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PHOTO CREDIT: @mariesutter

Red Moon – Dogma

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Phantogram – Pedestal

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Isobel Campbell – Rainbow

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Adwaith - Lan Y Môr

Georgia Ku – Ever Really Know

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Lauren Jauregui – Invisible Chains

Maisie Peters – Smile

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Frazey Ford – Purple and Brown

SIIGHTS – Better Now

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lau.ra, Secaina – Sideways

Anne-Marie – Birthday

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Carly Rae Jepsen – Let’s Be Friends

Christine and the Queens – People, i’ve been sad

Nadine Shah – Ladies For Babies (Goats For Love)

Beach Bunny – Promises

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Dagny – Come Over

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H.E.R. – Comfortable

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Isabelle Brown – To Say Goodbye

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PHOTO CREDIT: Brandon Hicks

Victoria Monét – Moment

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Basia Bulat – Already Forgiven

FEATURE: The February Playlist: Vol. 2: Beaten Down, But Not Defeated

FEATURE:

The February Playlist

IN THIS PHOTO: Sharon Van Etten

Vol. 2: Beaten Down, But Not Defeated

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THIS week is crammed with great tracks…

and some really big artists are in the spotlight. Apart from new tracks from Sharon Van Etten, Christine and the Queens, and La Roux, there are ace tunes from Nadine Shah, Green Day, and FOALS - in addition to some sparklers from Hayley Williams, Moses Sumney, and Willy J Healey. This weekend is going to be pretty unsettled weather-wise, so it is best to settle down with some good music. It is a typically eclectic week, so have fun with this great selection! Although we are only just in February, this year has started off incredibly. It makes me wonder what gold we will receive…

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IN THIS PHOTO: Christine and the Queens/PHOTO CREDIT: Eve Pentel for DIY

NEXT week.

ALL PHOTOS/IMAGES (unless credited otherwise): Artists

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PHOTO CREDIT: Ryan Pfluger

Sharon Van Etten - Beaten Down

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Christine and the Queens - People, I’ve been sad

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Nadine Shah - Ladies for Babies (Goats for Love)

Green Day – Oh Yeah!

Isobel Campbell – Ant Life

EOB – Shangri-La

PHOTO CREDIT: Joe Wheatley

Willie J Healey - Why You Gotta Do It

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La Roux – Everything I Live For

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Hayley Williams – Cinnamon

PHOTO CREDIT: Eddie Chacon

Best Coast - Different Light

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PHOTO CREDIT: Sam Neill

FOALS – Neptune

H.E.R. – Comfortable

The Pussycat Dolls - React

Jack Garratt – Time

The 1975 - Me & You Together Song

Halsey – Experiment on Me

Moses Sumney – Cut Me

Anne-Marie – Birthday

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Hinds - Good Bad Times

Beabadoobee - Sun More Often

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Circa Waves – Sad Happy

Beardyman - Every End Is A Beginning | SHEER VOLUME - 1/52

Oh Wonder – Hallelujah

PHOTO CREDIT: Jack McKain

Khruangbin, Leon Bridges - Conversion

Adam Lambert (ft. Nile Rodgers) - ROSES

Carly Rae Jepsen - Let's Be Friends

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PHOTO CREDIT: Charlotte Patmore

King Krule – Alone, Omen 3

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Beach Bunny – Promises

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The Shires – Independence Day

Adwaith - Lan Y Môr

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PHOTO CREDIT: Erica Hernandez

Victoria Monét – Moment

Nathaniel Rateliff - All or Nothing

TRACK REVIEW: Nadine Shah - Ladies For Babies (Goats For Love)

TRACK REVIEW:

 

 

Nadine Shah

Ladies For Babies (Goats For Love)

9.6/10

The track, Ladies For Babies (Goats For Love), is available from:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XX9bxRCVWnI

GENRE:

Indie Rock

ORIGIN:

London, U.K.

RELEASE DATE:

3rd February, 2020

LABEL:

WMG (on behalf of Infectious Music)

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ALTHOUGH her new track has been out a few days…

I wanted to cover Nadine Shah’s Ladies For Babies (Goats For Love) today because I think a lot more people should listen to it and, now that it is the weekend, settle down and listen to this fantastic song. Before I move on, I want to introduce another feature I wrote recently, that argues how Shah will be an icon in the future. It is a chorological look at her music, and it shows just how good her back catalogue is. I think she will be a huge fixture on the festival scene this year. I have a few points to cover off but, before I do, the release date of the song is interesting. Of course, Shah’s latest track has been included in Spotify’s New Music Friday lists, but Ladies For Babies (Goats For Love) arrived at the start of the week. I remember when albums and singles came out on a Monday. It was the start of the week and, after school, I would go and grab a single or album. In fact, there was something fantastic about waiting until the weekend. A big album or single would come out on the Monday, and it would force me not to spend money on sweets and other bits so that I could afford the album and the bus fare. Having that sort of anticipation and excitement build was great, and it would add extra sweetness to the weekend! I am not sure why the day of release was changed from Monday to Friday, but I sort of like when artists put out a single or album earlier in the week. Of course, Nadine Shah’s latest track is only available online, but one gets tired of the cliché release schedule where artists wait until a Friday and then put out tracks so they can be on Spotify lists or fit in with the crowd.

I do not think there is any risk releasing a song on any other day of the week, but Shah is someone who does not follow the stereotypical and commercial. I have been watching her video on YouTube and, whilst it does not have as many views as bigger Pop songs, it is a much stronger video (than most produce) and I can see Shah is promoting the song quite a lot – an artist who is very proud of her work. Although Shah will most likely not see this review, I wonder why we do not have more journalists reacting to songs in a deep and forensic way. I understand my writing is pretty extensive and thorough, but one does not have to go too crazy. When singles are released, I tend to find websites mention it and then provide a link. I know album reviews are more common, but I think it is important to throw more love the way of singles. It is great so many people have reacted positively to Shah’s Ladies For Babies (Goats For Love), but it would be nice to see proper single reviews return. Shah herself, as I said, is pushing the track, and it is always brilliant when she releases music. I shall move on in a second but, first, I want to stay on the theme of releases and schematics. I do think, when it comes to Spotify playlists and YouTube, there is priority given to the mainstream Pop artists. I think artists like Nadine Shah are much more interesting and stronger and, as we welcome in this new year, I wonder whether things need to change. Maybe it would be hard to do that, yet there is this wave of artists with something important to say that are not held in the same esteem as more commercial artists. Let’s hope lots more people listen to Shah’s latest track because, as you’d expect, it is a gem!

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I will bring in a few topics of discussion but, before then, a few more details about Ladies For Babies (Goats For Love). The Quietus explain more:

 “The album, which follows 2017's excellent Holiday Destination - number five in our top 100 of that year - is preceded by lead single 'Ladies For Babies (Goats For Love)', which you can watch the video for above.

Shah says of the track: "My brother was making a comment on sexism when he was younger and made a painting of a man embracing a goat with the phrase “ladies for babies, goats for love”. It always stuck with me, I guess 'cause it sounded daft but really because even back then I knew its true meaning and intent. I was also thinking about a lot of the songs I would have been listening to at the time, songs I sang along to innocently without question of the meaning.

"'Ladies for Babies' is a direct response to 'All That She Wants' by Ace of Base. I reversed the gender and I poke fun at a husband who expects nothing more from me, as a wife, than to carry his child and perform the role of the obeying subservient trophy wife. Only this time the mistress is a farmyard animal. A lot of my album explores subjects of sexism and tradition".

I was talking about Shah’s music and how it has something important to say. I think, especially earlier in her career, people did not look past the fact that she is a woman. I remember when her first couple of albums came out, and I was reading a lot of articles and comments that referred to her as a ‘female songwriter’. I think there are still attitudes that see women as a genre and do not realise that they are as strong and varied – if not more so – than male artists. I do a weekly playlist that is female-led, that shows just what talent and variety there is around.

It is pretty mad that, even in 2020, we have to have these discussions! In 2015, when Shah was talking about her album, Fast Food, to Time Out, the subject of gender came up:

And what’s Ben Hillier’s role?

‘Well, Ben and I: it’s 50/50, if I’m going to be completely honest. The melodies and the lyrics are all me, but Ben adds this character to the song that nobody else would have. It’s a complete collaboration. He’s like a partner in crime.’

So will you work with him for the foreseeable?

‘I’m going to work with Ben until one of us croaks it. There are so many producers that I’ve met who, as soon as they hear my voice, they want to do the Adele thing. They don’t get that the vocal isn’t the be-all-and-end-all.’

Is that just part of the shitty deal that women get in the music industry?

‘I’m quite lucky, because I only work with really fucking cool people and I’ve never been exposed to sexism in music that I know of. But one thing that irritates me is that because my band name is my name, people assume that it’s going to be a girl in a pretty little dress playing a ukulele. We’re a band, we make a big sound, but I think sometimes the nature of my name has held me back. “Female solo artist” has now become a genre, which is mental. It’s pretty appalling, considering the plethora of amazing women musicians out there.’”

I do hope attitudes and perceptions change, because the industry is not as enlightened as it should be. Festivals are still woefully skewed towards men, and they get the most attention when it comes to the music press and who goes on the cover. There have been changes and, to be fair, things are better than they were years ago. I still feel there is this perception women cannot handle the heavy lifting of a festival headline slot and their music all sounds the same. This feeling that female artists should look pretty and sing a particular way is an attitude one would expect in the 1950s yet, seventy years later, we are still hearing too much of this nonsense!

Shah is an artist who has spoken out against sexism and prejudice and, as a Muslim artist, she has faced a lot of crap through her career. I know the music industry has a problem with race and, like sexism, racism is something discussed often. This DIY article outlines how Shah has encountered a lot of discrimination and barriers:

“If it seems insane that it'd take three records and half a decade for an artist to be regarded more comprehensively than for the surface level of their gender, then it's one of many deep-rooted issues that Nadine has encountered and spoken out against. As a second generation immigrant and a Muslim woman in the music industry, she's sadly not exactly lacking in injustices visible to her from all angles. Ironically, even the fact of actively speaking out about these things levels another concern. "[You get labelled] a difficult woman. So I'm also very aware of having to pick my battles, but there's so many unfortunately at the minute to speak about," she exhales. "Originally it was as a mental health ambassador, and then talking about a rise in nationalism and the refugee crisis, women in music... so many different things at one time. And I worry that people will stop listening, because they'll think, oh she just complains about everything. But you've kind of got to..."

That is another thing to mention: how women are seen as ‘difficult’ when they speak out and take issue with any discrimination. I am not saying Nadine Shah has a harder time than other artists, but I know she would have had people trying to silence her when she spoke against sexism and prejudice. Shah is a role model for so many reasons. She is a very strong woman who does not take any guff from the industry and those who want to label her. I think the last couple of years especially have seen so many incredibly original and strong women emerge; making sure they are heard and get respect. Music is still bowed to the needs and music of men, but it is artists like Nadine Shah who are ensuring we see progression and balance – even if it is slower than it should be.

Gender and sexism will feed into my review of Ladies For Babies (Goats For Love), but I wanted to mention politics and how, if you are an artist, it is risky having an opinion. Taylor Swift is an artist with an enormous commercial stock, and I can imagine her record label clenching their buttchecks when she talked about political matters. It is only fairly recently where Swift has been more open about politics, and it is a shame that artists suffer criticism when they have a political viewpoint. We are living through some tough times, so I think artists should be free to have an opinion. Of course, if you are an artist like Morrissey and support far-right movements, then you are (rightly) going to get some stick – he is a bit of a bell-end, mind. Social media is a great platform for sharing music, but I wonder whether it creates more negativity and toxicity than it should. Nadine Shah is an artist who has opinions about the state of the U.K. and, as a Muslim woman from the North of England (although she is based in London now, I believe, Shah was born in Whitburn, South Tyneside to an English mother from South Shields of part Norwegian ancestry and a Pakistani father), her experience and perspective is different to a lot of people. She knows how those in power in London affect her family and her community; how it impacted her growing up and, as I shall explore later, how it contributes to mental-health problems and anxiety. When Shah spoke with DIY in 2018, the subject of politics came up:

 “In a social media landscape where expressing any kind of political view leaves you open to intense public scrutiny ("There’s been loads of conversations about whether music should be political and if Taylor Swift was isolating some of her audience by urging them to vote because they're Republicans, but THANK GOD someone with that power and reach is finally saying something," she notes, by way of example), Nadine’s candour and undiluted frustration across the last 12 months have been a hugely empowering force.

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More than wanting adulation and personal praise, it's markedly clear in conversation that what a bigger spotlight and a larger platform means to the singer is that she can shout these stories louder, and reach the places where they might need them the most. "I wish I was Adele. I keep saying it but I wish that Adele could have taken my album and put it out. I mean, it'd sound a lot better with her voice anyway, but she has far more clout than I have and she can speak to so many more people," she says. "I felt for so long that I was just preaching to the converted, but one thing that’s been so beautiful is that although people I’m speaking to already have the same political stance as me, they’ve been reassured that someone’s talking about it. What my album’s done for a lot of people is lend a voice to their own activism, and that’s really important. If you can't find the words, use these. They're yours, take it"

I think it is important to talk about race, politics, and gender in a music review because, as you will hear in Nadine Shah’s work, these issues are important. She looked at immigration in Holiday Destination and she is someone who has spoken candidly about mental-health and how low she was in the past. I am not sure how Shah feels about being a role model because she is a Muslim woman who plays guitar, but I know a lot of artists have seen and heard her interviews and feel more empowered. Whether they are Muslim artists or women in general – Shah has helped so many women (and men) and made them feel less alone. I will bring in another Holiday Destination-era interview. Shah spoke with The Independent and discussed how she felt about this label of being a ‘role model’:

“Shah is conscious that being a Muslim woman in the music industry makes her a role model: “If it inspires any young Muslim women to pick up a guitar and play a song, that’s brilliant.” She recalls two young women wearing hijabs in the crowd at her Roundhouse show, one of whom mouthed “thank you” and the other who gave her two thumbs up. “Obviously I burst out crying,” she says. “That is a memory that’s going to stay with me forever. It makes me want to do more. I am just one version of a Muslim woman, and people don’t get to see a lot of my kind.”

“I loved being mixed race growing up,” she says. “I felt it was something that made me different, and I had this wealth of beautiful culture to draw on that friends didn’t know about and I could teach them. Things were awful after 9/11. So I did find coming to London as an escape.” She now lives in north London’s Tottenham, which she loves for its diversity”.

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PHOTO CREDIT: Phil Smithies

I will get to the review very soon but, as I like to cover an artist from various angles and go beyond the song itself, I have a couple of other things to say. Many people were expecting Shah to stroll away with the Mercury Prize in 2018 for Holiday Destination (which was released the previous year). I am baffled why it did not win – Shah was pretty keen to win! -, but maybe it was because it was a bit too political. That seems unlikely, as the judging panel do not shy away from politics. Wolf Alice won the prize that year and, whilst their Visions of a Life album is great, Shah deserved it more. I do not want to bring up race and background, but the Mercury Prize, certainly the last few years, has been very London-centric – Wolf Alice are based out of London. I raise this argument, because Shah is an artist who deserves a lot more acclaim and attention. Whilst stations like BBC Radio 6 Music are firm fans, I think her music should be played more widely and, when it comes to awards and ceremonies, her name need to be on a few trophies. This Guardian article references the Mercury shortlist of 2018, and Shah’s reaction to the names included:

“She burst into tears when she found out she’d been shortlisted, but also felt disappointed at seeing established acts rather than newer, smaller names next to hers. She think Gwenno’s Le Kov also deserved a place, as well as Young Fathers’ Cocoa Sugar. “I was so happy to be nominated,” she explains, “and then artists like Noel Gallagher are on it. I was upset about that.”

Holiday Destination certainly stands alone in its overt despair at the world. While the past year is said to have signalled a new dawn for the rock’n’roll protest record, Shah says this is bullshit. “There were hardly any – and that’s not me being arrogant, that’s me shouting for other people to make them.” She makes favourable mention of Maximo Park’s Risk to Exist and Everything Everything’s (also Mercury-nominated) A Fever Dream, but a lot of the so-called “political” artists are, she says, “predominantly white males making T-shirt politics” – all slogans and no substance. “It’s just a trend. There’s no thought process behind it and I don’t believe them at all”

PHOTO CREDIT: Phil Smithies

I feel Shah’s time will come when she releases her next album. I am just about to review her new song but, just before, two quick points that highlight why she is so inspiring and terrific. I alluded to the fact Shah has talked about depression and anxiety. In a 2018 interview with The Guardian, Shah revealed how she was struggling whilst writing and recording Holiday Destination:

“During the making of the album, Shah was also getting to grips with turning 30 and getting out of “an abusive relationship” where she was “being tortured every day”. “It was really bad,” she says. “I was bullied for a long time, but it was great for lyric-writing.” She’s being sardonic, but she did find solace in singing from other perspectives than her own. “My personal life was so awful, it made me want to escape a lot and write about other people.” But despite such personal turmoil, she was keen to make songs that weren’t “dour and down in the dumps”. She and her longstanding collaborator and producer, Ben Hillier, looked to Fela Kuti’s Afrobeat sound for lively rhythms, and laced the album with eastern scales to subtly nod to the Middle East”.

Nadine Shah is a role model, for sure, and a figure in the industry who is helping open dialogues, eyes, and doors. I wanted to mention Shah’s hosting duties at the Q Awards last year. It seemed only natural to book the funny, charming and whip-smart Shah to host the event:

 “Q Magazine editor Ted Kessler said: “Rarely can an absolute outsider have become a closed-book favourite for any role quicker, but once Nadine Shah had charmed all-comers as a guest presenter at last year’s Q Awards, we felt certain she was who we wanted to present the whole caboodle in 2019.

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PHOTO CREDIT: Lucy Johnston

“I am an old man who has been to many award ceremonies over the centuries. In that time, I have heard the same jokes told by the same comedians and radio jocks on a conveyor belt at each bash.

“Mo Gilligan did a great, deadpan job in breaking that routine at last year’s Q Awards.

“But we wondered if we could go one step further and hand the reins over to a respected, charismatic musical titan to marshal her peers instead of a professional presenter.

“After all, we’re celebrating music. Over to Nadine”.

Shah is a terrific talent and, oh, before getting to the review, try and watch the music video! Shah always produces these magnificent videos, which makes me sad her music is not more regarded and watched on YouTube. The video for Ladies For Babies (Goats For Love) provides a feast for the eyes and it definitely stays in the memory! I really love how Shah pairs film and music, and I think there is a great documentary in Shah. Maybe similar to PJ Harvey’s A Dog Called Money, I can envisage Shah talking about topics like gender and race in music, but splicing together humour and serious discussion. That is just me musing aloud, but Shah is someone who captivates and grabs your attention. I will finish this review by looking ahead at what is to come for Shah but, just before, there is the business of a new song. It sort of arrived out of the blue – there was not the same circus of promotion and teasing you get with other artists –, and it is a right belter!

I know the origin of Ladies For Babies (Goats For Love), but I think the song’s video adds context and illustrates the song’s meanings. I think, actually, Shah said in an interview – maybe with BBC Radio 6 Music? – how she was partly inspired by Ace of Base’s All That She Wants – a song where we are told: “All that she wants, is another baby”. Shah’s track flips that: the man is the one who wants a baby. To be fair, maybe it is not simply about fatherhood and that yearning. The opening moments of the video shows a man lazing in the bath whilst Shah cooks dinner. It is beautifully shot, so that we cut between the kitchen and bathroom; the kitchen looking quite simple and kitsch, whilst Shah pours herself wine, checks the hob and, soon enough, drops some food from the oven onto the floor. The man looks all calm and chilled, whilst Shah puts her head in her hands; the hero kisses her neck and there is this domestic tension and conflict that plays out fantastically. The guy wants “his lady to be a lady” and he wants her to “care less and be hairless”. I got this feeling of a man who wanted the woman to be quiet and subservient; someone obedient, and someone you might see in adverts of the 1950s – tending to the dinner and not having any views or anything to say.  Whilst I cannot get that Ace of Base tune out of my head (as it is ace), I think there is more to the song that meets the eye. The video has this 1950s décor, which lends credence to this assumption of the woman being domestic and tending to the man’s needs. In the video, Shah is serving food and there are these great cuts again: guests being welcomed into the house; Shah drinking wine alone and not enjoying herself. The track, in terms of sound, has similar to tones to Holiday Destination. The chorus has great snap and raw energy, whilst Shah elongates her words and teases her lines in the verses.

Maybe the fella is not brave and mature enough to become a father, so he wants his woman to fill that role. He does not want to be spoken back to but, as Shah wants in the song: “But careful, she could turn out like…”. The video is beautifully realised and shot, and it gives the song this very vivid and film-like quality. The cast of guests at this party/soiree - there is some excellent facial hair on display! -, includes some great characters. Shah weaves between them and throws looks of smirking, contempt and unhappiness in. You get the feeling that she is being shoved aside and marginalised whilst, at the same time, preparing some form of rebellion or vengeance. Whilst the husband/boyfriend is getting his guests smashed and generally holding court, Shah is away from the spotlight and providing her own monologue and angle. I keep coming back to the way the video is edited, but I love how we get so much action and story from a single house/set. Shah sings about being picked from a menu; a woman selected like a starter or something disposable. That ties in neatly with the food/drink ensemble of the video; matched against the natty 1950s clothes and bright colours, it is a real trip! Shah contemplates, broods and gives the steely eye! “Cause, sir/choose so wisely/You wanna tame me/As though you fear me” seems to be the song’s second act: we have progressed from the domestic disharmony and supressed heroine who, now, is giving warning and setting us up for a juicy climax. Although Shah has prepared all the grub and made the place look proper nice (I shall stop trying to be northern!), it is the man who gets all the acclaim and compliments. Each time the chorus fires out – talking of the woman never being able to give enough; the man taking her for granted -, it grows heavier and more important.

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Shah, as the title might indicate, is sort of like a goat or something that can be taken to market to show off, sell, or get rid of. Shah is magnetic on screen as she talks about gender roles – “And if a lady’s to be a lady/Then you play the daddy/And take them to caddy” – and how he should be careful what he wishes for – “Those little tame me’s/To care for/Stay indoors/But careful they could turn out like (me)”. In the final ninety seconds of the song, we hear beats. Throughout, there have been these tribal drums pattering; suggesting Shah is a hunter or someone who is living in the wild. Now, the beats are slightly tinnier, and we reach the final scene. There is a funny/interesting moment when a tortoise – or terrapin – has scarpered and is making his way (slowly) across the carpet. Maybe this represents the tortoise and hare; perhaps it shows that even the tortoise does not want to be around the man – maybe it is something random designed to add extra spice and laughs. Shah smiles and weaves through bodies as she picks up the escaped pet, and the final cuts see Shah at a long table of food, picking it and throwing bits away; she and her man hug and joke and, as the video and song ends, I sort got to wondering. It is clear there is tension and two different people in the relationship but, when thinking about gender roles and how Ladies For Babies (Goats For Love) playas out, I think everyone will get their own impressions. Maybe I have missed the mark of the song or misinterpreted, but I’d like to think I have got close to the heart of the matter. It all bodes well for the future, and the banquet/scenes Shah will bring us – kitchen sink included!

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There are some gigs coming up for Nadine Shah. She plays the 6 Music Festival 8th March, and she has other dates booked for the spring and summer. If you can go and see her play, do so. She is a terrific live performer and, with a new single out, many are looking forward to a fresh album. This article from The Quietus gives details about the upcoming album, Kitchen Sink:

“Kitchen Sink sees Shah address societal expectations of women in their 30s and 40s, and is based around her own experience as well as her conversations with a number of other women.

"Essentially I’m writing about so many women that I just love," she says. "The new mothers, the rock stars, the ones doubting themselves who need our support, the ones who are ill but show an indescribable strength. There’s traditions that were set out years ago of how our lives should be and that has changed completely now and I for one am so proud to be a woman and to be surrounded by even greater ones."

Infectious Music will release Kitchen Sink on June 5”.

It is exciting there is an album on its way, and I am sure we will receive another single or two before Kitchen Sink comes out. I will close there, and I hope I have done Nadine Shah justice and got to the root of her new track. I think, when talking about a song like Ladies For Babies (Goats For Love) – or any artist -, it is important to go deeper and not just pen a few lines about the track! Shah is an artist who we should all be listening to so, if you have not followed her on social media and got involved, go and do that now. Once more, with this golden new offering, Nadine Shah has shown why she is…

PHOTO CREDIT: Phil Smithies

ONE of this country’s most important voices.

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Follow Nadine Shah 

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FEATURE: All Together Now: Can the Music World (and Fans) Unite for a Universal Movement?

FEATURE:

 

All Together Now

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PHOTO CREDIT: @trapnation/Unsplash

Can the Music World (and Fans) Unite for a Universal Movement?

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THAT question sounds both huge and vague…

PHOTO CREDIT: @li_anlim/Unsplash

but what I mean is, as we are experiencing bushfires, climate change, and violence on the streets, there are a lot of people concerned and scared. There are a lot of issues and big problems that need tackling, and one wonders how much the world leaders are prepared to do. It is a tense time but, with so much passion and desire for change in the world, it seems like a revolt or peaceful movement might be needed. When it comes to passion, the music industry is no short supply! From musicians through to broadcasters, and journalists, there is a wealth of strength and activation. I know there are charities and movements that are dedicated to tackling climate change and other issues, but I wonder whether it is possible to create a unified movement that joins people in a common cause: to make the world a better place. We had Punk in the 1970s and 1980s that seemed to speak to a great many people but, in 2020, I think there are more problems and bigger emergencies that could benefit from mass action. Artists are talking about climate change and violence (and other subjects) in their music, but the industry is so compartmentalised and wide-ranging, one doesn’t see too much togetherness. Maybe it would take the form of a new musical movement; it does not need to be all angry and charged. I think a certain urgency is needed but, as I have said in many pieces, we need more fun and euphoria in music.

PHOTO CREDIT: @kristsll/Unsplash

That may seem inappropriate given the situation we are in, but I do think we all need to realise things will get better. I was researching for a forthcoming Peter Gabriel feature, and he was saying that the young or technological-minded will start a change/revolution in the same way Punk did decades ago. Music has the power to change so much; from an individual to the world itself, I think artists can affect change faster and more effectively than politicians. All is never lost, but it is evident we have a lot of fires to put out – both literal and metaphorically -, and music does not have the same movements that we used to see. Many artists today do not like genre labels but, rather than define this movement by sound, it can have a name instead; it can consist multiple sounds and ideas. Having a genre/movement that mixed together the positivity and Pop of Britpop with something akin to Punk would be fascinating. I look around music now and there are some great artists, for sure, but so many different sounds and colours. Variation is a great thing but, with so many people in the industry keen to do their bit, a strong and proactive movement would be much-needed. In terms of aims, I guess it would involve calling for change and raising awareness, both through song and in speech.

I think a lot of us are also feeling suffocated and frightened by the news and, whilst the truth needs to come out, another side of the movement would be a new euphoria; a sort of third Summer of Love. I know I have talked about that possibility before and, thirty years since its last incarnation, I feel now is a time to revive it. It would take a bit of work but, with so much at stake – in terms of the damage to the planet -, I do feel music can alter so much. With technology and the sheer potential of music itself, who knows what could happen? I was also thinking about viral campaigns and the fact we have not had one for a long time. Whereas previous viral campaigns have involved people doing certain tasks or dares, this would be music-based and either a playlist or a person nominating a song. They would share that on social media, and one will donate on a homepage that collates money for a single charity that tackles a range of problems. There are times when music has changed the world and, reading this article, it seems like a Live Aid-style event would be potent. So much money and awareness could be generated with a global concert that is broadcast around the world. I am just throwing ideas out there, but there is so much potential in music/musicians that is not being tapped. This year is one where so many huge issues will be put under the spotlight, and there are going to be various charities and bodies calling for action. I do think music has that ability to bring us all together and make the world better. Some sort of scene or movement could be just the start and, even though it may start as a rumbling, it could lead to…

PHOTO CREDIT: @adityachinchure/Unsplash

A huge tremor.

FEATURE: Freedom Days: Gorillaz’s ‘Song Machine’

FEATURE:

 

Freedom Days

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IMAGE CREDIT: Gorillaz

Gorillaz’s ‘Song Machine’

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I am always interested when someone…

IMAGE CREDIT: Gorillaz

comes along and makes music more interesting and less routine. We are living at a time, as I say often, where the digital rules and social media is the way we promote music. Campaigns seem very samey, and you get the cycle happening time and time again. To be fair to artists, they need to do things this way because it is the best method to market and get the most engagement and focus. When it comes to recording music, do we need to be slavish to the studio and the usual process!? This may sound random, but the animated band, Gorillaz, have unveiled something unique. They are recording songs in their Kong Studios, and letting people more into the recording process. They are also working with a range of different collaborators, and it is a very different way of doing an album. This Rolling Stone article explains more:

“Gorillaz will launch a new music and cartoon series, “Song Machine,” Thursday with a new track, “Momentary Bliss,” featuring British MC Slowthai and the punk duo Slaves.

“Song Machine” will find Gorillaz moving forward outside the constraints of a typical album cycle. Per a press release, the series will find the animated outfit teaming with an “ever-evolving roster” of collaborators, with episodes coming together in the band’s Kong Studios. The series won’t have a set schedule, with Gorillaz promising the “spontaneous delivery of episodes throughout the year.”

Tuesday, Gorillaz shared the “Song Machine” theme music, while today they dropped “Machine Bitez #1,” a short skit featuring members 2D, Murdoc and Russel.

In a “statement,” Gorillaz drummer Russel said, “‘Song Machine’ is a whole new way of doing what we do. Gorillaz breaking the mould ‘cos the mould got old. World is moving faster than a supercharged particle, so we’ve gotta stay ready to drop. We don’t even know who’s stepping through the studio next. ‘Song Machine’ feeds on the unknown, runs on pure chaos. So whatever the hell’s coming, we’re primed and ready to produce like there’s no tomorrow. Y’know, just in case.”

Gorillaz — the long-time project of Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett — released their most recent album, The Now Now, in 2018. The previous year, they dropped Humanz, which at the time marked their first LP since 2010’s The Fall. Last December, the band released a new documentary, Reject False Icons, which chronicled the prolific three-year period that produced The Now Now and Humanz”.

There are few more hard-working bands than Gorillaz and, when it comes to Damon Albarn, he is always looking at ways to push music forward and doing something new. I am interested to see how this song cycle pans out, and what we get. I like the fact we might get a new song out of the blue, and one is not going to know in advance who it is. So often, we get so much warning online regarding albums/songs, and they are mercilessly teased online. It can get predictable and rather dull. Most smaller artists cannot afford to do what Gorillaz are doing, but I wonder whether there are ways to change the way albums are recorded.

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PHOTO CREDIT: @jesmanfabio/Unsplash

I have seen examples where artists have recorded an album live and streamed it at the same time. That is pretty exciting, and it means one can literally see an album being recorded. Maybe the whole process of writing, releasing, and marketing music means musicians are loathed to break from the usual course. I think Gorillaz’s new tact/idea will spark interest in others. I like the idea of songs sort of springing up, and we can actually see what is happening from the studio. Perhaps artists feel like cameras in a studio would be too intrusive, considering social media makes us feel exposed and vulnerable. I think there is something to be said for changing up things and thinking outside the box. Maybe artists could find a new way to market songs but, actually, I love the recording process and seeing the nuts and bolts of a track. We hear songs on streaming services or vinyl (or other formats), but few of us can appreciate how a song is created and recorded. At a time when we are short of attention spans, I do actually think something more immersive and forensic would interest people. I find myself skimming through tracks and being interested; I might listen a few more times, but the fascination fades. Maybe it is just me, but I am always intrigued when an artist goes beyond what we expect. (The risk doesn’t always pay off, mind). In the case of Gorillaz, I was finding myself turning away from their music because it was sort of blending in too much – maybe that is me being fickle.

 PHOTO CREDIT: @dpmb87/Unsplash

Now that they have an incentive and new way of releasing an album, I am re-invested and look forward to what comes next – and the track they made with Slaves and slowthai is pretty good! I can appreciate how demanding music is, and how little time artists get to actually create and release their music. I am not suggesting people go too much out of their way regarding releases and promotion. Anything that lets the listener know more about the creative process benefits both the listener and musician. Also, anything that can surprise people in 2020 is pretty necessary. I think there is a mass of music out there, and a way of making it more real or differentiating it from the herd is always impressive and welcomed. I shall leave things there, but I think it is cool Gorillaz have sort of opened up their world more to fans – even if they are animated -; they have this album campaign that is kind of unpredictable and unconventional. It is another bold step from a simian band who are…  

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IMAGE CREDIT: Gorillaz

PRETTY damn evolved!

FEATURE: This Will Be My Testimony: The Iconic Peter Gabriel at Seventy

FEATURE:

 

This Will Be My Testimony

IN THIS PHOTO: Peter Gabriel captured in 2012/PHOTO CREDIT: Jon Enoch

The Iconic Peter Gabriel at Seventy

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WHERE does one start with…

the iconic and legendary Peter Gabriel?! As it is his seventieth birthday on 13th February, I felt it would be wrong to ignore such an important occassion! I grew up listening to Gabriel’s music and, in terms of songs, I think Steam was the first track of his I heard (I also love those songs only the diehard fans know). Steam appears on his 1992 album, US, and I first heard it on Now That's What I Call Music! 24 in 1993. After hearing that track, I listened back to Gabriel’s catalogue and was mesmerised. I think, oddly, me and Gabriel have a distant connection. He has said in interviews how, when young, he would listen to albums in Record Corner in Godalming, Surrey. I spent many happy lunchtimes there when I attended college in Godalming between 1999-2001. Apart from that, me and Peter Gabriel are worlds apart! Before I go into more detail about his work – especially his solo career –, here is some pretty good overview/biography regarding Gabriel:

“In 1980 he founded WOMAD (World of Music Arts and Dance), which has presented 170 festivals in over 30 countries. The festival became the inspiration for Real World Records, which he launched in 1989 with the aim of providing talented artists from around the world with access to state-of-the-art recording facilities, and help get their music better known around the world. Artists released by the label such as Hukwe Zawose, Ayub Ogada, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Papa Wemba, Totó La Momposina, Sheila Chandra and more recently The Gloaming and Loney dear, have all helped establish the label’s eclectic credentials.

Since 1980, when Peter released the anti-apartheid single ‘Biko’ he has been actively involved in human rights campaigning. He has participated in many benefit concerts, notably Amnesty International’s 1988 Human Rights Now! Tour, which was the first benefit concert to tour globally with Youssou N’Dour, Bruce Springsteen, Tracy Chapman and Sting. It was on this tour he saw first hand how video can transform a human rights activist’s chances of achieving justice and change, and in 1992 proposed the creation of an organization to pioneer the use of video in human rights work, Witness.org. Around 2000 he co-founded TheElders.org, with Richard Branson, to bring together a small group of highly respected global leaders, launched with Nelson Mandela in July 2007.

In 1999 Peter co-founded On Demand Distribution (OD2) with Charles Grimsdale and others, which quickly became Europe’s first successful Digital Music Download retailer (and pre-dated Apple’s iTunes launch in Europe by some four years). OD2 is now Nokia Music.

Still convinced in the need for easy digital access to music, he co-founded WE7, a streaming service, with John Taysom and Steve Purdham in 2006 (two years before Spotify). It was sold in 2013.

In 2008 Peter, along with Real World and British Hi-fi manufacturer Bowers and Wilkins, created the Society of Sound to record and release new music in high definition audio. The Society of Sound has recorded over 100 albums of previously unheard music (as well as many recordings from the archives of the LSO) in the highest possible quality.

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PHOTO CREDIT: Jon Enoch

For his music, Peter has received several Grammy and MTV awards, an Oscar nomination, the Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and various lifetime achievement awards including BT’s Digital Music Pioneer Award and The Polar Music Prize. He has twice been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall. For his activism, The Nobel Peace Prize Laureates awarded him Man of Peace award in 2006 and TIME magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world.

Peter is now writing and recording, and working on a plan to create a streaming service for digital medicine and an Interspecies Internet”.

I will talk more about his activism and politics a bit later but, in terms of artists who should be considered geniuses, Peter Gabriel definitely needs to feature in the conversation! I am going to talk more about Gabriel’s solo work but, when looking back at his roots, one has to mention Genesis. Before Gabriel went solo, he was part of this incredible band. Some say that his departure changed the band and they were less credible without him. This article provides a perspective:

“At first sight there doesn’t seem to be much connection between the Genesis of the 70s fronted by Peter Gabriel and the Genesis of the 80s fronted by Phil Collins. The former is a rock legend; the latter is a rock phenomenon.

Fans of both bands tend to be mutually exclusive as well. The millions upon millions who picked up on Genesis in the 80s as a succession of world-wide hits dominated the airwaves had little idea of the band’s legendary progressive rock past. "In the later years there were people coming to our concerts who didn’t know that I drummed,” laughs Collins.

And the fervent cult following that nurtured Genesis as they became progressive rock legends in the 70s perversely drifted away as the band’s popularity increased. "I think that happens with every band that becomes successful,” reflects Mike Rutherford. "It’s just the way it goes.”

But both bands have the same core membership. Keyboard player Tony Banks and guitarist Mike Rutherford were ever-present from the first Genesis single in 1968 to the last in 1997. And Phil Collins can claim 26 years continuous service with the band from 1970 to 1996. Indeed from 1978 when they released the appropriately titled album …And Then There Were Three…, Genesis consisted of just Banks Collins and Rutherford for nearly 20 years.

For them of course, there is an obvious continuity between the two bands, summed up by Collins: "The spirit of the way we write songs has never really changed. A lot of the older fans think that Genesis should be a brand name for progressive rock or whatever, but actually Genesis is the name for a group of songwriters who have always done whatever they felt like doing under that banner.”

Banks is more specific: "We’ve always liked something to be distinctive about a song, even a simple song. There is usually an element of quirkiness about a Genesis song and that’s important to us”.

I am going to end with a Peter Gabriel playlist that charts his best tracks with Genesis and solo (and soundtracks). Before starting with his albums - I shall TRY and keep the timeline linear and sober! -, you need to follow Gabriel and experience this artist on social media. Follow the legend on Twitter; his brilliant official website contains all of the latest news and happenings. His Instagram account is pretty up to date and cool, and one can find a lot of information and photos on his official Facebook page. Look at all those epic and inventive videos - more, too, on that a bit later - on his YouTube channel, and understand why Gabriel is such a treasured and unique artist.

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There are some great Peter Gabriel books, and last year’s Peter Gabriel: A Life in Vision by Alan Hewitt is a treasure chest of great images and information! I have ordered the book and am looking forward to it arriving. If you need a bit more information, here is what you can expect:

“As Gabriel is close to entering his seventh decade A Life In Vision is a chronological, visual biography of his extraordinary and colourful career. From the early days of Genesis through to the present day it is crammed full of glorious photography, much of which is previously unpublished, along with a timeline narrative by Genesis aficionado Alan Hewitt”.

One only needs to look at Peter Gabriel on the Grammys website to see what this pioneering musician has achieved. Peter Gabriel’s first eponymous album of 1977 is masterful. Gabriel announced to his Genesis bandmates, during The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway tour, that he was leaving the band. Gabriel stayed until the end of the tour, but it was clear he needed to embark on a different path. In terms of Peter Gabriel’s albums, his debut outing is overlooked in favour of Peter Gabriel 3 or Melt and So. I love Gabriel’s introductory solo album, and it is full of tremendous songs, innovative sounds and memorable moments.

The difficult pregnancy of his wife, Jill, and the birth of his first child meant that he was committed to stay at home and could not continue with Genesis. Gabriel would create more consistent and highly-regarded eponymous albums, but his first contains some magnificent music. Solsbury Hill was written about a spiritual experience he had atop Little Solsbury Hill in Somerset. The song is about letting go and making way for new beginnings. I did say how other Gabriel albums have scored bigger, but Peter Gabriel (also known as Peter Gabriel 1 or Car) is a terrific debut solo album. This is AllMusic’s review:

 “Peter Gabriel tells why he left Genesis in "Solsbury Hill," the key track on his 1977 solo debut. Majestically opening with an acoustic guitar, the song finds Gabriel's talents gelling, as the words and music feed off each other, turning into true poetry. It stands out dramatically on this record, not because the music doesn't work, but because it brilliantly illustrates why Gabriel had to fly on his own. Though this is undeniably the work of the same man behind The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, he's turned his artiness inward, making his music coiled, dense, vibrant. There is still some excess, naturally, yet it's the sound of a musician unleashed, finally able to bend the rules as he wishes. That means there are less atmospheric instrumental sections than there were on his last few records with Genesis, as the unhinged bizarreness in the arrangements, compositions, and productions, in tracks such as the opener "Moribund the Burgermeister" vividly illustrate.  

He also has turned sleeker, sexier, capable of turning out a surging rocker like "Modern Love." If there is any problem with Peter Gabriel, it's that Gabriel is trying too hard to show the range of his talents, thereby stumbling occasionally with the doo wop-to-cabaret "Excuse Me" or the cocktail jazz of "Waiting for the Big One" (or, the lyric "you've got me cookin'/I'm a hard-boiled egg" on "Humdrum"). Still, much of the record teems with invigorating energy (as on "Slowburn," or the orchestral-disco pulse of "Down the Dolce Vita"), and the closer "Here Comes the Flood" burns with an anthemic intensity that would later become his signature in the '80s. Yes, it's an imperfect album, but that's a byproduct of Gabriel's welcome risk-taking -- the very thing that makes the album work, overall”.

D.I.Y. and Mother of Violence feature on Peter Gabriel’s second album, A.K.A. Peter Gabriel 2 or Scratch, and here is a step up from the incredible songwriter. Although his biggest hits were yet to come – although Solsbury Hill is a classic! -, his first couple of albums are full of invention and memorable moments. Gabriel is the person who introduced Kate Bush to the magic of the Fairlight CMI. Bush would use the Fairlight heavily from her 1980 album, Never for Ever, and the two worked together on several songs – more on that later. I want to bring in a review of Peter Gabriel’s second eponymous album.

“The pairing sounds ideal - the former front man of Genesis, as produced by the leading light of King Crimson. Unfortunately, Peter Gabriel's second album (like his first, eponymous) fails to meet those grandiose expectations, even though it seems to at first. "On the Air" and "D.I.Y." are stunning slices of modern rock circa 1978, bubbling with synths, insistent rhythms, and polished processed guitars, all enclosed in a streamlined production that nevertheless sounds as large as a stadium. Then, things begin to drift, at first in a pleasant way ("A Wonderful Day in a One-Way World" is surprisingly nimble), but by the end, it all seems a little formless.

 It's not that the music is overly challenging - it's that the record is unfocused. There are great moments scattered throughout the record, yet it never captivates, either through intoxicating, messy creativity (as he did on his debut) or through cohesion (the way the third Peter Gabriel album, two years later, would). Certain songs work well on their own -- not just the opening numbers, but the mini-epic "White Shadow," the tight "Animal Magic," the tense yet catchy "Perspective," the reflective closer "Home Sweet Home" -- yet for all the tracks that work, they never work well together. Ironically, it holds together a bit better than its predecessor, yet it never reaches the brilliant heights of that record. In short, it's a transitional effort that's well worth the time of serious listeners, even it's still somewhat unsatisfying”.

I am not going to discuss and dissect each of his studio albums, but it is worth mentioning the first Peter Gabriel masterpiece: Peter Gabriel 3 or Melt. Not many albums can start with a better one-two than Intruder and No Self Control. Although the songs are experimental and eerie, they are strangely alluring and enticing! The album, produced by Gabriel and Steve Lillywhite, was Gabriel's first and only release for Mercury Records in the United States, after being rejected by Atlantic Records. Upon hearing mixes of session tapes in early-1980, Atlantic A&R executive John Kalodner deemed the album not commercial enough for release and he suggested Atlantic drop Gabriel from their roster.

PG3 is an album that has amazed and fascinated critics since its release in 1980. This is what The Quietus had to say in 2010:

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

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

IN THIS PHOTO: Peter Gabriel at his home in 1984/PHOTO CREDIT: Peter Noble/Redferns/Getty

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

'And Through The Wire' is relatively straight-ahead rock, but after the repeated teaser of “I want you”, that’s one doozey of a chorus, and he sings the title line like he’s gargling emeralds. You’ll know 'Games Without Frontiers' (with a barely audible Kate Bush on backing vocals). As an anti-war lyric it’s facile; as a pop song it’s a peach. 'Not One Of Us' is a prescient piss-take of the NIMBY anti-immigration lobby. “A foreign body... and a foreign mind... never welcome in the land of the blind.” Then comes the track which grabs you last but, after many listens, grabs you hardest. 'Lead A Normal Life' is barely there, a whisper, a rivulet. It can be interpreted as an asylum inmate’s murmurings as he glimpses the trees. It haunts, in your peripheral vision.

You keep returning to it, like a flicker of a memory, willing it to catch flame. Grand finale 'Biko' signals where Gabriel was next to travel, becoming pop music’s patron saint of all things worthy and earnest.

That said, his story of the murder of the apartheid activist, even with its big singalong coda, is lyrically extremely restrained and pointed, eschewing see-how-clever-I-am imagery: “The man is dead, the man is dead”. And again, one must recall that the first people to champion good causes should not be blamed for those who later jump the bandwagon to further their own careers. This is not Geri Halliwell posing with Nelson Mandela. This is a guy singing about something few people in the Western world had then heard of.

There are great podcasts that dissect the album and underline why it is such a staggering achievement. It has received impassioned reviews through the years and, nearly forty years after its release (it turns forty on 23rd May), a lot of the songs and themes seem more relevant now more than ever. I want to bring in a couple of reviews concerning Peter Gabriel’s third, and most successful, eponymous album. Here is what AllMusic had to say:

“Generally regarded as Peter Gabriel's finest record, his third eponymous album finds him coming into his own, crafting an album that's artier, stronger, more song-oriented than before. Consider its ominous opener, the controlled menace of "Intruder." He's never found such a scary sound, yet it's a sexy scare, one that is undeniably alluring, and he keeps this going throughout the record. For an album so popular, it's remarkably bleak, chilly, and dark -- even radio favorites like "I Don't Remember" and "Games Without Frontiers" are hardly cheerful, spiked with paranoia and suspicion, insulated in introspection.

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For the first time, Gabriel has found the sound to match his themes, plus the songs to articulate his themes. Each aspect of the album works, feeding off each other, creating a romantically gloomy, appealingly arty masterpiece. It's the kind of record where you remember the details in the production as much as the hooks or the songs, which isn't to say that it's all surface -- it's just that the surface means as much as the songs, since it articulates the emotions as well as Gabriel's cubist lyrics and impassioned voice. He wound up having albums that sold more, or generated bigger hits, but this third Peter Gabriel album remains his masterpiece”.

When I mention So later, I want to explore why it was so different to Gabriel’s earlier works. There are fans who prefer Gabriel’s more commercial So, and those who think Gabriel was at his insanely-brilliant-best in 1980. This is The A.V. Club’s take on a work of genius:

“The greatness: Genesis was all about bombastic excess, and Gabriel's later solo work struck a balance between mainstream pop and world music. But Melt and its follow-up, Security, share more with the contemporaneous Talking Heads albums Remain In Light and Fear Of Music, by exploring themes of paranoia and violence with densely layered, aggressive post-punk production. Gabriel opens the album with the palpably menacing "Intruder," a disturbing first-person account that a night-stalking creep directs at the listener, whose house he's breaking into for purposes best left unspoken. "Family Snapshot," based on the autobiography of the would-be assassin of presidential candidate George Wallace, even engenders some sympathy for its lonely, deluded gunman protagonist, who waits patiently with his rifle for the motorcade to come into range, dreaming of the day he'll be famous. But Gabriel shows his true colors on the album-closing "Biko," an elegy for murdered South African activist Stephen Biko. It begins as a dirge, then slowly evolves into a thundering cry for justice: "You can blow out a candle, but you can't blow out a fire / Once the flame begins to catch, the wind will blow it higher." Melt is still influential, too, with echoes showing up in songs like TV On The Radio's "Wash The Day," which shares the distinctive drumbeat of "Intruder".

1982’s Peter Gabriel 4 or Security was not as packed with hits and his finest work but, that said, I think it is an amazing album that warrants a lot of acclaim. The Rhythm of the Heat is about Carl Jung’s experiences whilst observing a group of African drummers; San Jacinto is the fear of a Native American man who sees his culture and world overrun by the white man; Shock the Monkey – one of Gabriel’s very finest efforts – is about insecurities and infidelities. Maybe Peter Gabriel’s fourth eponymous album was a bridge between his first huge revelation and peak and the more commercial and equally brilliant So of 1986 – where he would ditch the eponymous titles and opened his musical palette up. Although Peter Gabriel’s fourth solo album opened the door for the commercial breakthrough of So in 1986, the recording process had its ups and downs:

“Peter Gabriel's long-awaited fourth self-titled album – later retitled Security before its September 1982 U.S. release – began with the rhythm. Always fascinated by textures, Gabriel had been digging deeply into folk drumming from Africa. He'd also become intrigued by early sampling technology.

"I think the rhythm is like the spine of the piece," Gabriel told the South Bank Show in 1982. "If you change that, then the body that forms around it is changed as well. So, the style of writing which I was then attracted to put with it was very different from what I would have done with a normal rock rhythm."

Once he got the cadences down, Gabriel worked for a long period of time improvising over these basic skeletons of song. At one point, he and David Lord – the fourth new Gabriel producer in as many albums – were dealing with a stack of 100 demos.

Gabriel's decision to record at home on rented equipment proved to be a boon, as it encouraged this free-form sense of discovery, but it also meant that there was no natural time frame to govern things. Ultimately, Gabriel would go nearly two and a half years between solo albums, an eternity in that era.

"Initially, we had a mobile outside the farm building and then gradually built a studio as we went along," Gabriel explained on his website. "I was working with David Lord, who I’d known a bit in Bath. He had studio there. He'd come really more from a classical background, but was very good with textures and sounds. A lot of time, as always, I had been noodling away, and he was quite good at helping forge through that."

This tactile focus on both ageless sounds and modern technology would become the hallmark of Gabriel's solo career. The lengthy experiments on Security led directly to his belated post-Genesis mainstream breakthrough on 1986's So. For the time being, however, Security was a mess.

At one point, Gabriel was still juggling 18 songs, and several of those rough drafts were more than 10 minutes long. "He's a slow worker," Lord told the South Bank Show. "And the main problem is, he likes to keep every possible option open as long as he can." When things got particularly tense, Gabriel would break for a game of croquet.

"I'm trying to enlarge what I do with my voice, not through technique but just through the sounds," Gabriel told the South Bank Show. "I think we all make noises and, particularly when we get involved or emotional about something, the colors and the tones of those noises change."

No matter how far afield he got, the songs coalesced around world music influences that had first popped up on Gabriel's 1980 album, which ended with a rousing tribute to slain South African anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko. This balance of old and new still intrigued him. As he delved ever deeper into these clashing cultural touchstones, the theme worked its way into Gabriel's songs”.

Whatever it was called, the gold-selling Security held together better than any previous Gabriel solo album. As the door to stardom cracked open for Gabriel, it was clear the work had paid off. "Shock the Monkey," a song not about animal rights but raging jealousy, became his first Billboard Top 40 hit, reaching No. 29 on the strength of a heavy-rotation MTV video. Security also notched Gabriel's fourth straight Top 10 finish in the U.K.

Despite the lengthy gestation period, he had set the stage for a commercial breakthrough. "It worries me sometimes that I'm taking too long over these things," Gabriel admitted in his talk with the South Bank Show, "and then I think, it really doesn't matter a damn if the end product works".

I was born in 1983, but I remember songs from So being played on the radio. Gabriel continued to use the Fairlight CMI in new ways; although songs on this album were less experimental than previous efforts, I think that So is, perhaps, Gabriel’s best album. Although So is less experimental than his earlier work, Gabriel brings in elements of World music; fusing different cultures and sounds together wonderfully. Sledgehammer, with its eye-opening and spectacular video, is a song that bursts from the trap! It is MTV’s most-played video ever and still seems awe-inspiring to this day. I look at the video today and, well, it just moves me so much! Gabriel helped bring the music video to the mainstream and his visual flair has been evident throughout his career. I will look at the rest of the album soon but, as it is such a popular song, here is some information about the mighty Sledgehammer:

“Sledgehammer was the first single to be taken from Peter’s fifth solo studio album So, and was released on 21 April 1986.

‘Sledgehammer’ was obviously a big track from that record and that was, in part, homage to the music that I grew up with. I loved soul music, blues music and that was a chance to work with some of the brass players that had worked with Otis Redding, who’s my all time favourite singer. It was a fun thing to do, but again that was built around a great groove and a good feel.

Written by Peter Gabriel, the song was produced by Daniel Lanois and Peter and engineered by Kevin Killen and Lanois.

The single first charted in the UK on 26 April 1986, peaked at 4 and stayed in the UK Top75 for 18 weeks.

The accompanying video for Sledgehammer was directed by Stephen R Johnson, produced by Adam Whitaker, with animation by Nick Park, The Brothers Quay, Peter Lord and Richard Goleszowski. The video won a record nine awards at the 1987 MTV Video Music Awards, including Video of the Year as well as Best British Video at the 1987 Brit Awards. In 2018 a remastered 4K version of the video was premiered on Apple Music, after extensive restoration work was completed by the team at Aardman”.

I mentioned how there was this clash between those who prefer Gabriel at his experimental and political best and those who love the more accessible and commercial sounds on So. There are some great interviews around 1986, where Gabriel talked about So. Whilst I adore Peter Gabriel’s early period, So remains a magnificent album:

“The first of Peter’s studio albums to have a proper title So was a watershed release in his career. Its marriage of the artistic and the commercial made for an indisputable success, with the album quickly sitting atop the album charts on both sides of the Atlantic. Aside from some intriguing collaborations – with Laurie Anderson on This Is The Picture, Kate Bush on Don’t Give Up and Youssou N’Dour on In Your Eyes – it was the unity of singer, band and producer that made So such a crucial record in the Gabriel canon.

“There is always wisdom from hindsight. And because ‘So’ was my most successful record, I think that a lot of people, particularly in America, think that it was designed to be that.

From the other end of it, you never really know which records are going to do well. You know that some things are going to be so obscure and difficult for a mainstream audience that they’re no-hopers but generally, with what I do, it’s hard to predict which albums are going to do well.

You know certain songs have a better chance of getting on the radio when you do them, for sure, but I think part of the reason that ‘So’ works so well was that the band was really firing off each other and we had a great sound and production team. It was compact in the process and the way it was put together.

One of the things I learned with Daniel Lanois is a total respect for the magic of the moment. When you have some spine-tingling event musically, you’ve got to capture it. I remember talking to Brian Eno about the Talking Heads record ‘Remain In Light’ and ‘The Great Curve’, I believe, is a track which was recorded on cassette from a band rehearsal because the band were really cooking at that point. They tried it again and again in the studio and never got it to feel as good. I think all musicians know that process, and you never really know when it’s hitting and when it isn’t, and I think one of the things that makes Dan’s records very strong is that there’s a real consciousness of when the performance is good. It’s quite difficult to spot because, you sort of hear what’s good in any particular thing and you forget whether the one before was actually a lot better or a lot worse. Holding all that emotional memory is quite hard.

PHOTO CREDIT: Anton Corbijn

‘In Your Eyes’ was the first thing that I’d recorded, I think, with Youssou and it was very important for that reason. It was around the time I was going to Africa and really getting inspired by a lot of the music I was hearing there, particularly rhythmically and vocally. I’ve described Youssou’s voice as “liquid gold” and I think when he comes in singing on that track it’s just a fantastic moment. We’ve since gone on to do a lot of other things, but that was one of the most exciting”.

What I love about So is that the energetic tracks such as Sledgehammer and Big Time balance seamlessly against the emotional, rawer numbers like In Your Eyes, Red Rain and Don’t Give Up – Kate Bush providing empyrean joint-lead vocals this time; a stunning and moving performance with Gabriel (the video is another work of genius that brings tears to the eyes!). I will bring in an interview with Gabriel reflected on So but, first, a couple of reviews. Here is what AllMusic have to say about So:

“Peter Gabriel introduced his fifth studio album, So, with "Sledgehammer," an Otis Redding-inspired soul-pop raver that was easily his catchiest, happiest single to date. Needless to say, it was also his most accessible, and, in that sense it was a good introduction to So, the catchiest, happiest record he ever cut. "Sledgehammer" propelled the record toward blockbuster status, and Gabriel had enough songs with single potential to keep it there. There was "Big Time," another colorful dance number; "Don't Give Up," a moving duet with Kate Bush; "Red Rain," a stately anthem popular on album rock radio; and "In Your Eyes," Gabriel's greatest love song, which achieved genuine classic status after being featured in Cameron Crowe's classic Say Anything.

These all illustrated the strengths of the album: Gabriel's increased melodicism and ability to blend African music, jangly pop, and soul into his moody art rock. Apart from these singles, plus the urgent "That Voice Again," the rest of the record is as quiet as the album tracks of Security. The difference is, the singles on that record were part of the overall fabric; here, the singles are the fabric, which can make the album seem top-heavy (a fault of many blockbuster albums, particularly those of the mid-'80s). Even so, those songs are so strong, finding Gabriel in a newfound confidence and accessibility, that it's hard not to be won over by them, even if So doesn't develop the unity of its two predecessors”.

Although I will not include everything from Pitchfork’s review, here are a few key exerts/observations:

“The first 20 seconds of So’s first single “Sledgehammer”—a trilling, echo-laden bamboo flute created by an E-mu Emulator II synthesizer—is just a feint before the song explodes into a sharp left turn: a ’60s soul rave-up. Gabriel’s latest revelation wasn’t rooted in geopolitics, but his own libido (“I wanna be your sledgehammer” is a classic R&B double-entendre). And though he could have easily programmed the song’s brassy trumpet hook into his synthesizer, Gabriel was an R&B aficionado who valued cultural authenticity, so he flew in Otis Redding’s 1960s sideman Wayne Jackson to play the chart. In Gabriel’s global mindset, Jackson was every bit the bearer of a distinct musical tradition as Katché. He called the duo’s participation “a commanding blend of parallel heritages.”

Gabriel tackled the opposite side of ballooning Western capitalism on “Don’t Give Up,” an emotional response to the growing sense of working-class British despair under the stifling austerity of the Margaret Thatcher era. Like Reagan in the U.S., Thatcher preached the gospel of free-market individual resilience in the face of the skyrocketing unemployment. While Gabriel sketches a despondent scenario about a man on the verge of losing everything, Kate Bush alights on the chorus, her empyrean voice offering sincere comfort: “Don’t give up/’Cause you have friends/Don’t give up/You’re not beaten yet.” Bush and Gabriel had collaborated before (she provided the eerie vocal counterpoint on “Games Without Frontiers”), and she had zoomed past him in his absence to the vanguard of experimental UK art-pop. Now, they held one another in a deep embrace for the length of the “Don’t Give Up” video, the perfect visualization of such a simple, compassionate sentiment, cradled by the gossamer chords of the CS-80 synthesizer. Though rooted in a very 1980s political reality, three-and-a-half decades later it is perhaps Gabriel’s most affecting song.

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

In 2012, Gabriel spoke to Rolling Stone, as he was playing So on tour:

“Why do you think So managed to reach a much broader audience than your previous albums?

There was less sort of esoteric songwriting. I think they were simpler songs in some ways, but I think we caught a wave. They were done with passion and we had a really good team working on them. Then, of course, we had things like the “Sledgehammer” video, which helped enormously. It got us a wider audience. Also, the one concession I agreed to was to place an actual photo of myself on the cover rather than the usual obscured stuff I had been doing.

When you made So, did you try and make it more accessible, or that was just sort of a natural development?

I think that was a bunch of songs that were there at the time. With “Sledgehammer,” everyone thinks, “Oh, he must have created that to get a hit.” And it wasn’t done that way. In fact, [bassist] Tony Levin reminded me that he was packing his bags to go home, and I called him back into the studio, saying “I’ve got this one idea that maybe we can fool around with for the next record – but I like the feel.” That was “Sledgehammer.” It was late in the day and we just fell into the groove, landed a beautiful drum track on it, a great bass line and it all came together.

I think the video really helped get it to a different audience. I’ve not had many intersections with mass culture, so that was one occasion where that happened.

You didn’t release a follow-up to So for six years. Do you think that was a mistake? You sort of lost some momentum there.

I’m sure commercially it wasn’t the smartest thing to do, but I’ve never really worried about that. And to be honest, I think one of the reasons I’m still lucky enough to put out records and have audiences come to shows is cause I haven’t played that game very well. I think that consumer culture tends to be very hungry. It can’t get enough of you for a very short time and then your taste gets boring and they spit you out and take the next new thrill. And so, while it was never a predetermined strategy, I would probably recommend it to artists now if they want a long career. If you got something worth saying, if you’ve got something to put out, don’t worry about what the record company tells you. Take your time”.

I am going to merely mention Up (2002), the intriguing Scratch My Back (2010) and New Blood (2011) – and include songs from each album in the playlist at the end -, but 1992’s US is the first Gabriel album I came across. Steam – despite the fact it is very similar to Sledgehammer – boasts another majestic video, and it is one of Gabriel’s best songs I think. Although the album has some weaker moments, it does boast Digging in the Dirt and Blood of Eden (with Sinéad O'Connor). I will move on and wrap up soon but, before I do, a little information about US:

“US, which was released six years after the phenomenally successful So, was, at that time, arguably Peter’s most personal record yet as he stepped into the confessional to explore and dissect many of the relationship issues he was then experiencing. But US is far from just being bleakly introspective featuring several songs that have gone on to be amongst the most cherished in the Gabriel songbook.

The album also continued the now well-established Gabriel motif of mixing high technology with decidedly analogue contributions from musicians from West Africa, Egypt and Armenia. Reunited with Daniel Lanois as co-producer, Peter extends the hand of collaboration to Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones, Brian Eno, Peter Hammill and Sinead O’Connor.

“Although US was not nearly as big a seller as So, I’m pleased that it is now getting better regarded, with hindsight, and I think it has some of my best songs on it.

Part of the idea of using US, other than the fact that it was another two-letter title which doesn’t give me huge room for variation, was the sense that there is a dividing line between ‘us’ and ‘them’. The further back you can push the dividing line, the less problems the world is going to have. The more people you feel compassion, sympathy and understanding for the better. It’s very easy to fall into a state of mind where you just put blame and responsibility on other people and you don’t connect with them. I know that my life works much better when I don’t do that”.

Whilst US gained some mixed reviews, I think it contains some of Gabriel’s most interesting material - including Digging in the Dirt and Secret World. Here is what The Los Angeles Times said in 1992 when US was released:

“Temporarily setting aside his social conscience, Gabriel is using the title pronoun not in the we-are-the-world sense, but as an umbrella for writing about couples and about his own failed relationships. He explores his lack of self-esteem and sees as much division as unity in love, more than once going back to the Garden of Eden for imagery to describe a split between the sexes that seems all but unmendable.

The album’s thematic cohesion in this regard puts it in marked contrast to 1986’s “So,” which had such variance it was like a greatest-hits album. There are a couple of attempts here to update the horn-driven fun(k) of “Sledgehammer” (most notably the near-sound-alike “Steam”) that provide a lively break in the sonorous soul-searching. But it’s the dominant consistency of Gabriel’s more quietly revelatory material that is the album’s artistic strength, and potentially its commercial weakness.

Though most of his musical tricks no longer come as surprises to anyone familiar with “So” and the instrumental album “Passion,” you do have to marvel more than ever at how seamlessly and unshowily he integrates the plethora of world-beat guest players into his ethereal post-art-rock sound. Just as you have to admire the former pop philanthropist of the year for making a melancholy chorus out of the refrain “I love to be loved”.

Not only has Gabriel recorded solo studio albums, he has also written several soundtrack albums: Birdy (1985), Passion (1989); the underrated OVO (2000), and the excellent Long Walk Home of 2002. Peter Gabriel’s genius and importance extends beyond music. Gabriel has been a champion of World music for much of his career. He co-founded the WOMAD festival in 1982. He has continued to focus on producing and promoting World music through his Real World Records label. Gabriel has also been involved in numerous humanitarian efforts. In 1980, he released the anti-apartheid single, Biko. He has participated in several human rights benefit concerts, including Amnesty International's Human Rights Now! tour in 1988, and co-founded the Witness human rights organisation in 1992. Gabriel developed The Elders with Richard Branson, which was launched by Nelson Mandela in 2007 (information taken from his Wikipedia page). In 2013, Gabriel spoke with The Telegraph about his music and the album, I’ll Scratch Yours – where a range of brilliant artists covered some of Gabriel’s best-known songs:

“Although Gabriel’s photograph may not be hanging there in reception, and it is decades since his Sledgehammer heyday, you sense the industry might quietly have a lot to thank the former Genesis singer for. It was him after all who, while most record companies were burying their head in the sand about digital music and downloading, invested in services that allowed people to buy music online easily and later on to listen to records via streaming.

In 2003 he warned that “the music industry is the canary down the coal mine and, unless we do something about it, will be the first to be extinguished by the gases of file sharing.” Is he surprised it’s still here then, I ask him? He laughs: “I’m pleasantly surprised to find there is more than a receptionist, a computer and a boss, because that is what I was expecting the record industry to end up as.”

If anything, the sheer variety of styles reveals new depths to Gabriel’s own songwriting. Arcade Fire’s take on Games Without Frontiers makes it sound like a Clash song, reminding you that Gabriel was one of the few prog rockers who withstood the ire of the punk movement.

Perhaps the hardest challenge was presented to Feist and Timber Timbre who took on Don’t Give Up, Gabriel’s duet with Kate Bush. To avoid direct comparison, Gabriel suggested they switch gender on the words, and Feist’s delicate, folk-tinged delivery has hints of Dolly Parton, the singer Gabriel first had in mind when he wrote the song, influenced by the Great Depression.

Bush, he says, hasn’t heard the new version. “I should send it to Kate because that song is very much hers as well. I was very lucky that she did it. It has some extraordinary stories attached to it, people who say it stopped them committing suicide. It is that loving tenderness that come out of her voice that nails it”.

There are articles dedicated to Gabriel’s role as a digital innovator; he has talked about reworking his back catalogue and, as we prepare to celebrate the seventieth birthday of a brilliant artist, activist, and pioneer, many are asking whether we will see any new material from Gabriel. You can check his official website and over on his Twitter account for all the latest news and happenings. I would suggest people look back at classic interviews and deeper conversations; videos where he talks about his past, and great interviews like this. I know Gabriel is keeping busy, and we might be lucky enough to hear some new music soon enough. (He has inspired so many artists).

Gabriel is a prolific talent, but 2010’s excellent Scratch My Back was his first studio album since 2002’s Up. Despite the fact Gabriel did not release a lot after Up, there was always that fascination and interest - not just from his fans but from the media as well. Gabriel was interviewed and featured by The Arts Desk in 2011 ahead of the release of his album, New Blood (it consists orchestral re-recordings of various tracks from throughout Gabriel's career). It is a fantastic and underrated album, and one that a lot of people pass over when they talk about Gabriel’s work. In the interview, he was quizzed about the gaps between albums:

“The last three studio albums with new material have been So in 1986, Us in 1992 and Up in 2002, while last year saw a project in which he did cover versions of songs he liked called Scratch My Back (the idea was that the covered artists would then do a cover of a Gabriel song in return).

PHOTO CREDIT: York Tillyer

Perhaps one of the problems is that he has his own studio, so there are no time limits. The Beatles, after all, used to record an album in one day in the early years. “I’m a master of distraction, that’s true. But on the other hand, I have an interesting life, and in the long run that is what nourishes you. If I’d been on a commercial trek of doing album-tour-album I would have got tired very quickly of it.”

If he absolutely had to do an album in 10 days he probably would, I suggest. “I did think of doing a song a day, and if I had to I think I could do it. There would, of course, be a ton of crap but some good stuff as well.”

In fact, he just wrote a song in a day, dedicated to Archbishop Desmond Tutu for his 80th birthday. Tutu is the Chair of The Elders, an idea by Gabriel and Richard Branson for an informal group which they developed when they met Nelson Mandela. As leader, Mandela brought in Mary Robinson, Jimmy Carter and others. As Gabriel said of rationale of The Elders "In traditional societies, the elders always had a role in conflict resolution, long-term thinking and applying wisdom wherever it was needed. We are moving to this global village and yet we don't have our global elders."  The likes of Tutu and Carter are able as he says "to speak truth to power." and cites Tutu outspokenly criticising the ANC this month for denying the Dalai Lama a visa to visit South Africa. Their website mentions numerous collective and individual interjections on questions like child marriage and the situation in Zimbabwe. How effective it is remains to be seen, but the slightly lunatic ambition of of it all is pure Gabriel.

The good news on the music front for Gabriel fans is that, “there is a quite a lot in the can. If I can clear the time and hold it…” he pauses. “The problem is more the lyrics - generating the initial idea is not a problem but finishing lyrics I am happy with is”.

I haven’t talked a lot about Peter Gabriel’s film work but, last year, he released PG. It is a stunning collection of songs that shows how evocative his music is on the screen:

“Rated PG is a collection of Peter Gabriel songs from the movies.

Having always loved the combination of film and music (aged 17 he gave up a place at film school to pursue a career in music) Peter Gabriel’s first opportunity to really marry these twin interests came when he was asked to create the music for Alan Parker’s film Birdy in 1985. Further film work, including his music for Martin Scorsese’s The Last Temptation of Christ (that became the album Passion) and the soundtrack to Philip Noyce’s film Rabbit-Proof Fence (released as the album Long Walk Home), has continued to feed that interest.

“I have always loved film and any chance I have been offered to work with good film projects and good directors I have jumped at. This is a mixture of songs that have been written for specific films, and existing songs that found an appropriate place in a story. Consequently, there is a mix of different styles and moods.” – Peter Gabriel

Alongside those longer soundtrack commissions Peter Gabriel has also regularly contributed songs to a diverse range of movies and Rated PG explores this other connection forged by Peter between his music and film.

Rated PG is an opportunity to bring together in one place, for the first time, a selection of songs written especially for, or used to notable effect in, movies and includes new and previously unreleased versions, otherwise unavailable songs and a brand new track.

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Originally released for Records Store Day in April 2019, where the album was a single LP picture disc in a die-cut sleeve. Numbered and limited edition. Due to the nature of the picture disc manufacturing process the sound quality may not be comparable to our recent black vinyl releases, though every effort has been made to make this LP sound as good as possible within the limitations of the picture disc format. For the audiophiles amongst you a hi-res download code is included”.

Peter Gabriel spoke to the brilliant Matt Everitt of BBC Radio 6 Music last year (I shall mention Everitt again in a second), and he discussed why there have been long recording gaps in recent times:

“To promote his new film song LP Rated PG (see here), Peter Gabriel was interviewed on BBC Radio 6, which was aired yesterday.

Peter said about taking a longer break in recent years: "...my wife was ill for a while, so I'd slowed down and being a carer a good while, but now I'm very happy to say she's doing very well, so I'm getting back into music making and really loving it."

About the kind of stuff he is currently working on: "...and there's is about 50 ideas I'm working on - working in my usual snails pace – but there will be something coming out soon and all this time I had been working on new stuff so there should be ... I mean there is stuff that comes through for films, like the Snowden song and then you have Down To Earth, and there was a film about religion etc."

About a new record: "... I'm hoping to get the songs nailed by the end of this year and then open it up to the band and get a record out."

About the style and atmosphere of the new material: "Well I think that hose two songs, Show Yourself and the Snowden one, are slightly over direction but there's a wide bunch in there, so it depends on what makes the final cut. And I'm also trying to do some simple piano versions of things which I don't know being enough to make a whole record or not, but that's something I'm looking at".

I am going to end this feature in a second, but there are some truly great podcasts like Peter Gabriel: Genesis of a Rock Star and this fantastic installment from All Songs Considered; Gabriel chats about his career, and his music tastes are put in the spotlight. This year, WOMAD starts on 21st February in Chile, and it is a festival Gabriel is passionate about.

If you have not purchased Matt Everitt’s excellent book, The First Time: Stories & Songs from Music Icons, then make sure you grab a copy! I wanted to end with a couple of snippets from it because, when it comes to Peter Gabriel interview, one learns something new from each one. Everitt mentions, in the introduction to the interview in the book, how Gabriel does not recall when he met him (Everitt the first time). Everitt’s band, Menswear, were recording at Real World studios near Bath (for Nuisance, I assume), and they had made a mess of Gabriel’s recording facility; behaving “like total idiots” and “inviting local kids over for parties”. Gabriel was cool about it and, throughout the introduction, one thing is clear: Peter Gabriel is a Very. Cool. Guy. It turns out, when Everitt mentioned their first encounter in 1995, Gabriel was fine about it - “It was much worse when The Libertines, and Shaun Ryder and Black Grape visited”, as it happens! It is worth getting Everitt’s book to read this interview (and all the others), but it is his first question that I wanted to quote:

“Matt Everitt: The first thing we always ask everybody is when were they first aware of music as a kid.

My mum’s family were all musical, so Christmases were full of songs and different people playing piano, particularly. My mum still plays ‘Buttons and Bows’.(Dinah Shore, 1948) - that was probably the first melody.

I grew up around music, and church music had a significant impact.

I loved some hymns - not all of them, but when they were good, they were fantastic. And I remember at school we used to scream our hearts out with the right hymns. I would come into the chapel with my bells hidden under my trousers. That was my musical-accompaniment skill”.

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I am not sure whether Gabriel is planning any original material this year but, with WOMAD upcoming and his seventieth birthday on Thursday (13th), I am not sure. There are plenty of years ahead for Gabriel, and I am sure we will see some more brilliance from an iconic musician. Gabriel has come an awful long way since his young days at school where he would scream his heart out along to hymns. From his time with Genesis in 1967 until 1975, through his remarkable and varied career, Peter Gabriel has influenced so many artists and released some of the finest albums ever. I first encountered the magic of Gabriel as a child, and I have been beguiled, moved, and motivated by his music ever since. I think Gabriel is one of the most underrated artists ever, and I hope this feature - or parts of it - have highlighted his range and brilliance. Peter Gabriel deserves a lot of love, fresh inspection and affection on his seventieth birthday. His incredible back catalogue is among music’s best! Peter Gabriel, let there be no doubt about it, is an…

ABSOLUTE legend.

FEATURE: Spotlight: Charlotte Dos Santos

FEATURE:

 

Spotlight

Charlotte Dos Santos

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I know I have spotlighted quite a few…

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female artists over the past week but, to be honest, there are so many strong women emerging that I feel like it would be wrong to ignore them. Although Charlotte Dos Santos has been releasing music for a few years now, I do think she is primed for explosion. I can see her being one of the big names of 2020; someone who is demanded at festivals and, when you hear her music, it is hard not to be cast under her spell. The E.P., Cleo, was released in 2017, and it received very little in the way of critical attention. Maybe there was a lack of awareness for Do Santos but, when it comes to this artist, everyone needs to be aware of her! She grew up in Bærum with a Norwegian mother and Brazilian father. Dos Santos attended Jazz studies at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts between 2013–‘16), where she earned a Bachelor of Music in Contemporary Writing and Production, and Vocal Jazz Performance. I love the soulfulness of Dos Santos’ voice, and her music mixes Jazz, Neo-Soul and South-American tastes. Although her E.P. received some good reviews in the Norwegian media, it did not get too much scope past there. There are some gigs coming up so, if you can get to see her, make sure you do. There are so many artists I need to see this year, but I just know I will forget! Harvest Time was released a couple of months back, but I have heard it get a lot of love on BBC Radio 6 Music.

I adore the sound of her voice as it whispers and seduces; the song is dream-like but there is power and potency to be found. I am not sure whether there is an album planned and any firm dates, but I would not be surprised if Dos Santos released an E.P. or album before the end of the summer. In terms of interviews and articles, a lot of them have been with smaller sites/blogs, but this year will definitely be one where her music reaches more people and she gets some big acclaim. In 2018, she spoke with Soul Feeder, and was asked about her sounds, influences, and being a woman of colour in the industry:

“Recently, Latin American music has massively increased in popularity – not merely Puerto Rican and Colombian reggaeton but also more alternative or traditional Latin American music have received attention, partially due to the promotion of DJs such as Gilles Peterson. Your album clearly has some Latin American influences (among many other influences). Do you think it would’ve been as successful and critically acclaimed if you had released it for example 10 years ago?

Many of the first tracks that formed Cleo circulated the internet amongst the soul collectors and hip hop heads a few years before being heard by the commercial market. I first released a song called “Stay” on Soundcloud in 2012 which was a Shuggie Otis tune that I recorded melody and lyrics to just straight on top of the instrumental. At the time I was a part of the Oslo collective Mutual Intentions and was working with producer Fredfades and we made “Take It Slow” “Move On” “Watching You” and Cleo” which are all sampled based and I really thought they would forever stay within our “niche geeky collectors scene”. But then they didn’t. Granted it did take a few years of circulation!

When writing the rest of Cleo, which came together over a time span of three years, it was important for me that I got to express how free and varied I like to be as a musician and wanted to put that on the project as this would be people’s first introduction to my music. I don’t particularly have one style or type of music that influences me. “King Of Hearts” was melodically inspired by a 1930s Russian avant-garde film on the revolution in Mexico that I watched in my apartment in Brooklyn and simultaneously dealing with emotionally unavailable people and that song came out. “Sumer is Icumen In” is a Middle English reading rota from the 12th century which started out as a school assignment on my exchange semester in Valencia that ended up as the intro because I liked my re-harm so much. “Red Clay” is partially a Freddie Hubbard tribute, who is one of my favorite trumpet players, so when I wrote it I definitely was surprised it got such a warm reception from the commercial market. I think because all the songs are so varied they keep resonating with different people from different scenes, but I do think there is a time for when people are receptive to certain types of sounds and music, yes. It’s a little difficult for me to debate whether or not people would’ve been as receptive to my music ten years ago, as I think it just depends on what people are going through personally that makes them being able to connect lyrically.

In an interview with Utopie Tangible you cited a wide variety of soul artists as your influences, but also renowned hip-hop producers such as J. Dilla and Madlib. Have you ever considered adding a rap feature to one of your songs and is there any hip-hop artist in particular you’d like to work with someday?

No I haven’t considered that actually. I think it’s funny, just because you are an admirer of an art form or impressed and inspired by it doesn’t mean that I should take that and embed that in my own music. I heavily grew up on rap and hip hop and will always continue to listen. But we don’t always have to take on things that we like. To me it is the same thing as just wanting to be a part of everything and not having enough insight to watch it, admire it, and let it be what it is. Like a flower, you wouldn’t rip it up and take it home just because it’s beautiful. At least that’s what my father told me.

In several interviews you’ve stated that you wish to be a role model for people of color by showcasing that by working hard, anything is possible. Are you, nevertheless, not afraid of ever being seen as a “person who made it in a white industry” rather than an actual role model?

I don’t even know what that means. The music industry is an industry at the end of the day, and has been dominated by black culture historically. The entertainment industry has been the only platform through which people of color have been able to claim respect which has been a part of the problem for so long. As black and POC we were accepted either as athletes or musicians but what happened to seeing black and POC doctors, scholars, presidents, businessmen, prime ministers? They weren’t seen even though they thrived in sectors that have been outwardly dominated by white people due to racism. Being a part of breaking that image is what is important to me. That is the metaphor for me behind Cleo – being able to do whatever I/she likes. In the end if you are in any industry moving towards being true and uplifting people you are already a role model to somebody, but I have been focusing on uplifting WOC musicians especially back home in Norway where there are close to none, and I grew up without any role model in my field so I try to be the change I would like to see.

One can detect elements of Neo Soul greats in her voice, but there are other shades and layers that are unique to Dos Santos. I am looking forward to seeing where she heads next as, with her voice and musical talent, the future is going to be very bright.

Charlotte Dos Santos will be looking ahead and planning her moves but, from a creative point, I was interested to understand how songs came together for her, as every artist is different. In this interview from Urban Outfitters, Dos Santos revealed her process:

“What is your process like for creating new music?

I use my piano to write. I don't necessarily know what the end result is going to be or sound like but I might start with a bass line or hear certain string arrangements in my head. It's a journey! And all depending on my mood. I also always have my phone with me and record whenever I come up with something. On the plane ride back from Berlin a few days ago I was recording different parts for strings and the guy next to be probably thought I was crazy”.

This article reveals some of Dos Santos’ musical influences - and I definitely approve of her choices! I shall leave things there but, looking ahead, I hope there are more interviews and features that highlight this fantastic artist. After putting out a single a couple of months back, many are looking her way and are very excited (I am one of them!). The stunning Charlotte Dos Santos is…

PHOTO CREDIT: Nathan Bajar for FADER

ONE of 2020’s names to watch.

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Follow Charlotte Dos Sanrtos

FEATURE: Vinyl Corner: Donna Summer - Bad Girls

FEATURE:

 

Vinyl Corner

Donna Summer - Bad Girls

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I have not included too many women…

in this feature recently, but I have been listening to Donna Summer’s Bad Girls and, on vinyl, it sounds terrific! Even if you are not a huge fan of Summer, I would suggest people grab the album, as it is remarkable and fresh. It was the seventh studio album from Donna Summer, and it was released on 25th April, 1979. I remember when its fortieth was marked last year – I will bring in a feature relating to that later -, and thinking whether we have seen an album like it since. Donna Summer, for sure, has inspired many other artists and was ahead of her time. The album was originally issued as a double album and it was Summer’s best-selling release of her career. The album received a deluxe and remastered edition in 2003 and, as I said, it still sounds new and cutting in 2020. It is a testament to the remarkable songwriting and durability of the album that it is being celebrated and people keep coming back to it. Upon its release, Bad Girls went to the top of the U.S. Billboard 200, and it stayed there for six weeks. With singles like Hot Stuff and Bad Girls owning the airwaves, it is no surprise the album was such a commercial success. It is one of the best albums of 1979, and it arrived at a time when Disco was sort of on its last legs; Summer showed there was plenty of life left, even though Punk was starting to muscle in and steal a lot of focus. Donna Summer was the first female artist to have two songs in the top-three of the Billboard Hot 100 – with the two singles I just mentioned.

Bad Girls is a stunning work from an artist who was at her peak. Although Summer was dubbed ‘The First Lady of Love’ by the press because of songs like Love to Love You Baby, she was never comfortable with that label. There are steamy tracks on Bad Girls but, rather than Summer trying to earn any sort of tag or be associated with sex and love, the album is simply a wondrous work. Summer was experiencing personal problems prior to Bad Girls and she suffered a breakdown. When she was recovered, she worked with long-term partners Girogio Moroder and Pete Bellote (including some additional collaborators). Because Summer knew Disco was dying out, Bad Girls is the most diverse work of her career to that point. The album incorporates Soul and R&B, and I think that is why it resonated and was so popular, as Summer managed to reach new audiences and was evolving. Hot Stuff won Summer a Grammy for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance, and it famously featured in The Full Monty film in the 1990s. Although Summer died in 2012, Bad Girls, I think, remains her finest work. It is an album a lot of artists of today can learn from when it comes to penning catchy and instant songs that lodge in the head. I do think we need more Disco-Soul blends today; something that takes you back to the late-1970s.

In their review, this is what AllMusic wrote:

“Bad Girls marked the high-water mark in Donna Summer's career, spending six weeks at Number One, going double platinum, and spinning off four Top 40 singles, including the chart-topping title song and "Hot Stuff," which sold two million copies each, and the million-selling, Number Two hit "Dim All the Lights." Producers Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte recognized that disco was going in different directions by the late '70s, and they gave the leadoff one-two punch of "Hot Stuff" and "Bad Girls" a rock edge derived from new wave. The two-LP set was divided into four musically consistent sides, with the rocksteady beat of the first side giving way to a more traditional disco sound on the second side, followed by a third side of ballads, and a fourth side with a more electronic, synthesizer-driven sound that recalled Summer's 1977 hit "I Feel Love." Though remembered for its hits, the album had depth and consistency, concluding with "Sunset People," one of Summer's best album-only tracks. The result was the artistic and commercial peak of her career and, arguably, of disco itself”.

Maybe Bad Girls is the peak of Disco, but I think it is so much more than a pure Disco album. It has attitude and seduction; there is so much emotion and passion running through the blood, and the songs are never throwaway or too simplistic.

I want to bring in a review from Rolling Stone that was published in 1987. It is interesting comparing a review a decade after the album’s release and, in the case of AllMusic, quite a bit further down the line:

“In 1977, Donna Summer -- the first no-bullshit soul singer to have an icy, businesslike edge to her voice -- delivered "I Feel Love," one of the greatest, unalloyed disco songs ever. Two years later, Summer transcended her disco origins and stormed the old rock-pop traditions with Bad Girls. The album was more concise and scorching than Summer's earlier work -- particularly the title jam and the Rolling Stones-worthy "Hot Stuff." The general impression at the time was that Summer was assuming a place within the line of red-hot rock-soul belters, but the truth was much more important: Along with her brilliant producers Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte, she was creating a new idea of international pop. Madonna's career without Summer and "Bad Girls"? Unthinkable.

Bad Girls is the first major album to use synthesizer-based disco studio techniques in the service of pop-rock songs. Much of it is played on live instruments; the guitar solo in "Hot Stuff" is as universal as, say, the Lindsey Buckingham riff on Fleetwood Mac's "Go Your Own Way." But on uncannily biting and hook-y tunes such as "Can't Get to Sleep at Night," Summer and Moroder showed how dance music could kick like the meanest real-time rock & roll. For years after, an entire commercial strain of rock and pop would obsess about technology in ways that would revolutionize the sound of music, for both good (Duran Duran) and ill (Kajagoogoo). 

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This reissue contains a companion disc that collects Summer's previous and subsequent hits: the minimalist masterwork "I Feel Love" and the sweet, soaring "On the Radio." Like Bad Girls itself, it's just about unimproveable”.

If you can get the album on vinyl, then do so. It sound so much bolder and more moving when you listen on vinyl and, aside from the obvious hits and highlights, there is a lot of treasure to be found. Last year the sensational, Bad Girls celebrated forty years and, as the feature below proves, it was a groundbreaking release. I know it will be poured over in 2029, when it has its fiftieth anniversary:

 “Summer delivers every composition with precision and heart, her amorphic instrument reveling in its might on uptempo (“Journey to the Centre of Your Heart”) or downtempo (“On My Honor”) moments.

Musically, as with much of her canon up to this point, there had been other genres at work underneath or adjacent to the seductive disco element. One such genre—rock & roll—had long since been in Summer’s sights. Having recently been in a cooperative sphere with Brooklyn Dreams on her December 1978 smash “Heaven Knows,” Summer was sonically smitten with their rock-disco-soul vibe that merged with her own shimmering dance music shape on that effort.

Bad Girls strikingly split itself three ways with an aggressive, bottom-heavy rock-funk-disco fusion (“Dim All the Lights”), experimental electronics (“Our Love”) and booming AOR balladry (“All Through the Night”). That Summer could command these different sounds over an entire recording demonstrated that she couldn’t be confined to just one space.

It was the mark of a true pop pioneer.

Preceded by the aptly titled four-on-the-floor firestorm “Hot Stuff” in mid-April 1979, Bad Girls arrived later that month. It subsequently stormed the charts to become Summer’s best-selling collection and her second double album (of an eventual three) to top the U.S. Billboard 200. It’s a record set and held by Summer to this day.

In addition to its commercial triumph, its critical scores were near universal and culminated in a groundbreaking achievement with a Grammy nomination—and win—in 1980 for its lead-off single “Hot Stuff” for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance. The newly minted category saw Summer as not only the first woman to win this accolade, but she was the only woman of color to compete in this category that year alongside Carly Simon, Rickie Lee Jones and Bonnie Raitt. She secured nominations again in 1982 and 1983, which put Summer at the head of an elite cache of black frontierswomen such as Joan Armatrading, Melba Moore, Nona Hendryx (of Labelle) and Tina Turner to receive entry into an exclusively white field”.

I am going to listen to Bad Girls again this week, as I really miss artists like Donna Summer, and I feel the music scene could do with a new explosion of Disco and Soul. We have some uplifting and spirited music now, but nothing that resembles Donna Summer’s 1979-released gem. It is a brilliant album that will continue to stun and amaze for years and years to come. If you have not heard this cracker, then make sure you investigate Bad Girls…

WITHOUT delay.

FEATURE: Dream for You: The Struggle to ‘Switch Off’ in the Social Media Age

FEATURE:

 

Dream for You

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PHOTO CREDIT: @entersge/Unsplash 

The Struggle to ‘Switch Off’ in the Social Media Age

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ANYONE who is involved…

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PHOTO CREDIT: @cikstefan/Unsplash

in the music industry – I, technically, am as a journalist – struggles to relax and unwind. Whether you are a megastar traveling the world and playing major gigs to someone much further down the ladder, music is something that consumes you! Most of us are happy for music to take us over and, whilst this is another subject I have explored in the past, I want to return, as I am finding it harder to detach than ever before. Maybe it is fitting my day-job around music, but my sleep is particularly affected. It is difficult to put music aside or reduce your workload; there is something about music that keeps driving you and obsessing every waking hour! One of the biggest problems in the industry is the toll music has on mental-health. By that, I mean the hours people put in and how many of us spend so long online. I think my problem stems from trying to balance a full-time job and keeping the blog going, but it is the sleeplessness that is affecting me at the moment. I, like many, try not to be on the laptop too close to bedtime, but there is always that temptation to check the latest music news and have a gander on social media – just in case something has been missed out on. I read a lot of posts online where artists, journalists and those in music struggle with sleep and anxiety, as they dedicate so much of their time and thought to it. Music and music therapy are very good for your mental-health, but it is more the social media aspect that worries me.

PHOTO CREDIT: @diklein/Unsplash

I have not read any study that suggests that listening to too much music – whatever that would constitute – is that bad for your mental wellbeing; it is the associated baubles, commitments and aspects around music that takes its toll – from emails and social media through to long hours etc. I have huge sympathy for those in music with greater responsibility than me. Think about the major artists whose every hour is spoken for; the affect that sort of pressure has is immense! It may seem like an impossible ask, but I think all of us in music need to take some time away to recharge or just get away from the screen. It may seem easy to say this, but there is an addictive quality to music where one needs to know every happening and development; where the latest track could arrive any moment and one needs to be all over it. Not only will this lead to poorer sleep, but you find the mind never really switches itself off. It is not only me who is finding it hard to limit time online and be so involved with music all of the time. As I said, I am reading a lot of stuff online where people are getting buried and they are struggling to find peace. Maybe it is the natural urge and personality of the music lover that means we need to stay in the loop and know everything happening. This, in this day, means a lot of time online. Some are good at rationing time on social media. They can turn off and only spend a few hours a day online.

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PHOTO CREDIT: @austindistel/Unsplash

At the moment, my ‘working day’ – the full-time job and writing – runs from 5 a.m. to about 8 p.m. That might sound manageable, but it is the time asleep (or trying to) with the brain musing and wondering about what is happening in music that creates the fatigue. Is there any likelihood any of us can make realistic adjustments? I have been pledging to limit my online time but, as a journalist, I feel like I need to be online to capture everything and be at the top of my game – not that my standard and talent is that lofty! I am not one for resolutions, but I think all of us in music who are feeling a little over-committed or tired need to make up a plan and eliminate the inessential. This might mean spending fewer hours a day online or taking a couple of days off during the week. For musicians, it might be harder to achieve because they need to be on the road, but I think we can all cut back and find time for ourselves. Not only can this lead to better sleep and relaxation, but the quality of our mental-health will be improved. Of course, it is easier said than done, and a musical diet can be hard to stick to. I think just enjoying music for therapeutic reasons is better than spending so much time on social media and getting overwhelmed with information. I think, if we all did that, then it could make an impact – I definitely need to find a better balance. It may involve small steps at first, but it can lead to…

PHOTO CREDIT: @brookecagle/Unsplash

A more peaceful and relaxed year.

FEATURE: Modern Heroines: Part Eighteen: Anna Calvi

FEATURE:

Modern Heroines

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PHOTO CREDIT: Maisie Cousins

Part Eighteen: Anna Calvi

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I am not sure why I have left it so long…

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to include Anna Calvi in this feature! I have scanned back and cannot see her name so, rather timely as it is, I will get to it. Calvi is the Ambassador for this year’s Independent Venue Week, and is someone who has relied on smaller venues - early in her career – to get where she is. I will circle back to that at the end of this feature but, before I mention her debut album, I want to bring in a bit of news that came out earlier in the week. Calvi’s excellent 2018 album, Hunter, has been re-tuned; she has stripped and modified the tracks and has collaborated with some great artists. This article explains more:

“Art rocker Anna Calvi set a record last year when her latest full-length, Hunter, earned her a third consecutive Album of the Year Mercury Prize nomination. No other solo artist has achieved that feat — and now she’s looking to make the record even more unbreakable. Calvi has today announced a new LP, a stripped-down reimagining of Hunter she’s dubbed, Hunted.

Between tour legs, Calvi revisited some of the early recordings she’d made for Hunter. “These recordings capture the very moment I first wrote these songs, and recorded them on my own, in my attic studio,” she said in a statement. Calvi was struck by the “intimate” nature of “these most private recordings,” and decided to highlight that feeling on Hunted.

However, she wouldn’t be reworking the tracks on her own. She invited a number of guests to help her give the songs new life, including Julia Holter, Charlotte Gainsbourg, and IDLES’ Joe Talbot. Lead single “Don’t Beat the Girl out of My Boy” (which, incidentally, was the first track shared off Hunter, as well) sees Calvi teaming with Courtney Barnett.

“Anna is a completely awe-inspiring performer, it’s impossible to take your eyes off her onstage,” Barnett said of her fondness for Calvi. “I love her songwriting for its beautiful and perfect balance between aggression and tenderness”.

It is great that artists take a successful album and then see potential to take it further; whether that is an acoustic version of said album or bringing others into the fold. Right now, Calvi is one of the most revered and talented artists around and, right from her earliest work, there was that spark of brilliance. What about Anna Calvi herself? Born in 1980, she has received three Mercury nominations – every one of her studio albums has earned one! -, and she has won several other gongs. Calvi is renowned for her virtuosic guitar skills, her powerful voice and incredible songwriting. Born to therapist parents in London, Calvi graduated from the University of Southampton with a degree in Music, having studied violin. I often wonder whether children whose parents have jobs like Calvi’s are more attuned to the human condition and have a different insight compared with other musicians – I will muse on that later, perhaps.

Calvi worked with a private guitar tutor and, by 2011, her acclaimed debut album came out (on Domino). It was a Mercury-nominated album – I wonder why Calvi has not won one yet! -, and it is a remarkable offering. Calvi grew up exposed to a variety of musical genres; she was seduced by artists like Captain Beefheart and it seemed, right from childhood, music was her path and connection. Inspired by the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Ravel and Debussy, there are a lot of different artists in her heart. For sure, the stunning guitar work throughout can be traced to Hendrix, but I think Calvi is very much her own artist on the debut. With material written in her parents’ attic using eight-track equipment, there is something intimate and charmingly lo-fi about her eponymous debut. Many artists are a little disappointed with their debut, as they feel they could have done better or changed things. Calvi was very proud of her first outing – and rightfully so! -, and she wanted the music to tell a story more than the lyrics. Anna Calvi is an evocative and immersive album from a unique and hungry artist. Whilst Calvi would go on to better things, Anna Calvi is a remarkable album that, I feel, does not get enough airplay and focus. This is what AllMusic had to say when they reviewed the album:

“Citing the likes of Debussy, Captain Beefheart, and Nina Simone as her main influences, it's clear from the outset that Anna Calvi isn't your average, run-of-the-mill singer/songwriter. She may have been tipped for success by everyone from the broadsheet music press to Brian Eno, but her blend of sultry blues-rock and dark, mysterious flamenco is a million miles away from the chart-friendly output of her fellow Sound of 2011 nominees.

Her self-titled debut, therefore, is unlikely to reap the same commercial rewards as the likes of Jessie J and Clare Maguire, its uncompromising, gothic, David Lynch-esque nature certainly won't spawn any bite-size TV ad soundtracks or airplay favorites your mom can sing along to. But in a music scene dominated by female solo artists, Calvi's romantic but often sinister ten songs certainly helps her to stand out from the crowd. Opening track "Rider to the Sea," sets the scene immediately, a brooding instrumental whose atmospheric twanging guitars would provide the perfect score should Quentin Tarantino's much rumored Kill Bill 3 ever come to fruition. Calvi's haunting and intense vocals first come to the forefront on "No More Words," a gloriously menacing number which evokes the shimmering distorted harmonies of My Bloody Valentine. But it's on the grandiose "Desire" when Calvi really unleashes the impassioned post-punk tones that have drawn favorable comparisons with the likes of Patti Smith and PJ Harvey (whose regular collaborator, Rob Ellis, is also here on production duties). Backed by an impressively tight backing band, the likes of "Suzanne and I," a future James Bond theme in the making, "I'll Be Your Man," which would sit comfortably on Florence and the Machine's Lungs, and "Blackout," which evokes Phil Spector's expansive Wall of Sound, prove Calvi isn't averse to delivering slightly more accessible material.

But it's the more unconventional "The Devil," which undoubtedly provides the album's highlight, a mesmerizing, stripped-down fusion of classical, rock, and flamenco that showcases her virtuoso guitar skills, and her effortless shifts from whispering restraint to primitive aggression before ending in layers of drenched feedback. By the time the epic strings have reverberated on closing track "Love Won't Be Leaving," you're left in no doubt as to why the industry appears to be so excited about her. Capturing the intensity and raw emotion of her captivating live shows, Anna Calvi is an ambitious and always intriguing debut which heralds the arrival of a unique and inventive addition to the plethora of U.K. female singer/songwriters.

I am going to bring in reviews of all three of her studio albums in a minute – not including her latest work – but, right from the start of her career, Calvi was speaking with the media and telling her story – a lot of artists avoid interviews for a while, which is a shame. Calvi is someone who arrived on the scene with a very original and interesting sound, so it is understandable people were keen to know more. I am not sure when I first encountered her music, but it might have been just after her sophomore album was released in 2013. I have gone back to her debut a lot since then, and I am struck by how complete and confident it sounds. In this interview with The Guardian, Calvi talked about her influences, confidence, and where her voice emerges from:

“In fact, almost everything about Calvi's musical vision seems to be the result of intense fixations and pushing herself to uncomfortable limits. In many ways, performing seems to be a release for her. It gives her courage, putting her in touch with "a different side of me that's strong and braver and more powerful", which, perversely, allows her to be more vulnerable, too. "The singers I love, that's what they have," she says. "Nina Simone is extremely vulnerable but her voice is powerful.

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This rawness, this complete fearlessness, in giving everything, and leaving nothing. It's a really inspiring quality." On a personal level, she says being creative "stops the annoying side of consciousness that's like, 'Nanananana!' You know, all that crap that your mind is filled with, worrying about what you said yesterday, what you're going to do about this. All of that completely goes away. Without it I'd be a bit of a nervous wreck."

“…But that takes confidence, which was slower to come than technique. "Often you have singers and you know who it is in the band because they walk in strutting, if it's a girl, in heels, clop, clop, clop," she says. "And I look at them and think, 'God, I can't do that. I can't be that kind of person.'"

Instead, she's created a world of her own. From the smuttily seductive Blackout ("Here in the dark/ I could be anyone") to the pining but sinister First We Kiss ("...then you will lock the door, my dear"), the album is heavy and close. "There's a sense of internal forces taking you over and finding a way to survive them," Calvi says. "They can be anything from loneliness to passion. At times it can feel really close, and at times really vast. Musically, I love the sense of tension and release that you get a lot in orchestral music. You get it in bite-sized form in pop music but I like to extend it and make the most of it, because I find it really exciting; the dynamics you get from really building something up until it's almost unbearable, then letting it go."

…Is this where that enormous voice comes from? "It's a bit like when something really bad happens, there's a survivor in you that kicks in and you don't realise how strong you are," she explains. "It's the same part of me that kicks in when I sing. Physically and emotionally, because it's both. It's a very physical thing to do." Being so slight, she says, means that performing takes it out of her. "I think that's why I like Edith Piaf, because I know she was small as well, and it's really nice that even if you're of a small frame – and I'm really weak – there's something in me that's like that".

After such an intriguing and well-received debut, Calvi could have taken a few years off and taken a breath. Calvi was busy gigging and preparing the songs for her follow-up, One Breath. Recorded at Black Box studios in France, it was mixed (in Texas) by Calvi’s new producer, John Congleton. The fact such an esteemed and legendary producer was working with Calvi so early in her career shows what an impression she was making and how good her music was/is! One Breath is full of thrills and vulnerability; about being open and surrendering to that feeling of fear, but then embracing it. I think One Breath is an even more confident and nuanced album than her debut. Eliza, Suddenly, and Piece by Piece were released as singles, and the whole album shines and sparks. It is a terrific creation and, again, critics were keen to lend their praise.

This is what The Irish Times wrote when they listened to One Breath:

“Described by Brian Eno as “the biggest thing since Patti Smith” and addled with bounteous comparisons to PJ Harvey, Anna Calvi does have her work cut out for her. But the Londoner makes certain to brand her own style across her second album. The tumultuous rock of Eliza, the intimate, woozy throb of One Breath, and the primal bluster of Tristan are distinctive yet complementary. Still, it is Piece by Piece that best sums up Calvi’s appeal. Tiptoeing through verses of whispered choruses and swaddled drums, she unleashes an abrasive scramble of atonal guitar and noisy keyboards at the song’s most vulnerable points. It confirms that you never quite know what’s coming next with Calvi, be it ghostly hymnal passages, cinematic strings or buzzing rock’n’roll – but the anticipation is both delicious and satisfying”.

I am keen to get to Anna Calvi’s latest album and a couple of interviews she provided fairly recently. With each album, she has grown stronger and more assured. One Breath is a remarkable album that exceeded the high standard of her debut and announced her as one of the finest songwriters in the U.K. Again, she had another Mercury nod under her belt, and so many people were eager to explore this ever-evolving and blossoming artist. I do not have too much to add to what I have already said about One Breath, other than to say it is a stunning album that everyone should listen to – I am ending this feature with a playlist that includes One Breath’s best tracks. 

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PHOTO CREDIT: Eva Pentel

I want to quote from this interview in The Independent, as it is a really interesting piece and, whilst I would recommend you read the entire interview, I have selected a few choice passages:

“That voice has certainly helped her records, 2011's eponymous debut and 2013's One Breath, win fans and acclaim; both were Mercury Prize-nominated. Yet Calvi says she was "phobic" about singing for many years, not able even to warble in the shower or along with the radio. "I guess I always felt a bit hemmed in. I just decided one day, I'm going to work and work and see if I can sing. I practised for hours every day. I had a few lessons at the beginning, and they were more like therapy sessions: me being like, 'I can't, I can't,' and [the therapist] being like, 'You can, you can!' I would say it is the thing I'm most proud of in my life, finding this voice."

"I can get really lost in my own imagination, and there's something important about having that space," she says. "Not speaking, not writing, just thinking. It's funny, when you're left with your thoughts, they go to different places… k I do think it affects how I write – this idea of loneliness, what it means, how it can be liberating, but also reminds you of all the most scary things about being a human… I kind of like that."

As you can tell, Calvi is not afraid of exploring the deep stuff: loneliness, anxiety, identity, reinvention. Before our interview, I'm told by the PR she'd like to "discuss gender". So we do.

She claims it's a topic she didn't used to think about much – until she became a famous musician and journalists started asking her highly gendered questions. "I felt I was being reminded constantly about my gender in a way you never usually are. 'What's it like as a woman playing guitar?' 'As a woman, how do you…?' 'What is it like to play such a phallic instrument?' At first it surprised me, then it made me angry, and now it's like my eyes are opened to seeing the world in a slightly different way. You're so brought up in the patriarchal way we live, you don't notice it, yet it's everywhere. It's everywhere."

She fears we're sliding backwards in terms of gender roles, that pressure is again increasingly being put on women to simply be pretty and passive, as if their appearance is their primary purpose. "It's beyond perfection, the way a woman is supposed to look. And shapeless – like an 11-year-old boy. You look in the mirror and see that you have hips and you imagine they shouldn't be there. I do shave my legs and my armpits but really, what are you being told, that you have to shave off parts of yourself? You're not allowed to just be in the world. You're always being told that your natural state is a bit disgusting".

After the success of One Breath in 2013 and increased interest, there was a bit of a gap before a third album arrived. Hunter came out in 2018 – five years after One Breath -, but it is Calvi’s strongest work yet. It runs deeper and hits harder; singles like Don’t Beat the Girl Out of My Boy, Hunter, and As a Man see Calvi with her voice in incredible form; her musicianship and guitar playing is truly extraordinary. I love the album and, whilst it was nominated for a Mercury again, it lost out last year – Dave won for PSYCHODRAMA. Produced by Nick Launay and Anna Calvi, Hunter is one of 2018’s very best albums. Few artists manage to hit such peaks on their third album. Calvi released a sensational album that blew fans critics away. Taking in subjects such as gender and sexuality, the songs make you think, but they are striking in terms of the vocals and compositions, and not just the lyrics. AllMusic remarked the following when reviewing Hunter:

“Anna Calvi took a five-year break after releasing 2013's One Breath, but the intervening time didn't diminish the grand sound she's been cultivating since her debut. From the title track's breathy opening to the soaring melody of "Away," her gift for elucidating the drama of a bygone era is intact and just as effective. If anything, the lustily provocative nature of her artistry reaches its dizzy apex on Hunter.

She takes the drama of '80s power ballads and extracts its most gothic textures, no doubt aided by Nicolas Launay's (Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Yeah Yeah Yeahs) expansive production, which recalls the airiness he gave the Bad Seeds' Push the Sky Away. A great deal of the record explores the fluidity of gender by playing with many of the common tropes associated with masculinity, from "Alpha" to "Hunter." The former track's arch, elongated riffs, and the predatory prowl of "Indies or Paradise," include some of Calvi's most warped and consummate shredding to date, further dispelling another macho myth -- that only boys can play guitar. Nevertheless, these virile expressions never come at the expense of Calvi's femininity, as the lush swirl of "Swimming Pool" attests.

Like gender, the record also examines sexuality. Calvi has flirted with a queer point of view before, as on "I'll Be Your Man" from her 2011 debut. But Hunter is the record which fundamentally lives and breathes queerness, a record where on "Chains" she suggests, "I'll be the boy, you be the girl/I'll be the girl you be the boy." Unlike earlier efforts, this feels less like theater for theater's sake, and ultimately, unbridled and infinitely real. On "Wish," for instance, she's never sounded so liberated, and that lack of constraint bleeds into her guitar playing, hinting at a newfound joy amid the curious majesty of her music.

Hunter is the record where, more than any other, Calvi's talents have fully crystallized. The true character of her music has been unleashed and will likely see all those PJ Harvey comparisons finally fade, eclipsed by the radiance of this tough yet open-hearted work.

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I will conclude and wrap things up soon but, before then, I want to source from another review of Hunter. It is an album that deserves all the love it received and, when The Guardian wrote about Hunter, they made some keen observations:

“The more one listens, the more Hunter seems like a filmic album: it is defined by colour. Swimming Pool, a gorgeous, rippling ballad was apparently inspired by David Hockney’s 1960s paintings, and the celebration of shameless pleasure. Yet it seems to recall the films of Douglas Sirk, where colours were used as signifiers of repressed desire.

There are depths to be explored here, depths to wallow in. The title track switches decades: Hunter’s stately, four-chord synth pattern, and little twanged guitar detailing calls to mind something from Bruce Springsteen’s Tunnel of Love, albeit with a female protagonist as the seeker of prey.

There are missteps – the refrain “I’m an alpha / I divide and conquer” on Alpha feels more like a truism than a truth – but ones so tiny as not to reduce the impact of the album. Hunter is glorious and triumphant, a record that succeeds on any terms you try to force upon it”.

With every new album, Anna Calvi was talking about a new phase of life and developments. Queerness has always been a part of her music, but much more so on Hunter. Artists such as Calvi, Shura and Marika Hackman are putting queerness in the spotlight, yet it is still an area that is under-exposed and supported. I wonder whether the industry is as open as it should be, or whether queer/L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ artists feel like they can be open and expressive.

Hunter is an album that stays with you long after you have heard it. I have a couple of interviews to cover before I come on to her post-Hunter work/activity. I came across an interview in i that interested me, where Calvi talked about the period before Hunter and how she was rebuilding things:

 “It was a time to rebuild my life, my identity and confidence”, she says. “I wrote the record very much in tandem with falling in love again and exploring being happy and experiencing pleasure and being more free. All the possible things a human can be, which is so restricted by the constraints of having to perform one’s gender. That was what I wanted the record to feel like.”

And she has had to defend her relationship. When Calvi and her girlfriend were looking to rent a flat in France, a landlady – on realising that they were a couple rather than a pair of students – refused them. “It was like wow, shit, this stuff really happens.”

So you can understand why Calvi is angry. In the years since she emerged as an esteemed art-rock guitarist and singer, alongside winning best breakthrough act at the 2012 BRIT Awards and being twice nominated for the Mercury, she has found herself answering such questions as: “What’s it like playing a phallic instrument?”, and that other favourite: “What’s it like being a woman in music?”

“It’s this idea that women are a genre and that you would be compared to really random female artists because you have breasts, but not compared to a male artist”, she says”.

With Hunter, a whole new clan of fans and supports headed the way of Anna Calvi. It is an album that still sounds so refreshing and important now, over a year after its release. The record is very intimate and personal in places; that mixes with the more outward-looking and charged. That combination of sounds and emotions makes Hunter such a magnificent album. I am going to bring us into the present soon but, quickly, I want to quote from an interview from The Independent where Calvi talked about releasing such intimate music:

“It was “scary”, she says, to release such intense, intimate music. “It’s a weird thing to say really personal things and then think that any old person is gonna hear them. Especially if you’re quite an introverted person, which I am.”

The risk has paid off. The record is one of 12 in the running at tonight’s Mercury Prize, shortlisted alongside albums by Foals, Dave, Little Simz and The 1975. Calvi says it feels “incredible” to be nominated, but she’s not concerning herself with what happens on the night. “I’ve experienced losing twice, I know how it works,” she says with a laugh. Her self-titled debut was shortlisted in 2011, as was its follow-up, One Breath, two years later. “You spend the whole time thinking, ‘I’m not gonna win’, and then you get there, and you’re waiting at the table, and there’s two minutes where you’re like, ‘Hang on a minute, I could win this!’ And then they announce the winner, and it’s someone else. So I’m so ready and prepared for that. I’ve got it down.”

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Calvi is buoyed by the increasing acceptance of queer artists into the mainstream, though she worries about her identity being commodified. “I talked to a journalist who was a bit older who was saying, ‘Is this whole sudden queer thing the new counter-culture, like the punks?’ And I tried to explain to her that the main difference is that if a trans person doesn’t feel they can be understood... we’re talking about life and death. People kill themselves. It’s not just for fun, it’s not about what music you like or what hobbies you have, this is about people’s lives. And I think it’s really dangerous to try and condense it and make it a product. But I do think it’s great for me as an artist that there’s a family of queer artists. The difficult thing is if only people in that community hear about each other, then there’s a sense of ghettoising. I suppose equality is only when it’s not even a thing anymore. And we obviously are far away from that being the case”.

Since Hunter’s release in 2018, Calvi has been touring a lot and keeping busy. I will end by talking about gigs (and bringing in a live review from last year), but Calvi has been doing some T.V. composition for Peaky Blinders. She is a big fan of the show, and she has contributed her magic. I will include a cut from the Peaky Blinders soundtrack in this feature but, if you are not a fan of the show – or missed it -, here is an article from July 2019 where the news was announced:

 “Anna Calvi is pleased to announce that she has written and performed the score for the entire new season of BBC One’s Peaky Blinders.

Peaky Blinders had its season 5 premiere in Birmingham yesterday evening, where Anna Calvi joined the cast and director Anthony Byrne on the red carpet.

Previously a fan of the series, Calvi said on writing the original score: “This is a new thing for me but it was a really good fit, I love everything about the show. I completely immersed myself in it and became quite obsessed with the characters, especially Tommy Shelby [played by Cillian Murphy] and getting lost in his mind”.

Anna adds: “There is a duality to the show, a beauty and a brutality, which I have been exploring in my own music and on the Hunter album. I want to say thank you to the director Anthony Byrne for believing in me and letting me seek out what I needed to".

Anna Calvi is an artist who can step into film and T.V. with ease and is instantly adaptable. I wonder where she might head next, and whether she will write music for other T.V. shows or films. 2020’s Independent Venue Week Ambassador Calvi joined BBC Radio 6 Music on Friday, and she spoke about the event/week and live music. I opened by stating how Calvi, like so many artists, relied on venues to get her break and experience. She is vocal and passionate when it comes to supporting live venues and ensuring their survival. In this report from The Guardian, Calvi spoke about the importance of music; asking why there is not as much funding (for music) as ballet or other areas of the arts:

“Britain’s independent music venues should receive the same reverence and support as the ballet or opera, according to the musician Anna Calvi and the organisers behind a week-long initiative to promote the UK’s smaller concert halls.

Calvi, a three-time Mercury music prize nominee, told the Guardian that venues which predominantly focus on live music – and helped contribute £1.1bn to the UK economy in 2018 – need to be protected at a time when a third of smaller venues report they are struggling.

She said: “Just because it’s music that is played with guitars, why is it any different to a place like the ballet or opera? Other areas of the creative industry might have slowed down, but people are still going to gigs.”

Calvi, who is an ambassador for Independent Venue Week, added that investment in venues should be seen as a long-term project, which allows talent to develop. “There might only be 150 people in the room at the time at those early gigs, but those artists could go anywhere from there,” she said. “Playing smaller venues was instrumental for me to becoming the artist I am now”.

I have not even mentioned Calvi as a live performer. I have not seen her live, but I have watched televised performances and she is incredible! The passion she puts into each performance is electrifying. She has a couple of dates announced this year, but I am sure there will be more dates revealed down the line. I am hoping to catch her live this year, because it is clear Calvi is one of the best live performers around. CLASH caught Calvi in London last year and were mesmerised by what they saw:

“A combination of some Kate Bush gothica; amazing, jaw dropping, on-just-the-right-side of overindulgent virtuoso 80s-era Prince guitar, PJ Harvey sultriness… and – dare I say – a touch of Bruce Springsteen? Oh, and also an incredible soaring voice that, from what I can gather, physically knocks one woman in the audience over at the front. 

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PHOTO CREDIT: Eva Pentel

This is a performer that you can’t take your eyes off for one second. Her voice is insane – and I hope I’m not doing her a disservice when I suggest that she should be a shoo-in for the next Bond theme – she could Carly Simon the shit out of it.

But back to the gig – the unconventional and unexpected rhythms; the very of-the-moment themes of androgyny and sexual fluidity; the heavy atmosphere cut through with thrusting guitar and operatic voice - and the highlight - and my new favourite track of hers, ‘Don’t Beat the Girl Out of My Boy’.

She didn’t play ‘Suddenly’, but maybe that would have lifted the atmosphere too much. As it was, the occasion has an almost David Lynch-like quality - like you’ve got too drunk in the Red Room, and someone is holding a blue velvet cushion over your face... in a good way.

It she ventures anywhere close to you this year I urge you to catch her – it’s like a fever dream that never quite leaves you”.

I will leave it there, but I think this year will be big for Anna Calvi. There are no plans for a new studio album yet, but one wouldn’t bet against it – and, I suspect, it will be nominated for a Mercury! There are going to be tour dates and, as festivals are announcing their line-ups, I feel like Calvi will be featuring on more than a few. There are some truly great artists in the music world right now, but few are as impressive and inspiring as Anna Calvi. She is an artist who will be a true…

ICON of the future.

FEATURE: Inside the Pop Documentary: Taylor Swift and Miss Americana

FEATURE:

Inside the Pop Documentary

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IMAGE CREDIT: Netflix

Taylor Swift and Miss Americana

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IN an age where we do not have…

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IN THIS PHOTO: Taylor Swift with the Miss Americana director, Lana Wilson

music television as such, I wonder whether we have lost out a lot. We stream music and have a lot at our fingertips, but there is a definite lack of great music documentaries and shows. I used to love the VH1 and MTV shows that spotlighted artists or albums. Now, in 2020, we have so much technology and viewing options, but there seems to be less reliance on music documentaries. From Madonna: Truth or Dare of 1991 to the patchy Katy Perry: Part of Me in 2012, there has been some great Pop documentaries. Maybe modern artists feel like they are exposed enough with social media, but a good Pop documentary can reveal so much, in a good way. I understand one can feel venerable and exposed on camera, and giving too much detail away can backfire or damage their career. Whether it is a tour documentary like Beyoncé’s Homecoming or a straight look into an artist’s life, I think a good documentary can reveal depths to an artist. I am not a massive fan of Taylor Swift’s music, but I think there is so much pressure on her shoulders. A star of that stature and fame is not going to have an ordinary life or be able to feel normal. Wherever she goes, there is going to be someone taking a picture or somebody trying to get a piece of her.

Miss Americana is directed by Lana Wilson, and he film covers a number of events in Swift's life and career, including the making of her seventh studio album, Lover; her past battle with an eating disorder, her sexual assault trial; her mother's cancer diagnosis, and Swift's decision to go public with her politics. There have been some incredible documentaries through the years, but there have been very few since streaming sites like Netflix came around – surely we should see quite a few in this day?! I think huge Pop artists like Taylor Swift can feel misrepresented in the media, or like they do not have a chance to be open and honest. Not only is Swift’s discussion about her politics and eating disorder brave and inspiring, it makes you feel more bonded to her, even if you are not a fan of her music. I have seen clips from the documentary and feel Swift comes across as articulate, brave and strong. I listen to her music now and then, but I rarely think about what inspired the song or the artist behind the words. I would like to see more documentaries from Pop artists. Whilst some might see documentaries as self-serving and a little egotistical, I think it is great to see an artist talking freely and letting you into their world. Miss Americana can be seen here, and it is a must-see for her fans, but also for those (like me) who respect and like her political stance and how inspiring she is to others.

Even if Miss Americana does miss out some things, there are some very raw and emotional scenes; different sides to a Pop artist. I think Miss Americana will open doors for other artists to produce documentaries. I think many people get the wrong impression about huge artists and what their lives consist. There was a lot of build-up regarding Miss Americana and, when it was released on Netflix, reviewers were keen to have their say. It is clear many expected Swift to be goody-goody and hold back but, clearly, here is an artist keen to have her say. This is what The Independent had to say when they viewed Miss Americana:

“Perhaps most compelling, though, are the arguments Swift has with music executives, as well as her own father, about why she feels compelled to speak about politics after years of silence. For younger viewers, and those who aren’t from the US, it’s difficult to grasp the scale of the backlash faced by The Dixie Chicks when they criticised then-president George W Bush in 2003. That is, until you see the footage of news hosts calling them “dumb bimbos” and claiming they “deserved to be slapped around”, and placards announcing they should “burn in hell”. Before then, The Dixie Chicks had been the reigning queens of country music, with more than 30 million records sold. But an off-the-cuff remark turned America’s sweethearts into the country’s most-hated. With that in mind, it isn’t all that shocking that Swift – a country-pop star in her early twenties appealing to stone-faced label executives demanding she stay quiet – was reluctant to follow that path.

By incorporating home videos, professionally shot backstage films and to-camera interviews, Miss Americana makes an admirable attempt at covering as much ground as possible. There are moments that feel too well-trodden – the Kanye West feud, or her support of the LBGT+ community. And elsewhere, you wish Swift and Wilson would delve a little deeper, such as when she references her former compulsion to appear “sweet” or “nice” all the time.

Before Miss Americana, I only really knew about Taylor Swift’s music and, from a few interviews, various bits and pieces. It could have been a gamble releasing a documentary but, actually, she comes across as this complex but very real woman who has garnered a lot of respect. Even though I am not going to listen to her music a lot more, I am definitely moved by Swift. She has so much passion and belief in what she does, and she is not someone who forgoes her independence – like so many of her Pop peers. In Miss Americana, Swift talked about motherhood and her relationship with Joe Alwyn:

 “Swift spoke in the film about how she doesn't feel ready for motherhood yet, so tabloids, please quit it with any pregnancy rumors. “There’s part of me that feels like I’m 57 years old, but there’s part of me that’s definitely not ready to have kids and definitely not ready for all that grown up stuff,” Swift said at one point. “I kind of don’t really have the luxury of figuring stuff out, though, because my life is planned two years ahead of time. Literally, in two months, they’ll come at me with dates for the next tour.”

What she said—and what was shown—of her with Alwyn was pretty minimal. But she did discuss, without naming him explicitly, why she fell in love with him in the fall of 2016, after her Kim Kardashian Snapchat scandal tainted her, and the singer chose to take a step back from the spotlight for a bit. “I felt alone, I felt really bitter,” Swift said, via Hollywood Life. “I felt sort of like a wounded animal lashing out. I figured I had to reset everything. I had to reconstruct an entire belief system for my own personal sanity. I also was falling in love with someone who had a wonderfully normal, balanced life.”

She also addressed their choice to keep their relationship under the wraps. "We decided together we wanted our relationship to be private," she said. “Even though it [Swift's public image in 2016] was really horrible, I was happy. But I wasn’t happy in the way I was trained to be happy. It was happiness without anyone else’s input. We were just…happy”.

One of the most talked-about and revealing scenes of Miss Americana is when her album, Reputation, was overlooked at the Grammys in 2019. This review from The New York Times highlights that scene:

“On Grammy nomination day in the winter of 2018, a camera watches from a low angle as Swift sits in sweats alone on a sofa and hears from her publicist that her perturbed sixth album, “Reputation,” has been omitted from three of the big categories. She’s stoic. She’s almost palpably hurt. But Swift’s songwriting treats hurt as an elastic instrument, and she resolves in that moment of snubbing, “I just need to make a better record.” And the movie watches as she writes and records “Lover,” another album eventually rejected by the string-pullers at the Grammys”.

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Along the way, Swift does a lot of ruminating and recounting, a lot of arguing and apologizing on her own behalf. She’s rueful about sitting out the 2016 presidential election and failing to mobilize her millions of fans and followers against Donald Trump’s candidacy. So “Miss Americana” is also about an apolitical star waking up to herself as a woman and a citizen. She wants to spend her “good girl” credit to decry the scorched-earth-conservative Senate campaign that Marsha Blackburn was running in Tennessee, Swift’s adopted home. Her management team deems this unwise. The team, at that symbolic point, is two slouchy, old white men who counter their client’s raging passion with financial and prehistoric umbrage. Bob Hope and Bing wouldn’t let their politics dent ticket sales 50 percent. It’s part of strong stretch of the movie that argues that Swift’s own experience with a handsy (and consequently litigious) radio personality helped push her off the fence — a passage that culminates with the most stressful sending of an Instagram post you’re likely to see from a star.

At the other extreme is a different trauma, normal only for the famous: Folks who camp outside of Swift’s Manhattan apartment building and shriek as she exits; who, upon seeing her backstage, tearfully come apart; who so adore her that they need her as an unwitting accessory to their surprise marriage proposal. We’re supposed to call these people fans. But the ones who turn up here tend toward the most disturbing adulation. She tells the singer Brendon Urie that a man broke into her apartment and slept in her bed”.

It is fascinating seeing Swift fully explored, and I do think it will ignite a new hunger for music documentaries. As I said at the start, there have been relatively few music documentaries recently; those that investigate current artists. I think modern Pop artists like Billie Eilish would be fascinating to watch in a documentary. I think documentaries, if balanced and open, can be hugely memorable – Lady Gaga’s excellent and memorable Gaga: Five Foot Two is a perfect example. Taylor Swift’s Miss Americana is an insightful documentary that provides rare access to one of the world’s…

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BIGGEST artists.

FEATURE: Listen Before I Go: Making Sure Billie Eilish Is Allowed to Breathe in 2020

FEATURE:

 

Listen Before I Go

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Making Sure Billie Eilish Is Allowed to Breathe in 2020

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THE title of this feature…

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might confuse some people but, over the past few weeks, few artists have been as busy as Billie Eilish. Maybe this feeds into a wider narrative regarding young Pop artists, but there is going to be a lot of attention trained the way of Eilish. She has been commissioned to write the next James Bond theme, No Time to Die, and has cleaned up at the Grammys. This BBC article explains more:

“Pop star Billie Eilish swept the board at the 2020 Grammys, winning five awards, including best new artist and song of the year.

The 18-year-old also won album of the year for her debut, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go, which was recorded in her childhood home in LA.

She replaces Taylor Swift as the youngest person ever to win the award.

"I joke around a lot at these things, but I genuinely want to say I'm so grateful," said the singer.

Eilish triumphed in all of the Grammys "big four" marquee categories - song of the year, record of the year, album of the year and best new artist.

She is the first person to achieve the feat since Christopher Cross in 1981.

Eilish appeared to be overwhelmed by the extent of her domination of the awards. Accepting the album of the year prize, she turned to fellow nominee Ariana Grande and said: "Can I just say that I think Ariana deserves this?" (Grande waved off the comments, ceding the prize back to the winner).

Earlier, on the red carpet, the singer said she felt like an impostor.

"I feel like I'm not supposed to be here," she joked. "I feel like they accidentally let in a fan."

But the teenager has re-written the rules of pop over the last 12 months, creating ominous, unsettling songs that disrupt typical song structures and lure listeners down dark sonic avenues”.

It has been a really successful time for Eilish and her debut album, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?, got a lot of love from critics. She is still eighteen, and so much acclaim and focus has arrived at her feet. This will only expand and increase as we head through this year. I can imagine Eilish is favourite to headline a few festivals. She will not be headlining Glastonbury – but one suspects she will be booked -, but there are so many other festivals to announce their line-ups. In terms of gigs, she is heading over here to the U.K. later in the summer and there will be that demands from venues around the world. Not only will people want to see Eilish play, but there will be expectations from her record label. Eilish’s debut was released through Darkroom and Interscope, so I hope there is not going to be that pressure for her to release an album so soon. I know Eilish is an independent and strong artist, but there is only so much one can do when it comes to saying ‘no’.

I worry about big artists like her and Taylor Swift and what impact success has. Eilish was overwhelmed to receive those Grammys, and that memory will stay with her for a lifetime. It is wonderful seeing a young artist given such kudos so early on, and I hope this triumph means Eilish will be given the freedom to move and create in her own way. There is that concern that she will be subject to a lot of recording and touring demand all at once and, inevitably, this will create a problem. Artists have come out before and discussed their mental-health problems and stresses. Billie Eilish has a cool head on her shoulders but, even so, a lot of people will be bidding for her time. Who knows what she can achieve in 2020 and how far her music will spread. She is a brilliant talent for sure, and I hope she gets the chance to relax; to find some time to write on her own terms and manage to detach away from the bustle and demand of the industry. One album in, and this is just the future for the American artist. It is obvious – if it wasn’t before – that Billie Eilish has a…   

LONG future ahead.