FEATURE: Best Days: Hailing the One-Off Return of the Mighty Blur: A Playlist of Their Great Hits and Awesome Deep Cuts

FEATURE:

 

 

Best Days

PHOTO CREDIT: Kevin Westenberg

Hailing the One-Off Return of the Mighty Blur: A Playlist of Their Great Hits and Awesome Deep Cuts

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SOME wonderful news broke yesterday…

that caused a great deal of excitement. The fabulous Blur release their latest studio album, The Magic Whip, back in 2015. There has been no news of a new album or anything further from the band. However, they are going to reunite for a one-off show at Wembley Stadium next year. You can find more details on their website. Pitchfork were among those who provided more details about a gig that is already among the most anticipated and excited of 2023:

“Blur will return to the stage for a headline show at London’s Wembley Stadium on Saturday, July 8, 2023. Watch a trailer for the show below. “We really love playing these songs and thought it's about time we did it again,” said Damon Albarn in a press release. Jockstrap, Slowthai, and Self Esteem will support the show.

The concert is billed as Blur’sr first headline show in 8 years, though the band regrouped to play a few songs at a 2019 Afrika Express show in London. Blur’s reunion album, The Magic Whip, came out in 2015. Last year, Damon Albarn released an LP called The Nearer the Fountain, More Pure the Stream Flows. He has a new Gorillaz album on the way in 2023.

Read about “Song 2” and “Girls and Boys” in Pitchfork’s rundown of “The 250 Best Songs of the 1990s.”

To celebrate the magnificent Blur coming together for an amazing and must-see gig next year, I have compiled a playlist featuring their biggest songs and some great deeper cuts. I may have included this biography before but, to give background and chronology, AllMusic tell the story of one of the all-time great bands:

“Initially, Blur were one of the multitude of British bands that appeared in the wake of the Stone Roses, mining the same swirling, pseudo-psychedelic guitar pop, only with louder guitars. Following an image makeover in the mid-'90s, the group emerged as the most popular band in the U.K., establishing itself as heir to the English guitar pop tradition of the Kinks, the Small Faces, the Who, the Jam, Madness, and the Smiths. In the process, the group broke down the doors for a new generation of guitar bands that became labeled as Brit-pop. With Damon Albarn's wry lyrics and the group's mastery of British pop tradition, Blur were the leader of Brit-pop, but they quickly became confined by the movement; since they were its biggest band, they nearly died when the movement itself died. Through some reinvention, Blur reclaimed their position as an art pop band in the late '90s by incorporating indie rock and lo-fi influences, which finally gave them their elusive American success in 1997. But the band's legacy remained in Britain, where they helped revitalize guitar pop by skillfully updating the country's pop traditions.

Originally called Seymour, the group was formed in London in 1989 by vocalist/keyboardist Albarn along with guitarist Graham Coxon and bassist Alex James, with drummer Dave Rowntree joining the lineup shortly afterward. After performing a handful of gigs and recording a demo tape, the band signed to Food Records, a subsidiary of EMI run by journalist Andy Ross and former Teardrop Explodes keyboardist Dave Balfe. Balfe and Ross suggested that the band change its name, submitting a list of alternate names for the group's approval. From that list, the group took the name Blur.

"She's So High," the group's first single, made it into the Top 50 while the follow-up, "There's No Other Way," went Top Ten. Both singles were included on their 1991 Stephen Street-produced debut album, Leisure. Although it received favorable reviews, the album fit neatly into the dying Manchester pop scene, causing some journalists to dismiss the band as manufactured teen idols. For the next two years, Blur struggled to distance themselves from the scene associated with the sound of their first album.

Released in 1992, the snarling "Pop Scene" was Blur's first attempt at changing their musical direction. A brash, spiteful rocker driven by horns, the neo-mod single was punkier than anything the band had previously recorded and its hooks were more immediate and catchy. Despite Blur's clear artistic growth, "Pop Scene" didn't fit into the climate of British pop and American grunge in 1992 and failed to make an impression on the U.K. charts. Following the single's commercial failure, the group began work on its second album, Modern Life Is Rubbish, a process that would take nearly a year and a half.

XTC's Andy Partridge was originally slated to produce Modern Life Is Rubbish, but the relationship between Blur and Partridge quickly soured, so Street was again brought in to produce the band. After spending nearly a year in the studio, the band delivered the album to Food. The record company rejected it, declaring that it needed a hit single. Blur went back into the studio and recorded Albarn's "For Tomorrow," which would turn out to be a British hit. Food was ready to release the record, but the group's U.S. record company, SBK, believed there was no American hit single on the record and asked them to return to the studio. Blur complied and recorded "Chemical World," which pleased SBK for a short while; the song would become a minor alternative hit in the U.S. and charted at number 28 in the U.K. Modern Life Is Rubbish was set for release in the spring of 1993 when SBK asked Blur to re-record the album with producer Butch Vig (Nirvana, Sonic Youth). The band refused and the record was released in May in Britain; it appeared in the United States that fall. Modern Life Is Rubbish received good reviews in Britain, peaking at number 15 on the charts, yet it failed to make much of an impression in the U.S.

Modern Life Is Rubbish turned out to be a dry run for Blur's breakthrough album, Parklife. Released in April 1994, Parklife entered the charts at number one and catapulted the band to stardom in Britain. The stylized new wave dance-pop single "Girls and Boys" entered the charts at number five; the single managed to spend 15 weeks on the U.S. charts, peaking at number 52, but the album never cracked the charts. It was a completely different story in England, as Blur had a string of hit singles, including the ballad "To the End" and the mod anthem "Parklife," which featured narration by Phil Daniels, the star of the film version of the Who's Quadrophenia.

With the success of Parklife, Blur opened the door for a flood of British indie guitar bands that dominated British pop culture in the mid-'90s. Oasis, Elastica, Pulp, the Boo Radleys, Supergrass, Gene, Echobelly, Menswear, and numerous other bands all benefited from the band's success. By the beginning of 1995, Parklife had gone triple platinum and Blur had become superstars. The group spent the first half of 1995 recording its fourth album and playing various one-off concerts, including a sold-out stadium show. Blur released "Country House," the first single from their new album, in August amidst a flurry of media attention because Albarn had the single's release moved up a week to compete with the release of "Roll with It," a new single from Blur's chief rival, Oasis. The strategy backfired. Although Blur won the battle, with "Country House" becoming the group's first number one single, they ultimately lost the war, as Oasis became Britain's biggest band with their second album, (What's the Story) Morning Glory?, completely overshadowing the follow-up to Parklife, The Great Escape. While The Great Escape entered the U.K. charts at number one and earned overwhelmingly positive reviews, it sold in smaller numbers, and by the beginning of 1996, Blur were seen as has-beens, especially since they once again failed to break the American market, where Oasis had been particularly successful.

In the face of negative press and weak public support, Blur nearly broke up in early 1996, but they instead decided to spend the entire year out of the spotlight. By the end of the year, Albarn was declaring that he was no longer interested in British music and was fascinated with American indie rock, a genre that Graham Coxon had been supporting for years. These influences manifested themselves on Blur's fifth album, Blur, which was released in February of 1997 to generally positive reviews. The band's reinvention wasn't greeted warmly in the U.K. -- the album and its first single, "Beetlebum," debuted at number one and quickly fell down the charts -- as Blur's mass audience didn't completely accept their new incarnation. However, the band's revamped sound earned them an audience in the U.S., where Blur received strong reviews and became a moderate hit, thanks largely to the popularity of the single "Song 2." The success in America eventually seeped over to Britain, and by the spring, the album had bounced back up the charts. 13 followed in 1999.

Albarn stepped out with the hip-hop/pop cartoon group Gorillaz in 2000, a collaboration with artist Jamie Hewlett that soon eclipsed the popularity of Blur internationally. Coxon departed during the recording of Blur's next album, with Albarn stepping in on guitar. One last album, Think Tank, appeared in 2003 but the bandmembers went their separate ways after its release, with Albarn turning toward Gorillaz and other creative projects. Blur wound up reuniting for a tour of the U.K. in 2009, preceded by the career retrospective Midlife.

From there, Blur pursued a halting reunion. They played a number of high-profile gigs in 2009, including headlining Glastonbury, then in 2010 a documentary of the band's history called No Distance Left to Run appeared. Along with it came "Fool's Day," a limited-edition single timed to coincide with 2010's Record Store Day. 2011 turned out to be quiet, but 2012 was a bustling year for Blur, with the band delving deep into their past for the exhaustive box set Blur 21, which contained double-disc reissues of all of their seven studio albums plus four discs of unreleased material and three DVDs. Along with this box came "Under the Westway/The Puritan," a single to support the box and the group's headlining spot at the closing Olympic ceremonies in August 2012. That concert at Hyde Park was released digitally the following week as Parklive; it later came out as a physical release that year.

Blur continued to play shows into 2013; one of these included a gig in Hong Kong that was cancelled. The band used the downtime to record a bunch of material that lay unused until Coxon started working with producer Stephen Street to turn them into completed tracks in November of 2014. Soon, a full album came into shape. Blur announced the release of this record, now entitled The Magic Whip, for April of 2015”.

It will be an emotional time seeing Blur on stage next year in London. There is the hope they will record another album. I am not sure whether we will see that, as the members are releasing their own work. Damon Albarn especially is prolific and doing his own thing. They left us on a high with The Magic Whip, so maybe we should just keep things as they are! The playlist below proves why Blur are so popular. The fact they are so consistent, versatile, and original. From decade-defining albums like Parklife, though to incredible later work like Think Tank, they have given us all so many happy memories and genius songs through the years! I know thousands of people will order tickets for Wembley Stadium for next year so that they can see and pay their respects to…

A truly iconic and legendary band.

FEATURE: If Those Walls Could Talk... Kate Bush and Her Bond with Abbey Road Studios

FEATURE:

 

 

If Those Walls Could Talk…

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in Abbey Road Studios whilst working on Never for Ever (1980) 

Kate Bush and Her Bond with Abbey Road Studios

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I am doing a couple of features…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush at Abbey Road Studios in 1985/PHOTO CREDIT: Steve Rapport

that tie into the upcoming Mary McCartney documentary, If These Walls Could Sing. The filmmaker and photographer is the daughter of Paul McCartney. There are few better and more qualified to make a film about the iconic studios! It is a space that Kate Bush recorded in. Somewhere some of her best music came to fruition. I am going to come to that. First, and as Bush appears in the documentary in an audio-only interview, here are some more details:

“We’re excited to announce If These Walls Could Sing, Mary McCartney’s new Disney Original Documentary on Abbey Road Studios is coming to Disney Plus soon after making its debut at Telluride Film Festival.

The culmination of years of research, the film is Mary’s personal love letter to a place which not only fostered her dad’s creative work, but also countless numbers of the most talented artists from around the globe.

Featuring stories from the likes of Jimmy Page, Kate Bush, Noel Gallagher, John Williams, Celeste, Elton John, Giles Martin, Shirley Bassey, Liam Gallagher, Pink Floyd, Paul McCartney and even our microphone custodian of over 50 years, Lester Smith.

If These Walls Could Sing is a passionate account of the world’s first purpose-built recording studio spanning 91 years. From our beginnings recording the greats of classical music, to hosting dance hall and big band stars, witnessing the birth of British rock & roll, producing a prolific string of hits in the 1960s, facilitating Oscar-winning film scores and seeing the rise of hip-hop idols. Mary’s film brings to life the magic that continues to echo within the walls of No. 3 Abbey Road.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Grace Guppy

“I want to make it an emotional experience as a documentary, rather than doing all the historical points. I didn't want it to feel like a lesson. I really, really hope the viewer falls in love with it.

Yes, there were some tense moments, or they're talking about some creative differences, or sometimes maybe they were a bit naughty in the studios. But I think ultimately there's a real love for the place. And I find that really interesting that people feel that way about a building still.”

- Mary McCartney in Vanity Fair

Mary's initial inspiration for the film was an image of her mother and father walking across the zebra crossing in 1977. Watch Paul McCartney relive the moment in this clip from the film:

“Abbey Road Studios have been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. I grew up around the corner and have early memories of going to visit my parents while they were recording. The studios felt like a family. The people who worked there had also grown up there, staying years to be trained and nurtured by the generation above them. This family had also produced the music I loved; iconic, original, pioneering records that have inspired and moved me and millions of others.

A photograph of my mum leading our pony Jet across Abbey Road’s zebra crossing sparked these memories again. Walking by the studios and watching people gather on the crossing to have their photos taken, people who had made the journey from all over the world, made me realize the significance of Abbey Road. There is something truly special about this place; it is much more than a building — it’s a shrine to creative, original thinkers and a treasure-trove of stories.

I have always been drawn back to the studios, and when Abbey Road opened its archives — a huge collection of stills, session tapes and footage — this film began. Covering 90 years of recordings, I realized I could never include everything. I looked to find moments where artists felt comfortable to dare to push themselves and create something new. I knew Abbey Road was a trailblazing institution, but I wanted to really unpack why and how and find emotional, personal moments of self-belief and creativity.

This process surprised and revealed so much. I was familiar with the ‘60s recordings, The Beatles of course, but filling in the gaps revealed immense breadth and diversity and how each period of music built upon the next, paving the way for the next generation to continue to push the envelope. From Elgar to Shirley Bassey to Ye, I found each artist embraced the space, its staff, equipment and possibilities in their own way, with an awareness of what came before and a desire to push further. I had always seen instruments lying around in the corridors, and my dad had told me stories about how the Beatles would pull in anything lying around to use on their recordings, like the comedy sound effects cupboard. But looking at Abbey Road’s history in detail, the cumulative effect of the studio’s building on its music history was astounding.

As a photographer, I wanted to capture the spirit of the studios visually. Being able to invite artists back to the space created intimate, emotional interviews and revealed so much for me and the subject. While gathering memories, I wanted to open the studio up to people who had never had the chance to experience it. I see this film as an opportunity to make the magic of the world’s most famous studio accessible to engage with a younger audience and surprise people.

Abbey Road was a space I thought I knew, but I continue to discover new things every time I go in. For me, this process has underlined why shared creative spaces like Abbey Road Studios matter. I hope this film will carry that message.”

– Mary McCartney, September 2022”.

The fascinating documentary comes to Disney+ on 16th December. This is another feature inspired by Tom Doyle’s new book, Running Up That Hill: 50 Visions of Kate Bush. I have been reading through that book and learning so much about her. It is a fascinating read that I would urge anyone to buy. Many might not associate Kate Bush with Abbey Road Studios. Until 2005’s Aerial, Bush recorded at various different studios. It was only really by 2005 that she recorded from her home studios more and more. Although Bush did not really like recording at these studios dotted around, she was in awe of Abbey Road. A huge fan of many of the artists that came before her – including The Beatles -, it was an expensive treat setting up and recording out of these hallowed spaces. It will be interesting hearing what Bush has to say about Abbey Road Studios. There has been an article or two that quotes from it. Bush remarked how the studios were reluctant to repaint as it might affect the acoustics and overall sound. Hardly anything was touched in that sense, lest the magic of the studios be impacted! Whereas I have discussed Kate Bush and Abbey Road Studios before, Tom Doyle’s new book has given me new inspiration. Doyle opens his chapter about Kate Bush and Abbey Road by saying how the echoes of the past can still be heard and felt. Holding these memories and spiritual audio memories, Bush would have felt this when she entered Abbey Road for the first time in 1980.

 IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1980/PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush

Bush has always believed in the supernatural and things spiritual and cosmic, so it is not surprise that she would feel a certain chill and presence when she recorded at Abbey Road Studios. Contributing to Brian Southall’s 1982 book, Abbey Road, Bush said how she felt there was at least ten other people with her there. Maybe not spirits or literal feelings, but the impression that the walls hold those memories, scents, and sounds. I think one of the big reasons why Bush recorded here more than once was because of the inspiration and sheer wonder of Abbey Road Studios. One cannot help but be moved and pushed to create terrific work in such an important and legendary place. I don’t think she was ever really intimidated being there. Not only influenced by the Beatles, Bush was also a fan of so many other artists who recorded there. When Bush spoke to Tom Doyle in 2005 about Abbey Road Studios, she chatted about the St. John’s Wood studios. Built on ley lines, Bush felt negative and positive forces when she recorded there. She actually told that to Brian Southall. Doyle noted how, when he spoke with Bush, she felt this spiritual home from home was fascinating. She noted how Elgar and The Beatles recorded there – Elgar opened the studios (then EMI Studios) on 12th November, 1931. Bush was intrigued by the old equipment like valve desk and valve microphones. She first visited Abbey Road Studios was in 1975  during Pink Floyd’s sessions for Wish You Were Here. That was the year Bush recorded The Man with the Child in His Eyes and The Saxophone Song with David Gilmour in AIR (Oxford Circus). Both songs would later appear on her debut album, The Kick Inside (1977). Bush, as a sixteen-year-old then, was staggered by the place. A head-spinning and unforgettable experience, she knew that she wanted to go back!

When Bush was booked into Abbey Road’s Studio 2 in early 1980 to record Warm and Soothing, she was not sure whether it would be the right fit for her, sonically. That song has family memories at heart, and it appeared as the B-side to her 1980 Christmas track, December Will Be Magic Again. With just her alone at the piano, any doubts and concerns were dispelled when she heard the recorded version. Studio 2, whilst not as epic as Studio 1, had echoes in the walls. Unsurprisingly, Bush felt sanctuary and inspiration here. She considered setting up in the space and using it as a writing room, but wisely that plan was aborted when she realised how extortionate that would prove! One particularly interesting angle Tom Doyle explores in Running Up That Hill: 50 Visions of Kate Bush, is that there was not particular reverence from Bush when was settled in. As she finished recording of Never for Ever there in 1980, things got a bit more ‘relaxed’ and childish. Aside from glass smashing for Babooshka – the sound of breaking glass was created (messily) at Abbey Road Studios) and then programmed into a Fairlight CMI -, the two young producers (Bush and Jon Kelly) were definitely having fun! Making themselves at home, they would play a game when they world spin round fast in their revolving chairs…the idea to see which one would remain on their feet or keep their stomachs full! Bush would win most of the time by focusing on a single spot in the distance to keep her focus. Rather than the two disrespecting the studio, it was the giddiness of being there! As I have written before, the atmosphere of recording Never for Ever was very fun and chilled, in part because of the fact Abbey Road provided this incredible awe-inspiring space. If Bush was nervous stepping into the studios for the first time in 1975, she was definitely more relaxed five years later!

Even though Abbey Road was expensive to record in, Bush became a fixture of the place. As Doyle writes in his book, there was this giant black-and-white photograph of her positioned at the bottom of the stairs leading to Studio 2. Honoured to be there and very much at home here, I do wonder whether she will ever return there. Doyle had originally planned to interview Kate Bush at Abbey Road Studios in 2005 when he spoke to her about Aerial. Maybe it would have been quite expensive. To preserve some privacy and keep things quite quiet and small-scale, the interview took place at her Berkshire home. All the experiences she had at Abbey Road Studios explain why she was asked to contribute to Mary McCartney’s If These Walls Could Sing documentary. In fact, when a big party was held there to mark the studios’ fiftieth anniversary on 12th November, 1981, Bush was asked to cut a huge cake. Perhaps not quite comfortable being front and centre she recalled how it was hard to move through the assorted people - “But, with a cream cake aimed at their party clothes, the room practically cleared like the parting of the waters”. Although Bush’s time recording at Abbey Road Studios was brief, she did use it after Never for Ever. She recorded there (in addition to other studios) for Never for Ever’s follow-up, 1982’s The Dreaming. Pushing the studio to its limits, that was not the last time her music would come together there. Strings have been recorded there from The Sensual World (1989) to 50 Words for Snow (2011). Michael Karmen arranged and scored sessions.

Bush did get into Studio One in June 1981. Filming the video for Sat in Your Lap (The Dreaming). Alongside two dancers, she roller-skated around the studio – in the same space the likes of The Beatles and Elgar performed. The single was released in June 1981 and got to eleven in the U.K. In the video, Bush can be seen sitting on the parquet floor in tutu. In another scene, she was in a dunce’s cap. Bush acknowledged how she was thinking of all the dancers and singers who had performed there. Bringing history and that legacy to the present day. It was clearly important that Abbey Road Studio One became the setting for a video whose song talks about the quest for knowledge. Clearly, after just a short time at Abbey Road Studios, Kate Bush had both fulfilled a dream and gained so much knowledge and experience – that she would then bring to her own home studio for 1985’s Hounds of Love. Although only orchestral sessions were recorded at Abbey Road Studios for Hounds of Love, Bush did make a very special appearance in 1986. Under the Ivy is one of the great overlooked Bush songs. A song written quickly as a B-side to Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God), Under the Ivy has been overshadowed by its number-one (in 2022) B-side. To mark the one-hundredth episode of music show The Tube, Bush recorded a live version of Under the Ivy from Abbey Road Studio. It was a pre-recorded film that was introduced by Paula Yates.

Filmed at Studio One, Tom Doyle notes how it was a suitable setting to film her live performance. Under the Ivy is about finding a safe space and this sanctuary and romance in the garden. Studio One was a space where Bush would often sneak and hide in! An engineer sometimes would lead Bush through a secret tube out of Studio Two and into the rafters of Studio One. Whether that was a getaway or as a shortcut, one can picture the scenes! The excitement and almost child-like wonder of Bush having this sort of very advanced and historic playground! The performance for Under the Ivy is gorgeous and completed with a big smile from Bush. That was the first and last time Bush performed Under the Ivy live. It is a shame she did not revive it for 2014’s Before the Dawn. Bush’s experiences with Abbey Road Studios are not as extensive as some artists, but I do like the fact that they clearly impacted the way she pushed technology and thought about her own work. Surely being in the incredible studios in 1975 gave her the ambition and impetus to record there in a more extensive capacity soon enough. In 1980, when she was in that position, she expanded her production ambitions and curiosities. With that sort of atmosphere and glorious history around her, I feel she grew as a producer and singer just by being there. Indeed, the fact that she kept recording strings and orchestration at Abbey Road Studios up until her most recent albums shows that it is a studio that she has a deep and affectionate connection with. We will hear more from Bush about her feelings about Abbey Road Studios during Mary McCartney’s If These Walls Could Sing on 16th December. It has been said she discussed the lack of painting or refurbishments, but I know she’ll explore how she felt in the studio and what it meant to her. Thanks to Tom Doyle and Running Up That Hill: 50 Visions of Kate Bush, I now know how this iconic artist entered Abbey Road Studios in 1980 and, before too long, she…

MADE it her own.

FEATURE: Revisiting… MARINA - Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land

FEATURE:

 

 

Revisiting…

MARINA - Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land

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THE wonderful and underrated…

fifth studio album from the Welsh singer-songwriter MARINA (Marina Lambrini Diamandis), Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land was released on 11th June, 2021 by Atlantic Records. MARINA began writing music for the record in August 2019, a mere five months after the release of her fourth studio album, Love + Fear. Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land was produced by (Marina) Diamandis, Jennifer Decilveo and James Flannigan, and the album tackled themes such as feminism, global warming, misogyny, heartbreak, and racism. It reached the top twenty in the U.K. In spite of that, I feel it is an album that passed many by. Recorded in Los Angeles and London, I think that Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land is a fantastic album that is among the best of last year. I am going to get to a couple of the positive reviews for MARINA’s fifth studio album. Following 2019’s conceptual LOVE + FEAR, Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land had a slightly different feel and set of themes at the forefront. Billboard asked MARINA about the creative process and some of the standout songs:

“When did you start writing these songs?

In August 2019. I wrote “Man’s World” first, and then I think just like a month before the pandemic, I wrote “Pandora’s Box.” And then everything after that was in the middle of the pandemic.

How did that affect your creative process?

I mean, when I look back on “Purge the Poison,” it’s such a frenetic song — and it makes sense, because we were all just trying to catch up with these really extreme life events and social events. A lot of social problems have been unveiled for exactly what they are in the pandemic, and that’s definitely mirrored in some of the songs. “New America” was written after the murder of George Floyd. I started it, I think, around that time, and then didn’t really touch it again for six months.

I just felt like it’s such a sensitive topic — particularly being a non-American, but still commenting on racism, which is a problem everywhere still. I wanted to be sure that I was coming from a place that was hopefully not taken as preachy, but we were just as exploratory. So yeah, in short, it has affected my writing a lot. It’s really hard not to — I’m an artist who’s always gained a lot of inspiration from culture and pop culture since the start.

When you have such a visceral reaction to everything that was going on in the news last year, is it hard to organize your thoughts around topics as loaded as what you touch upon in “New America”? Just in terms of sitting down, thinking about verses and choruses and being able to be succinct with those ideas.

Yeah, it is. And, you know, sometimes I’m not succinct, but maybe that’s not the point. Like with “Purge the Poison,” I was trying to give snapshots from the past 20 years of pop culture, and how we’ve treated certain people and also how we’ve treated our environment, our planet. All of these problems are now becoming really distressing. So organizing my thoughts on that was much weirder than some of the other songs. [Laughs.] But with “New America,” I’ll be interested to see how people respond to that, because I think whenever you put out a semi-political or political opinion in a song, you are like putting yourself out there to be criticized.

Even with “Purge the Poison,” they’re saying lines back at you and being like, “Well, you’re privileged, why are you writing this?” And the thing is — someone has to write about it, you know? Particularly with racism, white people have to talk about this as well, and I’m never coming from a place of like, pointing fingers. We’re all involved in this. Songwriting has always been a vehicle for me to explore things that challenge me, and things that upset me. So it’s definitely tricky to organize thoughts on really important subjects, and at the end of the day, whatever people think, that’s just how I’ve been able to deal with that at the time. So you can only hope that it’s received in the way that it was intended.

This obviously isn’t your first album that has approached issues from a sociological perspective. But listening to it, it does feel like you’re holding back less than ever. Does that just come with time and experience?

Yeah, I do feel very free on this record. And one of the good things about me is that, when I write, I don’t worry about anything that other people are going to say. That happens later in the process. [Laughs.] But when I’m actually making a song, I never feel any censorship.

I guess it depends what kind of album you’re making, too. Love + Fear did touch on a few of those topics, on songs like “To Be Human,” but it was generally a different type of album. And I felt different as an individual at that time in my life, whereas this time, I just felt like I didn’t have anything to lose artistically.

You touch upon the world at large, climate change and the crisis we’re all living in. Is that something that you’ve been thinking about, and wanting to write about, for a long time? Was there something that recently triggered wanting to hone in on that in your songwriting?

I mean, I think there’s a lot to be said for what’s happening collectively, and I’m just like everyone else where climate change is at the back of my mind, all the time. I’m sure you feel the same. It’s like this gnawing thing that has steadily gotten stronger over the years. And I think with COVID, with the pandemic and being able to step back and see what kind of situation we’re living in socially and politically, it just feels like there’s nowhere for those issues to hide anymore. And that’s why they’ve come out in the songwriting. So it’s not I haven’t thought about it before, to put it in songs. But I think everything just reaches a tipping point, sometimes.

On “Purge the Poison,” you sing about the idea of a sisterhood reshaping society that has failed, in part due to misogyny. There’s a line about Britney Spears: “Britney shaved her head, and all we did was call her crazed.” Was that inspired by the recent documentary?

No. Weirdly, that was written last April, and completed then. I think it’s really interesting how we are able to look back on that. And I just think it’s a really brave thing for journalists who reported on her at the time to be able to look back and say, “You know what? We didn’t treat her in the right way.” And that was linked to a wider problem: At the time, we didn’t understand mental health in the same way. We saw someone who was evidently having a nervous breakdown, and who had led a really high-stress life, and basically made fun of her for it. I mean, that’s not what “Purge” is about, but it was worth mentioning her in this commentary about femininity.

As a pop artist, have you felt the discourse around your own art — and around pop itself, around women in the music industry — evolve over the course of your career? Are things better now since when you debuted, or still too much the same?

That’s such a great question. I think it’s definitely changed for the better. Female artists are given a lot more space to experiment and to become more commercial if they choose to be. At the time, it was very difficult to switch over to pop if if you had alternative roots. It was like, I always felt like my authenticity was questioned if I wasn’t doing these albums where I’m totally writing on my own, or using live instruments. But also, women were judged by how they looked a lot more, and shamed for that.

But now, the main difference that I’ve seen just online as an artist — I feel like the media are potentially kinder to artists, but the fan-artist relationship has changed, I think. In a positive way, fans have become a lot more analytical and use critical thinking more, but they’re also hyper-critical — to the point where I think it has the capacity to dent that artist-fan relationship, because it’s just so hard to read negativity about yourself, every day”.

The second interview is from Vogue. It is interesting reading the interviews MARINA gave around the release of Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land. I think Purge the Poison is the one that track that seems to stand out above all of the rest in terms of the impact and lyrical weight:

“Vogue: The first song you wrote for the album was “Man’s World,” in which you sing, “I don’t wanna live in a man’s world anymore.” Would you say the album is deliberately feminine?

Marina: Femininity has been such a negative trait for so long. It’s shameful to be feminine, whether you’re a man or woman. That’s dating back hundreds of years, and I think it’s really to the detriment of society because we’ve all had to try and be more masculine in order to succeed or to be accepted. We all have masculine and feminine traits. Masculinity is being goal driven, disciplined, forceful; femininity is what your relationship with nature is, being nurturing and intuitive. There’s a huge connection [between] what’s happening with our planet right now and the lack of femininity in the world. On a personal level, I really wanted to embody more of that [femininity] and to work on that in myself. That’s really the main theme of the whole record.

Do you feel the music industry is still very much a man’s world?

I’ve experienced it in that there aren’t many women employed in the labels. My record label is one of the few that has a woman at the top, both in the U.K. and the U.S., but that’s still quite rare. With studios and production, it’s predominantly male still. Sometimes it’s boring to discuss, but we do need to keep talking about it until that changes. Five years ago, we still weren’t really having these discussions.

Let’s talk about “Purge the Poison,” one of my favorite tracks. You reference Britney Spears in it, and there’s been a lot of talk around the music industry’s treatment of her. Did you connect with her in that kind of way?

I think about her a lot because I’m such a big fan. The way we have treated women growing up and the way that you and I grew up with the tabloids—that all contributes to how I’ve felt as a woman growing up in this music industry. I’m happy to see how things are changing. Britney, unfortunately, has become this symbol for a very specific treatment of women. I really hope that things are going to change for her; she’s got such a magic quality. We didn’t have the same understanding of mental health that we do now. It’s very clear that she was having a nervous breakdown, and the only response people should have had is compassion. But it was pretty much the opposite—just being completely disrespectful and making fun of her. And in a way, that’s still continued online, even with my own fan-base experience. [It’s still popular] to make fun of artists.

On “New America,” you really go in hard on America’s dark history, with references to both stolen land and systemic racism. Was there a specific event that got you thinking about doing that song?

George Floyd’s murder, definitely. I wrote some of the song the day after that happened, and then I realized that I shouldn’t be writing this right now. I needed to understand, on a much deeper level, what was happening. [American history] is mine, but it’s not mine: I’m not American, and I haven’t lived my whole life here. The U.K. certainly doesn’t have a clean track record, nor does Greece, and these are the places where I’ve grown up. But America has been this empire—it’s like the world’s superpower—and we all have looked to America for how to progress and evolve. I feel like there’s been a feeling of relief after the past year, that we can at least be truthful about what the United States is and what the social problems are here—as opposed to just continuing as if they don’t exist.

Your work span genres, but do you think the pop genre is changing in that artists can now explore these darker themes?

We have a really healthy landscape now compared to 10 years ago. Now, anything goes! It’s so much more freeing and healthy. Teenagers and people in their 20s need to hear songs about what they’re actually going through. We don’t need 90% of songs to be about partying in the club—though we do need those songs too. We need a balance.

Another song that really struck me was “Venus Fly Trap.” You sing, “Why be a wallflower when you can be a Venus flytrap.” You don’t strike me as a wallflower.

I think I’m in between! I have periods of being a wallflower. It doesn’t really relate so much to being flamboyant or extroverted; it’s more about how you feel internally about yourself. It’s a celebratory song. I’ve carried a lot of shame in my life that didn’t belong to me, and I’ve only recently really been able to liberate myself from that. As a result, I’ve been able to look at my career and feel proud of the fact that I haven’t had to compromise that much. All artists have to compromise a little, but it’s amazing that I’ve had the creative freedom to write the records that I want. You don’t have to conform in order to see success in your creative life.

Speaking of creativity, I’ve been digging the fashion you’ve been wearing in your new music videos. What’s been inspiring you in the realm of style lately?

I’ve been doing very feminine, structured stuff. I’ve been working with a designer called Olima. He made this vampy, widow’s-peak corset for the album cover—we did them in metallic pink and baby blue. He also did the outfits for “Man’s World” and “Venus.”

You also write a lot about love and heartbreak on this record, like in “I Love You But I Love Me More.” Did this stem from personal experience?

All of those songs stemmed from a breakup. I was in a relationship for five and a half years. It was my longest relationship to date; I loved and still love the person dearly. I use songwriting as a way to work out how I feel about something because my brain covers up loads of stuff, and it takes me a while to sift through the layers of detritus to figure out what decision to make and how I actually felt about this. When you’re in a relationship, there’s a very normal tendency to cover your own feelings up in order to maintain the health of the relationship, but that doesn’t work for anyone in the end. The truth is, the thing that holds people together is authenticity”.

I am going to conclude with some reviews. There were some who were mixed. Others said that Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land did not match the best of MARINA (formerly Marina and the Diamonds). Froot, the last album under Marina and the Diamonds, is an album that many consider to the gold standard. This is what CLASH said about MARINA’s most recent album:

“In every interview that Marina Diamandis gave in 2019 – her most recent to date, except for one that she gave to Vogue in late 2020 and the one that she managed to sneak in the New York Times last week – she talks about feeling like she was ready to quit the music industry. Cue the devastation, the burning buildings, the twitter outrage.

As it turns out, Marina didn’t altogether quit the music industry: she dropped the Diamonds moniker and spent the past year reclaiming her sense of self. A wise choice, given her natural instinct for songwriting and her lion-like resilience (we’ve heard a great story that involved a Virgin Records ad, a search for the next One Direction, and a girl dressed in drag). For her first act of self-reclamation, Marina released ‘Love + Fear’ in 2019, a dual-part record inspired by the elemental philosophy of psychiatrist Elizabeth Kübler-Ross.

Now, Marina returns with her fifth studio album, ‘Ancient Dreams In A Modern Land’, a 10-track wonder that is a more mature and eclectic take on her gloriously femme and thundering electro-pop. The record opens with the carnivalesque and neo-classical: title-track ‘Ancient Dreams…’ is infused with dry, desert landscapes and sounds that are earthy and elemental. Marina attributes these colour compositions, her choice of rich magentas and blossoming greens to classical portrait artist John William Godard, a strong inspiration on the visual element of this project.

‘Venus Fly Trap’, ‘Man’s World’ and ‘I Love You But I Love Me More’ lyrically revive the Marina from the days of Electra Heart (“I’ve got the beauty, got the brains, got the power, hold the reins. I should be motherfucking crazy.”), a project that in its prime, was wildly defiant and wonderfully juvenile. At its peak is sensory ephemera ‘Purge the Poison’, with remix featuring Pussy Riot, and a heady, visual world of chains, leather and female power.

We are brought back down to earth with ‘Flowers’ and ‘Goodbye’ two ballads dominated by piano and Marina’s spiraling vocal twangs. These tracks certainly change the momentum of the record, but in a way that doesn’t feel unnatural or forced. Marina makes a strong case for embracing a change of trajectory: in life, music and art. There is something to be said for the Art Of Quitting. Or at least detaching ourselves from the things in life that no longer bring us joy.

8/10”.

I am finishing with the review from The Line of Best Fit. They noted improvement and sharpening in terms of the sound, ambitions, and impact. Songs like Man’s World and Purge the Poison are among the best of MARINA’s career. Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land is sorely undervalued in my view:

“Harking back to 2010’s The Family Jewels, MARINA’s self-penned Ancient Dreams In A Modern Land does away with the lowest common denominator electro inflections that marred her last full-length body of work.

The result reads more like a follow-up to the personal Froot (2015) than it does the collaborative Love + Fear, and finds MARINA emboldening her trademark theatrical glam with sharper edges.

A whirlwind of an opening, and also setting the tone for the albums first half, the title track is a re-actualization of Muse’s "Uprising" - sharing thunderous percussion and a sense of urgency with the former. MARINA’s voice soars across a rambunctious bass line, her angelic soprano launching into orbit as she senses the advent of a revolution. A sense of hard-earned confidence rises to the surface: the ebullience of the first track and the fruits of its introspection are echoed in the second, a sassy self-empowerment call to arms that only grows more hectic with time. “Why be a wallflower when you can be a Venus flytrap?”, MARINA ponders in jest.

Her vocal dynamism translates particularly well in rock-leaning settings, where her leaping registers make their way through enthralling kicks and mean guitar riffs. She flies across second single “Purge The Poison”, confronting turbulence with ease and getting her every word in despite the constant menace of being overthrown by an instrumental neurosis.

It’s precisely those moments of maximalism across Ancient Dreams that glue the collection of tracks together. The relentless "New America" is the hymn of a country ready to confront its demons: anthemic and critical at the same time, it pushes the idea that the social reckonings of last year should amount to more accountability and action at a systemic level. MARINA spells the end of an era of willful naivete: “America, you can’t bury the truth / It’s time to pay your dues”.

Despite a relatively short runtime two distinct albums seem to be vying for the listener’s attention: a socio-politically charged alternative pop rock epic on one side and a more tender intimate narrative following heartbreak on the other. It's the ballads of Ancient Dreams that bear the brunt of this slight schizophrenia. "Highly Emotional People" might be rooted in a specific past relationship with Clean Bandit’s Jack Patterson but it’s hard not to hear it as a broader statement about masculinity, even more so considering the track’s placement–wedged in between the intense "Purge The Poison" and "New America". There’s a disheartening simplicity in lyrics like “people say men don’t cry” that only scratch the surface of a topic that’s become a touchstone of popular culture.

But, some good comes from personal musings getting turned into grander ideas - whether intentional or not. Pandora becomes a feminist icon, reclaiming control over her own fate in "Pandora’s Box". The ancestral representative of the world’s woes transcends the misogyny of the original myth into a symbol of power and independence in MARINA’s hands. The track proves that somewhere amongst the ruins of Ancient Dreams lies a path to merging the album’s twin souls into one”.

A brilliant album that is one of the most underrated of 2021, I wanted to put MARINA’s Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land back into the spotlight. I know a sixth album is being worked on at the moment. That will be interesting to hear what comes about! 22nd May, Marina Diamandis announced Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land would be her last album with Atlantic Records. She had been signed to the record label for the past fourteen years. It seems a new era is ahead. Whether you are a fan of MARINA or new to the music, then go and check this amazing album out. She is an independent artist now, and her next chapter is going to be interesting. Marina Diamandis is truly…

A wonderful artist.

FEATURE: The Lockdown Playlist: Songs from the Best Albums of 2022 (So Far)

FEATURE:

 

 

The Lockdown Playlist

IN THIS PHOTO: Taylor Swift/PHOTO CREDIT: Beth Garrabrant

Songs from the Best Albums of 2022 (So Far)

__________

WHILST it is not…

the most reliable guide and source when it comes to the very best albums of the year, Metacritic keep a track of the collated reviews for various albums and then put an average score out of 100. One of the issues is that Metacritic does not take in all reviews, and it can be a little selective about which reviews it counts. As an example, I think Taylor Swift’s recent Midnights must be one of the most-acclaimed of the year – even if Metacritic put it at thirty-fifth. That is why I have included an image of Swift as the lead. Regardless, I wanted to combine songs from the top-forty albums of this year according to the metrics of Metacritic (as of 6th November). There is still a bit of a way to go until the end of the year, so there might be an album or two that could challenge the top-forty. I think that the albums included in the playlist below are a fair representation of the finest albums of 2022. As you can hear from the music included, it has been…

SUCH a strong year.

FEATURE: Revisiting… Megan Thee Stallion - Traumazine

FEATURE:

 

 

Revisiting…

Megan Thee Stallion - Traumazine

__________

I have featured Megan Thee Stallion…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Jamie Nelson

on my blog a few times. I think I included her amazing debut, Good News, in Second Spin. I know that I have celebrated it and the Texan rapper’s incredible talent. One of the most influential and important women in Rap and Hip-Hop, I want to head back earlier this year for Revisiting… It may seem strange to revisit an album that was released in August! The reason why I want to be very current when it comes to this week is because I think Megan Thee Stallion’s second studio album, Traumazine, was overlooked by some. Maybe not quite as remarkable as her debut, Traumazine is still a wonderful album with some of Megan Thee Stallion’s best moments. With eighteen tracks – half of which feature collaborations –, perhaps some felt that there was a bit too much material on the album and too many other artists in the mix. I do think that the collaboration tracks are balanced nicely so that there are not too many together. Whilst they are great, the best moments are when Megan Thee Stallion is solo and in the spotlight. Even though Traumazine did not chart high in the U.K., it reached four in the U.S. and has sold very well. Different in tone and sound to Good News, there are insecurities and darker themes explored more heavily throughout Traumazine.

Before coming to some reviews, I want to bring in an interview where Megan Thee Stallion discussed her latest album. The Cut’s Traumazine interview makes for fascinating reading. As they highlight, it is Megan Thee Stallion’s most vulnerable album to date. I have selected parts of the interview that are particular interesting:

“The Megan on her latest album, Traumazine, which will be released the following week, isn’t exactly brand new — it’s more her. The Megan in front of me today, though, laughing wearily, says she is on hour 44 of her workday: “I feel like we’ve been up for a week straight.” Aside from her being a bit quiet, it would be hard to tell if she were tired. Her mood sets the tone of the room, and when she smiles, which she does often, so do all the people watching her. Everyone is watching her.

On top of doing radio spots, late-night interviews, and photo shoots like this one, Megan is still tinkering in the lab with her team to get the album’s visuals just right. “I wanted everything to be black-and-white because that’s how plain I’m making it,” she tells me.

It’s true that the album’s lyrics leave little to no room for guesswork. It’s hard to imagine Megan being any clearer about what she’s trying to say and to whom she’s speaking. Consider “NDA,” the first track: “Sick of bein’ humble / ’Cause you bitches don’t respect that.” It’s a warning; two tracks later, “Not Nice” is a threat: “I’m on my fuck-you shit, bitch / I’m done bein’ nice / And when it come to cuttin’ people off / I don’t think twice.” In other words, if loyalty isn’t a skill you possess, you’re better off staying away from Megan.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Campbell Addy

“When you are nice for so long,” she tells me, “and you don’t really ever give too much back talk and nobody’s ever seen you step out of character, they assume what your character is.” Her hair, a curtain of ink, touches the backs of her thighs, and her hands move rapidly as she explains, her long, painted nails gleaming under the studio lights. “They assume you’re not going to stand up. That’s when people start to try you.” Black girls are taught how to seem unthreatening and accommodating to others in order to stay safe in a world that doesn’t tolerate us being much of anything else. Fortunately for you, me, and our headphones, the rapper born Megan Pete isn’t particularly interested in being accommodating anymore.

In the past several years, Megan has climbed the charts with hits like “Savage” and “Hot Girl Summer”; won three Grammys; collaborated with Dua Lipa, Cardi B, and Doja Cat; and somehow also found time to graduate with a bachelor’s degree in health administration from Texas Southern University. But the heights have been paired with unthinkable hardships, especially for an artist whose career is just beginning. In 2019, Megan’s mother died of a brain tumor, and the grandmother who helped raise her died soon after. Finding herself parentless in her mid-20s (her father passed away when she was 15), she has navigated fame and success largely on her own.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Campbell Addy

Then, in the summer of 2020, she was injured in a shooting that led to surgery, physical therapy, and the sort of losses that come with betrayal. The assault trial for rapper Tory Lanez, who is accused of shooting at Megan’s feet as she walked away from an argument, is set for September. It’s not her only legal battle: She has spent years suing and being countersued by 1501 Certified Entertainment — the independent record label she signed with in 2018 and whose contractual obligation she says she has fulfilled — and recently accused it of leaking from Traumazine before its release. (Lanez has pleaded not guilty, and 1501 has denied any wrongdoing.)

At 27 years old, Megan is too young to be so alone in the world, yet here she is sharing the story of her growing up and leaning not away from but into her grief. She’s relearning how, and whom, to trust, starting with herself. As she raps on “Flip Flop,” “Ever since my mama died, 2019 / I don’t really know who I can trust / I was looking for anything, anybody / Looking for something to feel like something / I was hanging with bitches I thought really loved me / Whole time they was jealous and judging.” She is determined to protect, and perhaps parent, herself, the way her mother taught her. Holly “Holly-Wood” Thomas was also a rapper and managed Megan’s early years in the music business. “Me and my mom had this good-cop, bad-cop thing going on,” she tells me of how they’d approach industry meetings. “So she would come in the room like, ‘This what we ain’t doing. Fuck that.’ And I’d be like, ‘Okay, so, guys, she means …’ ” She pantomimes a sweeter, calmer approach, showing me how she would translate her mother’s assertiveness into something more palatable for the tender egos in the room. “But now I don’t have the luxury of having somebody who could be my bad cop. Now I have to be both.”

“I’m taking control of the reins,” she says. It makes sense that she wants to, even if it is all but impossible. Megan is an artist, but she’s something else, too. She’s a household name with all the baggage that comes along with it; the narrative of her life no longer belongs to her alone. And as much as people like to watch, they like to talk even more. It would be foolish to try to control industry gossip, and I don’t believe Traumazine is an attempt to do the impossible. It is her most vulnerable writing to date, and it’s clear from the lyrics that she is not afraid of listeners knowing what’s happened; she just wants to tell it herself. “I can’t just let everybody tell me what they think about me,” she says. “I have to tell my own story the way I feel like it should be told. I can’t leave my fate in anybody else’s hands.

Megan has defined the album’s title as “the chemical released in the brain when it is forced to deal with painful emotions caused by traumatic events and experiences.” She went through a few others first, swapping one mood for another, she says. “I might have been pissed off one month and so the name of the album was something angry, and I might have been super-sad another month so the name of the album was something sad,” she explains. But when she considered “this person I am right now,” she realized she needed a new word for everything she was feeling everywhere all at once.

But the word isn’t hers alone, she says. “Everybody has gone through their own trauma in their own way, and to me, Traumazine is me facing the things that I’ve been running from about myself.” She thinks the album can help others do it too: “It’s comforting to know that other people are going through the same thing that you might be feeling. When something happens to people, they feel like, Oh my gosh, this is only me. This is not normal, or I’m probably the only person in the world that feels like this. But to hear somebody else talking about something that you’re probably feeling, it’s more comforting and more familiar. That’s why people resonate with hearing other people’s stories.”

And the 18 tracks on Traumazine are full of those stories. Listening to it doesn’t sound like walking with her through something — it feels like driving around with her through her hood, going back and forth between laughing and letting each other into our innermost thoughts. It’s like meeting up with a friend whose day started all wrong and finding ways to remind them who they are, who they’ve been, and that you’re both going to make it to the other side”.

I want to round off with some positive reviews, as I don’t think that Traumazine gained all the love and attention it deserved. One of the best albums of this year, I hope that people revisit a relatively new release from a rising icon who is such a hugely important voice in music. This is what CLASH observed in their Traumazine review:

“No more Ms. Nice Bitch – it’s time for Ms. Nasty. After cover art and track leaks, and in the midst of her ongoing battle with 1501 Certified Entertainment, hip hop superstar Megan Thee Stallion is no longer playing it by the rules; with a surprise drop of sophomore album ‘Traumazine’ hitting last night, the record serves as a middle-finger to those trying to control her art, her voice and, her body. This is her dominion. In a blaze of cutting take downs and melt-in-your-mouth hooks, Megan has constructed a multi-layered exercise in empowerment – as well as unveiling an entirely new layer of vulnerability. Sharp-tongued and bold as ever, this record asserts Megan as “That Bitch”.

‘Traumazine’ is a warning. Opening track ‘NDA’ immediately asserts that Megan is “sick of being humble cuz you bitches don’t respect me”, while Key Glock-feature ‘Ungrateful’ is equally as cutting, venomously cutting loose all the “fake-ass bitches”. This slick, no-nonsense attitude permeates throughout, bolstered by a quest for self-preservation. ‘Not Nice’ does it best, embracing a smooth, cruise-control flow as the rapper cries out “fuck it bitch, I’m not nice…I know that I’m that bitch.”

The personal and sonic growth from 2020 debut ‘Good News’ is evident. Every track is pointedly self-assured; Megan knows her worth and refuses to let anyone get in her way. Lucky Daye feature ‘Star’ and the ‘Her’ both emphasise Megan’s newly embraced superstar status; the latter’s muted club minimalism in particular absolutely drowns in blissful self-love as she raps: “I’m Her, Her, Her…take a pic, it’s me.”

Sexual empowerment is also part-and-parcel when it comes to Hot Girl Meg, so it makes sense that ‘Traumazine’ dials up the raunch. Standout anthem ‘Sweetest Pie’ oozes aphrodisiac magic, the glittering Dua Lipa feature a dazzling, disco-pop delight. ‘Consistency’ also takes on Jhené Aiko’s beautifully sexy R&B flow, resulting in a rich, deeply seductive track. ‘Red Wine’, ‘Ms. Nasty’ and ‘Pressurelicious’ also rile with Dionysian pleasure, Megan’s femininity smouldering throughout. ‘Gift & A Curse’ also snarls at recent shift in abortion laws in light of Roe V. Wade, Megan embracing sexual freedom and bodily autonomy with the siren cry: “my motherfuckin’ body, my choice”.

Beneath the grandeur, however, there is a seething layer of honesty as ‘Traumazine’ unfolds. ‘Flip Flop’ explores the aftermath of Megan’s life after the passing of her mother; heartfelt and vulnerable, the bruised softness is a welcome respite. ‘Anxiety’ also takes a detour, a striking confessional exploring Megan’s wavering metal health. Name-dropping the likes of Marilyn Monroe, Britney Spears and Whitney Houston only adds to the potency of her message; beneath the lavish lifestyle and media-trained visage, there’s a tragic, seedier reality to infamy.

Yet not all of the vulnerability is delicate. ‘Plan B’ is a ferocious diss track. Undoubtedly aimed at ex Tory Lanez, the track luxuriates of the glory of plan b – the weightless relief of not being forever tied to someone capable of such damage. The track is a cathartic snarl, heightening the punch of earlier track ‘Gift & A Curse’; creative and bodily freedom continue to play integral roles in her artistry.

By the time the record comes to a close, one thing is clear: ‘Traumazine’ is a deeper excavation of who Megan Jovon Ruth Pete is. While the glossy persona of “That Bitch” Megan Thee Stallion is able to roam free, introspective uncertainties linger beneath the surface. ‘Traumazine’ abounds in empowering affirmations but, beneath it all, this is a release that starts to unpack Megan the human.

8/10”.

Rolling Stone were among those that poured praise on Megan Thee Stallion’s Traumazine. I am surprised this album did not get a load of five-star reviews and bigger love. Such is its brilliance, it should be reassessed. Maybe one or two of the collaborations do not hit that hard or linger in the memory as long as they should. However, at eighteen tracks, there is more than enough consistency.

“MEGAN THEE Stallion verse is not unlike a bag of salt and vinegar chips—there’s something classic and quaint and straight-up hood about the sharp and improbable flavors packed inside every one of them. There were always going to be some quirky juxtapositions with Meg. The twenty-something spitter is an old soul who swears by Pimp C and Biggie and Juicy J. While other rappers her age couldn’t point out Pete Rock in a police lineup, nearly every time Meg spits a freestyle in one of her many viral clips, it’s over a classic instrumental from some raw Nineties hit.

Mentored by no less an eminence than Q-Tip, one of our first introductions to Megan Thee Stallion came courtesy of a clip of her riding around with the Abstract Poetic and turning up to a Max B song. In her world, cool classicism and waviness and the stripper pole all somehow make sense. She’s so gifted with it that she can effortlessly slip an analogy about baptism (and cunnilingus!) into a song (”Plan B”) about birth control.

For a while now, Megan Thee Stallion has hinted that she has many dimensions that she’d like to unveil for us. (In her interviews she’s said that her iconic “Hot Girl” alias touches on only one aspect of her persona.) The rangy wordsmith—with a passion for the Gorillaz, anime, and around-the-way seafood—insists that her earlier projects, for all their kooky amiability, don’t tell her full story. Megan’s latest studio album, Traumazine, is a thrill ride of a listen, a motley mix of slick bops and searing confessionals that wonderfully encapsulate all of her various vibes.

On opener “NDA,” Megan comes clean about the drawbacks that came with her quick rise to fame. And there’s a caustic pressure-cooker intensity to her tone, as she confesses, over the dramatic strings and steely percussion, “Going through some things, so I gotta stay busy/Bought a Rari, I can’t let the shit I’m thinking catch up with me.” Megan has rarely been upfront about her struggles in her songs (except for the emo chorus to her 2019 cut “Crying in the Car”). So it’s refreshing to hear her rap about feeling vulnerable and having to grind it out through her day-to-day trials. But those witty bars still pop up out of nowhere. When, at the end of the song, she scoffs, “Matter fact, wait, stop, bitch, I really rap/I be quick to check you pussy bitches like a pap,” Meg could be one of the characters in the series Rap Sh!t playfully freestyling to herself in the mirror instead of eating her feelings.

Meanwhile, “Anxiety” chronicles Megan’s hold-it-together-in-the-elevator thought bubbles—affably splitting the difference between self-deprecation and legit Talkspace freakouts. There’s a lucid humanistic feel to the song—enhanced by loopy pianos and a wailing vocal sample—that makes it somehow feel both insular and grand, like the tragic rich people’s plights in a Sophia Coppola flick. But along with Megan’s gracious confessions that “bad bitches have bad days, too,” there’s some real talk about loss (”It’s crazy how I say the same prayer to the Lord and always get surprised by who he take”) that hits you right in the heart.

Some of the ratchet fun we’ve come to expect from Meg is embodied in songs like the humid soon-to-be strip-club anthem “Budget,” and the punchline-packed “Scary.” The former, which features Georgia queenpen Latto, conveys big make-it-rain energy, with a quotable bar about how “I like my hair to my ass and my niggas down on they knees.” The Latter—all ghoulish synths and loud 808s—comes on like some aural equivalent to an MJ-eating-candy-corn GIF. It’s a whole Chiller subscription of hair-raising bars, wherein Meg refers to herself as a “thick-thigh nightmare,” then threatens to pop up on the opposition like she’s Candyman. “Scary” is destined to inspire some creative riffs on that immortal Halloween staple, the sexy nurse’s outfit this coming Hot Nerd Fall.

Though the sappy hook on “Red Wine” seems a bit contrived, the song boasts some introspective asides (”All of these shots turning me into a masochist/Happiest when everybody attacking me”), and, in typical Meg fashion, an out-of-left-field gag line (”Treat this pussy like an opp—shoot it up—keep busting” belongs on the Mount Rushmore of sexual invites). The candy-paint-car-show-appropriate “Southside Freestyle” bristles with hometown pride and gives this cleverly sequenced, well-balanced LP the rugged hood-famous feel of a must-have mixtape. Traumazine is truly a whole mood”.

One of the finest albums of this year, I wanted to head back only a couple of months to shine a spotlight on Traumazine. I am winding up this feature soon enough, but I will go back further for the next edition. So many terrific albums have come out this year that have not been given quite the acclaim they warranted. The stunning Traumazine is a great follow up to Good News. There is no doubt that Megan Thee Stallion is…

A major star of the future.

FEATURE: Can’t Beat It: Michael Jackson’s Thriller at Forty

FEATURE:

 

 

Can’t Beat It

Michael Jackson’s Thriller at Forty

__________

THIS is the second and final…

feature I will write about Michael Jackson’s Thriller. As it is one of the best-selling and most popular albums ever, it is worth noting its upcoming fortieth anniversary. Released on 30th November, 1982, even though the anniversary is not for a while, there will be a lot of build-up when it comes to this historic album. Thriller became Jackson's first number-one album on the US Billboard Top LPs & Tapes chart. It spent thirty-seven non-consecutive weeks at number one. A titanic release where seven singles were released - The Girl Is Mine, Billie Jean, Beat It, Wanna Be Startin' Somethin', Human Nature, P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing), and Thriller. I do not think there will be as much reverie and celebration around Thriller as there might otherwise have been. Given allegations and controversy around Michael Jackson, there has been some tarnish applied to his catalogue. One cannot deny the important and influence of Jackson’s sixth studio album. Opening with the remarkable and hypnotic Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’ and ending with The Lady in My Life, Thriller is wall-to-wall quality! Perhaps the three best-known songs on Thriller are the title track, Billie Jean, and Beat It. There is also the great duet with Paul McCartney, The Girl Is Mine. Undoubtedly one of the most influential albums ever, I am going to come to some information about the importance and sheer stature of the remarkable Thriller. Before that, in 2017, Albumism looked inside a mighty and timeless work of brilliance:

“But before all that. Before the awards and the accolades. There was simply Thriller, the follow up to Jackson’s landmark 1979 album Off the Wall. Jackson, no longer just considered the twirling Wunderkind of The Jackson 5 had proven himself as a viable solo artist with his disco-defying breakout. Now with Thriller, Jackson wanted to continue to push his creativity and was intent on creating an album that wouldn’t be restricted to the racially drawn classification of genre or radio play.

So as Jackson reconvened with producer Quincy Jones and engineer Bruce Swedien in Westlake Studios on April 14, 1982 they set about recording Thriller. Sessions would last until November 8th and would see the team whittle down a collection of thirty songs (since inflated to numbers in the hundreds by Jones) to the final nine that would make up the album.

When Thriller debuted on November 30, 1982 the echoes of Off the Wall and the more current Jacksons album Triumph (1980) fueled the expectations of the album buyer. The only hint of what was to come was the lead single, the decidedly MOR “The Girl Is Mine” duet with Paul McCartney. Dumbfounding many, “The Girl Is Mine” by itself is a pleasant enough song with Jackson and McCartney trading barbs as they try to lay claim to a mutual object of affection. But as the first salvo for a new album it confused many. Was this the direction Jackson was taking?

One thing was for certain this wasn’t the “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough Part II” many were expecting. As the first song recorded for the project, “The Girl Is Mine” might have been the sacrificial first single to get the big duet on the air and out of the way, making space for what was to come.

So as the needle dropped on Thriller, a rapid-fire triplet of hits ushered in a new era for Jackson. Any fears as to whether he was abandoning the funk were soon forgotten as the driving beat and hypnotic bass line of “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’” filled the air.

If ever there was a quintessential Michael Jackson song it would have to be the sonic masterpiece that is “Billie Jean.” The crispness of the opening beat is something to marvel at. Just a simple one step beat, but the way it hits has such energy and propulsion it is almost irresistible. And then the bass kicks in. A mix of strut and stalk, the bass walks its way through the track and is so fat in its sonic value, it literally hums through the speakers. For most songs, those two elements alone would be enough to make it an instant classic. But musically, Jackson brings so many little hooks to the track that it transcends it from being one of the best songs he ever recorded to being one of the best songs anyone has ever recorded, period.

From the percussive lyrical delivery, to the rich harmonies, to the countering backing vocals, to the myriad of tantalizing musical flourishes, “Billie Jean” is as close to musical perfection as you are ever likely to come across. There is something in every phrase and every note to catch the ear and keep it entertained.

It also fleshes out what would become a familiar, and somewhat telling, lyrical motif casting Jackson’s interactions with women in a femme-fatale trope. Who knew questioning paternity could be so catchy? But that is one of Jackson’s lyrical talents. To have you singing a song so catchy in its rhymes and delivery that it’s not until much later that you end up investigating the meaning behind it all.

Together with “Beat It” and “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin,’” “Billie Jean” shows a growing maturity in Jackson’s songwriting both musically and lyrically, and sees his voice forming into the signature delivery he would be known (and often mimicked) for.

It’s easy to forget the power of Thriller when the majority of the songs have become standard listening through the ages. But revisiting the hauntingly seductive and intimate “Human Nature” constantly reveals its beauty. With the dreamlike introduction of trickling synths and seductive guitar, the heart of “Human Nature” lays in the mystery of the lyrics and the sweet floating vocal delivery Jackson brings.

Penned by Toto alum Steve Porcaro and lyricist John Bettis, “Human Nature” has an airy melodic quality that cushions Jackson’s vocals as they float and swirl before taking flight with those oh-so-perfect (and unscripted) extended exclamations of “Why?”

It seems counter-intuitive that a song so heavily based in electronic instrumentation with sweeping and bubbling synth runs resonates with such a rich organic warmth. This feat is thanks mostly to Jackson’s vocal delivery (especially in the often missed backing vocals) that keeps the track still feeling fresh and current, and the intoxicating melody that feels as though it has been plucked from the future.

With a spring in its step, “P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)” is the designated infectious party jam. There is a sweetness embedded into the track that has kept it from aging, and while not overly complex musically, nor vocally challenging, it has the ability to improve moods and place a smile on the face of any listener. It’s a moment of fun dance-pop that isn’t meant to change the world, but will undoubtedly shuffle your feet.

Dripping with old school soul, “The Lady in My Life” is another slice of perfect production. Seductive and smooth, the song slowly builds with Jackson’s sublimely pure vocals and enticing melodies, and delivers dual peaks in the shape of the amazing bridge and the extended break down just past the mid-point of the song. Originally recorded with extra verses, timing constraints on vinyl forced the song to be trimmed back. Thankfully, the verses were sacrificed to save the more than 2 minutes of Michael’s ad-libs in the extended outro that showcases the brilliance of Jackson as a vocalist.

When you’ve heard the songs on Thriller so many times as standalone tracks, it’s easy to forget how brilliantly they work as a collective whole. The production is second to none and Jackson is in his prime vocally as he gives each track life in a way that is captivating and enchanting. Whether it set out to be the album for everyone or not, Thriller ended up being just that. So powerful and popular, it obliterated the color lines of radio airplay and placed music, not race, at the center of playlists and turntables the world over. And 35 years later, the rewards of spinning this masterpiece have yet to cease”.

I will come now to a couple of reviews for Thriller. One of the most important albums ever released, we will be talking about it decades from now. In their review, this is what AllMusic observed about Michael Jackson’s adored Thriller:

“Off the Wall was a massive success, spawning four Top Ten hits (two of them number ones), but nothing could have prepared Michael Jackson for Thriller. Nobody could have prepared anybody for the success of Thriller, since the magnitude of its success was simply unimaginable -- an album that sold 40 million copies in its initial chart run, with seven of its nine tracks reaching the Top Ten (for the record, the terrific "Baby Be Mine" and the pretty good ballad "The Lady in My Life" are not like the others). This was a record that had something for everybody, building on the basic blueprint of Off the Wall by adding harder funk, hard rock, softer ballads, and smoother soul -- expanding the approach to have something for every audience. That alone would have given the album a good shot at a huge audience, but it also arrived precisely when MTV was reaching its ascendancy, and Jackson helped the network by being not just its first superstar, but first black star as much as the network helped him.

This all would have made it a success (and its success, in turn, served as a new standard for success), but it stayed on the charts, turning out singles, for nearly two years because it was really, really good. True, it wasn't as tight as Off the Wall -- and the ridiculous, late-night house-of-horrors title track is the prime culprit, arriving in the middle of the record and sucking out its momentum -- but those one or two cuts don't detract from a phenomenal set of music. It's calculated, to be sure, but the chutzpah of those calculations (before this, nobody would even have thought to bring in metal virtuoso Eddie Van Halen to play on a disco cut) is outdone by their success. This is where a song as gentle and lovely as "Human Nature" coexists comfortably with the tough, scared "Beat It," the sweet schmaltz of the Paul McCartney duet "The Girl Is Mine," and the frizzy funk of "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)." And, although this is an undeniably fun record, the paranoia is already creeping in, manifesting itself in the record's two best songs: "Billie Jean," where a woman claims Michael is the father of her child, and the delirious "Wanna Be Startin' Something," the freshest funk on the album, but the most claustrophobic, scariest track Jackson ever recorded. These give the record its anchor and are part of the reason why the record is more than just a phenomenon. The other reason, of course, is that much of this is just simply great music”.

I first heard Thriller when I was a child. The title track and its epic and genius video (directed by John Landis) stunned me. Perhaps my favourite song from the album is Beat It. Jackson wrote that song and Billie Jean – two of the biggest songs of the 1980s. I like BBC’s 2010 review of Thriller. They make an interesting observation about the release schedule when it came to singles. It was unusual to release The Girl Is Mine as the first single when it should have been either Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’, Beat It, Billie Jean, or Thriller:

“It’s hard to believe now, but when Michael Jackson’s Thriller was released in the UK in time for Christmas 1982, there was an initial sense of misfire. In choosing the album's most lacklustre track, The Girl Is Mine, as its lead single, the postcard delivered was mildly disappointing. The playful duet with Paul McCartney, chosen no doubt to emulate the success McCartney had had earlier the same year with Stevie Wonder on Ebony and Ivory, was simply not what the listeners were expecting. It reached number eight on the UK chart, and the album sold well, but certainly not in the manner that the man who’d delivered Off the Wall should have done.

By the following Christmas, Thriller had become the phenomenon it remains to this day. Singles kept dropping off the album like golden fruit from a platinum bough: the precision snap of that snare on UK number one Billie Jean; the raucous Eddie Van Halen guitar on Beat It; the groove-driven frenzy of Wanna Be Startin' Something. It became apparent that this was a remarkable, ever-yielding pop jukebox.

By 1984, the album got an extension on its lifecycle with the John Landis-directed video for Thriller, which took the album from successful pop record to cultural icon. Casting the then-clean cut, scandal-free singer as a werewolf in a 15-rated short film was a risk, but one that truly paid off. Soon enough Thriller had become a greatest hits package – seven of its nine tracks were issued as singles.

Love it or hate it, Thriller is pop's great, immovable Everest. Marketing departments realised that more and more singles could be pulled from a record to prolong its shelf life, and Michael Jackson became the King of Pop with the whole of the recording industry at his investiture.

It was, of course, never the same for Jackson after Thriller. All that followed was a long, gradual downhill slope that culminated in some forgettable records and a tragic early death. But this view from the summit remains unparalleled”.

I am going to finish off with information from Wikipedia. The legacy of Thriller is varied and huge. From its influence on other artists to the way Jackson helped break barriers for Black artists, I hope that there is a lot of celebration of Thriller on 30th November:  

“Following the release of Thriller, Jackson's immediate success led to him having a standing of cultural significance that was not attained by a Black-American before him in the history of the entertainment industry. Blender described Jackson as the "late 20th century's preeminent pop icon", while The New York Times gave the opinion that he was a "musical phenomenon" and that "in the world of pop music, there is Michael Jackson and there is everybody else". Richard Corliss of Time hailed Thriller as "the greatest pop album of all time". Jackson changed the way the industry functioned: both as an artistic persona and as a financial, profitable entity. His attorney John Branca observed that Jackson achieved the highest royalty rate in the music industry to that point: approximately $2 (US$5.22 in 2021 dollars) for each album sold.

As a result, Jackson earned record-breaking profits from compact disc sales and from the sale of copies of the documentary, The Making of Michael Jackson's Thriller, produced by Jackson and John Landis. Funded by MTV, the film sold over 350,000 copies in its first few months. In a market then driven by singles, Thriller raised the significance of albums, yet its multiple hit singles changed preconceived notions as to the number of successful singles that could be taken from an individual album. The era saw the arrival of novelties like the Michael Jackson doll, that appeared in stores in May 1984 at a price of $12 (US$31 in 2021 dollars). Thriller retains a position in American culture; biographer J. Randy Taraborrelli explains, "At some point, Thriller stopped selling like a leisure item—like a magazine, a toy, tickets to a hit movie—and started selling like a household staple".

Thriller was released at around the peak of the album era, which had positioned full-length records ahead of singles as the dominant form of recorded-music consumption and artistic expression in the industry. The success of Thriller's singles, however, marked a brief resurgence in the sales of the format. At the time of the album's release, a press statement from Gil Friesen, the then President of A&M Records, read that, "The whole industry has a stake in this success". Time magazine speculated that "the fallout from Thriller has given the [music] business its best years since the heady days of 1978, when it had an estimated total domestic revenue of $4.1 billion". Time summed up Thriller's impact as a "restoration of confidence" for an industry bordering on "the ruins of punk and the chic regions of synthesizer pop". The publication described Jackson's influence at that point as, "Star of records, radio, rock video. A one-man rescue team for the music business. A songwriter who sets the beat for a decade. A dancer with the fanciest feet on the street. A singer who cuts across all boundaries of taste and style and color too".

The '80s were when stars replaced artists as bearers of significance... When art is intellectual property, image and aura subsume aesthetic substance, whatever exactly that is. When art is capital, sales interface with aesthetic quality—Thriller's numbers are part of its experience.

—Robert Christgau in Christgau's Record Guide: The '80s (1990

When Thriller and "Billie Jean" were searching to reach their market demographic, MTV and cable TV had a smaller market share than the much larger reach of broadcast television stations in the United States. A national broadcast TV audience on ABC, NBC and CBS affiliate stations, as well as major independent TV stations, was desired by CBS/Epic Records to promote Thriller. The national broadcast TV premiere of the Thriller album's first video, "Billie Jean", was during the week of Halloween in October 1984 and was the idea of Video Concert Hall executive producers Charles Henderson and Jerry Crowe. Video Concert Hall, the first nationwide music video TV network, taped the one-hour special in Hollywood and Atlanta, where the TV studios of Video Concert Hall were located. The Thriller TV special was hosted by Thriller video co-star Vincent Price, distributed by Henderson-Crowe Syndications, Inc. and aired in the top 20 TV markets and much of the United States, including TV stations WNEW (New York), WFLD (Chicago), KTTV (Los Angeles), WPLG (Miami), WQTV (Boston) and WXIA (Atlanta), for a total of 150 TV stations.

Thriller had a pioneering impact on black-music genres and crossover. According to ethnomusicologist Miles White, the album completely defined the "sound of post-disco contemporary R&B" and "updated the crossover aesthetic that had been the holy grail of black popular music since Louis Jordan in the 1940s". Noting its unprecedented dominance of mainstream pop music by an African-American artist, White goes on to write that "the record's song selection and sound aesthetics played to soul and pop sensibilities alike, appealing to a broad audience and selling across lines of race, gender, class and generation", while demonstrating Jackson's emergence from Motown as "the king of pop-soul crossover". Entertainment Weekly writer Simon Vozick-Levinson has considered it "the greatest pop-soul album", Included in their list of The 40 Most Groundbreaking Albums of All Time, Rolling Stone wrote, "It's hard to imagine the present-day musical landscape without Thriller, which changed the game both sonically and marketwise. The album's nervy, outsized blend of pop, rock and soul would send seismic waves throughout radio, inviting both marquee crossovers (like Eddie Van Halen's guitar solo on "Beat It") and sneakier attempts at genre-meshing. The album's splashy, cinematic videos — from the John Landis-directed short film that promoted "Thriller" to the West Side Story homage accompanying "Beat It" — legitimized the still-nascent form and forced MTV to incorporate black artists into its playlists. Its promotional strategy, which led to seven of its nine tracks being released as singles, raised the bar for what, exactly, constituted a "hit-laden" LP. Beyond breaking ground, it broke records, showing just how far pop could reach: the biggest selling album of all time, the first album to win eight Grammys in a single night and the first album to stay in the Top 10 charts for a year".

An immense album that many think is the peak of Michael Jackson’s career – though some would argue 1979’s Off the Wall or 1987’s Bad are better -, we are going to be discussing Thriller’s music for generations. Such is its cultural impact, I don’t think you can say a bad word about Thriller. Maybe Michael Jackson’s reputation and the allegations against him for sexual abuse means some will distance themselves from his work. I wanted to concentrate on the album itself and not conflate it with accusations surrounding Jackson. As an album, it is almost unparalleled. People around the world will be playing the awesome Thriller…

FOR the rest of time.

FEATURE: Swimming in the Wonder of Lake Tahoe: Kate Bush’s 50 Words for Snow at Eleven

FEATURE:

 

 

Swimming in the Wonder of Lake Tahoe

Kate Bush’s 50 Words for Snow at Eleven

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ON 21st November…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in a publicity photo for 50 Words for Snow, creating Lake Tahoe

Kate Bush’s most recent studio album, 50 Words for Snow, is eleven. Bush has done stuff since in terms of live performance and remastering her studio albums but, essentially, when we hear Among Angels on 50 Words for Snow, that is the latest and last song from her. Let’s hope that we hear something else from Bush in the future. In the final feature ahead of the album’s anniversary, I am going to be a bit more general. Today, and because it is a track that I have a lot of love for, I am going top explore the extraordinary Lake Tahoe. The second-longest track on 50 Words for Snow – behind Misty at 13:32 -, Lake Tahoe is 11:08. Even though Bush said this was one of her quickest albums (it took her about a year), the seven tracks are longer pieces that are akin to odysseys and classical pieces, rather than traditional songs. Whether a sign of her work to come or a deviation, songs like Lake Tahoe are unlike anything she has done in terms of scope and form. Although the song is not an official single, a video was made for Lake Tahoe. Bush wrote and directed a short video, Eider Falls at Lake Tahoe, featuring shadow puppetry. It is understandable that Bush only released one single from the album (Wild Man), because of track lengths and the fact there would have to be severe radio edits!

Before concentrating on one of Kate Bush’s very best songs, it is worth taking an aside and discussing the commercial performance and reviews. It gained hugely positive reviews across the board. 50 Words for Snow reached five in the U.K. In terms of chart positions in other countries, it was very random indeed! Impressively, it got to eight in Finland and thirteen in Poland. It got to forty-nine in Japan and was in the top one-hundred in the U.S. Maybe less accessible than many Kate Bush albums, a lot of the public streamed 50 Words for Snow rather than buying it. This is an album that people need to play on vinyl, as it is such a rich and extraordinary work where you are captivated by each song. There are many reasons to love and admire Lake Tahoe. First, as Bush explained to The Quietus in 2011, there is an interesting story behind her writing a song about Lake Tahoe:

“It was because a friend told me about the story that goes with Lake Tahoe so it had to be set there. Apparently people occasionally see a woman who fell into the lake in the Victorian era who rises up and then disappears again. It is an incredibly cold lake so the idea, as I understand it, is that she fell in and is still kind of preserved. Do you know what I mean? (John Doran, 'A Demon In The Drift: Kate Bush Interviewed'. The Quietus, 2011)”.

Lake Tahoe is a freshwater lake occupying a fault basin on the California-Nevada border in the northern Sierra Nevada, U.S. It is a thing of wonder and outstanding natural beauty, but I can imagine the allure of this story that Bush was told. As someone always intrigued by the gothic and slightly dark – the fact she gave approval for Stranger Things to use her song, Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) highlights that! -, she beautifully tells a story of a spectral woman who drowned in the lake all those years ago, resurfacing now and then.

The combination of Bush’s extraordinary lyrics and vocals with quite a bare band (featured vocals from Stefan Roberts, Michael Wood mix with Steve Gadd’s subtle and atmospheric percussion; Bush is on piano), Lake Tahoe would have been perfect brought to the stage. I am not sure whether more songs from 50 Words for Snow were considered for her 2014 residency, Before the Dawn (as it was only Among Angels was included). Such is the scale and incredible atmosphere and vistas that one gets listening to 50 Words for Snow, it would be breath-taking translated for the stage! As it is, Lake Tahoe is one of Bush’s greatest songs. Linking to the album’s opening song, Snowflake, Lake Tahoe is the second track. I like the little call-back to the opener with some of the lyrics: “They say some days, up she comes, up she rises, as if out of nowhere/Wearing Victorian dress/She was calling her pet, "Snowflake! Snowflake!"/Tumbling like a cloud that has drowned in the lake/Just like a poor, porcelain doll.../Her eyes are open but no-one's home/The clock has stopped/So long she's gone”. Even though Lake Tahoe is inspired by a woman who is a ghostly figure inhabiting the water, the song is more about the dog she left behind. It is fascinating when Bush addresses the domestic, mundane, and homely. Blending the widescreen and the intimate, her lyrics and composition blend beautifully in an epic song.

 PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush

The lyrics project very clear images in the mind: “Here's the kitchen - There's your basket/Here's the hall - That's where you wait for me/Here's the bedroom - You're not allowed in there/Here's my lap - That's where you lay your head”. Even though the lake may look inviting and alluring, Bush does warn us at the start of the song not to go in there: “Cold mountain water. Don't ever swim there/Just stand on the edge and look in there/And you might see a woman down there”. 50 Words for Snow, Bush’s second studio album of 2011 following Director’s Cut, saw her give a lot of interviews and talk fondly about the songs. I am especially fascinated hearing her discuss Lake Tahoe. Bush can hear stories and get half-ideas and turn them into these spectacular songs that stay with you for such a long time. 50 Words for Snow is eleven on 21st November. It shows that, no matter what genre she explored and what her albums discuss, Bush is one of the most consistent and inventive artists ever. 50 Words for Snow earned her some of the best reviews of her career. Among the seven glorious songs is a real jewel in the form of Lake Tahoe. I often listen to the song and imagine I am by the lake and watching things happen. Because of Kate Bush’s vocal, songwriting and playing, you are overcome with its power and beauty. The listener imagines that she is…

RIGHT there with you too.

FEATURE: Spotlight: Jaguar Jonze

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

PHOTO CREDIT: SHE IS APHRODITIE

Jaguar Jonze

__________

WHEN I do these Spotlight features…

I try to include artists from a broad spectrum of genres. I realise that, mostly, I highlight solo female artists. Maybe I should feature more bands, but I feel that women are creating the best music around. That has been the case for years now – and I know that will carry on through 2023. Someone who I have followed for a little while now and respect hugely, Jaguar Jonze should be better known here. The Taiwanese-Australian based in Brisbane is a sensation! I really love Jonze’s music and admire her hugely as an artist and pioneer. Real name Deena Lynch, she has additionally worked as a visual artist and a photographer under the pseudonyms Spectator Jonze and Dusky Jonze respectively. There has been this period of recovery, transition and growth for the thirty-year-old. Born in Yokohama, Japan to a Taiwanese mother and Australian father, she moved to Australia at age seven. As a child, she experienced abuse and was later diagnosed with complex post-traumatic stress disorder. By 2009, she was located in Brisbane. Come 2012, Lynch released her first album, Lone Wolf, as ‘Deena’. In 2015 came the second album, Black Cat. I wanted to include those difficult and upsetting personal details and her past professional releases to show where she has come from. As Jaguar Jonze, I feel we have this new stage and phase from a truly remarkable artist. I have so much respect and admiration for Jonze. Such an incredible inspiring and unbelievably talented artist, she (or Deena Lynch) is such a strong human being. Not to skip some key interviews and details, but there is a lot out there in the form of interviews. Jonze is such a fascinating and compelling figure. I discovered her music a few years ago. With BUNNY MODE, she released one of this year’s best albums.

Before coming to some interviews and reviews for the amazing BUNNY MODE, Primary Talent provide some details and biography about the truly wonderful Jaguar Jonze. This is an artist that everyone around the world should know and bond with:

“Life-changing serendipity happens only to a chosen few, and that moment took musician-artist Deena Lynch by surprise while playing an Iggy Pop tribute night in her native Brisbane, Australia. After witnessing the unhinged performance of a guy emulating Iggy, she knew she had to up her game. “So, I cracked down two tequila shots,” she recalls, and then transformed into a bona-fide banshee. “Everything I ever suppressed came spilling out. My shame and inhibitions broke down. I wasn’t afraid.” After that primal performance, she earned the nickname-turned-stage name Jaguar Jonze.

Signed to Nettwerk Records, Jaguar Jonze has released “You Got Left Behind,” “Beijing Baby,” and “Kill Me With Your Love” from her 2020 debut EP. At home in Australia, Jaguar Jonze has garnered the attention of The Music, Fashion Journal, Industry Observer and Tone Deaf, who writes "to sum up the creative explosion that is Deena Lynch into a neat little elevator pitch would have even the most qualified of journalists in tears." Jaguar Jonze was named by Cool Accidents as an “Artist To Watch” for BIGSOUND 2019 and was also named in Richard Kingsmill’s (Triple J) “Top 5 Artists from BIGSOUND 2019.” Deena is also a Triple J “Unearthed Feature Artist,” and made her performance debut on “Like A Version” for a cover of Nirvana’s “Heart-Shaped Box,” alongside friends Hermitude. Jaguar Jonze also competed in Eurovision Australia Decides 2020 with her own original song “Rabbit Hole.” Abroad, after features on Spotify and Apple Music playlists, FLAUNT Magazine deemed her “nothing short of a manifold visionary.”

Jaguar Jonze’s music is multi-dimensional, representing her multicultural roots with her Taiwanese mom and her Australian Dad. Ultimately, Jaguar Jonze—and its adjacent projects, her narrative illustration project Spectator Jonze and her gender-subverting photography project Dusky Jonze—would become powerful ways in which Deena could process her most intimate vulnerabilities and traumas, while also using it to empower those around her to do the same. Her art in all facets, whether it be her music, visual art or photography is a logical extension of these vulnerabilities with each project mining depths of her personality”.

The pandemic was a tough time for everyone but, for Jonze, it was especially challenging. Even though 2021 was a fraught one that brought some definitely obstacles and darker moments (this is an interview I would advise people to watch), she did release some of her most important work to date. Refinery29 spotlighted Jonze in 2021 and talked with her about a tumultuous and eventful past eighteen months:

“To say that the past year-and-a-half has been tumultuous for Jaguar Jonze would be an understatement. The Australian musician, born Deena Lynch, recovered from a positive COVID-19 diagnosis, broke her silence about a sexual assault experience, and continued creating her art at a time when the music industry is struggling during the pandemic.

"[It's] worthy of a soap opera, I think," Jonze described how her life has panned out over the last 18 months, during an interview with Refinery29 Australia.

"It wouldn’t even rate that well as a TV show," she back-pedalled. "It sounds ridiculous and so much wouldn’t normally happen in such a short space of time."

But the hardships that have tested Jonze as a person have also led to some of her most important work across anti-harassment and racism advocacy, fashion and of course, music. And she's proud that she carried herself "with grace and fortitude through each obstacle."

It's all brought Jonze to the current moment, where she's eager to celebrate the release of her new short film, titled ANTIHERO. The film features a visual collection of five songs from her latest EP of the same name, where she sports bright outfits and uses "apocalyptic-cyberpunk anime" imagery to convey the wave of emotions she recently rode.

Jonze began recording, designing and conceptualising the EP after contracting COVID-19 in New York in March 2020. During her 40-day hospital stay, she said she "felt like my whole world crumbled around me". Creating music for the EP was "a way to escape my excruciating pain, anxiety and uncertainty around my health, the music industry and the world," she said.

As she remained unwell for five weeks straight, Jonze struggled with the prospect of her music career being cut short. "I was told that not being able to return to the music industry after surviving COVID-19 was a real possibility," she explained. "I wasn’t able to sing like I used to, I suffered from shortness of breath and chronic fatigue, not to mention loneliness from being in solitary confinement for so long."

This experience inspired the powerful imagery we see in her short film. "I escaped into worlds of apocalyptic-cyberpunk anime and incorporated it as fantastical symbolism into the visuals of ANTIHERO," she explained. "ANTIHERO and its encompassing visuals are all in the mind and are not to be taken literally”.

PopMatters published an extensive interview with her earlier this year to promote BUNNY MODE. The debut full-length as Jaguar Jonze, I am not going to include it all. There are some sections that I want to highlight:

“The Taiwanese-Australian singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and multimedia maven reveals a lot about her harrowing past. She’s a survivor of childhood abuse and, as an adult, was diagnosed with complex PTSD as a result of those experiences.

“The music is the opposite of blocking out traumatic childhood memories — that’s what I was doing my whole life and what was eating me up from the inside out,” she explains in response to a question about how the art form has helped change her life. “Music showed me how to take it out of my body and place it into a vessel outside of it — in song, melody, and lyrics. It allowed me to process what I had been through; instead of continuing to use the energy to suppress and deny it, I was able to heal, learn and move on.

“Music and art are important to me as it’s a way for me to have an honest dialogue with myself internally and with others in the world. I’ve spent my whole life being small and quiet, but now I have a voice. I hope others who have been through similar obstacles that I have, or feel isolated, or fighting for something bigger than they are, can connect with BUNNY MODE and know that they are not alone and that we can claim our power back.”

The album title is taken from a survival tactic she called “going bunny mode” during her youth, learning to stay silent instead of making herself heard by crying as a reaction to being threatened physically, emotionally, and psychologically. “This album is a journey of saying goodbye to that ’bunny mode,’” Lynch said in an April release announcing her upcoming LP. “Making this album has been this process of saying [to that tactic], ‘Thank you for saving me and allowing me to survive up until this point, but I don’t need you anymore.’”

 PHOTO CREDIT: SHE IS APHRODITIE

From Deena to Jaguar

Persevering despite facing personal and professional obstacles, Lynch has been forthright about the perilous trip she has taken. Born in Yokohama, Japan, on 12 January 1992, she was raised by her single mother, who is Taiwanese, and moved to Australia (her father’s homeland) while approaching the age of seven.

Since then, Lynch has lived primarily in Brisbane, where she currently resides and also has spent time in Melbourne, Sydney, and Orange County. In elementary school, the youngster met Brisbane’s Joseph Fallon, who would later re-enter the picture as her guitarist, leading the way for the musical late bloomer.

Lynch’s education background included studying engineering at the University of Melbourne and business at Bond University. “I fell into writing music and playing guitar late in life, and it wasn’t really something I had in mind,” Lynch admits. “I was walking home one day from university and passed a garage sale, saw a guitar, and decided to buy it. I had just lost a close friend of mine and struggled a lot with the grief, and the guitar and songwriting became my catharsis. They weren’t great songs, but it was an important part of my life where I finally found a way to express myself and found passion in that. … At first, I just wanted the music to be a part of my life, and over time I wanted it to be my whole life.”

 PHOTO CREDIT: SHE IS APHRODITIE

Initially using just her first name professionally, Deena was 20 in 2012 when she released the first of two independent albums — Lone Wolf. In February 2015, Black Cat followed, with Fallon on electric guitar and organ while Lynch sang and played acoustic guitar, keyboards, and organ.

“The guitar gives me the most joy to play, and I still write many songs on the acoustic guitar that I built myself,” Lynch notes. “I still don’t quite know how to play the guitar, I don’t know chord names or scales, but I always found the guitar to be so freeing because I can go with what sounds good and what sound I want to make on it.”

NAME GAME: So how did you decide to use Jaguar Jonze as your stage name/alter ego? Were you drawn more to the car, the cat or something else?

Deena: Ha ha, I’m definitely very similar to a cat in personality, and I have always been into cars growing up — but it is neither. Jaguar Jonze came about over time as a nickname that fans and friends gave me for how different I was on stage from real life. I’m like a big cat on stage — mysterious, ferocious, and dark, so it became this almost like a nothing name with alliteration. When it came to finding a name for my project, all the names I came up with felt so contrived, and I fell back on Jaguar Jonze. It was given to me, it meant something to me, and it suited the music I was creating, so I went with it.

 PHOTO CREDIT: SHE IS APHRODITIE

UNDER THE INFLUENCE: Among the artists you loved growing up, whose songs motivated you to take the plunge?

Deena: Artists like Jeff Buckley, Johnny Cash, City and Colour, Portishead, Bryan Adams, Chris Isaak, and Paramore were artists I listened to growing up. Still, I loved a lot of different genres — R&B, K-pop, J-pop, heavy metal, indie rock, pop, folk, country, classical, and … anime soundtracks.

SUPPORT GROUP: Who have been your biggest supporters during not only your musical journey but also your courageous decision to advocate for change in the music industry?

Deena: My band — Aidan Hogg (bass/co-producer/synths), Joseph Fallon (guitar/string arrangements), and Jacob Mann (drums) — have been the biggest supporters of my musical journey and my decision to advocate for change in the music industry. They have always believed in me as an artist and have been by my side through thick and thin. That didn’t change through the advocacy and my decision to stand up to the industry. It also meant that they were at risk of those consequences too. The media and the public only see a certain side to the advocacy; my band has been there for me for the lowest moments and made sure I always had a support network through the ups and downs. I can never thank them enough — plus, they’re all talented human beings, and it’s a joy to write music and create any experience with them.

LABOR OF LOVE: If you weren’t making music for a living, what would you be doing?

Deena: I also love art — I love drawing, painting, photography, fashion, and film. At the bottom of everything, I feel like I am a storyteller, and my passion is in expression, no matter the medium.

JUST FOR FUN: What activities/hobbies do you enjoy the most when you’re not making music?

Deena: I love riding motorcycles both on the road and dirt. It’s a meditative space in my helmet where I can be present with my body and mind. And I love food way too much … not cooking, just eating. So I love discovering new restaurants and new flavors”.

Hard to put into words how exceptional Jaguar Jonze is as an artist and how amazing and utterly inspiring (as I have said earlier) Deena Lynch is as a person! I would advise you follow the Jaguar Jonze’s social media channels, watch all the music videos and interviews out there, and do some further reading. This is an introduction to an artist that some might not know about. BUNNY MODE is the album where she is set free and let loose. It is among the most essential and powerful albums released this year, that is for sure! The Guardian wrote this in their four-star assessment:

“I’m not gonna sleep below the glass ceiling,” Jaguar Jonze sings on her debut album, her voice barely a whisper.

Then, moments later with the volume turned right up: “You could’ve destroyed me, but then I got loud.”

This defiance is at the heart of Bunny Mode, an 11-track juggernaut that is cutting in its specificity. Its title refers to a survival tactic that the artist employed as a survivor of childhood abuse: a freeze response to any safety threats, like a frightened rabbit. The record is a middle finger to oppressors and abusers, as the artist – real name Deena Lynch – breaks free of their chokehold, rising anew.

The Brisbane musician, who released two EPs under the Jaguar Jonze moniker in 2020 and 2021, leans into an esoteric sound across Bunny Mode, fortified by the unbridled anger in her lyrics. Sonically and thematically, the record bears similarities to Halsey’s 2021 album If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power – both take cues from industrial music, building unapologetically feminist narratives and rebuttals upon glorious walls of sound. Despite the experimentation and boundary-pushing, it’s all still underpinned by pop and a knack for melody, as on the passionate slow-builder Little Fires, which Lynch performed as part of Eurovision’s Australian decider in February.

While there’s much to like musically – Bunny Mode moves away from the loopy spaghetti western sounds of Lynch’s early work to experiment with darker, heavier sounds, and the singer’s vocal chops are, as always, impressive – the album’s real power is in the lyrical details. It’s another piece of the activism puzzle for Lynch, who has spent much of the last two years on the forefront of fighting for change as a leader in the Australian #MeToo movement, shining a light on misbehaviour in the music industry. It also explores the more personal process of healing and recovery following trauma.

These many facets are visible through different threads of the album: on one of the more downbeat tracks, Drawing Lines, Lynch sings silkily of the importance of setting boundaries. The fury is more evident on tracks such as Who Died and Made You King, all angular guitars and punchy electropop beats, as Lynch spits, almost mockingly: “You’re sick and a victim of your own disease.” It’s thrilling to hear the tables turned on the powers that be in this way – a reclamation of space, a bold statement of self-sovereignty.

The highlight is Punchline, which turns a sharp eye on to tokenism and racism within the entertainment industry. In a similar fashion to Camp Cope’s The Opener, the Taiwanese Australian artist regurgitates box-ticking sentiments from corporate bigwigs to reveal their hollowness: “We love culture but make sure it’s to our very liking / Make it milky, make it plain and not too spicy.” Over wailing guitars and layered vocals, Lynch makes herself in her own image, rejecting the condescension of the white-centric industry that still sees artists of colour as an exotic other.

Lynch’s cohesive world-building across the album makes for a compelling, absorbing and often intimate listening experience. Her many creative personas – musically as Jaguar Jonze, visually as Spectator Jonze and photographically as Dusky Jonze – swirl through the record, but she emerges as a singularity: a woman who has, despite everything, survived.

After all the noise and the rage, the fire and the passion, it’s barely a whisper, again, that ends the record. The instrumentals cut out for Lynch’s controlled vocals to deliver their final, stinging words to the patriarchy and all that enable it: “It’s always been a man-made monster only a woman can destroy”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: SHE IS APHRODITIE

I am going to round things off with a feature/review from Atwood Magazine. They went especially deep with BUNNY MODE (and Jaguar Jonze). I am predicting some really incredible things in 2023 for the Brisbane artist:

“Released June 3, 2022 via Nettwerk Music Group, BUNNY MODE is a radiant and raw experience – not to mention a jaw-dropping introduction to Brisbane’s Jaguar Jonze. The musical moniker for Taiwanese-Australian singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Deena Lynch, Jonze has been actively releasing music (and therefore, enchanting audiences) since early 2019; her 2020 debut EP Diamonds & Liquid Gold set a high bar with its cinematic scope, inescapably intimate lyricism, and seamless blend of alternative rock and indie pop influences. 2021’s smoldering follow-up ANTIHERO EP revealed the darker side of Jonze’s artistry, with heavier electronic influences and haunting lyrics (“I’ve never seen wrong be done right… It’s a bit of a twist for me to be a masochist, giving in to be blind“) dwelling in a space of turmoil and upheaval.

Those themes are still present throughout BUNNY MODE, yet there’s a reclamative aspect to Jaguar Jonze’s debut album that goes beyond the reckoning and into a space of healing, empowerment, ownership, and renewal.

“It’s been a long and turbulent journey behind this record, from being a sexual assault survivor to then being thrown into the spotlight as a figurehead of the #MeToo movement within the Australian music industry,” Jonze tells Atwood Magazine. “The trauma, obstacles, and pressure I’ve had to overcome have been overwhelming. I’m so grateful to have music as a cathartic outlet for what has been one of the most testing chapters of my life. I’m also so proud of how that journey translated through each song; I have found my voice, found my confidence, sought my own justice, and I’ve grown so much as a person and as an artist.”

“My vision going into this record was to create a safe space for all survivors to seek refuge, but it changed over the course of recording BUNNY MODE. It’s also about giving yourself permission to feel anger, not be silenced, speak up, fight, and show what incredible things are achieved when we work together to heal and be at peace,” she adds.

“I’m proud of what I’ve created. Every decision on this album and the visual world around it has had so much purpose and intention. I care so much about everything because I need it to have meaning.”

 I hope ‘BUNNY MODE’ introduces me as a passionate person who wants to build worlds for us all to escape into and connect with.

Once a person who would become “still and quiet instead of crying out,” BUNNY MODE sees Jonze actively refusing to remain silent; in fact, the album is emphatically, undeniably loud in the best of ways as the artist wields wit, charm, stadium-sized pop, and searing punk energy to unveil her world and tell her stories. “This is a message to cut out the talk you do,” she feverishly sings in the assertive, explosive “Swallow.” “This is a message to dogs who said, ‘What?’… Go back home and swallow your own comedown.”

“BUNNY MODE was the name I gave to my symptoms of suffering from Complex PTSD, a condition I’ve been working through from a lifetime of trauma,” Jonze explains. “At the time, I didn’t know how to talk about it, and ‘bunny mode’ explained that it is when my survival mechanism kicks into freeze (rather than fight or flight). Like a bunny in the wild, I would act like prey, play dead and freeze when threats jeopardized my safety. This album is about thanking that survival mechanism for allowing me to survive until this point into adulthood, but also a farewell as I don’t need it anymore.

 This album is a journey of saying goodbye to that ’BUNNY MODE.’ Making this album has been this process of saying – thank you for saving me and allowing me to survive up until this point, but I don’t need you anymore.

I can’t swallow your pride

I can’t swallow your lies

I can’t swallow your ego

You don’t turn me on

You don’t turn me on with your paradise

Go back home and swallow your own comedown

From start to finish, BUNNY MODE sees Jaguar Jonze finding strength in her vulnerability as she assumes full control over the narrative.

Her music is catchy, captivating, clever, and cathartic all at once. From the high-energy charge in songs like “SWALLOW,” “WHO DIED AND MADE YOU KING?, “PUNCHLINE” and “CUT,” to the more tender nuance in songs like “DRAWING LINES,” the stunning eruption “LOUD,” and her breathtakingly beautiful Eurovision 2022 entry, “LITTLE FIRES,” Jonze leaves a lasting, lingering mark through each of these eleven emotionally potent, deeply expressive songs.

Keep your head up, dry your eyes

I know the world can feel unkind

Think about what we’ve survived

We shouldn’t have to compromise

I’m not gonna sleep below the glass ceiling

I don’t need to hear another bad reason

History won’t get a chance to repeat

You can’t take this from me

So I’m gonna be noisy and I’m gonna be proud

You could’ve destroyed me but then

Then I got loud, loud, loud

– “LOUD,” Jaguar Jonze

While she’s a proven expert at employing colorful metaphors and larger-than-life imagery to get her point across, several of these songs find Jonze shedding all pretense in order to be as explicit, blatant, and uncompromisingly direct as possible. “This body’s mine and not for you to touch,” she sings in the self-assured “NOT YOURS,” with lines like “What made you think that it would be okay?” and “What life and stories did you live to make my choices dissipate?” driving her message home with calm conviction and blistering bluntness.

“I didn’t think this song would ever be released, but it was the first song I wrote after my sexual assault by two producers three months before writing it,” Jonze says of that track. “It was a cry to claim back my body”.

Go and follow and support the magnificent Jaguar Jonze. She has a worldwide fanbase, and there is a lot of love for her in the U.S. and U.K., in addition to Australia. I think that, when she tour internationally, her music will reach even more fans. There is no doubting the fact that she is…

ONE of my favourite artists.

_____________

Follow Jaguar Jonze

 PHOTO CREDIT: Alex Flamsteed for Refinery29

Official:

https://jaguarjonze.com/

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/jaguarjonze/

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/jaguarjonze

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/0QClnkSUCnc9chv8MLyTaR?si=vhHOO6I6SiCa26PEDN6cgQ

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/jaguarjonze

FEATURE: Inspired By… Part Eighty-Eight: Destiny’s Child

FEATURE:

 

 

Inspired By…

 Part Eighty-Eight: Destiny’s Child

__________

I don’t think…

that I have included any girl groups (or not many) in Inspired By… One always assumes they are influenced by a lot of other artists, but do they have an impact on artists that follow them. Whether solo or a group, it is clear that they do! One of the most influential girl groups of their generation, Destiny’s Child’s final and current line-up comprises Beyoncé Knowles, Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams. Rowland’s debut solo album, Simply Deep, was twenty last month. Beyoncé released Renaissance this year, and William’s debut, Heart to Yours, was twenty earlier this year. Destiny’s Child’s debut single, No, No, No, was twenty-five last month. The line-up for that single (from the Destiny’s Child album) comprised Knowles, Rowland, LaTavia Roberson and LeToya Luckett v(in the photo above). There has been a lot of talk lately about Spice Girls, as their second album, Spiceworld, turned twenty-five. Formed in the same year as that massive album came out, I always think Destiny’s Child were the leading girl group of that time. Much punchier, soulful, talented and varied, you can hear it through the five studio albums. By the time the final album, Destiny Fulfilled, arrived in 2004, all of the trio had released a solo album. In fact, Michelle Williams released her second studio album, Do You Know, in 2004! The iconic group have performed together since they split/disbanded in 2006. The last time they performed live together was for the 2018 Coachella festival (Beyoncé headlined, but she did numbers with Williams and Rowland). One of the most successful trios and greatest girl groups of all-time, I wanted to put out a playlist at the end of this feature with songs from artists who have followed Destiny’s Child or have been compared to them.

First of all, it is worth getting to AllMusic’s assessment and biography of the wonderful and hugely inspiring Destiny’s Child. The power, chemistry and connection they had – especially the trio of Beyoncé, Rowland and Williams – led to some of the best music of the ‘90s and the early-’00s:

“Destiny's Child rose to become one of the most popular female R&B groups of the late '90s, eventually rivaling even TLC in terms of blockbuster commercial success. Their accomplishments came in spite of several abrupt personnel changes, which were accompanied by heated, well-publicized feuds in the media and the courts. In fact, for a time, Destiny's Child were known for that drama just as much as their music. Once the group stabilized again, though, they emerged with even more hitmaking power than ever before.

Destiny's Child were formed in Houston, Texas, in 1990, when original members Beyoncé Knowles and LaTavia Roberson were just nine years old; the two met at an audition and became friends, and Knowles' father Mathew set about developing an act based on their singing and rapping, taking their name from a passage in the Book of Isaiah. Beyoncé's cousin Kelendria "Kelly" Rowland joined the group in 1992, and shortly thereafter they landed an appearance on Star Search, where they performed a rap song. The quartet's lineup was finalized (for the time being) when LeToya Luckett joined in 1993, and they spent the next few years working their way up from the Houston club scene, eventually opening for artists like SWV, Dru Hill, and Immature. Finally, in 1997, Destiny's Child were offered a recording contract by Columbia.

The group made its recorded debut on 1997's "Killing Time," a song included on the soundtrack of the blockbuster Men in Black. Their self-titled debut album was released in early 1998, featuring production by Wyclef Jean and Jermaine Dupri, among others. Its lead single, the Jean-produced "No No No," was a smash hit, selling over a million copies and topping the R&B charts. The follow-up singles -- "With Me" and "Get on the Bus," the latter of which was taken from the soundtrack of Why Do Fools Fall in Love? -- didn't quite duplicate the success of "No No No," although Destiny's Child would eventually go platinum (after the group's later success). Destiny's Child reentered the studio quickly, bringing in producer Kevin "She'kspere" Briggs to handle the majority of their next record. Lead single "Bills, Bills, Bills" became the group's first number one pop hit (and second R&B number one) in the summer of 1999 and, paced by its success, the accompanying album, The Writing's on the Wall, entered the charts at number six upon its release.

That was just the beginning of the group's breakout success. The second single, "Bug a Boo," didn't perform as well, but the third single, "Say My Name," was another massive hit, their biggest so far; it hit number one on both the pop and R&B charts for three weeks apiece in early 2000, and made Destiny's Child a pop-cultural phenomenon. However, at the peak of "Say My Name"'s popularity, the group splintered. In December 1999, Roberson and Luckett attempted to split with manager Mathew Knowles, charging that he kept a disproportionate share of the band's profits, attempted to exert too much control, and unfairly favored his daughter and niece. While they never intended to leave the group, relations naturally grew strained, and when the video for "Say My Name" premiered in February 2000, many fans (not to mention Roberson and Luckett) were surprised to find two new members -- Michelle Williams and Farrah Franklin -- joining Knowles and Rowland. Infuriated, Roberson and Luckett took legal action in March, suing both Knowles and their former bandmates for breach of partnership and fiduciary duties. A war of words followed in the press; meanwhile, the next Destiny's Child single, "Jumpin' Jumpin'," hit the Top Ten, and The Writing's on the Wall went on to sell a whopping eight million copies.

The personnel-turnover drama still wasn't over; in July 2000, just five months after joining, Farrah Franklin split with the group. The official reason was that Franklin missed several promotional appearances and concert gigs, although in later interviews she spoke of too much negativity and too little control in the group environment. Now reduced to a trio, Destiny's Child was tapped to record the theme song for the film version of Charlie's Angels; released as a single in October, "Independent Women, Pt. 1" raced up the charts and spent an astounding 11 weeks at number one. Destiny's Child were now indisputable superstars, the biggest female R&B group on the scene, and they quickly began work on a new album to capitalize. In the meantime, toward the end of 2000, Roberson and Luckett dropped the portion of their lawsuit aimed at Rowland and Knowles in exchange for a settlement, though they continued to pursue action against Knowles' father; as part of the agreement, both sides were prohibited from ripping each other publicly.

Beyoncé had long since emerged as the group's focal point, and on the third Destiny's Child album, she assumed more control than ever before, taking a greater hand in writing the material and even producing some of the record herself. While recording sessions were going on, Rowland released the first Destiny's Child solo track; "Angel" appeared on the soundtrack of Chris Rock's Down to Earth. Former members Roberson and Luckett also announced the formation of a trio called, coincidentally, Angel, and Farrah Franklin set about starting a solo career.

Survivor -- whose title was reportedly inspired by a DJ's crack about Destiny's Child members voting one another off the island, much like the popular CBS reality series -- hit stores in the spring of 2001, and entered the charts at number one. The first two singles, "Survivor" and "Bootylicious," were predictably huge hits, with the latter becoming the group's fourth number one pop single. A cover of Andy Gibb's "Emotion" was also successful, albeit less so, and Survivor sold well -- over four million copies -- but not as well as its predecessor. Toward the end of the year, the group released a holiday album, 8 Days of Christmas, and announced plans for a series of side projects, including solo albums from all three members (to be staggered over the next year and a half, so as to avoid competition). In early 2002, shortly after This Is the Remix was released to tide fans over, Roberson and Luckett sued the group again, claiming that some of the lyrics in "Survivor" made reference to them (in violation of the earlier lawsuit settlement).

The first Destiny's Child solo album, Michelle Williams' all-gospel project Heart to Yours, was released in April and featured a duet with gospel legend Shirley Caesar. Meanwhile, Beyoncé won a leading role opposite Mike Myers in the third Austin Powers film, Goldmember, playing blaxploitation-style heroine Foxy Cleopatra; her first solo single, the Neptunes-produced "Work It Out," appeared on the soundtrack, and her full solo album, Dangerously in Love, became a huge hit upon release in mid-2003. Despite much critical speculation, the trio reunited the following year and released Destiny Fulfilled in November 2004. In October 2005, the #1's compilation was issued, followed by the Live in Atlanta DVD and CD sets in 2006 and 2007. The members continued solo careers. Rowland had considerable success with Ms. Kelly and Here I Am, both of which reached the Top Ten. Meanwhile, Beyoncé, who married Jay-Z in 2008, solidified her status as the planet's biggest pop star with the platinum albums B'day, I Am...Sasha Fierce, and 4. The group reunited in 2012 to record a new song, the Pharrell-produced "Nuclear," for the Love Songs compilation, which was released in January 2013 -- just prior to their halftime performance at Super Bowl XLVII”.

I don’t think we have heard the last of Destiny’s Child. There were rumours recently that an album might be in the works or they are coming back together. Great solo artists, I think, Beyoncé, Michelle Williams and Kelly Rowland are at their best when together! I think that Destiny’s Child could produce something epic for a sixth studio album. Let’s hope that this dream…

BECOMES a reality.

FEATURE: The Lockdown Playlist: Twenty-Five Years of the MOBO Awards: The 2022 Nominees

FEATURE:

 

 

The Lockdown Playlist

IN THIS PHOTO: Cat Burns is among the nominees for the MOBO Awards 2022 (she is nominated in the Newcomer field), ahead of its twenty-fifth anniversary/PHOTO CREDIT: Adama Jalloh for DAZED 

Twenty-Five Years of the MOBO Awards: The 2022 Nominees

__________

BECAUSE the MOBO Awards…

 IMAGE CREDIT: MOBO Awards

is celebrating its twenty-fifth anniversary at the OVO Arena on 30th November, I wanted to look ahead to London ceremony by compiling a playlist of artists nominated in the various categories. This very special year, the strength of the artists nominated is at an all-time high! It is a magnificent field. Keep abreast of nominations and news via the MOBO Twitter account. In Wembley on 30th November, a very special night will happen! Go and also check out the official MOBO Awards website. If you do not know about the MOBOs and what the award ceremony represents and why it is so important, here is some history about one of the most impressive and essential award shows:

“Since its inception in 1996, the MOBO Awards has truly become one of Europe’s biggest Music Award ceremonies, and perhaps the most important and influential event for music makers and fans. Celebrating excellence in music for more than 20 years, MOBO continues its rich legacy and ongoing growth as the premiere outlet for recognising and honouring the artistic and technical achievements of exceptional British and international talent in the musical fields of Hip Hop, Grime, RnB/Soul, Reggae, Jazz, Gospel, and African music.

Global artists attending over the years have included Janet Jackson, Beyonce, Diddy, Jay Z, Lauryn Hill, Rihanna, Tina Turner, Sade, Lionel Richie, Usher, Sam Smith and Amy Winehouse, just to name a few. 

From the outset MOBO has played an instrumental role in the careers of numerous UK artists such as Stormzy, Craig David, Rita Ora, Ms Dynamite, Krept and Konan, Chip and Kano - giving them their very first big platform at the start of their journey to global success.

Beyond the awards, MOBO supports undiscovered talent in music via MOBO UnSung, and across the wider creative industries via the MOBO Season and MOBOvation Talks, alongside our newly established charity, MOBO Trust, which aims to support young people in the creative industries via a MOBO Fund and an all-new MOBO Academy”.

To honour all the nominees that were announced at the end of this week, I want to put their music together in a MOBO Awards playlist. From newcomers like Cat Burns nominated alongside Miraa May and Knucks, there is going to be a lot of competition this year. On its twenty-fifth anniversary, it goes to show that the influential award body and organisation is as crucial and impressive today as it has always been. The songs from nominees this year…

PROVES that in spades!

FEATURE: Come to Sparkle the Dark Up: Kate Bush’s December Will Be Magic Again at Forty-Two

FEATURE:

 

 

Come to Sparkle the Dark Up

Kate Bush’s December Will Be Magic Again at Forty-Two

__________

IT is that time of year…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush at the British Rock and Pop Awards, February 1980/IMAGE CREDIT: Mirrorpix

when I talk about Kate Bush’s magnificent Christmas song, December Will Be Magic Again. The song was originally recorded in 1979 and premiered during the Christmas Special in December 1979. I am not sure why there was a delay after that, because December Will Be Magic Again was not officially released until 17th November, 1980. Released as the follow-up to Army Dreamers (from 1980’s Never for Ever), it was a really fruitful time. In 1979, Bush took The Tour of Life on the road.. Maybe there was some demand from EMI for her to release a Christmas single. It is not a case of this being something she was made to do, resulting in a song that is forced, commercial and lacking in heart. In fact, as I shall explore when coming to the lyrics, it is one of her most interesting and bewitching songs. A beautiful number that has plenty of warmth, beauty and Christmas images, the sweetness is never too cloying. Whilst some regard December Will Be Magic Again as one of Bush’s weaker singles, others have placed it quite high in the pack. I think that it can definitely be placed when you hear the vocal. Similar in pitch to songs like Army Dreamers, there is a child-like innocence together with something more sensual and grown up. It is a wonderful song that I have a lot of affection for!

Reaching thirteen in Ireland and twenty-nine in the U.K., it was a fairly successful single from Bush. Not bothering the higher places on the chart, it did at least place fairly well and can be considered successful. Christmas singles are hard, as there is not a specific market for them and they are very much limited in their appeal and longevity. Harder to make distinct and enduring, I can see why Bush did not release too many Christmas songs. She did release another, Home for Christmas, but December Will Be Magic Again is her best of that particular type. Many would have liked the song to feature on an album or wider afield. That said, it did feature as part of the remastered series, where Bush put out her studio albums and lesser-heard songs/B-sides etc. No music video was ever made for the song. I can imagine something magical and incredible! Maybe inspired by The Snowman, an animated video would bring the lyrics and vocals to life in a very memorable way. The audio is phenomenal, but I do wonder why no video was ever released. Bush performed December Will Be Magic Again on television twice: the first performance took place during the Christmas Snowtime Special, broadcast by the BBC on 22nd December, 1979. In Bush, looking fabulous in a red suit, sits in a large wicker chair with red velvet upholstery, definitely made an impression! The second performance, during the Christmas Special, Kate, broadcast on 28th December, 1979, features Kate on piano and Kevin McAlea on keyboards and electric piano.

 IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in London on 27th September, 1979/PHOTO CREDIT: Bill Kennedy/Mirrorpix/Getty Images

The imagery Bush deploys leading into the chorus is incredible! I really love the chorus too and, again, the sort of images one imagines: “Ooh, dropping down in my parachute/The white city, she is so beautiful/Upon the black-soot icicled roofs/Ooh, and see how I fall/See how I fall/("Fall!") [backwards]/Like the snow/Come to cover the lovers/(Cover the lovers, But don't you wake them up)/Come to sparkle the dark up/(Sparkle the dark up/With just a touch of make-up)/Come to cover the muck up/(Cover the muck up/Ooh, with a little luck)/December will be magic again”. There is a mix of the traditional and uniquely Kate Bush in December Will Be Magic Again. It is a hard balance making sure a Christmas song appeals and stands out. If it too generic and obvious then it will not memorable. Make it too weird, oblique, or abstract and that will alienate a large amount of people. I think that Kate Bush got the balance just right! Written and recorded at Abbey Road Studio 2 with Preston Heyman on drums, sleigh bells and maracas, Alan Murphy on guitar, Kuma Harada on bass, and Bush on piano, the fact that December Will Be Magic Again was released two weeks before December and over five weeks before Christmas meant the song did not stay on the chart long. It would have been interesting seeing how the song fared had it been released closer to Christmas. In 1980, the number one song at Christmas was There's No One Quite Like Grandma by the Stockport-based primary school choir, St Winifred's School Choir. The song was a Christmas number-one single in both the U.K. and Ireland. In the UK, it pushed John Lennon's last single, (Just Like) Starting Over, to number two.

Not related to Kate Bush’s Christmas single, but I don’t think there was too much cheer in the air in December 1980. John Lennon was murdered on 8th December 1980, and I think that many artists were feeling the shock. Kate Bush herself would have been impacted. In general, some of the usual cheer and excitement for Christmas music might have been lost! It was a strange and tragic end to the year. Maybe it is as well that December Will Be Magic Again was released on 17th November, 1980 and it did at least provide some cheer and Christmas anticipation before quite a dark month for the world! December Will Be Magic Again’s B-side was Warm and Soothing. It is quite a basic song that is a typical B-side. Even so, it was the first song she recorded at Abbey Road Studios. So it is important in that sense. I love how lines like “Light the candle-lights/To conjure Mr. Wilde/Into the Silent Night/Ooh, it's quiet inside/Here in Oscar's mind” manage to be both literary and Christmassy. Bush is a lyricist who can project contrasting and arresting images with very few words. A song that I always say deserves more attention and respect in terms of her cannon and best work, you will hear radio stations start to play the song in the next couple of weeks. In fact, when we get to 1st December, I think that is when it will really rev up! Both chilly with its snowy imagery and warming in terms of the beauty and comfort Bush provokes with her vocals and composition, the majestic December Will Be Magic Again is…

A truly magical song.

FEATURE: Spotlight: Hello Mary

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

PHOTO CREDIT: Nolan Zangas

Hello Mary

__________

I am moving more into…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Olivia Wein

band territory this month with my Spotlight recommendations. I am trying to broaden away from solo artists. Today, I wanted to point out the incredible Hello Mary. The incredible New York trio write anthemic songs and have incredible chemistry and amazing stage presence. I am going to source a few interviews with them. Even back in 2020, they were starting to get a lot of buzz and hype. Two years on, and the trio (Helena Straight on guitar, Mikaela Oppenheimer on bass, and Stella Wave on drums) are amassing a big following and are being spotlighted by the likes of Rolling Stone! The first interview that I want to bring in is from KEXP. Hailed by the likes of Tanya Donelly (Throwing Muses, The Breeders, Belly) and harnessing a sound that is ‘90s-nodding but modern at the same time, it is no wonder the hugely promising Hello Mary are turning heads right now:

“Formed in 2019, Hello Mary self-released their debut album in 2020 when Straight and Oppenheimer were 16 and Wave was 19. The release established the band’s penchant for unpredictability, surprising melodic twists, and explosive instrumentation. Across seven songs, they flex their muscle for changing time signatures with perfect synchronicity, gratifying whiplash helped along by their composition that, sophisticated beyond their years, counterbalances sonic space with blindsiding moments of thunderous drums and guitar.

Since the debut, they’ve been refining their sound in the confines of the pandemic with impressive results: in addition to shows around city parks, they’ve opened for Sunflower Bean, Luna, Quicksand, Dehd, and Pretty Sick. Most recently, they teamed up with industry vet Bryce Goggin (Dinosaur Jr., Pavement) to produce their latest batch of ear-splitters, including “Stinge” and “Sink In.”

The two singles find the unsigned band dialing back the thrash of their earlier material, still packing the tracks with controlled blitz but in sparser environments that allow each of their individual talent to shine. It’s hard not to speak in hyperboles when Wave’s kick drum ignites every chorus across the pair of songs, when Oppenheimer slices through the fuzz with chugging basslines in “Stinge,” or when Straight’s searing guitar solo comes for you in “Sink In,” the only refuge from which is her crystalline voice that transcends the slick sludge. While the lyrics in their debut weren’t as robust as their instrumental offerings, resonant reflections on love and the loss of it now color the music, rounding out their initial explorations of loneliness and isolation with experience”.

Apologies to mess with the chronology, but I want to go back to 2021 and an interview from SHEESH!. Maybe the trio are not as known in the U.K., but there is a lot of love and attention for Hello Mary in the U.S. I know that the three-piece will be touring the world very soon. Even though they have a large array of influences, they remind me of a mix of Nirvana, The Breeders and Sleater-Kinney. I think we could see the group in films and on the screen, such is their appeal, aesthetic, allure and how they grab you with their music. The trio recently released the single, Spiral. Hello Mary release their eponymous album next March:

“It’s five in the evening on a Wednesday night in early January when the dynamic trio of Hello Mary roll into our Zoom meeting. The members immediately start to excitedly chat and laugh with one another as if it were a regularly scheduled Facetime call between three lifelong friends. It’s hard to imagine that they’ve been playing together and creating music with one another for only two years. From finishing each other’s sentences to the ease at which laughter enters every part of our conversation, there is an undeniable rapport between the trio that any well respected musical group would be envious of. There is a seriousness and buzz of buoyancy in the members’ answers, an indication of their respect for their craft and each other, as they patiently responded to the standard and not-so-standard interview questions tossed at them.

Stella Wave, Helena Straight, and Mikaela Oppenheimer make up the rock trio that is Hello Mary. The band delivers nostalgic sounds reminiscent of 90s and early 2000s rock bands, but to define them by one era or genre of music would be a disservice to their potential and musicianship as a 21st century rock band. As stated by Stella, the drummer and co-vocalist, “It’s just rock, fuck Indie rock, fuck alternative rock, it’s just rock.”

The trio are very clear and assertive over how they want their music to sound and to prevent Hello Mary from being forced into any pre-existing holes. Mikaela, the bassist who delivers hypnotic bass lines throughout their tracks, emphasizes the raw sound they strive to produce. “We’ve talked about it before [and] we try to steer clear of produced and glossy music. We record our songs exactly as they are, just [to have] them sound like a really good version of us playing it live.” The members want people to rock out and jam along with their music. As Helena, the guitarist and co-vocalist of the three notes, “My favorite feeling when listening to music is to feel emotionally connected to the sound.”

The band released their first album Ginger last year and are currently working on recording their second. Expect to hear more mature songwriting and a tighter unison throughout the tracks as the trio have advanced both lyrically and in their musicianship. “Our songs are going to keep getting better [and] hopefully we can make a career out of it,” Helena further emphasizes. “I hope, even if this band goes nowhere or we don’t pick up or get big which would be a big bonus and a really fun way to make money and live, I would still choose to play music with Helena and Mikaela. I feel so good doing it and it’s so fun and fulfilling,” Stella chimes”.

I want to move to a feature and interview from LADYGUNN. They featured this awesome trio back in March. Consisting of some quick-fire questions, I thought it would be interesting to drop it in. We get to learn more about their tastes and inspirations:

“Hello Mary?

Mikaela and I met in the 6th grade…I got into music because my dad played the drums. There was always rock music playing at home growing up, so that’s how I got into it.  Mikaela and I started making music together in middle school.

A defining moment for the group?

Helena and I were a part of the Brooklyn Music Factory…after that we started off on our own.

Inspiration?

The Breeders, Big Thief, Jeff Buckley, Radiohead…we’re all over the map!

A favorite spot?

My basement.

How often do you guys practice?

Twice a week.

What comes to mind when you think NYC

Listening to music on the subway.

A favorite band?

The Strokes!

 PHOTO CREDIT: Nolan Zangas

Punk rock?

If you think you’re playing it…you probably are. There’s something unique about it.

A favorite closet item?

Blue jeans…we don’t have any black ones.

A memorable story?

There was this guy that wanted a Hello Mary t-shirt, and we all got on our bikes and delivered it to him in Brooklyn. It was the hottest day of the year.

Apples or Pears?

Pears honestly, but we’re trying to eat more apples.

How does your last album compare to the latest?

The last album that we have out has some cool moments, but it’s not that great in comparison to our latest. I think we’ve all become better as musicians.

A favorite from the album

‘Ginger’ is the most fun to play…but ‘Mary’ is cool too.

Some weirdness?

It was upstate…I was laying down and I felt like there were spiritual entities all around me. I started crying, and then laughing hysterically afterwards”.

I will end with a recent interview from Rolling Stone. Showing that Hello Mary have reached a new level and are getting love and support from some major outlets, they are going to blow up come 2023! This is a band that everyone needs to keep a close eye on:

“THEY SAY THAT rock is dying, guitar solos are old news, and kids today don’t like that kind of noise. OK, sure — but have they heard Hello Mary?

The New York trio’s self-titled full-length debut, out March 3, is a blast of distorted chords, sunny harmonies, and all-consuming angst that will renew your faith in the hopelessly dated and/or timelessly classic sounds of alternative rock. Hello Mary is an instant contender for 2023’s most bracing entrance to the stage, sharp and self-assured. Oh yeah, and the band’s two founders — singer-guitarist Helena Straight and bass player Mikaela Oppenheimer, both 18 — just graduated from high school this summer.

Drummer Stella Wave, 22, admits her expectations were low when someone first sent her a link to the songs that Straight and Oppenheimer had been writing as a twosome. “They were both 15, and I was 18,” says Wave, who was a college freshman in Westchester County at the time. “I don’t know how much you remember about that dynamic, but it feels huge. When I realized how young they were, I was like, ‘This might be kind of weird.’ But then I listened to the demos that they put on SoundCloud.”

 IN THIS PHOTO: Hello Mary in Brooklyn, October 2022/PHOTO CREDIT: Jessica Gurewitz

She was intrigued enough to come meet Straight at her parents’ house in Ditmas Park, Brooklyn. It didn’t go very well. “Helena opened the door and was so quiet,” Wave says, laughing. “She was so painfully shy. We practiced and it felt like pulling teeth, honestly, to get any reaction. She later told me that she almost canceled on me because she was so nervous.” (“I freaked out because she was older,” Straight confirms.)

Straight and Oppenheimer had been close pals since middle school, when they met through an extracurricular program for musically inclined Brooklynites. Both of them were introspective kids, and they bonded over mid-2010s favorites like Courtney Barnett, Car Seat Headrest, and Twin Peaks — “classic indie stuff,” Straight says — along with older picks from the decades before they were born.

“I remember when Neutral Milk Hotel came on my Pandora for the first time and I was like, ‘This is crazy,’” Oppenheimer says.

“And I was like, ‘Oh my God, my dad plays this all the time,’” Straight says.

Their taste was highly unusual in their peer group, where Top 40 pop ruled the day. “I still love Taylor Swift — I’m sitting on a Taylor Swift blanket right now,” Straight says. “So I could relate to people that were into that stuff. But Mikaela and I had a separate connection that we didn’t share with anyone else.”

Soon they’d broken off from the other students in the music program to start Hello Mary, which became the main focus of their early-adolescent lives. They’d spend hours at Straight’s house practicing in the basement as a duo; in the summer before ninth grade, they went up to the tiny attic to record some demos with Straight’s dad on drums.

Wave, a few years ahead of them, had grown up in another part of Brooklyn on a similar diet of parentally approved guitar weirdness. She recalls listening to “a lot of Pavement” — her mom’s favorite band — along with Luna, Galaxie 500, Yo La Tengo, and more. “I remember in elementary school being embarrassed because my mom DJ’d some Valentine’s Day dance, and having a talk with her before: ‘You can’t play your music. You have to play pop hits so that the kids like me,’” Wave says. By her own teens, she was getting into heavier bands like Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, and the Breeders”.

Maybe better known in their native U.S. and around New York/Brooklyn, there is this expanding consciousness of the amazing Hello Mary. With their music being shared on social media and loads of people raving about them, you need to check them out! The Hello Mary album is out next year, and new single Spiral is among their very best work. I can guarantee that, right away, Helena Straight, Mikaela Oppenheimer and Stella Wave’s wonderful music will capture your heart…

AND move your body and bones.

______________

Follow Hello Mary

 PHOTO CREDIT: Jessica Gurewitz for Rolling Stone

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/hellomaryband/

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/HelloMaryBand

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/6kgB8Ix1GHS4t8OWmsMDGn

Bandcamp:

https://hellomary.bandcamp.com/

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCy6k2tYuEbantMTCj4oOHJw

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/hellomaryband/

FEATURE: A Gem from the Archives: Kate Bush’s Lionheart at Forty-Four: The Simply Unbelievable Wow

FEATURE:

 

 

A Gem from the Archives

Kate Bush’s Lionheart at Forty-Four: The Simply Unbelievable Wow

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AS I will say a lot going forward…

I am doing a load of anniversary features, as six of Kate Bush’s albums turn different ages this month. I will come onto albums like Before the Dawn and 50 Words for Snow. Today, I am coming back to Lionheart one final time. Her second studio album, it is forty-four on 13th November. Appearing only months after the debut, The Kick Inside, it reached number six in the U.K. Arguably the best song on the album, Wow was released as single on 9th March, 1979. It reached fourteen in the U.K. Lionheart is an interesting album. Its title was derived from the song, Oh England My Lionheart. It is not really an album about Englishness as such. Instead, and what makes it so interesting, is the fact that Bush managed to make it sound different to The Kick Inside. Slightly more adventurous and eccentric than The Kick Inside, Wow seems to be the most obvious single from the album. As Bush did not have a lot of time to write new songs for her second album, she had to return to the archives and work up songs that were written earlier and were overlooked for The Kick Inside. It is hard to believe that she already had Wow in her vault! Wow received mostly positive feedback. Some were not impressed with the lush production. Sounds were especially sexist and rude with their review, expressing the fact that people fancied Kate Bush and this was no reason to buy her music! I don’t think there is anything to criticise about Wow. Produced by Andrew Powell (who produced The Kick Inside) and assisted by Bush, it sounds wonderful!

I can imagine Kate Bush writing the song. Concerning the music business and showbusiness in general, she was always compelled by the stage, T.V. and film. There is humour, running through one of her best songs. I love the fact this song was maybe never going to see the light of day. Not seen as right for The Kick Inside, I assume Bush wanted to write new material and would never revisit songs previously written. Too good to be forgotten, Wow is a classic that, alone, makes Lionheart such a remarkable listen. Its ten tracks are all magnificent and varied. In future Lionheart features, I might discuss the album in general and how it came so soon after The Kick Inside. Here is what Kate Bush said about the magnificent Wow:

“I've really enjoyed recording 'Wow'. I'm very, very pleased with my vocal performance on that, because we did it a few times, and although it was all in tune and it was okay, there was just something missing. And we went back and did it again and it just happened, and I've really pleased with that, it was very satisfying. (Lionheart Promo Cassette, EMI Canada, 1978)

'Wow' is a song about the music business, not just rock music but show business in general, including acting and theatre. People say that the music business is about ripoffs, the rat race, competition, strain, people trying to cut you down, and so on, and though that's all there, there's also the magic. It was sparked off when I sat down to try and write a Pink Floyd song, something spacey; Though I'm not surprised no-one has picked that up, it's not really recognisable as that, in the same way as people haven't noticed that 'Kite' is a Bob Marley song, and 'Don't Push Your Foot On The Heartbrake' is a Patti Smith song. When I wrote it I didn't envisage performing it - the performance when it happened was an interpretation of the words I'd already written. I first made up the visuals in a hotel room in New Zealand, when I had half an hour to make up a routine and prepare for a TV show. I sat down and listened to the song through once, and the whirling seemed to fit the music. Those who were at the last concert of the tour at Hammersmith must have noticed a frogman appear through the dry ice it was one of the crew's many last night 'pranks' and was really amazing. I'd have liked to have had it in every show. (Kate Bush Club newsletter, Summer 1979)”.

I think that Wow should have charted higher. I know that Bush did quite a few vocal tracks for the song. She was looking for a perfect sound and, being in the studio with her, the musicians and crew must have been amazed by her commitment! A song that she knew would resonate and would make an impact, Wow is still played a lot today. Definitely one of her more popular songs, I am glad that it was not confined to the archives forever. I imagine it might have made an appearance as a possible B-side but, with EMI wanting a second album so soon after her debut, Bush had no choice but to dust off this remarkable song. I love the lyrics and how intriguing they are. I wonder who the ‘Emily’ is that Bush refers to in Wow’s first verse: “Emily.../We're all alone on the stage tonight./We've been told we're not afraid of you/We know all our lines so well, uh-huh/We've said them so many times: Time and time again/Line and line again”. Although there are clear nods to acting and the stage, it is quite brave that, this early in her career, Bush released a song that concerned how artists can be messed around and pushed relentlessly: “Ooh, yeah, you're amazing!/We think you are really cool/We'd give you a part, my love/But you'd have to play the fool”. It is such a fascinating song that is the third on Lionheart. I always wonder why it was not the opening song! That said, Symphony in Blue is a gorgeous opening track. In lieu of how Bush’s 1978 consumed her and how busy she was, you can almost look at the song as an artist recognising that the music industry is harsh and can set you up for a fall. Perhaps more concerning other artists, you get the sense Bush herself was already feeling a sense of strain and disenchantment by the end of 1978. As Lionheart is forty-four on 13th November, I wanted to highlight one of its standout tracks. A beautiful song that hypnotises the senses, it is amazing, wonderful and…

TRULY unbelievable!

FEATURE: In Search of Peter Pan: A Delightful Song and Rarity in Her Catalogue: Kate Bush’s Lionheart at Forty-Four

FEATURE:

 

 

In Search of Peter Pan: A Delightful Song and Rarity in Her Catalogue

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1978/PHOTO CREDIT: Gered Mankowitz 

Kate Bush’s Lionheart at Forty-Four

__________

FOR this penultimate feature…

on Kate Bush’s Lionheart, I wanted to highlight a song that not many people talk about or really know about. Turning forty-four on 13th November, there is a particular track I have written about before, but I wanted to explore from a different angle. Not only is Lionheart and underrated album that many people pass by, the ten individual songs are brilliant. All very different, it showcases the range and variation of Kate Bush’s songwriting. So utterly imaginative and spectacular, I love her vocals, compositions and lyrics throughout her second studio album. Before getting to a song from Lionheart that has a particularly interesting aspect to it, here is a 1978 interview snippet where Bush discussed the 1978 album:

“Maybe I'm a bit too close to it at the moment, but I find it much more adventurous than the last one. I'm much more happier with the songs and the arrangements and the backing tracks. I was getting a bit worried about labels from that last album; everything being in the high register, everything being soft, and airy-fairy. That was great for the time but it's not really what I want to do now, or what I want to do, say, in the next year. I guess I want to get basically heavier in the sound sense... and I think that's on the way, which makes me really happy.

I don't really think there are any songs on the album that are as close to Wuthering Heights as there were on the last one. I mean, there's lots of songs people could draw comparisons with. I want the first single that comes out from this album to be reasonably up-tempo. That's the first thing I'm concerned with, because I want to break away from what has previously gone. I'm not pleased with being associated with such soft, romantic vibes, not for the first single anyway. If that happens again, that's what I will be to everyone. (Harry Doherty, Kate: Enigma Variations. Melody Maker, November 1978)”.

The song in question is the second on the album. In Search of Peter Pan is a track that is going to be new to many people. Not one of the singles from the album, it is an older song that was used for Lionheart. Bush wrote three new songs from the album, but she had to bring in older songs because of the short gap between the release of The Kick Inside in February 1978 and the release of Lionheart on 13th November. There are a few reasons why I love In Search of Peter Pan. For one, it is another case of Bush being compelled and moved by literature. Throughout her career, Bush took from books, films and T.V. shows. There is magic, childlike wonder and beauty on this song. As it follows the more sophisticated and perhaps more mature and deeper opening track, Symphony in Blue, it acts as a nice contrast and different palette. Throughout Lionheart, there are so many moods and different sounds working alongside one another. This is what Bush said about the majestic In Search of Peter Pan:

“There's a song on [Lionheart] called 'In Search Of Peter Pan' and it's sorta about childhood. And the book itself is an absolutely amazing observation on paternal attitudes and the relationships between the parents - how it's reflected on the children. And I think it's a really heavy subject, you know, how a young innocence mind can be just controlled, manipulated, and they don't necessarily want it to happen that way. And it's really just a song about that. (Lionheart promo cassette, EMI Canada, 1978)”.

One of the songs that Bush performed live during The Tour of Life, even though the title might suggest something whimsical and innocent, there is actually darkness and serious tones on the song. Bush’s description of the proves that. The lyrics, as you would expect, are extraordinary. One of music’s best and most original lyricists, the lines draw you into the song: “Running into her arms/At the school gates/She whispers that I'm a poor kid/And Granny takes me on her knee/She tells me I'm too sensitive/She makes me sad/She makes me feel like an old man/She makes me feel like an old man”. My favourite verse actually comes a bit later in the song: “He's got a photo/Of his hero/He keeps it under his pillow/But I've got a pin-up/From a newspaper/Of Peter Pan/I found it in a locket/I hide it in my pocket”. Aside from some arrangements and expected assistance with compositions and input from her musicians, Bush wrote and composed every track on her ten studio albums. Some might say this is no big deal. Think about artists in general and certainly the most popular ones of all time. There are very few examples of one artist writing all the songs without co-credit and collaborators. Bush is a singular talent who did not want or need others in the mix. In Search of Peter Pan is a rare example of other people’s words briefly coming into one of her songs.

One cannot really say that In Search of Peter Pan is a co-write. Bush uses some famous lines from Pinocchio’s When You Wish Upon a Star at the very end: “When you wish upon a star/Makes no difference who you are/When you wish upon a star/Your dreams come true". Although there are only a few lines in there, it is this incidence of Bush sprinkling in words from someone else/another source. I think it adds a lovely and fantastical wonder to the end of the song. Actually, I think the only case where there is a proper co-writing credit for a song is Flower of the Mountain from Director’s Cut (2011). Originally The Sensual World from the 1989 album of the same name, Bush reworked the song and included words from James Joyce’s Ulysses for Flower of the Mountain. She wanted to use Molly Bloom’s stunning soliloquy for The Sensual World but could not get permission. When she was granted access by the Joyce estate – I think any limitations or restrictions had expired by then anyway! -, the words were included in the song. Can you even call that a co-write!? There is definitely another writer on Lionheart’s under-heard gem. A song written by Leigh Harline and Ned Washington and first recorded in 1939, it appeared in Pinocchio in 1940. I love the fact that Bush used some of the immortal lines for this song that has Peter Pan at its heart! Peter Pan was made into an animated Disney film in 1953, so there are further examples of Bush being influenced by film once more! As the stunning Lionheart album is forty-four on 13th November, I wanted to use this final feature about it to highlight one of its best tracks. Following Symphony in Blue and leading into Wow, here was a tremendous opening trio of songs that were very different to the opening three songs – Moving, The Saxophone Song and Strange Phenomena – of The Kick inside. Taking its lead from J.M. Barrie’s novel and inspired by how a young innocence mind can be just controlled and manipulated, In Search of Peter Pan is…

A beautiful and striking song.

FEATURE: Don’t Stop Now: Dua Lipa’s Move Into Acting…and the Artists That Should Follow

FEATURE:

 

 

Don’t Stop Now

IN THIS PHOTO: Dua Lipa at the 2022 Grammys/PHOTO CREDIT: Lauren Leekley

Dua Lipa’s Move Into Acting…and the Artists That Should Follow

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MAYBE it is a minor notion…

IN THIS PHOTO: Dua Lipa and Henry Caville in Argylle/PHOTO CREDIT: Apple TV+

but major motion pictures with respected and mainstream artists in the role are becoming more common – though they aren’t as common as you’d imagine. I will finish with a few artists who people would love to see hit the big screen. Or at least spend more time on there. This has been motivated by news that Dua Lipa is moving into acting. Whereas contemporaries like Taylor Swift have inevitably stepped into roles and look set to take their talent and gravitas to cinema (Swift had a brief role in this year’s Amsterdam), there are others that are surely primed for that transition and transition from film to music. Lady Gaga and Harry Styles have appeared in films with mixed results. As NME report, Lipa has said that her first role is baby steps:

“The pop star plays an undisclosed role in Apple TV+‘s forthcoming spy thriller Argylle, which is slated for release next year, opposite Henry Cavill.

Lipa has addressed her acting debut on a recent episode of her podcast Dua Lipa: At Your Service on iHeartMedia.

Speaking to Schitt’s Creek creator and star Dan Levy on the episode, Lipa reflected on shooting the film. “I had a really great time, and it was really exciting, but I think for me it’s like baby steps,” she said.

“I think that’s also just, like, the best way to discover yourself as well. Rather than throwing yourself in the deep end with something that maybe you can’t completely tackle head on. Like, I think my biggest fear would be taking on a really big role and being, like, fuck. Now I have to, like, be an actor and feel these emotions and feelings on camera, when I haven’t, like, you know, brought myself up to that point yet. But definitely really exciting.”

The film, which adapts the currently unpublished novel by Ellie Conway, features an ensemble cast of Cavill and Lipa alongside Bryce Dallas Howard, Sam Rockwell, Bryan Cranston, Catherine O’Hara and Ariana DeBose, with John Cena and Samuel L. Jackson.

According to a press release, the film “follows the globe-trotting adventures of a super-spy named Argylle across the US, London and other exotic locations”.

Vaughn (Kingsman) is on board to direct from a script written by Jason Fuchs (Wonder Woman), produced by Marv and Vaughn’s regular collaborators Adam Bohling and David Reid, as well as Fuchs. Zygi Kamasa, Carlos Peres, Claudia Vaughn and Adam Fishbach will serve as executive producers.

Meanwhile, in other Dua Lipa news the singer revealed recently that she feels more in “control” on her forthcoming new album than ever before”.

This looks like an interesting project! As a major artist whose latest album, Future Nostalgia (2020), took her to a new level, Dua Lipa would have had offers for film and T.V. projects. I have said for a long time how Lipa would make a natural film actor. A lot of big artists do, as they are on the largest stages and, through their videos and music, adopt different roles. I know the disciplines are different, but as everyone from Halsey, Lady Gaga, Jennifer Hudson, Rihanna and even Justin Timberlake have shown is that they can tackle a range of different roles with aplomb!

I think Argylle is a film Dua Lipa will slip comfortably into (sorry!). She has a charisma, conviction, allure and screen command that is very obvious from videos and interviews. From her live performances, we can feel this very accomplished young women who has an exceptional ability. Her physicality brings her songs to life, and she turns her shows into spectacles. Maybe the small role she has at the moment is a little more modest, but by channelling her multiple gifts, I think she will get people watching closely. There are definitely going to be more roles off. Lead roles too. I think that Lipa is sensible that she is not getting ahead of her. Not to keep comparing her to others, but I think of Lady Gaga, an exceptionally natural and acclaimed actor. Award-nominated and with terrific versatility, I can see Dua Lipa enjoying the same sort of success. There is a natural and very obvious spark that she will bring to the screen. It gets me thinking about other artists that could ably go into acting. I know Self Esteem (Rebecca Lucy Taylor) has said she would like to take on acting roles. I could see her doing some incredible T.V. series and films. Taylor Swift has had a few film roles, but she is going to enjoy some huge lead roles soon. Keeping with Pop, and Olivia Rodrigo and Billie Eilish seem like they are made for the screen. Kendrick Lamar would be such a powerful and awesome actor.

 IN THIS PHOTO: Tinashe/PHOTO CREDIT: Pat Martin for THE FACE

To me, Tinashe would be sublime and such a phenomenal actor. Again, someone who I could see just owning various roles and being award nominated. This is just me throwing out names, but I think they would all be a success. I am not suggesting we flood films and T.V. roles – big series on streaming sites would also be a perfect place for wonderful artists to show their chops – with artists, but there is something about them that add something special. Coming from music, they bring new angles and layers to roles. Used to adopting different personas and sharing a lot of the same disciplines actors are taught, there are so many potential stars out there. Even though Teyana Taylor is a successful actor, musician, director and dancer, she is someone who absolutely explodes and ignites the screen. I hope that she has in mind some roles in 2023, as I can distinctly picture her in some particular film roles. The Harlem-born superstar is someone who could win multiple awards for acting roles.

IN THIS PHOTO: Teyana Taylor/PHOTO CREDIT: Carl Timpone/BFA

Whether you’d imagine Billie Eilish being Debbie Harry in a Blondie biopic, Dua Lipa going onto be a bad-ass spy in a thriller, Tinashe stunning in a complex physiological drama or Kendrick Lamar starring in a 1970s-set comedy-drama that brings to mind the classic films of Spike Lee, there are pairings that we can all imagine. Taylor Swift seems like she would be able to do screwball comedy as well as horror, romantic comedy or pretty much any other film genre. From historical pioneers, LGBTQIA+ icons, famous musicians and fictional roles, I have been spending a lot of time thinking about the world of music and acting. How they are naturally linked and yet there are not as many artists in acting roles as you’d imagine. I think that Dua Lipa is going to get a lot of great reviews for her work in Argylle. She will definitely blossom as an actor. Who knows just how huge that side of her career will get. As we move into 2023, I predict that artists major and upcoming will step into film and T.V. roles. Some terrific performances have been turned in this year by beloved artists, so next year will not disappoint. Just make sure that you…

KEEP your eyes peeled.

FEATURE: Revisiting... Billy Nomates – Billy Nomates

FEATURE:

 

 

Revisiting…

Billy Nomates – Billy Nomates

__________

AS she recently…

announced the release of her second studio album, CACTI (due on 23rd January), I have been thinking about the eponymous debut from Billy Nomates. The moniker of Tor Maries, Billy Nomates was released in 2020. I would advise people go and buy the album, as it is a remarkable debut from the British songwriter. Mixing politics, personal and societal lyrics with her distinct and incredible vocals and something danceable and catchy, there is nobody on the scene like Billy Nomates. If you have not heard the debut album, I would strongly recommend it. I am going to come to a couple of reviews for the album. Prior to that, there is an interview from NME to promote her debut. For many, it was the introduction to this amazing artist. I have selected a few segments from it:

“Originally slated for release in May on Invada Records, the you-know-what pandemic has meant that the record has now been delayed until August 7. “I initially freaked out,” Maries admits. “I thought back in April that the world may never be the same — will we just wait forever if we delay? But it was a good call.”

It was on the train home from her final day in the studio producing the record alongside Invada’s Geoff Barrow (also of Portishead) and Stu Matthews that she first read about coronavirus, such is the album’s symbiotic relationship with the pandemic. Indeed, in the post-COVID reality that is now beginning to dawn on us, her tales of class struggle and social inequality are set to ring truer than ever.

“I’ve never really had money, but I was the poorest I’d been a couple of years ago after working a load of minimum wage jobs,” Maries explains. “I was miserable and poor and unfulfilled: I couldn’t write about fancying someone or anything nice. I thought: ‘If I’m going to write again, I have no option but to write about “ah, it’s all crap“.’”

Maries says that she considers herself to be on the edge of working class, but she does rue the absence of the full range of voices in music. “You don’t see a lot of working class people in any arts, you have to really look for it. You’ll instantly notice them, though, because there’s a tone of voice that’s allowed to come through that you haven’t heard for a long time.”

One of the most visible examples of this in recent years is Sleaford Mods, and frontman Jason Williamson appears on the bitterly sweet Billy Nomates track ‘Supermarket Sweep’. Aside from the obvious kinship that they share musically, the two artists also have roots in the East Midlands (Maries is originally from Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire) as well as another more pivotal connection.

“I went through quite a bad depression stage,” Maries says, referring to the inception of the Billy Nomates project in early 2019. “I had a few months where a relationship had broken down, I was sleeping on my sister’s couch, I’d gone into a real funk and just didn’t want to leave the house or see anyone. I saw Sleaford Mods were coming to Southampton, so I just got a ticket by myself. I remember being in the crowd watching the warm-up band — Liines, a really good band — and some drunk guy shoved me on the shoulder and shouted: ‘It’s Billy no-mates!’ I’d just started recording at the time and I didn’t have a name. It’s genuinely one of those moments that I’ll never forget. That guy was a fucking genius”.

An album that was well reviewed by those who heard it but not shared and talked about as much as it should have been, I wanted to alert people to Billy Nomates’ eponymous debut. I am interested to hear what we might get from CACTI – she released the saboteur forcefield single recently – and how it differs from Billy Nomates. Here is what Loud and Quiet observed about a mighty debut album – and one of the best albums of 2020:

“Tor Maries only embraced self-prioritisation recently. Meaning: she’d spent a life not always putting herself first. The songwriter, who originates from the pork pie capital Melton Mowbray, spent years performing in groups around Bristol – there was some success, but little satisfaction.

It was only when Maries moved to Bournemouth, bought a ticket and flew solo to watch Sleaford Mods in 2019 – in a neat piece of circularity Jason Williamson pops up to rap about meat on ‘Supermarket Sweep’ – Maries decided to go it alone (she owes the moniker to a drunk man calling her “Billy Nomates” at that very show).

Billy Nomates is therefore what happens when you discard outside perceptions, pause people-pleasing and discover the power of self-expression. That’s why when observers question why Maries sometimes sings with a U.S. accent, she simply counters: it’s because I want to. Why not? Damn right.

These songs are Tor Maries’ experienced truth, then. ‘Modern Hart’ – a melancholic track that feels like a telegram to her old self – provides the opening. “Anyone can do it,” she sings over a grimy, Kim Deal-esque bassline.

It’s a subtle start, but things soon spice up with a string of acerbic and entertaining pot-shots. ‘Hippy Elite’ is about wanting to be more active in the climate emergency, but also needing to cover the household bills. ‘Happy Misery’ takes aim at anti-productive nostalgic mindsets (see also: Gazelle Twin’s ‘Better In My Day’) and ‘Supermarket Sweep’ a song about how the mundanity of financial survival chips away at aspirations. There’s the catchy centrepiece ‘No’ – about the empowering discovery of resistance.

Such everydayisms could come across as corny, but like her pals Sleaford Mods the songs are authentic, authoritative and frequently funny. They also pack a consistent and timely reminder: “Forgotten normal people are a force to remember”.

A really great album that warranted more exposure at the time and should be played and explored more now, Billy Nomates is so satisfying and rewarding. In their hugely positive review. Louder Than War recognised the quality that runs through Billy Nomates:

“A stark, black and white video appeared for No in March this year, just as things started to get a little strange. Just before the great toilet roll and hand sanitiser shortage. A video for FNP appeared in early June; Tor dancing in an otherwise empty field and singing about all the, “forgotten normal people”. The latter felt particularly apt when it dropped in the midst of the Barnard Castle, eye test fiasco and the governments increasing ambivalence towards the general population. As we head into summer, Billy Nomates has arrived with an album of innovative post-punk, defiance and danceable dissatisfaction.

Modern Hart bursts into life with Tor’s vocals riding over an insistent bass line and a wash of atmospheric synths. “He knows the codes to crack/ he watches me break my back/ I’m a slow learner” she sings before adding “but I’m getting the hang of it”. The lyrics are an undeniable highlight throughout the album; an engaging mix of anger, wit and storytelling. “One time I cycled all the way home/ because this planet is our only one” sings Maries on Hippy Elite “but nobody saw it and I felt all the worse for it”. A brilliantly sharp and genuinely funny post-punk belter about trying to do your best for the environment but never being good enough for the wealthy, hippy elite.

Tor builds each track with guitars, drums, bass, programmed beats and electronic textures. You can almost picture her jumping from one instrument to the next, relentlessly pinging around the room. Every track crackle’s with creativity. The jittery rattle of Happy Misery evokes the Monty Python ‘4 Yorkshiremen’ sketch – Ohhhh we used to DREAM of livin’ in a corridor! Tor snarls and struts through a bitter tale of tainted nostalgia and living in the past, “back in my day/ I had nothing/ we lived in happy misery!”

Most songs don’t last much longer than 3 minutes; bursting with ideas while retaining a tight, punk-indebted sense of economy. Tor’s vocals switch between singing and a kind of snarled spoken word. The propulsive No sits at the heart of the album with a simple but powerful message; “No is the greatest resistance/ No to your nothing existence”. A defiant two-fingered refusal to succumb to damaging digital narratives, sexism and media manipulation. Supermarket Sweep tackles the seemingly never-ending black hole of a dead end job and features a guest appearance by Sleaford Mods’ Jason Williamson. The unexpectedly gentle chorus offering a particularly melancholic inner dialogue, “Maybe the monotony is here to stay he thought”. A great piece of songwriting and an all too relatable tale.

The punkified electro-pop of FNP delivers another empowering clarion call before Mudslinger takes aim at busybody curtain twitchers over a glitchy, electro-punk backing. Call In Sick lurches into view with drum machine beats and menacing synths as Maries tries her best to pull a sickie, “See I’ve been up all night/ with one of the worst cases this town has ever seen/ and if I come in Debbie/ if I come in Debbie/ I’m gonna take down the whole team”. The excellent Fat White Man rumbles in with a bluesy guitar riff and a superbly sleazy tale of a lecherous, red-faced executive. The cigar-chomping, once untouchable, dinosaurs rolling down the road and out of town for good.

Wild Arena is built around a sparse, repetitive drum loop and subtle synth interjections. Tor’s vocals all the more startling with the tense, minimalistic backdrop. It doesn’t feel as immediate as the other tracks yet emphasises the spirit of discovery and experimentation at the albums core. The album comes to a close with the breathless thrill of Escape Artist; Nomates sneering and swooning as she looks for the nearest exit in the midst of another unremarkable week. Of course, the magic here is that throughout the album, Billy Nomates takes all the unspeakable blandness and frustration of everyday life and turns it into something fun, exciting and damn near magical.

Clocking in at little over half an hour, Billy Nomates has made the kind of album you’ll find yourself playing again-and-again. Some much-needed respite from the never-ending Tory endorsed nightmare that is 2020. You can hear the boundless energy that Tor puts into every song and that kind of enthusiasm is pretty infectious. Make no mistake, Billy Nomates has just delivered one of the most exciting albums you’ll hear all year. What’s more, you get the feeling that she’s only just getting started”.

Although Tor Maries has been recorded music for a while now, with Billy Nommates, she has created one of the most potent and impressive forces in British music. I think her second album will top her amazing debut. That said, the 2020-released Billy Nommates is one everyone should hear. It is a wonderful album more than worthy of…

A second spin.

FEATURE: Spotlight: Måneskin

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

Måneskin

__________

I am not late to the party…

but I thought, as Måneskin have just announced news of an album, I would feature them in Spotlight now. This incredible and fascinating force are an Italian Rock band formed in Rome in 2016. They comprise of vocalist Damiano David, bassist Victoria De Angelis, guitarist Thomas Raggi, and drummer Ethan Torchio. The band rose to prominence after finishing second in the eleventh season of the Italian talent show, X Factor, in 2017. Måneskin won the Eurovision Song Contest 2021 for Italy. They are an incredible band who put the controversy, excitement, and thrill back in a Rock scene that has seriously been lacking it for years! Before coming to interviews they have been involved with this year, DORK reported news of an upcoming Måneskin album last week:

“The official release date has been revealed – January 20th, 2023 – but no other information has been made available yet.

The Italian rockers recently debuted a new track, ‘Kool Kids’, at their Mexico City concert. This newest tease at new material follows the official release of their current single, ‘THE LONELIEST’, earlier this month.

The surprise announcement was made via Spotify’s social media accounts earlier this afternoon, with the band quickly confirming the news themselves. They have supplied the artwork for the release, which shows all four members of the band being leaped over by a character in a blue skirt

No other information has been provided.

Måneskin continue to tour the US & Canada throughout the remainder of October and November”.

It is hard to know where to begin with Måneskin! They are such an interesting and compelling band when it comes to the music and interviews. Stylish and raw at the same time, they have the Italian characteristics of passion and panache! Rather than being specific to various age groups and taste brackets, there is this widespread and easy charm and power to their music that will hook in people from across the generations and nations. I think that 2023 is going to be a huge year for them! With celebrity fans including Angelina Jolie, they are primed for massive things! Because they introduce us to the band, I want to start off with an interview with Vogue from earlier in the year. Måneskin were talking about the success of their song, Supermodel, and their rising success:

“Even if you’re not familiar with the musical sensation that is Måneskin, there’s a better than good chance you know that Angelina Jolie and Shiloh Jolie-Pitt were among the 70,000 fans who gathered to see the band play at the Circus Maximus in their hometown of Rome a few weeks ago because TikTok and the tabloids had a field day reporting it.

If introductions are in order, Måneskin (pronounced “moan-eh-skin”) is an Italian rock band with a Danish moniker (meaning “moonshine”). It was formed in 2016 by bassist Victoria De Angelis (who is half Danish, which explains the band name), guitarist Thomas Raggi, lead singer Damiano David, and drummer Ethan Torchio.

 IN THIS PHOTO: Måneskin: (from left) Ethan Torchio, Victoria De Angelis, Damiano David, and Thomas Raggi, in New York, July 2022/PHOTO CREDIT: Fabio Germinario/Courtesy of Arista Recordings

The foursome participated in a local talent contest and busked in Rome prior to competing on Italy’s X-Factor in 2017, where they placed second. Three years later they won the San Remo Festival and then the Eurovision Song Contest with an explosive and glam performance—complete with laced aubergine leather, platform boots, bare chests, and heavy eyeliner—that brought the house down. It was May 2021, the world was coming off a year in lockdown, and the band’s sense of fun was infectious. Not long after, they received an invitation to open for the Rolling Stones in L.A.

They’re back in America this week for a SiriusXM Small Stage performance, and it’s fortunate that all of Måneskin’s members have reached the legal drinking age because they have a lot to cin cin. Their hit single “Supermodel,” produced by Swedish hitmaker Max Martin, is currently number one on alt-radio and is on track to becoming the song of the summer. On top of that, it was just announced that the band is up for two MTV Video Music Awards (best new artist and best alternative). All that and a Gucci wardrobe via Alessandro Michele himself.

Theirs is not a gritty rag-to-riches story, though it follows roughly that of the apocryphal American dream that so many Italians left to pursue in the States. “We’re living a dream, that’s for sure,” conceded frontman David on a Gucci-clad visit to Vogue, “but in a different way. We don’t feel like we’ve been discovered. We dug every inch of this hole we’re in. We worked a lot to get here, so of course we are happy, but on the other side, pardon if I’m a bit cocky, but we feel like it’s well deserved.”

Deserved, yes (the band’s devotion to its craft is revealed in their 2018 documentary)—but also seemingly out of left field. An Italian glam punk-rock band? Who would have thunk it? Italy is known for many things—fashion, artistry, food, and fabrics, among them—but youth culture not so much. And at least outside of Italy, it’s not at all known for rock and roll. Måneskin surprises at every turn, defying expectations again and again. Whether it’s your taste or not, David’s bluesy voice cannot be denied, nor can the band’s sheer joy in what they’re doing. In a short time they have manifested their rock-star dreams, transitioning from playing a role to owning it.

At first sight, what most marks Måneskin as Italian is their Guccification. But in almost every other way, they have flipped the script. So much that is exported from Italy is given the stereotypical and nostalgic dolce vita spin—it’s all Roman Holiday, Sophia, Gina, and Michelangelo’s David. Måneskin’s viewpoint is more global, particularly anchored in a guitar-heavy 1970s sound in the style of British and American rockers. David Bowie as Ziggy Stardust, Slade, and the New York Dolls come to mind.

Though Måneskin channels the sex-drugs-and-rock-and-roll vibe developed in the dive bars and gritty environs of New York’s Lower East Side, the four have a more evolved attitude toward health and self-preservation. Artificial stimulants don’t seem to be part of the equation, despite a tempest in a teapot at Eurovision. (A photo of David leaning over a table led to allegations of cocaine use. He denied the claim, and a voluntary drug test confirmed that.) Unlike the anti-heroine of their summer hit, the band members, who have been constantly on the road and in the spotlight, are in need of a vacation, not rehab.

The song, by the way, is not about a specific person but a composite of poseurs the band met during their time in Los Angeles. “A lot of people think that the song is actually about a supermodel, but it’s not,” David stresses. “The supermodels in the ’90s…are supercool, supersmart, super focused. They were living this weird, crazy lifestyle, but it was authentic and natural [to them]. The song is about people faking to be supermodels. We saw a lot of people who had no money, no skills, no nothing, pretending to have money, skills, and networks, and that was super funny for us. They were actually pretending to be supermodels.” While we were on the topic, I asked each member to identify their real-life favorite ’90s super. De Angelis, Raggi, and Torchio are all team Kate Moss; David’s pick is Carla Bruni.

Fame is now part and parcel of the lives of all the Måneskins, and maintaining a personal life is challenging, says David. There’s also the matter of sustaining the person and the persona; fashion and heavy eyeliner are important parts of the latter. This foursome is a ’70s-style fever dream, with a preference for tattoo-revealing open shirts and flared pants. They don’t shy away from some BDSM in their wardrobes or lyrics, either—listen to “I Wanna Be Your Slave” from the band’s second album and the remake featuring the Me Decade icon Iggy Pop for proof.

In some ways, fashion and society today are very close to the ’70s, a decade defined in part by fights for social justice, feminism, and sexual liberation. “There were a lot of artists then in the rock or punk scenes who were trying to break the norms through their music. In style and aesthetics they were very revolutionary, also for society, not just for fashion,” notes De Angelis. “Unfortunately you still have to fight for many of the same topics from that time. They’re still actual now, and you still have to stand up and speak up for them.”

Gen Z’ers all, the band wants to communicate a message of freedom. They also want to share their passion for classic rock with their fans. As David said in a 2017 interview, “Our band is a translation of music from the past into modernity.” Consider the version of Elvis Presley’s 1968 hit “If I Can Dream” they did for the Baz Luhrmann Elvis movie. Måneskin’s cover of the Four Tops’ 1967 song “Beggin’” has more than a billion listens on Spotify.

Covers remain an important part of their performances, even as the band writes and performs original work. It’s an approach that syncs with their mission of bridging old and new and, in the context of their upbringing, seems to have a particularly Roman slant. Everywhere in the capital city, antiquity is in dialogue with the present. At the same time, nostalgia has never been more of a force in popular culture, both before the pandemic and today. De Angelis suggests that their loud, raucous form of play was the post-lockdown antidote many needed. On top of that, their glitter and glam speak to the escapist party mood many designers are now exploring.

Though Måneskin promotes a message of acceptance and works a genderfluid aesthetic, their world contains some basic binaries: new-old, Italian-English, public-private. Which leads me back to that person-persona divide. For David, the two coexist: “I think it gets back to the [idea that] two different things can live at the same moment and be equally real in the same way. I feel like I’m completely a different person onstage and offstage, but I don’t feel like I am faking anything in either situation. It’s just a part of me that comes out. When I’m offstage I’m very introverted, and onstage I’m crazy. It’s just two parts of me that are equally true and real. It’s just the context that changes”.

In May, NME shored up a lot of Internet space to dig deep into the music and lives of Måneskin. The band stated how there is not really anyone like them keeping Rock and Roll’s flame alive. That said, as they make apparent, you cannot kill the genre either. I have selected a few sections from the fascinating interview:

“Eurovision might seem a strange turn for most rockers, but mass appeal and pure entertainment lay at the heart of this band’s DNA. They formed in Rome in 2016 “to have fun and fill up our afternoons,” David explains. Soon they were busking; playing any school hall, dingy bar or street corner that would allow them. “It got pretty serious in a very short amount of time,” says De Angelis. “Even though we were very young and it was like a dream, we were always aiming for something bigger.”

Their first major move was to enter the Italian version of TV’s X Factor in 2017, finishing second. Why X Factor? “Basically, we were sick of carrying instruments and amplifiers on our fucking shoulders,” replies David, candidly. “We saw an opportunity and we just jumped on the train.”

PHOTO CREDIT: Fabio Germinario for NME

Defending the move, De Angelis argues that the show in her home country doesn’t have the same reputation for trite pier-side entertainment as it might here in the UK. “Here it’s cool,” she argues. “It’s the only X Factor that allows real bands to play, or at least it was the first. It gives you the opportunity to show off something real. We did whatever we wanted to do.”

The four-piece have gained a reputation for their larger-than-life performances (one setting the tone with David pole-dancing) and they still regularly air their longstanding covers of The Killers and Franz Ferdinand at Måneskin shows today – to the giddy delight of some and aggressive derision of others. David pragmatically describes the show as “full immersion training from professionals” in getting “five years of experience condensed into three months”, while Torchio says they used it as “a trampolene” to fame. The tactic worked. “Just three months earlier we were playing on the streets,” recalls De Angelis, “then we had a sold-out tour.”

“Having breakfast at Chris Martin and Dakota Jones’ house – that was pretty ‘What the fuck!?’” – Victoria De Angelis

Still, it seems attitudes towards talent shows have shifted anyway. Harry Styles started out as a product of X Factor with One Direction, and now he’s headlining Coachella and just released one of the most warmly received albums of the year.

“Our generation doesn’t feel the urge to label everything,” says David. “They just want to enjoy your music, enjoy your journey and follow you in whatever you do. Harry Styles is the perfect example. He had the biggest fanbase with a boyband, and now is one of the most respected and worshipped artists in the world. He deserves it because he has been able to make that happen for himself. It’s literally what an artist should do: be true to yourself.”

When Eurovision came, the Måneskin train was already chugging ahead with gusto in Italy, where they’d shifted over one million records with their two Number One albums 2018’s ‘Il ballo della vita’ and ‘Teatro d’ira: Vol. I’ from last year. ‘Zitti E Buoni’ had already clocked 45million streams before the competition.

Now they’re following in the footsteps of ABBA and Celine Dion as one of the most successful ‘Vision off-shoots of all-time. Their cover of The Four Seasons’ ‘Beggin’ alone recently achieved one billion streams on Spotify. “That’s fucking crazy,” laughs David. “That’s fucking ‘Despacito’ or fucking ‘Levitating’! It’s a fucking hit!”

It’s also an audience in their millions discovering the band afresh, probably unaware of their X Factor and Eurovision past. Godfather of punk Iggy Pop recorded vocals for a new version of the sleazy sex-rock smash single ‘I Wanna Be Your Slave’ a month after its initial release last year, and you can’t imagine him sat at home screaming “DOUZE POITS!” at the TV.

“When he recorded that, I was like, ‘Fuck – he’s singing my lyrics with my melody, my structure, and it’s fucking Iggy Pop’,” says David. “He trusted me, and that was the best moment ever.

Raggi agrees: “It was just crazy because he’s a fucking legend. He was so humble and kind. He was really into this shit.”

Another icon who’s “really into this shit” is Mick Jagger; the septuagenarian rocker anointed Måneskin with his seal of approval when they supported The Rolling Stones last year. Jagger recently upset some rock purists when his big lips declared that the new breed of rockers such as Doncaster tearaway Yungblud and dayglo rap-punk Machine Gun Kelly made him feel like “there is still a bit of life in rock‘n’roll”.

Yet this is “a very old-fashioned way to see it,” reasons David: “Nobody is ‘keeping rock’n’roll alive’. It’s just impossible to kill. In my head what we’re doing is very different to what MGK is doing, which is very far from what Yungblud is doing, which is very far from what Willow Smith is doing, but a lot of artists are bringing back that kind of sound and energy: distorted guitars and real drums, to fucking play with a band with real analogue sounds, stage-diving – all the rock’n’roll shit. Music is just developing. Everything is colliding and mixing in a good way”.

To finish, ironically, I want to take things back to the start. Of this year that is! In February, Kerrang! profiled and chatted with Måneskin. After their Eurovision victory in 2021, the band were ready to own and destroy 2022 with their unique and incredible music. It has grown bigger and bigger from them since this interview predicted great things:

“Okay, well here’s what’s going on. Currently, Måneskin attract 38 million monthly plays on Spotify, a number that places them in the Top 40 of the most streamed artists in the world. For anyone looking for context, in the same period lowly upstarts Metallica had just under 18 million plays. Obscure have-a-go-heroes such as David Bowie (15.5 million), The Rolling Stones (21 million) and The Beatles (25 million) are all dining on the Italians’ dust. Their label says the last artist they saw rise like this was Katy Perry.

“Seeing our numbers grow so much in such a short space of time is crazy,” admits Victoria. “Especially when you consider the kind of music we play, considering that some of the songs are in Italian. The numbers are crazy and we’re very grateful for that.”

Måneskin – whose line-up is completed by drummer Ethan Torchio and guitarist Thomas Raggi – spend so much time expressing gratitude that it can sometimes feel as if our interview is with a troupe of children’s television presenters. Nice young people one and all, the group formed as teenagers in Rome in 2015; by the time they won Eurovision they’d already issued two albums (Zitti e buoni is the opening track on their second LP, Teatro d’ira: Vol. I, released in March).

 PHOTO CREDIT: Aidan Zamiri

Eurovision wasn’t even the first TV competition the quartet had entered; playing cover versions of songs by The Killers and Franz Ferdinand, in 2017 they finished second in the Italian edition of The X Factor. Burnished by this success, the quartet’s first European tour was seen by more than 140,000 people.

Even so, it was the night in Rotterdam that truly lit the touchpaper. On a chilly Saturday morning via Zoom, Måneskin talk (happily) about having been given almost no time to see the sights in what is their first visit to New York. Who knows, they say, maybe later they’ll have a chance to take a stroll around Central Park. A few nights earlier, the group appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon; four nights hence, they’ll be guests on The Ellen Show out in Los Angeles. After headlining concerts at New York’s Bowery Ballroom, and The Roxy in LA, on November 6 the Italians stepped onto the stage at the Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas as special guests of The Rolling Stones.

For a group whose average age is just 21, the change in circumstances is surely startling. As well as much else, it can be as startling for a band to get more than they expect as it is to receive less.

“Of course we’re aware of that,” nods Damiano. “We’re aware that it’s tough and that you have to be mentally prepared and mentally strong, and not everybody is capable of living this kind of life. But I would say that we are [capable] because we’ve prepared ourselves for five years. We’ve been friends since we were really young. We know each other very well. We know the best parts of us. We’re able to help each other every time something feels like it’s too heavy or too stressful or something. I feel like you have to be able to understand your limits and set boundaries when you need to rest and disappear for a little bit and focus on your personal life”.

If you have not followed Måneskin, then you really do need to. A band who are far from a novelty or what one would associate with a former Eurovision act, they are the real deal. Combining aspects of Glam fashion and excess with Rock swagger and attitude with songs that are definitely among the most essential and finest around, they will be legends of the future! Go and connect with…

THE sensational Måneskin.

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Follow Måneskin

 PHOTO CREDIT: Fabio Germinario for NME

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/maneskinofficial/

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/thisismaneskin

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/0lAWpj5szCSwM4rUMHYmrr

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FEATURE: Kate Bush’s Lionheart at Forty-Four: The Weird, Wonderful and Unique Full House and Coffee Homeground

FEATURE:

 

 

Kate Bush’s Lionheart at Forty-Four

 The Weird, Wonderful and Unique Full House and Coffee Homeground

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AHEAD of its…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Gered Mankowitz

forty-fourth anniversary on 13th November, I have already written features about Lionheart. I have one or two more coming up. For this one, I want to include two songs that not many people talk about. The reason I am highlighting them is because they signal the biggest shift from her 1978 debut, The Kick Inside, in terms of style and mood, I think. By that, I mean they are more eccentric, anxious, and experimental even than anything that came on that debut. Track six is the brilliant Full House. The penultimate song, track nine, is the equally brilliant Coffee Homeground. I have written about both tracks before but, as I want to unite them, these are gems that Bush did not really talk about. A B-side for Wow, you can tell that Full House was one of the new songs written for the album. As there was an expectation Bush would release a quick follow-up to The Kick Inside, that left her very little time to write new material. As it is, three of the ten tracks are original. I feel she would have made the album a track or two longer if she had more time. Both Full House and Coffee Homeground have paranoia and weirdness at their heart. Perhaps signalling Bush’s stress and fatigue regarding the busy year (1978) she had and what she was going through, psychology is at the heart of these tracks. The other new track, Symphony in Blue, opens Lionheart. Although there is some sadness, it is a beautiful song that showed Bush was able to produce masterful and truly stunning songs very quickly. Symphony in Blue is one of her greatest songs.

I feel Full House and Coffee Homeground are less regarded in a sense. I reckon they could have been likely singles. I would have loved to have seen what Bush came up with if there were videos. Hammer Horror was the first track released as a single. It has a good video, but I feel many saw it as a weaker version of Wuthering Heights. Maybe something not quite as striking as that song. In terms of the potency of the video and originality, maybe Full House would have been a better choice. In any case, it is a song that packs a punch and looked inside the mind of an artist under a bit of pressure. Rather than Full House being a strained song and one that is exploitative, it is a fascinating window into Bush’s songwriting. Whereas The Kick Inside looked mainly at love and desire, there is something a bit different and deeper when it comes to Lionheart. Consider lines from Full House that could be Bush talking about her younger self being replaced by something changed. She seems to want to return to a simpler life: “I am my enemy/Mowing me over/And towing the light away/Somehow it just seems to fit/With that old me/Trying to get back again”.  An ecstatic, wracked and electric chorus brings the song to life and elicits reaction. It is another reason why I would have loved to have seen a video! Bush mixes the oblique and personal throughout. It is a wonderful track that few people talk about. I love her lyrics: “By questioning all that I do/Examining every move/Trying to get back to the rudiments/(If they nig and they nag, I'll just put in the boot)”. Showing what range and quality there is through Lionheart, Full House is an example of her incredible songwriting talent. Even though there is no video, Bush did perform Full House as part of The Tour of Life in 1979. It was brilliant visualised there. I also think it is interesting the song opens the second side. After the gentle (sort of) title track, Oh England My Lionheart, we are taken in a very different direction with Full House. Sort of like the switch between Wuthering Heights and James and the Cold Gun on The Kick Inside.

A song that leads us into the finale, Hammer Horror (I have always been unsure about the sequencing on Lionheart), Coffee Homeground seems like a companion piece. Less autobiographical in some ways, it does feel more extreme and wilder! The images and lyrics are trippy, murderous, colourful, crazy and intelligent. I am not sure where Bush wrote Full House, but we do know she wrote Coffee Homeground in the U.S. Thanks to the Kate Bush Encyclopedia, Bush did reveal the origins of Coffee Homeground:

“['Coffee Homeground'] was in fact inspired directly from a cab driver that I met who was in fact a bit nutty. And it's just a song about someone who thinks they're being poisoned by another person, they think that there's Belladonna in their tea and that whenever they offer them something to eat, it's got poisen in it. And it's just a humorous aspect of paranoia really and we sort of done it in a Brechtian style, the old sort of German [vibe] to try and bring across the humour side of it. (Lionheart Promo Cassette, EMI Canada, 1978)”.

It is amazing that Bush managed to get Coffee Homeground from that interaction from the cab driver! Rather than it being purely based on him, I think there is a sense of Bush feeling pressure or lost in a foreign country. Maybe wary of people and paranoid: “Offer me a chocolate/No thank you, spoil my diet, know your game!/But tell me just how come/They smell of bitter almonds/It's a no-no to your coffee homeground”. Again, this is not a chance to reveal some insecurity and unhappiness. Coffee Homeground is a remarkable song! It almost whirls and waltzes like a fairground ride. A step on from anything on her debut, I picture Bush thinking of the song in the hotel room and putting the words together gradually. Her wording and lyrical twists and turns are amazing!

In actual fact, as I have noted before, the Kate Bush fanzine, HomeGround (set up in 1982) takes its name from that Lionheart song. I am not sure whether I have ever heard Coffee Homeground played on the radio. It is a Bush deep cut that should be better know. Another song that would have had an incredible video. Bush did also perform this during The Tour of Life. This being Kate Bush, there is something classical and almost literary about her lyrics! Consider these lines: “Well, you won't get me with your Belladonna - in the coffee/And you won't get me with your aresenic - in the pot of tea/And you won't get me in a hole to rot - with your hemlock/On the rocks”. One (of many reasons) to listen to Lionheart is the consistency and the variation when it comes to subject matter and sounds. Even though it came out the same year as The Kick Inside, Lionheart does sound like a different album. Songs such as Coffee Homeground are perfect demonstrations of Bush’s unique talent and the way she can create her own worlds. Her lines and lyrics draw you into the song: “Maybe you're lonely/And only want a little company/But keep your recipes/For the rats to eat/And may they rest in peace with coffee homeground”. Ahead of Lionheart’s forty-fourth anniversary on 13th November, I wanted to spend some time with it. The final feature will be more general and less track-specific, but I was keen to highlight two of the three new songs that Bush wrote for Lionheart. They sort of seem linked by a  feeling of dread and paranoia, even though Full House seems more autobiographical, whereas Coffee Homeground is more musically experimental. Lionheart reached number six in the U.K. and it has been certified Platinum. A remarkable achievement given the constraints and lack of time Kate Bush had to explore and create something fresh! I think a reason why she does not see Lionheart as an album representative of her is that it was quite rushed and Andrew Powell was producing. She would exert more control for 1979’s The Tour of Life, and she co-produced her third album, Never for Ever, with Jon Kelly. Bush should be very proud of Lionheart. Full House and Coffee Homeground are two incredible songs from…

A remarkable artist.

FEATURE: Station to Station: Fee Mak (BBC Radio 1Xtra)

FEATURE:

 

 

Station to Station

PHOTO CREDIT: BBC/Fee Mak

Fee Mak (BBC Radio 1Xtra)

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THERE are a couple of things…

 PHOTO CREDIT: BBC

I need to get out of the way before moving onto pouring praise over the subject of this feature. I started this feature a while ago. It is designed to highlight amazing D.J.s, presenters and broadcasters. I did number each feature but, as I have sort of lost count, I am going to abandon the number bit of it! I also have been quite negligent when it comes to broadcasters across BBC Radio 1’s sister stations. BBC Radio IXtra is a station that is very much up my alley! Cutting-edge, contemporary, cool, but with a hint of the vintage, throwback, and decades-spanning, one D.J./broadcaster I am very fond of is the amazing Fee Mak. Her Sunday breakfast show is such a treat! Alongside station colleagues like Nadia Jae (BBC Radio 1Xtra) and Sian Eleri (BBC Radio 1), she is one of the finest presenters in the country. One reason why I am highlighting Fee Mak is that I think she will be a radio legend of the future! Kicking things off at 7.am. on a Sunday, I guess many listeners are recovering from the Saturday night and need something soothing and uplifting. Rather than it being a show to fit in with the assumed demographic of BBC Radio 1Xtra, it is such a wide-reaching show! I think BBC Radio 1 and its sister stations is a lot broader than it has been for years when it comes to the music played, the target audience and the range of D.J.s there.

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BBC Radio 1 Xtra (or just 1Xtra for short) is a station I have tuned into a lot more because of people like Fee Mak. So infectious and passionate about the music she plays, I do predict that she will D.J. at festivals around the world next year. She’d be awesome at Glastonbury 2023. Like titanic D.J.s such as Honey Dijon, I wonder whether Fee Mak has an album in her. Maybe a compilation series that she curates. I know her colleague Trevor Nelson is prolific when it comes to these compilations. Fee Mak’s eclectic tastes and undeniable knowledge for the music she spins would create demand and curiosity if she ever were to consider an album of her favourite Sunday morning jams – or a broader album of her choice tunes from across the years. I am going to snatch from an interview she gave this year, as it is always fascinating knowing more about young and exceptional broadcasting talent. Alongside peers like Nadia Jae, Joelah and KeKe, and Snoochie Shy, there are these extraordinary women who are changing the game! I love listening to Fee Mak as her voice is so warm and friendly - but she has this charm and enthusiasm that makes the listener feel like they are a mate of hers! You tune in and, without needing to read the room and get a feel of what the show is about, she is there to (metaphorically) throw her arm around you, give you a hot brew and welcome you to a Sunday morning or brilliant music, humour, and this incredible connection. Such a natural broadcaster, D.J. and future icon, go and invest some time exploring Fee Mak’s work!

In the course of researching, I have watched videos of Fee Mak, and there is the odd podcast she has appeared on. I personally would love to hear more podcasts with her on. Maybe she will do a weekly one down the line where she plays music, chats to guests – musical or otherwise – and we learn more about her beginnings. A one-on-one interview would be great to, as Fee Mak is such an immense talent and someone who enriches you the minute you hear her speak and play such stunning music! A strong and hugely talented broadcaster who is going to inspire so many other people to get into radio, I can’t wait to see her career blow up. Thinking ahead, but I can see her doing T.V. – if they ever do another music show to rival Later… with Jools Holland – and more radio shows too. Prior to coming to the interview I mentioned earlier on, I want to bring in some background and biography. First, go and follow Fee Mak on Instagram and Twitter. It is clear that the awesome and enormously promising Fee Mak is someone with a very long and golden future:

“Fee Mak is a Radio and TV Presenter based in London. She is the host of the BBC 1Xtra Breakfast show on Sunday's, 7-11am.

Fee started her presenting career at CSR 97.4FM, the student station for the University of Kent. Alongside her BA (Hons) French and Business Administration degree, Fee presented a weekly show showcasing the best up and coming new talent. Her shows included early music from the now established Ramz and Zone2.

Fee was picked up from her university radio shows by Westside Radio 89.6FM in London. And after only a few demos, Fee began to cover shows, followed by a permanent weekend slot on Saturdays. Her skills developed at Westside under the mentorship of the then breakfast show presenter Shayna Marie (Capital Xtra) and drivetime show host Rebecca Judd (Apple Music 1) leading to presenting the drivetime show ‘The Jam’, Monday to Friday. During Christmas 2019, Fee hosted Drivetime on BBC Radio 1 after being selected through their Presenter search. This led on to a month of Early Breakfast on Radio 1 alongside daytime cover shows. Shortly after, Fee made her debut on BBC 1Xtra where she deputised throughout the daytime schedule before landing the Sunday Breakfast show, 7-11am in July 2022.

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During Fee's career in broadcast she has done many projects for digital platforms such as hosting the music show 'Hype Right Now' on Kiss TV (4Music) and interviewing a number of established acts and performers online, which includes comedian and broadcaster Kojo Anim, Ray Blk and Loski.

As a host, Fee has presented a variety of live events which includes the Urban Talent Show at Westfield London, Earls Court International Film Festival, live in-game for London Lions, London's oldest carnival 'Hanwell Carnival' and the inaugural Young Ealing Foundation awards.

Music has always played a predominant role in her life and from a young age, Fee has appreciated all music genres through various creative avenues. At the age of 8, she was a junior associate at The Royal Ballet School as well as a ballet girl on the Westend musical, Billy Elliot at 10 years old. Likewise, she expresses her creativity through fine art and was invited to showcase her work at an exhibition in London.

Having come so far, in such a short space of time the future looks increasingly bright for Fee. She is one of the UK’s most exciting young broadcasters”.

I would love to chat with her one day! A brilliant and adored presenter on Westside Radio, and one of the jewels in the crown at BBC Radio 1Xtra, she spoke to Fourth Floor earlier in the year about her work on Westside Radio, a prized BBC Radio 1 moment, promoting and saluting terrific new women in music coming through, and what happens next. Here is someone that everyone needs on their radar!

“AT WHAT POINT DID YOU REALISE THAT YOU WANTED TO BE A PRESENTER? AND HAS IT ALWAYS BEEN SOLELY RADIO THAT YOU’VE BEEN INTERESTED IN?

I never really planned on being a radio presenter but radio and music have always been a part of my life. I remember listening to Ricky, Melvin and Charlie every morning on the way to school and loving their vibe and chemistry on air, I also danced competitively for over 10 years (ballet, tap, street etc) and was exposed to different genres of music. But it wasn’t until I discovered Soulection Radio in 2015 that I really wanted to pursue radio. Their weekly radio show changed my life by introducing me to new sounds and artists from all 4 corners of the world (Goldlink, Masego, Kaytranada, Sango etc) and I would think, ‘Wow, Joe Kay has the best job ever’.

COULD WE HAVE SOME INSIGHT INTO YOUR JOURNEY UP UNTIL THIS POINT? HOW DID THIS ALL BEGIN?

I started my weekly university radio show, #LowkeyWithFEE at CSR 97.4FM (University of Kent) to showcase the best up and coming talent. I had little to no radio experience prior to creating my show so I was winging it 97.6% of the time but it was the perfect distraction from uni stress. I enjoyed discovering new artists and sounds, so my shows included music from the hottest artists in the scene right now like early Ramz, Knucks, DC, Zone2, Scribz Riley and more.

Using the advice of my best friend, I uploaded my shows on mixcloud as a way to put my content out there for people (whoever they were) to consume. Sometimes I would forget people were actually listening to my shows until the station manager of Westside Radio scouted me. This is was the push I definitely needed because my presenting style at university was 2 packs of ass (garbage)! I recorded demo after demo to develop my presenting style, then covered shows, followed by a permanent weekend slot. I was gassed and grateful. After a few months of presenting my weekend show, I was given the drive time slot which is BIG especially when taking over from Rebecca Judd (Apple Music 1 presenter).

THAT IS A SICK JOURNEY YOU’VE HAD! IT’S EASY TO FORGET THAT STUFF ONLINE CAN FIND ITS WAY TO ANYONE IN ANY INDUSTRY. SO NOW THAT YOU’VE BEEN DOING THE DRIVETIME SHOW FOR A WHILE, WHAT WOULD YOU SAY IS YOUR FAVOURITE THING ABOUT BEING A PRESENTER AND IS THERE ANYONE THAT YOU LOOK UP TO FOR INSPIRATION?

My favourite thing is that I can wholeheartedly be myself and people love me for that. The one thing I knew I wanted to do in life is to get paid to be myself! I’m too stubborn to wake up and do something I don’t care about day after day. Presenting allows me to bring my personality and my love for music to my shows and you can’t learn that.

I have so many inspirations like Rebecca Judd and Shayna Marie who both came from Westside Radio too! I spent a lot of time shadowing their shows and learning from them, as well as covering their shows. Other inspirations are Clara Amfo, Sian Anderson, Henrie and Nadia Jae. Black women who are all different but absolutely killing the game in their own way!

WHO ARE SOME OF YOUR FAVOURITE ARTISTS THAT YOU ENJOY PLAYING ON YOUR SHOW?

I am LOVING the girls in the scene right now, so my shows definitely include artists like Miraa May and Bree Runway. You can’t go wrong with Victoria Monet and Snoh Aalegra too! Scribz Riley is new to some but real ones know he’s been mashing in work from time, so I’m currently spinning his new track too. There’s too many!!!!

YEAH MIRAA IS TOO COLD. THE UK WOMEN ARE DEFINITELY KILLING IT RIGHT NOW.

YOUR ENERGY ALWAYS RADIATES THROUGH THE SPEAKERS AND I THINK THAT YOU DO A GREAT JOB AT KEEPING YOUR AUDIENCE ENGAGED WHILST ALSO MAINTAINING PURE POSITIVE VIBES. I REMEMBER OVER CHRISTMAS YOU WERE ABLE TO COVER SOME SHOWS ON BBC RADIO 1, HOW DID THIS COME ABOUT? AND MORE IMPORTANTLY, HOW EXCITED WERE YOU WHEN THIS OPPORTUNITY AROSE?

Awww thanks!!!!

Mate, that experience is honestly a testament to God’s faithfulness. For ages I was applying for work experience at the BBC, as a producer or presenter and every time I never heard anything back. This time around I had no expectations, I told myself, ‘If I don’t hear anything back, it’s not that deep, something better will come along’ but at the same time I was thinking, presenting on Radio 1 would be lit! I applied anyway and left it. When I got a call back, I thought ’Naaaaaaaaaa! Are you dumb?!’ And the rest was history.

I was gassssssed and grateful because my journey isn’t how the average radio presenters career starts off. I had just graduated before taking over drive time at Westside and now I’m hosting two drive time shows at BBC Radio 1?! Please bear in mind that I also had NO CAREER PLAN following university. Mad mad mad word to Afro B.

I GUESS THAT LEADS PERFECTLY ON TO ASK; WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR PROUDEST MOMENTS IN YOUR LIFE AND CAREER SO FAR?

Graduating at university is up there. For one, I don’t consider myself an academic at ALL. I was the average student at best, so graduating with a 2:1 reassured me that I really can do anything I put my mind to. It was 4 years of pure madness but I learned so much along the way, discovered myself and my career path too!

Another proud moment is obviously hosting drive time BBC Radio 1 too. Absolute scenes!

DO YOU HAVE ANY ADVICE FOR ANYONE THAT WANTS TO BREAK INTO THE RADIO INDUSTRY AND BECOME A PRESENTER?

Do it for the right reasons. When you’re passionate about something it shows and people see/hear it. Clout is killing my people and it’s so obvious when people are doing things because of trends or to be popping.

Start NOW! When I speak to other aspiring presenters, I always encourage them to just start. Use whatever resources you have, however you can and just do it. People spend too much time planning and day dreaming and less time being practical.

Networking is super important! I used to hate the term but it has enabled me to build genuine relationships with clean hearted people in the industry not just because of what they do but for who they are! I guess that kind of links into my  final piece of advice, BE NICE.

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE STRUGGLES THAT YOU HAVE EXPERIENCED ON YOUR JOURNEY, ESPECIALLY AS A BLACK WOMAN IN A LARGELY WHITE, MALE DOMINATED SPHERE?

A lack of representation at bigger radio stations is a struggle for a black woman like myself. For example, over Christmas I received nasty DMs from strangers regarding the way I speak on air (e.g. not pronouncing my t’s like the true East Londoner I am) and I realised that a lot of listeners on certain stations are so used to hearing a particular type of presenter that a new voice rattles them. So I think it’s super important that young, fresh talent is introduced to bigger stations not just to tick a box but to genuinely diversify the talent.

THEY DID WHAT?! PEOPLE GENUINELY HAVE TOO MUCH TIME ON THEIR HANDS.

DO YOU BELIEVE THAT THERE HAS BEEN PROGRESS IN TERMS OF REPRESENTATION WITHIN RADIO AND THE MEDIA AS A WHOLE?

Small small. Although, it shouldn’t take a man dying at the hands of the police and global protests to happen for big corporations to wake up and fight for change.

I know things won’t happen overnight. However, it’s going to take a lot more than removing the term ‘urban’. I just pray it’s not performative and that real change is taking place and being implemented behind the scenes.

AMEN!

ON THE TOPIC OF SOCIETY & ITS DOWNFALLS, HOW HAS COVID-19 IMPACTED THE INDUSTRY AND HOW DID YOU DEAL WITH THE ISSUES THAT SURFACED WHEN THE PANDEMIC CAME ABOUT?

I believe it’s made a lot of people reevaluate their priorities and work smarter instead of harder.

With everything in life, I approach it in a calm minded manner - panicking doesn’t change anything.

I was advised to buy a mic, which was the best investment I made because I could still do VoiceOver work and record my radio show from home. Even though pre-recording from home can be so long, it meant I was consistent in presenting which is helpful in the long run.

AND FINALLY, WHAT CAN LISTENERS EXPECT FROM FEE MAK OVER THE NEXT FEW MONTHS?

You might see me on your tv screens or on a national radio station again but one thing’s for sure is that big tings a gwarn!!”.

Such a loved and infectious broadcaster, presenter and D.J., the pure love and passion Fee Mak exudes through the airwaves for her listeners is wonderful to hear! I have mentioned her in the context or her Sunday morning show on 1 Xtra, because that is where I discovered her. Not to overlook her essential work on Westside Radio, but this is someone primed for bigger roles on national radio. I have speculated what 2023 can bring. Maintaing her roles at the moment but, who knows, some huge D.J. gigs and a few cool interviews. Maybe cover slots on BBC Radio 1 or some screen time. Sky’s the limit when it comes to this exceptional human! There was a lot of curiosity when BBC Radio 1 shook up the schedules back in 2020, and how people like Fee Mak and Sian Eleri would fit in – and whether they would be loved and make an impact. Two years later, Fee Mak can look back with huge pride on all she has achieved! Someone who will be in radio for decades more, check her work out. I especially think she adds something unique and unforgettable to Sunday mornings…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Richard Gray

ON 1Xtra!

FEATURE: The Battle of the Bands: Round One: The Cardigans vs. No Doubt

FEATURE:

 

 

The Battle of the Bands

PHOTO CREDIT: jontyson/Unsplash 

Round One: The Cardigans vs. No Doubt

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THIS is a ten-part series…

 IN THIS PHOTO: The Cardigans

where I pit bands against one another. Like you get in high school, this is a battle of the band where I compare stats and ratings to determine which of them comes out on top. I may include Blondie for the second round, as they are one of my favourites! There will be no tournament and knock-out; just a winner in each round. I am starting out with two great bands who had their best moments in the 1990s. American heavyweights No Doubt, led by one of the coolest women in music, Gwen Stefani, take on Swedish icons The Cardigans. With Nina Persson at the front, this should be a close tie! Here, I match two great and influential groups in this first round of…

 IN THIS PHOTO: No Doubt

THE Battle of the Bands.

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The Cardigans

Band Members: Lead Singer: Nina Persson, Guitarist: Peter Svenssonb, Bassist: Magnus Sveningsson, Drummer: Bengt Lagerberg and Keyboardist: Lars-Olof Johansson

Origin: Jönköping, Sweden

Year of Formation: 1992

Studio Albums: Six

Singles: 20

Most Successful: Lovefool (re-issue, 1997): U.K.: 2; U.S. (Alt.): 9

The Iconic Video (75M YouTube Views, 04/11/2022):

Lovefool (From First Band on the Moon, 1996)

The Four Best of the Rest:

My Favourite Game “Stone Version” (from Gran Turismo, 1998)

Carnival (From Life, 1995)

I Need Some Fine Wine and You, You Need to Be Nicer (From Super Extra Gravity, 2005)

Erase / Rewind “Director's Cut” (From Gran Turismo, 1998)

Their Three Most-Streamed Songs (as of 4th November, 2022):

Lovefool: 376,664,327

My Favourite Game: 122,696,610

Erase / Rewind: 70,329,128

The Cardigans Spotify Twelve-Song Mixtape:

The Best Album:

First Band on the Moon

Producer: Tore Johansson

Release Date: 17th September, 1996

The Standout Song: Lovefool

Second: Your New Cuckoo

Review:

“LATE 1996 and the glorious POP! uprising in Indieland is subject to a counter-revolution. The Boo Radleys retreat into art-wank experimentalism. Blur grumble ominously from the studio about their new 'dark' direction. Lush announce plans for an Einsturzende Neubaten collaboration. Possibly.

The general 'thrust' of these Britpop quislings' 'argument' appears to rest on the patronising premise that wilfully uncommercial music is better per se than proper pop music with tunes and everything. Why? Er, well, y'know, it doesn't get played on the radio, my kid sister doesn't prefer it to Peter Andre and, er, that's about it really. Still, never mind. Let the Britpop boys return to their bedrooms and the nether regions of the only chart that counts, if that's what they want; the Swedes will surely save us. And right on cue, here come those chirpy Cardigans, the one band you can rely on not to make a 'difficult' second album full of neo-jazz experimentalism, tales of pain and betrayal and doom metal cover versions.

Er, except that's precisely what they have done. The difference is, it hasn't made The Cardigans uncommercial, and it has made them even better.

True, 'The First Band On The Moon' may come as a bit of a shock to those expecting a breezy collection of summery pop tunes like last year's two-million-selling 'Life'. But 'Life' was actually a sweet'n'simple compilation of their first two Swedish albums, which rather sneakily left out all the weird'n'nasty bits. Here, however, are The Cardigans in all their Ozzy-worshipping, ex-boyfriend-abusing, ambient cocktail jazz-embracing glory.

Yup, there's a dark side to '...The Moon'. 'Your New Cuckoo' starts off sounding like Mike Flowers then lunges headlong into an embittered tale of rabid infidelity. 'Step On Me' is a menacing, claustrophobic slump through self-loathing. 'Iron Man' is the Black Sabbath song. But they all sound like heavenly pop hits regardless.

And there's also a brighter side: the dizzy disco of 'Lovefool', Nina's Disney theme matinŽe queen routine on 'Great Divide', the magnificent flute solo (no, really!) on 'Choke'...

And sometimes, there's the two together. Like 'Been It', which manages to combine a melody so sweet it's almost sinister with jarring rock beast guitars and lyrics ("I've been your sister, I've been your mistress/Baby I was your whore") straight out of a Brookside subplot.

The Cardigans, then, are still a pop group, if no longer a POP! group. But that's just dandy, because they're advancing rather than retreating to the indie womb, challenging the mainstream rather than chucking in the towel and, most importantly, still writing genius pop songs rather than noodling around in no-tunes land. Because that's what they do best and that's what makes for the best music. And, contrary to (un)popular belief, the only place for the best music is in the hearts and charts of the general public and the only worthwhile 'revolution' is an over-the-counter one.

8/10”– NME

The Underrated Gem:

Gran Turismo

Producer: Tore Johansson

Release Date: 19th October, 1998

The Standout Song: My Favourite Game

Second: Erase / Rewind

Review:

“I'm not ashamed to admit that the Cardigans grabbed my attention not with their spacepop hit "Lovefool," but with their deliciously sexy vocalist Nina Persson, and the way she beckoned me seductively from the video of the same name. I knew she wanted me, and her ocean- blue eyes yearned to whisper "Jag alskar dig," in my hairy ears. I played hard- to- get back in 1996, when they released First Band on the Moon, and I contine to play hard- to- get, safe in the secret knowledge that Nina fights through every day, yearning for my touch. Believe me when I tell you, Nina, absence breeds anticipation-- we must wait for the proper moment for our Scando- American vibes to be combined like a tasty black- and- white milkshake. We must wait...

Our delicious waiting is made even more appetizing by the Cardigans "new" release, Gran Turismo. The sounds I hear disturb me, though. Where the Cardigans seemed so on top of their game on Last Band, Gran Turismo gives me a Nina that seems to have grown morose from her waiting. The light, sharply- arranged and smilingly ironic attitude that saturated their previous effort has metamorphosed into a self- concerned dragging effort devoid of the featherweight happiness that the Cardigans have been notable for.

Leaning more heavily on distorted guitars and electronica tidbits, most lyrics circulate thematically around breakups and regret. Nina's vocals are fitting to the subject, but where the Cardigans' past tracks about disappointment would often initially sound like a romp through the fertile fields of first love, Gran Turismo regretably strips away this facade. Let's be clear, though-- Gran Turismo isn't a bad album, it's just a distinct downer when compared to their earlier records.

I continue to wait for Nina to come to me. I feel her need for me is most urgent now, still sharpening our desire. Yet, I wonder-- is it all my fault? Could Nina be sending me a message? Should I go to her, gathering her close and soothing her fears, smoothing the sugary- coating that she refused to give to Gran Turismo? Come to me, Nina, come to me... -James P. Wisdom” – Pitchfork

A Cool Interview:

A Great Live Performance:

Ratings:

Coolness: 8

Consistency: 8

Songwriting Quality: 9

Iconic Lead: 7

Originality: 9

Total: 41/50 

No Doubt

Band Members (Final line-up): Lead Singer: Gwen Stefani, Guitarist: Tom Dumont, Bassist: Tony Kanal, and Drummer: Adrian Young

Origin: Anaheim, U.S.

Year of Formation: 1986

Studio Albums: Six

Singles: 22

Most Successful: Don’t Speak (1996): U.K.: 1; U.S.: 1

The Iconic Video (942M YouTube Views, 04/11/2022):

Don’t Speak (From Tragic Kingdom, 1995)

The Four Best of the Rest:

It’s My Life (From The Singles 1992-2003, 2003)

Trapped in a Box (From No Doubt, 1992)

Just a Girl (From Tragic Kingdom, 1995)

Settle Down (From Push and Shove, 2012)

Their Three Most-Streamed Songs (as of 4th November, 2022):

Don’t Speak: 510,022,938

Just a Girl: 200,403,553

It’s My Life: 108,088,757

The No Doubt Spotify Twelve-Song Mixtape:

The Best Album:

Tragic Kingdom

Producer: Matthew Wilder

Release Date: 10th October, 1995

The Standout Song: Don’t Speak

Second: Sunday Morning

Review:

“Led by the infectious, pseudo-new wave single "Just a Girl," No Doubt's major-label debut, Tragic Kingdom, straddles the line between '90s punk, third-wave ska, and pop sensibility. The record was produced by Matthew Wilder, the auteur behind "Break My Stride" -- a clever mainstream co-opting of new wave quirkiness, and, as such, an ideal pairing. Wilder kept his production lean and accessible, accentuating No Doubt's appealing mix of new wave melodicism, post-grunge rock, and West Coast sunshine. Even though the band isn't always able to fuse its edgy energy with pop melodies, the combination worked far better than anyone could have hoped. When everything does click, the record is pure fun, even if some of the album makes you wish they could sustain that energy throughout the record. Tragic Kingdom might not have made much of an impact upon its initial release in late 1995, but throughout 1996 "Just a Girl" and "Spiderwebs" positively ruled the airwaves, both alternative and mainstream, and in 1997 No Doubt cemented their cross-generational appeal with the ballad hit "Don't Speak” – AllMusic

The Underrated Gem:

Rock Steady

Producers: Nellee Hooper/No Doubt/Ric Ocasek/William Orbit/Prince/Sly & Robbie/Steely & Clevie Release Date: 11th December, 2001

The Standout Song: Hey Baby

Second: Hella Good

Review:

“Despite the title, Rock Steady is a collection of songs that reveal the heartbreaking nature of romance, of love that clings out of desperation. Intimate revelations are wrapped in ska beats, dancehall rhythms and mellow melodies. Betrayal lies at the heart of the nursery rhyme Detective, while insecurity negates the sauciness of Waiting Room, which features the sweeping harmonies of an on-form Prince. Underneath It All that captures the essence of singer Gwen Stefani's gamine charm, as she paints a smile on a relationship fraught with anxiety. "Somehow I'm full of forgiveness, I guess it's meant to be," she sings, her pain showing through the sweetness of the Sly and Robbie production. This is a great pop album, catchy and funky in all the right places, and Stefani's attitude shines brightly as she sums up: "Sometimes I just think Cupid is taking the piss. Betty Clarke” – The Guardian

A Cool Interview:

A Great Live Performance:

Ratings:

Coolness: 8.5

Consistency: 7.5

Songwriting Quality: 8

Iconic Lead: 9.5

Originality: 8.5

Total: 42/50

THE WINNERS:

Rather than there being absolutely No Doubt about the outcome, the Californian band pip The Cardigans by a whisker! The exceptional Swedish songwriting and brilliant band led by Nina Persson are just out-muscled by the iconic cool of Gwen Stefani and co.