FEATURE: Spotlight: Kelli-Leigh

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

  

Kelli-Leigh

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AN artist that…

I have so much love and respect for, Kelli-Leigh is not only a tremendous solo artist and former backing singer. She is an incredible songwriter and someone who has just directed, edited, and graded the video for her new single, Never Dance Again. A remarkable talent who is among the best artists we have in music, I wanted to spend some time with her. There are a few interviews I want to get to. Whilst most of the interviews with Kelli-Leigh are from 2020 or before, there is one from last year that I want to finish with. I wonder whether there will be album later this year. She has this collection of remarkable songs under her belt, so I am curious whether we will get an album and then a nationwide tour to promote it. No doubting the fact that she is someone who has a huge fanbase that would love to see her hit the road. If you have not discovered Kelli-Leigh then make sure that you correct this. With her own label, Music Core Limited, this is an artist who I think will be releasing phenomenal music for many years to come. There is nobody in the industry with her sound. I have always loved Kelli-Leigh’s music. She has featured on collaborations in the past, yet I think she is at her strongest when she is at the front and leading. She can effortlessly work alongside any other artists, but I feel her solo material allows us to experience her full range. I want to go back a few years to Run That Again’s interview with Kelli-Leigh. Later that year (in September) she released the remarkable E.P., Can’t Get Enough. Here, she discusses running her own label, and how working in the industry has been a bit of a rollercoaster:

“I set up my own label so I could release my own music to give myself an opportunity, platform and a place for my voice, and selling it out showed me that backing myself was the right decision to make, I felt overwhelmed and extremely proud.”

Being exposed to every level of the music industry comes with many experiences both positive and negative. We ask her about these and what advice she might have for aspiring artists as well as the best advice she might have received herself.

 “I have had negativity towards my journey, I’ve been told perhaps it would’ve been better to stay in my lane as a session singer and sing records for other people and earn a small living from it instead of wanting my own path as an artist. That came from someone I truly respected so that hurt the most.

“Other things have been; which I’m sure a lot of us have experienced, is that lack of support, people who don’t shout you out or want to credit you for your work. However, I have also met some of my best friends through working in the music industry, friends I will have for life and been on some of the most incredible adventures I could’ve dreamed off. As one of my besties Katie & I say ‘It’s a rollercoaster life’.”

“The best piece of advice I’ve ever been given was by my friend Leona Lewis who told me to make sure I have good management. I’ve definitely learnt my lesson from having bad management in the past!”

“I would love to work with Fink, I’ve been touched and inspired by so much of his music. One of my favourite concerts ever was seeing him and his band play with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam a few years back, absolute goose-bumps! I’d also love to work with Artist and writer Tayla Parx, the hits she’s written is insane and her own music is so fresh. I’d love to see how her brain works in constructing a song.”

Kelli-Leigh has already shown international success with her music: she’s appeared on Radio 1 Live Lounge, been played on KISS FM, been in the top 10 Shazam trending and even entered Virgin Radio Dubai’s HOT 30 chart as a global artist. But it’s not all about the music. We’re also interested in what she gets up to when she’s not grinding out results. What’s one thing no one knows about her?

“I’ve seriously got into video editing, I co-edited my last few videos, and have completely edit my next two. I find it so rewarding getting the visuals right to the music and the more I’m involving myself in the editing process the more I feel like I’m giving the most honest creative version of myself”.

I will move along to a later interview. Lady Gunn chatted with Kelli-Leigh about the Can’t Get Enough E.P. Released in 2020, it must have been a difficult year for an artist who was releasing this big statement. When the pandemic struck and touring was not possible, so many artists were doing promotion online and unable to connect with their audience like they were used to. That said, I remember the E.P. coming out in 2020. It was a bit of a lifeline at such a difficult time:

“Can’t Get Enough is a journey EP.” With this in mind, South London artist Kelli-Leigh takes us through the early stages of a blossoming relationship with her five track project. Beginning with the first sparks of romantic connection on the glistening “Can’t Get Enough,” to the malty sultriness of “Whiskey Midnight,” Kelli-Leigh is an engaging storyteller.

“Lyrically, the project follows a relationship from the early days, the build-up of sexual tension, and ultimately the ending. These are the songs that most represent me as an artist and the sound I have been developing.”

It’s a sound that’s been long in the making. Having featured on a number of club hits, including “More Than Friends” (James Hype), “I Wanna Feel” (Second City), and the Billboard Dance Chart and GRAMMY-nominated #1 “I Got U” (Duke Dumont & Jax Jones), Kelli-Leigh also toured with Adele as a backing vocalist for her second album 21 in 2010 and has joined Jessie J and Leona Lewis on stage.

However, it’s her work as a solo artist where she has been able to create the music she’s always wanted to make. The EP is a polished body of work, shimmering with elegant pop melodies and jovial dance melodies – a celebration of her artistic journey.

We chatted with Kelli-Leigh to find a little more about her new project, as well as the importance of championing the independent artist.

 YOU’VE RECENTLY RELEASED YOUR NEW PROJECT CAN’T GET ENOUGH – COULD YOU TELL US A LITTLE MORE ABOUT THE EP?

“Sure! The EP is a journey of my sound. When I started the label Music Core back in 2018, I was finding my way through the dark. With each release I was learning so much that I never knew about the industry and how to release music. I also felt a big weight of expectation on what my sound should be from all my dance features. This EP is my favourite body of work so far, and listening to the full EP opens up the sound of who I am and lyrically what I’m about.”

YOU DESCRIBE THE PROJECT AS A JOURNEY EP – LYRICALLY THROUGH THE STAGES OF A RELATIONSHIP BUT ALSO IN YOUR MUSICAL CAREER AS WELL. WHAT DOES THIS COLLECTION OF SONGS MEAN TO YOU RIGHT NOW?

“Honestly, it shows me how far I’ve come. I’ve worked really hard on building my self-esteem for my own project. I’m strong-minded and very honest but I have been left feeling insecure about who I am as I’ve had so many opinions of who I should be forced onto me. This EP is all my songwriting, it’s my visual direction (with each video getting more confident as I learn more about video editing and how I wanted to present my art, for my budget). It’s also a milestone for what’s to come.”

 AS WELL AS SETTING UP YOUR OWN LABEL YOU ALSO RUN AN INDEPENDENT ARTISTS PLAYLIST WHICH IS REGULARLY UPDATED WITH FRESH NEW TUNES. WHY DO YOU THINK IT’S SO IMPORTANT TO REPRESENT THE UNSIGNED ARTIST?

“I just feel like there is a lack of clear support for independent artists on the playlisting side. Spotify has one main independent artist playlist which is extremely hard to get on, and that playlist is then broken down into several indie playlists based on genre. When you submit your songs for editorial on any DSP there isn’t a button you can click for Independent artists. So you’re in effect competing to be heard by major label artists who already have the monopoly of playlisting. There is such incredible music out there and starting this playlist has proven that tenfold. I’ve heard songs on this playlist that have under 1000 streams and are amazing!”

WHAT HAS RUNNING A RECORD LABEL TAUGHT YOU ABOUT THE INDUSTRY? WERE THERE ANY SURPRISES ALONG THE WAY?

“Be over-prepared. A release needs to be prepared at least 2-3 months in advance (finished production, mix & master, artwork, uploading to distributor, scheduling, marketing). You probably need more budget – marketing is bigger than any of us realize. Have a follow-up record if your previous one does well so you can piggyback off it.

Keep it moving, try to have no expectations as that can lead to disappointment especially for indie artists (I have been there several times). Most importantly, believe in what you’re releasing, as you’re doing it for you because you love the music. That has to be first.

Surprises, yes. Sometimes it doesn’t matter what stats you have, some people just won’t support a record, and one that you may not put as much attention on as the others will do amazing things. There is no industry consistency, all you can do is be consistent with yourself and hopefully the rest will follow”.

I will round off with an interview from Sound Plate. Talking about her Christmas single, Unwrap My Heart, the Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter also revealed why she was particular proud of her single, New Chic, and what she wanted to achieve this year (2023). I think this year has got off to a flyer for Kelli-Leigh. She is producing some of her best and most memorable music right now. This is someone everyone needs to keep an eye on:

“What advice can you offer other singers working with producers as session singers or featured artists. How important is being properly credited for your work?

Be aware of what the terms are before you agree to anything. Don’t be afraid to ask what the recording is for and what the intentions are for a record you are involved in. If you’d like to purely focus on the creative process make sure you have a manager or representation who is looped in with the producer and their team to query any concerns/make an agreement for the use of your work

This year, you have released a string of great commercial-dance tracks, how have they been received? Is their one track from 2022 you are particularly proud of?

I’m particularly proud of ‘New Chic’ it was my first release this year and my first release going back to being Independent after my 1st major label signed single the year before. It was rejected by the A&R however received a Spotify cover of New Dance Revolution and was supported and playlisted by Captital Dance, Kiss FM & Radio 1.

Having worked with so many stars in the past, have any of them given you any unforgettable advice or wisdom you can share with us?

I’ll never forget when Leona (Lewis) said to make sure to have good management.

I’ve had some ups and downs with that over the years and i always think back to her advice. Your management truly is an extension of you, the artist so you want someone who is honest, caring, strong and has your best interests at heart. It’s your career you are trusting someone with at the end of the day and a bad email, phone call or meeting can potentially hinder or ruin future opportunities for you as an artist. At the same time you need someone who isn’t afraid to stand up to bullies in the industry who will try and get something out of you because they are higher up. It’s the most important relationship you’ll have in your business career.

Looking forward, what does 2023 hold for you, will you be returning to Ibiza again, any other exciting projects we should look out for?

I’m looking forward to heading out to LA in January for some sessions to celebrate my Grammy Nominated writers credit on Diplo’s album with ‘Forget About Me’ which I co-wrote with Aluna. I’ve also got several collabs which will be dropping early in the year so looking forward to those out before continuing with my single release”.

If you are new to Kelli-Leigh or only know some of her work, go explore and spend some time with this stunning artist. She is someone I am predicting will enjoy many more years in the industry. As one of our very brightest and most astonishing artists, you need to ensure that she is…

IN your hearts.

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Follow Kelli-Leigh

FEATURE: Before 30th July… A Kate Bush-Related Challenge to Raise Funds for Crisis

FEATURE:

 

 

Before 30th July…

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush signs an autograph in 1980/PHOTO CREDIT: Mirrorpix/Getty Images 

 

A Kate Bush-Related Challenge to Raise Funds for Crisis

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I am not going to mention Kate Bush’s birthday…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Katebushnews.com/Cabaret vs Cancer

until closer to the time on 30th July. She will be sixty-five. I know that is a big birthday, but she will be the last person to celebrate it with such significance and hoopla! She will be pretty modest and low-key, I am sure. I know that many websites will use the opportunity to mark her sixty-fifth birthday. Maybe they will do her best sixty-five songs or write about Bush’s ongoing significance. I have said how I’d like to do a Lionheart podcast. Bush’s second studio album came out in November 1978 so, ahead of its forty-fifth anniversary, maybe a special podcast. It is an underrated and under-loved album that more people should really appreciate and seek out. I think that would be a fitting tribute to someone whose music has enriched so many lives. I am definitely going to up the amount of features I do. Rather than highlight her birthday and age, it is a good opportunity to go deep with her albums and explore various sides to her career and personality. There is something special I want to do. As opposed a birthday present, there is something Kate Bush-related that would be awesome. She is someone who has spent so much of her career supporting charities. The likes of Crisis are particularly close to her heart. Recently, Bush donated a couple of signed CDs to a very worthy cause. Here are more details:

“Kate has donated a number of signed Running Up That Hill CD singles to the annual Cabaret vs Cancer charity music auction. Cabaret vs Cancer was set up in 2016 and raises money through cabaret and burlesque shows as well as themed online auctions to help people coping with the effects of cancer. Kate has donated signed items for the previous two music auctions. Dave Cross from HomeGround Magazine is a patron of the charity, and last year organised a Kate themed cabaret fundraiser at The Royal Vauxhall Tavern in London. The music auction also includes signed items from Kim Wilde, Belinda Carlisle, The Pet Shop Boys, Stormzy, Taylor Swift, Joan Armatrading and many limited edition vinyl and CD collectibles. Please do check out the auction online here, a wonderful cause – thanks Dave!”.

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush cuts her thirtieth birthday cake on 30th July, 1988 at Blazers Boutique, where she was raising money for AIDS Victims/PHOTO CREDIT: Mirrorpix

It is no surprise that Bush has opted to raise money for a worthy charity. There are those who would say that, as she has a fair bit of money herself, why can’t she donate herself. She wants to give something; something like a signed C.D. It also helps raise awareness and focus, rather than her just doing this privately. Getting fans involved and bringing to the focus important charities has been in her blood since the early days. For example, on her thirtieth birthday on 30th July, 1988, Bush cut her birthday cake at Blazers Boutique where she was raising money for AIDS Victims. This kind of altruism and selflessness is another reason why she is so respected and loved around the world. I felt, rather than doing a birthday celebration or something related on 30th July, I would use the opportunity to follow in her footsteps. If she spent her thirtieth birthday raising money for charity, I would like to do something for charity on her sixty-fifth birthday. I have been thinking about backing Crisis and raising money for them. A charity that aims to end homelessness, I am acutely aware of the problem living in London. There is so much rough sleeping in the capital, and you wonder how much is being done to help those in need. A very worthy charity that aims to assist those affected and try to end something that shouldn’t exist in the modern age, I wanted to do that highlights her work, but also raises money for charity.

 PHOTO CREDIT: freepik

Rather than something like an album listening party, event, or podcast, maybe a marathon challenge or something that would be quite a feat. It would be interesting to hear suggestions, but I was thinking of doing a challenge related to journalism. 31st July falls on a Monday this year so, starting on Sunday and ending on Monday morning, I was thinking of instead writing one to-end-them-all feature. Designed to show a love of the icon and also a guide to music for new listeners, rather than write an entire book about her – which would take weeks and months -, doing something over the course of maybe twenty-four hours would be more fitting. Perhaps it could be streamed, but the challenge is to complete the whole thing and publish it before 8 a.m. on Bush’s sixty-fifth birthday. Instead of making mention of her birthday, it would be like any normal feature, albeit a pretty comprehensive one! Linking to Crisis, I would set up a fundraising page and urge people to donate. Of course, if I do not finish the feature by the deadline, then that does not mean the charity goes without. The money goes there regardless. It is chance for me to express my love of Kate Bush with that desire to introduce her to as many people as possible. There is a whole generation out there who do not know about her work, or they do not know the depth of its brilliance and variety. Crisis is a charity that I am a big supporter of . The charity offers year-round education employment, housing and well-being services from centres in East London, Newcastle, Oxford, Edinburgh, South Yorkshire, South Wales, Croydon, Brent and Merseyside. It would be amazing to do something for them and bring Kate Bush into it. I wonder if people would donate and support an idea like that. Ahead of her sixty-fifth birthday, I have been thinking of doing something big that would not draw attention to that milestone, but it would be an opportunity to do something special. A marathon feature or twenty-four hour challenge, I think, would be a nice tribute to..

AN amazing person.

FEATURE: An Amazing Return! Why the Revival of the HMV Flagship Store on London’s Oxford Street Is Especially Important

FEATURE:

 

 

An Amazing Return!

IMAGE CREDIT: HMV

 

Why the Revival of the HMV Flagship Store on London’s Oxford Street Is Especially Important

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ONCE beautifully situated…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images/HMV

at 363 Oxford Street in London, there was something beautiful perfect about HMV. With so much foot traffic, you would wander into this big store and browse for vinyl, C.D.s, books, and merchandise alongside so many different people. It was a vibrant and bubbling hub for those who were looking for something special. The flagship store closed its doors in 2019. That looked like things were it. High rent and a comparative lack of trade meant that this hugely important and convenient store closed. Since then, one has had to go to independent stores to get music. I cannot think where the nearest HMV is to central London. I guess the pandemic starting in 2020 meant so many people wanted to support record stores that were struggling. With HMV doing well during the past few years and getting new customers and increased sales, it not only means that the company has survived and is growing. We also get to see the return of an historic store that we all thought had been consigned to history. This Music Week article explains more:

“HMV is set to make a return to Oxford Street after a four-year absence, with a lease signed to confirm the reopening of its flagship later this year.

HMV currently has 120 shops across the UK, including a West London location in Westfield, the specialist Fopp store in Covent Garden, and the 25,000 sq ft Vault in Birmingham – Europe’s largest entertainment store.

Sunrise Records owner Doug Putman acquired the historic music chain in 2019. Since the closure of the 363 Oxford Street store in the same year, the presence of a flagship in the capital has been on the agenda.

Under Putman’s tenure, the business has evolved its concept to centre on a fan and community-orientated offer, including in-store gigs from local acts. It has successfully tapped into consumer demand for vinyl.

363 Oxford Street will feature HMV’s new logo, and be fitted out with the new ‘HMV shop’ concept. The first store featuring the new layout and offering opened in Solihull on HMV’s 100th birthday in July 2021.

The concept will have been taken to 24 new sites – and retro-fitted to 14 of the existing estate – by the end of the year. By 2024, half of the HMV estate will have been converted to the new concept.

Doug Putman said: “The expansion of our fan-focused pop culture offer is really working for us and the reopening of our flagship represents the culmination of a good few years of hard work. We are also opening stores in Europe this year, so while it is the culmination of one phase of work, more excitingly we see it as the launchpad for an exciting new era for HMV.”

The new 363 Oxford Street store is expected to stock a large range of pop culture merchandise, vinyl, film, TV and music technology.

In the past year, HMV shops in the UK have welcomed artists such as Charli XCX, Stormzy, Shania Twain, Raye and Ellie Goulding for signings. The central London shop is expected to draw big names and is set to stage performances from up-and-coming acts through the HMV Live&Local programme.

363 Oxford Street played host to the very first HMV store in 1921. It became one of the UK’s most famous retail destinations. In 1995, Blur performed a memorable rooftop gig. A year later, the store hosted the Spice Girls’ Christmas Lights switch-on.

It remained there until 2000 when HMV relocated to its 150 Oxford Street store (since closed). HMV later returned to 363 Oxford Street in 2013. Since its closure in 2019, the site has been operated as an American-style candy store.

Cllr Geoff Barraclough, Westminster City Council’s cabinet member for planning & economic development, said: “It’s fantastic to see this iconic brand back on Oxford Street, where it stood as a driver of music and pop culture in the capital for so long. It’s also particularly pleasing it is replacing one of the many US candy stores which sprang up during the pandemic.

“The return of this famous name is proof that there’s a buzz back in the West End. Established retailers want a presence on the UK’s premier shopping street and as a council we want to see the nation’s high street reinvigorated and home to brands like HMV.

“There’s nothing quite like browsing through CDs and vinyl in-store. As a teenager who bought his first LP in an HMV shop some decades ago, I look forward to reliving that experience!”

Sam Foyle, co-head of prime global retail at Savills, acting on behalf of the private landlord for 363 Oxford Street, said: “The return of HMV is a major milestone for Oxford Street. It shows the growth in belief and confidence for the street. The previous vacancy and short term candy store tenant, was the focus of the challenges facing Oxford Street. HMV reopening along with many other global transactions in progress, demonstrates that Oxford Street has recovered”.

PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images/HMV

I have been shopping at HMV since I was a child. Whereas other chains like Our Price have come and gone, the reliability of His Master’s Voice has been there always. I was worried that HMV would decline and go into liquidation without chance of survival. Stores have closed down, but that is the sad reality of the high street. This fresh news is marvellous. It will give hope to other stores. Maybe there will be new HMV branches popping up soon. I hope that the reopening of the flagship store leads to maybe another one opening in Oxford Street – as I believe there used to be two HMV stores down that way. It has been sad walking past where the flagship store used to be and not seeing and feeling that welcoming buzz and intoxication! I am not sure what special gig or event is planned for the reopening, or exactly when the flagship store returns. it is still magnificent to know that this year will see the resurrection of HMV on Oxford Street. With so much room that one could explore, this store was always going to struggle in such an expensive part of London. Now, with profits at HMV up and there being this loyal and unwavering customer base, let’s hope we do not have to say goodbye to it for a second time! We need to ensure that the flagship store remains where it is for many years to come.

 IN THIS PHOTO: 1963: an HMV van outside the store/PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images/HMV

Not only is there this accessibility and convenience for those in London. I also feel that the more we get rid of stores like this, the worse it is for the industry as a whole! At a time when vinyl is booming, cassette sales are rising and there is this new demand for physical music, chains like HMV are vital! The friendly and passionate staff are also a big reason why the stores succeed. It is nice to browse and have so much awesome choice. I am looking forward to browsing the vinyl, picking up some T-shirts and generally seeing what is in there. The new design and layout means it is going to be a different look to what it was in 2019. You will still be able to get all you need, but it will be more modern and interactive. I have seen the news shared online, and there is this celebration, relief, and delight. When it was closed in 2019, I remember being so gutted! That was echoed and amplified by so many other people. The high street has always struggled, and the pandemic has not helped too much. Maybe people have less money, so it is especially unexpected that we should hear of a once-gone HMV store rising again in its rightful place. I have not been to 363 Oxford Street recently, but I don’t think anything has replaced it. That space can now reopen and make up for lost time! Situated in a very busy part of London, you know the store will get a tonne of customers when it opens its doors once more. Running alongside the successful and rise of physical music, it shows that people want to shop for music on the high street - and they are not solely relying on streaming and buying music online. Let’s hope that this continues and we cherish the flagship store for a long time more. HMV is such a respected and beloved chain that means so much…

 IMAGE CREDIT: Dog & Trumpet

TO all of us!

FEATURE: One for the Record Collection! Essential May Releases

FEATURE:

 

 

One for the Record Collection!

 IN THIS PHOTO: Paul Simon/PHOTO CREDIT: Myrna Suarez

 

Essential May Releases

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I am casting my mind forward…

and looking to the great albums that are due for release next month. There are some phenomenal releases that people need to get involved with and pre-order. To start, on 5th May, there are a couple of albums that you need to check out. One that you might want to pre-order is Ed Sheeran’s ‘-‘ (Subtract). An artist who has had this run of albums using mathematical symbols, he now brings that series to a close. It seems like this might be his most open and vulnerable album yet. Even if I recently reacted to something Ed Sheeran said regarding the use of critics and whether we need them, I know there are people out there who will be interested in his new album and want to get a hold of it. Even if some critics may take against it, there is no doubting the popularity and place Sheeran holds in modern music. He is likely to score a chart topper with ‘-‘ (Subtract). This is what Rough Trade had to say about an album that will rank as one of the most anticipated and popular of the year so far:

“Ed Sheeran releases his new album ‘-‘ (Subtract) - the last in his decade-spanning mathematical album era. An album that revisits Ed’s singer / songwriter roots, and one that was written against a backdrop of personal grief and hope, ‘-’ (Subtract) presents one of the biggest stars on the planet at his most vulnerable and honest”.

An album that differs from Ed Sheeran’s is The Lemon Twigs’ Everything Harmony. Featuring one of the best album covers of this year, it is going to be another exciting and inventive release from the amazing American duo. I would urge everyone to pre-order this album from one of music’s most fascinating forces. I always love what The Lemon Twigs offer up:

“On Everything Harmony, the fourth full-length studio release from New York’s The Lemon Twigs, the prodigiously talented brothers Brian and Michael D’Addario offer 13 original servings of beauty that showcase an emotional depth and musical sophistication far beyond their years as a band, let alone as young men.

Everything Harmony successfully blends the brothers’ distinct personalities while giving voice to their eclectic influences. Opening the album with the unassuming acoustic folk of plaintive “When Winter Comes Around,” which echoes the sophisticated grandeur of classic Simon and Garfunkel recordings, they immediately switch things up to the sunny classic pop motif of “In My Head.” “Corner of My Eye” channels an Art Garfunkel-like vocal melody over a moody, vibraphone-tinged backing track suggesting the chamber pop of Brian Wilson.

While they had no grand concept for Everything Harmony, both the D’Addarios felt a “palpable mood of defeat” prevailed while writing and recording it. “New To Me” was inspired by their shared experience with loved ones suffering from Alzheimer’s, “What You Were Doing” is dressed in the tortured jangle of vintage Big Star, while “Born To Be Lonely,” written after watching John Cassavetes’ Opening Night, deals with what Brian calls “the fragility that often comes with age.”

Everything Harmony is a unified song cycle born of shared blood and common purpose. With two musical heads being better than one, there’s no shortage of ideas to draw on. Their only impediments are time and the challenge of keeping up with their own prolific musical inspiration. “We share an intuition and tend to be influenced by one another,” says Brian, “so the lyrical ideas on this record tend to complement each other. Writing has never been the issue for us. It’s completing, editing and compiling that takes the time. We’re trapped in a web of songs!”.

I am going to move things to 12th May, as there are a series of albums from this week that you will want to look out for. The first, Alison Goldfrapp’s The Love Invention, looks remarkable. We know her from Goldfrapp, but this is her debut solo album. An artist that is such a mighty talent, the singles we have heard from her debut solo album are sounding awesome! This is an album that you really have to pre-order, as I am predicting it will not only be among this year’s best. I think that it will be in the running for a Mercury Prize. You know that Alison Goldfrapp is going to deliver something sensational:

“Alison Goldfrapp has set a towering bar for British synth-pop in the 21st century and she’s only just getting started. The magnetic London-born singer, songwriter and producer’s seven albums with Goldfrapp were fuelled by an unfailing modernity and a sixth sense for sounds that were more timeless than any trend.

With the release of her debut solo album The Love Invention - an electrifying dance-pop suite - her multi-faceted musicianship reaches a new peak.

The Love Invention marks Alison’s reawakening as a dancefloor priestess, in an intoxicating showcase of the disco and house influences that have always been at the heart of her musical DNA. In Alison’s quintessentially complex way, the album's moments of sincerity are paired with a devious sense of fun. Lead single “So Hard So Hot” bottles the ephemeral joy of a dancefloor with its anthemic house beat, disco handclaps, and an exquisitely alluring vocal, whilst on “NeverStop,” Alison is flooded with the rush of an all-encompassing love over a buoyant, rubberised beat, and Balearic synths and a swooping punch-the-air chorus on 'Love Invention'.

Alison’s dedicated approach to pop innovation has firmly situated her as the rare leftfield artist who has been embraced by the pop mainstream without diluting one iota of her individuality”.

The American-born, Manchester-based BC Camplight (Brian Christinzio) offers up The Last Rotation of Earth on 12th May. An artist that I have so much respect and love for, his new album follows the incredible 2020 gem, Shortly After Takeoff. I have a feeling that this will be the most striking and memorable album from BC Camplight. If you have not heard his music before, I would proudly recommend pre-ordering The Last Rotation of Earth. You will definitely not regret it. Everything BC Camplight releases is so powerful and evocative. An artist that can draw you into a song, I am looking forward to seeing what The Last Rotation of Earth will sound like. It is definitely going to be among the best albums of this year:

“Is there a curse that says Brian ‘BC Camplight’ Christinzio cannot move forward without being knocked back? That the greatest material is born out of emotional trauma?

Whilst making his new album The Last Rotation Of Earth, Christinzio’s relationship with his fiancé crumbled after nine inseparable years. The album follows this break-up amid long-term struggles with addiction and declining mental health. The outcome is an extraordinary record, with Christinzio describing it as “more cinematic, sophisticated, and nuanced than anything I’ve done before. And more desperate”.

A group and album that may not be familiar with everyone, I would advise people to invest in Esben and the Witch’s Hold Sacred. Go and pre-order an album that is guaranteed to leave an impression. I am looking forward to it coming out on 12th May. In a strong week for music, this album is one that you will not want to let slip away:

“Esben and the Witch - comprising Rachel Davies, Thomas Fisher and Daniel Copeman - began in Brighton in 2008, later decamped to Berlin, and is now split three ways across the UK, Germany and the US. Their winding geographical journey feels representative of their path as a whole. The band have snaked through various scenes and sonic worlds across their 14 years together, while always squirming away from an easy genre classification. Their first two albums, 2011’s Violet Cries and 2013’s Wash the Sins Not Only The Face - both released on Matador Records - offered gothic, electronic-tinged dream pop and post-rock. Beginning with the Steve Albini-produced A New Nature (2014, self-released on their own Nostromo Records), they came to explore heavier post-punk and metal textures, which they intensified through 2016’s Older Terrors and 2018’s Nowhere (both via Marseille-based metal label Season of Mist).

Hold Sacred represents a reset in many ways. After Nowhere, Davies felt exhausted and disenfranchised with music, and for a while entertained the possibility that Esben and the Witch had come to an end. If they were to make a new album, they needed to take everything back to basics. They departed from their record label, returning to independence through Nostromo. They expanded operations, too, with the launch of Haus Nostromo, an online emporium and journal through which they branch away from purely music, selling “a curated collection of books, zines, art prints, clothing and more”. It’s aimed at building community, celebrating the act of collaboration, and offering an ethical, passion-driven and truly DIY platform for artists across various mediums. “Similar to the spirit of Esben, it’s always been essential for us to do everything on our own terms,” says Davies.

In the summer of 2019, the band retreated to a villa outside of Rome, with no expectations or pressures but simply the intention to enjoy each other’s company and see what musical inspiration may arise from that. This is where the rough sketches of the songs that would form Hold Sacred came to be. “It was a wonderful, restorative retreat,” Davies says. “It felt free again, and a reminder that perhaps there was still a spark left for us to unearth.”

The songs that were emerging were different than any previous. They’re brooding, gentle, almost ambient; there are no live drums, and the instrumentals comprise simple, sparse guitar and keys. “We wanted to create a softer, calmer record; a record we’d listen to when we need soothing, like the ambient records we find comforting and, dare I say, almost spiritual,” says Davies. The band used no outside producers or engineers, keeping the process limited to the three of them from start to finish — harkening back to the spirit of their earliest days when Copeman would record them in his bedroom and bathroom”.

One more album before we move on to 19th May. Madison McFerrin’s I Hope You Can Forgive Me is one you need to check out. An artist who I really love, go and pre-order this album. McFerrin blends a cappella, Electronic Pop, Jazz, and Soul. The daughter of Bobby McFerrin, she released two a cappella-based E.P.s before releasing 2019's You + I, produced with her brother Taylor McFerrin. I do hope as many people as possible buy and hear an album from one of modern music’s greatest voices. She is a phenomenal artist that we all need to embrace and highlight:

“Madison’s latest project, I Hope You Can Forgive Me, represents an evolution in her career as she finds ways to improvise and self-produce in the midst of an ever changing global pandemic landscape. I Hope You Can Forgive Me builds upon that next step sonically while exploring themes of love, self preservation, fear, and conjuring. What comes out of this work and Madison’s career thus far is a commitment to leave - leave fear and doubt behind in order to make space for what is next to come, all with a sense of style, fun, and invitation to dance through it”.

There are three albums due on 19th May that I want to suggest to you. The first is from a true legend of music. Graham Nash releases Now. It is an album from someone who, among his honours, founded The Hollies. I do not even think that he is an artist now that appeals to an older demographic and past generation. Here is someone creating remarkable music that needs to be heard by all. Go and pre-order a phenomenal new album from one of music’s giants and all-time greats. I am excited and primed for new music from the genius Graham Nash. For those who might not have heard Nash’s solo music, Now sounds like an album that you will want to get a hold of:

“Two-time Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee and founding member of both the Hollies and Crosby, Stills and Nash, Graham Nash returns with his first studio album of new material in seven years, titled Now. Now is produced by Nash and longtime touring keyboardist Todd Caldwell”.

Another album from 19th May that you will want to pre-order is Hannah Jadagu’s Aperture. This may be someone new to you. I only discovered Jadagu’s music last year, but I have really connected with it. I do think that you should pre-order Aperture, as it is going to be a stunning album from a rising artist that everyone needs to be aware of. Take some time out today to listen to the music of the wonderful Hannah Jadagu:

“Fresh out of high school, Hannah Jadagu released her debut EP, What Is Going On?, a collection of intimate bedroom pop tracks recorded entirely on an iPhone 7, which was, at the time, Jadagu’s most accessible mode of production. An off-the-cuff approach to music making and instinctive ability to write unforgettable hooks belied the intensity of Jadagu’s subject matter. What Is Going On? confronted some of the nation’s most urgent struggles through Jadagu’s compassionate perspective. What Is Going On? built on the small online fanbase Jadagu had developed by releasing music on SoundCloud for years as she realized her growing passion for songwriting.

Now, Jadagu is releasing Aperture, her first LP and most ambitious work to date. Written in the years between graduating from high school in Mesquite, TX and her sophomore year of college in New York, Aperture finds Jadagu in a state of transition. “Where I grew up, everyone is Christian; even if you don’t go to church, you’re still practicing in some form,” Jadagu says, laughing. “Moving out of my small hometown has made me reflect on how embedded Christianity is in the culture down there, and though I’ve been questioning my relationship to the church since high school, it’s definitely a theme on this album, but so is family.”

 As a kid, Jadagu followed her older sister – a major source of inspiration – to a local children’s chorus, where she received choral training. “I hated it,” Jadagu admits. “But it taught me how to harmonize, how to discover my tone, how to recognize and write melody.” The aching single “Admit It” is dedicated to Jadagu’s sister, whose love and impeccable taste have been a constant since Jadagu was a kid. The siblings were raised on mom’s Young Money mixtapes and the Black Eyed Peas (to whom Hannah credits her love of vocoder) but it was in the sanctity of her sister’s car that Jadagu discovered the indie artists who inspire her work.

With Aperture, Jadagu faced the challenge of finding a co-producer capable of complementing her work without dominating it. Enter Max Robert Baby, a French songwriter and producer who captured Jadagu’s attention with his take on Aperture’s lead single “Say It Now.” The duo worked remotely, sending stems to one another via email, before meeting in-person for the first time at Greasy Studios on the outskirts of Paris. “When I recorded my EP, it was all MIDI, but in the studio Max and I worked with a ton of analog instruments,” Jadagu says. “Every track on this album, except for ‘Admit It,’ was written first on guitar. But the blanket of synths throughout helps me move between sensibilities. There’s rock Hannah, there’s hip-hop Hannah, and so on. I didn’t want any of the songs to sound too alike.”

An aperture is defined as an opening, a hole, a gap. On a camera, it’s the mechanism that light passes through, allowing a photographer to immortalize a moment in time. For Jadagu, the word perfectly encapsulates the mood of her debut album. In the years it took her to complete, she faced moments of darkness, sure, but the process of making it was ultimately a cathartic experience, one she now shares with you. Let the light in”.

There are three albums from 26th May that I will finish off with. An album whose presence was announced recently, Paul Simon’s Seven Psalms sounds so interesting. Few expected news of a new album from Simon this year. His previous, In the Blue Light, came out in 2018. His fifteenth solo studio album is like nothing he has done before. Every music fan needs to pre-order one of this year’s most important albums:

“Recorded entirely on acoustic instruments and predominantly performed by Paul, Seven Psalms showcases Simon’s craft at its finest and most captivating, simply with his voice and guitar. Intended to be listened to as one continuous piece, the 33 minute, seven movement composition transcends the concept of the “album".

A stunning, intricately layered work, it’s a record which establishes an engaging and meditative, almost hymnal soundscape, with Paul’s lyrics providing the gravitational center for constellations of sound woven from guitar strings and other acoustic instrumentation – including choral elements from the highly-regarded British vocal ensemble VOCES8, and a beautiful vocal appearance by Edie Brickell.

True to the origin of psalms as hymns meant to be sung rather than spoken, Seven Psalms reaches back to the very genesis of folk music: King David’s Psalms. The result is a quietly moving musical experience which uncovers a wealth of subtle details with every repeated listen. A step apart from anything Paul Simon has released before, Seven Psalms defies categorization.

The record’s tone is complemented by its artwork, which features a close-up extract of “Two Owls” by the celebrated landscape artist Thomas Moran”.

A terrific young artist who is going to go far, Gretel Hänlyn releases Head of The Slug Club on 26th May. It is her first two E.P.s, Slugeye and Head of the Love Club, combined into a vinyl. You can pre-order it here, and I would suggest you do, as Hänlyn is an immense talent. Head of the Love Club came out in March, so you may have it already. I would urge people to go and get an album that brings together two E.P.s that highlights an amazing artist. I will bring in an interview from The Line of Best Fit, as they spotlighted someone that is going to have a very long career:

“Hänlyn, aka Maddy Haenlein, has taken time out of her afternoon to catch up at a pub in central London for a chinwag over a pint. She sips on her Guinness contently, feeling better after a nasty infection earlier in the week. But also coming in armed and ready with the prospect of new music, a run of live shows in April and a festival slot alongside the legendary Iggy Pop this Summer, her drink is sure to taste that extra bit sweeter.

“I feel really happy with how things are working out,” says Hänlyn as she reflects on her musical journey to date. She first cropped up in 2021 with her distinctively brooding vocals marking her adrift from her contemporaries.

PHOTO CREDIT: Brennan Bucannan

The buzz around Hänlyn has only grown since. Her debut EP Slugeye gained her critical acclaim and this month she deliver its follow up Head of the Love Club. It’s a bold new body of work which showcases an evolving artistic persona with depth, vulnerability and a brazen edge that’s characteristically ‘Gretel’. Most of all, it’s a statement that showcases just who Hänlyn is.

“I wasn’t trying to please any majority,” Hänlyn assures. “A lot of the time during recording, I was messing around with different vocal lines and styles that made me go ‘eugh, I hate that, let’s do it!’. It’s often the things that are ugly and a little too honest that resonate with people rather than nice, romanticised lyrics. They’re the kinds of things that make people think about what’s going on in their lives.”

Hänlyn’s capacity to confront challenges in her own life as a 20-year-old adult has been resolute. As a teenager, she went through an illness which impacted her muscle growth. This particularly affected her diaphragm, meaning that she had to learn how to sing all over again. “Emotionless” is how Hänlyn says she felt during that time and the numbness she experienced then continues to pervade her today.

PHOTO CREDIT: Brennan Bucannan 

“This is a little heavy, but I remember the time when I’d just finished my GCSEs, my mum sat me down and she told me that she had cancer," Hänlyn explains. "I didn’t feel a thing. Nothing happened inside of me. A few weeks ago, my aunt died. When I was told that, I didn’t feel a thing. It’s so weird. It makes me think like ‘what is wrong with me?’ But I think music is how I process emotions. I don’t get that catharsis without having processed it through a song first.

That cathartic release sprawls across Head of the Love Club, which fuses elements of Gothic fantasy influenced by her background in short horror stories with searing doses of introspection. From energetic lead singles like “Drive” to more pensive moments like “Little Vampire”, as well as the gloriously abrasive title track, there are a diverse range of soundscapes which paint the EP in a myriad of eerily dark and colourful tones. “When I go into a song, I don’t want there to be a reference track of what it sounds like,” says Hänlyn. “I had a clear idea of what of what I wanted and what I feel would impress me as a listener, which was how I approached the project.”

Her latest material has been essential for her to compose: “During the time when the majority of Head of the Love Club was written, I had quite a strange and unique relationship with someone who was a lot older than me,” she says looking down slightly nervously. “There was quite a strange dynamic; for around a year, I found myself being so confused and obsessed with this person that I felt powerless, like a little girl. So, a lot of the EP is me reflecting on that relationship and often how tiny it made me feel”.

There are two big albums to end up with. Following her award-winning 2021 debut album, Collapsed in Sunbeams, we are now going to get the anticipated My Soft Machine. This is an album that I suggest everyone pre-orders. It looks like it will another hugely successful and accomplished album from one of our finest and most important artists. Arlo Parks is truly sensational. Here are details of her second studio album:

“Twice Grammy-nominated, Mercury Prize and Brit Award-winning artist Arlo Parks is returning with her second album, My Soft Machine on Transgressive Records. My Soft Machine is a deeply personal body of work; a narration of Parks’ experiences as she navigates her 20’s and the growth intertwined. Explained ever-articulately in her own words below...

“The world/our view of it is peppered by the biggest things we experience - our traumas, upbringing, vulnerabilities almost like visual snow. This record is life through my lens, through my body - the mid 20s anxiety, the substance abuse of friends around me, the viscera of being in love for the first time, navigating PTSD and grief and self sabotage and joy, moving through worlds with wonder and sensitivity - what it’s like to be trapped in this particular body. There is a quote from a Joanna Hogg film called the Souvenir, it’s an A24 semi-autobiographical film with Tilda Swinton - it recounts a young film student falling in love with an older, charismatic man as a young film student then being drawn into his addiction - in an early scene he’s explaining why people watch films - “we don’t want to see life as it is played out we want to see life as it is experienced in this soft machine.” So there we have it, the record is called....My Soft Machine.” - Arlo Parks”.

Let’s finish off with the upcoming album from Sparks. The brilliantly-named The Girl Is Crying in Her Latte arrives on 26th May. From the L.A. siblings Ron and Russell Mael, you just know that this is going to be a real treat. Sparks are one of the most consistent groups (duos, technically) in music history. Their endurance and constant sense of invention is truly amazing. Their new album sounds terrific:

“Sparks release their hugely anticipated 26th studio album, The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte via Island Records. The LP marks Sparks’ first release on the venerable Island Records label in close to five decades, following such classics as 1974’s landmark Kimono My House, highlighted of course by the indelible hit single ‘This Town Ain’t Big Enough For Both Of Us’. The new album is described by Ron and Russell Mael as a record that is “as bold and uncompromising as anything we did back then or, for that matter, anytime throughout our career.” The album includes such instantly intriguing new musical vignettes as ‘Mona Lisa’s Packing, Leaving Late Tonight’ and ‘Nothing Is As Good As They Say It Is’, songs which once again display Sparks’ seemingly ceaseless ability to craft complete, intricately detailed stories within perfect three-and-a- half minute pop masterpieces. Both characteristically timeless and unequivocally modern, The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte once again affirms that, after more than a half century making such masterpieces, Sparks remain inimitable, ingenious and, as ever, utterly one of a kind”.

If you need other album tips, there are some more here, but the ones I have suggested and outlined are well worth thinking about. Huge releases from Sparks, Paul Simon, and Arlo Parks sit alongside treasures from Madison McFerrin, and BC Camplight. If you need some guidance as to which May-due albums are worth pre-ordering, then I hope the above…

WAS of assistance.

FEATURE: Inspired By… Part Ninety-Five: Adele

FEATURE:

 

 

Inspired By…

PHOTO CREDIT: Charlotte Wales for THE FACE

 

Part Ninety-Five: Adele

_________

THERE are a couple of reasons…

why Adele is now up in Inspired By… It has been an oversight until now but, on 5th May, she turns thirty-five. Ed Sheeran titles his albums with mamthmet6ic symbols (+, % etc.), and Adele of important birthday milestones. You wonder whether there will be a remix album or something where you mix their albums together to come up with a sum! Anyway, 2021’s 30 is the most recent album from the London-born artist. As her thirty-fifth birthday is not far away, I wonder whether the next album will mark that occasion? 25 (2015), 21 (2011) and 19 (2008) came before. Now, with a big birthday ahead and so much changing in her life since she was thirty (in 2018), one wonders what her next chapter will explore. I might do another feature ahead of her birthday. Now, because is such an influential artist, it is high time I put her in Inspired By… Before I get there, AllMusic provide a detailed biography of the legend:

“Weaving classic soul, confessional songwriting, and pop polish, English singer Adele became a global phenomenon in the 2010s, breaking records and collecting accolades along the way with her powerhouse vocals and all-too-relatable songs. Beginning with her 2011 sophomore set, 21, no singer could compare in terms of sheer sales or stardom and Adele existed in a different stratosphere than her British or American peers, selling tens of millions of albums at a time when many musicians struggled just to get to a million. The key to Adele's appeal lay in her sly, subtle execution, first heard on her 2008 debut LP, 19 (named, like her subsequent albums, for her age upon the time of its creation), and its U.K. Top Ten single "Chasing Pavements." However, it was 21 and its hit singles "Rolling in the Deep," "Someone Like You," and "Set Fire to the Rain" that established her as an artist of a generation. In 2015, she continued to break records with her third effort, 25. Ushered in by the global smash "Hello," the set became the best-selling album in the world in 2015, staying at number one in the U.S. for ten consecutive weeks and taking home Grammy Awards for Album of the Year, Best Pop Vocal, Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Pop Solo Performance. After an extended break, she returned in 2021 with her fourth LP, the aptly titled 30, which again proved a Brit Award- and Grammy-winning global chart-topper, paving the way for her first Las Vegas residency.

Born in London in 1988, Adele Laurie Blue Adkins first made an impression in 2006 when her demo landed her a deal with XL Recordings. She toured as an opening act for Jack Penate, and graduated to headlining status by the end of 2007, thanks to BBC Radio 1 playing her single "Daydreamer"; another song, "Hometown Glory," was also released as a single on Jamie T.'s label Pacemaker. An appearance alongside Paul McCartney and Björk on the BBC 2 television show Later with Jools Holland came next, and a recording contract with XL Recordings was finalized soon afterward. Early 2008 brought similar luck as Adele found herself atop the BBC's new music talent list, which was compiled from the votes of 150 music critics. That same January, XL issued a new single, "Chasing Pavements," along with her first album, 19. The title reflected Adele's age at the time of the record's release, and its popularity resulted in the release of several bonus editions throughout the year. In 2009, she won Grammy Awards for Best New Artist and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.

Her sophomore album, 21, featuring the gospel and disco-infused single "Rolling in the Deep," was released in February 2011. The set proved to be both a critical and commercial success, becoming one of the longest-running number one albums in history and spending over 18 weeks at the top spot. The glow of 21's success was dimmed somewhat when Adele was forced to cancel her tour after suffering a hemorrhage on her vocal cords, undergoing surgery for the ailment in November 2011. That same month, she released the concert CD/DVD Live at the Royal Albert Hall. Both Adele and 21 received many end-of-year honors, and in February 2012, as album sales began to creep closer toward ten million copies, she won six major Grammy Awards, one of the few artists in history to accomplish the feat in one night.

In October 2012, Adele announced that she had recorded the theme to the 23rd James Bond film Skyfall. Produced by Paul Epworth and recorded at the prestigious Abbey Road Studios, the single entered the Top Ten of both the U.K. singles chart and the Billboard Hot 100 upon its release. By early 2013, 21 had registered sales of over 25 million copies. Although she promised she was in the early stages of creating her third album, 2013 and 2014 came and went without fresh material.

In mid-2015, reports of an imminent third album started to surface, and the rumors were confirmed in October by Adele and her label. Its first single, "Hello," debuted at number one in both the U.K. and U.S., becoming the first song to sell over a million downloads in its first week of release. 25 debuted worldwide in late November 2015 and broke the single-week U.S. sales record previously held by *NSYNC's No Strings Attached. 25 went on to top the Billboard 200 for ten weeks and took home Grammy Awards in 2017 for Album, Song, and Record of the Year, as well as Best Pop Solo Performance and Pop Vocal.

Following several years of relative quiet, Adele resurfaced in October 2020 to host an episode of Saturday Night Live. A year later, she issued the single "Easy on Me," the first offering from her fourth album, November 2021's 30. Featuring production input from familiar faces Greg Kurstin, Max Martin, Shellback, and Tobias Jesso, Jr., 30 also welcomed Ludwig Goransson and Sault's Inflo (Michael Kiwanuka, Little Simz) for a mature and graceful set that focused on themes of separation and parenthood. The album topped numerous global charts (including in the U.K. and on the Billboard 200) and took home the Brit Award for British Album of the Year and the Grammy Award for Best Pop Solo Performance for "Easy on Me." Although delayed due to COVID-19, in November 2022 the singer also launched her live Las Vegas residency, Weekends with Adele, held at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace”.

To showcase the influence of Adele – and mark her upcoming thirty-fifth birthday -, below is a playlist of songs from artists who are inspired by her. I can hear her impact when I hear the music of artists coming through. It is clear how important she is. A titan of modern music. Her impact and influence will reign and continue for…

MANY years to come.

FEATURE: We’ve Got a File on You: Blur’s Think Tank at Twenty

FEATURE:

 

 

We’ve Got a File on You

  

Blur’s Think Tank at Twenty

_________

THE seventh studio album from Blur…

was one that sort of signalled a new direction and sense or reinvention - but, also, it could be the last thing we heard from them. Because Think Tank was released on 5th May, 2003, I wanted to celebrate its upcoming twentieth anniversary. It is amazing that Think Tank is so cohesive and extraordinary. If some critics gave it mixed reviews when it came out, there was reason or that. Guitarist Graham Coxon was being treated for alcoholism. At the start of the sessions, one of their major forces was not getting on with the band. Coxon did re-join Blur was their follow-up album, 2015’s The Magic Whip (which is also their most current album). It is the only Blur album without Coxon. A lot of Blur’s brilliance stemmed from Coxon’s guitar brilliance and songwriting. Maybe because of that, Think Tank leans more heavily on genres like Jazz, Electronic, and influences of African music. The band’s lead, Damon Albarn, expanded his musical palette. With sessions beginning in November 2001, it was split between London, Morocco, and Devon. Produced by Ben Hillier with additional production by Norman Cook (Fatboy Slim) and William Orbit, I think that Think Tank is one of Blur’s top three albums. Maybe the third spot, but it is one that pushes away from the more guitar-driven sound they were working with up until and including 1999’s 13. That was four years before a completely different-sounding album. In 2000, the greatest hits album was released. It seemed like a point to look back and celebrate this band who put out their debut album, Leisure, nine years earlier. An album that discusses peace, an anti-war stance and love, there is something blissfully together and embracing when it comes to Think Tank. I love how there are so many textures and sounds running through the album.

Graham Coxon does feature on one song: Battery in Your Leg. Many felt that a Coxon-less Blur was missing something weighty and definitive. Maybe a little lacklustre and damaged because of his departure, others felt Damon Albarn was running amuck and using the opportunity to dominate. It is clear that Coxon’s loss is big, but Think Tank succeeds and adapts wonderfully. It is not the same as previous albums, but I think it is more focused and satisfying than 13, Leisure, The Great Escape, The Magic Whip and even Modern Life is Rubbish. Whilst Parklife will always be king, and the 1997 eponymous album is very special and gets the runner-up place, Think Tank deserves that bronze medal. Twenty years after its release, I don’t think it is discussed and explored as much as it should be. From the sublime opener, Ambulance, to the haunted Battery in Your Leg, there is not a weak moment! The weirdness of Crazy Beat sits easily against the aptly-named Sweet Song and Good Song. We’ve Got a File on You is sixty-three second thrash of paranoia and silliness. On the Way to the Club and Moroccan Peoples Revolutionary Bowls Club see Blur doing something they have never done in terms of sound and direction. Jets is a long song, but it is one that draws you in and earns its place. My favourite song on the album, Caravan, is gorgeous and puts your mind in the Moroccan desert.

I want to bring in a couple of reviews soon. Before that, and providing some backdrop on Think Tank and the disruption and changes Blur faced in the ranks, Albumism celebrated fifteen years of Blur’s seventh studio album in 2018. Think Tank is such a rich listen where Damon Albarn, Dave Rowntree and Alex James are from alone! Joined by some incredible session musicians, they are given these extra layers and colours that means you have a wealth of wonder and diversity to behold:

“The meteoric rise and rule of Britpop in the 1990s could be aligned with the reign of its greatest sons, Blur. The four puckish boys—Damon Albarn (lead vocals/keyboards), Graham Coxon (guitar/backing vocals), Alex James (bass), Dave Rowntree (drums)—formed in 1988 in London. Out of their union came Leisure, their 1991 debut LP. Five more albums followed—Modern Life is Rubbish (1993), Parklife (1994), The Great Escape (1995), Blur (1997), and 13 (1999)—yielding an endless stream of hits, sales and renown. Then suddenly, the Britpop bubble popped. Blur, wisely, sensing the shift in public sentiment toward the rock sub-genre they helped build issued a customary singles retrospective in 2000 and went quiet for a moment.

In that space of time, the quartet split off to pursue personal and artistic endeavors. Most notably, Albarn founded Gorillaz with digital artist Jamie Hewlett. The outfit’s inaugural effort Gorillaz was released in March of 2001 to acclaim and newfound notoriety for Albarn. However, in the second half of that same year, Blur reconvened to discuss a new record and its intentions.

Think Tank, Blur's seventh album, was an appropriate title as the effort was to serve as a space for all four members to come together and brainstorm about how to move the Blur brand forward into a new decade. There were complications ahead for Think Tank though. Coxon's battle with alcoholism had come to a head and led to his inability to commit to Think Tank. Friction between Coxon and the three Blur men ensued. Excluding his contribution to “Battery in Your Leg,” Coxon stepped away from the project, entering a rehabilitation center to treat his illness. He wouldn’t rejoin Blur until 2015's The Magic Whip.

Down to a trio for the first time, Albarn, James and Rowntree were united by the struggle born out of Coxon's departure. Written and recorded in studios in Devon, London, and Marrakesh, the musical and lyrical treasures of this collection are vast. Musically, with production aid from Ben Hillier, William Orbit and Norman “Fatboy Slim” Cook, Blur infuse their already rhythmic rock stylings with club, jazz, dub and worldbeat motifs.

A part of Blur's appeal at their zenith was that they never stood totally still within the Britpop framework that they defined. Demonstrable risks, like Parklife's pseudo-dance-punk homage “Girls and Boys,” were immediate examples of this. The difference with Think Tank is that it sought to expand their experimental appetites across the entire span of an album, not just limit them to a few tracks.

Blur augmented their band sound with a wealth of session musicians, but they kept their hands on the record's reins as heard in the respective exercising of the trio's abilities as songwriters, arrangers, producers and instrumentalists. James' bass pumps and prowls on every cut on Think Tank, but the album's rousing and filmic opener “Ambulance” and the lolling groover “Good Song” really show off his chops. Alongside James' bass lines are Rowntree's own familiar drumming patterns, notably active on the biting, punky “Crazy Beat.” But things get really interesting in listening to Rowntree sitting among the miscellany of other percussionists employed for the LP—their unification births the smooth and smoky “Out of Time,” later elected as the set's first single.

Lyrically, the songs alternate between the supposedly dichotomous subjects of romance (“Sweet Song”), anti-war pieces (“Good Song”), informal social commentary (“Brothers and Sisters”) and more. Regardless, all of the songs here are soaked in Albarn's sexy, woozy croon that, effectively, mesmerizes the listener, driving him or her to dive deeper into the depths of Think Tank's contents”.

There are a couple of reviews that are not that kind. There are plenty of positive ones. I do think there has been a lot or re-evaluation and revision since 2003. Maybe there was this negativity towards Blur continuing without Graham Coxon in the fold. That said, many publications named it among their favourite albums of 2003. This is what NME wrote in a review from 2005:

“Due to some weird accident of timing, we’re currently getting a masterclass on how – and how not – to sustain a long career in pop. Jarvis is back under new (dis)guise Relaxed Muscle, Radiohead return with an album that disappointingly occupies the same musical space as the last two, Oasis bestride the world like an arthritic Colossus and then there’s Blur.

They’ve always known the value of keeping one step ahead, of having a new ‘concept’ for each record, which has always made them objects of suspicion by the rock authenticity police. This time, however, change has been forced on them by the departure of Graham Coxon, and the ‘concept’ is not Damon’s daughter (as Justine Frischmann once tartly claimed it would be – actually, maybe that was Gorillaz) but Africa and anti-stardom.

Now that Gorillaz have sold millions of records without Damon even having to show his face, Blur claim to be disdainful of the pop process, of presenting themselves as personalities. This makes sense when contrasted with inescapable pop trasherati like Victoria Beckham, and the fact that Blur are no longer the fresh-faced sex symbols of yore. But it’s really no different from attitudes of snooty Seventies prog rockers, who thought the normal pop modes of communication (being on Top Of The Pops, releasing singles) were somehow beneath them. So ‘Out Of Time’, their most straightforwardedly touching single for ages, has a video Blur don’t even appear in, two gorgeous ballads are given the dismissive titles ‘Good Song’ and ‘Sweet Song’ and the album opens with ‘Ambulance’, which on first listen sounds exactly like something from David Bowie‘s dreadful ‘Heathen’. “We could have made a pop album,” Blur seem to be saying, “but that would have been too easy.”

Sigh. But despite Damon removing two “potential radio smashes” from ‘Think Tank’ because they “didn’t fit in” (because he was saving them for Gorillaz, more like), it’s still accessible and enjoyable despite, you often feel, the intentions of its creators. While ‘Jet’ is toe-curling free-jazz toss and the Norman Cook-assisted ‘Crazy Beat’ sounds like four old yobs making an exhibition of themselves in a disco, Norm’s other track ‘Gene By Gene’ is an effortless pop gem (with a title which probably doesn’t refer to Liam Gallagher’s youngest child). Then there’s the summery, Arabian side of the album, with ‘Caravan’ and ‘On The Way To The Club’ both luxuriating in the kind of grace and mystery which dissolves cynicism on impact.

Blur’s “and this is me” moment is the closing ‘Battery In Your Leg’, the only song still featuring Graham Coxon (‘Blur featuring Graham Coxon’ – how R&B). “I’ve got nothing to rely on/I’ve broken every bone,” sings Damon frailly, as Graham chimes out the saddest-sounding guitar riff ever, so loud it obliterates the singing. It’s a hugely apt and moving epitaph.

God knows what will happen next – there’s certainly no sense of urgency and ambition in Blur themselves. Yet against the odds, ‘Think Tank’ is a success, a record which might not mean much to Strokes fans but which shows Blur’s creative spark is undimmed even while their stomach for the pop fight fades. After all this time, they still demand to be heard”.

I am going to round things off with a review from Pitchfork. There is a lot of focus on Damon Albarn and Graham Coxon. Maybe seen as the two leaders and most important members in the band, Think Tank is actually made stronger and defined by Alex James and Dave Rowntree. Their incredible instinct, musicianship and interaction is key when it comes to Think Tank’s wonderful depths and extraordinary moments. They create so much nuance and groove:

“Which brings us to Blur and their long-developed Think Tank, recorded in Morocco without founding guitar icon Graham Coxon. Rock 'n' roll precedent begs certain questions. Will the loss of Coxon equate to the loss of Brian Jones (or Mick Taylor) or a hypothetical loss of Keith Richards? Will Think Tank be another Cut the Crap, The Final Cut, Dr. Byrds and Mr. Hyde, Carl and the Passions (So Tough), Good Stuff, And Then There Were Three, Wake of the Flood, Mag Earwig, Stranded, One Hot Minute, Face Dances, Standing on the Shoulder of Giants, Other Voices, Squeeze, Muse Sick-N-Hour Mess Age, Ultra, Drama, Slow Buildings, Road Hawks, Now and Them, or Chinese Democracy? Or more along the lines of Sticky Fingers, Back in Black, XTRMNTR, Adore, Up, In the Studio, Movement, Everything Must Go, Soft Bulletin, Power, Corruption & Lies, First Step, Damaged, Green Mind, This Is Hardcore, Coming Up, Full House, and ...And Justice for All?

With the exception of a year back in 1995, Blur have never rested on their laurels. Unlike their peers, they've delivered each album dipped in a drastic new element while keeping a consistent melodic heart. Albarn has always taken his shots, and thirteen years on seems to savor the challenge. Take, for instance, 2002's Mali Music, his rich, ethereal solo equivalent to Brian Jones' The Pipes of Pan at Joujouka: not content to simply document the musical heritage of the locals, Albarn stepped in alongside Afel Bocoum, protegé to Ali Farka Toure, humming his melodica during Niger-side jams and later reassembling the results in London as a montage of British-pop sensibilities with post-production special effects and punches of guitar, bass, and keyboard. The ambience and dust of the Malian excursion settles heavily over Think Tank, and notably, Albarn seems to have picked up more guitar skills from Bocoum than Coxon. The majestic, snaking "Out of Time" relies less on the lugubrious, Gibraltar-docked solo than the vast, four-dimensional environment surrounding it. One gets the sense that even if Graham Coxon had caught the flight to Marrakesh, Think Tank wouldn't have turned out much different.

Of course, all this focus on Damon and Graham discredits Alex James and Dave Rowntree, who really push Think Tank through the sand. The two both preempted the critics by perfectly describing the new music in interviews. James claimed Think Tank "has hips," while Rowntree simply said it's most similar to Parklife. James goes the furthest in giving Blur hips, beyond often posing with his protruding-- with the focus off Coxon, his brilliant bass playing will finally be seen as the vital element in Blur. It gave "Girls and Boys", "Parklife", "Coffee and TV", and "Song 2" their major hooks, while Graham hammered away on minimal riffs. If you're air-playing anything along to those tracks, it's the air-bass you're wriggling your index and middle fingers to. Likewise, Think Tank is laden with creative bass leads.

Like being plopped down in Morocco for the first time, or Covent Garden for that matter, Think Tank takes some reorienting. To answer the questions posed earlier, the album is laughably miles better than every album on the first list, and surprisingly better than, or just as good as, every single one on the other. But don't just judge it as an album by a band coming off a major line-up change. You won't need to”.

On 5th May, Blur’s Think Tank turns twenty. Many assumed that it would be quits for them after the album was released. Their next studio  album did not arrive until twelve years after Think Tank. The band are playing a very special show at Wembley Stadium on 8th July. They are strong and together after all of these years. There are no plans for them to follow-up The Magic Whip. The four members have busy live. Damon Albarn always has music coming out! Dave Rowntree released a solo album earlier this year, Radio Songs. Graham Coxon has released solo material. With his wife and fellow musicians Rose Elinor Dougall, they are The WAEVE. Their eponymous album is among the year’s best. Like Radiohead, if the busy band members come together again, it might not be for a while yet. I also have another Blur album feature coming soon, as Modern Life Is Rubbish turns thirty on 10th May. In pite of Graham Coxon missing from the band and there being this sense of having to quickly refocus and reconfigure for their seventh studio album, Think Tank stands up as…

A glorious revelation.

FEATURE: Also Known as Rolling the Ball… Kate Bush’s Them Heavy People at Forty-Five

FEATURE:

 

 

Also Known as Rolling the Ball…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush performing Them Heavy People during her 1979 Christmas special/PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images

 

Kate Bush’s Them Heavy People at Forty-Five

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I have assessed this song a few times before…

but it is coming up for an anniversary, so I wanted to look it once more. Released as a single in Japan on 5th May, 1978, Rolling the Ball reached number three. The actual title of the song is Them Heavy People, and it appeared on Kate Bush’s debut album, The Kick Inside. That turned forty-five in February. One of two Japanese singles released from the album (the other being Moving), I am going to refer to the song as Them Heavy People throughout, as that is the actual title, and the one that most people associate with it. The reason it is called Rolling the Ball as it is a refrain from the song. These words open the song, so it is understandable why the Japanese market would chose that title. Also, they might not understand what the word ‘heavy’ would mean in the context of a song that deals more with philosophy and learning, rather than any weight or feeling of oppression. The Kate Bush Encyclopedia references an interview where Bush discussed the meaning behind Them Heavy People:

“The idea for 'Heavy People' came when I was just sitting one day in my parents' house. I heard the phrase "Rolling the ball" in my head, and I thought that it would be a good way to start a song, so I ran in to the piano and played it and got the chords down. I then worked on it from there. It has lots of different people and ideas and things like that in it, and they came to me amazingly easily - it was a bit like 'Oh England', because in a way so much of it was what was happening at home at the time.

My brother and my father were very much involved in talking about Gurdjieff and whirling Dervishes, and I was really getting into it, too. It was just like plucking out a bit of that and putting it into something that rhymed. And it happened so easily - in a way, too easily. I say that because normally it's difficult to get it all to happen at once, but sometimes it does, and that can seem sort of wrong. Usually you have to work hard for things to happen, but it seems that the better you get at them the more likely you are to do something that is good without any effort. And because of that it's always a surprise when something comes easily. I thought it was important not to be narrow-minded just because we talked about Gurdjieff. I knew that I didn't mean his system was the only way, and that was why it was important to include whirling Dervishes and Jesus, because they are strong, too. Anyway, in the long run, although somebody might be into all of them, it's really you that does it - they're just the vehicle to get you there.

I always felt that 'Heavy People' should be a single, but I just had a feeling that it shouldn't be a second single, although a lot of people wanted that. Maybe that's why I had the feeling - because it was to happen a little later, and in fact I never really liked the album version much because it should be quite loose, you know: it's a very human song. And I think, in fact, every time I do it, it gets even looser. I've danced and sung that song so many times now, but it's still like a hymn to me when I sing it. I do sometimes get bored with the actual words I'm singing, but the meaning I put into them is still a comfort. It's like a prayer, and it reminds me of direction. And it can't help but help me when I'm singing those words. Subconsciously they must go in. (Kate Bush Club newsletter number 3, November 1979)”.

A song that many fans would recognise, but not one that you hear played on the radio (that applies to most of Bush’s catalogue it seems!), I wanted to revisit one of her moments. One of the standout tracks from The Kick Inside, there is so much to love about Them Heavy People. A song that does speak about truth and knowledge, maybe it was a bit intellectual and inaccessible to some during a time of Punk. In 1978, there was nobody like Kate Bush, singing about the sort of things she was. It is understandable that she felt it should be a single, and I am glad that it was released in Japan and did really well. I disagree that the album version is weak or should be looser. It might seem too live-sounding if it was, and the album version is punchy and memorable. Them Heavy People was performed live quite a few times. It soundtracked a Seiko advert Bush was a part of in Japan. She performed it when opening a Dutch theme park. It was also performed on T.V. and numerous times during The Tour of Life in 1979. I always felt that it should have been included on her 1986 greatest hits album, The Whole Story. It is another reason why we need another greatest hits album or collection of her best work. It is always a pity that Them Heavy People didn’t get a music video. Well it did, but it was a live version of the song. It would be interesting to see what would have come to light if something scripted were filmed. That live version was her during 1979’s The Tour of Life. The lead single from the On Stage E.P., I never really classify it as an official U.K. single. I always think of Them Heavy People as being a Japan-only release. In any case, she did release it here on 31st August, 1979, where it got to number ten.

I do also love the different ways the song was portrayed live. In terms of Bush’s clothing, she performed it on BBC’s Saturday Night at the Mill in Eastern/Japanese-inspired wear (a kimono of sorts). Introduced by Peter Cook, she performed it on Revolver in smarter, more formal wear. For her 1979 Christmas special, she was more casual and boho. She wore similar wear for the music video version, but she also performed the song in the U.S. for Saturday Night Live (her only performance for them). This song about religion and Bush trying to learn as much as she could when she was young, it is a very mature and perceptive song from someone who was fresh in her career. Bush grew up around music, and her brother John is a superb and acclaimed poet. I suspect that some of his words and talents inspired his sister. She was an incredible poet herself, and it is always amazing she was writing such advanced and deep songs as a teenager! The studio version features Stuart Elliott on drums, David Paton on the bass, Kate and her brother Paddy doing backing vocals. The late Ian Bairnson provides guitar. His incredible guitar work can be heard through The Kick Inside. It is especially memorable and epic on Wuthering Heights. It is so sad that he is no longer with us. A song that was released as a single in Japan almost forty-five years ago, I was eager to mark the anniversary. On 5th May, 1978, the Japanese market received this treat. In June, to promote the single, The Kick Inside, and get her music better known there, she visited the country. It remains one of the most extraordinary and unusual moments in her career so far. Aside from the Seiko advert, on 18th June, she performed Moving to an audience of 11,000 people at the Nippon Budokan for the 7th Tokyo Music Festival. That single was released in Japan in February, 1978, so she did have a fanbase and visibility there. The majestic and knowledge-seeking Them Heavy People may be forty-five, but it is as mesmeric and important now as it ever was. It is a fabulous and captivating song from…

THE queen of music.

FEATURE: It Would Be, It Would Be So Nice: A Final Look Inside Madonna’s Celebration Tour

FEATURE:

 

 

It Would Be, It Would Be So Nice

  

A Final Look Inside Madonna’s Celebration Tour

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IT must be tough…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Nina Westervelt/Getty Images

preparing for an exhaustive tour that takes you all around the world. This is true of any artist but, when you deliver the kind of shows that Madonna has through her career, maybe that expectation and sense of scale is a lot larger and more daunting than it is for most. I am going to write other Madonna features through the year but, when it comes to her Celebration Tour, this might be the last one. She starts out on 15th July in Vancouver, and the tour runs right through to 27th January, 2024, at the Palacio de los Deportes in Mexico City. It is a long tour that will see Madonna travel around the world. Even though there have been newspaper reports that Madonna has been feeling the strain when it comes to physical preparations, that is to be expected. She is someone who wants things to be perfect, and so many of her songs are very physical and intense. After a lot of rehearsal and drilling, it must be exhausting and painful. This is Madonna’s first worldwide tour for a while, so it is just a case of music memory. A lot of the media have been throwing around jibes about her age (Madonna is sixty-four) and whether she is ‘too old’ to be performing or pretending that she is the artist she was in her twenties – which, at no stage, has she been trying to do. The truth is that Madonna has incredible vitality and strength, and it is going to be a tough series of shows from a physical and emotional perspective. With that love and energy from the audiences each night, there is also the demands that come with mounting and executing a huge set.

There will be a lot of media eyes on the tour. I am not sure whether there are going to be tour diaries or an official documentary around the Celebration Tour, but I am sure there will be a live album at some point (her 2009 greatest hits album, Celebration, might be a starting point when it comes to the setlist). Part of the point of the tour is to mark forty years of her hit, Holiday. From her 1983 debut album (which is forty in July), that song came out in September 1983 - and it remains one of her most-loved classics. This is a celebration of her forty-plus-year career. New dates have been recently added, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the tour ran even further! It is going to be a huge undertaking for Madonna and her crew, but it is also going to be a chance for fans new and diehard to show their respects to their icon. Madonna discussed the tour with Vanity Fair earlier in the year. She also talked about her biopic. That has now been very much put on hold. I think the explanation was that the script offered to Madonna (who was to direct) was not gritty or raw enough. Maybe a little conservative or safe. Also, in a year where she needs to channel all her focus to a tour, a biopic could not realistically start production until this time next year. Maybe it will come back to the spotlight – let’s hope so at least. I think that the setlist and stage will be the most extensive and ambitious of Madonna’s career. It could well be her final tour. Whilst she has been photographed in the studio working on new material, perhaps it for a single rather than a whole album. Again, you would imagine her mind and full focus is going to be on the tour.

On that front…one imagines what the set will look like. The Celebration Tour is pays tribute to her four-decade career. It also pays homage to the city of New York. This is where her career in music began. I can envisage cityscapes and street settings. Maybe there will be this chronological take, where she starts by performing songs from her debut album and then it builds to her most recent work, Madame X (2019). I am not sure whether all of her studio albums will get a look in, but there will be special focus on her 1983 debut. At the moment, there are rehearsals and planning. Making sure the dancers and crew are in sync. With less than three months until the first date, it is going to be a time where everything is getting more real and ramped up. It will be interesting to see whether Madonna recreates sets and looks from previous tours like The Blond Ambition World Tour of 1990, or whether she will create whole new looks and sets. There will be plenty of surprises through the set. But many are going to ask what the setlist contains. It is tough to narrow it down – give the extent of her career and how many songs she has been on -, but I think there will be a weighting on the best-known hits, rather than too many deep cuts or unexpected tracks. Whatever does happen, things are being put into place at the moment.

Aside from all the press poison and those who wonder why Madonna is touring, this is a big moment for music in general. Undoubtedly one of the most important and influential artists ever, Madonna is throwing the biggest celebration this year. Forty years since her eponymous debut and the Holiday single, it is going to be a real thrill for the fans!  As you can see from her Instagram, things are starting to move. The photos and videos look amazing. It is clear that, after all of these years, Madonna still gets a real thrill and buzz from taking to the road and performing for the fans. Not only is the Celebration Tour a chance to mark anniversaries and play one of Pop music’s finest catalogues. It s testament to the fact that Madonna has this incredible endurance and endless importance. Fans want to see her on the stage, and we are going to get albums from her for years to come. Over forty years since she started out, here is this career that is still so alive and fascinating! It will give heart and impetus to a lot of other artists out there who wonder whether it is possible to sustain such a long career. Maybe Madonna is an exceptional example, but she will doubtless give a big kick and nod to those coming through. With six months of dates in the diary so far, who knows how much longer the Celebration Tour will last. The fans want to see Madonna perform and, whilst it will be physically demanding, she is up to the task. It all starts on 15th July at the Rogers Arena…

IN Vancouver.

INTERVIEW: Electric Pets

INTERVIEW:

 

Electric Pets

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ONE of the finest rising bands around…

Electric Pets hail from Derby and consist of Emma Buckley, Phil Wagg, Pete Darrington and Adam Grace. The band burst on to the U.K. music scene in the spring of 2022, releasing four singles and two E.P.s via the Reckless Yes label. In a very brief time, they have become firm favourites of BBC Introducing, having just recorded a live session for them, as well receiving airplay from the legendary John Kennedy on his Radio X show, Xposure. Their amazing new single, Elephant Can Swim, is out in the world, and I was keen to know more about it, in addition to how the band formed and what comes next. Guitarist Phil Wagg reveals more about a wonderful new cut, how the quartet found one another, and what the future holds for the sensational band. They mix darker Pop elements with a hypotonic and swaggering Garage Rock sound. I know Emma Buckley through her previous solo work, but Electric Pets are an exciting new band to my ears that I instantly connected with. Wagg discusses the music scene in Derby, why they are releasing a string of singles before the summer, and how it feels to have captured such a loyal and loving fanbase. If you have not discovered Electric Pets yet, then rectify that right away. They are a sensational band that are going to go…

 A mighty long way.

__________________

Hi Electric Pets. How are you? How has your week been?

Phil Wagg: Incredibly hectic, but in a good way, you know?

For those new to your music, can you explain how the group got together? Did you all have shared tastes in music?

Ha! Quite the opposite - and that’s what makes us work. Pete and Phil (Bass and Guitar/BVs) have been in bands together for a long time, try as they might to become the new Queens of the Stone Age. Emma (Vocals and Guitar) has been on a kinda solo Acoustic singer-songwriter trip since time memorial. And Adam (our superb drummer) is essentially Death Metal incarnate. But, of course, we all like all sorts of things. None of us limit our listening tastes or writing habits to one genre anymore. Completely sick of that nonsense.

If we have an idea, and it seems to want to point in certain direction, we don’t limit ourselves to say: “We can’t do that, that’s not us, what will ‘people’ think”.  That way ruin lies. It’ll either be the making or the breaking of us, i.e. this wonderful industry very much likes to pigeonhole acts into one or (max) two swim lanes. If the sum of your whole creativity can’t be described in one tiny soundbite, then ‘you don’t stand a chance’. We say, “fuck that”. The song is king, and we’ll let each song go where it needs to.

“But we have a wonderfully diverse, burgeoning, and fascinating music scene regardless of the fact that we are now sorely lacking in decent music venues locally”

You hail from Derby. It is an area of the world that is not spotlighted because of its music. Do you think more eyes should be on Derby’s music and live scene?

More eyes should be open to the fact that quality music, or art, or anything creative, doesn’t just come from the biggest (in terms of populace) two or three cities in any given country, i.e. the cities where the relevant industries seem to lazily base themselves (very) traditionally. It’s 2023. It’s a work from home, Internet culture now. Get with the programme, peeps. Does it really matter where anyone actually comes from or lives? Does that dictate whether or not they have a right to be successful or at least make a reasonable living from what they love to do and what they are good at? 

But, to answer your question specifically, you’re right. Few ‘hits’ have come from good old Derbados. But we have a wonderfully diverse, burgeoning, and fascinating music scene regardless of the fact that we are now sorely lacking in decent music venues locally. But adversity just makes you stronger, doesn’t it?

Tell me about your new single, Elephants Can Swim. What is the inspiration behind the track?

I was going through a particularly tough few weeks, and I had a chat with myself to lift me up out of my torpor. It’s essentially a conversation with myself; a kick up the arse so to speak. It’s a massive reminder to myself to just shake myself down and get on with it, when that kind of moment is needed. I.e. if elephants can swim, surely anything is possible, right?

 How does the new single differ in terms of sound and direction comparted to your previous work?

Elephants Can Swim is different, but we hope each of our songs if different from the next. It’s certainly more bombastic, in your face, and rawer than much of our other material. No room for subtlety, as such. But that’s exactly what was needed in the moment it was conceived? So in other words, it’s differences are what make it perfect for us. 

I understand you are releasing a string of singles from now to the end of summer. What brought that about, and can you give us a sneak peek regarding what future singles might be about?

Surprise, surprise: we don’t have lots of money, limitless studio time or a marketing budget ending in five zeros. So, whilst we actually have around two albums worth of material ready, we need to make every release count this year. Hence, the idea of drip-feeding singles out rather than gong whole hog into our first album, though that is on the cards for 2024 (exclusive!!! 😊). We’ll have another single out in June and the next in August. With another three ‘in the can’ between now and the end of 2023. The June single is one we are all very excited about…but more on that later.

It will lead to your debut album next year. Are you looking forward to people hearing that?

So, so much. I know new artists like us seem to have to focus on singles in this day and age, but we are very much cut from old cloth in that albums are God.

As Emma Buckley is your lead, it gets me to thinking about gender equality at festivals. There are still few booking female acts/female-led bands to headline. Do you think this will change, and have you faced any of this so far?

We truly hope it will change, and soon. The majority of the most exciting, challenging, and creative music released in recent months/years has been produced by female artists; surely, it’s only a matter of time? Fortunately, as Emma (as a solo artist) had already created a bit of a name for herself in certain circles, we have not yet personally experienced any prejudice - though we are no doubt that it exists out there.

“And with expectation comes great responsibility, and it is our plan to live up to that responsibility”

Are there going to be live gigs coming? Where can we see you play?

As I (Phil) type this, Emma is now eight months pregnant. So our last show for a little while was at the Bodega in Notts at the end of March '23. Our next two shows are in late-July at the Splendour and Y-Not festivals. Both of which we are super excited about.

You burst through about a year ago. In that time, you have racked up an army of fans, big streaming numbers, and attention from major radio stations. How does this make you feel?!

Oooof. Surprised, pleasantly? Grateful. Excited. Validated. But we are under no illusions. This is just the start. And with expectation comes great responsibility, and it is our plan to live up to that responsibility.

To finish, and for being a good sport, you can choose any song you like (other than your own) and I will include it here.

One of my favourite songs from the last few years is Shut Up Kiss Me by Angel Olsen. So that one please.

____________

Follow Electric Pets

FEATURE: Revisiting… Mica Millar – Heaven Knows

FEATURE:

Revisiting…

  

Mica Millar – Heaven Knows

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I was due to see Mica Millar…

perform at London’s Jazz Café on 5th May. I am on holiday, so I will get to miss out on a night that is sure to be transcendent and hugely powerful. Whilst it is a bit of a loss and I am desperate to see her live, I have been spending a lot of time with her amazing debut album, Heaven Knows. Before looking at the album, I would advise anyone to go and book a ticket to see her play if you can. Not only one of 2022’s best debut albums, Heaven Knows was one of the best albums of 2022 full stop! Whilst it did get some good coverage and really positive reviews, it would have been nice to see some of the bigger publications, magazines and newspapers give the album a spin and review. The Manchester-based Millar (who you can follow on Instagram, and Twitter) is a wonderful musician, singer, songwriter, and producer who released a staggering album with Heaven Knows. I will get to some reviews but, from her official website, here is some more details about an album I would advise everyone to hear:

“Releasing her debut album 'Heaven Knows' to critical review earlier this year, Mica Millar has quickly become one of the UK brightest new Soul stars, picking up Jazz FM's prestigious 'Soul Act of The Year 2022' award alongside a nomination for 'Breakthrough Act of The Year' and featuring on the front cover of the iconic Blues & Soul Magazine amidst an array of five star album and live reviews and national radio support.

Following two monumental album launch shows in September including a sold out show at the capital’s prestigious Jazz Café and a special hometown performance filling out the iconic Albert Hall, Manchester, Mica is due to announce her UK and European 2023 tour very soon but in the meantime she’ll be performing at Jazz Voice, the opening gala of the EFG London Jazz Festival on November 11th at Royal Festival Hall with the backing of esteemed arranger and conductor Guy Barker (MBE) and the 42-piece Festival Orchestra, broadcast live on BBC Radio 3 and screening on BBC 4.

Self-written, arranged and produced, Mica's debut album ‘Heaven Knows’ explores themes of human nature, spirituality, love, oppression, inequality and empowerment, drawing inspiration from a plethora of vintage soundscapes, most notably, soul, blues, gospel and jazz.

The album’s initial recording sessions took place at Middle Farm Studios, in Devon with a tight-knit team who laid the foundations for this courageous debut. Alongside guitarist Miles James (Michael Kiwanuka, Tom Misch, Cleo Soul) were Jonathan Tuitt (Drums), Arran Powell (Bass), Marc Morrison (Piano) [members of Emile Sande’s live band], lead engineer Lewis Hopkins (who Mica cites as a mentor who was instrumental in teaching her about live sound recording and sonics in the early stages of the albums production) and assistant engineer and photographer Andrew Thomas (who Mica later captured the album's sleeve photograph taken in Manchesters Albert Hall).

Against all odds, ‘Heaven Knows’ was completed during a tumultuous time in Mica’s life. Not only having to adapt to the effects of COVID on the industry - shifting from studio sessions to remote recording under lock down restriction, a big enough feat in itself, but in 2020 Mica’s broke her back, narrowly escaping permanent paralysis from the waist down. In extreme pain and having to learn to walk again, all recording came to a halt and nine months on Mica found herself still recovering from her injuries, amongst which, her core muscles, formerly powering her ever present, soaring vocals, had deteriorated. But instead of giving up, Mica pushed through these challenges with determination, taking on rigorous rehabilitation and never losing sight of her vision for the album.

“I didn't want Covid or my accident to impact my vision for the record. In fact, the time in recovery and lock down allowed me to think bigger and better in the end and ultimately become a much more experienced producer. Working one on one with musicians remotely opened up new possibilities for collaborating with other musicians on the record - people I had always wanted to work with (particularly musicians in the US) and this was so important for being able to achieve both the performances and sonics I wanted for each song on the record".

Notably, the fourteen track debut has been mixed by multi-platinum Producer/Engineer Brian Malouf, known for engineering Michael Jackson’s Bad album and working with Motown legend Stevie Wonder amongst many other Grammy award-winning works. Completing mixing sessions with Mica via Zoom from his state of the art studio facility in LA, Malouf credits Mica as a talent that is “every engineer’s dream” with a clear vision and outstanding songs, likening her production approach on single "Flashlights" to that of the legendary Quincey Jones.

Amongst those also credited on ‘Heaven Knows’ are esteemed bassist, Jerry Barnes (Whitney Houston, Nile Rodgers, Chic) who adds his signature bass sound to single ‘Preacher Man’, pianist/organist Bobby Sparks (Snarky Puppy, Kirk Franklin) who performed on single 'Will I See You Again', bassist and engineer Vince Chiarato (Black Pumas), bassist Brandon Rose (Marcus Miller), and Ricky Peterson and David Z Rivkin (long standing collaborators of Price and Etta James). Rivkin contributed to the album as a second arranger on "Fools Fate" and also linked Mica up with Prince/Fleetwood Mac organist Rickey Peterson to perform on the same track.

“It has been really amazing to work with people who have played on some of my favourite records of all time. Doing that from my home studio in Manchester was incredibly surreal”. says Mica.

Recorded between Manchester, Devon, New York, Minneapolis, Nashville, LA and other locations across the US and Mastered at the iconic Abbey Road Studios, Mastering Engineer, Geoff Pesche (Adele, Ed Sheeran), cited 'Heaven Knows' as his "favourite album project at Abbey Road Studios in 2021" and predicted Mica would be “the most exciting new artist releasing music in 2022”. Continuing, “I work on around 50 albums a year at Abbey Road, very few make it onto my iPod. This went straight on”.

Amassing over a million streams since it's release in June, ‘Heaven Knows’ has achieved widespread acclaim this summer, including a host of national radio support from the likes of Trevor Nelson at BBC Radio 2 and a slot on Clive Anderson’s ‘Loose Ends’ on BBC Radio 4. Championed by Craig Charles & Tom Robinson on 6 Music and by BBC Radio 1’s Victoria Jane and BBC Radio 2’s Good Morning Sunday, Jazz FM also cite her as one of their most played artists, A listing her most recent singles alongside 'Heaven Knows' receiving 'Album of The Week' and singles 'Girl', 'More Than You Give Me', 'Heaven Knows' and 'Will I See You Again' all being featured as 'Track of The Week'. Mica will also be Guest Head of Music across Jazz FM on Friday 4th November taking over the Jazz FM playlist all day and presenting her own one hour show featuring music that has inspired her”.

Apologies for dumping in a lot of information about one album but, as part of this Revisiting… feature, I argue why you need to check out an album that was either underrated or under-exposed upon its release. In terms of radio airplay, Heaven Knows is an album that should be spun across all major stations! Hopefully, when everyone recognises Mica Millar’s phenomenal talent, they will give the album some more coverage. I would urge everyone go buy the album, as it is a hugely passionate, powerful and nuanced album. Such wonderful production (from Millar) with these songs that get into the heart and soul. Prior to finishing off with reviews, there are two interviews that will give some additional background and personal insight into the album and the creative process. Last June, Soul&Jazz&Funk spoke with Mica Millar about a somewhat fraught and difficult process to completion of a highly anticipated debut album:

“So, as your career was shaping up, we were all hit by Covid and you of, of course, suffered a horrendous back accident… are you prepared to tell us how you coped with that… what kept you going?​

I had an accident in 2022 which resulted in me crushing one of my vertebrae and severely damaging my spinal cord. I was very nearly paralyzed so I’m incredibly lucky. It’s a long-term injury so it’s a lot to come to terms with but I’m definitely getting there.

Going through something so traumatic in the midst of recording the album was a real challenge but honestly, I just really didn’t want my injury to define me or impact what I had been working towards creatively. When Covid hit, it felt like one thing after another for me, I just thought, the universe is telling me to take some time out now. There were nine months where I was learning to walk so it wasn’t really feasible to work on the album, but I think that period of time did give me some perspective and when I was able to get back into my studio, I had a much clearer vision for how I’d finish the record.

Covid, in many ways, opened up a lot of opportunities for me to work with people I’d always wanted to work with in the US. Given everything was online at that time as we were in lockdown, recording remotely meant that could happen anywhere in the world. I’m glad I was able to take such a difficult situation and to make something really positive out of it.

Now you’re clearly in a better place and have three successful singles under your belt. How do you explain their success while your earlier ventures had less exposure?

I think you get out what you put in – this album has been three years in the making and I’ve spent a lot of time planning the release campaign with my team, filming music videos etc. With earlier releases I think I was testing the water really and with this I’ve really gone all out and the response has been incredible.

Your debut album is out this Friday, 10th June and the title track, ‘Heaven Knows’ has winning great reviews, why did you choose that as the title track?

For me, ‘Heaven Knows’ really sums up the themes across the album as well as my experience when creating it. The song is about moving between mindsets of belief and fear or self-doubt and trying to ground yourself in the knowing that everything is going to be OK – Heaven Knows or the Universe knows. The song explores themes of human nature, spirituality, oppression, love, empowerment and I think these all have duality or plurality in the way we experience them, and I love the duality of ‘Heaven Knows’ as a sentiment – it’s either an affirmation and a feeling of empowerment or an abandonment of control.

Yes, that one and the other two singles from the album all carry important messages… ‘Preacher Man’ dealt with escaping from capitalism in pursuit of what it truly means to be human; ‘Girl’ spoke of accepting and taking inspiration from the commonalities of our respective journeys through life and  ‘Heaven Knows’ explores the complexities of faith and fate and the duality of moving between mindsets. Are there more “didactic songs” on the album and can we expect some cuts with less lyrical complexity – songs that deal with things like romance, relationships etc… the traditional fare of popular music for want of a better description?

There are a lot of topics I explore on the album but yes, there are songs about relationships, love and heartache. That said, I really didn’t want to write an album of ‘love songs’ (and I could have done – I have plenty of those written). I thought very hard about the track order and the plethora of messages that I wanted to communicate. There were definitely other contenders for ‘singles’ ahead of the album but I thought it was important not only to showcase the songs and me as an artist, but also to introduce the subject matter. The album is ultimately about being human and we are complex beings.

Did you write all the songs yourself and what about the producer and musicians on the album?

For this album, I wrote, arranged and produced it myself independently. I had an amazing mentor in the early stages of recording called Lewis Hopkins who engineered a significant proportion of the record in the first studio sessions which we did over five days at Middle Farm in Devon. For that session I worked with Miles James (Michael Kiwanuka, Tom Misch, Cloe Soul), Jonathan Tuitt, Marc Morrison and Arran Powell (members of Emile Sande’s live band) with Lewis and another engineer called Andy Thomas who also took the photograph that was used for the album’s sleeve artwork.

After that, it was Covid, and I started recording with people remotely. On ‘Preacher Man’ I played piano and programmed a lot of the instrumentation and John Ellis (Lilly Allen, Corinne Bailey Rae) recorded organ and Jerry Barnes (Whitney Houston, Chic) recorded the bass part.

I worked on the other tracks with musicians mostly from the US. ‘Will I See You Again’ has Bobby Sparks (Snarkey Puppy) on piano and Marcus Miller’s prodigy Brandon Rose on Bass. I worked remotely with bass player and engineer Vince Chiarito (Black Puma’s) at Hive Mind Studio’s in New York to record drums on ‘Girl’ and ‘Will I See You Again’ and he brought in some brilliant musicians to play keys and organ and also played bass on a number of the songs too. Ricky Peterson (former Prince organist) and David Z (Prince, Etta James producer/engineer) both worked on ‘Fool’s Fate’ with me. There’s been some amazing musicians who’ve contributed to the record and bringing together people from across the ages of Soul music has really made this album what it is in many ways”.

I shall get to the reviews. First, and in a fascinating interview with 15 Questions, there are a couple of points I wanted to reference from it. I know she released her debut album last year, but I am already fascinated and excited to see what Mica Millar releases next. Such is the depth and breadth of her writing and vocal talent, you know that she is going to have an extremely fertile, long and celebrated career:

“Many writers have claimed that as soon as they enter into the process, certain aspects of the narrative are out of their hands. Do you like to keep strict control over the process or is there a sense of following things where they lead you?

There is definitely no strict control in my writing process or the process when creating a demo - whatever flows out. At a point though, when the decision is made to turn a song or an idea into a finished piece of work, that’s a very dedicated and much more disciplined process.

I suppose that’s when you move from ‘artist’ or ‘songwriter’ to ‘producer’ and it’s a very different headspace, skill set and process.

Often, while writing, new ideas and alternative roads will open themselves up, pulling and pushing the creator in a different direction. Does this happen to you, too, and how do you deal with it? What do you do with these ideas?

Yes it definitely does.

When I started the production process for the album there were seventeen songs. Three of them didn’t make it on to the record. That wasn’t because the songs fundamentally weren’t as good as the others, in fact, I think two of them are up there alongside my favorite songs that did make the cut. But at a certain point, I came to the conclusion that I had taken those songs in the wrong direction and they weren’t going to be realised in the way I wanted for this particular album.

With certain songs on the album, ideas were tried out and changed along the way, but once you’ve taken something so far in one direction, sometimes it’s a case of saying ‘that’s not fundamentally right’ and you need to scrap it and start again. So there were three songs where that happened. One I think just wasn’t quite good enough to start with and the other two will be on my second album now I have a clearer idea of what I want the finished versions to sound like.

There are many descriptions of the creative state. How would you describe it for you personally? Is there an element of spirituality to what you do?

Definitely, I think I discovered spirituality through music primarily. The creative state is for me about connecting with your inner self in a very deep and truthful way - it’s getting into a meditation or flow state.
After that, I think for me it has been about realising your own potential as well as the potential of a song. Creating something that other people connect and relate to that came from inside your mind is a very special, and I think quite spiritual, experience in itself”.

The first of two reviews that I want to highlight is, again, from Soul&Jazz&Funk. Big supporters of Mica Millar’s work, they were full of praise when it came to the divine and astonishing Heaven Knows. It is an album that I definitely feel needs some fresh ears and plays in 2023:

“Manchester soulstress MICA MILLAR has been on the scene since 2017 when she released her first single, ‘My Lover’. Since then, of course, an awful lot has happened and in Mica’s case the creative problems that the pandemic and lockdowns caused were compounded by an horrendous accident in 2020 that left her with a broken  back. Mica narrowly escaped being paralysed from the waist down. Instead of giving up, though, Mica pushed on  through the challenges, taking on rigorous rehabilitation, determined to carry on making her own brand of contemporary soul.

That grit has paid real dividends as Ms M’s three singles this year have won critical acclaim and support from the soul cognoscenti. First there was the moody ‘Preacher Man’ which dealt with escaping from capitalism in pursuit of what it truly means to be human . That was followed by the catchy ‘Girl’ which spoke of taking inspiration from the commonalities of our respective journeys through life. Then there was the lovely 60s retro groove  of ‘Heaven Knows’ – a song with a deep meaning , exploring things like faith and fate.

Mica has chosen ‘Heaven Knows’ as the title for her debut album, which is released today, June 10th and those three singles, despite their familiarity still offer sonic vibrancy and food for thought. Indeed throughout the set Mica’s songs deliver plenty more powerful messages. The moody ‘Trouble’ for instance, deals with resilience and facing your fears while the shifting ‘No Money, Nor Faith (Freedom)’ is a protest anthem about inequality, capitalism, oppression and human exploitation.

The album, though, isn’t all preaching. Mica offers plenty of music that deals with what we could call the normal fare of popular music – romance and relationships, though our girl puts her own spin on  it!  Take the inventively produced ‘Flashlight’. Mica calls this her “movie depiction of romance” – a sonic sketch of what it would feel like if being in love. ‘Will I See You Again’ is a moody “loss” ballad with a Southern soul flavour while the harmonic ‘Down River’ seems to hark back to the torch song era – another inventive production.

Sonically the cuckoo in the nest is the aforementioned ‘My Lover’. You’ll remember this was Mica’s debut single and it’s a song close to her heart so it was a no- brainer for her to include it on the LP.  Here the remastering enhances the song’s plaintive beauty – simple piano accompaniment and that soulfully, emotive voice.

And it’s that voice that’s the star of the show. Whether the songs are delivering a socio/political message or exploring that most elusive of emotions and all that it brings in its wake, it’s the beauty of the soundscape that will blow you away. If you really care about proper, contemporary soul music, you need to investigate. Little wonder that more than a few soul tastemakers are already talking about Mica Millar’s ‘Heaven Knows’ as Brit soul album of the year! Find out more by accessing our interview with Mica in our interview archive.

(BB) 5/5”.

I will end with a review from The Music Is My Radar. They expended real depth and examination when it came to Heaven Knows. A thoroughly deserved applause and salute of the magnificent Millar. It is a stunning body of work from one of this country’s premier and most accomplished artists:

“I’ve got nothing but praise for this dazzling debut, comprising of 14 tracks the impeccable Heaven Knows was a slice of soulful bliss. Featured you had title track Heaven Knows, Girl and Preacher Man, all of which were exceptional gems. Also you had the 2017 debut single My Lover added in for good measure. Kicking off proceedings you had Girl and this was an uplifting tune which Mica released on International Womens Day. Basically Millar’s tantalising tones sent shivers down my spine, the lyrics resulted in an empowering anthem whist the whole soulful delivery resonated a Motown vibe. Following on it was gospel tinged Preacher Man and this being Mica’s first single of 2022. This being a sleek/ upbeat jam which left me utterly transfixed, everything about it was simply spot on, Millar’s powerhouse vocals oozed a smokiness, you had a toe tapping melody whilst those whimsical words were well and truly captivating. More Than You Give Me literally knocked me for six, it was literally sheer perfection that’s been sublimely crafted. This was a fresh and funky delight which enchanted me on the very first listen. More Than You Give Me was jazz meets soul which worked wonders, that marvelous meody was rather upbeat, Millar’s powerful tones were sumptuously sweet whilst those groovy lyrics resulted in an addictive anthem. Title track Heaven Knows was a gospel tinged ballad which resulted in something that was pleasent on my ear. Mica’s tasty tones packed a punch, the majestic melody was rather sleek whilst the lyrical content was beautifully uplifting. Everything about Flashlights was spot on, those sultry soulful vocals were buttery smooth, that gorgeous melody was a majestic slice of sheer perfection whilst those whimsical words were so heart warming. 

Trouble was different when compared to the opening 5 tracks, for starters it was a mixture of soul meets jazz accompanied by an edgy toe tapping melody. Mica’s vibrant vocals were a force of nature whist the lyrical content oozed plenty of attitude. Here Millar sang about how you should embrace your fate/ face your fears because you don’t know when trouble will come knocking at your door. Fool’s Fate was a personal favourite of mine and this being the fact it’s a slick lounge version which created something rather mesmeric. Just listening to this tempting treat always brings goosebumps to the skin. Millar’s tantalising tones screamed out soul whilst you also had dashes of jazz added into the mix. Will I Ever See You Again was an emotive ballad which oozed plenty of blues vibes. Mica Millar delivered this with plenty of gusto and you can feel the emotion within the vocal delivery. The compelling content focused on saying good bye to a loved one and wondering whether you will ever see them again. The space apart then makes you realise how you feel for that person. When I close my eyes I picture someone going to fight in a war which then has the other half thinking if he’ll return to her. No Money, Nor Faith (Freedom) was an anthem in the making which hit me like a ton of bricks when I heard this for the very first time. Mica’s dazzling delivery was a force to be reckoned with whist the content resulted in a call to arms. Stay was a stripped back ballad which resulted in something rather hypnotic.

Millar’s tones were richly crisp and at the same time you could pick up on the emotion oozing from the lyrics. Down River was drenched in plenty of jazz goodness which captivated me from beginning to end. Mica Millar powered through this number at ease and the thought of witnessing this at the Jazz Cafe this September sends chills down the spine. Next up was the first single from Mica Millar and this being My Lover. Listening to this never fails to stun me, My Lover was a piano led soulful ballad, Milar’s powerhouse vocals were heavenly whilst those lyrics were rather hypnotic. Nothing’s For Keeps was yet another stripped back ballad which Mica delivered with bundles of emotion. Heaven Knows then concluded with Give View My Prayer and this being blues rock which resulted in something rather edgy.

All in all this was a confident debut which left me with the urge to hear more. Mica’s heavenly vocal tones were a distinctive delight which left me compelled from beginning to the very end. Each tune featured was a well written piece of perfection and if you are a fan of the soulful genre then Heaven Knows is right up your street. Actually when I was listening to More Than You Give Me, the first song that sprung to my mind was Jocelyn Brown’s Somebody Else’s Guy. Anyhow if was to sum up this amazing album in one word it would have to be magical”.

The next date on the tour for Mica Millar is the Cheltenham Jazz Festival on 27th April. She plays the Wigan International Jazz Festival on 15th July. In between, she plays everywhere from Edinburgh’s Summer Hall to the Love Supreme Festival. Two big dates at London’s Jazz Café on 5th and 6th May are where she will get some capital appreciation. I was due to see her on 5th (which is sold out) but do go and see her if she is playing near you. Take it from me. You will be full of regret…

IF you miss out!

FEATURE: Date with the Night: Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Fever to Tell at Twenty

FEATURE:

 

 

Date with the Night

  

Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Fever to Tell at Twenty

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ON 29th April…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Yeah Yeah Yeahs in 2003/PHOTO CREDIT: Eddie Brannan via FADER

a terrific album will turn twenty. Fever to Tell is the debut album from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Produced by David Andrew, it is undoubtably one of the most important and greatest albums of the '00s. The New York band (Karen O, Nick Zinner and Brian Chase) unleashed this masterful and timeless album in 2003. In the same way as The Strokes defined a New York sound and created this real impression of the city, I feel Yeah Yeah Yeahs do the same. The Brooklyn trio are a more vulnerable and electric. There is that blend of the open and exhilarating. If bands like The Strokes are more macho and have less depth, a fellow New York band were doing something different and embodying a new definition and sound of Indie Rock and Garage. I want to come to reviews for the mighty Fever to Tell. First, NPR wrote about the album in 2017. Sophie Kemp was writing an essay as part of NPR Music's list of 150 Greatest Albums Made By Women:

“Indie rock lore holds the New York City of the early aughts in special regard. In the midst of a subcultural interim when Brooklyn began to be gentrified and Manhattan was taking its last gasp, celebrated macho indie rock bands like The Strokes, LCD Soundsystem and Interpol rose to popularity. In New York and all throughout the eastern seaboard, indie rock coexisted with electroclash and early laptop-rock bands as artists drew inspiration from both the art rock of the past and contemporary electronic music. From that same period of stylized and innovative-yet-nostalgic NYC indie rock came Yeah Yeah Yeahs, a band composed of frontwoman Karen O, drummer Brian Chase and guitarist Nick Zinner. But on its debut album, 2003's Fever To Tell, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs escaped the confines and conventions of early aughts indie rock through Karen O's ability to match sexuality with intimacy and heartbreak.

After putting out a few heavily hyped and critically successful EPs, Yeah Yeah Yeahs released Fever To Tell on Interscope. The album did well commercially: It was nominated for the Grammy for Best Alternative Music Album and eventually went gold. But its legacy truly lies in its subtext: as a study in both explicit representations of female sexuality and in massive, all-encompassing heartbreak. Fever To Tell operates as a space of feminist transgression; when Karen O gasps for air on "Cold Light," or screams on "Date With The Night," she's creating art that breaks down boundaries in a very public way.

On Fever To Tell, two fundamental styles of Karen O come together. On the one hand, there is Karen O the sexual provocateur and iconoclast garage rocker, the Karen O who douses herself in olive oil and dances on stage in nothing but a pair of pasties, singing as if she were at the brink of orgasm. We encounter this side of Karen O as early as the first track, "Rich," where she pleads for a guy to "stick it in;" she draws in imagery of flesh ripping clean off; she articulates what it feels like to "be a hot noise." In the furiously quick "Tick," she starts the song in a high-pitched shriek, building up the song like a literal time bomb until it explodes and she stops singing altogether and starts moaning. This is an album that is dripping with sex, even on the tracks that are the most heartbreaking.

But the other side of Karen O on this album is the version of her as a woman who has suffered. So what happens when we encounter the heartbreak on this album? What happens when Karen O is just as public about being someone who is capable of falling out of love as she is about the power she wields as a sexual being? This heartbreak shows Karen O as a complex picture: She is a woman who has loved and who has lost, a woman who sings from the bleak other side of having once been deeply and madly in love. More importantly, she explores this part of herself while she talks about sex; she expresses her heartbreak through her confidence in herself. On "Modern Romance," for example, the album's noise and fuzz are dialed back. Everything is sparse; Karen O's lyrics are simple but not understated. "Go get strong," she quivers in the first few seconds of the track. Lyrically, "Modern Romance," is painful. Karen O's words come slowly, one after another; they feel premeditated. This style of drawn out songwriting isn't exclusive to the sadness in "Modern Romance;" it's everywhere on the album. Heartbreak, sex — all of it is expressed with the same care and intentionality”.

There is something very distinct and evocative when it comes to Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ sound. Their debut is such a powerful and immersive listen. You are brought into their world. Albumism did a retrospective of Fever to Tell for its fifteenth anniversary in 2018. There is no other lead like Karen O. She is one of the most astonishing voices in all of music. Fever to Tell was representative of the early-'00s' Garage Rock revival (which artists like The White Stripes a good example). It is Dance/Art Punk of the highest order:

“The sound of Yeah Yeah Yeahs is a certain feeling: under your sneakers the floor is sticky, the beer you’re drinking is clear gold, and the bathroom you just broke the seal in is a mix of graffiti and grime. Lighting in the bar is just dim enough to make eyes at your crush across the crowd. But not before you sweat all over yourself, while you jump along to pounding drums, hurried guitars, and that rasp—Karen O’s voice squeals, roars, and jabs, reminding you that you might not need that someone because you have her.

Karen O (for Orzolek) is a singer-songwriter made of teenage dreams. She can howl at the moon and hum you to sleep in her arms, and either way you’re not alone. The other two-thirds of Yeah Yeah Yeahs are Brian Chase on drums and Nick Zinner on guitar and keyboards. They’re a trio of power in tiny spaces, simple ideas in big places, and pure volume.

Date With The Night” is a ball of fire. One guitar lick stops only so another can pull you in a different direction. The heat is in the underlying, endless oomph of the drums, and the song is over before you know it…with a gasp. Karen O catches her breath right at the end. And that is Yeah Yeah Yeahs: they are wild lightning during the storm. No need for thunder, they’re already plugged in.

The songs go on like this, less than half of them longer than three minutes, and no bass in sight. Their ethos as a band shines through in the track listing of one-word song titles, short phrases echoing their name, “No No No,” and abstract beings and ideas (“Black Tongue” and “Cold Light”). These songs demand attention, even if you’re not sure which way to look. You must look.  

Karen O manages to cover every base in the vocal songbook in these songs. Her power is undeniable, even when she’s delicate on the love song “Maps,” their most famous track: “Wait / they don’t love you like I love you / wait / they don’t love you like I love you.” You can imagine her twirling the elongated “maps” she sings around her finger, like a telephone coil, as it leaves her lips.

“Modern Romance” is full of drone and enough hum to remind you of that other famous New York City punk band, the band that started it all for so many. The backwards looping and warble of the guitar, Karen O’s voice ringing layered on itself, and the Christmas bells are all a sound of defeat and texture. “Well I was wrong,” she sings, “it never lasts…there is no / modern romance.”

Not until the last track “Poor Song” is the trio audibly tired. It’s the closest they come to being acoustic here—drums on the rim, the guitar’s timbre more like a bass, and Karen O’s voice stretching from her throat as she sing-talks. It’s a cue to slow down and take stock: “Well I may be just a fool / But I know you're just as cool / And cool kids / They belong together.”

Karen O met Brian Chase at Oberlin College but transferred to NYU where she met Nick Zinner. When their first drummer didn’t work out, Chase stepped in and the trio came alive. It’s cliché to label them as “The Cool Kids,” but it also feels stupid not to. The three of them play with rock and roll in their hands, like putty, to see what else it can be and what it can do. Yeah Yeah Yeahs are raspy and bendy and impossibly spunky.

Fever To Tell was only their beginning, a record of swagger that still shines, even since Yeah Yeah Yeahs have moved out of the barroom and onto the festival circuit (or hell, to the Empire State Building). Last year it was reissued on vinyl for the first time in over a decade with B-sides and rarities, photographs, and an unseen documentary. The band also released a limited edition “The Deluxe Box” that contains even more fan memorabilia and comes signed and wrapped in fishnet stockings.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs are the blaze of electricity in your record collection, a band cemented in rock history as a vibrant powerhouse. If you haven’t made it out to Coney Island to ride the Cyclone (which turned 90 last year!), just turn on Fever To Tell. Every track is a wild ride with a jagged beat, sharp turns, and a classic New York City attitude”.

I am going to end with a review from AllMusic. Even though some reviews have been a bit more mixed, most are extremely positive. Fever to Tell is considered one of the best albums of the 2000s. I don’t think there is a twentieth anniversary edition of the album coming out. It is a shame, as it is quite hard getting a copy at the moment. You can do, but it is quite expensive. Anyway, this is what AllMusic has t say about Fever to Tell:

“On their EPs, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs grew considerably, moving from the arty yet anthemic garage punk of their self-titled EP to Machine's angular urgency. Fever to Tell, their first full-length and major-label debut, also shows growth, but for the first time the band doesn't sound completely in control of the proceedings. Their EPs were masterful studies in contrast and economy, balancing just the right amounts of noise, melody, chaos, and structure within 15 to 20 minutes. At 37 minutes long, Fever to Tell sounds, at different times, scattered and monotonous. Most of this is due to poor sequencing -- the album opens with some of the raunchiest noise the Yeah Yeah Yeahs have ever recorded, then abruptly changes gears and delivers a kitchen sink's worth of pretty ballads and experimental pieces. Both the old and new sides of the band's sound offer brilliant and frustrating moments: "Rich" is a sneering sugar-mommy story; "Black Tongue," which features the great lyric "let's do this like a prison break," is almost Hasil Adkins-esque in its screwed-up sexuality and rockabilly licks.

"Date with the Night," a rattling, screeching joy ride of a song, combines Karen O's unearthly vocals, Nick Zinner's ever-expanding guitar prowess, and Brian Chase's powerful drumming in dynamic ways. Not so good are the insanely noisy "Man" and "Tick," which have enough volume and attitude to make the Kills and Jon Spencer turn pale, but also sound like they're coasting on those qualities. The moody, romantic songs on Fever to Tell are the most genuine. "Pin" and "Y Control" have a bittersweet bounciness, while the unabashedly gorgeous, sentimental "Maps" is not only among the band's finest work but one of the best indie/punk love songs in a long, long time. Along with "Modern Romance," a pretty but vaguely sinister meditation on the lack thereof, these songs compensate for some of Fever to Tell's missteps (such as "No No No," a lengthy, halting mishmash of punk and dubby experimentalism). Perhaps they should've included some of their tried-and-tested songs from their EPs, but for a group this mercurial, that would probably be stagnation. Though this is their debut album, Fever to Tell almost feels like a transitional release; they're already rethinking their sound in radical ways. Even when they're uneven, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs are still an exciting band”.

On 29th April, Yeah Yeah Yeah’s Fever to Tell is twenty. Whether decade-defining songs like Maps and Date with the Night included, I think we will be discussing this album for decades more. Take some time out today to listen to a stirring, stunning and sublime album from New York City’s golden trio of Karen O, Nick Zinner and Brian Chase. Fever to Tell made an impact upon its release in 2003. Its impact, vitality, importance, and brilliance remains…

TO this day.

FEATURE: A Welcome Security and Support: The Organisations Making Gigs and Festivals Safer for Women

FEATURE:

 

 

A Welcome Security and Support

PHOTO CREDIT: gpointstudio via freepik 

 

The Organisations Making Gigs and Festivals Safer for Women

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IN so many ways…

 PHOTO CREDIT: wayhomestudio via freepik

women have remained unheard and under-appreciated in music. There is the ongoing issue with gender inequality on festival bills. Many female artists signed to labels are not marketed and promoted effectively or as much as their male counterparts. Radio playlists still seem more skewed towards male artists and, when it comes to award ceremonies and acknowledging the female artists who are undoubtedly putting out the best music, they are still being left out of so many categories. Throw into the mix professional studios and a relatively low number of female producers; the horrible abuse many women see online frequently and have to deal with, and there is still a long way to go when it comes to equality and making women feel safe, heard, and valued! I know I write about this a lot, but there are tiny steps being taken each year. Each year, so many women are sexually assaulted or harassed at gigs. Whether a small venue or festival, there are numerous horrific cases of assault and abuse. I am going to come to a musician who is partnering with safegigs4women (who will be appearing at Bush Hall, London on 30th April for the venue’s International Women’s Day) at her upcoming tour dates – to ensure that women feel safer and more secure at her gigs. I will also talk about whether this kind of scheme and idea needs to be rolled out more widely. I want to bring in some statistics and other organisations before then. This article from 2022 relates to an interview conducted with Mary Crilley, the co-founder and CEO of Sexual Violence Centre Cork. She discussed and reacted to some shocking statistics:

“48% of musicians have experienced sexual harassment at work.

  • 79% of women aged between 18 and 24 had experienced or witnessed sexual harassment on a night out.

  • 56% of nightlife workers have experienced sexual violence on a night out or while working in the nightlife environment.

  • almost 9 in 10 women feel unsafe in public spaces.

In 2018, Mary Crilley launched Safe Gigs Ireland, a campaign to respond to the experiences of audiences, creatives, artists and all working within the broader arts and entertainment sector. Her goal was to challenge and tackle environments that were rife with harassment, micro-aggressions and sexual violence.

Through innovative partnerships with musicians, producers and venues, Safe Gigs is leading the charge to reduce sexual harassment. The Safe Gigs Charter provides a model that can be adapted by music, dance and alcohol-licensed venues around the world”.

The Safe Gig Charter is one measure implemented to help make women feel protected at gigs. It is festivals too that have an issue still with sexual violence and harassment. As we head towards festival season, you wonder how many women who would otherwise have been at a festival have cancelled through fear of their own safety. Durham University published an article last summer that shows that, whilst many festivals are implementing safety measures and trying to do their best to ensure women are able to enjoy the music without encountering assault or harassment, there is still a miasma that pervades many festivals. A feeling that they are not safe environments. Given their sheer size and packed crowds, there is relatively little festivals can do:

“The set up and culture of music festivals can create dangerous spaces where sexual violence and harassment can be perpetrated.

That’s according to a new study led by our Durham Law School which found that the combination of size, layout, attitudes and behaviours at festivals can make these events conducive to sexual violence.

The researchers are calling on festival organisers and local authorities to make a real commitment to tackling this and to take it as seriously as other health, safety and environmental issues when organising their events.

Experiences of festival-goers

The study follows a survey conducted in 2018 by the same research team at Durham amongst 450 festival-goers which showed that a third of women had been sexually harassed at a festival and eight per cent had been sexually assaulted. A YouGov poll in 2018 also found that nearly half of female festival goers under 40 had experienced sexual harassment.

As a follow up, 13 women were interviewed about their experiences at festivals in the UK.

It showed that sexual violence and harassment are normal everyday experiences at festivals for the women which ranged from unwanted attention, verbal harassment, groping, sexual assault and rape. The most common experiences were unwanted groping and touching whilst in the crowded stage areas or camping sites.

PHOTO CREDIT: Maria Orlova/Pexels

Lay-out and toxic culture

All the women talked about feeling the need to risk assess and adapt to help reduce the risk of sexual violence, in the same way as women often do in other public spaces. Some had stopped going to festivals all together, others went with male friends whilst others moderated their alcohol intake or avoided certain areas.

The lay-out of music festivals - with very crowded stage areas, campsites, public toilets, dark walkways between areas and poor surveillance – make many women feel unsafe and provide perpetrators with an ‘ideal’ environment.

The study also concludes that the culture of music festivals supports a toxic lad culture with heavy alcohol and drug consumption and the marketing of festivals as hedonistic and escapist.

In 2017, 103 UK festivals committed to the Association of Independent Festivals’ (AIF) Safer Spaces At Festivals campaign, which is aimed at tackling sexual violence at festivals. The initiative sees festivals commit to a voluntary charter of best practice which includes allegations being taken seriously, acted upon promptly and investigated.

Other festivals are also doing their own campaign and policy work, but the researchers say progress is still fairly slow.

They suggest all festivals, not just some, should work with specialist support groups such as Safe Gigs for Women, to devise clear policies. These should include prevention strategies, how they record allegations and respond to them, a requirement to have specialist support on site and training for staff. They recommend that these policies should be mandatory as part of the broader safeguarding requirements festivals have”.

It is thanks to the amazing organisations out there like safegigs4women, Safe Gigs Ireland, and UN Women United Kingdom that steps forward are being taken. The latter published an open letter that was signed by the likes of Emily Eavis (Glastonbury’s organiser), Laura Whitmore, Gabrielle, and Sigrid. Again, reading the statistics makes for shocking and disturbing reading:

“The music industry is celebrating as our festivals and live events reopen to the world. It’s a moment we’ve all been waiting for. In a society that often works to divide us, music has the power to unite us – whatever the tough realities of life may be.

But now we must face our own reality. And this reality is one that our industry has too long ignored: venues, festivals, studios and workplaces are too often not safe spaces for women, girls and marginalised genders.

It is high time we change that, and we have a collective responsibility to take action. This restart needs to be for all of us. Our spaces must provide safety from harassment, violence, and abuse of power. Music should be a place of joy and inclusion for all.

Let’s make 2022 the year the music and events industries rise up to the call of the #MeToo movement – and commit to change.

The problem is everywhere. More than 7 in 10 women have been sexually harassed in the UK, and over 40% of women aged under 40 at a live music event. Within the music sector, over 60% of workers have experienced sexual harassment.

The vast majority of incidents go unreported, with over 95% of women not reporting sexual harassment. Almost half of UK musicians have faced sexual harassment at work, with workplace culture being cited as the greatest barrier to reporting.

We will not wait around while another woman experiences sexual harassment, violence or abuse – as an artist, as a professional, or as a fan. Let’s act now to make our music industry and live events safe.

Through our shared love of music and culture, and our shared respect for each other, we can – and will – work together to make all spaces safe for all people. Be part of the change – add your voice now”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Sascha Hormel/Pexels

I will come to venues soon, but festivals are very much in people’s minds this year. After so many of them reopened last year – following COVID-19 and the restrictions imposed -, there is that extra appetite and desire for people to be at festivals. The Conversation had their say regarding continued incidences of sexual violence/harassment at festivals – and how the spaces are being adapted to ensure there is greater vigilance and heightened security:

“However, festival spaces are not equal spaces. Festival lineups remain dominated by men, and female festivalgoers are also not free to enjoy festivals in the same way as men. In 2018 a poll conducted by YouGov found that over 40% of women under 40 reported being sexually harassed or assaulted.

Together with colleagues, I began a research project in 2018 to explore sexual violence at UK festivals. The first part of our study – a survey of 450 festivalgoers – reinforced the findings of the YouGov poll.

We found that 34% of female respondents reported being sexually harassed or assaulted at a festival in the previous few years, compared with 6% of men. In our study, 9% of women and 1% of men reported being sexually assaulted.

We wanted to explore these experiences and their impact in more detail. We interviewed 13 female festivalgoers aged between 18 and 40 who had been sexually harassed or assaulted at a festival in the previous two years. This included being catcalled and leered at, having a hand put up their dress or skirt, and being rubbed against or groped. It also included penetrative assault.

PHOTO CREDIT: gpointstudio via freepik

“The festival environment

Festivals are not the only spaces women experience sexual harassment or violence. But there are unique aspects of festivals that unfortunately make them ideal locations for perpetrating these acts, while simultaneously making it difficult for women to report or seek help.

Crowded stage areas can provide a cloak of anonymity for perpetrators who harass, grope or assault. Perpetrators can disappear into crowds quickly and are difficult to locate by security or other staff. One woman in our research described this behaviour as like “drive by” misogyny.

Similarly, the walkways between festival and camping areas, as well as the camping sites themselves, were highlighted by women in our study as spaces where they had been harassed or followed. One woman described having a man “break into” her tent and assault her. These spaces rarely have security on site and may be located away from security huts, making it difficult to report quickly.

Culturally, festivals can be locations that see high levels of alcohol and drug intoxication. They are also places where large groups of men attend together. These aspects reduced how safe women (and to a lesser extent, men) felt at festivals in our earlier survey.

The women we interviewed felt these factors created a cultural atmosphere where sexual violence was normalised and sometimes trivialised by friends, other festivalgoers, perpetrators and, in some cases, festival staff, including security.

Women described being shocked and upset and told us that the experience often ruined the festival for them. Some had stopped going to festivals. Others changed their behaviour to reduce the risk of sexual violence in other ways. In other words, women engaged in what is known as “safety work” – such as reducing their alcohol consumption, avoiding certain places and not going to places alone.

Changing the space

One of the unusual features of festivals compared with other nightlife and live music settings is that the venue is not fixed – it is changeable and adaptable. This means that there are opportunities to redesign and reimagine the spatial layout of festivals with preventing sexual violence in mind. This may include placing security or safety ambassadors in specific locations closer to the areas women are reporting harassment or assault, including in crowded stage areas, but a wider conversation about how to modify festival spaces is needed.

There have been positive developments over the last few years. The Association of Independent Festivals, which represents over 100 independent festivals, has developed a charter and campaign to raise awareness of sexual violence. The Association encourages festivals to take the issue seriously, with an approach that means all disclosures are believed and taken seriously in their prevention and response initiatives”.

In terms of organisations that are here to ensure that women feel safer at gigs, it is not about assigning burly security everywhere and making everyone feel intimidated and watched. Opening conversations and chatting with those at gigs about how they can do their part is crucial. Raising awareness and asking attendees how they can help reduce the cases of sexual violence. The Anchoress (Catherine Anne Davies) has joined with safegigs4women. Their mission is to work alongside organisers, venues, and gig-goers to fight sexual assault and harassment at live music events. It is a noble and much-needed protection and voice in the music industry. I was instantly struck by The Anchoress’ tweet on Thursday (20th). I am not sure whether many other artists are taking the same approach but, at a moment when there are women avoiding gigs because they feel unsafe, it is a notion that many other artists should follow. Whilst it is not practical that organisations such as safegigs4women be at every gig, I think there is still a perception that women will be fine and it is none of our business. Reframing the narrative and that mindset is crucial! Organisations and bodies can do all they can, but it is also down to gig-goers to ensure that they look out for women and do not assume that everything is okay. That means, if they see a woman who might be getting hassle or is looking uncomfortable, to check in and make sure they are alright. That presence and approach alone can really make a difference. I hope that a of male artists and bands follow The Anchoress’ lead when it comes to working with great organisations and making gigs a much safer space. It should not be up to female artists alone to be proactive and do their utmost to protect women who come to see them play. I spoke with The Anchoress about her upcoming gigs, how the partnership with safegigs4women came about, and whether she feels things will get better when it comes to the damming and stark figures regarding sexual assault and harassment at venues and festivals.

I do think that things will improve going forward. The statistics that were presented last year show that there is still this hugely troubling environment at many gigs and festivals when women are being assaulted and harassed. There are resources like We Are Music who have as list of organization on their website that include those who are combating and highlighting sexual assault and harassment at live music events. Artists like The Anchoress working alongside safegigs4women will definitely compel others to do likewise. I feel that, through action like this and greater awareness of the problem and scope, venues, festivals, and other spaces will do as much as they can to ensure women feel safer when seeing live music. It is not down to them solely to do this. It is incumbent on all male gig-goers to do the best they can. Whether that is looking out for any women who are being harassed or feel unsafe, or calling out any of their friends who go too far and are part of the damaging and alarming statistic. There is a toxic culture still where many men feel it is okay to assault women or harass them when they are trying to enjoy live music. In addition to raising awareness and increasing protection and security at gigs, tougher punishments for those who are accosted and arrested would be good. Whether that is a lifetime ban which applies to all gigs, this would send a tough message that we can no longer tolerate or accept any form of sexual abuse or harassment in a sphere that should be about community, acceptance and, above all, safety! The fact that many women still feel unsafe when they attend venues and festivals is horrible. Thanks to The Anchoress for sharing her reasons behind working alongside safegigs4women at her upcoming gigs. If more artists and venues take this approach, then it will open up more conversations and change the culture. That can only be…

  IMAGE CREDIT: The Anchoress

A good thing.

FEATURE: 50ft Queenie: PJ Harvey’s Rid of Me at Thirty

FEATURE:

 

 

50ft Queenie

  

PJ Harvey’s Rid of Me at Thirty

_________

THERE is a lot…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Rob Ellis, PJ Harvey and Steve Vaughan/PHOTO CREDIT: Steve Rapport/Getty Images

to cover here, as a monumental album turns thirty on 4th May. That would be PJ Harvey’s Rid of Me. The follow-up to her 1992 debut, Dry, many rank Rid of Me as her very best work. Released only as year after her excellent debut, Rid of Me is more raw and aggressive than its predecessor. Produced by Steve Albini – who produced, among other classics, Pixies’ Doolittle (1989) -,  Rob Ellis on drums and background vocals, and Steve Vaughan on bass joined Harvey. The trio sadly parted ways late in 1993. Although Rid of Me is a genius album, it was one that had turbulence and emotional tension at its heart. Recorded in the U.S., the Dorset-born icon was a big fan of Albini’s work and his production methods. Someone who brought a new sound and vitality from PJ Harvey, she would work with other producers on future albums. This raw and primal sound that Albini brought from Harvey and her band. Before getting to some reviews, there are articles about Rid of Me that look at the backdrop to PJ Harvey’s second studio album, in addition to its impact and brilliance. The Quietus revisited the album in 2018 for its twenty-fifth anniversary. They highlighted its torridness and brilliance. It was a new start and next phase for a restless and hugely talented artist:

“However, the back story to Rid Of Me revealed an artist in a state of mental exhaustion. Much of the album was written in Harvey's home county of Dorset in October 1992. At the time, Polly was suffering from what she would describe as a "breakdown". Over the previous 18 months, Harvey's life had changed beyond recognition and she had fled her North London flat for the tranquility of the English coast.

Originally from the tiny village of Corscombe, the country girl had moved to the capital to further her music career. With the 'Dress' single immediately creating a huge impact, she was immediately thrown into a hectic touring schedule. While the first album had been released by the small Too Pure imprint, Harvey was further stressed by finding herself at the centre of a major label bidding war. Although nothing had been formally signed with Too Pure, she felt indebted to them, while sensing that a major deal would be the better long-term option (Rid Of Me would be released by Island Records).

On top of that, the singer-songwriter had just endured the painful ending of her first proper relationship – an experience that would inspire a number of the most jagged moments on Rid Of Me. By October, Harvey wasn't eating properly and could barely bathe or clean her teeth. Her mother drove her back to Dorset to recuperate and find solace in the countryside. Back home, Polly would write a new batch of songs. "It's going to get ugly," she would tell a friend at the time.

Compared with Dry, Rid Of Me gleaned its emotional power by sounding even more abrasive, claustrophobic and edgy, and thus echoing Harvey's fragile state of mind. The album was recorded during December 1992 over a two-week period at Steve Albini's Pachyderm Studios in the frozen backdrop of Cannon Falls, Minnesota. Inspired by her love of Howlin' Wolf and the Albini-produced Pixies' masterpiece Surfer Rosa, Polly was eager to utilise the renowned studio techician's ability to capture visceral soundscapes.

Using in the main only a single electric guitar, drums and bass, Harvey experimented with distortion effects – as on the vocals for 'Yuri-G' – while retaining Albini's trademark 'live' sound. And while it's fair to say that, like other Albini-produced albums at that time (The Breeders' Pod and The Wedding Present's Seamonsters spring to mind), Rid Of Me saw PJ Harvey undergo the standard Albinification treatment, the results were explosive”.

An album that went to number three in the U.K. upon its release and is frequently rated alongside the best ever, there is no doubting the fact that Rid of Me made a gigantic impact in 1993. Thirty years after its release, and this inventive, fresh, and potent album still stuns people. When it arrived on 4th May, 1993, it was unlike anything around it. This was a time when Britpop was just about starting. In fact, many credit Suede’s eponymous 1993 debut with starting the movement. Rid of Me lost out to that album at the 1993 Mercury Award ceremony. Guitar.com underlined the genius of Rid of Me for a feature last year:

“In making the record with Albini, Harvey further set herself apart from the rock cognoscenti. Ejecting any pretence of doling out traditional song structures or ostentatious solos, PJ instead used feedback, distortion (likely via the ProCo RAT and Boss DS-1, both staples of her pedalboard) and eerie dissonance to emphasise the record’s sunken depths. On the demented Legs, for example, unsettling feedback wafts into the mix in place of where you might typically expect a solo. Meanwhile, jagged tremolo-picked parts zig-zag through the murk.

Another of Rid of Me’s crucial tracks, the indignant gender-leveller Man-Size, is driven by a choppy, wave-like momentum, buffeting between G, F and A powerchords. This thrusting repetition builds tension, occasionally rising to overdriven highs before settling back into its groove, emphasising the circular monotony of its lyrical target.

Rid of Me sounded unlike anything else in 1993. Even today it remains a rollercoaster of often uncomfortable but always engaging sonics, perfect to house Harvey’s sketches of obsession, passion, sexuality, dejection and power. Its white-hot canvases were a major influence on Kurt Cobain. In the discussions that led to Nirvana’s In Utero, Albini presented Rid of Me as an example of a more raw-edged approach to recording guitar. Cobain was entranced. The dislocated sonics of Nirvana’s final LP were unmistakably informed by Rid of Me.

Trying to cause a riot

While Harvey’s later work may have brought her wider attention – and provided a less abrasive way-in for listeners – the savage thrill-ride of Rid of Me remains her most electrifying listen. Armed with just her guitar, a small ensemble and merciless determination, Rid of Me’s 14 tracks reconstituted Harvey’s hardships into resolute, growling proclamations.

“I had just come out of my teens and at that time you really want to make your mark on the world,” Harvey told Spin. “So I just wanted to say something that hadn’t been said in that way before. I was trying to cause a riot in one way or another”.

Before getting to reviews, there is one more article that is worth bringing in. Published in 2022, they note how there is this blend of the personal and almost theatrical. Something Gothic that, when mixed together, is visceral and utterly open. It is heartening and wonderful that is less accessible and commercial than many at the time was a big-selling success:

“A commercil and critical breakthrough

Rid Of Me was also her commercial breakthrough. In Britain, it reached No.3 in the chart and was shortlisted for the Mercury Music Prize, while Harvey was nominated for a Brit Award in the Best Female Solo Artist category (she lost to the more emollient Dina Carroll). It even produced her first U.K. Top 30 single in “50ft Queenie.”

On the other side of the Atlantic, where she was seen as a cool English indie-grrrl, Rid Of Me got considerable college-radio traction. In both countries, it appeared in end-of-year polls, and the consensus today is that it’s her masterpiece.

With the exception of a cover of Dylan’s “Highway 61 Revisited” that’s unrecognizable thanks to vocal distortion, the album generally reflects Harvey’s life at that point. She was a country girl who’d become the subject of enormous press interest, and the attention was wearing her down. It was aggravated by still living in the cold flat in Tottenham, North London, where she’d been miserable during the writing of Dry.

Feeling backed against a wall, the only way out was to return to Dorset, the rural county where she’d grown up. Renting a room above a restaurant in a seaside town and watching fishing boats enter and leave the harbor, she was lulled into serenity. She completed the Rid Of Me songs and the band went to a studio in Minnesota to record them, with Steve Albini producing.

Albini was chosen because Harvey loved his work with Pixies, and thought his “bare, very real sound” would gel with hers. She also appreciated his refusal to let her brood and overthink while recording; they were in and out of the studio in two weeks.

Sexual politics, relationships, and gender fluidity

As with Dry, the songs pack such a punch that Harvey’s emotional well-being became a music-press talking point. The effect was intentional according to Polly, who had just signed to Island Records and was worried that the major label would try to make her more saleable. Determined to “show Island what I’m about and what they’re dealing with,” she went out of her way “to make a very difficult record.”

Rid Of Me was a mix of autobiography and gothic play-acting, but it coalesced into an authentically visceral howl. The title track, which opened proceedings, was a warning to a departing lover: “You’re not rid of me… I’ll make you lick my injuries/I’m gonna twist your head off, see?” It was scary and intense, yet the chorus, “Doncha, doncha wish you’d never met her?,” was as catchy as a Ramones hookline.

From there, the album went careening into sexual politics, relationships, and gender fluidity. The last was tackled in the very funny “50ft Queenie,” which ridiculed the male obsession with genitalia by claiming that Polly’s own organ was “20 inches long.” For good measure, she roared, “I’m the king of the world… You can bend over, Casanova!”

However you measured it, this was compelling stuff. Delving further, the track “Dry” (written for the debut album, but not included on it for reasons unexplained) scathingly appraises a lover and finds him wanting. In the song, Harvey admits she has “wet sides from time to time,” but that mainly “you leave me dry.” It’s so neat and so vicious that it’s impossible not to feel a touch of sympathy for the man it’s addressed to.

Then there’s “Rub ‘til It Bleeds,” abrasive in both name and style. It starts as a bluesy amble, with Harvey inviting her man to rest while she rubs his head. But tension builds, the bassline stutters and she slips into a fourth dimension of anguish: “I’ll smooth it nicely/Rub it better ‘til it bleeds.” Later, the discordant string sextet on “Man-Size Sextet,” that saws away as Polly sings through gritted teeth, adds a horror-movie chill to the air”.

Although Entertainment Weekly and Rolling Stone did not give Rid of Me a great review, most others did. They are U.S. sites/publications, and I feel like many there did not get Harvey. Even though she did tour in the country, I think her music resonated more in other countries. In years since Rid of Me was released, the America media has definitely embraced a remarkable album. In 2018, Pitchfork awarded Rid of Me a perfect ten. They made some great observations about an album from one of the all-time best artists. A true genius:

“Many of these narratives are grounded in history, religion, or the arts: “Me-Jane” is, as the title suggests, a lament from Tarzan’s long-suffering civilized partner. Attack of the 50 Foot Woman inspired “50 Ft Queenie.” Mythology was an obsession of her mother’s, and Harvey’s language on Rid of Me subtly reflects that. “Yuri-G” is a sort of pagan love spell addressed to the moon goddess Luna. “I’ll make you lick my injuries/I’m going to twist your head off, see,” from the title track, is supposed to be one of the album’s most fearsome images. Yet that “see” changes everything, transforming a lurid threat into the goofy taunt of a movie gangster or a fairy-tale giant. Even as she was singing from her soul, Harvey was acting.

Of course, the part every person plays from childhood to death—whether we embrace it, subvert it, change it, or some combination of the three—is our gender role, which may not look quite the same in the city as it does on the farm. Women who inhabit non-traditional gender roles, as Harvey certainly has throughout her career, are often presumed to be speaking as feminists. But, as gratifying as it would have been to hear her proclaim allyship with fans who believed in the equality of the sexes, you can see why she tried to prevent Rid of Me from being viewed through that lens.

As a child, Harvey expressed her desire to be a boy by sitting backwards on toilet seats in an imitation of the way her older brother peed and demanding to be called Paul. When she drawls “Got my leather boots on/Got my girl and she’s a wow” on “Man-Size,” a song widely interpreted as an indictment of masculinity, you can hear her imagining what it would be like to inhabit a typical male body. It is as much a fantasy, and a dark joke, as the B-movie rampage of “50 Ft Queenie.”

Beyond their smattering of angry-woman signifiers, Harvey’s songs are literal performances of gender; they shed light on, poke fun at, and rail against the misery of being trapped by the expectations of femaleness or maleness for one’s entire life. “I never think of myself separately as ‘a woman’—I’m always a musician first,” she told The Guardian in 1993. This is what’s so frustrating about making art as a member of the second sex: You identify as an artist, and trace your lineage to Dylan or Willie Dixon, only to watch helplessly as you’re shunted into the role of “woman artist” the minute your work attracts any attention. If women identify most intensely with PJ Harvey’s music, maybe that has less to do with a set of body parts or political aims than with the unconscious sensitivity we’re forced to develop to the species-wide tragicomedy of gender.

The brilliance of Rid of Me is in the vividness and detail with which it captures that Boschian panorama using only blues rhythms, loud-quiet-loud dynamics, Harvey’s voice (and sometimes that of Ellis, whose falsetto and status as a backup singer constitute additional instances of gender subversion), and an arsenal of extreme characters and loaded allusions. It was that rich, strange, deliberately alienating picture that Harvey attempted to reproduce, not flawlessly but unforgettably, alone on Jay Leno’s stage with her dress and her guitar and her conspicuous lip liner and her startling second voice.

She would investigate feminine archetypes in greater detail on 1995’s To Bring You My Love, naming her sexy alter ego Vamp, clothing the character in a hot-pink catsuit, and slathering her face in gobs of blue eyeshadow and red lipstick. But even then she was exploring gender from the distant perspective of someone who realized that sex was a shared delusion, an arbitrary binary, a sick joke. The one constant in PJ Harvey’s long discography is the mosaic of voices. Listen only to the female ones on Rid of Me, and you’ll only hear one side of the conversation”.

Turning thirty on 4th May, the seismic and phenomenal Rid of Me is still marked alongside the all-time great albums. Quite right too! The Steve Albini-produced masterpiece is available on vinyl, but I am not sure whether there are any anniversary releases in the pipeline. Go and listen to Rid of Me. A thirty-year-old gem of an album, I know there will be celebration and new investigation closer to 4th May. Three decades after its release, and there has not really been anything else that quite sounds…

LIKE Rid of Me.

FEATURE: Spotlight: Kara Jackson

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

PHOTO CREDIT: Lawrence Agyei

 

Kara Jackson

_________

WITH a run of dates taking her…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Christian K. Lee for Pitchfork

around the U.S., it is going to be a busy 2023 for the phenomenal Kara Jackson. Some in the U.K. may not have heard of her. She is a mesmeric and magnetic songwriter who has this voice hard to put into words! The proof is in the extraordinary songs you hear on her new studio album, Why Does the Earth Give Us People to Love? I do hope that she comes to the U.K. at some point, but she would go down a storm here. Before getting to some interviews from the Illinois-raised artist, I reaffirm my belief that women have created the best music this year. In recent weeks, albums from Feist, Jessie Ware, and Kara Jackson have shown that. It is an embarrassment of riches in terms of quality and diversity! If you have not heard of the incredible Jackson, I have found some recent interviews where we get to know her better. Earlier this month, Our Culture Mag spotlighted an artist who is rising and will have a very long and hugely prosperous career:

“Kara Jackson is a 23-year-old singer-songwriter and poet who was born and raised in Oak Park, Illinois, a small community 10 miles west of Chicago. After taking piano lessons at the age of 5, she taught herself how to play guitar before discovering her passion for poetry in high school, becoming the National Youth Poet Laureate in 2019. That same year, Jackson self-released a stripped-back EP called A Song for Every Chamber of the Heart, which will be followed this Friday by her debut full-length, Why Does the Earth Give Us People to Love?. With help from a group of musicians including NNAMDÏ, Sen Morimoto, and KAINA, Jackson fleshed out the demos she recorded in her childhood bedroom in the early days of the pandemic into a candid, tender, and audacious collection of songs that confront overwhelming emotions around grief and love without smoothing them over. But the loneliness in her music is a rare kind – one that nurtures her internal contradictions, finding ways to be humorous and playful and fierce as a means of sustaining, if not warding off, suffering. In its honest specificity, you’re reminded of the things we share – all worth the light of day.

We caught up with Kara Jackson for the latest edition of our Artist Spotlight series to talk about her earliest musical memories, the ideas behind Why Does the Earth Give Us People to Love?, usefulness, and more.

Could you share some early musical memories that you hold dear?

I had a very musical upbringing. My parents both really loved music, and my dad especially was always playing something. I feel like some of my favorite memories, and some of the earliest memories I have just being immersed in music, are honestly just being in the house and getting up and cleaning on the weekends. [laughs] My mom would always play soul music, and we had this speaker growing up, so I knew if I heard Stevie Wonder or something it was time to get up and help. I don’t remember a time not listening to music; even when I was a baby, my mom told me that they couldn’t get me to go to sleep without listening to something. They’d play this radio station and play jazz – my dad is a huge is a real jazz connoisseur. I’ve heard a lot of stories growing up about me going to the jazz showcase as a baby and being picked up by jazz legends. And being obsessed with Sonny Rollins, like I wouldn’t let people play anything else.

As a title, Why Does the Earth Give Us People to Love? is such a disarming and direct question to frame the subject of grief, because to me, it gives weight to both the gift and the implied taking of it, and the senseless yearning that persists through both. Did it ever feel too heavy of a way to introduce or sum up the album?

There wasn’t really an alternative title, because I felt like the question in the title track was just the title to me. I don’t think I knew it going into the project, but once I really had the song done, I couldn’t think of something else to name it. I’ve been joking about how long my album title is, because of course my album title is so long. [laughs] It just feels very characteristic to me. I think it is a heavy question to lead with, but it’s also the question that’s driving the whole album. The more I worked on it, the more I understood how, while the title track is its own ode to my friend Maya, who passed away, I think when you take it out of the context of that song, the question remains relevant to all of the songs.

PHOTO CREDIT: Lawrence Agyei

The more I worked on the project, I understood the question to be really what was driving so much of my work in general: this curiosity around humanity, and really why we act the way that we act, and why, at the end of the day, as individualistic of a culture we have come to know and nurture, there’s still so much of a drive for love. People want love and they want to be around each other. You can think you’re like the best person in the world, but at the end of the day, even the best person sometimes wants another person. Even the most independent, fierce person wants to love someone. I think that’s as much of a dig on other people – a song like ‘dickhead blues’ – as it is on myself, too. As invincible as you can sometimes feel, there is still that question of love, and there is still that vulnerability inherent in knowing that that’s what makes us human. So it is a heavy question, but I’m someone, I guess, who is dealing with a lot of heaviness in general, so I wasn’t so much concerned with the weight of it. It just made sense to me.

Especially on the songs ‘dickhead blues’ and ‘brain’, you grapple with the idea of being worthy and deserving of a certain kind of love. But you also specifically use the word “useful” in a way that’s really potent. What has usefulness, as a personal trait, come to mean for you?

I feel like “useful” is a word that I’m still grappling with, even when I sing this song. I’m not always married to that word anymore the older I get – in terms of why I want to be useful, or trying to unlearn the idea that you have to have a purpose in order to be deserving of care. Especially as a black woman, the idea that I have to be useful to someone else is something that I grapple with a lot of the time. But in ‘dickhead blues’, it really was an affirmation in terms of, also, what I do; for me, reminding myself that I’m useful also comes from reminding myself that the work that I’m doing is meaningful.

I think it’s important that ‘therapy’ and ‘pawnshop’ follow ‘dickhead blues’ in terms of these questions of worth and usefulness. “All that glitters is not gold” is definitely an element of ‘pawnshop’. I’m someone who buys things second-hand a lot, so I was playing off the idea that you can go into a pawnshop and buy something that’s really used, but you can also get something that is second-hand but is just as good as something that’s brand new. I feel like throughout the album, I’m really trying to contend with how, just because someone else may think that you don’t have worth or you may not deserve something, they don’t get the final say in terms of what your value is. Value is very subjective in that way. I think what makes me useful is so different, too, depending on who I’m even talking to. I don’t want to have to do anything to be worthy of love. I feel like sometimes I’m useful to people without doing anything at all. Even offering this album up to people – maybe that’s not enough to save someone’s life literally, but even though it’s small gestures of writing a song, it’s useful enough”.

I am relatively new to Kara Jackson’s work, but I was instantly hooked. Another relatively new discovery, Samara Joy, has the same impact regarding her vocal gifts. It is the sense of passion, characters, beauty, and nuance that means you listen to the songs time and time again and get something new. You also get drawn into these vivid and remarkable worlds! Pitchfork also championed and spent time with Kara Jackson. Discussing her album, Why Does the Earth Give Us People to Love?, it is amazing to see how far she has come in a relatively short time. Truly, a phenomenal talent:

“In 2019, Jackson self-released her first EP, A Song for Every Chamber of the Heart, a sparse collection primarily written alone and for the guitar. Why Does the Earth Give Us People to Love? is an ambitious step forward, one that was nourished with the help of some of Jackson’s Chicago musician friends, including eclectic indie faves NNAMDÏ, Sen Morimoto, and KAINA, all of whom helped Jackson get out of her own head and bring her pain and poignancy to life.

Grief permeates the album, and Jackson is unapologetic about hers. Why Does the Earth Give Us People to Love? is dedicated to her best friend Maya, a fellow musician who passed away from cancer during high school. Being faced with grief is overwhelming and unnerving, potent and confusing. It can also be isolating. We are often denied room to grieve publicly, and supposed loved ones sometimes lack the words to comfort us. It is in that place of incomprehension and despair that Jackson is most adept at articulating her feelings in song. “I remember having to lay the vocal tracks down and thinking, I don’t know if I’m gonna cry in this session or not,” she recalls.

PHOTO CREDIT: Christian K. Lee

Jackson first began writing the album’s title track around the time she graduated from high school, when one of her mentors was dealing with the same cancer as Maya. “I’ve buried old and young/I watched them lower a saint,” she sings over doleful guitar. “We’re only waiting our turn/Call that living?” The song includes devastating memories of Maya that don’t flinch: “At the age of 17/Your knees were weaker than a sheet.” But then, toward the end of the six-minute-plus ode, Jackson dreams of what could have been—about the band they could have started, the harmonies they could have sung—as strings start to swell, holding up her wishful thoughts.

Grief is also a manifestation of love. We grow around grief, change around it, sometimes wither around it, too. But it never goes away, not really. In the end, it confirms that the love was there and real and true. “The name of the album is a real question: Literally, why are we put on this Earth just to love each other? It’s just a really hard thing,” Jackson says. “But I’m so lucky to have the people that I have, and to have loved them as hard as I have.”

Other types of relationships, ones that aren’t as sacred, are also explored on the record. “Like, why did this Earth give us dickheads?” Jackson jokes, referencing the track “dickhead blues.” It’s at once a mantra of self-worth and an airing out of emotional deadbeats, with lines Fiona Apple could appreciate like, “I’m no longer amused by losers/Who find themselves losing me.”

PHOTO CREDIT: Christian K. Lee

After walking through north Oak Park, we settle down at a table in the backyard of Jackson’s childhood home, located on the corner of a street where cars fly by all day. Although she grew up in the Chicagoland area, Jackson’s roots stem firmly in the South. Alabama, Louisiana, and rural Georgia, to be specific. It is where her father is from, and it is Jackson’s heritage. “I’m proud to come from slaves and from sharecroppers,” she says. “I eat grits every day. I literally had grits this morning. You can’t really go wrong with some grits.”

She explores and asserts her history within her work. Talking about critics who have deemed her music unapproachable, she says, “A lot of what people are seeing in my work as inaccessible is my Blackness, and the fact that I make music that’s not typically associated with my people. They really don’t like Black women being in places that they don’t think we should be.”

She’s drawn to the unvarnished truth of country and folk music, genres that are just as historically Black as rock and rap. In this sense, her album is a throughline of musical lineage and legacy, a reclamation. “At the end of the day, you just have to do the things that make you feel very joyful,” Jackson says. “And guitar-ass music just makes me feel very joyful”.

I would urge everyone to go and buy one of this year’s finest albums. It will hit you immediately, but you will also want to return to it. Such a powerful album from an artist who is poetic and passionate, but there are so many layers and levels to her music. Rough Trade describe Why Does the Earth Give Us People to Love? like this:

“Why Does the Earth Give Us People to Love? is the debut album by Chicago-based Poet Laureate and singer-songwriter Kara Jackson. Why Does the Earth Give Us People to Love?, is a sonic invitation to process our grief. The title is a question the author is always answering. How do we give ourselves permission to yearn for the people we miss? How do we find the courage to let go of what begs to be released? How do we have the audacity to love in spite of everything invented to deter us from it?

Kara wrote and recorded the original demos in her childhood bedroom during the early days of the pandemic, drafting lyrics in bed and singing into a mic propped up on her dresser. From there she brought in Nnamdi, Kaina and Sen Morimoto to re-record the demos and help shape the production.

Wielding her voice like a honey-coated blade, Kara Jackson crafts a blend of emotional folk music and poetic alt-country.  With the radical honesty of Nina Simone, the intricate lyricism of Fiona Apple and Joanna Newsom, and the straightforward, no-frills delivery of artists like Kimya Dawson, Kara’s writing blurs the line between poetry and song, demanding an attentive ear and a repeat listen”.

Having scooped so many positive reviews, there is no doubt that as many people as possible will want to see Why Does the Earth Give Us People to Love? live. I think that the American sensation will find a dedicated and growing fanbase here. There is already attention from the U.K. press - although a lot of the promotion and interviews are from the U.S. This is what PASTE noted n their review of a staggering album that leaves you stunned and in awe when you hear it:

“Much ink has been spilled on young women’s music and its “rawness.” Rawness is revered; channeling emotions through music, while obfuscating how curated those revelations are in the songwriting, is an artistic achievement. But, the discursive application of “rawness” alludes to the quality being gendered and racialized, unsubtly suggesting that off-the-cuff emotions in the music industry are reserved for, primarily, young white women. Rawness is fraught and often minimizes the agency of singer/songwriters; too often, it forecloses the possibility of praise for emotional vulnerability from women of color, primarily Black women. It’s a reductive, exclusive critical urge.

What the Chicago-based interdisciplinary writer and musician Kara Jackson accomplishes on her debut LP Why Does The Earth Give Us People To Love is not “raw,” at least not in the sense that the writing is unrefined or off-the-cuff. Instead, that distinction comes through how the listener is made to feel listening to Jackson’s cosmic country jams. Lines like “Some people take lives to be recognized” are delivered with nonchalance, and the way she belts “don’t you bother me” over swirling harp notes elicits chills. Jackson is communicating her message with precise orchestration for optimal impact. As a listener, you may feel exposed, maybe even singled out.

Jackson starts Why Does The Earth Give Us People to Love with “recognized,” a lo-fi exercise contemplating what people do for validation and why. As she and her piano arpeggiate, she raises the stakes. It contrasts with the lush “no fun/party,” where her theatrical voice balances with a racing guitar and reclining strings. She reckons with men who won’t rise to the occasion and take that out on her and, as much as she laments the loss of companionship, she remembers that the other person is just as liable to miss her, too.

Across the album, Jackson’s expert guitar work and lyricism reveals an extensive archive of her relationships with peers, partners and more who she’s entrusted with her love. Many of those people are men who’ve mishandled that love. “Dickhead Blues” speaks on it with the necessary crassness required to describe exactly what these men, and their antics, resemble. They’re pompous, self-absorbed, ignorant. With every passing note, she grows more courageous, promising to swear off foolish boys. In turn, the track’s classic blues stylings are unforgettable. “Therapy” is the briefest foray into the all-too-familiar archetype of men who trauma dump on their new partners, especially at the expense of the relationship’s health without opening their own ears. After such mistreatment, Jackson is resolute in her self-worth, concluding “…I’m the gold and you’re just a fool” over bright shakers and slide guitar.

Perhaps the most nakedly devastating passage appears on the title track, where Jackson addresses the cruelty of death. She’s open about the tragedies she’s experienced: the death of her best friend and supportive relatives, the racist necropolitics that policymakers let run wild when they grew weary of the pandemic. She asks: “Why does the earth give us people to love and give them a sickness that kills / Why does the earth make us pay for the dirt? Are you saying the dead pay bills?” Few songs call out the terror inflicted on families and communities where death has a price; how finances augmenting trauma can be explored over an entire album.

“Lily,” one of the album’s briefer moments, has its own power that shines between the record’s broadest tracks. It’s a gentle march —celebrating eternal friendship —and stands out from Jackson’s explorations of betrayal and tragedy. Her encounters with grief are multiple and multifaceted, threatening her concept of herself, making it harder and harder and harder to love again. While the world presents us with new people to love just as quickly as it takes them away, Jackson concludes that loving is still a noble pursuit. With “Lily,” she reminds us why the earth gives us those affections and relationships, despite all the tribulations they may bring.

Jackson’s first release, A Song for Every Chamber of the Heart, revealed her skillful songwriting and nuanced viewpoint over four tracks, each lasting fewer than three minutes. It’s an outstanding sampler. On Why Does the Earth Give Us People To Love, she intersperses brief exercises like “therapy” and “liquor” between sprawling mini-symphonies, like the country drama “rat” and the restrained, delicate “free.” It’s a distinct privilege to hear Jackson capture an idea and explore its lyrical possibilities over songs that command a presence. The breadth adds extra opportunity for her Chicago collaborators — legends like Kaina Castillo, Sen Morimoto and Macie Stewart, to name a few — to give Jackson’s songs a storybook quality. When she is solo, she is a force. With her friends’ help, the result is divine”.

Go and check out the wonderful Kara Jackson. Someone who we are going to hear a lot more about, Why Does the Earth Give Us People to Love? has already worked its way to become one of my favourite albums of the year! Such a rich and unique work from someone quite new to my ears. I am excited to see what comes next. If you are based in the U.S. and can go and see Kara Jackson, then this is an experience that you will really not…

WANT to miss out on!

___________

Follow Kara Jackson

FEATURE: Revisiting... Anna of the North - Dream Girl

FEATURE:

 

 

Revisiting...

 

Anna of the North - Dream Girl

_________

SOMEONE whose music…

I have been following since her debut album came out, I wanted to spotlight an Anna of the North album. That debut was 2017’s Lovers. The moniker of Norwegian artist Anna Lotterud, I actually want to focus on her second studio album. Last year’s Crazy Life is an amazing, but I want people to connect with 2019’s Dream Girl. Her finest album in my opinion, you do not hear many songs from it played om the radio in my view. In fact, Anna of the North is an artist not given enough exposure as she should. One of the most interesting voices in music, Dream Girl is a terrific album. It was a bit of a transition for Lotterud. Anna of the North was Originally formed as a duo with producer Brady Daniell-Smith in 2014. He left the group in 2018, with Lotterud continuing to use the name. I want to come to a couple of interviews before sourcing positive reviews for the terrific Dream Girl. At the start of 2020, NME featured Anna of the North. Its now-sole member was reflecting on a strange time. The break-up of the duo left Lotterud disconnected and unsure of who she was. That said, Dream Girl is a terrific album. I want to source a few parts of the interview:

“Her love of hip-hop, however, was something she fell into. “I had a weird approach to listening to music,” Anna explains. “I used to Google lyrics with things that I felt, and I’d write a sentence down and if I found a song that had those lyrics I would download that and listen to it.”

At 18 Anna first started writing her own music, when her Dad gave her a microphone, guitar and sound card for her birthday. Despite uploading a few tunes to Soundcloud (“one got 500 listens even though I never shared it!”), Anna hadn’t considered music a job until she moved to Melbourne for her studies. “I never had a plan to become an artist, I just loved music and deep, deep, deep inside of me there was this dream to be able to [be a musician].”

 “You’re not a musician in Norway until you have a song out on Spotify with 200,000 streams, or you’re not successful until you can live off it,” Anna says.

This all changed when she went to university in Australia. “In Melbourne it was a totally different life. People were writers even though they hadn’t released songs, people were photographers without getting paid. People just spoke out loud about what they wanted to do. People were more like ‘yeah, I should do it!’”

It was there she met the other OG member of Anna of the North, Brady. The duo first released ‘Sway’ in 2014, which became an online smash and landed them a record deal with Honeymoon in the US. They then spent time touring the world, writing, recording and eventually releasing their breakup-inspired debut album ‘Lovers’.

Buzz around the duo grew, with Anna collaborating with Tyler, The Creator on his ‘Flower Boy’ album. The album’s title track ‘Lovers’ quickly racked up 20 million streams after being used in Netflix romcom To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before.

But everything changed when the duo split, with Anna suddenly finding herself as a solo artist. She had to return to the studio and find the type of music she really wanted to make, and tackle the fear of making mistakes with brand new collaborators head on. “At home in my room behind closed doors there are no rules, I can sing as loud as I can, and I can fail and I can try again without anybody judging me. You’re so vulnerable [sharing ideas in the studio] and I was so scared, it took me a lot of time before I dared to just sing out loud and try stuff.”

There were of course sessions that didn’t go well and people she didn’t click with, but after months of trying, she found the right collection of people and starting writing ‘Dream Girl’, a glorious collection of soaring dreamy pop, stuffed full of R&B rhythms and euphoric melodies. “I think you can hear in the music that I’m freer. The music is more positive, more energetic,” Anna says of the record, which came out at the end of 2019. And you’d have to agree. Tunes like ‘My Love’ are earworms of jubilant, 1970s flecked pop, whilst ‘Leaning on Myself’ is for those in the final stages of mourning a lost relationship (“It’s my own anthem, and if I ever feel shit, I’ll turn that up and just dance to it.”)

She’s grateful for artists like Billie Eilish, who have let Anna write the music she’s always wanted to. “I think it’s so good and so healthy to have a girl like her representing young women. She’s allowing me as a musician to write what the fuck I want, as I think now she’s opening up a whole new musical scene.”

Looking to the future Anna is just keen to keep making music her way. “I don’t really wanna be the biggest thing in the world,” she says honestly, “I just want to live a healthy life, and earn enough money to get a house and a car.” She’s also trying to do her part environmentally, ensuring she tours as sustainably as possible and releasing a vintage merch collection. “I’m trying to do what I can, and I don’t want to be too political about what I do, but I’m trying my best to help,” she says. “But sometimes I want to just sit down and cry and shoot myself in the head because there’s no way out of this mess! But I want to keep spreading my good values”.

The Line of Best Fit spoke with Anna of the North/Lotterud in December 2019. Thinking about things, this was only a few months before the pandemic struck. With a new album out, and an artist trying to find new direction and purpose, it was a rather unfortunate time in that respect. That being said, there was a lot of love for this incredible album. I think that people really need to check Dream Girl out, as it is undoubtedly one of the very best of 2019:

“Most of the album’s concept focuses on the idea of the ‘dream girl’ not being a real person, and rather is about just becoming comfortable in oneself, letting go of any expectations you hold yourself to, and not taking yourself too seriously.

“Dream Girl in itself, there’s some songs where I wish that the situation was different. I wish in my head I was thinking differently and there’s songs about how I wish a dream world or like a perfect world would be. The name of the album isn’t about a perfect girl with like a perfect body, like perfect doesn't even exist, it’s not anything to do with beauty either she's like what I wanted to be, my own dream girl, and I wished I was like happy with myself. My dream would be to be like, totally one hundred percent comfortable with who I am and my thoughts and like understanding myself and being zen. That would be awesome.”

PHOTO CREDIT: Parri Thomas

And with that, there’s an irony in the title, similar to how ‘Lovers’ was mostly a breakup album. But the dream girl concept became an alter ego for Lotterlund, in performance and in a way that allowed her to have more fun with her sound.

“I think I'm never going to be like a big, big, big pop artist. I love pop you know, I think pop is great and makes me happy and I don't know like, again that song, ‘Thank Me Later’, we went in the studio and that was what came out. I love that it’s funky and fun. I love the fun in it. I think to me as well I've always been a bit ironic with myself like I'm not not taking myself too seriously.

“I think that this album reflects me as a person way more than ‘Lovers’ did in a way. But I have the Lovers side as well. I have the dark. I think like remember I asked my mom once, I remember that I was in Melbourne where I felt like really lonely and really depressed, and was I just starting to be like ‘am I like really depressed?’ you know? And I just felt that it was so it was so dark and I called my mom and it's like, ‘have you ever thought that I'd be like more than normal?’ And she said, yeah. I think like I have both sides like I can be really happy and really really, really really dark and I think like the ‘Lovers’ part is like one side of me which is like bipolar, haha. But I think like I have both sides so like I can be energetic and then I could be like the darkest you know.”

The imagery surrounding the record is much more playful, in keeping with Dream Girl’s cheekier lyricism and funkier melodies. On the album cover she sits atop a crushed car bonnet, wearing angel wings and elf ears, as if in some sort of dystopian fantasy land (that acts as a brilliant descriptor for the social media sites she’d come to mock later on), and the single artworks feature cowboy hats, birds, flowers and more, all with colourful backdrops; a stark contrast to the minimalistic white clothing and walls of ‘Lovers’. It all adds up to Lotterlund appearing more confident and experimental in her artistic self.

“I just did a music video shoot with a guy in LA and he had this idea for a music video and he was like ‘you can do whatever you want’. And I was like, can I have elf ears? Like, yeah, let's do it. And that was it. So I got my elf ears. Like that happened before I chose the name for ‘Dream Girl’ like everything just organically fell together. The song and putting the elf ears on and the angel wings, it feels like we're not real anymore, you're not human, like no one can touch me, no one can hurt me. I feel that somehow a really good thing came together with just spontaneously throwing ideas out there, and I think that's who I am as a person as well; spontaneous and just like yeah lets do that, suddenly, you'd be like, wow, shit we have like a concept. I think that's really cool. I’ve learned this past year that nothing is wrong. We just have to try stuff and yeah, you never know and something really, really good can come out of it.”

It’s interesting that she’d mention this record feels like a more accurate representation of her, as she always comes across quite candid on her social media. Her Instagram name sits alongside the phrase ‘weird ass white girl’, and on various photos she’ll zoom in on a ‘flaw’ like a belly roll in a picture, for example. Breaking down the social media fourth wall comes naturally, and it’s like the freedom has always been there, just unlocking it artistically has taken some time.

“I think I have my flaws and everything and when it comes to social media, I'm proud of who I am and like my body and like being a woman, I have nothing to hide. Social media is weird anyway so why not just go with it? I’m never going to fake my identity or who I am, I’ve always been weird and always just claimed it before anyone says it. It's crazy, and of course I think about that you know, like, algorithms and stuff and like how crazy that things are and like, of course it would be cool to be the biggest user or whatever, but at the same time it wouldn't because I think everyone is struggling to be something and when they get to that point it’s not fun either. I mean, I think we need to like, just enjoy what we have, and that’s super cliché”.

I will finish off with a couple of reviews for the magnificent Dream Girl. This is what DIY observed when they sat down with an incredible album. I think Dream Girl confirmed that, in Anna Lotterud, we have this incredible talent who will endure for years to come:

“‘Dream Girl’ is a diamond: glittering and multi-faceted with edges and smoothness – enough to dazzle your eyes as it catches the light. ‘Lonely Life’ dips into jazz-influenced, expansive synth: a nod to the signatures of Frank Ocean. The infectious, lolloping pace of ‘Thank Me Later’ creates a blue-skies optimism, whereas ‘Used to Be’ slips into hip hop territory: astral and downtempo. ’When R U Coming Home’, with its trilling high-hats and summertime shimmer is Anna of The North’s approach to an R&B anthem.

The record deals with matters of the heart, meaning the highest of highs, and the lowest of lows. “Reasons” features the soft vocals of Charlie Skien, which makes Anna’s own ring sharp and true over the minimal, nocturnal instrumentals. The song gives a sense of balance to an album that is otherwise an open letter to a complicated relationship. ‘If U Wanna’ is a visceral closer, raw and exposed, and ‘Leaning on Myself’, with its lurching bassline, is a eulogy to the bittersweet taste of freedom and being lost. ‘Dream Girl’ is a canvas spattered with a thousand colours, as Anna of The North experiments with a spectrum of sounds and moods”.

I will finish off by sourcing what Classic Pop Magazine had to say in their review. It took them until December 2019 to give their assessment but, like so many, they were impressed by a singular talent and a phenomenal album. I have been listening back to Dream Girl, and it seems to get stronger and reveal new things each time I hear it. If you are new to Anna of the North, I would say t hear Dream Girl and then move on to her latest album, Crazy Life:

“If Anna Lotterud’s 2017 debut lacked distinction, that was partly down to the number of other Scandinavian women operating in similarly frosty fields. Lovers fetishised the 80s effectively, but lacked enough character to justify its debts to the era, its songs eager to please but more humdrum than hummable.

Still, what a difference two years make. Its follow-up, Dream Girl, is almost as flawless as its title suggests, a candied concoction of precisely engineered melodies, charming – and sometimes strikingly candid – lyrics, and a sound so crystal clear and smooth you could skate on it.

Furthermore, despite the fact she’s now 28, Lotterud somehow captures the innocent, nervous pleasures and pain of one’s early love affairs. As she sings on the playfully childish Interlude – a simple playground chant full of quirky, high-pitched voices – “Maybe I should kinda tell you all the things I feel/ ‘Cos maybe there’s a tiny chance you feel the same as me.”

The title track provides the best example of such gaiety, though, by combining Lily Allen’s occasional sweet naivety with the fleet-footed soul Amy Winehouse sometimes offered, all the time flitting guilelessly between flattering infatuation and stalker obsession. My Love, too, is a delicious slice of delicate disco which, though it’s slower and gentler, still recalls Diana Ross’ disco peak with its “Round and round/ Upside down” chorus. What We Do, meanwhile, recalls Minnie Riperton’s Lovin’ You, and she plays subdued on the regretful Time To Get Over It and the luscious Reasons, which features fellow Norwegian Andreas Høvset (aka Charlie Skien). Her debt to the 80s remains substantial, of course – Lonely Life even reclaims the urbane jazz-funk of acts like Curiosity Killed The Cat – but no one’s calling the debt in, even if they called her out last time”.

If you are unfamiliar with Anna and the North and Dream Girl, then spend some time today to give it a play - as it is an album that you will love. I hope that she has a busy summer with festivals and live appearances. With three incredible albums under the belt, here is an artist who I hope will be making music…

FOR a long time to come.

FEATURE: Second Spin: Fifth Harmony - Fifth Harmony

FEATURE:

 

 

Second Spin

  

Fifth Harmony - Fifth Harmony

_________

IT is a shame that…

the American girl group Fifth Harmony are not together anymore. One of the last great examples, I wanted to spend some time with their eponymous 2017 album. I could have included this in Revisiting… - as I look at underrated albums from the past five years -, but it felt right putting it in Second Spin instead. Released on 25th August, 2017, this is perhaps the last we might hear of Fifth Harmony. They are on an indefinite hiatus. Fifth Harmony was the first album without one of its original members, Camila Cabello. She has gone on to massive solo success, in a way that fellow members Ally Brooke, Dinah Jane, Lauren Jauregui and Normani Kordei have not. If many critics do not rate Fifth Harmony up there with their 2015 album, Reflection, they need to reassess. Despite the fact the group released three albums that covered a couple of years, they established themselves as one of the best girl groups (a term I still hate) of their generation. Let’s hope they do return one day, as there are scant examples of the type of music they were putting out. Very few girl groups anyway.

I will come to one of the most positive reviews for Fifth Harmony. If the eponymous title suggests the group were more themself or confident as a quartet, it is clear that Cabello’s departure was a big blow. Many did not see the departure coming. After releasing the second studio album, 7.27, in 2016, the group embarked on a tour. It was a week before Christmas Day 2016 that the group announced Camila Cabello has left the group. They wanted to release another album with her on it, but it seems that she wanted to go solo. Her career has really exploded, Whilst it can be a transition and often the end for a group when a member left – think about Spice Girls and the departure of Geri -, it can also tighten their bond. I feel Fifth Harmony is an album that has many highlights. The lead single, Down, is one of the best of their career. Deliver and Angel are other standouts. At ten tracks and just over half an hour running time, Fifth Harmony is a tight album that warranted better. Maybe some felt there was disconnection or something missing. A little bit of that additional magic that Camila Cabello brought to the fold. I feel Fifth Harmony’s eponymous album was a strong reaction to a very difficult time. They did an interview with Billboard that actually explained more about Cabello’s exist and some of the wrangler around that. The 2017 interview gives more context to Fifth Harmony, and where the group’s future ambitions were at the time:

“But those are all tales of an earlier era, before 2016, the group’s biggest year yet — and the one that ended in shambles when, exhausted and unfulfilled, 5H lost Camila Cabello to a solo career. Last year’s 7/27 debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard 200, propelled by “Work From Home,” the first top 10 Billboard Hot 100 hit from a girl group in nearly a decade. But the acrimonious December split made even bigger news, with 5H accusing Cabello of quitting through her reps, and Cabello denying the accusations. It was… awkward.

“Try experiencing it,” retorts Jauregui when I volunteer as much. The rest of the group, as it so often does, rushes in to complete her thought. “I was literally going to say that,” Kordei quickly adds. “I get to sleep at night knowing we did everything in our power as friends, bandmates and human beings” to make it work. Then Hernandez: “You can’t change people.” And finally, Hansen: “Let’s just say we’re in a better place now — there are no secrets in this circle.”

IN THIS PHOTO: Lauren Jauregui/PHOTO CREDIT: Joe Pugliese

Jauregui admits she nearly threw up from anxiety before the downsized 5H’s first performance, at the People’s Choice Awards in January. But today, the members are quick to (literally) high-five each other as they talk about their ongoing 7/27 Tour, the first in which they’ve built in real downtime, and a third album, due later this year on Epic. “Honestly, in this very moment, we could not be happier,” says Hernandez with more assertiveness than the Pollyanna-ish cheer that’s her trademark. Their first new single as a foursome, “Down” — a neon-edged dancehall bubbler featuring a warmly romantic verse from Gucci Mane (“Got me showing off my [engagement] ring like I’m Jordan”) — reached No. 42 on the Hot 100. Meanwhile, Cabello’s “Crying in the Club,” which entered the charts two weeks earlier, peaked at No. 47. Both are still active on the Mainstream Top 40 list.

“Crying in the Club” is a wide-screen, Sia-style ballad and “Down” is an airy dance track, but the two have more in common than just a chart trajectory: They’re both grown-up songs for longtime professional “girls” now expected to be seductive women. The 5H video, which racked up 21.6 million views in two weeks, even seems to offer some sly commentary on this, with the group pulling up to a seedy motel and writhing on beds in separate rooms. But the women have come up with their own narrative for the lyrics, which came to them from “Work From Home” co-creators Ammo and DallasK, and include “You the type that I could bake for/’Cause baby, you know how to take that cake” — as well as the chorus, “Long as you’re holding me down/I’m going to keep loving you down.”

“We dedicate it to each other,” says Hansen. “We’ve been together five years, so that message is powerful to us. We’ve been there for each other through ups and downs.” Hernandez hits her with an “Amen.”

IN THIS PHOTO: Normani Kordei/PHOTO CREDIT: Joe Pugliese

The single is only a slice of what’s to come, because for the first time, 5H is co-writing its songs — over half, in fact, of those destined for the new album. Since January, it has been holding songwriting camps between tour stops, mostly at Windmark Recording, just two miles from here. The group typically breaks into pairs, then takes turns with that day’s writers and producers like 5H alums Monsters & Strangerz and pop and R&B producers Harmony Samuels (Ariana Grande) and Sebastian Kole (Alessia Cara).

“It’s not like they came in at the end and started riffing,” says Leah Haywood of Dreamlab, which has two songs on the album. “We sat and wrote verses together, because they’re empowered women who want to be pushing the agenda.” Justin Bieber’s go-to hook man Poo Bear, who worked with Skrillex on a 5H session, adds, “I was pretty blown away. They were hungry and excited and seemed like they had a serious new point to prove.”

In March, Jauregui shared photos from a November “coming-out” shoot, as photographer Nicole Cartolano characterized it to MTV, with her then-girlfriend Lucy Vives (daughter of Colombian singer Carlos Vives). Her sexual identity has since cropped up in her music. Jauregui briefly made an appearance on the Hot 100 as a guest on Halsey’s “Strangers,” which, as a duet about an it’s-complicated same-sex romance, has inspired more than a few think pieces.

Jauregui’s openness speaks not only to the accepting nature of 5H but also to the potential for a mainstream girl group in an era where many minorities feel under attack. 5H is still a place for purity rings. Hernandez is wearing a “TRUE LOVE WAITS” band. She and Kordei identify as Christian, while Hansen is Mormon. But all insist Jauregui’s expression is “supported.” And Jauregui, who believes in “the universe and a god source, like an energy,” seems content with this. But asked if she would be comfortable singing about a relationship with a woman in a 5H song, she says she doesn’t know, “because it has to do with me personally. It doesn’t speak for everyone in the group, which is its own entity as an artist. That’s the whole reason for doing your own thing”.

I will finish off with a review from Rolling Stone. I do think that more of the reviews would be positive in nature if they came out now. Fifth Harmony has more than a few golden moments. One cannot really fault the quartet throughout. After losing one of their members, they show strength and resilience on an album that warrants a second spin:

“The dramatic departure of Fifth Harmony’s Camila Cabello couldn’t have come at a riskier time for the girl group: Last year, mega-hit “Work From Home” became their first Top 10 single, establishing the group as a Top 40 force to be reckoned with. Now a foursome, they have learned what works: a healthy dose of danger mixed with ego-boosting empowerment anthems. They keep spirits and energy high with muted trop house and hip-hop beats on their third album. Sexy lead single “Down,” featuring Gucci Mane, sets the tone while the Skrillex and Poo Bear-produced “Angel” goes hard with heavy bass and trap-leaning hi-hats as the singers ask for complexity: “When you look at me, what do you see?/I’m more brilliant than you’ll ever be.” Elsewhere, they instigate a party on the raucous “Sauced Up” and assert themselves in romantic relationships with infectious jams like “Make You Mad” and “Don’t Say You Love Me.” It’s the group’s most cohesive album yet and a satisfying introduction to what Fifth Harmony can be capable of in their new era”.

If you are unfamiliar with the work of Fifth Harmony, I would advise you to listen to their three studio albums and check them out. A brief but impactful girl group who we hope have not called time for good, they definitely left their mark. 2017’s Fifth Harmony is a great album that, whilst not their absolute strongest, has plenty of excellent tracks alongside one or two filler cuts. If they called time with Fifth Harmony, they bowed out with…

QUITE a bang!

FEATURE: Who Runs the World? The Best Album Tracks and Singles from Female Artists and Female-Led Acts in 2023

FEATURE:

 

 

Who Runs the World?

IN THIS PHOTO: Cat Burns


The Best Album Tracks and Singles from Female Artists and Female-Led Acts in 2023

_________

I have already…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Iraina Mancini

put out a feature collecting the ten best albums made by female artists this year. I think I did a best of 2023 a while ago featuring solely female artists, but I wanted to update that. There has been such a wave of brilliant tracks - and we are still in April! It is wonderful to see so many wonderful rising artists standing alongside established artists and legends. Below is a playlist of singles and album tracks from world-class female artists. You would have heard most of these songs, but there will be others that are new to you. If you need a playlist of the best songs from this year from modern queens, then these brilliant women will give you inspiration. It was great compiling the playlist, as I got to revisit some of the very best songs from the year so far. Looking ahead, and we are going to get a wave of stunning songs. Take a listen to the playlist. It features essential tracks from…

TERRIFIC female artists.

FEATURE: You, It's You and Me… The Unstoppable Popularity and Acclaim for Kate Bush’s Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)

FEATURE:

 

 

You, It's You and Me…

PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush

 

The Unstoppable Popularity and Acclaim for Kate Bush’s Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)

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I did plan to put out…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush received the Editors Award at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards in the Palladium, London, on 30th November, 2014/PHOTO CREDIT: Alan Davidson/Rex/Shutterstock

a different Kate Bush feature today but, as this week has seen two bits of great news regarding her 1985 (and 2022) single, Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God), I wanted to return to a song that I thought I had put to bed for a while. I want to start off with a bit of a disclaimer. I have said that radio stations fixate on this song at the expense at the rest of her catalogue. My position has not changed in that respect. Even if Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) has got new success and award nominations, I am happy because it is new attention to Bush as a whole, and it may well mean she appears in public to collect the awards. That would be great! Bush is no stranger to collecting awards. I think, if she did get a win, then the thought of her appearing on public stage for the first time in about a decade (I think 2014 is the most recent occurrence of her appearing at an award ceremony) would be magnificent! Also, as I will wrap up with, the more momentum and acclaim this classic track gets, that will make Bush realise that she has this whole new generation of fans with an appetite for her music. Will that get her into the studio to follow up 2011’s 50 Words for Snow? I have a few more thoughts, but let’s start with the news regarding Kate Bush being nominated for an Ivor Novella. The BBC explain more:

“Kate Bush's Running Up That Hill could win a prestigious songwriting award, a mere 38 years after it was released.

The singer's 1985 hit experienced a resurgence last summer after appearing in the Netflix show Stranger Things.

After exploding on TikTok, it went to number one in the UK charts, and gave Bush her first top 10 hit in the US.

It's now been shortlisted in the "most performed song" category at the Ivor Novello Awards, which celebrate outstanding writing and composition.

The track is up against several contemporary hits including As It Was by Harry Styles, Heat Waves by Glass Animals and two tracks by Ed Sheeran - Bad Habits and Shivers.

The award recognises the song that was played most often on TV and radio, and at concerts and DJ sets, over the last year. Sheeran's Bad Habits won the prize last year, and this is the first time any song has been nominated in two consecutive years.

Running Up That Hill was previously nominated for best contemporary song at the 1986 Ivor Novello Awards, but lost out to Tina Turner's We Don't Need Another Hero.

Bush has previously won two Ivor Novellos: Best lyric for The Man With The Child In His Eyes in 1979 and best song for Don't Give Up, a duet with Peter Gabriel, in 1987”.

If one award nomination for Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) was not enough, a second one has come along! In terms of a win, this might be a harder one to win, as she is up against Platinum Jubilee: Party at the Palace. This is where The Queen met Paddington. I think a level of sentimentality and association with the upcoming Coronation might mean this very British moment defeats the U.S. Netflix series, Stranger Things. It is a series that took Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) to number one in the U.K. and around the world. The Kate Bush News website highlights the tough competition Kate Bush is up against next month:

“The British Academy of Film and Television Arts, BAFTA, have revealed the nominations for the inaugural P&O Cruises Memorable Moment Award, which honours the impact of television in the UK and its power to entertain, inform and bring the nation together – looking back at key moments from 2022 that inspired and moved audiences at home. It includes a nomination for that momentous scene from Stranger Things that featured Kate’s Running Up That Hill and made the song the most massive worldwide hit of Kate’s career.

The six nominees are:

Derry Girls, Channel 4 – The Finale, the people of Northern Ireland vote overwhelmingly for peace

Heartstopper, Netflix – Nick and Charlie’s First Kiss

Platinum Jubilee: Party at the Palace, BBC One – Paddington Meets The Queen

Stranger Things, Netflix – Lucas, Dustin, and Steve rescue Max from the demonic Vecna by playing her favourite song – Kate Bush’s Running Up That Hill

The Real Mo Farah, BBC One – Sir Mo Farah revealing he was illegally trafficked to the UK

The Traitors, BBC One  – The Final Roundtable

Members of the public can vote for their P&O Cruises Memorable Moment online via bafta.org/moment. Voting will close at midday on May 2, 2023 and the winner will be announced at the BAFTA Television Awards with P&O Cruises on May 14, 2023 on BBC One and iPlayer from 7pm”.

I still think that there is radio playlist reliance on one Kate Bush song. The more obsessed and narrow they become, the less opportunity there is for the rest of her catalogue to get noticed. I am conflicted in that sense, but I am very glad that any of her music is getting award nominated and talked about. Without Stranger Things, fewer people would be talking about Kate Bush. Even if she does not win either of the awards for Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God), it will renew speculation as to whether she will bring us another album. If she does collect an award, it is a chance for those in attendance show their love and appreciation for her. With a book about Hounds of Love from Leah Kardos coming out as part of the 33 1/3 series, it will also shine a light on Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God). We may well see the song nominated for more honours throughout the year. I am very pleased that new fans are discovering her work - and it shows that there is no stopping this juggernaut! Of course, it will only worsen the issue of radio stations being single-minded, but that is the price that is being paid for continued recognition of a magnificent song and artist. Kate Bush produced the song too, and I think that people also need to highlight that. An inspirational human who received a lot of new love and focus last year, it seems like 2023 is another one where she dominates and proves why she deserves every honour she gets! It is always unpredictable being a Kate Bush fans. You never really know what news or development will come about! Given the double slice of awesome news we have received this week, it makes me wonder…

WHAT comes next.

FEATURE: Today Is Her Birthday: The Sugarcubes’ Life’s Too Good at Thirty-Five

FEATURE:

 

 

Today Is Her Birthday

 

The Sugarcubes’ Life’s Too Good at Thirty-Five

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AN album anniversary that almost slipped me by…

 IN THIS PHOTO: The Sugarcubes in 1988

it is hard to get on top of all of them! I did want to mark the approaching thirty-fifth anniversary of The Sugarcubes’ debut, Life’s Too Good. People might not know about the group, but you will have heard of their lead singer, Björk. Even though she released an album as a child in 1977, her debut album, Debut, came out in 1993. This was many people’s first exposure to an artist who would change the world of music. Life’s Too Good was released on 25th April, 1988 in the U.K. through One Little Indian (now One Little Independent Records). The group consisted of veterans of Reykjavík's (Iceland) early-1980s Rock scene. They combined Post-Punk with humorous and uplifting Pop. The title is kind of ironic in that sense! If they weren’t 100% convinced Life’s Too Good, then the album definitely does put the listener in a better frame of mind. Go and buy the album on vinyl, as it still sound so essential and fresh after thirty-five years. The group didn’t intend for their music to be taken necessarily seriously. They did go on to make two further albums. 1989’s Here Today, Tomorrow Next Week!, and 1992’s Stick Around for Joy did not reach the same heights as their debut – although the later does feature one of their best songs in the form of Hit. Reaching number-one in the Indie chart in the U.K., people did latch onto music that would have been quite foreign and new to most. Not much Icelandic music had infiltrated the U.K. prior to this point - and it would be the first experience many had with Björk.

It is worth coming to some reviews of a brilliant album turning thirty-five very soon. Marking its thirtieth anniversary, The Quietus highlighted the colourful and less serious take on Post-Punk. How many people in 1988 could have guessed that Björk would be a huge name and would forge this decades-long career where she is still making albums and touring today? Life’s Too Good is a wonderful and kaleidoscopic album that mixes weirdness and beauty. It is beguiling to behold:

“Daft as it was, in its own way, Life’s Too Good (named for a jokey "optimistic complaint" made by an impoverished artist friend of the band on being given a cup of coffee and a cigarette) was a manifesto. The band were all punk and post-punk veterans, Björk in particular having been queen of the Reykjavik scene since age 11. On the demise of their none-more-dark, black-clad post-punk supergroup Kukl, they formed a joke band, The Sugarcubes (named for the form of nutrition they were driven to on tours). The record label set up by the band and their associates, Smekkyleysa, translates as "bad taste", from Picasso’s dictum “good taste and frugality are the enemies of creativity”. Daftness was, for this bunch of tricksters, a statement. You can see the echoes of Smekkleysa’s attitude in the Best Party, the gang of punk survivors, comedians and musicians that took over Reykjavik’s city council in the wake of the Icelandic banking crash (indeed, Sugarcubes vocalist Einar Orn was tangentially involved, and Reykjavik mayor Jon Gnarr, a former punk poet, was a Sugarcubes mucker). When nothing makes sense any more, why not vote for nonsense?

The Sugarcubes debut album dispenses with Picasso’s despised frugality by having its sleeve printed in five acid-bright colours; as for good taste, well… it can’t quite make its mind up about that. It starts on a serious note, a suitably artistic topic: the last thoughts of a man shot at dawn for treachery in the Spanish Civil War. Yet the weighty subject is sent spinning into uncertainty by king clown Einar, the trickster rapper, gibbering on about teaching the angels to play harmonica. And yet... “When the sun rises… I will not see/ It was worth it.”

Swirling, Cure-ish guitar and loping bass seem all present and correct for a tastefully late-80s goth-tinged guitar band, but don’t swoon too soon; there’s an awkward thorn, an inappropriate laugh, a naked bum round every corner with this album.

Round the first bend, for example: screeeeeee! The creepy baby-Ballardisms of ‘Motorcrash’, one of the many infantile, surreal scenarios in Life’s Too Good’s lyrics, with a bicycling Björk chancing upon a car accident, and stealing away an injured woman to nurse in her house. Björk’s childlike lyrical approach, one source of the patronising wild-child/pixie image that dogs her career to this day, owed much to her twin obsessions with Gunter Grass’ The Tin Drum and Georges Batailles’ Story Of The Eye, with whimsical meanderings that could suddenly plunge into dark or perverse thickets without warning (see also the unsettling ‘Sick For Toys’). As Einar puts it over horn-gilded guitar-pop so frisky it could be a low-budget Huey Lewis And The News: “Believe you me, I know what innocent looks like/ And it wasn’t there after she got that bicycle.”

To many ears at the time, Einar was the fly in The Sugarcubes' ointment; the prickly, ridiculous thorn that scratched the band’s innate gorgeousness uncomfortably. The inkies would have been happy if the Cubes ditched Einar, and delectable cover star, ready-to-iconise pixie-woman-puffin-eater-wild-child-pick-your-patronising-daydream Björk was let free, as on the ever-breathtaking ‘Birthday’, (Melody Maker single of the week at the time and a breakout hit in both the US and the UK), to soar and ululate through fresh-faced, odd-angled dream pop and birds sewn in your knickers.

But that’s not the way The Sugarcubes wanted it. They wanted it, as is Icelanders’ wont, their own weird way. ‘Blue-Eyed Pop’ is the mission statement, contrasting a consumer dream of a 50s US pop dream (“It’s just fabulous to go twisting… we all crave a hot dog splashed with noise”) with the wilder northern European model The Sugarcubes propose (“I will look here inside this disco/ It is so hot hot hot, we melt together like tigers and are dancing together”). A little disingenuous - unique as they are, The Sugarcubes do have some sonic forebears in the cartoonish exuberances of The Cramps and, in particular, The B-52’s, and also in the primary coloured, awkward dance-frenzy of Talking Heads.

All they borrow, though, is tuned to their own thrawn purposes, ‘Delicious Demon’ ringing with riddles of Norse gnomicness: “To plough takes two as well/ Only one to hold up the sky”, “Two men need money but one money needs no man”. Often, too, what pop-ness is here, is in attitude more than sound, with their post punk heritage coming through strongly in Björk’s agonised wails and the music’s dark grind and lurch.

And the album churns, beneath its batting eyelashes, with base and powerful instincts, from the threatening sexuality of ‘Cold Sweat’ with its grindingly heavy punk-funk, to the longing for the maternal enwombing of security of ‘Mama’, Björk howling as passionately as for any love song. As the theological bimble of ‘Deus’ - intercut with Björk’s hallucinations about massive collars - puts it, “”To create a universe/ You must taste the forbidden fruit”.

I am going to finish up with a review from The Line of Best Fit. They took a look at The Sugarcubes’ Life’s Too Good in 2015. After twenty-seven years, the album was still reaching new listeners and making an impact. We know that Björk went on to enormous things, but the band was not just her and a few others. It was a collaborative effort. An album where the instrumentation and songwriting is as impactful as the vocals:

“Released during a time when post-punk had become synonymous with monochrome and dour connotations of the gothic, Iceland’s The Sugarcubes’ comparably upbeat Life’s Too Good - about to be reissued on vinyl by One Little Indian - counteracted the often stringent seriousness of the alternative '80s, subverting the vitriol of the earlier post-punk movement by offering a colourful and imaginative substitute.

The band’s most revered and well-known single "Birthday" sounded emphatically jovial in the angry wake of Crass, ‘passe punk’ and over produced new wave. Pop at its esoteric finest, it was lauded by the likes of John Peel and Melody Maker; reached #2 in the indie charts, but was criminally overlooked in the official UK chart, entering it at just #65. A travesty - yes, especially considering it is the - if not one of - the most perfect pop songs ever recorded: sounding just as wide eyed and inspired now as it did then, its weird, melodic brilliance and depiction of childhood abandon evokes a certain kind of whimsical nostalgia, while Björk's piercing, defiant shrieks and seemingly cryptic lyricism would become a trademark of her subsequent solo work.

Much like The B52’s and Talking Heads, The Sugarcubes proved that post-punk could be playful and seriousness could be silly. "Birthday", despite being The Sugarcubes’ defining moment, isn’t indicative of the debut as a whole, though. In fact, as with some of the best LP’s, it’s hard to place this album within a specific genre, a persistent theme even in Björk's previous venutres. Having begun recording music as early as 1977, when she released Björk Guðmundsdóttir - an album of sickly sweet covers of rock songs - she soon found herself in bands that were similarly averse to the restrictions of meaningless categories.

Having previously explored punk (Spit and Snot, Tappi Tikarrass), jazz-fusion (Exodus) and gothic rock (KUKL), here, they dabble in myriad styles: from indie pop to experimental and dance; "Mama" and "Deus"’s prominent bass and jagged guitar lines, for example, recall the dub-punk fusion often extolled by the likes of Public Image Ltd. et al, while "Coldsweat"’s brooding, heavy punk-funk is very much of its time. The deceptively titled "Fucking In Rhythm And Sorrow" is a clever album closer, sounding like the witty antithesis of the experimental pop clamour that came before it. Björk tells the tale of a woman coming home from a bar to find a naked man lying depressed on her living room floor, as an erratic, skiffle-like rhythm builds: “You should use the pain and sorrow / To fill you up with power / Life’s both sweet and sour!” she howls. Something to keep in mind during those moments of despondency and existential crisis.

Björk's idiosyncratic voice might be the main prevailing aspect here, but however fleeting their existence was, The Sugarcubes were very much a band, with each member having their own respective pedigree in various other outfits prior to their formation. All members had previously been in various post-punk or experimental groups - their origins tracing back to the likes of Theyr and of course KUKL - while some even collaborated with Current 93 and various members of Psychic TV. The creation of The Sugarcubes was a direct result of the negation of the anarcho-punk route (KUKL released two record on Crass’ label) and the desire to create something more accessible. Einar’s spoken word contributions are as imperative as they are bizarre, and the contrast between his inane discourse and Björk's more popular vocalisations gives the band their famed uniqueness.

Despite its moments of innate pop brilliance, there remains a dark chaos on Life’s Too Good - repressed, but ever-present. An understated classic, and by far the band's best album, it still sounds vital 27 years since its initial release. It's strange but accessible, silly but genius, and ultimately unfailing from start to finish”.

Turning thirty-five on 25th April, I wanted to spend some time showing love for an incredible album. Life’s Too Good might have been slightly ironic with its title but, every time you hear the 1988 album, it takes you somewhere special. If you have not heard this for a while, it is a perfect moment to spin an incredible debut. Led by the peerless Björk, The Sugarcubes’ Life’s Too Good will be adored…

FOR decades to come.

FEATURE: The Digital Mixtape: Lizzobangers: The Detroit Icon at Thirty-Five

FEATURE:

 

 

The Digital Mixtape

Lizzobangers: The Detroit Icon at Thirty-Five

_________

ALTHOUGH it is…

a bit of a faux pas or no-go when it comes to highlighting a woman’s age, because a particularly incredible woman is turning thirty-five on 27th April, it affords me the opportunity to come to the prime and diamond musical feet of Lizzo – as if an excuse was needed! Someone who co-headlines Glastonbury this year, her latest album, Special, was one of the best of 2022. Her phenomenal debut album, Lizzobangers, is ten in October. This Detroit-born icon is someone who is empowering and influencing so many people. To showcase her awesome body of work, I have compiled a birthday playlist that stretches through her career. Before I get to this, I want to bring in some biography from AllMusic, in case you do not know about Lizzo and what she has achieved so far:

“Charismatic Grammy-winning singer/rapper Lizzo combines her roots in Houston rap, gospel soul, and classical flute as confidently as she addresses race, sexuality, and body positivity. Her 2013 debut, Lizzobangers, reflected her years in Minneapolis' hip-hop and indie music scenes (Doomtree's Lazerbeak was one of its producers), and as time went on, her style became more wide-ranging and melodic. On 2015's self-released Big Grrrl Small World, she added more R&B and gospel to her sound, a trend that continued on her brash major-label debut album, 2019's platinum-selling, Grammy-winning Cuz I Love You, home to hits like "Good as Hell," "Truth Hurts," and "Juice." With 2022's Special, she doubled down on her instantly catchy feel-good anthems.

Born Melissa Jefferson, Lizzo lived in Detroit until she was ten, when she and her family moved to Houston. While growing up, she listened to gospel at home, took flute lessons with the respected music teacher Claudia Momen, and played in her school's marching band. She also began rapping, forming the group Cornrow Clique with her friends when she was 14. Around this time, she picked up the nickname Lizzo, a cross between "Lissa" and Jay-Z's "Izzo (H.O.V. A.)."

When high school was over, she studied classical flute performance at the University of Houston, but the loss of her father when she was 21 devastated her. Looking for a fresh start, Lizzo moved to Minneapolis in 2011 and soon became a part of the city's thriving music scene. She performed with groups including the duo Lizzo & the Larva Ink and the Chalice, an all-female rap/R&B trio whose debut album, We Are the Chalice, appeared in 2012. During this time, she also worked on her own music and collaborated with Gayngs' Ryan Olson and Doomtree's Lazerbeak on her September 2013 debut album, Lizzobangers. The album's gritty sound earned Lizzo local and national acclaim, and she toured the U.S. and U.K. with Har Mar Superstar after its release.

The following year, Lizzo worked with Prince on his album Plectrumelectrum and made guest appearances on tracks by Clean Bandit ("New Eyes"), Bastille ("Torn Apart"), and Sean Anonymous and DJ Name ("Cold Shoulder"). To make her second album, Lizzo recorded at the studio of Bon Iver's Justin Vernon, working once again with Lazerbeak as well as producers Sam Spiegel and Stefon "Bionik" Taylor. The results were December 2015's Big Grrrl Small World, a set of songs that borrowed from classic and contemporary hip-hop and R&B. Arriving on Lizzo's own BGSW label, the album's widespread praise led to a deal with Atlantic Records and a slot opening for Sleater-Kinney on their reunion tour.

For her first major-label release, Lizzo worked with producers Christian Rich, Dubbel Dutch, Jesse Shatkin and Ricky Reed, who encouraged her to use more of her gospel vocal training on the songs they were writing together. The Coconut Oil EP, which featured the singles "Worship" and "Good as Hell," appeared in October 2016 on Reed's Nice Life imprint, Emphasizing the themes of body positivity and self-love that appeared in her later releases, the EP reached number 22 on Billboard's Top R&B Albums chart. Following a stint hosting the MTV program Wonderland, Lizzo issued the 2017 singles "Water Me" and "Truth Hurts." The following year, she released the single "Boys," toured with Haim and Florence + the Machine, and appeared in the first plus-size outfit made for FIT's Future of Fashion runway show.

Lizzo returned in April 2019 with her third full-length, Cuz I Love You, which featured production by Reed, X Ambassadors, and Warren "Oak" Felder and further emphasized the different dimensions of her music. The single "Juice" reached number 23 on the Billboard Hot R&B Songs chart, while "Tempo," a collaboration with Missy Elliott, hit number 21 on the U.S. Digital Song Sales chart. Three months after its arrival, Cuz I Love You peaked at number four on the Billboard 200 Albums chart. The album's success rubbed off on some of Lizzo's previous releases: In August 2019, Coconut Oil appeared on the Billboard 200, while "Truth Hurts" reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100, tying for the longest-running number one by a solo female rap artist. Additionally, "Good as Hell" peaked at number three on the Hot 100, and reached the Top Ten of the U.K. Singles Chart. That September saw the release of Cuz I Love You (Deluxe), which included Lizzo's 2017 and 2018 singles. On top of all of her musical achievements, in 2019 she also appeared in the movie Hustlers and lent her voice to the animated film UglyDolls.

In January 2020, Cuz I Love You was certified platinum in the U.S. (the album also went platinum in Brazil, double platinum in Canada, and gold in several other countries including the U.K.). That month, a super deluxe version of the album that included "Good as Hell" appeared. Lizzo received eight Grammy nominations at the 62nd Grammy Awards, including Record and Song of the Year, as well as Best Pop Solo Performance for "Truth Hurts"; Album of the Year and Best Urban Contemporary Album for Cuz I Love You (Deluxe); Best R&B Performance for "Exactly How I Feel"; Best Traditional R&B Performance for "Jerome"; and Best New Artist, making her that year's most-nominated artist. She took home the awards for Urban Contemporary, Pop Solo, and Traditional R&B. Her other accolades included the Billboard Music Award for Top Song Sales Artist, the Soul Train Music Award for Album/Mixtape of the Year, and a BET Award for Best Female R&B/Pop Artist (she became the first artist nominated in the R&B/Pop and Hip-Hop categories in the same year).

In August 2021, Lizzo collaborated with Cardi B on the single "Rumors," which topped the Billboard R&B chart and reached number four on the Hot 100. Two more singles, "About Damn Time" and "Grrrls," preceded her fourth album, July 2022's Special. Working with a creative team that included Reed, Blake Slatkin, Benny Blanco, and Max Martin, the record found Lizzo exploring love in all its aspects. "About Damn Time" won the award for Record of the Year at the 65th Annual Grammy Awards in 2023. Purple Disco Machine's remix of the song was also named Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical”.

Ahead of Lizzo’s thirty-fifth birthday on 27th April, I was keen to put together a playlist that mixes some of her best-known cuts, together with some deeper dives that people might not be familiar with. A modern-day queen who is going to enjoy a very long career, there is nobody in music…

QUITE like her.