tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37795572024-03-19T00:41:29.367+00:00Silent Words Speak LoudestSound and fury signifying nothingBenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03008553685046831301noreply@blogger.comBlogger8391125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3779557.post-27861739008132398082024-03-18T09:47:00.001+00:002024-03-18T09:47:00.142+00:00More than a feeling<p>The short stories that make up <i>Ghost Pains</i>, Jessi Jezewska Stevens' first collection, are engagingly enigmatic, the deeper significance of the often awkward encounters they describe seeming to be just beyond the reach of the reader and the characters themselves. <i>Buzz</i> review <a href="https://www.buzzmag.co.uk/ghost-pains-jessi-jezewska-book-review/" target="_blank">here</a>.</p><p>In <a href="https://chireviewofbooks.com/2024/03/08/disintegrating-worldviews-a-conversation-with-jessi-jezewska-stevens-on-ghost-pains/" target="_blank">this interview with Regan Mies for the <i>Chicago Review Of Books</i></a>, Stevens talks about the stories' relation to her two novels and to her non-fiction writing, her use of the surreal/absurd and her preoccupation with the themes of debt and waste.</p>Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03008553685046831301noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3779557.post-35063866189472494202024-03-16T09:33:00.001+00:002024-03-16T09:33:00.147+00:00Point of principle<p>My respect and admiration for Gruff Rhys went up another notch this week - not only for the fact that he's pulled out of performing at SXSW over its sponsorship by the US Army and RTX Corporation (formerly Raytheon), which has been helping to arm Israel, but for the manner in which he's done so.</p><p>First, <a href="https://www.nme.com/news/music/gruff-rhys-pulls-out-of-sxsw-in-protest-to-the-hyper-violence-inflicted-on-civilians-in-gaza-and-beyond-3601272" target="_blank">the social media statements announcing his withdrawal</a> are unequivocal in expressing horror at "<i>the hyper violence inflicted on civilians in Gaza and beyond</i>", but rightly recognise that blame should also be apportioned closer to home, to "<i>the utter collapse of coherent diplomacy in the West that has helped facilitate unimaginable violence</i>".</p><p>Second, he's sensitive to his own positionality as "<i>a musician not a politician</i>", someone with "<i>what I'm sure is a limited understanding of a complex situation</i>", and is honest enough to acknowledge feeling "<i>somewhat hypocritical as I'm no doubt tied in to other numerous imperfect capitalist constructs in my active and enthusiastic participation in the music industry</i>" - but, critically, he still insists that none of this detracts from the fact that pulling out is the right thing to do.</p><p>Third, he remains acutely aware that withdrawing has been an easier decision for him that it might be for others who don't have US tour dates planned to supplement the festival or who are early-career musicians whose future financial viability and prospects hinge on turning up to avoid letting down funding bodies. (Lambrini Girls, for instance, were the recipients of money from the PRS Foundation, which made their dilemma more fraught: "<i>We were trying to find a way out of the situation whilst keeping our moral integrity intact and not having to repay thousands of pounds at the same time. That really just isn't possible</i>.")</p><p>Chwarae teg, Gruff. Symbolic gesture though withdrawing might be, <a href="https://eu.statesman.com/story/entertainment/events/2024/03/14/sxsw-2024-protest-bands-pull-out-boycot-us-army-miliary-sponsorship-palestine-israel-hamas-war/72970695007/" target="_blank">it's one that many artists have now made</a> - so here's hoping there's a significant cumulative effect.</p>Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03008553685046831301noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3779557.post-14346006004498499602024-03-15T10:04:00.000+00:002024-03-15T10:04:08.674+00:00Out of this world<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRDCrghf6KaFpPYuG96FyKx6fcVkYEw279qHmm6W0UZ8NyttqRwg4nn_7EwahDSieHXFwhtlm2ZAygWjz9RYd6-Nk9cWFLt5iKiRDqo4oBdCCqvzH7x9BYTiDoPEjAHjbqjWkS4tVkG5sQYMym_hnOp5V6pQj4444JXFUNg5e3Zry7VLLEeja-/s4000/IMG_20240310_224549071_HDR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRDCrghf6KaFpPYuG96FyKx6fcVkYEw279qHmm6W0UZ8NyttqRwg4nn_7EwahDSieHXFwhtlm2ZAygWjz9RYd6-Nk9cWFLt5iKiRDqo4oBdCCqvzH7x9BYTiDoPEjAHjbqjWkS4tVkG5sQYMym_hnOp5V6pQj4444JXFUNg5e3Zry7VLLEeja-/s320/IMG_20240310_224549071_HDR.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p>What better way to spend a Sunday night than on a voyage into outer and inner space with prog/psych legends Gong and Ozric Tentacles as tour guides? Whether, by the end of the evening, we were all reborn as the best versions of ourselves, as Kavus Torabi speculated/hoped, is uncertain - but it was a wonderful trip all the same.</p><p><i>Buzz </i>review <a href="https://www.buzzmag.co.uk/gong-ozric-tentacles-live-review-cardiff/" target="_blank">here</a>.</p>Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03008553685046831301noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3779557.post-80650042772968890542024-03-13T08:45:00.001+00:002024-03-13T08:45:00.132+00:00Church chat and fox tales<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">RICHARD HERRING'S LEICESTER SQUARE THEATRE PODCAST, 5TH MARCH 2024, CARDIFF SHERMAN THEATRE</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Over the
course of more than 500 episodes going back to May 2012, <i><a href="https://www.rhlstp.co.uk/" target="_blank">Richard Herring’s Leicester Square Theatre Podcast</a></i> </span><span lang="EN-US">(<i>RHLSTP</i> to nerdy devotees like me) has cemented its status as one
of the most consistently engaging, entertaining and occasionally even
illuminating shows around. Each installment pitches the comedian into
conversation with a guest – much less a formal, structured interview than an
unpredictable, freeform ramble for the benefit of a live audience. In recent
years, Herring has started taking the podcast on tour around the country,
booking guests with a connection to each specific venue – and tonight it’s Cardiff’s
turn.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">The secret
to the show’s success lies largely in its host’s unorthodox questions, fondness
for gentle irreverence and verbal jousting, and penchant for making shameless personal
confessions – the latter in particular inducing those sat in the opposing seat to
drop their guard and reciprocate with equal candour (most famously Stephen
Fry).</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">In many ways, then, Charlotte Church is a perfect first guest –
open about her past, honest in her opinions and more than willing to indulge
Herring’s silliness with a joyful cackle. She immediately makes herself
comfortable, taking off her shoes and socks and curling up on the armchair with
her glass of red wine like she’s settling in for an evening in front of the TV.
Herring, briefly taken aback, says that he won’t follow suit for fear of
offending people with his “<i>horrible Hobbit feet</i>” and recounting how he recently
stood on a drawing pin but felt nothing – and suddenly we’re barely two minutes
in and the former child superstar is talking about “<i>necrotic flesh</i>”. This is <i>RHLSTP</i> all over.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">The ensuing
chat charts the Llandaff lass’ fairytale discovery, stratospheric rise and extraordinary
career travelling the world performing for popes, presidents and royals, among
others. At times, the conversation is heavy, covering topics such as the
hoarding of obscene wealth, sexualisation in the media, and Church’s struggle
to escape expectations and pigeonholing and find her own voice.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">But there are
plenty of laughs along the way – at her declaration that, having sung at Rupert
Murdoch’s wedding as a teen, she’d now happily pay to sing at his funeral; at
her cautionary tale about meeting your heroes (the disillusioning experience of
Kelsey Grammer talking about his young girlfriend’s diarrhoea on a Republican
Party bus); at the fact that the yardstick by which her family measured her
success was when adverts for her album appeared on the side of Cardiff buses.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">The
encounter would be most memorable for the pair’s attempt to perform <i>Pie Jesu</i> as a duet, were it not for Church, late on, uttering the immortal line “<i>The
Woodland Trust are cunts</i>”. Spoken with the voice of an angel, it’s quite a
statement.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Herring’s
second guest of the evening is unlikely to have his face emblazoned on local
public transport any time soon. Benjamin Partridge immediately
acknowledges that he’s hardly a household name even in Cardiff, and speculates
that Superted and Maureen from <i>Driving School</i> must have had prior engagements.
But he’s appearing fresh from winning what the host insists on calling “<i>the
Richard Herring Award</i>” – <a href="https://www.chortle.co.uk/news/2024/03/04/55106/taskmaster%2C_sam_campbell_and_kiri_pritchard-mclean_scoop_double_chortle_awards" target="_blank">Best Podcast at this year’s Chortle Awards</a></span><span lang="EN-US"> – for <i><a href="https://www.benjaminpartridge.com/Three-Bean-Salad" target="_blank">Three Bean Salad</a></i></span><span lang="EN-US">, created in conjunction with
Henry Paker and Mike Wozniak (whose appeal, he claims, is predominantly to
“<i>horny mothers</i>”), and hits the ground running by riffing on the idea that the
onstage rug might be a magic carpet.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">What
follows is an hour of near-constant hilarity (aside from an interlude when the
pair justifiably bemoan the dearth of creativity and unfulfilled potential of
the podcast medium). Host and guest are very much on the same wavelength when
it comes to comedy, with Partridge admitting that he finds humour in the relentless
repetition of a stupid idea, namechecking <a href="https://silentwordsspeakloudest.blogspot.com/2007/01/dairy-good-richard-herrings-someone.html" target="_blank">Herring’s notorious <i>Someone LikesYoghurt</i> stand-up show</a> and explaining that this is the principle behind <a href="https://maximumfun.org/podcasts/beef-and-dairy-network/" target="_blank">his
long-running spoof industry podcast <i>The Beef and Dairy Network</i></a></span><span lang="EN-US">.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">One of
Herring’s patented Emergency Questions – “<i>What’s the largest creature you’ve
had to try to get out of your house?</i>” – elicits not one but two fox-related
anecdotes that are so funny as to cause physical pain, and another leads to the
duo debating whether a self-pleasuring Russian prisoner of war might be able to
escape via his own arsehole. By the time Herring has managed to hold himself
together long enough to bring the evening to an end, Partridge has won himself
a legion of new fans.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">(<a href="https://www.buzzmag.co.uk/richard-herrings-leicester-square-theatre-podcast-stage-review-cardiff/" target="_blank">An edited version of this review</a> appeared on the <i>Buzz </i>website.)</span></p>Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03008553685046831301noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3779557.post-16443957120679819622024-03-12T09:26:00.001+00:002024-03-12T09:26:00.138+00:00Joint effort<p>Kim Gordon's second solo album takes a little getting used to - it's not ear-friendly banger after ear-friendly banger, for sure - but <i>The Collective</i> stands as evidence of an artist who remains full of fresh, challenging ideas, even in her 70s.</p><p>With hindsight, in <a href="https://www.buzzmag.co.uk/kim-gordon-the-collective-album-review/" target="_blank">my review for <i>Buzz</i></a> I may perhaps have overstated its distance from the music of the band for which she is most famous. As Jeff Terich has astutely pointed out in <a href="https://www.treblezine.com/kim-gordon-the-collective-review/" target="_blank">his own assessment of the record for <i>Treble</i></a>, there are indeed echoes of "<i>early Sonic Youth noise nightmares like 'Flower' or 'Pacific Coast Highway'</i>", albeit refracted through the brain and studio trickery of Gordon's producer/partner in crime Justin Raisen.</p>Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03008553685046831301noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3779557.post-37363878962023009832024-03-10T10:44:00.001+00:002024-03-10T10:44:00.128+00:00All the feels<p>"<i>Why does music make us emotional?</i>" Good question, and one that Luke Turner has regularly pondered, as a lifelong music fan, music writer and founder of the <i>Quietus</i>. He set out to find some answers in <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/why-does-music-make-us-emotional/id1714444995?i=1000645603798" target="_blank">a recent episode of the <i>Why?</i> podcast</a>, by talking to Catherine Loveday, Professor of Neuropsychology at the University of Westminster.</p><p>Over the course of a fascinating half hour, the pair discussed everything from music's visible impact on the brain to its role in communication and the similarities and differences in how different people and different cultures hear, process and value certain forms of music and varieties of sound.</p><p>Particularly interesting to me was the pair's talk of the "<i>reminiscence bump</i>" and the fact that our emotional attachment to music is especially strong during our teenage years - which partly accounts for our tendency to return to the familiar and its more extreme manifestation, the depressingly closed-minded complaint that there's "<i>no good music</i>" anymore. Loveday attributed this intense youthful attachment to psychological/existential insecurity and the process of identity formation, which explains why someone rubbishing your favourite teenage artists smarts so much. I vividly recall mocking a good friend's love of Britpop and it being received like a savagely personal attack.</p><p>Loveday was recommended to Turner as an expert interviewee by Jude Rogers, who spoke to her for <i>The Sound Of Being Human</i>. The episode felt like a taster for Rogers' book, and (personally speaking) served as another reminder to pick up a copy.</p>Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03008553685046831301noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3779557.post-56423742472936769342024-03-09T11:51:00.003+00:002024-03-09T11:51:00.144+00:00Superunknown pleasures<p>Can it really be 30 years since the release of one of my first and fiercest musical loves, Soundgarden's <i>Superunknown</i>? The sort of expansive, all-encompassing record you could live inside for a month, emerging briefly to draw air into your lungs and be blinded by the dazzling daylight, only to be sucked back in once again.</p><p>At various times over the past three decades, pretty much every single one of the album's 15 tracks (16, if you count bonus 'She Likes Surprises') has been my favourite. Today? Maybe 'Head Down'. Maybe 'My Wave'. Maybe the title track. Ask me tomorrow and it'll be different.</p><p>Ten years ago, I linked to <a href="https://silentwordsspeakloudest.blogspot.com/2014/06/up-on-downside.html" target="_blank">Stuart Berman's piece for <i>Pitchfork</i></a>. <a href="https://thequietus.com/articles/14621-soundgarden-superunknown-review" target="_blank">Here'</a>s another appraisal, from the <i>Quietus</i>' Val Siebert, which - though briefly dunking on the album's unfairly maligned successor <i>Down On The Upside</i> - pinpoints the curious chemistry between the band members that set them apart from the grunge herd and rightly cites the "<i>sublimely dissonant crunch</i>" of '4th Of July' as evidence that they hadn't come close to selling their souls to the mainstream.</p>Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03008553685046831301noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3779557.post-86385878405084611282024-03-08T23:15:00.004+00:002024-03-08T23:37:05.253+00:00"A pervasive and deeply ingrained systemic issue"<p>On International Women's Day, the mainstream media and social networks are invariably awash with platitudinous guff. So credit to the <i>Independent </i>for choosing to mark the occasion by publishing <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/misogyny-music-industry-rina-sawayama-self-esteem-interview-b2508677.html" target="_blank">this expose of sexism and misogyny in music</a> featuring contributions from Katy J Pearson, Rebecca Lucy Taylor (Self Esteem), Rakel Mjoll (Dream Wife), Lily Fontaine (English Teacher) and Laura Mary Carter (Blood Red Shoes), among others.</p><p>What is abundantly clear is that this is not a case of rogue individuals, a handful of bad apples, but of endemic sexism, and of a boys' club culture that both facilitates and normalises abuse.</p><p>EMI marketing manager Daisy Carberry argues that "<i>[i]t is the subtlety of misogyny that makes today's industry more dangerous than ever before</i>", echoing a point made by Charlotte Church in conversation with Richard Herring in Cardiff on Tuesday night. Things may have improved outwardly, but, in the words of Pale Waves' Heather Baron Gracie, misogyny remains an "<i>insidious presence</i>". </p><p>The hope is that the piece "<i>encourages more women to speak out, and that the British music industry will wake up and start holding those who abuse their power and influence to account</i>". The second half of that sentence is important - while women should of course feel able to talk about their experiences, the burden should not be on them to speak out but on the industry to change.</p>Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03008553685046831301noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3779557.post-82669628363009523662024-03-07T09:44:00.000+00:002024-03-07T09:44:05.442+00:00Sister act<p><i>Engelchen</i>, the new LP from Alison Cotton, is a tribute to Sunderland-born sisters Ida and Louise Cook, whose courage and ingenuity saved the lives of Jews trapped in Nazi Germany. She'll be performing the material in the splendid setting of Gregynog Hall, near Newtown in Powys, on 23rd March.</p><p><a href="https://www.buzzmag.co.uk/whats-on/alison-cotton-engelchen-gregynog-hall-newtown/" target="_blank">Here</a>'s my preview of the show for <i>Buzz</i>, and <a href="https://thequietus.com/articles/33842-alison-cotton-interview-4" target="_blank">here</a> she is talking to the <i>Quietus</i>' Alex Rigotti about the remarkable story behind the record.</p>Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03008553685046831301noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3779557.post-64971398853130447342024-03-06T08:14:00.001+00:002024-03-06T08:14:00.255+00:00Cover story<p>It's often said that <a href="https://silentwordsspeakloudest.blogspot.com/2018/01/stimulating-stageshows.html" target="_blank">everyone who attended the Sex Pistols' 1976 gig at Manchester's Lesser Free Trade Hall formed a band</a>. An apocryphal tale - but perhaps there was something in the Mancunian water, as it seems as though a few years earlier everyone who studied photography at Manchester Art School went on to become a star of the medium: Martin Parr, Daniel Meadows, Brian Griffin.</p><p>As <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2024/feb/22/brian-griffin-obituary" target="_blank">Greg Whitmore's obituary for the <i>Guardian</i></a> underlines, Griffin came to straddle the worlds of photography and music, responsible for iconic album covers for Depeche Mode and Echo & The Bunnymen (among others) and striking portraits of numerous musicians, having branched out from his work in the corporate world. </p><p><a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-68139040" target="_blank">This selection of his images published by the BBC</a> is astonishing, illustrating his aptitude for composition and lighting - and a reminder of how good it would have been at the Northern Eye Festival three years ago to hear the man named by the <i>Guardian </i>in 1989 as the photographer of the decade talk about his practice in person.</p>Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03008553685046831301noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3779557.post-54941841300890637642024-03-05T14:21:00.001+00:002024-03-05T14:21:56.327+00:00Hall or nothing<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjztRLDjo4Rkm6ESLT0GaFeKXPWeUEMxTvL44thketNToqG6kprRXBw9s_epyRChpImLaa3DLDMXsk2QTTitrjO6SDCuss81UuFfn-sWwwEpjsZlx422nL-Kj_829I-cqlplFXFhI3IjORAjP543UcNf6lwvct7y_nq2O4po2S2SN9tvheGy7DJ/s4000/IMG_20230909_183432267_HDR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjztRLDjo4Rkm6ESLT0GaFeKXPWeUEMxTvL44thketNToqG6kprRXBw9s_epyRChpImLaa3DLDMXsk2QTTitrjO6SDCuss81UuFfn-sWwwEpjsZlx422nL-Kj_829I-cqlplFXFhI3IjORAjP543UcNf6lwvct7y_nq2O4po2S2SN9tvheGy7DJ/s320/IMG_20230909_183432267_HDR.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p>Bush Hall might not be a regular haunt - I've only been once, <a href="https://silentwordsspeakloudest.blogspot.com/2023/09/keeping-it-montreal.html" target="_blank">for the Baba Yaga's Hut bill headed by Big Brave in September</a>. But what a venue it is, as impressive in its own way as the Forum in Bath (where I saw Angel Olsen in October 2022) and a very different kind of space to the Moon, <a href="https://www.buzzmag.co.uk/big-brave-jessica-moss-live-review-cardiff/" target="_blank">where I'd seen Big Brave only a few days earlier</a> (much as I love the Cardiff venue's impeccably dank vibes).</p><p>And now it's the latest venue <a href="https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-save-music-at-bush-hall?" target="_blank">forced to beg for urgent financial help in the form of a crowdfunder</a>. The objective is to raise £42,000, without which it would struggle to survive. <a href="https://www.buzzmag.co.uk/state-of-grassroots-music-venues-uk-feature/" target="_blank">I recently noted that cash injections aren't the long-term solution to the myriad challenges facing grassroots music venues</a> - but of course in the short term they can at least keep the wolf from the door of spaces that find themselves in dire straits.</p><p>I'll admit to being slightly uneasy about businesses identifying the forthcoming increase in the minimum wage as part of the problem. After all, everyone's feeling the squeeze and wages really do need to rise in the face of significant inflation - plus it will leave people with marginally more money in their pockets each month, which may help ticket sales. But it's nevertheless true that the increase will also push up costs, both directly at venues themselves and indirectly at their suppliers, and thereby ramp up the pressure on already beleaguered institutions.</p>Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03008553685046831301noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3779557.post-72166504189142943382024-03-01T08:25:00.001+00:002024-03-01T08:25:00.135+00:00"The undeniable whiff of rejuvenation"<p><a href="https://silentwordsspeakloudest.blogspot.com/2024/01/youre-here-to-set-peoples-heads-on-fire.html" target="_blank">Neil Kulkarni may sadly no longer be with us</a>, but his words live on - most recently, in <a href="https://thequietus.com/articles/33870-liam-gallagher-john-squire-review" target="_blank">this review of the new Liam Gallagher and John Squire record by the <i>Quietus</i>' JR Moores</a>.</p><p>As Moores rightly observes, Kulkarni was "<i>one of Britpop's fiercest, funniest and most doggedly unforgiving critics</i>", savaging the supposedly Golden Age of the mid-90s as well as its malignant legacy. Moores quotes his fellow scribe liberally and to good effect, and evidently relishes the task of serving up more shoe pie in a similar fashion.</p><p>Take this zinger, for example: "<i>One of the best things about this album is that Ian Brown isn't singing on it. It's unlikely Squire will ever work again with that tone-deaf, nunchaku-wielding prannock who occasionally emerges from his conspiracy rabbit hole to charge £40-a-ticket for karaoke routines less tuneful than Jim Royle's anal wind</i>."</p><p>But Moores is evidently not only smitten with Kulkarni's style - he's also taken on board the late writer's dictum to never lie (one of several principles he set out in <a href="https://drownedinsound.com/in_depth/4137350-the-neil-kulkarni-guide-to-being-a-record-reviewer" target="_blank">a 2009 article for <i>Drowned In Sound</i></a>). And that strict adherence to honesty means conceding that the lovechild born of the Gallagher/Squire union is actually not quite as ugly as feared.</p><p>At the end of a week when I've seen yet more people asking (apparently earnestly) on Twitter what the point of music criticism is in 2024, this makes for a perfect answer. A good review entertains, provokes, enlightens, intrigues and perhaps even influences. Before reading Moores' assessment, I had less than zero interest in listening to the record; now, there's a (small) part of me that feels like perhaps I should.</p><p>Sadly, such reviews are few and far between these days. As Moores notes of Kulkarni, "<i>Nobody writes like that anymore. Why not? Because market forces won't allow it and too few people care enough to challenge the tsunami of copy that's blander than Gregg Wallace's Harvester breakfast</i>." Let's be thankful, then, that the <i>Quietus </i>continues to publish work by the likes of Moores in a valiant effort to buck that miserable trend.</p>Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03008553685046831301noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3779557.post-34704038231620140112024-02-29T08:23:00.002+00:002024-02-29T08:23:00.133+00:00Access denied<p>No sooner has <a href="https://silentwordsspeakloudest.blogspot.com/2024/01/forked-off.html" target="_blank"><i>Pitchfork </i>gone down the pan</a> than another blow has been dealt to online media, with <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2024/feb/22/vice-media-layoffs-cease-publishing" target="_blank">the powers-that-be pulling the plug on the <i>Vice </i>website and laying off hundreds of staffers</a>.</p><p>Had this happened in the site's early days, it would hardly have been cause for lamentation. Back then, <i>Vice </i>was like <i>Jackass</i>' marginally more literate cousin, full of fratboy "humour" and motivated by a misguided belief that it was the modern standard bearer for gonzo journalism.</p><p>But there was an improbable seachange, and the site mutated into a go-to place for quality, long-form, online journalism - sometimes deadly serious, sometimes uproariously funny (Joel Golby and Oobah Butler, I'm looking at you).</p><p>In <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/feb/27/vice-clever-irreverent-executives-helped-kill-it" target="_blank">a piece for the <i>Guardian</i></a>, former <i>Vice </i>writer Sirin Kale pulls few punches about the toxic culture that she first walked into, and even fewer about the gross mismanagement of the "<i>bloviating fools</i>" in charge, culminating in this latest decision.</p><p>But she also points out that <i>Vice </i>became a breeding ground for young talent - and not just any old talent: "<i>My colleagues were racially diverse, gender non-conforming, queer and from working-class and non-London backgrounds. What united them all is that they were clever, informal, funny and cunning. Vice gave a start to people who would otherwise never have got into the media. Pick up a newspaper or turn on the TV today and you will see ex-Vice staffers everywhere: they are Orwell- and Emmy-winning journalists, novelists, critics, TV personalities and hosts.</i>"</p><p>At a time when the media (like so much else) seems ever more elitist, nepotistic and closed-off, increasingly the preserve of the privileged, sites like <i>Vice </i>can make a genuine difference. Its demise is likely to accelerate the negative trend.</p>Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03008553685046831301noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3779557.post-89129118361263904092024-02-27T09:04:00.001+00:002024-02-27T09:04:00.141+00:00Old dogs, old tricks<p>"<i>I can't shake the feeling that I've seen this dream before</i>", sings Jim Reid on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3_NOCiRbII&t=2s" target="_blank">'jamcod'</a>, the first single to be released from The Jesus & Mary Chain's forthcoming album <i>Glasgow Eyes</i>. Well, Jim, I can't shake the feeling that I've heard this song before. To the surprise of no one, it sounds exactly like The Jesus & Mary Chain.</p><p>Not that that's a bad thing, mind - not at all. And certainly not in the light of the latest trailer for the LP, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FiSoL3onGo&t=3s" target="_blank">'Girl 71'</a>, which - with its rock 'n' roll swagger and handclaps - is somewhat less typical but also akin to a rather lame Primal Scream knock-off. Hopefully the album as a whole will be more 'jamcod' than 'Girl 71', then.</p><p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/jan/25/the-jesus-and-mary-chain-despite-our-reputation-were-gentle-tea-and-toast-guys" target="_blank">Here</a> are the brothers Reid - previously spectacularly combustible, now happy to claim to being "<i>tea and toast guys</i>" - answering fan questions about gig riots, Alan McGee's hyperbole, recording and performing with Shane MacGowan, <i>Lost In Translation</i> and being roped into contributing backing vocals on an Erasure single.</p>Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03008553685046831301noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3779557.post-73068462708527966582024-02-26T08:18:00.002+00:002024-02-26T08:18:00.137+00:00On the level<p>Growing up somewhere in the proximity of hills, if not that hilly itself, I find totally flat places somewhat unnerving. I'm not sure I could ever get used to living in rural Lincolnshire or the Fens, for instance.</p><p>However, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2024/jan/23/i-love-britains-flat-landscapes-norfolk-fens-lancashire-cambridgeshire-suffolk" target="_blank">this piece by Noreen Masud</a> not only does a decent job of explaining that feeling of being unnerved - it's to do with vulnerability and exposure, she suggests, because such places "<i>trouble our sense of our own importance, and our confidence about how we interact with our environments</i>" - but also makes a poetic case for their understated beauty and seductive appeal.</p><p>I might not be totally convinced, but consider me sufficiently swayed to conclude that Masud's book <i>A Flat Place</i> may well be worthy of further investigation.</p>Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03008553685046831301noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3779557.post-90618330802315890962024-02-25T09:39:00.003+00:002024-03-05T14:50:22.578+00:00Pressing pause<p>It's not just gig venues that are feeling the squeeze - it's festivals too. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/feb/22/uks-position-as-live-music-leader-at-stake-nine-festivals-cancel-amid-rising-costs" target="_blank">As the <i>Guardian</i>'s Lanre Bakare has reported</a>, nine festivals have been pulled for this summer already, and that number is only likely to rise as we move into spring.</p><p>Some are (hopefully) only going into temporary hibernation - Stanton Calling and, more disappointingly, Bluedot, no doubt still licking their wounds after the weather-induced carnage on site last year - but others won't be returning.</p><p>The article underlines the staggering increase in costs - up by around 30 to 40 per cent from pre-pandemic levels. The options for organisers are stark: put prices up to avoid shouldering the full burden of the increases, pre-emptively postpone or fold, or run the risk of racking up enormous losses.</p><p>Some will say that there are too many festivals anyway, and too many that are practically indistinguishable, so we could easily afford for a few to fall by the wayside. But when those include the likes of Bluedot - whose organisers have been assembling better line-ups year on year - then it's a real cause for concern.</p>Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03008553685046831301noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3779557.post-25979076287546846502024-02-24T09:07:00.001+00:002024-02-24T09:07:00.173+00:00"The lifeblood of the music industry"<p>Tonight sees Swansea Arena host its <a href="https://www.swansea-arena.co.uk/shows/the-swansea-arena-house-party" target="_blank">House Party</a> - a special event not only in terms of being a showcase for the South Wales music scene but also because it's part of a commendable strategy to support and work with smaller spaces in the local area.</p><p>Both the event and the strategy inspired <a href="https://www.buzzmag.co.uk/state-of-grassroots-music-venues-uk-feature/" target="_blank">this article for <i>Buzz</i></a>, which, in a similarly bullish and positive spirit, avoids dwelling only on the difficulties facing grassroots music venues (GMVs), and instead looks at some of the solutions that are being proposed and implemented.</p><p>Having pitched the piece, I found myself going into it with a sense of dread and despair at how bad the situation might be - and, sure enough, the current climate is hugely challenging in a number of ways. But it's testament to those who gave their time and thoughts that I emerged on the other side with a renewed optimism, as well as a reaffirmed conviction in the importance of GMVs within the cultural ecosystem.</p><p>To borrow an appropriate Welsh slogan: together stronger.</p>Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03008553685046831301noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3779557.post-8941567701344348612024-02-23T08:41:00.001+00:002024-02-23T08:41:00.140+00:00Labour of love<p>"<i>This is the manifesto of the album. It's like a spell being cast. It's the conjuring, the manifestation, the drawing-down of Delphi from the ether. This is me calling on her soul. It's about going up into the stars and down into the underworld simultaneously, how celestials and deep guttural sounds can come together, how that reflects the journey I went on. It's about what happens when you're stretched physically, mentally, even vaginally! I think it's just humbled me, too, becoming a mother. It's made me feel more vulnerable than I've ever felt before. But I feel more human, more embodied. I can't escape my life by making beautiful things as much as I did. But there's a sort of beauty to my mortality now</i>."</p><p>Suffice to say that <a href="https://www.stereogum.com/2252870/bat-for-lashes-the-dream-of-delphi/music/" target="_blank">Natasha Khan's description of the new Bat For Lashes single 'The Dream Of Delphi'</a> - the title track from her forthcoming album - is so on brand as to be practically self-parody.</p><p>Scoff all you like (and there's admittedly a part of me inclined to do so), but I do have a soft spot for artists with idiosyncratic vision who are sufficiently self-assured to leave themselves totally exposed to ridicule. And, as those of us lucky enough to be at <a href="https://www.buzzmag.co.uk/bat-for-lashes-llais-2023-wales-millenium-centre-live-review/" target="_blank">her Llais show at the Millennium Centre last autumn</a> will recall, the song is a cracker and served as the perfect opener to her set. The album promises much.</p>Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03008553685046831301noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3779557.post-71809292047977221842024-02-21T08:35:00.001+00:002024-02-21T08:35:00.138+00:00Eternal flame<p>There is, admittedly, an irony in hailing William Doyle as a unique voice (artistically as well as literally) and at the same time feeling a strange compulsion to tentatively draw parallels with someone else: Julia Holter, who - on <i>Have You In My Wilderness</i>, at least - seemed to be driven by a similar urge to rein in her more abstract, avant garde tendencies and dip a toe in poppy waters.</p><p>That said, Doyle's latest album <i>Springs Eternal</i> is far further along the pop spectrum than Holter's work has ever been, and indeed than his previous LP <i>Great Spans Of Muddy Time</i> was - but it still boasts plenty of arty eccentricity, as well as a certain Brian Eno as a contributor.</p><p><i>Buzz </i>review <a href="https://www.buzzmag.co.uk/william-doyle-springs-eternal-album-review/" target="_blank">here</a>.</p>Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03008553685046831301noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3779557.post-39383326526803233382024-02-19T08:42:00.001+00:002024-02-19T08:42:00.135+00:00Survival instinct<p>"<i>Is this too personal? Is this giving away too much? But I lost my mystery as an artist a long time ago. I'm not gonna get that back, so I might as well just make brutally honest work</i>." So says Nadine Shah in what is itself <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/jan/26/nadine-shah-filthy-underneath-interview" target="_blank">a brutally honest interview with the <i>Guardian</i>'s Kate Hutchinson</a>, ahead of the release of her new album <i>Filthy Underneath</i>.</p><p>It's heartening to read how Shah is escaping the shadow of addiction, depression and marriage breakdown. She's one of the most singular talents in British rock/pop, after all, as well as one of the most righteously outspoken musicians on everything from sexism and mental health to the injustices of streaming and the value of independent music criticism ("<i>We're losing all our best writers because no one's getting paid for it</i>").</p><p>Shah couldn't have staged a much more high-profile re-emergence than tour dates supporting Depeche Mode around Europe, and she's also on <a href="https://www.nme.com/news/music/mogwai-announce-their-own-big-city-festival-in-glasgow-with-slowdive-nadine-shah-and-more-3582799" target="_blank">the bill for the inaugural Big City festival in Glasgow</a>. It's curated by Mogwai (who evidently enjoyed the experience of putting together ATP line-ups), and as such features some fairly predictable names - Slowdive, bdrmm, Elisabeth Elektra and Sacred Paws - alongside Shah, Beak> and Michael Rother.</p>Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03008553685046831301noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3779557.post-2001974726159065492024-02-17T09:53:00.001+00:002024-02-17T09:53:00.134+00:00No Tangk you very much<p>Rightly feted though his work with Radiohead is, Nigel Godrich does have form for forming head-scratching alliances (see Pavement's recorded swansong <i>Terror Twilight</i>). Hooking up with IDLES for <i>Tangk </i>very much falls into the same category.</p><p>The Bristolians' desire to look forwards and reinvent themselves is commendable enough, but this attempt to do so is largely painful - not least when they rope in LCD Soundsystem's James Murphy and Nancy Whang on the godawful 'Dancer'.</p><p><i>Buzz</i> review <a href="https://www.buzzmag.co.uk/idles-tangk-album-review/" target="_blank">here</a>.</p>Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03008553685046831301noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3779557.post-34493355414206168022024-02-13T09:48:00.001+00:002024-02-13T09:48:00.149+00:00"The most indie thing ever to have existed"<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUDbNfECyW0whPl8Pe2yvOK9dF0T11RyTlcCyB3-d00mAAVZu3OXMxRN7BiD6dej_ILmcX3ztUxHxYquTxCMkgbCGYod7FFtBKmGwxxpkoBmAcEsrZ5jsd48Cock8wxk2zHwn2OZR-xGzvvgqJuffs4fsAvndkqqIEkfDr949OoUAalNkyVAuM/s4000/IMG_20240127_002658993_HDR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUDbNfECyW0whPl8Pe2yvOK9dF0T11RyTlcCyB3-d00mAAVZu3OXMxRN7BiD6dej_ILmcX3ztUxHxYquTxCMkgbCGYod7FFtBKmGwxxpkoBmAcEsrZ5jsd48Cock8wxk2zHwn2OZR-xGzvvgqJuffs4fsAvndkqqIEkfDr949OoUAalNkyVAuM/s320/IMG_20240127_002658993_HDR.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />So said music journalist Andrew Collins of <i>C86</i>, the legendary <i>NME </i>tape bookended by Primal Scream and the Wedding Present that became synonymous with indie pop. Much like the first Velvet Underground album and the Sex Pistols' 1976 gig at Manchester's Lesser Free Trade Hall (if perhaps on a slightly lesser scale), the mail-order cassette has had an outsized cultural impact and influence.<p></p><p>Confession time: until recently, I wasn't that familiar with the compilation, having had an arguably unfairly jaundiced view of it, and I'm still not that much of a fan. But I'm a sucker for a good music book, and when Nige Tassell came to town to talk about <i>Whatever Happened To The C86 Kids? </i>(recounting his quest to track down members of all 22 featured bands), I knew I had to be there.</p><p>As I discovered, it's little wonder that the book has been well received - you don't need to particularly like or even know the featured artists to be able to enjoy the very human stories that Tassell tells about bands forming and falling apart and what came after.</p><p><i>Buzz </i>report <a href="https://www.buzzmag.co.uk/nige-tassell-tracks-down-the-c86-kids-who-kicked-off-a-new-british-wave-of-indie/" target="_blank">here</a>.</p><p>As someone used to glancing enviously at the line-up for the Walthamstow Rock 'n' Roll Book Club, I'm very much hoping that this marks the start of a series of similar events at Pop 'n' Hops.</p>Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03008553685046831301noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3779557.post-66163308078752981502024-02-11T09:32:00.001+00:002024-02-11T09:32:00.130+00:00"The minute I went off the grid and tried to do something peculiar, it seemed to work for me"<p>Stock, Aitken & Waterman (among others) might have something to say about the suggestion that Trevor Horn "<i>defined 80s music</i>", but you can certainly make a strong case for it - as indeed <i>Vulture</i>'s Jim Farber does in <a href="https://www.vulture.com/article/trevor-horn-adventures-in-modern-recording.html" target="_blank">this interview piece</a>. Even if you left Horn's hitlist at 'Relax', 'Left To My Own Devices' and 'Slave To The Rhythm', he'd probably still come out on top in a royal rumble of the decade's finest and most prolific pop producers.</p><p>Prompted by his forthcoming memoir <i>Adventures In Modern Recording</i>, the interview finds Horn talking about everything from the distinction between a song and a record ("<i>A song is just a blueprint. A record is the final product you're going to use to sell that song</i>") and his love of exploring the musical possibilities of new technology, to working with Seal, the unexpected success of The Buggles, his improbable stint as frontman of Yes and incurring the wrath of Paul McCartney.</p>Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03008553685046831301noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3779557.post-25066126358530645102024-02-09T09:13:00.002+00:002024-02-09T09:13:00.149+00:00Dirty old town<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBbNUlTjTLdUkzRP971v9OqNAYk10GC1Z9p6zRztEtcf8CwWaYcmokHC0oBFfwcz8_QpuIme0xOmZqyzeUeGdMuYrT-nXsvYKfwxhwW7hZtmPrT20oYDBKy50ihl_CsMyQV9D8MzLliiICof20MRz0gpCjZdR7AOfjH6wo_mRxluP9goX8ZaDI/s4000/IMG_20240206_121437070.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBbNUlTjTLdUkzRP971v9OqNAYk10GC1Z9p6zRztEtcf8CwWaYcmokHC0oBFfwcz8_QpuIme0xOmZqyzeUeGdMuYrT-nXsvYKfwxhwW7hZtmPrT20oYDBKy50ihl_CsMyQV9D8MzLliiICof20MRz0gpCjZdR7AOfjH6wo_mRxluP9goX8ZaDI/s320/IMG_20240206_121437070.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br />For a slight novel (perhaps betraying its author Andrew McMillan's capacity for being succinct, as a poet), <i>Pity</i> contains volumes - on mining, memory, masculinity, sexuality and the post-industrial geographical, political and economic landscape of the North. It's quite a debut.<p></p><p><i>Buzz</i> review <a href="https://www.buzzmag.co.uk/pity-andrew-mcmillan-book-review/" target="_blank">here</a>.</p>Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03008553685046831301noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3779557.post-82374762195420428982024-02-08T08:34:00.001+00:002024-02-08T08:34:00.138+00:00"A downward spiral looks likely"<p><a href="https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/wales-museums-arts-organisations-fear-28501806" target="_blank">This <i>Wales Online </i>article</a> makes for painful reading - and not just because of the characteristic lack of competent sub-editing. The news that Welsh Government funding for arts and culture has been cut by over 10 per cent in the draft budget for 2024/2025 is extremely worrying for the nation's arts organisations.</p><p>And it's not as though the situation isn't already desperate. The head of Amgueddfa Cymru has confessed that some works of art have to be moved for their own protection when it rains heavily, because the buildings that house them are in such a dire state. What's more, <a href="https://www.planetmagazine.org.uk/planet-closing" target="_blank">this month's issue of long-running magazine <i>Planet </i>is set to be the last due to the loss of Books Council of Wales (BCW) funding</a>, and <i>Wales Arts Review</i> is in a similar predicament, with <a href="https://silentwordsspeakloudest.blogspot.com/2023/10/survival-instinct.html" target="_blank">Gary Raymond having vowed to stop going cap in hand to the BCW</a>.</p><p>Raymond's broadside back in October was understandable, but in fairness to the BCW and others, their hands are effectively tied in that they themselves are dependent on what they receive from the Welsh Government. In light of the draft budget cut, the Arts Council Wales is having to reassess its own recently announced five-year funding plan and may have to renege on some of the commitments made. Sadly, cuts, job losses and the enforced closure of certain organisations seem inevitable.</p><p>Various chief executives are quoted in the <i>Wales Online</i> piece expressing their dismay and concern. They make the case for the value of the arts in language that usually makes politicians' ears prick up - the contribution to the economy, the importance in terms of Wales' stature on the world stage - but also underline the multiple smaller-scale impacts that cuts will have on communities, the young and the disadvantaged. Amgueddfa Cymru are contemplating starting to charge for entry; if this is a measure they're forced by circumstances to adopt, it'll be another nail in the coffin for equality of access and opportunity.</p>Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03008553685046831301noreply@blogger.com0