Sunday, June 22, 2025

National portrait gallery

The premise behind David Hurn's Wales As Is is simple, and in keeping with the photographer's lifelong antipathy to artifice: to strip back the misty-eyed myth and scythe through the romanticism surrounding the Welsh landscape. "My idea of landscape involved people", he writes, introducing a book that depicts not unspoilt natural beauty but an environment shaped (for better or worse) by phases of human activity. The point is made by the cover photo of Ty Newydd on Anglesey, an ancient stone burial chamber propped up with brick-and-mortar pillars, and by a zoomed-out image of Hanter Hill, a rocky outcrop in Powys that offers stunning views but is festooned with discarded drinks cans.

Wales As Is conducts a sweeping nationwide survey, taking in iconic locations (Rhossili, Portmeirion, Pentre Ifan, the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, Tintern Abbey on Hurn's doorstep) as well as curious eccentricities (the once-tarmacked beach at Porthcawl, the petrol pump in rural Powys where the bill was added to your tab in the local pub).

Unfortunately, though, the fact-packed captions by Ceri Jackson - interesting though they are - prove an unwelcome distraction from the images, making it less a photobook than a lavishly illustrated guidebook. the pictures themselves, predominantly taken in the last 20 years, are loosely and unevenly grouped by subject matter, in some cases set disappointingly small, and - by Hurn's high standards, at least - often relatively unremarkable.

(An edited version of this review appeared on the Buzz website.)

Saturday, June 21, 2025

Keep the faith

"I always maintain I was fortunate to be born when I was, because in the 1960s we believed a revolution was possible. I was working with people who thought it was possible to change the situation the country was in. It was invigorating and exciting. I still think that is necessary, it still exists today. It's particularly interesting now to see issues to do with race, gender and sexual identification coming forward and being expressed strongly. That's very encouraging. I still believe we can change the world."

The words of Nick Hedges, from a 2023 interview with the British Journal Of Photography's Diane Smyth - a fitting epitaph for the documentary photographer, who died recently.

Hedges' fervent conviction that photography can make a material difference, and his vital work for Shelter (belatedly showcased in the Bluecoat book Home), came up in conversation in Wednesday night's book group meeting up at the Workers Gallery - perhaps inevitably, given that the focus was on Marc Davenant's Outsiders project on homelessness and substandard housing, images and text from which are currently on display.

In the face of challenging and relentlessly depressing circumstances, some would brand Hedges' optimistic outlook naively idealist. But what's the alternative - succumbing to apathy or sneering cynicism? Surely it's better to have the courage of your convictions and cling to the possibility that you might have a genuine impact.

The article I wrote on Home for Buzz back in 2021 remains one of the pieces I'm most proud of, and it wouldn't have worked anywhere near as well without Hedges' contributions. He was generous with his time and remarkably modest - and will hopefully continue to serve as a source of inspiration for photographers keen to use their chosen artform as a means of combating injustice.

Friday, June 20, 2025

Punk, principles and pure energy

If you approach We Are Fugazi From Washington, DC hoping to learn a bit more about the personalities and philosophies behind the band, you'll leave disappointed - but if you're looking for evidence for (or a reminder of) how sensational they were in the live environment, then it's vital viewing. Buzz review here.

And here's a recent feature on the Messthetics from the Quietus in which Stevie Chick talks to the band's formidable rhythm section, Joe Lally and Brendan Canty, about how they connected in Fugazi and the film. Lally admits: "Just to sit there in a big cinema and watch us play was definitely really heavy for me. I was really moved by it; it fucked with me."

Wednesday, June 18, 2025

Fringe benefits


Friday evening brought a second encounter in the space of two months with the six-legged wrecking ball that is Shlug, this time headlining Tiny Rebel's Rebel Fest Fringe. Also on a stacked local bill were grungey whippersnappers The Meritones and singer-songwriter Foxxglove.

Buzz review here.

Sunday, June 15, 2025

The resurrection and the life

The rediscovery and renaissance of Zamrock pioneers WITCH (albeit with a vital infusion of young blood) is the sort of story to warm even the most cynical of hearts. The band are, to use my son's current favourite term, "cooking" - so it makes sense that they wanted to serve up a successor to 2023's comeback album Zango as soon as possible.

Sogolo review for Buzz here.

Friday, June 13, 2025

Celestial harmonies

Let's face it: you don't need yet another person telling you that Brian Wilson was an incomparable genius, so I won't waste your time on that front. Here are some brief personal reflections instead.

The first time I recall hearing the Beach Boys, I must have been about 11, at my brother's birthday party. 'Good Vibrations' seemed both perfectly suited to the situation there and then - a sunny garden in August - and utterly otherworldly, transportive in a way that was totally enchanting.

In later years I would fall in love with all of those deceptively simple pop songs about surfing, cars and girls that, like the music of the Shangri-Las on the opposite coast of the US, capture the excitement and outsized emotional dramas of teenagerhood. It was a love subsequently cemented by the Jesus & Mary Chain and Yo La Tengo.

I'd heard 'God Only Knows' - and been stunned by it, of course - but kept holding off taking a deep dive into Pet Sounds simply because I didn't believe it could possibly live up to its reputation. And yet, when I finally did, I found myself feeling as though it perhaps wasn't lauded loudly enough. Pretty much every aspect of the album is astonishing - something underlined by listening to the isolated vocals of tracks like 'You Still Believe In Me'. (Here's a personal appreciation of the album by Treble's Jeff Terich, who was lucky enough to see Wilson perform it in its entirety in 2016.)

Fast forward to 2005, and what remains one of my favourite Glastonbury sets of all time (and that's saying something): Wilson in the Sunday evening slot on the Pyramid Stage. As the man said himself, he brought the sunshine at the end of a festival most remembered for the Friday downpour that caused flash flooding and general chaos. Hearing those songs in that context, surrounded by thousands of people also having the time of their lives, was very special indeed.

As has been very well documented, Wilson was undoubtedly an eccentric, troubled soul (see Nick Kent's long feature on him, republished in his book The Dark Stuff). But it's the music for which he should be remembered. He just wasn't made for these times - and neither was he made for this planet.

Wednesday, June 11, 2025

Wish fulfilment

"Heartwarming" isn't a word you often find used in connection with Mclusky. But it applies when it comes to Damien Sayell's story of how he fell in love with the Cardiff-born noiserock terrors as a disaffected teenager - first hearing 'Lightsaber...' in Dales Music Store in Tenby - and, several years later, found himself playing bass in the band, as recounted for Noizze.

It turns out that meeting the legend that is Big Jeff and witnessing his insatiable enthusiasm for music was instrumental in it ultimately happening, because it inspired Sayell to move to Bristol, where he subsequently entered Mclusky's orbit. As ever, hats off to the big man.

Tuesday, June 10, 2025

Buoy band

Contrary to expectations, Chicago post-punks Lifeguard won't actually save your life - or not yet, at any rate. Second LP Ripped And Torn packs a fair few thrills but also a bit too much pointless padding.

Buzz review here.

Saturday, June 07, 2025

When in Rome ...

... have the good fortune to find yourself a two-room suite in a hotel that's an oasis of calm, yet located amid bustling streets and so close to the Trevi Fountain that you can practically dip your toes in the water by dangling your foot out of the window.

... make sure you're wearing a robust pair of shoes. It's a wonderful city to explore by foot, with stunning surprises around every corner, and the Archaeological Park of the Colosseum alone is enormous, so you're guaranteed to smash your daily step count.

... check out the Colosseum itself - it's world famous for a reason. (Don't bother with the audio guide, though.)

... marvel at the immaculate quality of the wall paintings in the House of Augustus - especially in the Room of the Masks - and contemplate what it must have felt like for the archaeologists who first unearthed them after two millennia.

... venture into each and every church with an open door - after all, you never know where you might stumble upon a trio of Caravaggio paintings. (Well, I do now - the Church of San Luigi dei Francesi.)

... meet a new saint in the Pantheon (and remember it's called the Pantheon, not the Parthenon). Or maybe it was just a trick of the light shining through that extraordinary ceiling?

... gatecrash a wedding at the Basilica Santa Maria in Aracoeli.

... go underground to learn about the Vicus Caprarius and the ancient water tanks that feed the Trevi Fountain (and be surprised to discover a subterranean lecture theatre too).

... stroke a mog or five at the Largo di Torre Argentina, home to the ruins of four temples and a theatre, and now a cat sanctuary.

... patiently make your way through the very dry Capuchin Museum to be freaked out by the astonishing architectural sculptures made of monks' bones in the crypt. Each room is like a new 3D black metal album cover.

... take some fashion tips from the snazzy guards at the Vatican.

... climb to the top of the Janiculum Hill, not so much for the monument to Garibaldi as for the view of the city.

... swerve the obvious tourist traps when looking for places to eat and accept that a permanent queue and a bouncer on the door is a positive sign. At Piccolo Buco, practically opposite our hotel, very good things come to those who wait - in our case, pizza topped with yellow tomato base, spicy sausage, smoked cheese and crispy fried courgette discs, with an out-of-this-world panna cotta to finish.


... head across the river to Travastere for some of the nicest bars, and sample the abbacchio al forno (lamb cooked with garlic and herbs on a bed of roast potatoes) - a delicious local delicacy best enjoyed (in my experience) al fresco in the early evening, with a limoncello spritz or glass of crisp white wine and the news that Newcastle have qualified for the Champions League.

... be wowed by the fresh produce available even in the Roman equivalent of Tesco Express.

... make friends with a freaky cannibalistic ice cream cone man.

It's fair to say we crammed a lot into the space of a mere four nights and three and a half days - and yet it still feels as though we barely scratched the surface. A return visit is very much on the cards ...

Friday, June 06, 2025

Let's do the time warp again

It was just like old times at Canton Liberal Club last Friday, with Wylderness inviting Gindrinker along for the launch of their new EP. £5 for two bands (one of whom are long-time personal faves) playing merely three minutes' walk from my front door, and the opportunity to check out a novel venue? A complete no-brainer.

Buzz review here.

Thursday, June 05, 2025

Splendid isolation

Given that it was written by and stars Tim Key and Tom Basden, I was fully expecting to find The Ballad Of Wallis Island funny. What I wasn't expecting was to find it deeply touching. Both of them are brilliant in a film that's as warm and sweet as sticky toffee pudding but won't rot your teeth or push your blood sugar levels into the red.

Buzz review here.

Monday, June 02, 2025

The downward spiral

Running The Light, the debut novel from stand-up Sam Tallent, is a grimly gripping study in self-abasement. Given the way it tracks in grotesque detail the tragicomic escapades of comedian Billy Ray Schaefer and portrays the grubby underbelly of the US Midwest, it's little wonder that the author of Vernon God Little, D B C Pierre, has found much to enjoy and admire.

Buzz review here.

Sunday, June 01, 2025

Emergency Services

Feeling glum and ground down by daily life? In urgent need of some light relief? Getdown Services are on hand to offer a pick-me-up. I went along to their Clwb show with no expectations but, by the end of a wildly entertaining and thoroughly daft set, was happy to proclaim them a miraculous panacea. One of those gigs where, as a reviewer, you have to drag yourself there but are retrospectively extremely grateful to have got the call-up.

Buzz review here.

Saturday, May 31, 2025

With a little help from his friends

Ever since I witnessed the analogue/acoustic second half of Alan Sparhawk's astonishing set at Clwb in November, I had been fervently praying that those songs would be committed to tape - not realising that in fact they already had been, with assistance from fellow Minnesotans Trampled By Turtles. Their collaborative album, released yesterday, lives up to all expectations - and indeed perhaps even exceeds them.

Buzz review here.

Friday, May 23, 2025

Dark matter

As a night owl who was recently enraptured by the opening to Jon McGregor's novel If Nobody Speaks Of Remarkable Things, describing London's nighttime rhythms, I was automatically drawn in by the premise of Dan Richards' book Overnight: shining a light on what goes on in the dark. Collectively, its varied chapters offer an eye-opening insight into the lives of those who are awake and active when most of us are fast asleep.

Buzz review here.

Tuesday, May 20, 2025

Joining forces

Metalhorse - solo artist Billy Nomates' first album recorded with a studio band - might have been conceived during a period of personal darkness (her dad's death, a diagnosis of MS), but its carpe diem spirit and determination to reach for the light is admirable.

Buzz review here.

Saturday, May 17, 2025

Collection points

Many of us are collectors in some shape or form, and it comes as no surprise to learn that over the years the late Steve Albini amassed an awful lot of stuff - and it's now gradually going up for sale, via the website Steve Albini's Closet, as administrated by Byron Coley.

It's promised that new items will be added to the site every Friday. If they're not calling them Big Black Fridays, then they're missing a trick.

Wednesday, May 14, 2025

Poetic injustice?

Pithy internet poet Brian Bilston teaming up with a pair of indiepop stalwarts in Amelia Fletcher and Rob Pursey promised much, but sadly Sounds Made By Humans is less than the sum of its parts. Might things have been different had the words been written to work with the music, rather than the music created to fit pre-existing poems?

Buzz review here.

Tuesday, May 13, 2025

Home truths?

Any article confidently headed "All the best things to do in Pontcanna" is going to provoke debate and disagreement, and this piece by the Independent's Alice Reynolds doesn't disappoint.

Fair enough, her selection of the best places to go for a fancy meal/night out - Milkwood, Uisce (with a passing reference to its sister establishment Heaneys), the newly Michelin Starred Gorse - can't really be faulted.

But then there's no mention of the area's two finest bakeries, Ground and Brod (the latter recently afforded the honour of featuring in the Waitrose magazine), and the Wardrobe Cafe gets the nod for coffee despite (in my experience) offering glacial service and an inferior brew to former inhabitants Lufkin. (King's Road Yard is also generally poorer without superb dirty vegan shack Lazy Leek, and because Pipes no longer bottle their beer for consumption at home.)

While Crafty Devil's Cellar only qualifies as being in Pontcanna by the finest of margins, Reynolds' inclusion of Chapter too is a cheeky liberty. That said, it's not as much of a head-scratcher as devoting column inches directing people to the Pontcanna Inn - a honeypot for Turkey-teethed Madri tossers. The area's boozing options aren't great, admittedly, but surely Slizza (or Pipes, for that matter) would have been more worthy of a plug.

Overall, "Cardiff's most stylish neighbourhood"? Quite probably - but I prefer being a visitor, feeling more at home amid the grit, grime, character and vibrancy of Canton.

Sunday, May 11, 2025

A Valleys visitor here to stay

Congratulations to Jon Pountney for reaching his crowdfunding target for new book Valleys in just 36 hours. Given I'm a big fan of his work, backing it was a no-brainer.

The discussion on photography and the Valleys at the National Museum in December centred largely on the distinction between insiders and outsiders (or, to use Ian Walker's term, "Valleys visitors"). Pountney is effectively both - an Englishman born in Yorkshire, but resident in Treforest since 2015 - and so arguably has a relatively unique perspective. 

As he explained to David Owens of Nation Cymru, the book is the culmination of many years photographing in the area, and a tribute to its places and people.

Saturday, May 10, 2025

My cup of Tea

As strokes of good fortune go, they don't get much better than stepping into the reviewing breach at the last minute and being blown away by an act you would otherwise have completely missed. Suffice to say that after Tuesday evening's show at Tramshed, I'm now a Greentea Peng stan and will be making sure she's on my Green Man agenda.

Buzz review here.

Friday, May 09, 2025

Beach buns

We (that is, the family) seem to be on a mission to explore every corner of Pembrokeshire. Until this Easter, the coastline at the mouth of the Daugleddau estuary was unfamiliar territory, but now I'm raving about it to all and sundry - not least because of the existence of the Old Point House, a centuries-old pub that since 2022 has been the hub of award-winning chef Jonathan Williams' Cafe Mor operations. Buzz review here.

And it turns out it's not the only gastronomic attraction that the village of Angle has to offer. Times restaurant critic Charlotte Ivers recently visited Paternoster Farm and returned to London to deliver a glowing report. An excuse for another trip out west, methinks...

Thursday, May 08, 2025

"A 'live, laugh, love' sign slowly strangling you with its self-importance"

It's one thing to turn to artistic pursuits to try to unravel what's going on in your head. It's quite another, as a rank amateur, to put your creations on display and expect people to pay to see them.

As Eddy Frankel writes in a withering Guardian review of Robbie Williams' new exhibition Radical Honesty, the musician is "not well - and being vulnerable and open in public is to be commended. But to present it as art, in a gallery, is to say you think this has aesthetic merit, cultural value." Frankel is unequivocal in his dismissal: "On a basic, artistic level, the work looks bad and expresses incredibly superficial ideas very poorly."

As he makes clear, though, this isn't simply a matter of Williams' oversized ego. He's been eagerly enabled by the gallery, Moco, when quite simply he "should never have been put in a position to have the ticket-buying public come face to face with [the creations]".

And therein lies the rub. Moco have chosen to showcase the ill-conceived dross of a celebrity rather than platforming the serious work of an up-and-coming artist - an all-too-familiar tale among galleries, but also publishers and record labels. It's a neat illustration of the problem of access that is blighting the world of art and culture, and (arguably) getting worse.

Sunday, May 04, 2025

Picture imperfect

The camera never lies? Perhaps - but the same certainly can't be said of image manipulation software. The advent of AI may have taken things to a whole new level (the tech proving an accelerant/catalyst in this respect, as in so many others), but the truth is that doctored pictures are nothing new - as this Guardian gallery underlines.

Saturday, May 03, 2025

"Kneecap are not the story"

It's been alarming (albeit depressingly predictable) to see how Sharon Osbourne's call for Kneecap's visas to be revoked for anti-Israel/pro-Palestine comments made at Coachella has spiralled into a witch-hunt against the Irish trio. They've apologised for past pronouncements/errors of judgement after the press dutifully dredged up some dirt, but that's clearly not been enough - the establishment is affronted by this latest outburst and seems determined that the group should feel the full force of its wrath.

There has at least been a public counteroffensive in the form of an open letter signed by a whole host of fellow artists including Brian Eno, Mogwai, Sleaford Mods, Leftfield, Benefits, Paul Weller, Fontaines DC, Pulp, Orbital, Nadine Shah and (most notably) Tom Morello - but it looks flimsy in the face of the relentless political pressure. Several gig promoters and festival organisers have already buckled and confirmed cancellations, and Kneecap's appearance at this year's Green Man must also be under threat.

Massive Attack - also signatories to the letter - have summed up the situation perfectly in a statement: "If senior politicians can find neither the time, nor the words to condemn, say, the murder of fifteen voluntary aid workers in Gaza, or the illegal starvation of a civilian population as a method of warfare, or the killing of thousands & thousands of children in the same territory, by a state in possession of the highest precision weapons on earth, how much notice should a music festival take of their moral advice on booking performing acts?"

Ultimately, this whole furore is simply a distraction from what we should really be talking about. If only Kneecap's critics expended their energy in service of the Gazan people - by acknowledging the genocide, for a start - rather than doggedly vilifying three men they knew absolutely nothing about until very recently.

Friday, May 02, 2025

Gone but not forgotten

The V&A's Lost Music Venues exhibition scheduled for next year promises to pay tribute to some of the spaces we've loved and lost. As the Needle Drop has reported, there's currently a call out for the submission of relevant artifacts, which closes at the end of this month. I wonder whether anyone will donate a pint of the green stuff from the Moon?

The initiative has been backed by the Music Venue Trust, whose work to prevent further closures is critical. The proposed exhibition may help to bring certain venues back to life, but it will only do so briefly and within the confines of the museum's galleries. Better to fight and not lose them in the first place.

Thursday, May 01, 2025

Family values

On the day that Richard Dawson arrives in Cardiff to showcase material from his excellent new album End Of The Middle, here's a Quietus Baker's Dozen with a twist: his selection of 13 films "that share the record's themes of domesticity, home and family units", including David Lynch's The Straight Story, Bong Joon Ho's Mother, Michael Winterbottom's Wonderland and Paul Thomas Anderson's Boogie Nights.

Dawson will not so much be striding into town for a return to the Gate, scene of a triumphant show almost two years ago to the day, as hobbling along. He's currently wearing a protective boot on his left leg due to an Achilles tendon injury that he's told audiences was sustained eating a cheese pasty while birdwatching in Northumberland. It's fair to say that's not your average rock 'n' roll injury... Credit to him for soldiering on.

Tuesday, April 29, 2025

Music of the spheres

More than four decades into their existence, Melvins continue to crank out records at a rate that would exhaust much younger pups. The latest, Thunderball, is the fruits of another reunion with founder member Mike Dillard, under the Melvins 1983 banner.

Buzz review here.

Sunday, April 27, 2025

Blunt force

It's been more than a year and a half since fellow Buzz scribe Tom Morgan wrote about a music scene that he branded New Weird Cardiff. At the time, I wasn't crazy about any of the five selected acts, but it was only earlier this month at Clwb that I finally got round to encountering a couple of them - Shlug and Spit Hood - in the flesh. Let's just say I've now seen the light with regard to both...

Buzz review here.

Friday, April 25, 2025

The borrowers

It's a perennial source of dismay to me how much of modern society is driven by the fetishisation of ownership (books and CDs are fine, mind...). In a nutshell, we all have too much unnecessary stuff - a consequence of rampant consumerism.

So it's refreshing to see that Wales is attempting to buck that trend and provide an antidote in the form of Benthyg Cymru, an organisation that has established a national network of "libraries of things". Why buy something you only occasionally use when, for a fraction of the cost, you can simply borrow it?

In this article for the Progress Playbook, co-founder and director Becky Harford explains how it works and the principles that stand behind it. While each library is very much a local community enterprise, collectively they are seen as "part of a much bigger shift" - building "social fabric" and taking vital steps "towards an economy that works for people and planet, not just profit".

Wednesday, April 23, 2025

The return of "a moderately successful third division indie rock band based in the South West area of Great Britain": rejoice!

For a long time, the prospect of a fourth Mclusky album seemed impossibly remote. Even after they reformed, with Damien Sayell taking Jon Chapple's place on bass, it looked as though plans may have been derailed when Andrew Falkous was struck down a severely debilitating bout of tinnitus. But happily here we are, with the release of The World Is Still Here And So Are We on Mike Patton's Ipecac just days away.

To mark the merry occasion, the Quietus' JR Moores had a chat with the permaquotable Falkous about everything from the new songs to nostalgia, the music video as art form, Australia, Ed Sheeran teaming up with Offspring, and ska music ("I'm morally opposed to ska on most occasions, even though I grudgingly accept it does make people in shorts happy") - but mostly pesto.

Monday, April 21, 2025

Tea and sympathy


When photographer Angela Christofilou accompanied her nonagenarian nan to a church hall bingo session in Heywood, Greater Manchester, in November 2019, she didn't even intend to take any pictures. But, charmed by what she witnessed, she took out her camera and - with the permission of those present - captured a world that was unfamiliar to someone born in Athens whose childhood visits to the North West felt strangely exotic.

As she told those at the Workers Gallery's new monthly book club this week, things just snowballed from there: the images she posted online struck a chord with others, one of them was shortlisted for and subsequently won the British Journal Of Photography's annual "Portrait of Britain" competition in 2022 (subsequently displayed on screens, bus stops and billboards) and ultimately Sherif Dhaimish of Pendle Press proposed a book. 

Church Bingo is slight, and the images it contains are deceptively simple - but there's a lot in them and behind them. The book proved to be a perfect springboard for conversations about everything from community and the connection between images and memory, to insider/outsider access for photographers, the all-male technophilic cliques of camera clubs and the factors that determine which format is best suited to exhibiting/sharing certain types of picture.

Christofilou is primarily a protest photographer so, on the surface at least, this series seems very different. And yet such bingo sessions - self-organised and self-sustained, bringing people together and providing entertainment - are a form of quiet resistance in a neoliberal, atomised society. The images challenge the popular media narrative of the elderly as isolated, dependent and lacking joy.

They also underline the value in documenting the supposedly mundane. Photographers are often feted for recording and thereby preserving a dying way of life, and that is just as true in this case. Five months after the pictures were taken, the COVID-19 lockdown hit. This bingo session never restarted, and the church hall has now closed, likely to be bulldozed for flats. Even more poignantly, Christofilou's nan is now the only featured participant still alive, with several of her fellow attendees victims of the pandemic. Church Bingo is a touching memorial to them, and to community spirit.

Saturday, April 19, 2025

Northern lights

Harry Sword's recent interview with fellow drone aficionado Dawn Terry for the Quietus convinced me of two things: first, that I need to investigate Terry's work further (particularly in Bong), and second, more broadly, that I'm right to feel somewhat rueful about being a music-loving native North-Easterner who has never lived in Newcastle itself.

Terry is effusive in the city's praise: "It's a small town but the sheer breadth of weird music on offer is incredibly inspiring. Newcastle is great in that you can just play the gigs, not worry about what the trends are, and just make weird music that you like." She's far from the first person to have paid tribute to the city's vibrant musical underground scene, too.

Oh to be able to wind the clock back a few years, when I might have been in a position to move back and immerse myself in it all...

Tuesday, April 15, 2025

"As expressionist as rock can get"

Republished to mark the 30th birthday of Pavement's Wowee Zowee, this Quietus piece by Lesley Chow does a sterling job of helping to make sense of its messy sprawl.

"Experiments in energy and lethargy" and "singalong tunes with incomprehensible lyrics" could serve as descriptions of all of their albums, but Chow notes that in this instance in particular the band's intent seems to be "to frustrate the listener". Certainly, much as I instantly fell for specific tracks ('Rattled By The Rush', 'Grounded', 'Flux=Rad'), the scrappy, bitty quality of the record overall meant that I never warmed to it as much as the others, including the much maligned Terror Twilight. It was therefore something of a surprise when Spiral Stairs told me in an impromptu post-gig interview that he saw it as their best album.

In that respect, Chow's piece is enlightening, doing what many a good review does: shifting your perspective on an album you think you already have pegged. She presents a positive reframing of its fragmentary quality and the band's low boredom threshold/short attention span. What mattered most to them, she ventures, was "keeping the journey interesting while connecting the dots between sweet spots".

The Wowee Zowee that emerges is a playful, complex, creatively fertile record that refuses to conform to expectations, proceed in a conventionally linear fashion or wear a stylistic straitjacket - and is all the more fascinating for it.

Time for a revisit, methinks.

Sunday, April 13, 2025

Around the grounds

There's a wonderful passage in The Ongoing Moment, Geoff Dyer's characteristically idiosyncratic book about American photography of the twentieth century, in which he focuses on images of rooms that are empty yet suggestive of activity, waiting to be brought back to life.

Those words came back to me instantly on seeing some of Simon Harsent's photos of football pitches around the world. As the Guardian's Jonny Weeks observes, "the absence of action" does indeed give the pictures "an eerie quality", given that action is the pitches' whole purpose. The lack of any players makes them seem lonely, in desperate need of people to (re)animate them.

Other images in the series are fascinating for the way in which they position well-known football stadia in their geographical (and, by extension, socio-economic) context. I hadn't realised, for instance, that streets within very close proximity of Anfield had been condemned. In this respect, the pictures are a timely reminder of clubs' physical rootedness, and the fact that transplanting a team to a new ground - even if close by - is inevitably a very significant decision.

Saturday, April 12, 2025

Virtues signalling

True to form, while the whole world seems to be abuzz about Adolescence, I've only just caught up with a previous Stephen Graham vehicle, The Virtues

Given Graham's involvement, direction by Shane Meadows, Jack Thorne on co-writing duties and a potent PJ Harvey soundtrack, the 2019 Channel 4 four-parter was never likely to be a laugh a minute. And so it proves - not least because it draws on a long-repressed traumatic experience from Meadows' own childhood.

The Virtues chronicles, in devastating close-up, the damage that can be wrought at an early age, and the scars that never truly heal. It put me in mind of Philip Larkin's lines in 'This Be The Verse' - "Man hands on misery to man. / It deepens like a coastal shelf" - especially in the final part, when lead character Joseph confronts his abuser Damon.

Joseph's alcoholism may have resulted in his relationship breaking down, but the focus is on its root causes. When his son Shea leaves for Australia, with his former partner setting out to start a new life, the sudden sense of separation brings back to the surface demons that he has never really wrestled, or at least certainly never banished.

Graham is predictably superb as the bruised, vulnerable Joseph, but joint lead Niamh Algar is also incredible as Dinah, Joseph's sister Anna's sister-in-law, whose own past haunts her in different ways. The pair's blossoming attraction is portrayed with a touching awkwardness, and there is a raw, improvisational, naturalistic quality in general, especially when Joseph is sat on Shea's bed saying his goodbyes and when Joseph is interrogated at the dinner table by Anna's kids.

Meadows' direction is as masterful as ever - in fact, perhaps even more so. The drinking binge sequence in Part 1 in particular is as viscerally real and disorienting as the drug scene in Dead Man's Shoes, in terms of the way it descends into chaos and replicates the sensation.

And, like Dead Man's Shoes, the extraordinary climactic episode of The Virtues left me floored for days.

Wednesday, April 09, 2025

Laugh tracks

Pigs x7 might fly? They do at times on their latest album, the reliably rifftastic Death Hilarious.

Buzz review here.

Tuesday, April 08, 2025

What's the story, Marcus Russell?

As someone used to sniping at the corporate music industry from the outside, I found it interesting hearing from Marcus Russell, a man who has spent decades in the belly of the beast (albeit as the founder of an independent label and management company).

Invited to speak at Cardiff University in his capacity as an Honorary Fellow of the Department of Politics and International Relations, Russell talked about the myriad impacts of AI on the industry, but also his route into his current role and his most famous charges, Oasis.

Buzz report here.

Saturday, April 05, 2025

A wicked web he weaves


A hard-bitten, troubled, semi-alcoholic cop who thinks little of bending the rules to his benefit? So far, so cliched - but then Ian Rankin is arguably the best in the business, Rebus is a cut above your average ethically compromised copper and 2002's Resurrection Men is ample illustration of both.

For starters, take the intricate plotting. The dots seem innumerable, and how to connect them to form any kind of pattern appears impossible, until Rankin stealthily dripfeeds new information and Rebus' well-oiled cogs start to click into gear. And then there's the dialogue - snappy, razor sharp, zinging back and forth between close confidants and mutually wary adversaries alike.

In Rebus' world, there are no goodies and baddies, no us and them, no black and white; on the contrary, there's just an expansive grey area in which the events play out. It's a world characterised by subterfuge, power dynamics, tangled loyalties and the significance of earning and betraying trust - and all within the police force, let alone outside it. It's a man's world, too - a toxic environment in which women are unable to show any signs of weakness and have to behave badly to get ahead.

Ultimately, Resurrection Men underlines that old adage that knowledge is power. What you know can be a more dangerous weapon than a gun or a knife, and knowing whether or not to reveal it (and when) is critical.

This being a Rankin novel, he can't help but sprinkle/shoehorn in a few music references, though the jokes about Mogwai and Cocteau Twins are good enough to justify their inclusion.

I finished the book wondering whether anyone has been foolhardy enough to try a drinking game in which you match Rebus tipple for tipple - and if so, whether they've lived to tell the tale.

Wednesday, April 02, 2025

"I feel like I'm contributing"

Sleaford Mods frontman Jason Williamson may not be appearing on the next series of Strictly - contrary to what I was led to believe yesterday, as an April Fools' Day prank. But he has been performing in public on a different type of stage to the ones he's used to - as a volunteer at a drop-in homeless centre in West Bridgford, where he now lives.

Credit to Williamson for acknowledging that sounding off on record - however forcefully - isn't enough, and deciding to roll his sleeves up and get his hands dirty in his local community. It is, he suggests, a way of making a positive contribution and banishing feelings of impotence in the face of overwhelming difficulties and injustices - and, as a self-confessed former drug addict, he can relate to those he's helping.

Given that Williamson's role is in the kitchen, I'd be interested to know if his alter ego Baking Daddy has put in an appearance yet...

Monday, March 31, 2025

Power trip

If Deafheaven's Infinite Granite seemed to signify a bold step in a new direction, then its successor Lonely People With Power - released last Friday - is an ambitious attempt to represent and encapsulate all facets of their previous work in a single album.

Buzz review here.

Sunday, March 30, 2025

Irregular John

John Reis' new album, released under the name Swami John Reis, is called Time To Let You Down - the irony being that, over a music career that has spanned approaching 40 years, he's never come close to letting anyone down.

Speaking about that career to the Guardian's Stevie Chick, he describes Rocket From The Crypt - his rock-'n'-roll-influenced punk outfit, complete with brass section - as "the most fun band ever. When we were playing, that was the place on planet Earth you had to be that night." I can very much vouch for that, having first caught them at Reading '96 and then witnessing their stupendously thrilling showmanship at the Riverside in Newcastle about a month later - ridiculously, my first ever proper gig.

Our paths crossed again at Glastonbury '98 (where they thrilled before the torrential rain really set in) and in Nottingham, but for some reason it wasn't until about 15 years ago that I discovered Hot Snakes, Reis' third project with his long-time buddy the late Rick Froberg, not long before seeing them play on the Les Savy Fav-curated day at ATP. Live album Thunder Down Under is exceptional, the songs outshining their studio versions in the same way that tracks recorded for KEXP sessions almost invariably do.

Saturday, March 29, 2025

"We are all disaster survivors now"

There's something jarring about people talking about COVID-19 in the past tense. "COVID times" are actually ongoing - not only because variants of the virus are still doing the rounds and the debilitating effects of long COVID are endured by many, but also because the wider social, economic, political and psychological impacts of the pandemic will be felt for decades.

Those impacts are perhaps most concerning with respect to children, as this recent Guardian article underlines. For some people, lockdown may have been about bingeing boxsets and baking banana bread - but for the young, it has caused enormous damage, the scale of which is only likely to become truly apparent in years to come.

Missed developmental milestones, plummeting school attendances, increased screen time and device dependence, a surge in support for populist politics, "a 'tsunami' of mental health problems" - all of which are exacerbating existing inequalities while being themselves being exacerbated by the economic consequences of the pandemic.

It's incredibly hard to know where to start in tackling these issues - but I'd suggest that we might begin by actually acknowledging them (and the collective trauma that COVID has caused) and accepting that substantial targeted effort and investment is needed, rather than dismissively blundering on in the belief that a return to business as usual is best.

Friday, March 28, 2025

Long division

Some photographers wield their cameras as weapons against injustice. For Ernest Cole, showing the world what life was really like in apartheid-era South Africa came at a significant personal cost: permanent exile from the country of his birth.

Raoul Peck's superb documentary Ernest Cole: Lost And Found traces the trajectory of his career and showcases his work in a way that ought to help bring him the credit he was denied in life.

Buzz review here.

Monday, March 24, 2025

Flying solo

When legendary (in the right circles) US-based post-punk/post-rock guitarist David Grubbs is visiting Cardiff for the first time to play a set a mere ten-minute walk from your front door, it'd be rude not to go along - especially given the inclusion of two other acts/talking points on the bill, all for the cost of your average pint. Hats off to Chapter for making it happen.

Buzz review here.

Sunday, March 23, 2025

New Noise

As a comparison of the two albums' covers might suggest, Benefits' debut Nails was very much black and white - or black and grey, at least - whereas on its follow-up Constant Noise, released on Friday, they've introduced some colour to their palette. The rage is still there, bubbling away, but is mediated and modulated rather than given such ferocious expression.

Buzz review here.

Friday, March 21, 2025

Bluming marvellous

Few musicians can have had as unlikely career trajectories as Daniel Blumberg: from member of indie also-rans Cajun Dance Party and Yuck while still in his teens, to Oscar winner in his mid-30s.

Guardian journalist (and family friend) Simon Hattenstone has spoken to the man who "has spent his career walking away from mainstream success" only to land the Academy Award for Best Original Score (for The Brutalist) - an incongruity underlined by the photo of Blumberg and his Oscar sat at a table in his miniscule Hackney flat.

While I can't comment on the soundtrack to The Brutalist, I can say that hopefully its victory will fire wider interest in his solo albums, among which On&On is a gem.

Thursday, March 20, 2025

Turtle delight

When Alan Sparhawk played in Cardiff last November, I particularly sang the praises of some of the "as-yet-unrecorded material". As it turns out, the songs I singled out as special - Princess Road Surgery, Screaming Song and Don't Take Your Light - had already been recorded, a year earlier with Minnesotan folkies Trampled By Turtles. That trio (and more) will be on the album With Trampled By Turtles, out at the end of May.

As good - and as necessary - as White Roses, My God was, it's a relief to learn that Sparhawk hasn't totally abandoned or lost faith in the strength of his own unfiltered voice.

Saturday, March 15, 2025

Pay to play

There are many reasons to love Los Campesinos!, and one of them is their refreshing transparency about the realities of being in a band. Take this blog post, for example, in which Gareth offers a candid insight into the economics of their recent gig in Dublin - their first show outside the UK, the US and Canada since 2014.

For anyone inclined to grumble at the steadily rising cost of gig tickets and bemoan artists' reluctance to tour extensively, it's an eye-opening read. The alarming reality is that a band of their stature can sell out a 520-capacity venue in around two hours, at 25 euros a ticket, and yet still end up making a loss of over £1,700.

Perhaps most staggering is the fact that the venue, the Button Factory, charged £2,500 (up from the standard £1,000) because LC! insisted on the gig being 14+, to compensate for the (presumed) lack of bar takings. It would be interesting to know how many under 18s were in attendance - but massive credit to the band for sticking by their principles, even at considerable personal cost. Ultimately, as Gareth argues, "[i]f we want kids to be excited about live music, why would we want to exclude them at an age where they're developing these interests?" In a climate of declining attendances and closing venues, this is very much an attitude to be commended.

The breakdown of earnings and costs is also revealing in terms of the value of merch sales and the financial and administrative burden of the red tape imposed after Brexit.

Gareth acknowledges that LC! are seven strong, with three crew members, and that there are certain things that they won't scrimp on - but the fact that they have no manager on the payroll and marketing costs were zero and yet they still ended up in the red really underlines quite how tough the current climate is.

Friday, March 14, 2025

Game on

For anyone wondering how Geoff Barrow was going to keep himself busy after quitting Beak>, here's your answer: by following in Warp's footsteps and launching a film division of his record label. (No doubt he's bristling at being described as "Portishead co-founder" - sorry, Geoff...)

Invada Films' debut offering will be Game, which is "set against the backdrop of the 1990s rave culture where two men - one a thief and one a poacher - must use their wits to survive". It sounds like the perfect project for Sleaford Mods' Jason Williamson, who co-stars with Marc Bessant.