2024
I was not immediately drawn to the new film Disco Boy; not until I read the reviews and saw it – driven by French techno producer Vitalic’s soundtrack.
Last night I went to see Sunn O))) at The Barbican. Notorious as one of the loudest bands in the world, they were, if anything, louder than expected.
Happy Easter – here’s my March playlist to put a Spring in the air as you open your eggs today. There’s a cracking mix of old and new, borrowed and blue: some drum’n’bass, some soul and reggae, vintage Velvets, country music, banging dance beats and primal punk.
This is very lovely, with a dark undercurrent. Bnny’s previous album, which was a gruelling grief-filled reflection on death. This is about trying to make a fresh start when you’re running from the past… “but the past keeps catching up.”
Genital mutilation is a subject rarely tackled in popular music; even more rarely, I’d imagine, when it’s the male version under the microscope (so to speak). But here it is, by the Fat White Family.
Joe Armon-Jones & Nubya Garcia – Nubya’s Side Of Town
27th March 2024 · 2020s, 2024, Music, Reggae, UncategorisedIs there a genre called jazz-dub? If there isn’t – or wasn’t – then I think it’s been invented on this tune. I can’t stop playing it.
This is the best song I’ve ever heard by an artist from Luxembourg – and yes, it may well be the only one. It may also be the most romantic video I’ve seen.
I’m not entirely sure what I think about these posthumous recordings, where a living artist duets with a dead one. Some work well; others defile the dead artist’s memory. I think this one settles the argument in their favour.
Fifty years ago Steve Harley’s Cockney Rebel were the second band I ever saw. They were riding high in the charts with Judy Teen and I’d been a huge fan since I first heard this song a year earlier. I thought it was the strangest and most compelling piece of music I had ever heard.
I’ve always loved those Nick Cave songs where he takes the listener on a journey; those long narrative songs like The Mercy Seat and Higgs Bosun Blues. I was sad when he said he’d given up on that kind of songwriting. So I’m overjoyed that he has returned to it for his new song with the Bad Seeds.