thefreethinkingmovementI don’t know when it happened. People started to play 80s music – in a deeply un-ironic way. A case in point: Roxy Music. I am serious here – I can barely move in the shops of NYC without hearing the strains of Brian Ferry. I’m not saying that this is a bad thing at […]
Call it blues, delivered with an operatic sneer. Sounding like the nasty sister of Bat For Lashes – the one who grew up listening to dirty rock, as opposed to Kate Bush – Anna Calvi demands your attention. Take one part Florence Welch (the voice bit), one part Patti Smith (the attitude) and one part […]
Let’s get the headliners out of the way. The National: singularly uninspiring. Like seeing a Joy Division covers band try to nail an Interpol set. Paolo Nutini: I couldn’t tell you, as I wouldn’t have been seen dead near to any stage with him on it. Suede: totally bobbins. I never liked them, and it […]
Enough has been written about Amy in the last two days. The morbid fascination with the 27 club, the hangers on wanting a part in the drama outside her Camden home, the crass jokes before and immediately after, but nobody can deny the fact that behind the rock and roll cliché was not just a […]
Lamb are back. This can only be good news. ‘Trans Fatty Acid’, ‘What Sound’ and ‘Gabriel’ would be enough to justify high expectations surrounding the return of one of Manchester’s finest. But, to put beyond doubt the notion that Lamb are ‘an important band’, I give you ‘Gorecki’. Lamb are creators of much more than […]
The Gap Band didn’t mean much to me until two months ago. This is unacceptable. Growing up in a Motown-for-breakfast household with an unhealthy helping of 80s ballads, I was unreasonably proud of my funk collection. Before the wretched early teens kicked in, dad would take me to car-boot sales to hunt for records. A […]
OK, I’m from Stoke. It’s not exactly a city known for solid summer weather. Compound that with the fact that I am probably one of the whitest people around, and it’s perhaps surprising that I am such a fan of ‘The Summer’. Turn the temperature up, even throw in some humidity, and I am generally […]
It’s not just bands that I’ve seen before that I’m looking forward to at Latitude. I Am Kloot were behind the best album of 2010 – by a country mile. I’ve seen them play a few times, and they’re good enough for me to forgive one truly shocking gig where they were clearly off their […]
So, come on then, time to own up. Raise your hand in the air if you’ve been checking out Jez Kerr’s solo material. No? Shame on you, if you haven’t. You’ve missed out on a couple of peaches – two singles to give a taster of what’s in store on Jez’s debut album. At the […]
Now, don’t take the piss. It may not be Glastonbury, Bestival, Reading/Leeds – or even the V Festival – but I am looking forward to Latitude with all the anticipation of an alcoholic waiting for the shutters to be raised outside the Crown & Cushion. Call me old fashioned, but the relative tranquillity and calm […]
People of the UK: I applaud you. While you may be responsible for all manner of horrors, such as Britain’s Got Talent and the unintentional election of a sham of a coalition government, sometimes you’re bang on… Last September, I put forward a simple point: that people like good music – given the chance. While […]
May 27, 2011. The day that a true freethinker left the building. We’re all poorer for it. My words just won’t hit the mark, here. When someone of the importance and stature of Gil Scott-Heron passes, you want to look to people with the intelligence, heart and insight of the man himself to capture the […]