“Music expresses that which cannot be
put into words and that which cannot remain silent.”
- Victor Hugo
My posts on music in one handy go-to place, skipping the obituaries, the gig reviews and the Spotify playlists. (Too many, too ephemeral.)
TOP
50 ALBUMS:
My
series on my personal favourite 50 albums (known to youngsters as
CDs downloads) is not, it should be conceded, particularly well advanced just
as yet. Watch this space for developments. (Probably.)
“FROM BARBARY TO HERE”: THE DARK ACHIEVEMENT OF JOHN CALE'S 'PARIS 1919'
“FROM BARBARY TO HERE”: THE DARK ACHIEVEMENT OF JOHN CALE'S 'PARIS 1919'
"TURN MY HEAD INTO SOUND": MY BLOODY VALENTINE'S 'LOVELESS'
"HIS DARKNESS INCREASES": CURRENT 93'S 'THUNDER PERFECT MIND'
"I WANTED A LANGUAGE OF MY OWN": FUGAZI'S '13 SONGS'
"HIS DARKNESS INCREASES": CURRENT 93'S 'THUNDER PERFECT MIND'
"I WANTED A LANGUAGE OF MY OWN": FUGAZI'S '13 SONGS'
"IT SHOULD BE CLEAR BY NOW": PUBLIC IMAGE LTD'S 'METAL BOX'
"THEN HE HEARD IT...": THE SABRES OF PARADISE'S 'HAUNTED DANCEHALL'
"THEN HE HEARD IT...": THE SABRES OF PARADISE'S 'HAUNTED DANCEHALL'
AND
BUBBLING UNDER...
Not
in the top 50 but I still liked these tracks and albums enough to
write about them. (Radio 1 DJs would use that phrase back in the day, for
anything not in the charts.)
KATE BUSH’S ‘WUTHERING HEIGHTS’ + ‘THE MAN WITH THE CHILD IN HIS EYES’
"FROM MY BLACK SPITFIRE TO MY FUNERAL BARGE": KATE BUSH'S 'LIONHEART'
Looking back at the classic Kate Bush ballad, taking in towers, Fairy Kings and the Battle of Britain along the way...
KATE BUSH’S ‘WUTHERING HEIGHTS’ + ‘THE MAN WITH THE CHILD IN HIS EYES’
"FROM MY BLACK SPITFIRE TO MY FUNERAL BARGE": KATE BUSH'S 'LIONHEART'
Looking back at the classic Kate Bush ballad, taking in towers, Fairy Kings and the Battle of Britain along the way...
“Another
New Year and too much beer...” Attila the Stockbroker's anti-war
folk-punk classic, posted in timely style on New Year's Eve
Does
this album belong alongside the classics of country? That became the
question it asked itself.
An
unusually spiky number from the arch-proggers' early album 'Trespass'
(A deep dive into Post-Punk, badly designed as a review of Simon Reynolds's 'Rip It Up And Start Again: Post-Punk 1978-1984')
PART ONE: MINIMUM ROCK 'N' ROLL
TAKE IT AWAY! (DUB AS DECONSTRUCTION)
FROM PROG TO ANTI-PROG (IN THE WAKE OF KING CRIMSON)
PART TWO: FUTURES NEVER LAST
THE GOLDEN AGE OF THE MIGHTY FALL:
The legendary post-punk band led by the inimitable Mark E Smith.
(Their first EP, 'Bingo Master's Breakout')
(...then first LP, 'Live At the Witch Trials'...)
(...the follow-up,'Dragnet'...)
(...the classic 'Grotesque After the Gramme'...)
(...more on 'Grotesque', and Smith's use of narrative in song...)
(...the mini-LP 'Slates' and Smith on the consequences of plagiarisation...)
(...the acclaimed album 'Hex Eduction Hour'...)
(...the... err... unusual sidestep of 'Room To Live'...)
(...'Perverted by Language', where tempos stretch and the band take to mythic time)
KRAUTROCK IST NICHT TOT:
(...and see under 'Top 50 Albums' for more...)
DAVID BOWIE:
A three-part look at at 'The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust'...
"ALL BEAR MY SEAL"- IN PRAISE OF BLACK SABBATH:
THOUGHTS
ON PUNK:
With
the focus more on the cultural and political effect of the legendary
anarcho-punkers. (Because no-one even pretends to like their music
any more.)
To
punk's existential accounting, two was a crowd. Other people just
breathed in useful air.
MUSIC
IN GENERAL:
Ostensibly
a gig review, but soon becoming a pontification on what minimalist music might be
about with one of it's pioneers as a focus
In which minimalist musical commemorations of 9/11 are considered, before expanding into film and documentary and winding up as a partly political broadcast.
A
self-confessed “nerdy rant about nomenclature” in what to call
contemporary composition, illustrated with a rather fetching picture
of Edgar Varese
Is
Impro the prime musical mode? Some stuff I made up off the top of my
head after going to a panel on the notion.
...or
is it the drone that's the basis of music? A held note on the
subject.
SPOTIFY PLAYLISTS:
I've done dozens of these, most of which are mixtapes. Below are the more themed efforts...
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