music | Wait until next year

Video | November 12, 2013

Lariat

A new song from Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks. More of the same here, no great departure, but no bad thing for it. SM & the Jicks have now been around, in one form or another, for longer than Pavement and while there have been subtle diversions at times in their sound you generally know what to expect from a new record. There’s something like a warm hug to be had from this familiarity. And SM still has a way with a lyric and a left-turning melody, better than anyone I think. However, everyone is far too photogenic in this video.

Video | October 25, 2013

Weekend

October 23, 2013

Brahms at the Barbican

I begin with a health warning. I am no classical music expert. There is every possibility that I will use the wrong terminology, or the right terminology in the wrong way. I might try to make it sound accessible by relating it to other forms of music and in doing so sound a bit daft. I might even manage to ignore the music and just waffle on about everything else around the music. But anyway, last night I went to a classical music concert at the Barbican from the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra playing some works from Brahms, and in brief, it was amazing. Read the rest of this entry »

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September 25, 2013

What else should I be – In Utero twenty years on

Kurt Cobain in a drumkit, as he was inclined to do from time to time

I can still remember buying In Utero, on cassette, in my local Our Price. I can remember the anticipation that surrounded its release. There was rumours it was going to unlistenable, that Steve Albini had presided over a messy, noisy session and had done nothing to make it more palatable. The sheen of Nevermind would be gone, replaced by a murky punk. It sounded awesome – the idea of a hugely successful band making an album that would alienate all but their most devoted fans greatly appealed to my teenage self. Loving bands as a teenager is all about having those bands to yourself. They are your secret, your refuge, your way of knowing that while you might feel like you’re on your own you have something your peers can’t get their hands on, something they don’t understand. That is obviously harder when you love the biggest band in the world. Read the rest of this entry »

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