You find yourself exploring parks you’ve never really explored before, working out their boundaries and the links between each park as you make your way. You spot streetlights right in the middle of one park, which seems odd. You think people probably use these paths as handy cut-throughs from one street to another. There are the old tennis courts, some neglected, some with new play furniture built upon them. Read the rest of this entry »
Random Access Memories is a fascinating album in theory. Dance music has generally been all about sampling, creating new sounds from old sources. And those samples often produce some sort of uncanny feeling, as you’ve kind-of heard that sound before, but might not be able to place it, and even if you can it doesn’t necessarily sound like how you remember it sounding. There is an appeal to that textural borrowing, it is almost a short-cut to creating a certain feel, or a way of toying with those feelings. Read the rest of this entry »
Paul Gambaccini interviews Morrissey on the TV-am sofa in 1984. Henry Kelly and Toni Arthur get involved in the conversation too, with varying results. While Morrissey comes across as a bit pompous, I do miss pop/rock stars having something interesting to say, and it is always enjoyable watching them saying that something interesting in an odd environment, like breakfast television.
I haven’t bought anything on vinyl for years. While I’ll still enough of a Luddite to prefer my music in real, hold-in-your-hand form rather than digital download vague-ery, I’ve tended to lean on the unloved, possibly evil, compact disc format ahead of the hipper, warmer vinyl. Yet this week after hearing Teardrop Factory for the first time I had to order their debut EP on lovely 7″ vinyl. Read the rest of this entry »
1. Where did it all go wrong? Read the rest of this entry »
Wait until next year 