The many lives of the slice of problematic kitsch that changed popular music forever.
Author Archives: Dancing to architecture
Albums of the decade: Kendrick Lamar — To Pimp a Butterfly
To self plagiarise a little: Pulitzer prize winner Lamar is the greatest lyricist, probably in any genre, of his generation. This mastery is as much about form as it is lyrical content; his phrasing, his use of tone, his skill at exploiting the rhythmic possibilities of any given piece of music are all peerless. In …
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Albums of The Decade: Amara Toure — 1973 – 1980
Ok, so technically, as the title suggests, this isn’t from the last decade. But let’s face it, neither you or I were going to get it until 2015, when the peerless Analog Africa label compiled this mysterious Guinean Salsero’s recorded legacy (outside his work with Senegal’s Star Band De Dakar). A feline cocktail of Afro-Cuban …
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Albums of the Decade: Julia Jacklin — Don’t Let the Kids Win
Most people who’ve played guitar with some application for six months would have the knowledge to write these songs. And most bands with three or four good, sensitive musicians could replicate their warm, clean sound. Except none of them do, because none of them can write as elegantly as Julia Jacklin. Musically, Don’t Let the …
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Robert Christgau
A few thoughts on the Dean of Rock Critics and what his absence would cost us.
Future Echoes: Ode To Billie Joe
In Future Echoes we look at the evolution and influence of those songs that split off in all directions. You guess profound mysteriesunder the hewn domes of your afternoons.Soar on endlesslybut do not reveal to us what you see. Lucian Blaga, The Magic Bird There’s something about the way the strings swoop down over the …
Bookmarks October
This month we run from Leonard Cohen to Nitty Scott via Lucky OCeans and The Beatles.
Favourite Breakbeats
Super quick Birthday post — a collection some of my favourite break beats. As much as possible, it’s aimed at crate diggers, so I’ve tried to steer clear of anything that’s been sampled to death elsewhere. That said, you’ll see by about three quarters in, I get lazy and let some of the most obvious …
Bookmarks September 13
Bookmarks is an fortnightly series of recommendations, recent addictions and subjects for further study.
Lucky Oceans
Lucky Oceans‘ new single, an exquisite, haunting take on Hank Williams Ramblin’ Man with Kasey and Bill Chambers gives me a good excuse to talk about his other legacy, and what it has meant to me. I was fortunate enough to do a bit of work on Lucky’s unmatched and irreplaceable world music show The …
Dancing to Architecture 