It’s a weird phenomenon to mourn the passing of someone you never knew. Or perhaps I should say met, rather then knew, because when it comes to artists whose work is important to you there’s always that feeling that you at least know them a little – know a part of them anyway. When the [...] Read more – ‘Adam Yauch 1964-2012’.
I bought 10 albums this year, and three of those as presents for other people. A couple of years ago that number would be closer to 70, and it’s not like I listened to any less music in 2011 than I have in the past. The difference is made up by Spotify. I fell for [...] Read more – ‘The Ethics of Spotify’.
At some point in 1994 a friend returned from a European holiday bearing a gift: a C90 tape onto which he had copied a pair of albums that he’d somehow discovered on the continent and thought I should hear. The way I like to remember it is with that hand-labelled tape being handed over along [...] Read more – ‘Happy Birthday Nevermind’.
Whilst an unconventional release strategy has been getting Radiohead more attention than any band could use, Glassjaw have slipped out a pair of EPs all but unnoticed. Unless you follow Daryl Palumbo on Twitter (@DarylPalumboCC) or habitually check the band’s site for new, you’d be hard pressed to know that they were putting out new [...] Read more – ‘The Return of Glassjaw’.
I was in an attic bedroom in Worcestershire when I found out Kurt Cobain was dead. I was sat at a computer in college when I found out Soundgarden had broken up. And the day Rage Against the Machine split I was on campus at university. This evening, sat on a red couch in our [...] Read more – ‘|||’.
It’s as big a part of Christmas as any decoration, Muppet movie or feats of overeating: the annual List is a tradition dating back at least a decade between myself and Dr Green. Each year, no matter the weather, we make the pilgrimage to get together and exchange lists of our favourite 20 records released [...] Read more – ‘The List 2010’.
In the NME review of Arcade Fire’s upcoming third album The Suburbs, Emily Mackay writes that the record could be ‘their Automatic For The People’. When I read that sentence something like the dropping of a penny occurred in my head: why hadn’t I noticed similarities between those two bands before? In the ten years [...] Read more – ‘Two Bands, Both Alike In Dignity’.
In an age of infinite duplication, when what we mean by photography or film or music is, with increasing commonality, a digital file easily reproducible as an exact copy of itself, there is something revolutionary about the very idea of a unique artwork. Limited edition vinyl pressings and packed-in hardcover art books are one thing, [...] Read more – ‘The Necks at The Barbican’.
When almost everyone else went home for the summer break in 2001 I was one of a small collection of people who stayed in the halls of residence. My term-time room was on the west side of the complex and one of the conditions of staying was that I had to move all of my [...] Read more – ‘Summer Music’.
