May 2012
4 posts
1 tag
4 tags
FACT | Not sorted for Es and wizz: why a sensible... →
I wrote about DRUGS and MADONNA and DEADMAU5 and HYPOCRISY for Fact. I did not write the headline, you think I’d ever make a Pulp reference of my own volition?
April 2012
13 posts
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FACT | Melanie Fiona - The MF Life →
This a “solid” rather than “great” album but that doesn’t do justice to how great its high points are.
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FACT | Voices From The Lake - Voices From The Lake →
The best techno LP I’ve heard this year. A gorgeous, deeply immersive experience.
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Guardian | Death Grips - The Money Store →
My judgment on this record is probably quite predictable. Campaign to recast “punk rock” as a pejorative, possibly synonymous with “pointless”, continues apace.
[Fifa and the International Olympic Committee] are... →
Penultimate paragraph of Marina Hyde’s column today is the best thing I’ve read this week.
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Guardian | Dawn Richard - Armor On →
Gonna bang on and on about Dawn Richard until everyone recognises that she and Kalenna are making the best music around right now and they get the hype and attention they deserve (instead of, for example, The Weeknd; the disparity in hype is extremely irritating to me).
Guardian Music Weekly podcast, 20/4/12 →
Guesting on the Guardian music podcast this week talking about Hologram Tupac and singles from Brianna Perry (my choice, obviously amazing), Hot Chip (less amazing, not least because of dude’s horrible quavery indievoice) and Major Lazer/Amber Coffman (bloody awful because Dirty Projectors are the WORST, Coffman’s voice is nails-on-blackboard intolerable and Diplo needs to go away...
unbornwhiskey:
bobbyfinger:
speriod:
UM HOW...
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Guardian | Tupac's hologram reflects another... →
Did a quick Guardian piece on Hologram Tupac and also I can’t stop listening to “Can’t C Me” now.
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Guardian | Lauryn Hill, Indigo2, London, 14/4/2012 →
Went to see Ms Lauryn Hill live yesterday, reviewed it for the Guardian. Somehow managed to get in the photo pit for the first few songs which was quite something.
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Village Voice | Nicolas Jaar and Gwilym Gold Play... →
My first ever piece for the Village Voice. On Nicolas Jaar, Gwilym Gold and how their new inventions could change the way we listen.
SUN GODDESS, 6/4/12
Honoured to DJ at Mr Beatnick’s Sun Goddess EP launch last night. This was what I played. (Afterwards, Marcus from Hyperdub played the most amazing disco set, pure vibes.)
Diddy Dirty Money - Sade
Dawn Richard - Black Lipstick
Kalenna - Matte Black Truck
Teairra Marí - Make Her Feel Good
SWV ft. Missy Elliott - Can We
Big K.R.I.T. ft. 8Ball, MJG & 2 Chainz - Money On The Floor
Brianna...
Q1 2012 report
I hadn’t been planning to do a Q1 report (on account of being busy and lazy, which are not conditions that co-exist easily with each other), but too much of what’s dominated my listening this year is being overlooked. So here it is. Links to free downloads where appropriate. Youtube playlist: no Spotify as, even though there are a few missing from Youtube, Spotify just has way too...
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FACT | Nicki Minaj - Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded →
I reviewed the new Nicki Minaj album. Now, back to obsessively looping “Gun Shot”, with which I am head over fucking heels. So so beautiful.
(As this is an album that basically begs you to make your own alternative track listing - surely no one will ever listen to all 22 tracks straight through more than once - mine, for the record, is: Roman In Moscow / Roman Holiday / Come On A Cone...
March 2012
10 posts
"The preferred term online amongst… whoever for... →
This is a terrific blog about racism and Trayvon Martin, so it’s worth reading for those reasons, but this bit I’ve quoted has been a bugbear of mine for a while. As, um, a “person of colour” myself, I flinch whenever I see the term, and if anything I find the “POC” abbreviation even worse. For the above reason, but also because it’s prissy, it’s...
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FACT | Madonna - MDNA →
Still got love for the title, but I wish she’d used it on a better album.
Guardian Music Weekly podcast, 23/3/12 →
I did a little bit for this week’s podcast on the (recent) history of the hip-hop mixtape, ft. Lil’ Wayne, Gucci Mane, Nicki Minaj, Big KRIT and Kalenna. LOL/sigh @ how I try to flag up interesting new mixtapes by artists who don’t get much shine and then everyone just goes “SO, Odd Future then…”
The National | School of Seven Bells - Ghostory →
Reviewed the brilliant new SVIIB album for The National.
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FACT | Estelle - All Of Me →
I’ve hardly seen anyone talk about Estelle’s new album and I wasn’t expecting it to be excellent, given the tortuous gestation, failed singles and so on. So to hear a work of this quality was a bit of a surprise.
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FACT | Robert Glasper Experiment - Black Radio →
Erykah Badu, Meshell Ndegéocello, Mos Def, Bilal, Musiq Soulchild and Chrisette Michele on the mic + Robert Glasper on the keys = an excellent album.
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FACT | Kalenna - Chamber of Diaries →
This mixtape has been ruling my life for a fortnight, and “Matte Black Truck” might be my single of the year so far (“keep my heart in your dashboard, I don’t give a fuck if you speed”). Crucial listening.
February 2012
11 posts
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The National | Two disparate albums all part of... →
Fatima Al Qadiri’s music has blown my mind more than any other artist’s over the past couple of months (“Vatican Vibes”, “WARN-U”), and she’s an amazing interviewee too - whip-smart, articulate, funny. A ton of stuff that had to be [redacted] because of regional sensitivities…
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FACT | Lady Leshurr - 2000andL →
Reviewed Lady Leshurr’s sixth mixtape in three years. Will someone make this girl a massive star already?
Guardian | Valentine's Day: seduction songs →
I’ll take it as a compliment that I was asked to write this, I guess. *puts Jade Alston’s Single On A Saturday Night on again*
katherinestasaph:
whosboniver:
VERY SENSITIVE/LITERARY INDIE BRO WHO WRITES SONGS THAT SOUND LIKE A “LOOSE PILE OF GAUZE” AND “GENERALLY SINGS AS IF HE’S AFRAID HE MIGHT BRUISE A WORD BY ARTICULATING IT.” HE WAS CONFINED TO A REMOTE CABIN BY THE WISCONSIN STATE GOVERNMENT BUT LATER RECEIVED A PARDON FROM SCOTT WALKER. YOU SHOULD LISTEN TO BEYONCÉ INSTEAD
<3
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My Whitney tribute for the Guardian →
It’ll be in G2 tomorrow too, in slightly rejigged form. Upgraded to print!
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FACT | Emeli Sandé - Our Version Of Events →
What a disappointing album.
BACK & FORTH @ POWER LUNCHES, 8/2/12
Zakia and I put on a night called BACK & FORTH last night. Here is what I played.
Set one
Teairra Marí - Make Her Feel Good
Teedra Moses - So Kool
Rasheeda - Georgia Peach
Beyoncé - Best Thing I Never Had (Original Version)
The LOX - Ryde Or Die Bitch
Usher - Pop Ya Collar
B2K - Bump Bump Bump
Toni Braxton - He Wasn’t Man Enough
Brandy & Monica - The Boy Is Mine
Trina ft....
rmxbb: all 4 u →
theremixbaby:
Of course, my current problem with Lana Del Rey is that I literally can no longer trust any [heterosexual??] man to give a reliable reading of the image she is portraying. (Sorry guys, maybe stick to explaining how “Born to Die” sounds like Lovage; that one seems good). Someone wrote the she…
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I went to St Petersburg in November and here is... →
January 2012
18 posts
Three faces of feminism: Louise Mensch, Laurie... →
And after that link-dump to my own stuff, here’s something not by me and way more important, via @dipod on Twitter:
The paradox of feminism is that it’s not just about feminists: it’s not about us, it’s about all women. Feminism is useless if it’s only interesting to the women who are on Newsnight, or watching and tweeting about it. It’s useless if it’s only about people who know they...
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Guardian | John Talabot - ƒin →
This is my favourite album of 2012 so far. I actually gave it 4* but am disinclined to correct whichever Guardian sub upped that to 5*.
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FACT | Robin Thicke - Love After War →
Review of the new Robin Thicke album for FACT. Trad R&B »> indie-R&B.
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FACT | T.I. - Fuck Da City Up →
Reviewed the new T.I. mixtape for FACT. Let’s have no more Rick Ross talk now the KING is back, eh? (BTW I am now doing weekly album/track reviews for FACT, so keep an eye out for those. If you want.)
Pazz & Jop 2011: Alex Macpherson On Pistol Annies,... →
Breaking down my P&J ballot for the Village Voice. Thanks for asking me Maura!
katherinestasaph asked: Kreayshawn at No. 10? Lana at No. 2? Booooooo on ILX.
This is why the ILM poll is my favourite...
Top 77 tracks under the cut. Unlike all the other boring crit consensus lists of 2011. Not perfect (they like Destroyer too much) but it’s not just great in the sense of defining a specific aesthetic but in getting taste broadly right. One pertinent example: roundly rejecting Drake, but placing JoJo’s Drake cover at #13. LOVE.
EDIT I can’t get the line breaks to work because...
"I think the reason I find geek culture so... →
maura:
More at the link, and to all of it: Yes. YES.
A victim complex and at the same time a completely unwarranted superiority complex. Also, bad posture.
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Jie “Jay-Z” Zheng continuing to win is my favourite thing about the Australian Open so far. Hoping for a QF showing at least.
Why music-makers need to get out of the bedroom... →
Kind of started after I bitched that making your music sound like staring at a laptop on your own in your bedroom at 3am has become critical catnip these days, then I realised that it’s kind of the modern condition for, uh, “creative” types. Sadly my footnote, in which I reveal that this article was written on my own in my bedroom at 3am while staring at the internet, got lost....
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Guardian | Eskimo Dance: the Return – review |... →
This was a terrific night.