one-two-three-fuck America is best not when it is exercising in being the world’s twisted moral police, but the America we love is honestly and fiercely degenerate for our pleasure. This was expressed in the rise and global conquest of rock’n’roll with its openly sexual, depraved and violent rhythms and lyrics while simultaneously being rooted in …
Gary McFarland is a forgotten name by most music listeners. This is a tragedy since he was a bit of a genius- an arranger/conductor for jazz musicians, a cinematic composer of his own recordings, and a producer of a psychedelic hidden gem. Gary McFarland (born October 23, 1933) began his career arranging and conducting jazz …
With Sparks: No.1 In Heaven, Ron and Russell Mael delivered an album which, while not performing well commercially, would prove one of their most influential records A decade into a career which had already seen the eclectic and eccentric Sparks establish themselves as a pair of shapeshifting mavericks whose music transcended boundaries, even the most …
Tenement Kid: From the Streets of Glasgow in the 1960’s to Drummer in Jesus and Mary Chain and Frontman in Primal Scream Despite being a great fan of Primal Scream, JAMC and Bobby Gillespie, nothing had prepared me for the greatness of his first memoir Tenement Kid. Written during the lockdown periods of the pandemic, …
On more occasions than not, after getting tanked up on Gin Tonics and red wine and listening to Iggy and New Order most of the evening, my friend Karla and I will end up listening to Elvis’ “In The Ghetto” and ABBA’s “The Winner Takes it all” – don’t ask. Yesterday was different though, since …
“I Can’t See You” (Tim Buckley)An energetic folk-rock rhythm drives this first track from Tim Buckley’s first record. His song summons images of hippies wandering the streets in California circa 1966. A mysterious Scorpio girl who looks like Grace Slick, her eyes dark as obsidian or onyx, stares back at you. “Autumn temptress, sundown angelInside …
Albums have to be vinyl for me, not cd’s or downloads. When I am writing songs for my own albums, I always imagine at which point the listener has to turn around the record. And when I think of the artwork, I always imagine a big gatefold cover. Because that’s how I listen to music: …
With 15, I was living in a small working-class town in the north of Sweden. I was a metal-head back then and was just starting to approach hardcore and punk, I only had a very vague idea of either. In my area there weren’t any punks, nothing happened in Sweden in that regard, there were …
The atmosphere circulates moisture from the Pacific Ocean and Gulf of California (Sea of Cortez) and the winds carry these clouds from the west over Mexico during May. The North American monsoon season develops during June as the rains move northward into New Mexico. The North American monsoon season peaks in July and August in …
Amitav Ghosh‘s The Great Derangement (2016) is one tremendous book which examines the question why climate change is not being reflected in contemporary literature and modern art in general. It would be impossible to summarize Ghosh’s elaborate and nuanced thought lines in just a few paragraphs: the Indian writer takes his reader on a journey …
