If you’re paying attention, and not everyone does, life has some pretty big lessons to teach us. Whether it’s stepping away from the manic fray when you’re existentially on the edge or wanting to let loose but not sure now is the time to do it because of the people Continue Reading
music
Christmas in July ’70s festive songs: Paul McCartney, Slade, Wizzard
INTRO “Wonderful Christmastime” by Paul McCartney No need to introduce Paul McCartney, an artist who has found success in every decade of his artistic working life, not least, of course, with The Beatles. But it’s his Christmas song as part of Wings, “Wonderful Christmastime”, that long captured my festively-inclined heart Continue Reading
Christmas in July … listening to Christmas With Friends by india.arie and Joe Sample
If Christmas ever gave you a great big gorgeous warm and fuzzy chestnuts roasting over an open fire Family all around you hug, it would sound a lot like India Arie’s Christmas album, Christmas With Friends. Released in 2015, this is a lush, masterfully-arranged album thta captures the intangible sound Continue Reading
Songs, songs and more songs #11: Florist, Cross Record, Dominic Fike, Gashi, Slenderbodies
It’s tempting to think of pop music as throwaway music that entertains briefly, shimmers and shines for a moment before ebbing away into nothingness. That’s not true, of course, but nowhere is this better illustrated than in the artistic efforts of the following five artists who blend sparse, elegantly-beautiful melodies Continue Reading
Songs, songs and more songs #10: Banks, Sigrid, MXMS, Olivia O’Brien, Holy Ghost!
One of the great joys of life is listening to music that you really love. I mean really, REALLY love. Each month I listen to a lot of new music, and while I like pretty much all of it, not all of it really gets down into the very depths Continue Reading
Songs, songs and more songs #9: FKA Twigs, Anna of the North, The Marías, Barrie, Winona Oak
Sit down! Set a spell. Think quiet thoughts. Don’t think at all. We live in a busy, frantic, manic, noisy world and taking some time out to just ruminate, smell the roses and let your mind wander is one of the greatest gifts we can gift ourselves. These five amazingly Continue Reading
Songs, songs and more songs #8: Foster the People, Aurora, Alex Lahey, Ava Max, Jai Wolf
One of the reasons certain songs stick with us is because they connect so deeply and profoundly with something we have gone through. It helps, of course, if they sound insanely catchy musically, but ultimately what hooks them deep into our souls is a sense that this artist is speaking Continue Reading
Baby bye bye bye: Walk on the roses of sadness with an AI-penned Eurovision entry
Were you a cynical person, and honestly where is the fun in all that pooh-poohing and condenscening scornfulness, you might think that all songs entered for The Eurovision Song Contest are cut from the same earnest cloth. They’re not, of course, as this year’s diverse crop of tunes showed only Continue Reading
Dream over or just begun? Eurovision 2019 – who won, who lost and who’s sweeping up the glitter?
One of the fun things to do as you watch the Eurovision Song Contest, and trust me “fun” is a relative concept in this instance, is to try and divine which songs Europe will, and just as importantly, won’t like, and thus which will progress from the two semi finals Continue Reading
#Eurovision book review: Space Opera by Catherynne M. Valente
Way back on 12 September in 1962, President John F. Kennedy announced that humanity, well, Americans really were going to the moon: We choose to go to the Moon! We choose to go to the Moon…We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not Continue Reading