Every new year, my oldest friend and I exchange best of year music lists. This is based purely on how much we’ve enjoyed stuff, no attempts to be cool or comprehensive (well, OK, I do try to listen to everything, must have heard over a hundred new albums this year, some of which have yet to sink in). The positions freeze at midnight so maybe I’ve put Kanye too low and the Eels should have slipped in rather than The Fall, but it’s too late to change. Here’s my top twenty. 1 The National – High Violet 2 Arcade Fire – The Suburbs 3 John Grant – Queen Of Denmark 4 Spoon – Transference 5 Vampire Weekend – Contra 6 Robyn – Body Talk 7 …
Christian Marclay’s ‘The Clock’ shows on weekdays from 10a.m. until 7p.m. (Saturdays, 10-5, closed Sundays) at Nottingham New Art Exchange as part of the British Art Show (the image above is from the White Cube showing, which has now finished, Nottingham was much less formal – two benches, two sofas and, last night only, six bean bags). Yesterday and today saw the only 24 hour showing of this masterpiece of installation art. Sue and I had already seen most of the hours between 10 and 7.30, so we had to take in as much as we could. We got there at 8.40p.m. and, to my surprise, the place wasn’t full. There were 21 people in a space that holds forty or fifty. As we arrived,…
I bought a ticket for Billy Bragg last night, the umpteenth time I’ve seen him. Then the Nottingham Post’s reviewer was snowbound, so I agreed to step in at the last minute. Would I have enjoyed the show more had I not agreed to review it? I doubt it. This was by far the worst Bragg show I’ve been to, indeed, the only under par Bragg show I’ve been to. Anyway, here’s the extended web version of the review, and a download of the song that was the highlight of the show. Billy Bragg, Rock City, December 2, 2010 Billy Bragg first visited Nottingham with an unforgettable, seven encore show at the Garage, 26 years ago. His greatest triumph at Rock City was on the…
One in four people in the UK suffer seriously from depression at some point in their lives. I had a serious bout when I was twenty, suicide note written, sufficient sleeping pills blagged off a friend. Never thought of going to a doctor, couldn’t really talk about it to friends, factors which were, of course, symptoms of the problem. But I kept putting it off, f0r fear of the effect it would have on my family and whoever found me. Then I went home from uni for Christmas and started to feel a bit more positive. Two weeks after I came back I met someone and fell in love. Nothing anywhere near as bad since. Lucky boy. Not many of my closest friends have, to…
Rumer has an amazingly pure voice which doesn’t just channel Karen Carpenter but seemingly reincarnates her. Debut album Seasons Of My Soul went straight into the top 3 last week, thanks partly to the support of Smooth FM (hosting tonight’s competition winners show), Radio 2 and hip music journals like Uncut. Her classy TV performance of Leon Russell’s ‘Masquerade’ at Elton John’s Electric Proms brought her to an even wider audience. I suspect the album’s Bacharachesque ballads will stay in the top ten for some time. Tonight, the question is whether she can sing as well live as she does on record. She does, in spades, with a relaxed stage manner and a crack band. Rumer’s more soulful than The Carpenters ever were, occasionally nearer…