Hey folks!
You have doubtless noticed that it’s gone very quiet on here. This is due to technical problems with my PC, which doesn’t seem to want to connect with this blog.
I’m still blogging, so keep checking in.
In the meantime, check out this post over at God Is In The TV.
Looking for something to blow away the cobwebs with? The new LP from Squarepusher might just be the ticket.
Be Up A Hello will be his first album in five years, released on January 31 via Warp. It sees Tom Jenkinson reflect on the impact of his years raving, with the result that the album draws heavily on acid house, techno and rave, whilst looking to the future. The tracklisting is as follows:
A1. Oberlove
A2. Hitsonu
A3. Nervelevers
A4. Speedcrank
A5. Detroit People Mover
B1. Vortrack
B2. Terminal Slam
B3. Mekrev Bass
B4. 80 Ondula
The first two tracks from the album have been unveiled: ‘Vortrack’ was released just before Christmas, and ‘Nervelevers’ was released today.
A Happy New Year to readers!
Last month, I managed to write fourteen posts, the most I had done in a calendar month in over four years. I am going to try and keep this up more frequently. Amazingly, the blog will be fourteen years old in July…
Flicking around earlier, I came across the BBC Sound Of 2020 longlist (you can check it out here if you’re so inclined). Giving Arlo Parks a listen, I was really pretty impressed by what this nineteen year old Londoner has to offer, such as the recent five track Sophie EP:
Much of the best art is made by outsiders; the Guardian quoted her as saying she was ‘a black kid who can’t dance for shit, listens to emo music and currently has a crush on some girl in my Spanish class.’
Her music draws on many sources and influences (not all of them musical, either), and seems to be being pitched as somewhere between hip-hop and emo. To these ears, there’s much in common that might classify it as soul, too, or maybe we all need to step away from the categorisations before the artistry at work gets ignored. The reality ios that Arlo Parks is very special and very distinctive. Are you paying attention?
To date she’s released two EPs, Super Sad Generation and Sophie, both in 2019, and the (very) limited vinyl releases are already changing hands for big money over on Discogs.
She’ll be touring for the first in March (see here for dates and tickets), including a date at Glasgow King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut on March 10.
If you’ve only got a limited amount of time, watch this – then track down the two EPs.