Archive | August 2012
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Another Friday mixtape: protest songs
Poem of the week: Pussy Riot’s Punk Prayer. The most controversial album of all time? Paul Simon’s Graceland. “For the bourgeois record industry, Johnny Guitar Watson’s protest songs are a gimmick and a frivolity, an underclass whistle in the dark.” Alliterative hybridity: Tamatant Tilay Tunng team up with the Tuareg troupe Tinariwen. Not a protest song: a lovely song about […]
Music Mondays: Cante flamenco
[Cross-posted from Poumista] For the Sake of the Song, a fantastic music blog, occassionally posts briliant Spanish music, and I have linked there before in this series, I think. Here’s the lastest: […] a quartet of fantastic flamenco pieces from thirties Spain. Featuring Pepe Pinto, Antonio Mairena, Manolita from Jerez, and last but not least the […]
The magic of the shuffle
I love the way that shuffling music, one of the best things about digital music players and applications of various kinds, creates perfect sequences by pure chance. Here was a good one I got today: The Rolling Stone “Far Away Eyes” then Magic Sam “21 Days in Jail” then The Cramps “Blues, Blues, Blues” then […]
The Friday mixtape is back
Mixing pop and politics Why is the left quiet about Pussy riot? Dylan’s “Hurricane” and the truths we will never know. Are Paul Robeson and Pete Seeger great Americans? Something old. something new So, I think two of the best releases of 2012 are of old music and both on Light in the Attic. The […]
From Bob’s archive: Doves and hawks
This is another one from the archive, from August 2007, when everything was about the Iraq war, and it seems like a good addition to the recent country music posts. “A dove with claws” I take this from a post on Shagya Blog, linking to a piece in In These Times that I linked to a while back. It comes […]
From Bob’s archive: Estelle, or who owns back culture?
Another one from the archive, from April 2008. Extra points to me for predicting the success of “American Boy”, which became ubiquitous and then irritating. Check out the comment thread too. The British R&B singer, Estelle, got angry in an interview with The Guardian last week: Singling out Adele and Duffy, who she knocked off the number […]
From Bob’s archive: Against rockism
I’m out of the country, and so have scheduled some posts from my archive. Here’s one from May 2008, a sunnier year than 2012. It partly explains this post. You’ll be pleased to know that, thanks in part to the evil rentiers, I have since moved house, although still within London SE4. Today, taking advantage […]
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