Rock and Art: 50 years of Awe Inspiring Photography

 

"Some people think that little girls should be seen and not heard. But I think, Oh Bondage, Up Yours!!"

"You were only waiting for this moment to arise"

"With Your Hook in Line, I still Blow Away"

"He Tries to Pacify Her, But What's Insides Her Never Dies"

"Love is Life and Life is Free, Take a Ride on Life with Me"

"Freedom is Just Another Word For Nothing Left to Lose"

"What Price Now For a Shallow Piece of Dignity"

If i die, I wonder if Heaven Got a Ghetto"

"I never meant to be the needle that broke your back"

"I grow impatient for a love to call my own"

"Lover, Please do not fall to your knees

It's not like I believe in everlasting love"

"Wild horses couldn't drag me away"

Well, it's a sharp shock to your soft side
Summer moon, catch your shut eye

OLD, NEW, BORROWED, BLUE: WOMEN IN MUSIC

Old – Aretha Franklin

Aretha Franklin is the Queen of Soul. Possessing a powerful voice that invokes emotion in anyone listening, it is difficult to compare her to any other singer within soul music. Her roots were in gospel music particularly as her father was a preacher. But, surprisingly it was he who tuned her to singing for mainstream R ‘n’ B, a style so often described as ‘the music of the devil’ in religious circles. But despite targeting the white market in the 1960’s she maintained her gospel voice, an attribute considered ‘unsuitable’ when targeting said audience, explaining why artists under the Motown and Chess label had their voices polished and primed deducing it of soul and thus garnering perfect pop songs. Aretha was not just a woman who could sing, she was a crusader fighting on the behalf of black people in ‘Think’ which became part of the Civil Rights Soundtrack and empowering women in ‘Respect’, a song powerful and controversial in equal measure during a time of inequality for women.

Her contribution to music is second to none, inspiring other musicians but also showing that one can stay true to their roots and still be successful.

New – Laura-Mary Carter

Beautiful. Talented. Rockstar. She is Laura-Mary Carter and she is other half of the punk revival duo Blood Red Shoes. It would be easy to compare her to Karen O another woman with punk presence; however Carter presents a different style of punk.  She presents us with a gentle voice that alludes to angst and anger without having to actually play out those emotions. O on the other hand is a show- woman making it imperative to exacerbate anger, happiness, and angst in the style of Ari Up or Poly Styrene. Her individual style and fashionable demeanour may cause people to think that Blood Red Shoes are a fashion band. But listening to their music and watching them lives affirms that their band ‘ain’t no fashion show’.

For a band as young as they are, only releasing two albums, they possess a level of maturity that makes other up and coming bands green with envy.

Borrowed – Mariza

A singer who found success on the world music stage singing Fado (a branch of Portuguese music), Mariza soon became the most successful singer of this style. In the western world, American and English music is put on a pedestal, discounting other forms of credible music. Whilst not being a household name outside of Portugal she has sold over 1 million records world wide and was also nominated for Best folk Album at the Latin Grammy awards in 2007 and 2008. Her success is partly due to her talent but also her ability to convey emotion and sing about her personal truth. In the same as Edith Piaf was able to connect with a multi-nationalist audience, Mariza is able to do the same.

Blue – Janis Joplin

Though Janis Joplin is identified as part of the sixties rock ‘n’ roll counterculture, her roots lay in Blues, evident in her style of singing. Her life is often described as being marred due to her drug habits which ultimately led to her premature death and becoming a member of the 27’s club. But unlike stars who abuse drugs today, Pete Doherty for example, her talent is always appreciated first and foremost, as extraordinary, for better or worse. Her back catalogue with Big Brother and the Holding Company, The Kozmic Blues Band and The Full Tilt Boogie including the posthumous platinum selling ‘Pearl’ album prove that she wasn’t just ‘some white girl singing black music’. She was the real deal and her talent is what she will be remembered for. 

BACK TO THE OLD FUCKING SKOOOLLL!

"Life as a Shortie Shouldn't be So Rough"

The New - Two Door Cinema Club

Two Door Cinema Club are an awesome indie listen. I first heard Two Door Cinema Club on Zane Lowe's Show. He played Undercover Martyn which oozes dance floor potential. Anyone who says nothing good comes out of Northern Ireland is wwrrrooonng!!

Label: Kitsune Music
Album: Tourist History OUT NOW!

The Drums: A Transatlantic Musical Love Affair

They could be an all male sixties pop group. They could be an English band from the seventies. In fact they are The Drums, they are American and this is 2010. Performing classic robotic dancing that would make Ian Curtis proud, featuring vocals reflecting Morrissey’s jumpy, yet gentle tone, and even a Shangri-Las-esque lyrical structure, they are most recent American anglophiles since The Killers. 

Their latest EP entitled ‘Summertime’ is concentrated in influence from ‘the Brits across the pond’ and sixties pop. ‘Lets Go Surfing’, which apparently has nothing to do with surfing at all, presents us with quick paced clattered guitars akin to the style of Johnny Marr. ‘Make You Mine’ is a song rooted in sixties pop with cutesy Beach Boy whistling, perfectly timed hand clapping and a ‘call and response’ pattern between Jonathan Pierce’s sensitive cry of ‘sleeping in the kiii-tchen’ and a echoic female reply resulting in a strange yet endearing hybrid between black gospel and pop.

No doubt, The Drums are a revival band, meshing the likes of The Smiths and The Shangri-La’s in one pleasing melodic stew. It’s fair to say The Drums live through their influences. But with their nostalgic appreciation of music been-and- gone and being a part of scene plagued by Indie fakes, The Drums are marketed as being original and it would be unfair to take this away from them. They are a fun listen reflecting timeless teenage emotion, simultaneously liked by twenty-something rock ‘n’ roll hipsters, producing songs destined for indie dance floors.

The future looks bright for the Brooklyn band. Named as one of the British BBC’s Sounds of 2010, suggests that they will receive greater attention than any other underground band this year. The Drums are here to stay. But despite critical acclaim, It’s fairly likely that their retro sound and niche look will not create quite the hype garnered by The Libertines, Arctic Monkeys or The Strokes. Like other bands who have found critical acclaim, The XX and Animal Collective come to mind, their music is reserved only for people with particular interest in Indie music. But with further listening and a full length debut out in July, it will be interesting to see if the band will cling to their nostalgia or pertain to the 21^st Century Indie scene, creating a sound that can fit in with the guitar driven bands of today.

www.myspace.com/thedrumsforever

©

Review: Foals - Spanish Sahara

It’s been two years since foals released their début 'Antidotes'. A quirky, kinetic album that included the club hits ‘Balloons’ and ‘Cassius’, they were dubbed the band that could bring math-rock out of the undergrowth. So upon waiting for Foals' latest release I expected much of the same jolty guitars and syncopated sharp rhythms that made the debut good but more importantly highlighted greater potential of a band still finding it’s feet.

My expectations were wrong. There are no jolty guitars or syncopated sharp rhythms on this song, only dulcet tones, gentle yet grizzly vocals and an atmospheric presence that features throughout the entirety of the song. This is not Foals, or at least not the Foals we knew. This song is not a dance floor filler that makes you want to jerk and jolt. It is auditory aesthetic beauty for which appreciation would be shown just by lending you ears. From the tentative, crawling introduction to the explosive ending which sees the clattered collaborative musicianship that we are used to with Foals; the song is a narrative, telling a story through a duality of sound, much like a single loop of the ‘quiet LOUD’ Pixies formation but less brazen and lyrics which allude to regret, fear and emotional progression with words like ‘forget the horror here, leave it all down here’.

The ambience and vocals create a truly beautiful, honest and reflective song which can only help but conjure an emotional response from the listener. A track only released for promotion suggests greater things to come from this band and an album that will surpass the notable yet half-baked effort of its predecessor.

5/5

Download Foals - Spanish Sahara



Transgressive Official Release: May 3rd
Found on: Total Life Forever, Released May 10th 2010

Review: Jay Electronica - Exhibit C

What is good with Hip-Hop? Amidst the media hype surrounding artists like Drake (deserved hype I’d argue), Jay Electronica has stayed largely on the underground hip-hop scene. The heavy sampling on his latest single Exhibit C and his old school flow could be compared to a freshman Jigga. But truthfully, Jay is an individual. Despite those stereotypical references to money: ‘shittin’ out chains’ and drugs: ‘smokin’ weed on the corners’, they are entwined in a kind of lyrical purity that sets him apart from Fiddy or Lloyd Banks. Talking Hanukkah and 5 percenters, his rhyming pattern almost confuses you at first but it’s presented in such a way that forces you to do a double take. Citing the boyhood metaphors of ‘transforming with the MegaTronDon’, even extracting influence from MGMT, his ability as good as it is, is carried through with heavy production from Just Blaze that will have you bopping your head to the accentuated drum machine. Any nostalgic Hip-Hop fan wondering how the links between the Old School and the New School tattered will ask where Jay Electronica has been all this time.


Rating: 5/5
For Fans of: Nas, Jay-Z, Common


©

Too Many Man...On the Indie Scene

It’s 2006 and a band, with a sourly underwhelming name is set to release a debut album that will reinvigorate the British indie scene since the demise of Brit-Pop. Whatever People Say I am, That’s What I’m Not by Arctic Monkeys has all the makings of an epic album: searing guitars, riotous drums, poignant lyrics and a brazen, honest northern voice putting British bands who try, and fail, to emulate the American accent to shame. They represent everything that could be great about British music. It is only fitting that their album is set to succeed in abundance in Britain yet underwhelm American audiences who prefer Cowell’s new minion Leona Lewis and all other schmoozy X-Factor and Britain’s-Got-Talent-And-Overweight-Mad-People types (not that I’m trying to conflate Susan Boyle with all slightly fat and emotionally imbalanced British people)

But a problem occurs when great bands who single-handedly, well…together with the media, create a scene: carbon copies appear. And like burning a copy of a CD for your mate or attempting your nana’s ‘famous’ Yorkshire pudding recipe, it’s never the same as the original. It lacks the charm, uniqueness and all that makes the original special. But any boy or girl who has yearned to hear their song on the radio or play sell out gigs is willing to imprint a group who has already reached this level hoping that someday people will see in them what they saw in the original…and unfortunately this happens. The British audience is all too willing to accept sound-alike’s as ‘the real deal’. This creates an opportunity for sweaty teenage wannabe rock stars and major record labels.

So, when a scene like noughties British Indie appeared, northern boys stopped being northern boys and began emulating Alex Turner’s uniquely awkward yet endearing charm and started seeing things that they had never seen before like ‘people changing when the sun went down’ and that despite what they had been told they were not from New York but from Rotherham, a point that needed repetition and annunciation in case anyone thought otherwise. Behold the ascendency of The Northern Band: The Pigeon Detectives, Milburn, Little Man Tate…need I say more? It may be harsh to point out that the title of the latter’s second album (yes, they managed a second) ‘Nothing Worth Having Comes Easy’ perhaps should have been addressed more closely. I suggest something worth having is authentic and not a rip-off from a counter-part. Surprisingly, Little Man Tate and Milburn met their, almost predictable demise, whilst the former found platinum (?!) success and live to survive another album or two, neither being as successful as the first.

Such is the nature of the British mainstream music industry that indie leeches have a sell-by date. PEOPLE GET BORED and this is why scenes never survive but the great, like Arctic Monkeys live to tell the tale. 2009 saw Brit-rock slipping out the charts replaced by the grime-pop types like Chipmunk and Tinchy Stryder. Not the best trade off in my humblest opinion but all these little bands who dreamed of success at the height of Oasis in their hay, ceased to exist. There are just too many bands trying to be something they are not. Despite the thousands of records a copy-cat indie band may sell today, authenticity prevails in the long run. Who remembers ‘Kula Shaker’ or ‘Menswear’ from the Brit-Pop fad; who remembers ‘Paw’ from Grunge days? This proves just because little girls are poring over your scruffy hair and Topman get up now, doesn’t mean they’ll care about you when they're 20 and a new scene appears.

Grime in the Charts – Talkin’ da Hardest or Putting Money before the Mouth.

Conceived by angry black teens; born on the gritty streets of the Capital, grime music represented a demographic who felt ignored, trapped in a cycle from poverty to violent crime to premature death. American hip-hop could not suffice to present the individual nature of London poverty, the sexualised lyrics of R&B detracted from the situation on the streets, the gentle tones of neo-soul could not convey the anger felt by the black British youth. Like the conception of ‘punk' in the 1970’s, a new form of music was the only way to release the pockets of angst into the atmosphere. Grime meant race, class, poverty, teenage life on London’s mean streets, well…at least this is what grime meant until 2009.

The release of Dizzee Rascal (nee Dylan Mills, Alma matter the streets Bow, East London) Tongue ‘n' Cheek spelt the end of Grime as we knew it. Quirky beats were replaced by pop tones suited for 12 year old public school types and unsettling poetry substituted for slimy yet PG certified sexual lyrics similar to that of the Venga Boys in 1999. Money makes the world go round, this is especially realised for those born in to poverty, but much like the demise of American hip-hop from the harsh yet true Wu- Tang to the ‘P.I.M.P’ Fiddy Cent, money has become the goal for making music. The cost? Real music.

Dizzee is Grime’s poster boy: from pirate radio to Mercury Music Prize in 2002, he put the genre on the map. No one can forget the tale of teenage pregnancy in ‘I Luv U’ or the clever sampling of that prolific rock star Billy Squier’s ‘The Big Beat’ on Fix Up, Look Sharp. It was also his social awareness that caught the eye of white liberal card carrying males proclaiming ‘we used to fight with kids from other estates, now 8 millimetres settle debates’. The genre’s father Wiley of the Roll Deep Crew (of which Dizzee was a part of) held his corner by trying to push the movement forward through production as well as beats. But perhaps he pushed it too far. There is no denying that ‘Wearing my Rolex’ was an excellent song, assimilating grime and electro, showing where Grime could go. But whether in a positive or negative manner, progression is a slippery slope.

Since ‘Wearing My Rolex’, grime-pop has paraded the charts from Dizzee’s Bonkers, Skepta’s Bad Boy and grime’s answer to Take That, N-Dubz. There are some differences from the early to present style of the genre most notably empty statements like ‘some people fink I’m bonkers but I jus’ fink I’m free’ – straight from the mouth of Charles Manson himself, irritating meaningless sounds like ‘na-na-naaaaay’ and dancey Cascada-esque production . It seems that the few who are holding Grime in its truest form lack a sphere of influence, unable to permeate the mainstream force-field. Giggs seemed the only exception after he was nominated as one of the ‘Sounds of 2010’ by the BBC, but after being blacklisted from the 1xtra playlist it seems that whatever the reason for the decision, people still aren’t ready to hear the full unadulterated of grime sans pop, playing straight into the pockets of talented yet money-hungry grime artists.

In hip-hop rhetoric we hear statements like staying ‘true to the streets’ and ‘never forgetting your ends’. But when money enters the equation all ties to the ‘streets’ and ‘ends’ fray causing music to reflect money and not roots. There is nothing wrong with earning money, but staying authentic is also important. Either way, it is impossible to conclusively predict the future, but my strong prediction is a genre that loses its grit, grime and credibility.