Posts by Matthew Littlewood
Last ←Newer Page 1 2 3 4 5 Older→ First
-
And yet, the book says, Davies’ work:
had previously been denounced by Assange as a contemptible attempt by “sanctimonious handwringing … politicians and social elites” to claim a right to privacy. Assange had accused Davies of “a lack of journalistic solidarity” for criticising the News of the World – calling it merely “an opportunity to attack a journalistic and class rival”.
In the light of how this scandal has developed over the last few months, particularly considering the latest revelations that the NOTW Private Investigator may have actually intercepted the families of members of the armed forces killed in Afghanistan and Iraq, Assange's criticism seems increasingly untennable. I think I would go so far as to say that the work Davies and his fellow Guardian contributors have done on this issue may well be the most influential and important work of investigative journalism in this coming decade. The implications of each finding are massive, and frightening.
Wikileaks has been important, no doubt, and it will change the way we access and consume news, as well as think about it. But the work done on the phone hacking scandal is so substantive as to be heroic. And you bet there's mountains of stuff they can't print due to legal concerns.
-
Hard News: Rough times in the trade, in reply to Simon Grigg,
Ironically I understand from a music journalist buddy in the UK that GSH was less than happy with I’m New Here, which was mostly magically cobbled together from over two years of sessions by Richard Russell. He played almost nothing off it live AFAIK.
That’s interesting. Of the two records, it’s certainly the most “conventional” and liable to fit into the whole “rehabilitation” narrative, ala Johnny Cash’s (overrated and occasionally horribly mawkish, albeit with the occasional striking moment) American Recordings series, but I think it’s pretty succesful on its own terms. Certainly his Smog cover which gives the record its title is just suffused with decades of baggage and genuine regret, yet somehow carries it lightly enough to be quietly moving.
We’re Still Here on the other hand, is something else entirely- Gil Scott Heron is more or less the ghost in the machine, it’s often very sinister stuff. Yet it’s often imbued with a genuine sense of hope, or at least a sense that there might be light at the end of the tunnel. Certainly, I would’ve loved to hear him do more music with Jamie “xx” Smith. He seems to find something essential and modern in his voice. An unlikely triumph.
Admittedly, neither record trumps say, Winter in America or Pieces of A Man (What could? Those records are just perfect.), but it was heartening that after all those years in the wilderness, he was somehow finding his way back. His most recent interviews were genuinely heartening- a man who at least made some piece with himself, no matter how difficult that might have been.
And now we’re way off topic…
-
Hard News: Rough times in the trade, in reply to Russell Brown,
Been meaning to. I suppose Jarod Lanier would regard Adele as a revival act, but she’s also very novel. The Guardian named “Team Adele” at number one in its Music Power List recently.
XL Recordings is a really interesting label. It started out as a label for 12” dance records in the late 80s in partnership with Martin Mills’ Beggar’s Banquet, but is now home to an amazing, genre-defying roster: Adele, MIA, the Xx, Beck, Dizzee Rascal, Gorillaz, Devendra Banhart, etc, etc. They were where Radiohead took In Rainbows for a commercial release. Label boss Richard Russell is responsible for Gil Scott Heron’s final recordings.
Their roots as a dance label show up in the way they’ve opened up a whole new side to Adele’s recordings by encouraging remixing. The stems of her tracks seem to be available to nearly anyone who wants them. As you note, I’m generally more into those than the original recordings. And they vary hugely.
In the recent series of Later With Jools Holland, there’s a fascinating contrast in a show that features both her and R Kelly (and also, for that matter, James Blake and Metronomy).
R Kelly is horrible on the show – an empty vessel. Adele is bustling and authentic and can’t just be read at a glance.
Anyway, she got on her way in 2007 with a three-song demo on MySpace (which got the attention of XL) – and this BBC performance of ‘Hometown Glory’, as a 19 year-old (uploaded to YouTube by digital agency Urban-Unsigned), which is still striking, 18 million views late
Adele's success story has had some level of industry sanction early on in the piece, however- she was a graduate at the now all-pervasive BRIT School, which is a sort-of RADA for aspiring British pop stars- so chances are, she would have got connections eventually. Indeed the BRIT school's influence on the British pop charts in the last decade or so, is probably worth a proper investigation in itself.
I really admire XL Recordings. Much like Domino, a label they share some similarities with, musically and aesthetically, they seem to have a real idea of what the "indies" should be about these days, and it helps that their roster is genuinely very strong. Certainly, anything new released on either label is usually worth checking out. Those last two Gil Scott Heron records were particularly striking.
Both XL and Domino seem to have it "worked out", although I don't know enough about the industry to know whether this is actually the case.
-
Hard News: Rough times in the trade, in reply to Russell Brown,
It's quite odd. On one hand, dubstep really has opened up new vistas. On the other, it's about 90% shit. As a friend pointed out to me yesterday, most of the people leering it up to dubstep in the clubs are the kind of people who'd have been partying to Limp Bizkit a few years ago.
Indeed, it's similar to the fact that Pendulum's main fanbase seems to be bogans and metalheads, if the crowds who stormed to see them at the Big Day Out were any indication. Maybe it's something to do with the thudding brutality of a lot of dubstep.
-
Hard News: Rough times in the trade, in reply to Russell Brown,
It was interesting that Adam Curtis chose Burial to score All Watched Over By Machines of Loving Grace. If Burial and their peers are in fact the music of theirtimes, then we;d have to conclude these are pretty creepy times.
The last Burial album reminded me a lot of Tricky's Maxinquaye. Both records are filled with portent, and have a hushed, paranoid and even tearful quality, but, musically and lyrically, Maxinquaye seems to be able to express itself in more direct if embittered terms, Burial's music is one of intimation and fragmentation,
-
Still on a music tip, the video for Battles' latest single "Ice Cream" is definitely NSFW, but it is very, very tasty (as is the song). Can't wait for the album.
-
Hard News: And we may never meet again ..., in reply to Russell Brown,
Now this, on the Mutton Birds fansite, is how free music should be done:
This page hosts rare or otherwise unavailable audio, mostly live recordings that aren't commercially available. The Mutton Birds' and Don McGlashan's studio albums can be bought online from Marbecks, Smoke CDs and Real Groovy among others.
Notable for a lovely Finn-McGlashan version of 'Throw Your Arms Around Me' that you can just, like, have.Yeah, that's a great way to do it. As for me, I'm one of those people who still spends hundreds of dollars on CDs. What happens is I tend to download something, or watch it on Youtube, and then if I like it, buy the album or compilation it came from, then load the bugger onto my iTunes so I can play it on my iPod while travelling. Or failing that, download the one song via legal means if that's the only one I like. It seems a horribly expensive and roundabout way of doing things, but it seems to satisfy my conscience, as foolish as that may seem.
Oh, and keeping with the moving Australian 80s rock theme:
-
Hard News: Still sounds good, in reply to philipmatthews,
Was going to come back and say “but what about these two?” But sadly YouTube has neither “Burn it up” (SJ Fits) or “Scrapbook” (Dimmer). Two very, very good songs.
Indeed, and both seem to come from a similar part of Shayne’s muse, bottled up, ferocious and fiery. Two of his best vocals, too, keening and desperate.
As for Dimmer, for me it’s always “Crystallator”. It still sounds like white lightening to me even after all this time, the sound of an artist not so much tearing himself from the shackles of his old band as melting them down to tiny shards. Just one, horrific drone that sounds better the louder and longer it gets, and the best version I ever heard was at a gig at Otago Uni where he played it immediately after someone requested “She Speeds”. My ears rang for the rest of the evening after that. Given that he’d already played the similarly harsh “Powerchord”, it was quite some feat to top the aural assualt of that.
And it was in such stark contrast to the jovial spirit of the rest of the gig, which was around the time of the release to You’ve Got to Hear the Music. Anika Moa was on “backing vocals”, I’ve never seen two artists play off oneanother so well, some of the jokes were genuinely filthy and hilarious. And Shayne’s mother was in the audience too!
-
Muse: Monday Linky Love (With Added Geekery), in reply to Craig Ranapia,
And I also find it rather amusing when Orwell gets a rather extreme makeover in the other direction – politely squinting past his rather cranky disdain for homosexuals, feminists and birth control. Eric Arthur Blair was a rather prickly mass of contradictions, blind spots, prejudices (both reasoned and not) and inconsistencies; no interesting person isn’t.
Oh absolutely, he was a flawed individual and very much a product of his times- and his biography is a fascinating read because of that- but I do think reclaiming him as a proto-Cold Warrior would require either a massive leap of faith, or total ignorance of his works and background, political or otherwise.
We're straying way off topic but Christopher Hitchens's Why Orwell Matters is worth a read as a it manages to be a robust (if somewhat self-aggrandising) defence of the man that doesn't shy away from his blind spots.
-
On a music tip, I was saddened to hear of TV on the Radio's bassist Gerard Smith's passing this week. Lung cancer. At 34. That's an awful way to go. No matter, here's the five-piece giving it their all in a Letterman performance a few years back:
Also, here's the title track from the Phoenix Foundation's Taite-nominated Buffalo. An absolutely lovely record.