FEATURE:
Queens of the Underground
PHOTO CREDIT: @sebastian123/Unsplash
shine a light on great women in various corners of the music industry. So far, I have featured two D.J.s and two producers who are responsible for some truly incredible work. At a time when there is a move towards equality, I feel we have a long way to. Can one realistically say we are where we need to be?! In terms of festivals and line-ups, there is a glaring gulf that is not shrinking as expeditiously as it should be; there are still very few female headliners and it makes for shocking reading. It is a shame there is so little movement because, in every layer and sediment of the music industry, there are pioneering and exceptional women who go unrecognised. This is a slightly nerve-wracking experienced because, for my fifth installment, I wanted to talk about a fantastic journalist: Laura Snapes. I guess I shouldn’t be nervous because, let’s face it, Snapes is a far more accomplished and talented journalist I am but, as I take so much guidance from her work, I will try to be as succinct as I possibly can – thinks might get a bit lengthy but you’ll have to bear with me! Whereas it is easy to talk about producers Catherine Marks and D.J.s Georgie Rogers and Carly Wilford and include videos/clips of their work, when it comes to a journalist, the game is slightly different game.
Next week, I am shining a light on a great female photographer and, today, I feel it is important to acknowledge a fantastic journalist who I know is inspiring many people – myself included. Whereas the gender imbalance is not quite as severe in journalism as it is elsewhere in music – owing to the number of blogs out there – I do feel the most interesting voices are female. I love Snapes’ work because she tackles subjects like gender inequality; interviews awesome artists and has an incredible voice. Maybe I am a bit biased but, a little while ago, she reviewed Kate Bush’s debut album, The Kick Inside – my favourite album of all time; Pitchfork (who she was writing for) were revisiting a few of Bush’s key albums and Snapes’ review really stood out. I shall talk more about my personal respect for Laura Snapes but, before you go on, make sure you order Snapes’ book, Liberté, Égalité, Phoenix! It is out on in October and you can find more details here. Snapes contributes to the book and, if you want to know what it is all about, this should give you all the information you need:
“The first book from the French band Phoenix, who helped define the sound of an era.
With one foot in the French electronic music sound of the late 1990s and the other in the world of indie Rock, Phoenix have evolved from an edgy French band to one of the most influential and beloved indie acts of the last twenty years.
IN THIS PHOTO: Phoenix/PHOTO CREDIT: Julien Mignot
The book draws on the band's personal archives, including photography of everything from their instruments to the notebooks in which every lyric and chord change were carefully notated. Accompanying this is an oral history of the Phoenix's journey in their own words. The book is a superfan's chronicle of the evolution of a band”.
As I said…I will circle back to my personal reasons for supporting Snapes’ work but, in order to show you the tip of her talent iceberg, I have found a few articles that are well worth investigating. I will put her social media and professional links at the end of this feature but, if you want to look at her work for Pitchfork then you can; similarly, one can check out her contributions for The Guardian. Snapes is The Guardian’s Deputy Music Editor and is right at the forefront of British music journalism; in my view, one of the most passionate writers around. I shall not include the complete review Snapes provided for Pitchfork regarding The Kick Inside but I have highlighted a few passages – I urge people to read the complete article as it is beautifully written. I have written about Kate Bush a lot (being a mega-fan) and have written my own features about The Kick Inside. The album is one of the most feminine and astonishing recordings ever; a sublime debut where this teenage artist shows so much confidence, originality and boldness – writing about incest, menstruation and sexuality at a time (1978) where very few female artists were not.
In Snapes’ review (also, if you want to find out more about Kate Bush’s music, read Graeme Thomson’s definitive biography), she really gets to the beating and beautiful heart of The Kick Inside:
“The limited presence of women in prog tended to orgasmic moaning that amplified the supposed sexual potency of the group’s playing. Bush demanded pleasure, grew impatient when she had to wait for it, and ignored the issue of male climax—rock’s founding pleasure principle—to focus on how sex might transform her. “I won’t pull away,” she sings almost as a threat on “Feel It,” alone with the piano. “My passion always wins.”
What made Bush’s writing truly radical was the angles she could take on female desire without ever resorting to submissiveness. “Wuthering Heights” is menacing melodrama and ectoplasmic empowerment; “The Saxophone Song”—one of two recordings made when she was 15—finds her fantasizing about sitting in a Berlin bar, enjoying a saxophonist’s playing and the effect it has on her.
But she is hardly there to praise him: “Of all the stars I’ve seen that shine so brightly/I’ve never known or felt in myself so rightly,” she sings of her reverie, with deep seriousness. We hear his playing, and it isn’t conventionally romantic but stuttering, coarse, telling us something about the unconventional spirits that stir her.
The Kick Inside was Bush’s first, the sound of a young woman getting what she wants. Despite her links to the 1970s’ ancien régime, she recognized the potential to pounce on synapses shocked into action by punk, and eschewed its nihilism to begin building something longer lasting. It is ornate music made in austere times, but unlike the pop sybarites to follow in the next decade, flaunting their wealth while Britain crumbled, Bush spun hers not from material trappings but the infinitely renewable resources of intellect and instinct: Her joyous debut measures the fullness of a woman’s life by what’s in her head”.
The other three features/articles I am quoting for are those that have made an impression on me. All of Laura Snapes’ work is impressive but her review of Kylie Minogue storming this year’s Glastonbury is amazing; I want to bring in a very recent album review and, firstly, a stunning interview she conducted with Sleater-Kinney. I have just reviewed the band’s latest single and, as I am in my thirties, I recall Sleater-Kinney’s (eponymous) 1995 debut. When the interview was published, I was looking at Snapes’ Twitter feed and I think there were a lot of people pointing the finger at Annie Clark (St. Vincent) regarding the unexpected departure of Sleater-Kinney’s drummer, Janet Weiss.
IN THIS PHOTO: Sleater-Kinney (left to right: Janet Weiss, Corin Tucker and Carrie Brownstein)/PHOTO CREDIT: Brigitte Sire
It was Weiss who suggested Clark as producer and, although there is a bit of St. Vincent and some Pop edges on Sleater-Kinney’s upcoming album, The Center Won’t Hold, the relationship between the band and producer was respectful, harmonious and friendly – one cannot say Clark’s new vision and guiding hand led Weiss to be jaded and fear the band was losing its edge. Laura Snapes sojourned to Portland, Oregon to interview singer-guitarists Carrie Brownstein and Corin Tucker. Again, read the complete interview to get a sense of Snapes’ style and commentary but, from the first paragraph onward, it is clear here is a journalist who can bond with artists, ask the right questions and always gets a fantastic interview. Similar to the Kate Bush review, I have chosen some standout segments:
“In mid-June, I am due to meet the trio to discuss their second second coming over lunch in Portland, Oregon, but I get an email hours beforehand saying Weiss is ill. Tucker arrives at the neighbourhood spot first, her striped earrings matching her monochrome T-shirt. It’s a shame about Weiss, I say. “Yeah,” Tucker says with a sigh, looking at the sky. “It is.” Brownstein appears, tiny and shaggily glam in a grey felted jacket. We head into the restaurant, which is straight out of Portlandia, the now concluded Emmy-winning satire of life in the zealously artisanal city that Brownstein wrote and starred in. She orders fish stew, while Tucker orders cornbread and asks the waiter what their “zero food print” certification means. It’s a programme funding climate-friendly farming, we learn, as Michael Jackson plays over the stereo.
Tucker and Brownstein sound crushed when we speak the day after Weiss’s news. They admit that she wasn’t unwell the day we met in Portland – this happened very recently and suddenly and they didn’t know what was going on. They tried band therapy. They won’t speculate on Weiss’s reasoning, although Brownstein says they thought “everyone was really happy about the record”.
But the show will go on. Brownstein says they are as determined to evolve as ever. “After these years, it might feel harder to take those risks, but that’s what I’m invested in. Corin and I took ourselves to the opposite side of the world to start Sleater-Kinney. There’s always been something impulsive and scrappy about this band and I don’t feel there’s another way to be in it except to adapt and evolve.”
Hang on – from singing about rape culture in 1995 to the violence of capitalism on No Cities to Love, Sleater-Kinney have never been mellow. Brownstein half-agrees: “That was the whole creed we came out of – 90s punk-rock feminism – but the older you get, the scarier it is to actually say you still want to be doing this because there are fewer stories in popular music by women of a certain age. Doing that when we were younger was almost taken for granted. Now you actually have to grab for it, be a little bit greedy and voracious.”
Expansive and adventurous, The Center Won’t Hold makes that statement boldly. There’s also the matter of Brownstein’s bare bum being on the cover of single Hurry on Home. She had wanted the whole band to be naked. “That was a bad idea!” Brownstein admits.
Tucker – and her daughter – agreed. “I was reading her texts aloud and she was like, ‘MOM! You’re not DOING THAT!’”
Before I go on, it is important that we fund journalism and ensure we can enjoy the work of Laura Snapes and her peers. Snapes contributes for a few different outlets but it is The Guardian that is her base and home. I have contributed to the site/paper because I rely on their great work but I would ask as many people as possible to contribute some money or subscribe - so that you can enjoy the fantastic work The Guardian does! There are fantastic sites and magazines closing their doors because they are not receiving funding and, in order to keep producing great-quality work, they struggle to stay afloat. If you do enjoy the work that The Guardian does, spend a few quid and help them thrive for years to come. I shall wrap things up soon but, keen as I am to outline the great work Snapes does, I want to bring in her review of Kylie Minogue at Glastonbury. If you all recall, Minogue was scheduled to headline Glastonbury back in 2005 – only a few women have headlined Glastonbury in the last fifteen years – but Minogue received devastating news: a breast cancer diagnose that meant she had to cancel. Sadly, the cancer has meant Minogue’s chances of motherhood (she can adopt, mind) are gone. I would have thought Glastonbury would ask Minogue to headline this year – as she was owed – but she was given a chance to shine on the ‘legends’ stage.
In a year when female artists are producing the best albums around – Lizzo, Julia Jacklin; Little Simz and Jamila Woods are a few of the prime examples -, it is a shame that quality is not rewarded in terms of festival gender balance. That said, Glastonbury this year was dominated by women: storming sets from Billie Eilish, Lizzo and Janelle Monáe are still bouncing around my mind! If Janet Jackson’s career-spanning set was let down by sound issue, Minogue suffered no such slights: her set was simply brilliant and she provoked more than a few tears in the eyes of those lucky enough to catch her in the flesh. One could get a real sense of the infectious energy Minogue brought in Laura Snapes’ review. Again, Snapes’ writing means one did not need to be at Glastonbury to get a feel of Minogue’s passion and flair:
“She cries as she tells this story, but doesn’t mention cancer explicitly – an omission that reflects how incongruous this dark moment was in her world. Kylie was about lightness, about transcending time’s limitations. Stock Aitken Waterman pop stars weren’t built to last, let alone evolve beautifully through decades’ worth of shifts in the fabric of pop and experience second, third, fourth heydays. That this was under threat in 2005 didn’t compute, to the degree that it felt like a national crisis in her adoptive home land.
Thank god, she survived, and made it to Glastonbury 14 years after her initial appointment and to a hero’s welcome. One of the artists who covered her at the festival in 2005 was Coldplay, and she brings Chris Martin on to perform with her. Worryingly, he’s carrying an acoustic guitar, another thing that frankly has no place in Kylie’s gloriously ritzy world. They proceed to perform Can’t Get You Out of My Head – one of the 21st century’s most futuristic pop songs – in a stripped-back style. While tantamount to forsaking her official gay icon status, the goodwill and charm of the moment carries them through”.
The showmanship, the incredible run of hits – it is absolutely phenomenal. So much so that the crowd keep bursting into chants of “Kylie! Kylie!” and bringing her to tears. Never mind the legends slot; next stop, headliner”.
Laura Snapes’ range and consistency is amazing. So many journalists review certain genres and artists; they write features about distinct things but do not have that wide an arsenal. Snapes has worked with NME and you can find a selection of her work here. I really love the work Snapes has done for The Quietus but, keeping focused, I want to bring in a review she recently produced. Not only did Snapes give a rightful kick against Freya Ridings’ eponymous album when so many were (wrongfully) giving it praise but, as I said, she is not limited in terms of genre.
I am not a massive fan of Kaiser Chiefs – they have never struck me as particularly interesting and relevant – but I did want to check out their latest album, Duck. I read a few reviews but could not get a real sense of the album and whether it was worth seeking out. I have bought several albums off of the recommendation of Snapes – and, conversely, avoided some she has slated – and her Kaiser Chiefs review convinced me that the cheeky chappies might be worth a listen this time around:
“Frequently while listening to Duck, you remember: this man judges a TV singing competition. It’s not that Ricky Wilson was indie’s greatest singer, but he knew what to do with his voice, a bawdy, beery thing that could definitely talk you into another pint. But now he’s a shiny-floor entertainer, parochial indie culture is dead, and Wilson sounds adrift. He won’t find an identity in the painfully strained Golden Oldies, a shouty song in sharp contrast to its broody sentiment. Nor in Don’t Just Stand There, Do Something, an unnervingly edgy vaudevillian number, Wilson bellowing about a girl locked in the bathroom while the sounds of knives being sharpened slice through the mix.
He’s more convincing as a ruffian George Ezra type: high on his band’s Motown merriment, he celebrates boyhood, “so innocent and joyful”, on People Know How to Love One Another, a song that bassist Simon Rix has unironically described as “a really important song and a great message for Brexit Britain”. Northern Holiday absolutely accepts Ezra’s invitation to ride shotgun underneath the hot sun, finding Wilson boasting of his ability to “order sandwiches in funny languages”, even though “they don’t make them like you do at home”. It’s shameless, but endearing, and echoes the quirky mundanity that powered the band’s rise 15 years ago (back when their now-departed drummer wrote the hits)”.
Of course, it is great when we read journalists like Laura Snapes review the new albums; report the news and latest happenings. The reason I am inspired by Snapes is the fact that she has this desire for change. Just look here at this article about Ryan Adams and the allegations of sexual assault aimed at him. I consider myself a proud feminist and I am horrified when male artists and music figures are making the news for the wrong reason. Over the past few months, I have become bolder as a journalist. Reading pieces by Snapes regarding musicians such as Ryan Adams has compelled me to get involved and have a say. There are so few male journalists calling out musicians who are shamed. There are few male journalists talking about gender inequality and asking for betterment in music. Maybe they feel they are unqualified and are taking a voice away from women but, truly, we need as many people as possible to speak up and join the conversation. Referring to the article Snapes wrote about Ryan Adams and toxic masculinity, a particular extract caught my eye, opened my mind and forced me to put (electronic) pen to paper:
“The concept of male genius insulates against all manner of sin. Bad behaviour can be blamed on his prerequisite troubled past. His trademark sensitivity offers plausible deniability when he is accused of less-than-sensitive behaviour. His complexity underpins his so-called genius. As I wrote for this paper in 2015: “Male misogynist acts are examined for nuance and defended as traits of ‘difficult’ artists, [while] women and those who call them out are treated as hysterics who don’t understand art.”
IN THIS PHOTO: Ryan Adams/PHOTO CREDIT: Dave Hogan/Getty Images
This was after, in response to an interview request, Sun Kil Moon’s Mark Kozelek told a crowd that I was a “bitch” who wanted to have his babies. Note, too, how many female geniuses are dismissed as divas, their art depicted as a symptom of disorder, their responses to mistreatment and calls for respect characterised as proof of an irrational nature”.
I have just scratched the surface here because, as you can imagine, Snapes has produced a lot of marvelous work across her career. She is an inspiration to women in music and upcoming journalists; she has made me a more aware and passionate writer and, as a male journalist, I feel I have asked myself a lot of questions: Am I doing enough? Can I be a better feminist? Can I be a better writer? What do I want to achieve? I look at Laura Snapes’ work and I am always stunned and moved. She is effortless when it comes to expertly reviewing music across the spectrum; her interviews are always deep and revealing and she writes fascinating articles. When it comes to influential figures, Snapes name definitely needs to be mentioned. As I stated, she has encouraged others to step into journalism and I started by talking about gender inequality in the industry. Although female journalist are becoming more common and heard, I do feel women in the press are not given the credit and respect they deserve. Laura Snapes is an experienced and always-compelling journalist and I take a lot of heart from her work. Although she is far stronger than me, I hope to get to her level one day – every time I read her work, I think my work sharpens. If you have some free time today, I would urge people to follow Laura Snapes, investigate her great work – remembering to pledge some money to The Guardian; pre-order her book, too – and discover a truly essential voice…
PHOTO CREDIT: Eye Magazine
Tumblr:
https://laurasnapes.tumblr.com/
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/laurasnapes
The Guardian:
https://www.theguardian.com/profile/laura-snapes
Pitchfork: