FEATURE: Dance Queens: With Women Dominating This Genre, Is 2024 a Year When This Spreads to Others?

FEATURE:

 

 

Dance Queens

IN THIS PHOTO: Eliza Rose

With Women Dominating This Genre, Is 2024 a Year When This Spreads to Others?

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ONE of the most pleasing…

IN THIS PHOTO: Charlotte Plank

aspects of this year so far is how various genres are starting to become less of a boys’ club. In fact, Pop has very much turned in favour of female artists. Dominating charts and producing the best the genre has to offer. The most exciting and worthy new artists emerging too. A welcomed shift. I think other genres might take longer to turn. There is still inequality when it comes to club bills and booking female D.J.s. As I have written before, polls declaring the best D.J.s still tend to be male-heavy. Fewer opportunities for women it seems. They work much harder to get the same exposure as men. That should change very soon I hope. Looking at a recent article from The Guardian, it seems like Dance music is seeing a bit of a turnaround. Even in recent years, there has been a case of female Dance producers and artists not being played. Maybe as part of a collaboration. Rather than the industry and labels encouraging solo female Dance acts, they are often seen as featured artist or pushed aside. That was the way it was decades ago. I remember growing up listening to Dance music where women were either vocalists or featured artists. It was normally a male act that was using a female vocalist. The sort of power and excellent of those vocals defined the tracks, yet they didn’t get the dues they deserve. I think we do not talk enough about those queens who voiced some of the biggest Dance tracks ever.

Now, with new artists coming through producing their own tracks and not necessarily having to sign to big labels to get noticed, there is this wave of female Dance artists and producers who are turning the tide. It is becoming a more balanced landscape. It made me think about other genres that are traditionally male-heavy and whether that balance can shift in the next year or so. With the past being littered with misogyny, casual sexism and low expectations of women in Dance, things are getting better in that respect – yet women still face discrimination and have obstacles to overcome. It is amazing that platforms like TikTok do allow this forum for Dance’s queens to highlight their music and find an audience:

“Last year, Kenya Grace began documenting her music production on TikTok. Her pairing of pop songwriting with dance instrumentals, performed from her bedroom with a simple mic and Midi-controller setup, soon attracted thousands of followers, and the comment sections were inundated with requests for covers, collaborations and official releases.

But some – generally male – viewers were unconvinced, littering her posts with variously sexist, patronising and mansplaining comments. “I’ve had people ask if someone else made the tracks for me,” she says, sighing. “I’m like: you can see me doing it.” It’s just one in a collection of microaggressions Grace can recall from her relatively new career, from paternalistic peers in early studio sessions to passive aggressive comments at live shows. “There’s a lot of stigma that women can’t produce.”

As well as being named in the BBC’s success-predicting Sound of 2024 poll, the ultimate accolade came in October when the self-taught producer, singer and songwriter spent three weeks at No 1 with her incredibly catchy drum’n’bass song Strangers, which spent a subsequent month in the Top 10. This career-changing moment still feels like a dream, she says. “There’s no way this would have happened 20 years ago.”

IN THIS PHOTO: Kenya Grace/PHOTO CREDIT: Bella Howard for MusicTech

Electronic music has a long history of sidelining women. Credits on dance tracks have been dominated by male producers, while women have too often been confined to providing faceless and nameless vocals. A 2022 report by the Jaguar Foundation found that less than 1% of the dance music played on UK radio was made by a female solo artist or all-female band; Grace is only the second woman to top the UK chart with a track she wrote, produced and performed herself – and the only one making dance music – after Kate Bush’s resurgent Running Up That Hill reached the top in 2022.

But a new vanguard of female producers is beginning to redefine what dance music looks and sounds like. With their snappy, pop-informed takes on drum’n’bass, garage and EDM, Grace, PinkPantheress and Becky Hill are all chart mainstays; Ireland’s Jazzy reached No 3 and spent 31 weeks in the chart with Giving Me, a euphoric but steely house track she co-wrote; Scotland’s Hannah Laing is getting tens of millions of streams for her self-produced, old-school-leaning rave tracks. Pursuing dance music – and crucially, on their own terms – is now a viable career path.

Piri has also faced sexist questions on her understanding of dance music and comments on what she wears, but overall she says her experience in the industry has been positive. “I feel I’m kinda lucky to be in a duo with [Tommy] because having a man there has probably sheltered me from a lot of treatment that women doing it on their own get. It’s lucky for me, but it shouldn’t have to be that way.”

As representation grows on stage and on the airwaves, Piri is also pushing for more diversity behind the scenes, hiring a crew made up exclusively of women, non-binary and LGBTQ+ people, and urging other artists to do the same. “It’s a boys club. The reason more men get these jobs is because a man has the opportunity to hire people and then will just automatically pick their friends. So we’ve gotta push outwards. You are the artist, you [have] the power to choose who’s on your team – make the most of that.”

Aside from visibility, the changing demographics in dance music are down to the wider availability of resources democratising production, from YouTube and TikTok tutorials to cheaper software, and grants such as the PRS Foundation Women Make Music fund. Collectives such as Loud LDN use group chats and events to build support networks for early-career women and gender-nonconforming artists. Among its members are Piri, Venbee and fellow pop-dance rising stars Issey Cross and Charlotte Plank. “It can be intimidating having to go and ask men for help,” says Piri. “It’s nice to know that you as a community of marginalised people can just figure it out together and accomplish your goals.”

Manchester-based producer Anz says the recent shift in mainstream music culture has its roots in the underground. When she started releasing music online in 2015, she kept her identity hidden for fear of not being taken seriously; she had to rely on male friends to vouch for her to play at house parties. But over the past decade, many local underground scenes have developed their own ecosystems to support women and marginalised genders through mentorship and training, such as Bristol’s Saffron Music, or All Hands on Deck in Manchester. “I’d be hard pressed to find a fellow female producer who hasn’t led a workshop or taught in some way,” Anz says. “You hold your hand out to whoever’s coming next. There’s no pulling the ladder up behind you.”

Within these grassroots settings, many producers and vocalists – such as Anz, Sherelle and another UK chart-topper, Eliza Rose – have been encouraged to flourish regardless of their gender. Anz says it is now a case of the major labels finally “picking up on the fact that there has been this wave of female producers, women who are just doing everything and making things happen for themselves”, albeit on a time lag. “It’s really, really delayed compared with how long the underground has been doing it. People have been working overtime to put right wrongs and those at the top are like: ‘Yeah, it’ll get here when it gets here”.

IN THIS PHOTO: PinkPantheress/PHOTO CREDIT: Lia Clay Miller for Billboard

Artists like Charlotte Plant, Venbee, Nia Archives, and piri are striking out and showing that women are adding their voices to Dance. Standing out and really shaking up what was once a scene and genre dominated by male artists. Few women given spotlight or really taken seriously. Seen more as vocalists rather than the artist or producer. Things have not completely changed, yet it is wonderful that there is this shift happening. There are other genres I think are starting to balance but are still skewed in terms of gender. Rock, Alternative and Hip-Hop are still areas of music where men get more opportunities and focus. One cannot ignore the women coming through in these genres that are delivering incredible music. I feel there is still a lot of sexism that exists, that sadly means there is a bias against women. I was reading this article about how feminism was nurtured in Rock music in the 1990s. I look around Rock, Alternative and genres like Rap and, whilst women are clearly vital and pushing against decades-long sexism, maybe the industry needs to do more to ensure that we do not need to keep having these discussions. Attitudes that still pervade about women’s worth in these genres. That said, there are signs of change. The more we seer Pop and Dance being taken over by women and that tide changing, the more that will have a knock-on effect. The lists that are being published about new acts to watch are female-heavy. At least the ones I am seeing. It does mean this weight of female talent will come into the scene and help create balance and greater attention.

PHOTO CREDIT: Pixabay/Pexels

One day it would be nice to feel that every genre and area of the industry is equal and the sexism and misogyny we have had to see for so long is eradicated. Every article and bit of news that shows how women are taking control and kicking through barriers, the more heart and cheer it gives. It is a pity that the industry has taken so long to respond and not done a whole lot to effectively tackle gender inequality! This year is going to be a big one. The more we talk about work that needs doing and issues that still exist, the more pressure that puts on the industry. Highlighting incredible women coming through and making change. All steps towards creating a landscape that is fairer and more representative of the value that women provide. Dance music has modern legends like PinkPantheress and Kenya Grace. Maybe it is social media and various platforms that have helped create this shift. Circumvent radio stations and other channels that should be showcasing these artists. The power and influence of TikTok and other sites should not be underestimated. Though that is not the whole story. Not to slight the guys – as I love the music they put out! -, but I think female artists are genuinely more oriignal and striking at the moment. Music that is hitting harder and resonating with more people. The industry needs to realise that and ensure that it is rewarded in terms of festival spaces, record deals, financial support and platforming their work. Let’s hope that this then builds momentum and we see change and improvement…

YEAR on year.

FEATURE: Playgirl, Playboy: Inside Crystal Hefner’s Only Say Good Things and How It Made Me Reflect on Realities in the Music Industry

FEATURE:

 

 

Playgirl, Playboy

PHOTO CREDIT: Ebury Publishing

Inside Crystal Hefner’s Only Say Good Things and How It Made Me Reflect on Realities in the Music Industry

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THIS may not…

seem related to music, yet its themes and story is something that applies to the music industry and wider world. I am going to hear Crystal Hefner speak for The Trouble Club on 9th February at the Century Club, Soho. She will talk about her book, Only Say Good Things: Surviving Playboy and Finding Myself. The San Diego-born model and author writes openly and bravely about her experiences with Playboy and her marriage to the late Hugh Hefner. The misogyny and objectification that she was subjected to. Her words will resonate with women and everyone in fact. The way we still objectify women and impose these impossible beauty standards. Released on 25th January (that is the U.K. date; U.S. sites make it available from 23rd January), I am looking forward to reading the book and hearing Hefner speak. She is really inspiring. I am going to expand more and explain why her book can be applied to music and experiences women face through the industry. First, from her website, is some information about the brilliant Crystal Hefner:

“Crystal Hefner is a world-renowned entrepreneur and multimedia personality. From physical properties in real estate to a commanding presence online, she’s developed a highly respected portfolio of business experience.

Crystal has also curated a respectful presence of influence across her social media networks. She passionately engages her platform of over 10 million followers to bring awareness to key issues surrounding general lifestyle, health and wellness, animal rights, body image and objectification, beauty standards in the media, and more”.

IN THIS PHOTO: Crystal Hefner outside the Playboy Mansion/PHOTO CREDIT: Crystal Hefner

A must-read book this year, it is going to be a hugely powerful, eye-opening and emotional read. One where she will share her experiences and some dark moments with Hugh Fener and her association with Playboy. Maybe envisaging a different life or something that would lead to greater exposure (in a positive way), instead, Crystal Hefner faced a world of poison and objectification. Out of the other side and now moving on, her book not only exposes a relic of the old world and something that seems very archaic. I believe the Playboy Mansion is being renovated and may be restored. Let us hope one thing that is not restored is what happened between its walls. At a moment when there is misogyny and toxicity aimed at women, it seems like the degrading and demeaning nature of Playboy should be laid to rest! I am going to go on. First, you need to pre-order Crystal Hefner’s upcoming book:

“In this shockingly eye-opening memoir, Crystal Hefner reveals the toxicity and misogyny at the heart of Playboy and how she managed to rebuild her identity and sense of self after the devastating years with her late husband.

'I was 21 years old when I found myself on the front stoop of the Playboy Mansion, its ornate front door feeling like a route to success. I want to tell the real story of my time there - the good and the bad, the dark and the light. The story I wish I'd heard as a young woman trying to find my way in the world. Before I showed up at a party, allowed myself to stay, and made the decisions that would shape my life.'

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Crystal Harris Hefner (@crystalhefner)

In 2008 the Playboy mansion became Crystal Harris's sanctuary - a shimmering vestige of power and opportunity. Within months she had ascended its hierarchical system to become Hugh Hefner's top girlfriend. But her new home came at a cost. Forced to follow strict rules which governed everything from her appearance to behaviour, she began to lose her identity.

By the time she married Hef in 2012, the mansion had become her prison. Before he passed away in 2017, Hef made Crystal promise to only say good things about the decade she spent in his world. After years of silence, in this gripping and honest memoir Crystal finally exposes the toxic culture at Playboy's core and the devastating effect it had on her health.

In a world where so many still strive to achieve impossible beauty standards formed by the male gaze at the expense of their happiness, her extraordinary story of misogyny and objectification and ultimate journey to self-discovery reveals eye-opening lessons that are relevant to us all”.

PHOTO CREDIT: Brandon Sloter

It seems like Crystal Hefner experienced a lot of coercion and abuse. Being seen as an object. Now, empowered and free to tell her story, I wonder what the next step is. She could have a further career as a novelist or actress. She hasher Beneath the Surface podcast. Someone who could give talks and tell her story in a bigger way. Maybe creating a documentary or speaking with other women who were associated with Playboy or involved with Hugh Hefner. An incredible woman. Whilst she does not want to paint Hefner as a hero or villain, it is clear that his autonomy and dictatorship over women is rather disturbing and seedy. Someone who clearly did not respect women. In this interview, Crystal Hefner talked about her book, in addition to her life with Hefner and with Playboy:

“Hef's not like a hero or a villain you know, he's a very complex person," Crystal, who was married to Hefner for nearly five years when he died in 2017, told The Messenger while discussing her new podcast Beneath the Surface, which focuses on discussing a spectrum of topics with her circle of friends, ranging from relationships and mental health to gender rights.

She referenced her forthcoming book, Only Say Good Things: Surviving Playboy and Finding Myself, where she discusses the "dark side" of life in the mansion, and continued, "I feel in the book, it really comes across how complicated it was, you know, like showing all the love and then feeling controlled, and it's just confusing."

IN THIS PHOTO: Hugh Hefner and Crystal Hefner attend the 2013 Playmate of the Year announcement at The Playboy Mansion on 9th May, 2013 in Beverly Hills, California/PHOTO CREDIT: Paul Archuleta/FilmMagic

She continued that it might be hard for most people to understand what that life was like, though she has met people who feel connected to her experience. "I know the situation is very different than other situations," Crystal continued. "But, you know, I've spoken to different women that I know and they can relate to being controlled or being in hard relationships. I hope by talking about it, I can help more people."

Crystal, who remains board president of the Hugh M. Hefner Foundation, mentioned that Hugh had her on a curfew and she had to be home by 6 p.m.

"It was kind of disguised as movie nights at 6 or we have to go downstairs and eat and then go to the movie right at 6 so you have to be home by then," she shared with The Messenger. "Monday nights, he was with the men. It was called manly nights. I had a little break until 8:30 or 9. Those were later days. He had cards on Wednesday. Those were sort of like my weekends. Other than that, you had to be on 24/7. It was so interesting."

Crystal also said she was expected to participate in orgies.

She noted that she went into these scenarios "not really knowing who I was. And I feel that when you don't know who you are, it can get dictated to you."

"I just conformed," she said. "I was like the perfect person for Hef because I just went along with whatever he said. And I think that's part of not knowing who you are, yourself. Once you kind of find your own voice, you don't really tolerate a lot of that stuff”.

It is a complex situation. I am looking forward to hearing the Audible version of the book, as she must have a range of emotions about her time married to Hugh Hefner. Not someone who wants to shame him wholly and give a one-dimensional portrait; I think we will see debunked a myth that the Playboy Mansion is a glamorous place. Somewhere that was quite harmless if rather lurid. Behind closed doors, it does appear that the women who spent time there were sort of convinced into thinking it was good. Not brain-washed as such, they were led astray and stripped of a sense of dignity for a chance and glimpse of fame and excess. As a fog has cleared and Crystal Hefner, as a survivor, can discuss the truth about life with Hugh Hefner, it raises questions about the modern world and attitudes that still exist about women. How there are men who are telling young men that women should be controlled and abuse. Less severe in music, I do think that it is not completely embracing of women and their freedom. Still misogynistic and sexist. This feature from September takes us inside Crystal Hefner’s world and her forthcoming book:

"Hef, as she calls him, gave her a sense of belonging after coming from a broken family. “You depend on the kindness of others and you make yourself small to try to fit in. You have no power. Then I met Hef. He lived how the other half lives. You feel, ‘Wow, I could belong here too.’ At first, the Playboy Mansion felt like a sanctuary. It wasn’t. But then you either abide by it or you leave, and I didn’t feel like I had anywhere else to go or that I could make anything of myself.” That’s why she moved there with the twins Karissa and Kristina Shannon, 18, also chosen by Hefner to be a part of his tribe, a choice that was “devastating for us girls, but a game to him,” according to the mogul’s widow, who notes that it was easy to find replacements for the young women and that, being always on guard, it was difficult to cultivate friendships. “I’m learning what female friendship even means — learning what it’s like to have female friends that truly want the best for you that you could actually trust. It was a hard cutthroat environment for so long.”

IN THIS PHOTO: Guests arriving at the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles in December 2003, where Hugh Hefner was celebrating 50 years of his magazine/PHOTO CREDIT: Ann Johansson/Getty Images

It is common to see Hefner in the final photos of his life with the three young blondes, his wife and the even younger Shannon twins. In a documentary released a year ago, Karissa accused the tycoon of rape and confessed to having an abortion after becoming pregnant at the age of 19. Crystal has explained that, in a search of the house, she found photographs of many naked women, and that she decided to destroy them. It’s what she would have wanted them to do with her own images, she maintains. She also admitted to “arrested development” between the ages of 21 and 31 due to living inside that bubble. She was rewarded for being dependent and for many strange and competitive things. Now she says she is learning what it’s like to be a normal person and to go out on dates. But she realizes the reasons that led her to live that way at that stage of her life. And when the end was approaching, she felt the need to take care of Hefner, although now she sees that theirs was not a healthy relationship.

After Hefner’s death, his widow came to speak of him as “an American hero.” “He changed my life, he saved my life. He made me feel loved every day,” she said after burying him in a grave next to Marilyn Monroe, a niche that the businessman had bought 40 years ago. Today, she does not feel quite the same way. “All I can say is that if you come from a happy, perfect, loving childhood, you don’t usually end up with someone who was already 60 years old by the time you are born,” she said in her interviews. “‘The other day I found a picture of me with him at the very beginning. It’s just so sad. It [she means the image of herself] looks like a baby. I look back and I feel sorry for that girl. There was going to be this Wizard of Oz moment where the fantasy fades, you draw back the curtain and see the reality of it. But he who has the money makes the rules, right?’”

“Looking back, I think I had a kind of Stockholm syndrome,” she says. “There was part of me that always thought if this was real love, there wouldn’t be other women in the bedroom. I reconciled myself to it by trying to believe that Hef loved me as best he knew how.” She explains now that she is living an independent life thanks to the money the magnate left her, but also thanks to an intense activity on social media (she has more than three million followers on Instagram, which gets her paid collaborations) and her work as an ambassador for a digital club and as president of Hefner’s foundation, which defends freedom of expression and whose legacy she manages. But she admits that it is difficult for her to maintain romantic relationships, and that she is always receiving offers to meet older men.

Crystal kept the promise about only saying good things for five years. “After going through a lot of therapy and healing, I realized that I needed to be honest about my time there. The book is about healing from a toxic environment,” she told the NY Post. In her interviews she describes her husband as “a narcissist and a misogynist… he was a very complicated human. But he also did a lot of good. He helped a lot of people and helped stand up for things. At the same time, he also hurt people in ways that he didn’t realize,” she says. Harris, who now lives in Hawaii, has already visited 37 countries, has a podcast about to be released, has gone on dates with different men, has frozen her eggs to be a mother at a future date, and still loves British Cadbury chocolate more than anything in the world”.

As Hugh Hefner died before the #MeToo movement took hold, I wonder whether he would have changed and had an epiphany. Would he have been a dinosaur unwilling to evolve and realise what he was doing and what he is noted for has no place in the world?! I get the feeling that he would have kept his Playboy Mansion and not really done anything. You never know! This thing fuelled by the media that it was quite idyllic and sexy. In fact, there was this corruption and indignity that so many women had to experience. Crystal Hefner’s book, Only Say Good Things: Surviving Playboy and Finding Myself, will lead to conversations. I hope that it gets dramatised and has a wider lifespan. It not only reframes Playboy and Hugh Hefner. It arrives in the world when there is still so much misogyny. #MeToo made a different, though there is still a staggering lack of gender imbalance and sexism. Women across the world still seen as inferior. I think about Crystal Hefner’s recollections and what she had to face. Whilst not ass explicit in the music industry, it is clear that there still exists huge issues. The male gaze exists in music. Women still sexualised and objectified. Whilst not as bad as dark days past, I do feel that the industry has a long way to go. Many women have spoken about experiences of abuse at the hands of men in the industry. Many female artists still sold in terms of their appearance and sexuality rather than talent. A sexism inherent across the industry that has been slow to shake. Lessons Crystal Hefner has written will directly apply to music.

PHOTO CREDIT: Crystal Hefner

All of this makes me quite angry! We have women like Crystal Hefner writing affectingly. Her book will open up a lot of debate points. With so much being controlled by men, is there impetuous and possibility things can change for the better?! It is mostly women speaking about misogyny and abuse. With fewer male allies than there should be, how far can #MeToo go to creating this safe and respectful landscape?! There is no doubt things have moved forward, yet there are far too many occasions of women having to speak about their experiences of misogyny and exploitation. It definitely applies to music. I had this in mind. As I say, I am looking forward to hearing Crystal Hefner speak soon. I may not get to meet her, so I wanted to write here why her book is one I shall read with interest. How amazing she is and what Only Say Good Things: Surviving Playboy and Finding Myself will do for other women. It is going to be such a potent and moving read! A lot of this year will be taken up promoting the book. I am interested considering what Hefner will do going forward. She is a person who is a voice of inspiration and strength for young women. She can make a real change in the world. I have thought about music and some of the things women go through. How they have to fight harder for respect and to be taken seriously. This lure and male gaze that is still evident. When will we see a world where this is no longer the case?! Books like Only Say Good Things: Surviving Playboy and Finding Myself means we will get to that day…

SOONER or later.

FEATURE: The KT Bush Bond: Remembering the Great Del Palmer

FEATURE:

 

 

The KT Bush Bond

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush and Del Palmer/PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images

Remembering the Great Del Palmer

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WE woke up today (7th January)…

to the news that Del Palmer has died. Announced yesterday, Kate Bush News brought us a heartbreaking announcement that Palmer passed away on Friday (5th January). It is still very numb thinking that he is not here anymore. Without any realisation that he was ill, it is especially winding and shocking that we have to process such gutting news:

“We are heartbroken to tell you that Del Palmer passed away at home, yesterday, Friday January 5th, surrounded by his family. Del had dealt with health issues over the last few years and the announcement came today on social media from his niece, Debbii Louise Palmer on behalf of Del’s family. We don’t need to tell anyone out there the monumental role Del has always played in Kate’s work and music – it’s impossible to quantify. As this news sinks in, we will have more to share with you all about our friend Del, and we will be talking much more about his incredible life and career in the coming days as we remember this remarkable musician and wonderful, irreplaceable man.

We extend our deepest sympathies to Del’s family and loved ones, to Kate, to his many friends, and all the people who knew and worked with Del throughout his brilliant career in music. He’ll be so very missed. Rest in peace, Del. You are so loved – Seán, Peter, Krys and Dave x”.

One of the most upsetting aspects about the loss of Del Palmer is how it will affect Kate Bush. They were in a relationship for many years and Palmer was someone very dear to her. Even when they broke up and Bush was in a relationship with her now-partner Danny McIntosh, Palmer would often accompany Bush to events and was a loyal friend and rock. Someone she felt incredible around, she trusted nobody else to engineer her albums. Bush’s most recent album, 50 Words for Snow, featured Palmer playing. He engineered it (listed as ‘Recorded By’ in the album notes I think).

Having lost him in his early-seventies, it seems a sadly premature end to a life that was extraordinary. On 23rd December, Kate Bush wrote a brilliant Christmas message. It seemed like this year might be one for optimism and new music from her. Given the fact that Bush will not work with another engineer and Del Palmer is the only person she wants recording her music, it does seem like Palmer’s passing now signals the end of Bush’s recording career. Unless an album was already recorded, I don’t think she will follow it up. Also, in 2024, there are three big anniversaries where Del Palmer was very much a part of. The Tour of Life is forty-five. He was a big part of that. A member of her band, I think about him as being essential to Bush’s album recording and live performances from that period (and long after). Even though he was not as involved with 2014’s Before the Dawn, the fact that it is ten makes me think of him. He just comes to mind when I think of it. The Sensual World, her sixth studio album, is thirty-five this year. Palmer played on that album. We have to mark these major things without him being in the world. I will concentrate more on him very soon. My mind casts back to the K.T. Bush Band. The K.T. Bush Band was formed in 1977 with Kate. Bush on vocals and piano, guitarist Brian Bath, drummer Vic King and bassist Del Palmer.

My mind races around time periods. Even before 1977, Del Palmer and Kate Bush were friends. Someone who was with her and in her inner cire before that, he got a first-hand view of the young Kate Bush’s talent taking shape. Working alongside Bush in the K.T. Bush Band, those small gigs around London where she was playing songs that would get worldwide attention soon after must have been fascinating. I don’t think we talk much about Del Palmer in terms of Kate Bush’s work. Not only was Palmer a member of her band and engineer. His friendship and importance in her life inspired Bush’s writing. This creative bond that entwined with the romantic. The strength he gave her. A bedrock and someone who kept her grounded but also pushed her, it will be so draining reading what Kate Bush writes about this loss. No doubt this is the biggest tragedy Kate Bush fans have ever faced. Apart from Bush’s brothers John (Jay) and Paddy, Del Palmer is the most important member and name in her career (discounting her son and partner). They knew each other for decades. That trust and relationship they formed was incredible. The loss of Del Palmer means we are almost at the end of an era. We are processing the news and what all this means. Whether we will see any new work ever from Kate Bush. Rather than making it about her, I wanted to highlight how close the two still are. Del Palmer is the longest-serving member of her team and band.

Someone she had utter faith in. I don’t think we will see Bush want to work in the studio or with anyone again – or at least not for a long while. I want to end capturing some words from Del Palmer. Whereas Kate Bush was the main media attraction, we did get interviews where Palmer spoke. About working with Bush and his role. There are two interviews I want to come to. The first, from Sound of Sound, is from December 1993. It was conducted during the sessions for The Red Shoes. Published shortly after the album was released (November 1993), there are some fascinating insights:

“Del takes up the story: "During early 1990, Kate said `I want to do something, I want to go in the studio and work.' During the early stages I can set up a sound for her, set up some keyboards, show what to do on the console, and leave her to it. She'll work for days until she's got something, then we'll get the musicians in and carry on from there."

As both prducer and artist, Kate Bush is extremely focused and knows exactly what she wants. So when Del comes up with a particular sound, she wastes no time in telling him whether or not it's what she's looking for.

"There have been lots of times when I've had quite heated arguments with her--I'd say something wouldn't work, to which her response has been, `Indulge me...Just do it.' For example, on the Hounds of Love album there's a part that goes `Help me, baby, help me, baby,' which cuts in and out very quickly, which she wanted to do by turning the tape over and cutting in and out with the records switch. I said it would just be a mess, but she said, `Look, just do it, will you?' So I did it and of course it worked, and I had to eat humble pie. I've eaten so much humble pie over the years that I'm putting on weight!"

Kate is apparently not averse to placing her own fingers on the faders, especially in relation to the vocals as well as much of the instrumentation. "I was able to just set her up with a sound, and she'd take care of it herself," explains Palmer. "She'd record all the vocals, then phone me up and say, `Let's put it all together'."

These days, Kate Bush tends to write about 90% of her material as part of the overall recording process in the studio, largely because of the difficulty of trying to recreate the spontaneity and the feel of the demos.

"We just couldn't do it," says Palmer, "so we decided to use the demos as the basis for the albums. We started off by taking the demos, transferring them, then working on top--then it struck us that we should just do away with that whole process, develop the home studio and record absolutely everything right onto the multitracks and keep everything that was done. Now, a lot of the stuff that we start with doesn't make it right through to the end, but at least the flavour of it does.

"There's no fixed method to how Kate works, but generally speaking she will say, `Can you get me a drum pattern that sounds like this?' She'll sing me something and I'll program the Fairlight with a simple eight-bar loop, never any more than that, and then she'll program a sound in the Fairlight and get a tune going. Then she'll say, `I've got something, can I put a vocal down?' Something that may only amount to `la-la-la-ing`, but almost every time there'll be a specific little bit of lyric that will give her an idea, which in turn becomes the basis for the song. So we put it down, and that becomes the basic demo that we're going to work with; an eight-bar drum pattern, a keyboard and a very rough guide vocal. From that she can tell whether it's worth pursuing an idea or not. Some get discarded at this point, while others progress a little bit further before it becomes obvious that they too are not going to work."

Until the Red Shoes project, it was traditional to bring in the musicians one at a time to record their parts. Firstly--and, from Kate Bush's point of view, most importantly--the drummer, followed by the bass player (often Del Palmer himself); this would then allow her to review how each song was progressing and to make any necessary alterations prior to the guitarists and other musicians entering the fray. This time around, however, it was decided from the outset to record quickly and to aim for more of a band feel, so most of the tracks were recorded with a least bass, drums and, in several cases, keyboards being played together.

Palmer, wishing to concentrate on his role as engineer, didn't play the bass guitar; the same bass player and drummer worked over the course of ten separate days to fuel the group atmosphere, though guide guitars weren't deemed necessary. However, `Rubberband Girl' does feature a keyboard pattern performed by Kate with an acoustic guitar sample.

"On the track `Big Stripey Lie', Kate played electric guitar as well," points out Palmer. "She said to the guitarist we were using, `I'm really into the guitar. I'd really like to be able to play it,' and he said, `Oh, here, play this one (a Fender Stratocaster) for a bit.' So, he showed her a few chords, and--this is no kidding--a week later she was in front of this Marshall stack in the studio giving it her all! I've never seen anything like it. She's a natural--she was playing lead guitar and no one would know it wasn't an experienced guitarist."

THAT VOCAL SOUND

The trademark Kate Bush sound that has been developed over the course of the last four albums owes a lot not only to the pulsating, highly atmospheric, slightly discordant noises that seem to emanate from every direction, but also her own unique vocal style, with its breathy delivery and haunting presence.

"I can't take any credit for Kate's vocal sound," admits Palmer, "because it was originally shown to me by an engineer called Paul Arden who taught me so much. He would explain anything that I asked him about. One day he couldn't make a session, so he said, `Why don't you do it?' So I did, and he showed me how to get the sound which they had started using on The Dreaming. Kate loved it, and ever since then we've been using it.

"Basically, it's all down to an overdose of compression, and the fact that she really knows how to work with it. We set her up with a [Neumann] U47 in the live part of the studio--brick floor and stone walls--so it's very, very live--and then there's loads and loads of compression on the mic. The SSL desk's compression is very violent and works very well for this. So, what's happening is that every time she breathes in, you can hear it, so she has to be very specific in the way that she deals with this. She's backing off from the microphone all the time, really working it. We use a small amount of gating so you'll get the sound of the room and then it cuts off--a bit like the Phil Collins drum sound.

"If Kate's singing really loud she backs off from the mike and then she comes right in close for the quiet stuff, but when she breathes in, she does this to the side. I have to say that from a purely technical standpoint, it's really badly done, there's just so much compression on everything. But I'm not interested in being technical, I just want it to sound good, and if it does, then what's the point of changing it?

"When it comes to the mix you don't have to push the vocal up as high as you might imagine, because with that sound you're getting so much high frequency. It's real borderline stuff. Sometimes you can go too far, and it'll break up or distort, or it'll really blow your ears off, but if you get it just right, you're getting so much high frequency that you can just push the voice right down and it will still cut through everything."

On average, Kate performs four or five vocal passes for each part, and while compiling does take place, there is normally a clear contender for the master take. This is invariably deduced by way of Kate's own vocal chart, on which she makes notes while listening to the various takes. "Usually, Kate will record a complete section of her vocal and it'll work, then I'll just have to patch up a few bits."

When dealing with problems, Palmer tends to steer clear of the old cliche, `we'll sort it out in the mix.' For one thing, as Palmer is quick to point out, you have to be very sure that you *can* sort it out in the mix, so and Kate try to get things right as they put them down on tape. When it came to mixing the album, it was simply a matter of pacing, creating space and giving everything its moment. There were, however, a few exceptions.

GUESTS OF DISTINCTION

With the exception of her piano (recorded with two 87s inside the lid and Massenburg Parametric EQ), Fender Rhodes and Yamaha DX7, all of Kate's keyboard sounds were produced using a Fairlight. The other musicians were provided with only limited room for experimentation, as she was characteristically specific in her directives, while also keeping an open mind and ear to any new ideas or sounds that might come her way. For this reason, Palmer has become accustomed to recording absolutely everything that goes on during the sessions.

"Even when the musicians are just setting up I record everything," he confirms. "Because she'll say, `Oh, do you remember that thing you did when you were warming up?', and of course if you haven't got it on tape you've lost it. So, whenever there's anybody in, I always have the half-inch running, then I can spin anything back in later."

All in all, a pretty wise approach; whereas some of the musicians within the `band unit' returned time and again, others simply contributed guest appearances and it would have been altogether more difficult--not to mention embarrassing--to have these people return to redo what they had already done.

Violinist Nigel Kennedy, featured on `Big Stripey Lie' and `Top of the City', was recorded in the deader of the two main live areas, standing on carpet. "The thing with Nigel is that he never stands still," says Palmer. "So, after talking to him, it seemed that the best way to work was to use a pair of 87s. They're so versatile, I use them for everything. One was about eight feet from the ground, pointing down over his (left) shoulder toward the violin, and the other was diagonally to his right and about three feet from the ground, pointing up toward his chest. Out of the two I think I used the overhead one the most, but it was just a juxtapositional thing to see how different the room would sound. Because the room's so small you could put a microphone anywhere and it would pick him up. I used the Massenburg EQ--you have to watch the mid-high frequencies--our rooms are so live and so specific that you can get a tone that'll go right through your ears."

Jeff Beck played his signature Stratocaster for `You're The One' in the control room with a tiny amp positioned underneath the front of the console and miked with a U87 positioned three inches away to the side and pointing in. "I was sitting at the console, Kate was to my right and Jeff was seated about four feet behind," explains Palmer, "so she could talk to him and was able to both operate the deck and stand up to adjust the rack."

In 2018, Del Palmer spoke with Irish Examiner. It was highlighted how Palmer has constantly worked on Bush’s music. Ahead of the interview, Palmer was making a return to Ireland to reprise his bass parts on some of Bush’s classic records as part of the acclaimed Kate Bush Songbook show. He was in Ireland with Bush before when recording for albums like Hounds of Love. Fond memories from his time there and the musicians he worked alongside. Palmer was playing with Mandy Watson and keyboardist and band-leader Michael Mayell:

“It’s a big deal for him to go back on the road as the last time he will have played many of these tracks was on Bush’s first, and only, world tour in 1979, after which she retired from live performance, until her comeback residency at Hammersmith Apollo in 2014.

My philosophy was, ‘I’ve been there — I’ve done the real thing.’ But Michael sold me on the idea — in the end I asked him if I could be involved.

His memories of the 1979 shows are glitteringly bright. The Tour Of Life was truly ground-breaking, incorporating “mime, magic and reading”.

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush, performing live onstage during The Tour of Life/PHOTO CREDIT: Jorgen Angel/Redferns

It also featured pioneering use by Bush of a wireless headset, so that she could sing and dance simultaneously (she had studied dance with David Bowie’s old mime tutor Lindsay Kemp).

These were innovations that would be copied by everyone from Madonna to Lady Gaga. It ran for just over a month — but changed live music forever.

“Nothing like that had been done before,” Palmer recalls.

“There were projections and costume changes and we played for three hours. It was very revolutionary. I remember the first night the audience going absolutely bananas.”

By that point, he’d been in Bush’s orbit for a little over two years. He was introduced via mutual friends in south London (he had known Bush’s older brother Paddy). The first time he saw her perform, Palmer understood his life had changed. He’d never encountered anyone like her.

“I knew I had to be involved. She was going to be huge — that was obvious to me when she was 17 and still a very raw artist. We had a residency in the Rose of Lee pub in East London.

"The first night there were about 10 people. By the time we finished the residency, there were people out the street who couldn’t get in the door, it was so jammed.

"Even then, she was using dry ice getting and down into the audience. She was remarkable, A little Energiser Bunny.”

By the time of Hounds of Love, Bush had come to a critical juncture. Her previous album, The Dreaming, had not been well reviewed (it was regarded as too experimental).

So a lot was riding on the new LP. Adding to that, both she and Palmer were determined to connect with their Celtic heritage.

“We were recording in Windmill Lane. Dónal Lunny was involved, John Sheahan [The Dubliners], Paddy Glackin [The Bothy Band]. Kate wanted to get back to her roots. On one occasion they had done a piece for Hounds Of Love called ‘The Jig of Life’.

They were all around her and played the piece and she was reduced to jelly. It just blew her away, she got so emotional. Irish music is for her and her family a very intense relationship.

There was also a trip to Waterford to meet Bush’s family.

“We went to look them up and they seemed to come out of the woodwork there were so many. ‘This is cousin Mick, this is cousin Johnny…’ There were thousands of them. They were so friendly”.

I will write more about Del Palmer in the coming days and weeks. I hope the interview and videos here give you some insight into his importance and how big a part he played in Kate Bush’s career. With 2011’s 50 Words for Snow maybe being a full-stop now in terms of their work together, we need to cherish his work. Spend time writing about and remembering this lovely man. It is a very sad time when we have to face the fact Del Palmer is not in the world. In years to come, I hope documentaries are made about Kate Bush where we see and hear Del Palmer on the screen. People talking about what an incredible force he was. Nobody will ever replace him or mean as much. He was more than a friend to Kate Bush. Even for those of us who never met him, it feels like we knew him and were friends. Lots of love to Del Palmer’s family and friends. I was keen to write something in reaction to the sad news. More tributes will be paid in the coming days to…

A truly remarkable human being.

FEATURE: The Digital Mixtape: A Billie Marten Playlist

FEATURE:

 

 

The Digital Mixtape

A Billie Marten Playlist

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THERE are a few reasons…

PHOTO CREDIT: Katie Silvester

why I am dedicating an entire playlist to Billie Marten. Her 2016 debut album, Writing of Blues and Yellows, is back in my mind. One of my favourite albums from the past decade, it is a gorgeous work that is in my head and swims in the heart! Billie Marten turns twenty-five in May. Someone still so young, her fourth studio album, Drop Cherries, was released last year. I think she is one of our greatest songwriters and voices. I am thinking back to 2015. In January of that year, Marten signed to Chess Club Records, a division of Sony Music and their RCA Records recording label. It was a big moment and signal that she was a very special talent. Nine years ago, this teenage artist was had recorded the 2014 Ribbon. Later in 2015, As Long As was released. Her second E.P. came out the year before that magnificent debut. I wanted to celebrate Marten signing to Chess Club Records. Also, with four albums under her belt, she has also toured the world and no doubt will be a festival fixture this summer. A remarkable artist who has this spellbinding voice that transports you somewhere incredible. I hope we get a lot more albums from the one and only Billie Marten. There is no doubt that she is…

ONE of our very best.

FEATURE: Not the Holiday We Were Expecting… Forty Years Since Madonna’s First Appearance on British T.V.

FEATURE:

 

 

Not the Holiday We Were Expecting…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Madonna made her debut British T.V. appearance for The Tube performing at The Haçienda on 27th January, 1984/PHOTO CREDIT: Kevin Cummins

Forty Years Since Madonna’s First Appearance on British T.V.

_________

MAYBE seen as a forgettable moment…

IN THIS PHOTO: Madonna photographed in 1983/PHOTO CREDIT: Deborah Feingold

and one that Madonna has blanked out, on 27th January, 1984, she made her debut appearance on British T.V. It was a rare appearance out of New York. A chance to get her latest singles to the British public. She got a chance to perform the iconic Holiday on The Tube. Playing at Manchester’s The Haçienda, I think that it is more important than people give it credit for. Not a rousing success or one where the audience were captivated, it did give us this exposure to the greatest Pop artists ever. Madonna would soon go on to conquer the U.K. and the world. Her debut T.V. appearance was definitely curious. At a time when we were not used to artists like Madonna, and The Haçienda was probably used to more Dance and Acid, this was quite a moment. I do think that it was quite as bad as people think. Indeed, Madonna’s performance was great. Full of energy and verve, it was no doubt seen as something that the club-goers would approve of. I want to start by bringing in an article from Electronic Sound about that iconic and much-discussed night forty years ago:

“It would be easy to look back at Madonna’s first live appearance on UK shores and paint it as a pointy-boobed meteorite crashing to earth, rattling dainty teashop china for miles around. Or a dancing sex nun gatecrashing a knitting circle, vicars fainting, monocles falling from startled eyes. However, it was more mundane than that.

The venue for this pivotal moment in music history was the hotbed of moody Mancunian mardiness, The Haçienda. The soon-to-be Queen Of Pop landed on our green and concreted land not with a bang, but with bemusement.

The moment, on 27 January 1984, was shared live on Channel 4’s essential Friday teatime music show, ‘The Tube’.

The previous night, with her slow-rising debut single ‘Holiday’ barely tickling the Top 30, ‘Top Of The Pops’ beamed in an outside broadcast. The producers had clearly ordered attendees to dance, party hats snapped clumsily onto bobbing heads. There was no such crowd fakery the following night when ‘The Tube’, fronted by Jools Holland and Paula Yates, turned up with their cameras and Madonna took to the Haçienda stage.

Headlining that night was Sweet Sensation frontman Marcel King alongside the Factory All Stars, a supergroup which included members of Durutti Column and A Certain Ratio. When Madonna’s turn arrived, the audience mostly stood there, cross-armed as if waiting to collect their Argos order.

Don’t take my word for it. Let’s make this a multimedia extravaganza: search for ‘Madonna Haçienda’ on YouTube. There she is, curly-haired Madge, miming to a backing track while caught in awkward goth aerobics with her brother Christopher and socialite dancer Erika Belle. Look closely and you will see the bread roll and napkin gifted to them by grateful watchers.

Speak to the celebrities who witnessed her appearance and the stories come thick and fast.

Resident Haçienda DJs Mike Pickering and Greg Wilson talk of Madonna’s moodiness in the dressing room, while Fatboy Slim recalls her being quite polite. A Certain Ratio’s Martin Moscrop says he chided her for trying to move his gear. The most famous tale though is of New Order manager Rob Gretton sticking his head round a dressing room door and offering Madonna the chance to play again later that night for £50. “She looked at him,” recalls Peter Hook in his 2009 book ‘How Not To Run A Club’. “‘Fuck off’, she drawled in her whiny Noo Yawk accent before turning away. That was it for the night.”

Speak to regular audience members and the apocryphal stories fade away. Former Portishead videographer Hazel Grian got into the club thanks to a friend’s doctored press pass. “It was like a big fridge inside, clinical and industrial with high ceilings,” she says. “I used to get Smash Hits and felt like the only New Romantic in Bury. I hadn’t really heard of Madonna, but I have a vague memory of people being a bit sniffy about her, but ‘The Tube’ was a cool programme and we were excited. I had to leave early because my dad was picking me up.”

“We didn’t know Madonna and we didn’t know ‘The Tube’ was there,” says Southport furniture salesman Steve Molloy, who’s easily spotted on the YouTube clip. “All of a sudden someone started dancing on stage. There was no pomp and ceremony. It was too poppy for traditional Haçienda music and that’s maybe why no one was dancing.”

Madonna’s brother Christopher Ciccone, unimpressed with the reaction, says they took the money and ran. Although Hooky, who had been collared for speeding on the way to the gig, says Madonna later got stuck in the porch of Mike Pickering’s place in Chorlton.

“They [Madonna and boyfriend/manager Mark Kamins] turned up, both completely drunk,” he recalls. “They successfully unlocked the [porch] door, stepped into the gap, and then the doors slammed behind them with the key still in the lock. At which point they were stuck. Mike woke up the next morning to hear that his missus had opened the door, causing Mark and Madonna to tumble into the house.”

Years later, the late Factory supremo Tony Wilson reminded Madonna that it was his club that broke her UK performing virginity. Indeed, it was her first appearance outside New York. Even Madonna was underwhelmed with such a mundane moment that, thanks to the Mancunian rumour mill, became the stuff of legend”.

Whether people see it as a weird combination or whether it was any good, there do seem to be contrasting views on how it went and what the audience reaction was. Even if it was not an ideal setting for Madonna’s first U.K. appearance - a somewhat scary step outside of Madonna’s comfort zone -, I think that it should be marked. It was a pivotal moment and one where the U.K. got to know the name of a Pop icon in-the-making. This feature also takes us inside the Manchester club. I find it hard to believe that people who were there in 1984 could forget Madonna. She herself might not rank it highly, yet it was something that The Haçienda had never seen:

“I suppose it depends on what you were there for. Most of the audience will not have been expecting an American lady to get up there and mime to two songs whilst dancing and bopping away with a couple of scantily-clad muscle heads. I highly doubt any of them in attendance thought that they were witnessing a future superstar – and I don’t think they were really that bothered.

Madonna didn’t seem too bothered either because she got her coat on and pissed off almost immediately – I’m surprised she wasn’t halfway out of the door before the track began to fade away.

I’m presuming she went straight back to the airport and to New York, but I’d like to think of her heading off to the Spar on Oxford Road for a couple of tins of Stella and a mucky kebab from Monsoons next door.

The show finished with a rather stilted interview with Morrissey and that was it – Madonna’s first ever performance on British TV and her first ever gig outside of New York”.

On 27th January, 1984, this little-known artist Madonna was making a quick stop in the U.K. Rather than it being a minor footnote, I think that it is historic and vital for many reasons. Perhaps not everyone was engaged and knew what they were seeing, though this was important and relevant live experience for her. Not used to playing clubs in the U.K., she has since played in a few. She did get to promote Holiday and her debut album (1983’s Madonna), and it was a moment where Madonna’s name was better known. I would have been entranced and in awe being there. I know that many people have fond memories. Even so, in January 1984, Madonna was turning into this superstar. You could see her name being discussed alongside the best in music. Her love for the U.K. did find its feet soon enough. It was hard to market Madonna or know which venues would be best. As an artist mixing Dance and Disco, perhaps she was more suited to New York clubs rather than something distinctly British. I hope that people do mention The Haçienda and Madonna passing through its doors. On 27th January, 1984, forty years ago, this unique experience was being witnessed by a crowd in the North of England. Magical for many reasons, it would not be long until Madonna continued on and would conquer the music world. Before too long, her incredible career…

WOULD change forever.

FEATURE: With The Red Shoes Put Away in the Closet… Oddly Busy and Interesting: Kate Bush’s 1994

FEATURE:

 

 

With The Red Shoes Put Away in the Closet…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1993 in a promotional photo for The Red Shoes

Oddly Busy and Interesting: Kate Bush’s 1994

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EVEN though Kate Bush gave interviews in 1994…

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in London at the 1994 fan convention on 8th May 

in terms of releases and commercial attention, she only released a couple of singles. The Red Shoes then And So Is Love were the final releases from her 1993 album, The Red Shoes. With And So Is Love Out in November, 1994, there was still some promotion and activity from the album. Even so, she was not really recording or working on anything new. Instead, it was a moment Kate Bush was thinking about moving out of the spotlight and taking an overdue break. When you would think that 1994 was a year when Bush was mostly at home and there was very little happening, it is a lot more interesting and packed than that! As it is thirty years ago, I wanted to revisit this period on a big anniversary. In a year when music was at its peak and some all-time great albums were released, Kate Bush was taking the longest break she had ever had to that point. She would not put out another studio album until 2005’s Aerial. Since then of course, an even bigger space has come between albums – 2011’s 50 Words for Snow has not had a follow-up; not new album has been announced. I wanted to highlight things happening in Kate Bush’s career in 1994. Thanks to Kate Bush News for their timeline of Kate Bush’s career. You can see that 1994 is definitely a full one for her:

“1994

A brief summary of the year’s events:

Spring: Kate appears on the new Alan Stivell album “Again” providing keyboards and backing vocals on the track Kimiad. Kate has spoken in the past of her love for this piece, and has worked with Alan on The Sensual World album.

March 23rd: Kate appears at the 12th Brussels International Festival of Fantasy, Thriller & Science Fiction to promote her film which she introduces.

April/May: Eat The Music released on a CD single in a number of territories outside the UK & Ireland.

April: The title track of Kate’s album The Red Shoes is released as a UK single on the 5th April. The video is a segment from the film The Line, The Cross and The Curve. The B-side is a new track You Want Alchemy. A second CD contains a 10 minute remix of the track , entitled Shoedance. The single peaked at no.21.

Maybe a little quite at the start of 1994, things soon spring into action! I know she collaborated with a lot of artists. She would work with Prince for his 1996 album, Emancipation. In 1994, she appeared on a song and album I was not aware existed. Not keen to write her own music, she was still open to collaborations and other projects. Bush travelling to Brussels to promote The Line, the Cross and the Curve was interesting. It got some poor reviews, though I think it is really important and underrated. The film was definitely appreciated by fans, yet it was not that well received further afield. Bush perhaps detached herself from it soon after, though she was committed tin 1994 to making sure it was discussed and seen.

On 5th April, an underrated single came out. Not played much or discussed, The Red Shoes is one of the strongest tracks from the album of the same name. It got to twenty-one in the U.K. Whilst not a big success, it at least showed there was still appetite for Bush’s music. She would put a further single from the album out. It would be the last one she did until 2005’s King of the Mountain. May 1994 was a very interesting time. I love the fact there was a fan convention in which Kate Bush appeared. Someone always appreciative of the fans’ support, it sounds like the 1994 Kate Bush Convention was a hugely enjoyable event for everyone who attended. I was only ten at the time (my eleventh birthday was 9th May, 1994), but I would love to have been older and to have been there:

May 8th: The 1994 Kate Bush Convention is held at The Hippodrome in London on Sunday 8th May. The event was organised by Homeground/KBC. Kate appeared to introduce a screening of The Line, The Cross and The Curve, and her brother Paddy appeared performing with Colin-Lloyd Tucker, his partner in the musical project Bushtucker.

Fans perform their versions of Kate’s songs on stage and hours of rare video are shown. An auction of rare items is hosted by Del Palmer (in aid of Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital, as was the entire event), and all participating fans (1,000+) had submitted their top ten favourite Kate tracks (with great difficulty!) with the booking form for tickets for a special Top 50 to be compiled and announced at the convention. Here’s the Top Twenty:

1.      Wuthering Heights
2. Moments Of Pleasure
3. Running Up That Hill
4. The Sensual World
5. This Woman’s Work
6. Cloudbusting
7. The Man With The Child In His Eyes
8. Hounds Of Love
9. Under The Ivy
10. The Red Shoes
11. Night Of the Swallow
12. Hello Earth
13. Breathing
14. The Big Sky
15. Never Be Mine
16. Eat The Music
17. Moving
18. Wow
19. Suspended In Gaffa
20. Babooshka

I guess the middle of 1994 was a big time. That screening of The Line, the Cross and the Curve in the U.K. Kate Bush appeared at the premiere and there was anticipation and interest. Even if critics were less than kind, thirty years after that screening, there should be some reissue or retrospection. Get the film to 4K and show it again. Maybe an anniversary Kate Bush convention where the film is played and there are events. It would be amazing. I like the fact that the summer was a time for Kate Bush to finish off promotion – more or less (for The Red Shoes and The Line, the Cross and the Curve) and take on other things. Not really pressured to write anything new, her association with Fruitopia is really fascinating and cool. Not someone who took on commercial requests (apart from appearing in a Japanese Seiko advert in 1978), this was unusual and magnificent:

May/June: Kate’s film is screened at 24 UCI cinemas across the UK.

Summer: Kate supplied a variety of soundtracks for TV commercials for the US launch of the Fruitopia range of drinks by Coca-Cola. This came as a surprise to fans, an unusual project for Kate to embark on. There are 10 different “scores” accompanying “intense kaleidoscope-style manipulations of brightly coloured fruit”. The UK versions of these ads featured Liz Fraser of the Cocteau Twins on vocals.

Rather than 1994 being an intense year with an album and live performances, Bush was doing this interesting bits away from her own music. I love her version of The Man I Love. Hardly spoken about, it is a wonderful interpretation from Bush. Smoky and gorgeous, it is one of her all-time greatest vocals. After July and that contribution to a wonderful album, Bush then saw a huge live performance released a video and C.D. Such a rich couple of months where we get some retrospection in different forms:

July: Kate’s contribution to the Glory Of Gershwin album, The Man I Love, is released as a UK single on the 18th July. It is accompanied by a video shot in black and white which got aired on ITV’s Chart Show and on MTV. The single enters the UK chart at its peak position of no.22. During an interview on Sky News, Larry Adler, beaming, recalled the making of this video:

“When we made the video together, the one you just showed a bit of, I had gout in my foot and whenever I had to go to my bedroom, Kate would escort me like a nurse, and I just was so charmed by her.”

August: PMI (Picture Music International) release a double-pack of the Live At Hammersmith Odeon (1979) video with a CD of its soundtrack…in effect Kate’s first live album. (an E.P. of 4 tracks, On Stage, was released in September 1979)

I get the feeling that 1994 was a year Bush was free to step away from the album promotion cycle and engage in other ventures. She was definitely look to an extended break. Before then, the autumn of 1994 produced some curious moments. I like the fact that October and November were standout for different reasons. In November, And So Is Love was the final single from The Red Shoes. Reaching twenty-six , it was a modest success in the U.K. but did little business elsewhere. It seemed like a sign to take some time away and refresh. I really like And So Is Love, yet I feel there were other songs on The Red Shoes that could have been a final single (maybe Lily?):

October: Kate contributed a pair of exhibits to the War Child charity’s “Little Pieces From Big Stars” exhibition, entitled Someone Lost At Sea Hoping Someone In A Plane Will Find Them and Someone In A Plane Hoping To Find Someone Lost At Sea. The artworks consisted of two small black frames within which was a black surface containing a small twinkling red light, one in each piece. They were eventually sold for £1,150. Other participants included Paul McCartney and David Bowie.

October: Kate’s film, The Line, The Cross & The Curve is released on video by PMI.

November: The fourth and final UK single from The Red Shoes album, And So Is Love (featuring Eric Clapton on guitar), is released on November 7th. A limited edition 7″ came in a plastic wallet containing a large fly-poster for the single. Also the CD single came with three prints from The Line, The Cross & The Curve. The B-side features a lively dance remix of Rubberband Girl. Kate appeared on Top Of The Pops on the 17th of November. The single entered the UK chart at it’s peak position of No. 26. The video is a segment from the film and got plays on MTV”.

You can see that 1994 has a very eclectic year. Thirty years ago, Bush was at a moment after The Red Shoes was released but before she embarked on further promotion and other projects. I do think there should be anniversary events around the 1994 convention; the release of The Line, the Cross and the Curve, and the War Child charity auction (you can see a video of that here). Not sure what form they would take. I think a lot of people do not realise all the things Bush got up to in 1994. It was a remarkable year with some commercial stuff, charity bits and her working on other people’s albums. After 1994, she would engage now and then. There were the odd appearance and things here and there, however it was not until 2005 when she was fully back in the spotlight. Barely taking a break since 1978, it is only right she would end 1994 thinking that other things needed to become a priority. I love that Bush, during perhaps music’s best year, was not releasing a new album or really engaging with all of that. Instead, she was doing things that seemed more personal fulfilling and less predictable/tiring. 1994 was definitely a crucial year…

FOR Kate Bush.

FEATURE: Groovelines: The Beatles – Hey Bulldog

FEATURE:

 

 

Groovelines

The Beatles – Hey Bulldog

_________

AS The Beatles’…

album, Yellow Submarine, turns fifty-five on 13th January (its U.S. release) - 17th January, 1969 in the U.K.-, I want to use the opportunity to both nod to the album on its anniversary. I also want to highlight its best song, Hey Bulldog. A song that I feel has inspired so many other artists and songs – you can feel the spirit of Hey Bulldog running right through Led Zeppelin’s early work (songs like Four Sticks have a bit of Hey Bulldog) -, it is definitely worth highlighting. There are a few albums from The Beatles celebrating big anniversaries this year. Released in 1964, A Hard Day’s Night and Beatles for Sale turn sixty. Abbey Road was released in 1969 and is fifty-five later in the year. Yellow Submarine is one of the most divisive albums from the band. With an accompanying animated film – the role of The Beatles is not voiced by John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and George Harrison -, Yellow Submarine arrived several months after The Beatles (a.k.a. The White Album). The first half of Yellow Submarine is songs from the film. The second is George Matin’s orchestral film score. Featuring a few original songs from The Beatles on the first side – including Only a Northern Song and All Together Now -, it was a gap and change of pace from the intense and quite divisive The Beatles recording. Before getting to Hey Bulldog, I want to bring in some information about Yellow Submarine:

“Four days after its US release, The Beatles’ soundtrack LP for the Yellow Submarine film was issued in the United Kingdom.

The group’s 11th UK album (including 1966’s A Collection Of Beatles Oldies) was their first to contain non-Beatles recordings; it contained seven original orchestral pieces written by George Martin. Furthermore, it featured two songs – ‘Yellow Submarine’ and ‘All You Need Is Love’ – which had been released some time previously.

The Beatles received some criticism for offering just four new songs on this full-price album – ‘Only A Northern Song’, ‘All Together Now’, ‘Hey Bulldog’ and ‘It’s All Too Much’. In light of this, a five-song mono EP, with the addition of ‘Across The Universe’, was mastered for release, but remained in the EMI vaults.

The Yellow Submarine soundtrack was issued as Apple/Parlophone PMC 7070 (mono) and Apple PCS 7070 (stereo). The mono version, however, was not a separate mix, but a ‘fold-down’ version of the stereo one.

It spent two weeks at number three in the UK charts; at the time the White Album was at number one.

The introductory sleeve notes were written by Apple’s press office Derek Taylor, and were accompanied by an article titled ‘The Beatles’ bull’s-eye’, originally written for The Observer newspaper by Tony Palmer.-2:

My name is Derek but that is what my mother called me so it is no big thing, except that it is my name and I would like to say I was asked to write the notes for Yellow Submarine. Now Derek Taylor used to be the Beatles press agent and then, in America he became the Beatles former press agent (having left them) and now Derek Taylor is the press agent for the Beatles again so when has was asked to write the notes for “Yellow Submarine” he decided that not only had he nothing new to say about the Beatles whom he adores too much to apply any critical reasoning, and by whom he is paid too much to feel completely free, and also he couldn’t be bothered, and also he wanted the people who bought the Yellow Submarine album to buy and enjoy the really wonderful “The Beatles” album out in the month of November ’68 so here and now, unbought, unsolicited, unexpurgated, unattached, pure and immeasurably-favourable is a review of “The Beatles” (the new Apple/EMI album) from the London Observer by Tony Palmer, a journalist and film-maker of some special distinction”.

Before finishing with a feature looking at the brilliance and oddity of Hey Bulldog, Beatles Bible gives us the details about the recording and personnel involved in Hey Bulldog’s creation. Recorded in 1969 when The Beatles were putting together their eponymous album, it appeared on the Yellow Submarine album almost a year later. The Yellow Submarine film arrived in the U.K. on 17th July, 1968:

“Written by: Lennon-McCartney
Recorded: 11 February 1968
Producer: George Martin
Engineer: Geoff Emerick

John Lennon: vocals, piano, guitar
Paul McCartney: vocals, bass, tambourine
George Harrison: guitar
Ringo Starr: drums

Released on the soundtrack to the Yellow Submarine animation, ‘Hey Bulldog’ was written and recorded while The Beatles were being filmed for a promotional film for ‘Lady Madonna’.

The song started life as ‘Hey Bullfrog’, based on a few ideas sketched out by John Lennon. The line ‘Some kind of solitude is measured out in you’ was originally ‘measured out in news’, but Paul McCartney claimed to have misread Lennon’s handwriting.

Paul said we should do a real song in the studio, to save wasting time. Could I whip one off? I had a few words at home so I brought them in.

John Lennon
The Beatles, Hunter Davies

The title came about after McCartney made a barking sound during the session, as he and Lennon ad-libbed during the finale. The Beatles decided to keep the barking in, and changed the title to ‘Hey Bulldog’ to fit.

Hunter Davies also recounted how Lennon originally tried playing a sitar on the track, strumming it like George Formby’s banjolele and singing in a Lancashire accent. Although an intriguing proposition, The Beatles were unable to work this into the song.

Musically, the song harks back to the early R&B riffs of songs such as ‘Money (That’s What I Want)’, and retains a similar blues feel as ‘Lady Madonna’ – the two songs were combined on the Love album.

An animated sequence for ‘Hey Bulldog’ was made for the Yellow Submarine film, although it was originally included only in European prints.

That’s me, ’cause of the Yellow Submarine people, who were gross animals apart from the guy who drew the paintings for the movie. They lifted all the ideas for the movie out of our heads and didn’t give us any credit. We had nothing to do with that movie, and we sort of resented them. It was the third movie that we owed United Artists. Brian had set it up and we had nothing to do with it. But I liked the movie, the artwork. They wanted another song, so I knocked off ‘Hey Bulldog’. It’s a good-sounding record that means nothing.

John Lennon
All We Are Saying, David Sheff

The recording of ‘Hey Bulldog’, unusually, was captured by a film crew. As The Beatles were preparing to travel to India, a promotional film for ‘Lady Madonna’ was commissioned, to be issued in their absence.

The ‘Hey Bulldog’ animated sequence was restored for the 1999 worldwide re-release of Yellow Submarine. At the same time Apple revisited the original studio footage of The Beatles and synchronised it with the song, to create a new promo clip.

When we were in the studio recording ‘Bulldog’, apparently it was at a time when they needed some footage for something else, some other record, and a film crew came along and filmed us. Then they cut up the footage and used some of the shots for something else. But it was Neil Aspinall who found out that when you watched and listened to what the original thing was, we were recording ‘Bulldog’. This was apparently the only time we were actually filmed recording something, so what Neil did was, he put it all back together again and put the ‘Bulldog’ soundtrack onto it, and there it was.

George Harrison

IN THIS PHOTO: Paul McCartney during filming of the Hey Bulldog video

‘Hey Bulldog’ was later cited by The Beatles’ engineer Geoff Emerick as one of their final true group efforts, with equal contributions from all members. Following their Indian jaunt The Beatles’ sense of togetherness began to sour; they tended to work separately, with increasingly frequent disagreements which eventually led to their split.

In the studio

On 11 February The Beatles recorded, completed and mixed ‘Hey Bulldog’ during a 10-hour session. The basic rhythm tracks consisted of piano, drums, tambourine, lead guitar and bass.

By take 10 they had a good version, and so onto this were overdubbed more drums, fuzz bass, a guitar solo, double tracked lead vocals by John Lennon and backing vocals from Paul McCartney.

I remember ‘Hey Bulldog’ as being one of John’s songs and I helped him finish it off in the studio, but it’s mainly his vibe. There’s a little rap at the end between John and I; we went into a crazy little thing at the end.

Paul McCartney
Many Years From Now, Barry Miles”.

I am going to end with this feature from 2013. There is this sense that Hey Bulldog is throwaway. A John Lennon song with improvisation and a sense of urgency, he sort of dismissed it as not being serious. It is often now regarded as one of The Beatles’ best tracks. A real gem. I think it is the standout track from the Yellow Submarine album:

“According to Rolling Stone, McCartney had played drums on a Paul Jones track entitled “The Dog Presides” just a few days earlier; apparently with dogs on the brain, he and Lennon mimicked that song’s sound effects by enthusiastically barking and howling. Legend has it that McCartney’s misreading of the lyrics also altered the nature of the song in significant ways. He claimed that he misread the original lyric, “some kind of solitude is measured out in news” as “some kind of solitude is measured out in you”; Lennon preferred the word change, and the group left in the slip.

More importantly, as Lennon and McCartney improvise at the tune’s outro, McCartney accidentally said “bulldog” instead of “bullfrog (perhaps confusing the “bullfrog” and “sheepdog” references); again, Lennon enjoyed the new lyric. As McCartney told biographer Barry Miles: “There’s a little rap at the end between John and I; we went into a little crazy thing at the end.”

The instrumentation also underwent several changes. According to Hunter Davies’ Beatles biography, Lennon originally wanted to play sitar on the track and sing in a Lancashire accent; obviously the group rejected the idea. The final version consisted of Lennon on piano and guitar; McCartney on bass and tambourine; George Harrison on guitar; and Ringo Starr, of course, on drums. They recorded the song in a ten-hour session, with take ten deemed the best.

According to the Beatles Bible, the group then overdubbed more drums, fuzz bass, a guitar solo, Lennon’s double-tracked lead vocals, and additional backing vocals from McCartney.

Two mono mixes were immediately made, with one given to King Features for the Yellow Submarine film. As the Beatles Bible notes, the tape machine ran slightly faster during the mixing, thus raising the pitch and tempo of “Hey Bulldog.” On October 29, Emerick oversaw the stereo mixes; interestingly, “All Together Now,” “All You Need Is Love,” and “Only A Northern Song” also received remixing for the Yellow Submarine soundtrack album.

The footage of the Beatles recording “Hey Bulldog” was superimposed over the “Lady Madonna” single; thus viewers assumed the group was performing the latter for the song’s video. But Harrison revealed the truth behind the clip to Billboard Magazine in 1999: “Neil Aspinall who found out that when you watched and listened to what the original thing was, we were recording ‘Bulldog,’” Harrison explained. “This was apparently the only time we were actually filmed recording something, so what Neil did was, he put (the unused footage) all back together again and put the ‘Bulldog’ soundtrack onto it, and there it was!”

The restored video was part of the rerelease of the Yellow Submarine film and soundtrack, or “songtrack,” as it was retitled. Another addition to the rerelease: the restoration of the “Hey Bulldog” sequence in the film, as it was deleted from American prints.

While never released as a single, “Hey Bulldog” remains an underrated rocker in the Beatles’ oeuvre. McCartney’s bass fascinates; the isolated track in the video above reveals the intricate lines that prove crucial to the song’s pounding rhythm. While hotly debated whether Lennon or Harrison played the guitar solo (my guess is Harrison), it still cuts sharply through the background, lending a harder edge.

Indeed, the lyrics conjure silly images — a Lennon trademark — yet the instrumentation rescues the track from becoming a simple novelty. Hearing Lennon and McCartney shouting and laughing toward the end demonstrates that despite their growing differences, they loved recording together and never strayed far from their youthful Liverpool roots”.

On 13th January, it will be fifty-five years since the Yellow Submarine album was released in the U.S. I wanted to mark the fifty-fifth anniversary of the album. I was also keen to spend time spotlighting a remarkable track from it. The riveting and hypnotic Hey Bulldog is a song that still sound magical and insatiable to this day. Maybe recorded at quite a tense time for the band, there is a child-like glee and innocence to it. A swaggering and swinging song from The Beatles, I have a lot of love for it! We are going to be celebrating and digging this song…

FOR decades to come.

FEATURE: One for the Record Collection! Essential February Releases

FEATURE:

 

 

One for the Record Collection!

IN THIS PHOTO: Nadine Shah

Essential February Releases

_________

NEXT month sees…

IN THIS PHOTO: Jennifer Lopez

quite a few wonderful albums released. I wanted to focus on them. Recommend the ones that you should pre-order. Let’s start with 9th February. The first album to look out for is Chelsea Wolfe’s She Reaches Out to She Reaches Out to She. You need to pre-order this album. It is an amazing release from an artist who I don’t think gets as much credit and attention as she deserves:

“Chelsea Wolfe’s latest album, She Reaches Out To She Reaches Out To She, is a rebirth in process. It’s about how such a moment connects to our past, our present, and our future. It’s a powerfully cathartic statement about cutting ties, as well as an important reminder that healing is cyclical and circular, and not a simple linear process. As Wolfe explains, “It’s a record about the past self reaching out to the present self reaching out to the future self to summon change, growth, and guidance. It’s a story of setting yourself free from situations and patterns that are holding you back, in order to become self-empowered. It’s an invitation to step into your authenticity”.

There are a couple of other albums from the week that you need to check out. One of our best songwriters releases What Happened to the Beach?. The wonderful Declan McKenna. He is a a magnificent talent that I first came across a few years ago. His latest album is one that I am definitely going to check out. You might be new to his work, so I would suggest you check back his previous work first. What Happened to the Beach? sounds like it is another superb release from the brilliant Declan McKenna. Go and pre-order this wonderful album:

“Produced by Gianluca Buccellati (Lana Del Rey, Arlo Parks), What Happened To The Beach? marks Mckenna’s third studio album following 2020’s Zeros. The LP is an album that revels in both space and atmosphere and the tracks much looser”.

The last album from 9th February that you need to seek out is Zara Larsson’s Venus. One of the biggest Pop artists in the world, the new album from Larsson is well worth checking out. Maybe it is more for fans and those who already know about her work, though I would say that she is such a strong and interesting artist that it is very much for everyone. I am going to listen to the album, as I have a lot of respect for her work. She is a tremendous artist. You can pre-order Venus here:

“Swedish popstar Zara Larsson has gifted fans a divine gift, her new album Venus. The LP was preceded by two UK Top 40 singles, Can't Tame Her and On My Love with David Guetta”.

There are four great albums out on 16th February that I will recommend. You can check out everything out in February here. I think that IDLES’ new album, TANGK, is one that everyone should get. You can pre-order the album here. There is a slightly new direction and tone to this album. Perhaps more revealing and soulful than previous IDLES album, TANGK sees the band in incredible form. A band that have never dropped a step, this is a fascinating evolution. You will definitely want to get this album:

“TANGK is the righteous and vibrant fifth album from madcap truth-seekers, IDLES. Pronounced “tank” with a whiff of the “g” - an onomatopoeic reference to the lashing way the band imagined their guitars sounding that has since grown into a sigil for living in love - the record is the band’s most ambitious and striking work yet. Where IDLES were once set on taking the world’s piss, squaring off with strong jaws against the perennially entitled, and exercising personal trauma in real time, they have arrived in this new act to offer the fruits of such perseverance: love, joy, and indeed gratitude for the mere opportunity of existence.

A radical sense of defiant empowerment radiates from TANGK, co-produced by Nigel Godrich, Kenny Beats, and IDLES guitarist Mark Bowen. Despite his reputation as an incendiary post-punk sparkplug, frontman Joe Talbot sings almost all the feelings inside these 10 songs with hard-earned soul, offering each lusty vow or solidarity plea as a bona fide pop song—that is, a thing for everyone to pass around and share, communal anthems intended for overcoming our grievance.

TANGK is a love album—open to anyone who requires something to shout out loud in order to fend off any encroaching sense of the void, now or forever”.

One of the biggest and most anticipated albums of the year is Jennifer Lopez’s This Is Me… Now. At the moment, you can pre-save the digital version. It will be available on physical formats. For now, it is an album you can add to your library. One of the world’s most influential artists, Jennifer Lopez’s forthcoming album is among her most important. You can get updates regarding the album on Jennifer Lopez’s Instagram. It is almost a full circle moment regarding this icon. Pitchfork published an article about This Is Me… Now last year:

“Jennifer Lopez has shared more details about This Is Me…Now, her first new album in a decade, one year after she announced it. It arrives February 16. That same day, Lopez will release the accompanying This Is Me…Now: The Film on Prime Video, which is described as a narrative-driven reflection on her journey to find love. Watch teaser trailers below.

This Is Me…Now is a play on the title of Lopez’s third studio album, This Is Me... Then, which celebrated its 20th anniversary the same day she announced the LP last year. The new 13-track full-length includes a song called “Dear Ben Pt. II”—presumably a sequel to her 2002 song “Dear Ben” about her husband, Ben Affleck. The lead single “Can’t Get Enough” will drop January 10.

Lopez’s last album, A.K.A., came out in 2014. Since then, she’s released standalone singles with Cardi B and Skrillex, collaborated with Maluma and Lin-Manuel Miranda, and performed at the Super Bowl LIV halftime show with Shakira. She’s also stayed busy as an actor, starring in Hustlers, Marry Me, and Second Act, as well as hosting an episode of Saturday Night Live in 2019.

Revisit “Shakira and Jennifer Lopez’s Super Bowl Halftime Show Was a Dance Party With Purpose” on the Pitch”.

Before moving on to the final album from 16th February, I want to recommend Laura Jane Grace’s Hole in My Head. This is an album that you should pre-order. A wonderful and hugely powerful artist who is an incredible voice that demands to be heard, you need to pre-order this phenomenal album. It will be among the best released from the first couple of months of this year:

“Following the release of her debut album, Stay Alive (2020) and the At War With The Silverfish EP (2021), Emmy-nominated artist, author, musician, activist and Against Me! founder/songwriter, Laura Jane Grace, returns with Hole In My Head - her beautiful new album featuring eleven tracks that showcase her undeniable power as a songwriter and storyteller. The album features her most personal and emotionally gripping songs of her career - stripped down masterpieces like “Dysphoria Hoodie” paired with blistering distorted anthems like “Hole In My Head” and “Birds Talk Too,” tracks that demand the listener’s attention with an immediacy and urgency unlike anything Grace has written before”.

I will come to 23rd February’s albums soon enough. First, there is one more from 16th February. Paloma Faith’s The Glorification of Sadness is a tremendous album that sees Faith producing. One that is obviously very personal and meaningful to her, you will not want to miss out on it. Go and pre-order this stunning work. It sounds like it is going to be a hugely moving and remarkably affecting album. One from an essential and much-loved artist:

“The Glorification of Sadness is more than an album about relationships. The celebration of finding your way back after leaving a long term relationship, being empowered even in your failures and taking responsibility for your own happiness. It is Paloma's most personal album to date, drawing on her own experiences with Paloma acting as the anchor to direct a deeply personal narrative and album. This is the first new music from Paloma since the release of her fifth studio album Infinite Things in November 2020 and is the first time in her career where she has executively produced a record”.

There are a few albums from 23rd February that you need to check out. Allie X’s Girl with No Face is one that you will definitely want to pre-order. An artist that I have known about for a while but maybe not followed as closely as I should, Girl with No Face sounds like it is shaping up to be a wonderful album. One that I would recommend people investigate:

“Girl With No Face: Allie X’s fourth album, Girl With No Face, is a daring excavation of her identity. A maniacal journey into the mind of an artist who just spent three years in isolation, refusing any input as she became the solitary producer, writer and creative voice for the first time in her career. “This record documents an intense struggle for power and control – creatively, professionally, mentally and physically,” X explains. Inspired by the technology and hedonism of the early 80’s new wave scene, the album’s analog-leaning songs are a series of stark contradictions – retro in feel but ultra-modern in subject matter, pointed, unpredictable yet danceable, approachable while delightfully menacing. In short, Girl with No Face is completely orthogonal to the hyper-tuned, automated shapes that dominate today’s alt pop. “Instead of following any trends, I just wanted to indulge myself in all my favourite stuff this time. I wanted limitations. No plug-ins. I chose a bass synth, drum machine, string machine and embraced the shortcomings and grittiness of this old temperamental equipment. The result was something that felt messy, raw, and direct, which was really exciting to me.” Infused with early 80’s British experimentalism, with nods to The Human League and New Order, the album is a strident move away from 2020’s introspective and spare Cape God -- so much faster, more threatening. It’s not difficult to envision an industrial booted and black-eyed 80s subculture mouthing the German verses of “Weird World” and thrashing about to the relentless pulsing bass. Self-deprecation and the driest of wits lighten the aggressive mood of the record, especially in songs like You Slept on Me (a musical manifestation of the age-old tweet ‘Stop sleeping on Allie X!’) and Off With Her Tits (an upbeat satirization of some of Allie X’s more unsettling thoughts). Her signature deranged Disney-princess pop sensibility still manages to weave its way into most songs . “I always need a bit of camp,” says X, “it counterbalances the dark thoughts in a necessary way.” In the end, the multi-platinum songwriter enlisted the help of Justin Meldal Johnsen (Beck, M83, Wolf Alice). “The best comparison I can make is intentionally locking yourself in a room and sitting in front of a mirror staring at yourself. When everything is refracted through your lens you get high on the sense of power and control. But as you get to know yourself intimately, you see your own ugliness, your limitations, your pain. It’s terrifying and enlightening all at once. A total ego fuck.” - Allie X”.

The penultimate album you will want to get is Laetitia Sadier’s Rooting for Love. Go and pre-order the album. It sounds like it is going to be among this year’s most arresting and fascinating albums. I am definitely interesting in seeing what Rooting for Love has to offer. Laetitia Sadier is a truly captivating artist whose music always resonates and makes a massive impression:

“Over the course of her career, spanning three-plus decades, Laetitia Sadier has never shied away from the hard topics, or stopped advocating for the possibility of self determination and emancipation in the face of the powers that be, conscious or unconscious. This is an essential part of the foundation she co-built with Stereolab, showcasing her spiritual, scientific and sociopolitical inquiries. She’s continued this process with Monade and under her own name and as a writer/singer/and musician whose every album acts as a report on her journey of the self through time, space and the collective.

On Rooting For Love, the report is set alight by the heat of a turbulent world, collapsing institutions and Laetitia’s fully engaged process of expression as well as orchestration. The opening number, “Who + What” elucidates the central issue of the album: a call for a collective striving for Gnosis – an inquisitive outlook that will lend clues to the traumatised civilisations of Earth, allowing us to evolve away from millennia of alienation and suffering and towards the achievability of healing. The musical arrangements help to embody the layers of the issue, as with “Who + What”’s combination of organ, synths, guitar, bass, trombone, drum programming, vibraphone and zither, all working along intricate paths of chord and tempo changes. Leading from the inside is the implacable presence of Laetitia Sadier, herself interacting with a vocal assembly of men and women billed as The Choir. The regular reappearance of The Choir throughout Rooting For Love is a reminder of this music being one of a people in critical mass, in addition to an evolution that continues to deepen the rich harmonic fields in which Laetitia plays.

Whether drawing inspiration from Zen Shiastu training, or the lyrics of Véronique Vincent, (lyricist and singer for Aksak Maboul, and once upon a time, lead singer of the Honeymoon Killers), Laetitia faces the truth without flinching. The shadows, whatever stuff they are made of - individual and collective, present and ancestral - need to be recognized and acknowledged, because the more we heal within ourselves, the more undivided we become in the face of looming Neo-fascist/Neoliberal narratives polluting the inner and outer landscapes.

Alongside of her collaboration with Modern Cosmology, last year’s incredible What Will You Grow Now?, as well as her continued tours with a reformed Stereolab, Rooting For Love finds Laetitia back in the world, once again urging all our grounded inner alignment and heart power to make us better equipped for creating what’s to come”.

The final album that you need to pre-order is my favourite from February. Nadine Shah’s Filthy Underneath is one I will definitely be ordering. The first single from the album, Topless Mother, was my favourite song from last year. An artist whose music I hold infinite love for, I am excited to get a copy of Filthy Underneath. I would also urge everyone else to go and pre-order an album that will sit alongside the very best of this year:

“Nadine Shah releases her fifth album - Filthy Underneath on EMI North. The follow up to 2020's critically acclaimed Kitchen Sink and 2017's Mercury Prize nominated Holiday Destination.

Filthy Underneath chronicles a period of unprecedented turbulence in Nadine Shah’s life. And yet, the experience of listening to it is oddly life-affirming – a parade of ghosts spanning the entirety of Nadine’s thirty-seven years, moving with balletic beauty to the music that Nadine and long-time co-writer and producer Ben Hillier have created around them, with renewed emphasis on placing melody and movement front and centre”.

Those are the albums from next month that I think you will want to invest in. Some terrific selections including a big release from Jennifer Lopez, plus essential albums from IDLES and Nadine Shah. A busy and splendid month for music, there is plenty if choice for every music lover! I hope that there is something above that takes your fancy. I am really looking forward to hearing some of February’s very best. There is no doubt that it shaping up to be an…

INCREDIBLE month.

FEATURE: Dogmatic or Not… Will the Hegemony of Kate Bush’s Hounds of Love Stunt Future Generations’ View of Her Legacy?

FEATURE:

 

 

Dogmatic or Not…

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in a promotional photo for the Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) single cover (1985)/PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush

Will the Hegemony of Kate Bush’s Hounds of Love Stunt Future Generations’ View of Her Legacy?

_________

I have written about this…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in Tokyo, Japan in 1978/PHOTO CREDIT: Koh Hasebe/Shinko Music/Getty Images

quite a few times recently. I am referring to radio playlists and the dominance of particular songs from Kate Bush. I think the more she is know about and shared, the less adventurous and flexible radio playlists are with her music. The same is true of the media. She is still framed around 1985’s Hounds of Love. I can’t think of any other major artist like her that is defined by one album. She may not mind it herself – as she has reissued Hounds of Love and done some special editions for it -, though it is insulting that an artist of her talent and influence is narrowed down to one album. Nothing against Hounds of Love. It is a rightful and undeniable masterpiece that deserves kudos. There are eight other original studio albums – not counting Director’s Cut in the list – that are either occasionally played or not at all. You do get hits from other albums played though, more often than not, the same three or four songs from Hounds of Love are the lazy go-to. It is a vicious cycle of stations feeling this is the most accessible and commercial music from her. They then keep playing it because they do not get feedback or complaints. There is nobody and nothing pushing against the hegemony and over-reliance on one album. I have actually started listening more to other Kate Bush albums to rebel against this predictably unnuanced media view of Kate Bush! In new stories, she is still seen as the ‘singer’ of songs like Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) and Wuthering Heights. In previous years, if stations played and the media discussed other hits and singles, I found last year was more directed towards Hounds of Love and its tracks. At best, you’d get occasional deep cuts selected by listeners or daring D.J.s going beyond the obvious.

I wonder how to break out of the cycle. I know that vinyl purchases will increase awareness. Magazine articles and books will alert fans to other albums and great tracks. There are a few tracks that have podcast episodes and get covered though, mostly, discovery is made via radio and streaming services. Hounds of Love is not the only go-to for people, though it seems to dominate more than it should. So many tracks that could be played and are being left aside. It gets boring hearing Cloudbusting for the millionth time, even if it is a classic. What about some of the deep cuts from 1978s Lionheart, 1980’s Never for Ever or even 1989’s The Sensual World?! I know that there are some songs that might not connect with listeners. Even so, I feel it might be an issue not just reserved to Kate Bush. Her music is especially ignored in terms of the songs played, though even massive artists like Madonna are still largely associated with their hits. Not to suggest we put Hounds of Love aside. I think that it is an album that gets played and focused on more as it is talked about and heralded as this classic. At the detriment of all her other albums, I have not heard anything from The Dreaming or most of the albums bar the singles – and, in the case of Aerial or Lionheart, it has been so long since I have heard anything at all from them.

I am not slighting Hounds of Love, as I love it a load. It is a majestic album. I feel, in years to come, unless more songs are played and the impression of Kate Bush goes beyond one album, we will still only see her as the artist who made Hounds of Love. Associate her with one or two songs. So many people have not heard a lot of Bush’s music. Not only does it means playlists featuring her music lack variety. Some of Bush’s most important moments and incredible music is getting overlooked. I have posted this before because there is still little movement and expansion in terms of Kate Bush’s catalogue and how she gets represented. Some say maybe it is EMI or someone connected to her that does not want deeper cuts featuring on radio. That there should be more from Hounds of Love from other albums. Maybe Kate Bush herself has had input. I don’t think that this is the case. Bush, as long as Hounds of Love got some airing, would be open to all her albums getting an outing. EMI don’t have much say on her current output and decisions. I think it is more likely that radio stations have got into a rut and are reluctant to get out of it. That is a real shame! It is a new year, so we should be a lot more appreciative of Kate Bush’s full body of work. Go to Spotify and listen to her albums in full. Check out videos on YouTube and also search out podcasts relating to her albums and songs. I am not hopeful there will be quick change, though we definitely need to get out of the mindset that Kate Bush’s most commercial and successful album is the only valid one. Even the best. Many might debate that. Definitely, when you think of all the treats that have either never been played or are relatively unknown, it is angering indeed! I am concerned that it will affect not only fans but artists. Different Kate Bush songs can resonate with different artists. A lack of cover versions of her songs too. There needs to be a dedicated push to highlight how varied Bush’s catalogue is. If we keep defining her so rigidly then that does a huge injustice to her. It may seem daring and new but, the more you dig deep, the more surprises you get. Once done, people will reveal…

A fascinating and bewitching sonic world!

FEATURE: Saluting the Queens: Peggy Gou

FEATURE:

 

 

Saluting the Queens

PHOTO CREDIT: Christian Soria for Interview

Peggy Gou

_________

AT a time when women…

are dominating British Dance music, it is perhaps no surprise that Peggy Gou was placed third in the BBC’s Sound of 2024. A superstar D.J. and legend in the game, you can follow her on Instagram. Perhaps better known as a D.J. rather than through her music/wider afield, she is a queen I wanted to salute. Not only is she one of the world’s best D.J.s. Peggy Gou has also released incredible music. I Believe in Love Again was her collaboration with Lenny Kravitz. I think that this year will be one of her best. I shall end with that Sound of 2024 interview with the BBC. I want to come to some other interviews before that. You can see some updated biography here (it would not allow me to copy and paste the text); here is some background to a wonderful, globe-struggling D.J. that is one of the world’s most influential and important:

“Berlin-based Peggy Gou is a South Korean DJ and fashion designer, quickly cementing her mark in the music industry with a unique concoction of house and acid sound as well as an equally unique sense of style with a New Guards Group-backed clothing line, Kirin.

With her first track only dating back to 2016, the musician and Instagram star has enjoyed a rapid rise to fame, gaining the support of established musicians Moodyman, The Black Madonna and DJ Kaze through support slots that have attracted a loyal fanbase that includes Virgil Abloh .

Gou was born in Seoul, moving to London aged 14 to complete her high school education. Growing up, Gou harboured ambitions to become a singer; a classically trained pianist, she composed her first piece aged eight. A few years later, she left her passion behind, opting to pursue a fashion degree at the London College of Fashion instead. While studying, Gou reignited her love for music, pursuing music production after making a start mixing in Korea with her then boyfriend, and performing at London’s Cirque Le Soir nightclub through connections. With the desire to become the youngest and first female Korean DJ playing at the Berghain club in Berlin, Gou threw herself into music full-time, pushing her fashion studies aside.

By the end of 2016, Gou released her first double EP, titled “September War,” and played her first set at the Berghain club after moving to Berlin. She has produced four EPs, including her first American tour and a month-long BBC Radio 1 residency in 2017, and has performed at Coachella. At Dazed’s 2017 Off-White party, Gou met representatives from New Guards Group, which offered Gou her own label. Her line of high-end streetwear, marrying traditional Korean mythological motifs with club culture graphics, made its debut at Paris Fashion Week in 2019 and is yet to be made available in stores

In 2019, Gou also announced the launch of her own record label and was included in Forbes’ 30 under 30 Asia Entertainment & Sports list”.

Before coming to some 2023 interviews – and ending with one that is from this year -, I will go back to 2020. 2019 was one of the busiest to that point for Peggy Gou. She spoke with i-D about a hectic 2019 and her resolutions for 2020. The South Korean D.J. and producer is someone who has brought joy to thousands around the world. Even if you are not overtly-familiar with her name, I guarantee that, once you hear her work and D.J. magnificence, you will fall under her spell:

“Peggy Gou had a busy 2019. On top of playing close to a hundred gigs the world over, the South Korean DJ, producer and now fashion designer -- known as much for her popular Instagram account as the sophisticated deep-house sets she never fails to deliver -- recently launched her own record label and streetwear line. “I enjoy it so much that I forget I’m tired,” she says, laughing, as we chat over a New Year’s Day iced coffee in Desa Potato Head, Bali’s new OMA-designed hotel and cultural venue. Dressed in a silky short-sleeve shirt and sporty Mugler shorts, the DJ-turned-designer looks suspiciously fresh for someone who was up until the wee hours playing to a rowdy crowd of 3000. The beach-front gig -- whose promotional posters plastered across the island read ‘Gou Year’s Eve’ -- coincided with the drop of a new capsule collection, made in collaboration with the Indonesian hospitality group.

But 2020 is going to be more low-key for the overachieving music sensation, who plans to cut down on live shows to focus on her first album. “Creative people need to do nothing to be creative,” says Peggy, before telling me about the new home studio she’s having built in her adopted city of Berlin. The LP follows an eclectic score of dance music EPs (she sometimes refers to her music as ‘K-House’) released since 2016, as well as a recent DJ-Kicks mix. The album, however, will be released by XL Recordings, Peggy’s dream label, who she remembers emailing obsessively back in Korea to ask about internship opportunities. “I never once got a reply!” she laughs.

Alongside this, the 29-year-old DJ will continue to grow her own record label, Gudu. So far, the project has acted as a platform to support the work of cult-yet-overlooked electronic producers, from Rephlex Records’ DMX Krew to American remix maverick Maurice Fulton. “Some of my legends,” Peggy says, “who I think deserve more spotlight”. But ultimately, the powerhouse hopes to sign emerging talents, particularly female and Asian musicians. “I went through a lot after I signed my first music,” she says, remembering the lack of support she received from her first label. This early experience encouraged her to change the game: “I want to give artists what they want,” she says.

While Peggy is best known for her music career, now gathering crowds in the thousands at international clubs and festivals alike, her first love was fashion. After spending her teenage years in London -- her parents sent her to learn English because “they thought I had no future in South Korea,” -- she applied to London College of Fashion and started a course in styling. “I realised I wasn’t good at it,” says Peggy, who briefly worked as a correspondent for Harper’s Bazaar Korea. “I only enjoy styling myself,” she laughs.

But this stint in fashion wasn’t all in vain. Last year, following a series of timely encounters with Louis Vuitton’s artistic director Virgil Abloh, Peggy launched her women’s streetwear label Kirin (‘giraffe’ in Korean; her favourite animal) backed by Off-White’s parent organisation, the Italian luxury company New Guards Group which was recently acquired by Farfetch. The brand has since released an eclectic and colourful slew of logo-print shirts, robes and jumpsuits -- all infused with Korean mythological iconography.

These references appear as much in her design aesthetics as in the visual identity of her musical universe. Whether it be the recurring motif of the xiezhi (a mythical lion-shaped creature) across her designs, or the traditional mask interpreted by illustrator Jee-ook Choi for Gudu’s logo, Korean culture remains a strong source of inspiration for Peggy. “I always try not to lose the link between Korea and I,” she says, recounting how she cried during her last gig in Seoul after the audience started to sing along to her Korean-language track “Starry Nights". “Oh my god, I’m getting goosebumps,” she says getting excited, “which apparently, in Bali, is a good sign!”

PHOTO CREDIT: Christian Soria for Interview

A little bit of a detour before getting to some more music-based interviews. The uber-cool queen Peggy Gou chatted with Interview back in October. They fired some questions her way. We get to know a little more at least about a remarkable talent who is someone who is going to make more big strides this year. One of the best producers and D.J.s in the world. Everyone needs to know the name Peggy Gou:

“Who do you tell your secrets to?

Depends on how secret it is, but I don’t think I really have a secret in my life.

Where do you go to hide?

My bed is where I feel comfortable being alone.

What are you wearing right now?

I’m wearing faux Ferragamo fur. And Harley-Davison. Did I pronounce that right? And denim.

What do you collect?

I collect records, I collect sunglasses, I collect shoes, and I collect art.

What’s your bad habit?

I eat too much.

What do you do when you can’t sleep?

I put lavender oil on the pillow. CBD oil, magnesium, and melatonin.

What do you tell yourself when no one else can hear?

I don’t really understand the question.

Do you like answering questions?

It depends on the questions, but I feel like you asked me interesting questions”.

PHOTO CREDIT: Christian Soria for Interview

Speaking with Zane Lowe on her Apple Music podcast series, Peggy Gou spoke about her collaboration with Lenny Kravitz. Whilst unexpected, it is also a perfect and natural pairing when you hear the song. I think that this year is going to be one where she collaborates with other huge names. Maybe there will be an album. Definitely some epic D.J. sets around the world:

“Speaking to Zane Lowe as part of his The Zane Lowe Show Apple Music podcast series, the (It Goes Like) Nanana producer and singer recalls their recent – and unexpected – collaboration. The collab resulted in a new track, I Believe In Love Again, which is out now on XL Recordings.

“It was such an honour to get a chance to work with him,” she tells Lowe. “He’s very perfectionist just like me.”

In the interview, Peggy reveals that the collaboration was not a typical “modern” digital exchange but involved physical studio sessions in the Bahamas and Paris.

She goes on to say how Kravitz wanted to bring a “different DNA” to the track with an unexpected falsetto part, with Lowe and others agreeing they didn’t think it was sung by him at first, but by Peggy instead.

“Would you have guessed that it was Lenny if this was not written, Lenny?” She asks

Zane Lowe says, “Yes, I thought it was you. I thought it was you as well the first time.”

“I was like, ‘Really, Lenny? I don’t know if it’s a good thing, man. Seriously, I want people to know it’s you because it’s like I’m so honoured that my first collaboration song that I have a feature in the album is you.’

“He was like, ‘Pegs, we’re going to do a music video. People will know it’s me. Don’t worry.’ I was like, ‘That’s true, but,’ and he was like, ‘Girl, let me tell you something. I put different DNA to it when I sing this song.’”

Peggy also reflects on the simplicity and catchiness of ’90s music in the interview, highlighting what Lowe calls “sampling with optimism”.

“’90s music is timeless for me. I also love hip-hop and every song from that period.

Lowe says, “What I love about this song is when you come in with the, ‘Ch, ch, ch,’ it’s like no one uses upper register percussive instruments in songs anymore, but they were everywhere in the ’90s.”

“Also, if you think about it, ’90s music was simple. Although it is repetitive, I feel like it’s catchy and you don’t get bored of listening to it.

“It’s very true,” Lowe responds, “It’s almost like the drums were by design a blank canvas to write these songs over and it was like there’s a naivety to the way technology was working back then that people have mastered now. I love that you’ve captured that sense of optimism, sampling with optimism”.

Let’s finish off with the BBC Sound of 2024 interview. Peggy Gou as placed third. Mark Savage caught up with someone who is a crossover star and a hugely important name in music. Actually, doing the interview, it is revealed that a debut album is coming soon from Peggy Gou. Her path into music is a fascinating one. Still unknown to some, 2024 is when she will truly connect with everyone. Such a wonderful talent that now belongs to the world:

“Peggy Gou was born Kim Min-ji in 1991, and raised in South Korea's chief seaport, Incheon.

The first music she loved was K-pop - not the modern, mechanical sounds of Stray Kids or BTS, but the 80s idols like Kim Wan-sun and Uhm Jung-hwa (aka "the Korean Madonna").

"If I listen back to it now, it's still good," she says. "It has a sexy feeling and a happy feeling to it."

But her real musical education began when she turned 14 and her parents sent her to London to study English.

Studying took second place to nightlife. She went out dancing six times a week, at hip-hop nights and underground clubs. In 2011, she discovered deep house and fell in love with its vibey, R&B-infused sound.

By that point, she'd already learned the basics of beat-matching from a friend, and when the DJ pulled out of a Korean society event at her university, Gou offered to step in.

"I messed up a lot of things in that show, but I still made people dance.

"I was like, 'Wow, this is amazing. I love this feeling.'"

Word began to spread. Gou was booked to play at other University events, then scored a weekly residency at east London's Book Club.

Unsurprisingly, she failed her fashion course, but she picked up work at Harper's Bazaar and, in 2016, moved to Germany.

There she had one aim: To be the first Korean woman to play Berghain, Berlin's most exclusive nightclub.

Within a year, she'd achieved it.

The star's debut album is scheduled for release in the first half of 2024

PHOTO CREDIT: Jongha Park

By that point, Gou was dropping original songs into her DJ sets - but only after four years of writing and rejecting her own material.

Her first demos were "70% samples", she says, mixing club beats with traditional Korean instruments, but "every song sounded the same" (for completists, she later released one of those early tracks, Hungboo, on her DJ-Kicks compilation).

In 2016, she released four EPs of supple-but-lethal house tunes. But it was only when she went for a more stripped-back, vocal-led approach that things started to come together.

Her calling card was It Makes You Forget (Itgehane), the sound of sunrise set to music - all swirling synths and gently bubbling acid bass, over a skipping house beat.

An ode to club culture and the restorative power of escapism, it also marked Gou's first attempt at singing.

"That was my brave challenge. I was singing in Korean, which I thought wasn't such a cool thing in the beginning," she says.

"I did try it in English and Spanish, also. But then I was like, 'You know what, I'm Korean. I should sing in Korean!'"

For Westerners used to the staccato, rap-infused cadences of K-Pop, Gou's diaphanous vocals may come as a surprise, but she explains the Korean language has many colours.

"With K-pop, as soon as it's out, it has to hit number one - meaning it's all about how addictive the song is, how catchy it is.

"In my songs the lyrics are very poetic, so I care about how the words sound. Does the line finish with an "ay," an "ah", or an "oh"?

"My vocal trainer always says I have a breathy voice, so the way I sing is not so staccato."

Peggy Who? Peggy Shoe!

It Makes You Forget (Itgehane) became a huge anthem in the summer of 2018; and Gou's schedule grew even busier, with gigs in Brazil, Australia, Italy, Paris, France and Japan.

But it was a set at Glastonbury that really stood out.

"I didn't even know what Glastonbury was, I was so naive," she says.

"But when I started playing, people took their shoes off, held them in the air and started shouting, 'Peggy Who? Peggy Shoe!'"

"I still don't really know why - but in Australia, when people take their shoes off, it means you're playing a banger."

The success was thrilling and welcome, but the demanding lifestyle of an international DJ began to take its toll.

When she travels, Gou takes notes of how she feels as a sort of aide-memoire. But in 2019, after catching a glimpse of herself in the mirror of an airport toilet, she simply wrote: "I look exhausted".

It was only when Covid hit that she had time to pause.

"I had to stop because there were no shows," she says, "and I spent a lot of that time digging out 90s music and 80s music.

"I don't know why but music from that period really encouraged me during that difficult time. Simple, catchy, classy, repetitive but never boring."

Inspired, she spun her exhausted-in-an-airport story into a song, using the uplifting innocence of 90s dance music to give her motivation when life seemed overwhelming.

"'I Go' is such a great phrase because, obviously, it means 'I'll keep moving' in English, but it's also a sound that older people in Korea make whenever they're suffering from pain or they're tired.

"I thought it was perfect. I like to find the word in Korean that makes sense in English, too."

Unsurprisingly, Gou admits to being a perfectionist. She won't release a song until she's 100% happy - which is perhaps why it's taken eight years for her to prepare her debut album.

Scheduled for release this year, it will feature It Goes Like (Nanana) and her current single, I Believe In Love Again - a collaboration with Lenny Kravitz.

The rest of her album, including the title, is currently under wraps, but Gou promises "it's not just dance music".

"You can expect certain things that are different than I've ever done".

And as she takes centre stage, she hints that her in-demand DJ sets might soon be accompanied by more traditional concert performances.

"Why not?" she smiles cryptically. "I think that's everyone's dream”.

A queen that I had to salute, the magnificent and magnetic Peggy Gou is a true modern icon. I cannot wait for a debut album. With a string of great tracks under her belt, the D.J. and producer is now breaking away purely from Dance. A spellbinding woman with this incredible talent, go and check out her work. Expect to see a lot more from her this year. Rightly named among BBC’s Sound of 2024 names to watch, there is no denying how special and important Peggy Gou is. I hold so much love for this…

WONDERFUL human.

FEATURE: Spotlight: As December Falls

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

PHOTO CREDIT: Jay Sanderson for Kerrang!

As December Falls

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LED by the brilliant Bethany Curtis…

As December Falls are a remarkable trio who have been on the scene a while. That said, there are many who might not know about their incredible music. The trio released the album, Join the Club, in July. Formed in 2014 by Bethany Curtis (Vocals), Ande Hunter (Lead Guitar/Backing Vocals), Timmy Francis (Bass Guitar) and Lukas James (Drums), the band have amassed a loving and loyal fanbase. The trio have just been named by Kerrang! as one of their acts who will redefine Alternative music this year. I shall come to that. First, I want to start with an interview from Bring the Noise from last year. We get some insight into this wonderful and must-hear band:

“For people who don’t know the band, can you sum yourself up in five words? I love the panic which goes across people’s faces whenever I say that.

A: You have to count the words too! That’s the problem.

B: Energetic.

A: Energetic alt-rock with bangers. I’m going with that.

B: No, you can’t do that. Energetic alt-rock with bangers doesn’t count!

A: Is alt-rock one or two words? It’s two words. Alternative rock.

We’ll accept that as your five word answer. This is already a really exciting year for you, you’ve got your new album Join The Club coming out in July. Can you tell us a little bit more about it the recording process and why should we look forward to it?

B: I will take this one. To be honest, this is the album that I feel the most proud of and I’m so excited to get it out because I do love our first two albums but this one feels like we’ve sort of consolidated our sound. It feels more us, it feels kind of like we finally sort of know what we’re doing. But yeah, I am so stoked. It’s got a bit of everything on there. We’ve got our serious tracks a little bit slower mellower, but we’ve also got our pop punk anthems and we’ve also got slightly heavier tracks like Mayday and Carousel which is to be honest, probably the route we’re going to continue down because everyone seems to be absolutely loving those two tracks. But yeah, so I’m super excited to get Join The Club out there for the world to finally hear it.

You’ve kind of mentioned some of the tracks already but do you have a favourite track or one which sums up the release?

A: I feel like this album we’ve really tried a lot of different genres and a lot of different styles. I don’t think there’s one song.

Timmy: I think if you go into it thinking it’s going to be one sound, I don’t want to use the word disappointed but it’s not going to be that.  It’s kind of a bit all over the place. We’ve kind of got some modernization of our older stuff and then we’ve got stuff where we’re experimenting a lot more like Carousel and Mayday and all different bits and bobs.

A: I think Carousel is my favourite song though personally.

B: I think Mayday is my favourite.

A: Interesting.

B: I think the reason Mayday is my favourite is because we’ve had a chance to play Mayday live and I love seeing everyone’s reaction. As soon as you play that first riff. You see everyone like YES! and that’s what I want every day of my life.

T: Yeah, I think my Mayday is my favourite.

A: Really? Over Carousel?

T: But the intro to Carousel is my favourite.

B: We’re going to have a full band domestic here.

A: We can’t break up right now.

So essentially, we’re stepping further away from the Home and ballad side of things, into more of the here’s a mosh pit?

B: Yes, absolutely 100%.

A: More riffs, more pits. New band slogan!

Perfect! How have you found it since the release of your album Happier? The fanbase changing? The experience?  Obviously, we had that big massive event, which everyone knows about and we don’t talk about too much. But how has that been for you?

B: I’ve found that without that awful event, I don’t think we could have made our second album any better because we got to spend so much extra time on it which we wouldn’t have had if not for it, because we are all-in full-time jobs. We all have to make it work around holiday time and all of that lovely jazz which comes with working in the corporate world. So, I think it actually kind of helped in regards to being able to write the album that we wanted to create at that time. In regards to how I think it’s affected the fanbase. Well, I’ve always been one for believing we’ve grown up with our fans. So, our target audience is basically us and we know that we write songs that we enjoy and it translates hopefully most of the time. I think it’s nice that we’ve had that growth with them. They’ve seen us from when we were drunk teenagers with no money in bars, all the way up to

A: being drunk adults with no money.

B: Yeah, but we had, you know, we’ve matured with them. It’s nice. I like that.

A: And also, like we came out of COVID and we had the brand new album ready. We did a sixteen date tour, and it sold out pretty quickly and I feel a lot of that growth was because we were coming out of that COVID period. No one had been to a show for eighteen months, everyone was absolutely ready to get back to a show and I think that was actually quite good for us really.

T: Yeah, people kind of felt ready to embrace the album then just run with all the shows and music videos and the support was just there out of the gate for it. That was awesome.

A: When did lockdown hit? Was it like March April, time? I can’t even remember! We were on tour the October, like the year after”.

DORK spoke with As December Falls in August about their success. Feeling like now is a moment that they have finally arrived, 2024 is a year where they can look ahead and take that next step. It is only a matter of time before world domination. A band that needs to be on your radar. They are going to be a fixture at many festivals in the summer:

“As December Falls first started making music together in 2014 and have released two sugary pop-punk albums alongside a handful of EPs and singles in the years since. They’ve remained definitely independent throughout. New album ‘Join The Club’ sees them, if not out to take on the world, then at the very least ready to crash the Official Album Chart. “It feels like we’ve finally arrived,” says vocalist Bethany Curtis.

“We’ve been laying the foundations, we’ve got the bricks and mortar down, and we’re ready to build it up another level now,” she continues, still recovering from a hectic weekend at Download Festival that saw As December Falls make their Donington debut. The band only live twenty minutes away from the heavy metal festival and grew up watching the likes of Slipknot, Biffy Clyro and Deftones. “It was our first time actually performing at Download, but it felt like a welcome home,” grins Bethany. “As soon as we got out onstage and saw people trying to cram themselves into that 10,000-capacity tent, we realised just how insane things have got.”

After slowly building the world of As December Falls, the past 18 months have seen things rapidly accelerate as the band head towards third album, ‘Join The Club’. “We want everyone to be part of this band,” explains Bethany, with the band setting up a Patreon for fans to have their say on every aspect of ADF’s new album, from videos and merch to what songs should be finished first. “It’s been really collaborative; it feels like they’ve been on the journey with us,” she continues, with long-term fans and newcomers given the same power. “Calling the album ‘Join The Club’ just felt right. We wanted to remind people that all of us have made this record together.”

Allowing so many voices to be involved in the creation process is a recipe for middle of the road, but As December Falls are now so confident in their vision of their band, nothing could derail them. “This album has really finalised our sound. It feels a lot more complete, and we’ve finally nailed everything we’ve been trying to do since this band started,” says Bethany. “In a way, it feels like our debut album. It’s definitely a new energy for the band.”

During the recording of the album, there were a couple of times the band worried they had gone “too My Chemical Romance” but as soon as Bethany’s poppy vocals were added, everything shifted, and the band could plough on. Heavy tracks like ‘Mayday’ and ‘Carousel’ sit next to pop-punk ragers like the title track, while ‘Little By Little’ and ‘Home’ are designed to kick listeners in the feels.

Having the fans essentially be As December Falls’ record label did add to the pressure when it came to creating ‘Join The Club’, though. “We wanted them to be as proud of the record as we are,” says Bethany. “Every time we’d show a demo to fans, we were expecting them to say they hated it. We’re still waiting for the day where they say, ‘this one isn’t good’.”

The community spills out into the physical world as well, with As December Falls gigs “a party that everyone is invited to. It’s a very welcoming environment,” adds Bethany, who knows a lot of people have had rubbish experiences in the alternative music scene. “It’s outrageous that kids are made to feel like outsiders in a genre like rock, which is meant to champion outsiders,” starts Bethany. “But whatever, they can come be whoever they want to be with us.” That camaraderie and freedom is why people first connect to As December Falls. “It’s also why they stick around,” Bethany explains. “It’s this massive community; why wouldn’t you want to be a part of that?”.

I want to come now to an interview from Official Charts from the summer, as Join the Club gave the band their biggest chart entry to date. As they explain in the interview, there are no labels bank-rolling the band: it is all the fans ensuring they can continue and thrive. The loyalty and dedication from their fans is simply amazing. I think that As December Falls will have their busiest year this one:

“As December Falls' story is one of drive, determination and perseverance.

The Nottingham-formed alt-rock trio, comprising Bethany Hunter, Ande Hunter and Timmy Francis, are currently heading for their first-ever Top 10 album with Join The Club; their third studio record across a career spanning almost a decade.

Proud of the collection, which the group are confident contains their 'best songs,' it looks set to see the group reach news highs as an independent act truly breaking into mainstream consciousness. Today, we catch up with As December Falls to talk turning down labels, their fans' unwavering support and how their 'tough' journey has always been worth it

Your new album is heading for the Top 10 alongside the likes of Blur, Taylor Swift and Elton John. How does it feel to be in the company of such icons?

Bethany: It's absolutely wild. We're a completely independent band with no label and no management, and the fact that we're battling it out with some of the biggest artists on the biggest labels is just nuts.

A Top 10 album would be an undeniable sign your music's connected with the masses, transcending your close fanbase. How does it feel to know your vulnerabilities are relatable on such a scale?

Bethany: Honestly, as a songwriter the most rewarding feeling is when you pour your darkest secrets and insecurities onto a page to then have the lyrics sung back to you by a sold-out crowd. We always made music to connect with people, everything else on top is just a bonus at this point. The past 12 months have been an incredible experience as a band.

This album feels a little heavier, sonically and thematically, than your past work. Was that a conscious progression?

Timmy: We didn't really go into this record with a set plan. We very intentionally just tried to write the best songs we could without worrying if they all fit into a certain 'genre' or 'box' sonically, and I feel that the result was something completely raw and honest. At no point did we think 'oh, we shouldn't use that riff as it's far too heavy for our normal sound.' We just went with the flow and we've written some of the best songs of our careers.

Which tracks on this record were you most excited for fans to hear - and do you get nervous as to the reaction?

Timmy: We really broadened out our song writing on this album. We have some of the heaviest tracks we've ever written, like Carousel and Mayday, alongside some of the softest songs like Home; so it's a real mixed-bag of a record. We honestly didn't know how our fans would react to the new style but they've really embraced it with open arms!

Your journey as a band hasn't necessarily been by the book. What would your advice be to any musicians wanting to make a name for themselves in a world so occupied with overnight success and near-instant gratification?

Ande: We've always been fiercely-independent, having turned down a number of label and management offers. I think our biggest advice to any artist would be to try your absolute hardest to build your artistry on your own for as long as possible before signing over all your music to someone else. It's a tough journey, but it's definitely worth it”.

Kerrang! have predicted big things for As December Falls this year. If you need some insight into Join the Club, then Bethany Curtis certainly provides some in this interview. I will end with Kerrang! and their review of Join the Club. This is an album that I have fallen in love with. I know so many other people have done too:

“Their band name might be lifted from the heart of winter, but As December Falls make music for when the sun is high in the sky. Plumbing into the same kind of springily indomitable pop-punk as early Paramore and We Are In The In Crowd, with a little more modernity, a pinch of extra alt.rock grit, the Nottingham collective intoxicate with simplicity – as this genre’s finest acts tend to do.

Where 2019’s self-titled debut was a DIY stroke of defiance in the face of an apparently disinterested industry, and 2021’s Happier bore the hallmarks of a band still building confidence, third album Join The Club feels like the crest of a wave: attitude, aptitude and belief that their songs will see thousands of fans rocking along coming together in a perfect storm.

The gouging guitars and Bethany Hunter’s joyously angsty vocals on the opening title-track feel like a literal invitation to those legions of fans-to-be. Honey wraps its-sugar-loaded tendrils around your heart and squeezes. Carousel feels like the first showcase for this record’s heavier side, but the crunchy guitars and thumping drums are most effective for throwing the central, surging energy into relief: more evocative of the thrill of amping-up on the edge of the pit than the violence of diving in.

Brilliantly, the juggernaut momentum, breathless emotion and urgent desire to find new ways to express themselves continues for a further eight tracks. It’s there in the jaunty swagger and claustrophobic panic of Mayday, in the aching melodrama of I Can’t Sleep, in the tingling acoustic of Home and in the percussive heartbeat of Alive.

Three albums in, some may think they’ve already seen what these guys have to offer, but by the time the beauty and dynamism of whirlwind closer Tear It Out drops curtain, it’s clear that this is As December Falls’ arrival. And they could be huge.

Verdict: 4/5”

Do not miss out on this band. Despite being together for a decade now, 2024 is a year when they are going to truly break through. They should be among your names to watch. Such an amazing trio that have this incredible sound in their locker. Amazing live, together with that growing fanbase, and one would not bet against them achieving incredible things this year. There is no doubt that As December Falls are a band that…

YOU need in your lives.

___________

Follow As December Falls

Official:

https://www.asdecemberfalls.com/

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/asdecemberfalls/

TikTok:

https://www.tiktok.com/@asdecemberfalls

Twitter:

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Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/7Atp614yT56v9XrlqZryzX?si=p51vPv1-TlKkipULSv59uQ

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FEATURE: Elevated Pitch: The LuckChap Entertainment Empire, Margot Robbie: Future Director, and Gender Imbalance in Hollywood

FEATURE:

 

 

Elevated Pitch

IN THIS PHOTO: Margot Robbie/PHOTO CREDIT: Victoria Stevens for Variety

The LuckChap Entertainment Empire, Margot Robbie: Future Director, and Gender Imbalance in Hollywood

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AHEAD of the nominations…

IN THIS PHOTO: Margot Robbie alongside Joey McNamara (left) and Tom Ackerley/PHOTO CREDIT: Victoria Stevens for Variety

being announced for this year’s Academy Awards on 23rd January, there is a lot of attention around a production company and growing empire that is behind some of the biggest films of last year (before that, one Margot Robbie and Barbie are nominated at the Golden Globes this Monday coming (8th January). LuckyChap Entertainment are based in Los Angeles and was formed in 2014 by Margot Robbie, Tom Ackerley, Sophia Kerr and Josey McNamara. Recently, Robbie, Ackerley and McNamara spoke with Variety about the success of Barbie and Saltburn. Two recent and successful films under their belt have built their name and reputation. With award-nominated and box office hits under their belt and some fascinating projects upcoming, LuckyChap Entertainment are one of the most original and successful production houses in film. Aside from Robbie and her co-founders seeking out interesting and fresh films that jump off the page, there is also this desire to support and highlight incredible female filmmakers. Working with Greta Gerwig (director/co-writer) on Barbie, Emerald Fennell (director and writer) on Saltburn and Olivia Wilde on a future film, Naughty, LuckyChap Entertainment are showcasing the work of some of Hollywood’s most talented and remarkable voices. I want to start with a 2022 interview from Grazia Daily, where Margot Robbie spoke about getting Barbie off the ground, and addressing female directors in Hollywood. Until Barbie, she had only been directed by one woman -  Josie Rourke for Mary Queen of Scots -, even though she had worked with a lot of female directors for her T.V. career:

“The BAFTA nominated actress admits that she didn't anticipate the amount of attention she would get. 'It was my first film in America,' she continues. 'Honestly, I know that sounds silly now, knowing how big the movie became, but at the time, I said, "No one's going to notice me in this film, everyone will be focused on Leo [DiCaprio] and I'll just slip under the radar."'

Through her remarkable career, Margot has worked with a breadth of legendary film directors; from Martin Scorsese on Wolf of Wall Street, to Quentin Tarantino on Once Upon A Time...In Hollywood. But it was noted that in the nearly 20 feature films she'd starred in - she hadn't been directed by a woman, until Josie Rourke for Mary Queen of Scots.

Margot says, 'When that became a big part of that conversation, I was like," I've worked with tonnes of women oh, it's all in TV. "' She explains, 'Every single director I work with has a totally different personality and different process. Of course, Josie has a particular insight as a woman, but then you do something like Bombshell with a Jay Roach, and he's the most emotionally intuitive person I know. ' She adds, 'So, I wouldn't say that it didn't work better because he was a man. When it comes to dealing with those specific topics - it's really down to the person. '

I like doing things that are scary, and Barbie was definitely scary because there's so much recognition and baggage.

A style icon since the 50s, Barbie has been setting trends with her pink aesthetic for multiple generations. Today, she’s still at the forefront as the 'Barbiecore' trend infiltrates pop culture (with 7 million TikTok views and counting.) And who is responsible for the resurgence of the trend? It's all thanks to Margot after being papped in THAT bright pink aerobics-inspired look, whilst filming the 2023 Barbie live-action film. 'It's insane,' she says. 'I didn't know it would get the hype that it seems to have already.'

She recounts that it wasn't an easy mission trying to persuade people on how much impact the film could have. She explains, 'When we were trying to get the budget that we needed for it. I kept saying to boards "This is the most globally recognised word next to like Coca Cola, everyone knows Barbie. This will hit!"' She jokes,' Give us more money for budget!'

But what drew Margot to this project? She explains, 'Barbie seemed like a huge opportunity. I was coming at it as a producer to begin with so, I didn't really think of it from the acting point of view until I knew that it was a goal.' She adds,' I knew the only way worth doing it was to have the Greta Gerwig version - I didn't really want to make a straightforward version of the film that didn't seem exciting.'

While Margot is grateful the upcoming film has sparked interest already - she just hopes it doesn't fizzle out. 'The producer side of me is like, everyone just put a lid on it - we're releasing this next summer, ' she says. Adding, ''I would really love the hype to still be there in a couple of month's time, just not right now. But it's exciting, it's great that it ignites conversation, debate, and interest.'

And while the rise of streaming is evident, as a self-confessed movie fanatic, Margot doesn't think the world should count out the theatrical experience any time soon. 'Nothing makes me happier than when a movie does well in theatres - that helps all of us.' She throws out a question of her own, 'Think of your favourite song. Imagine if the first time you heard that song was live at a concert, or the first time was on the radio. I mean, wouldn't you rather it be live? You'll never forget that experience and you can never get that first time back”.

I do hope there is more written about LuckChap Entertainment. There is a lot of emphasis on actors and directors, though we do not often get to hear about producers and companies behind successful films. Margot Robbie is one of the most successful and respected producers in Hollywood. The fact Variety spotlighted LuckyChap Entertainment and gave us some behind-the-scenes exposure of a wonderful team and company is fantastic. I am not sure how many Academy Awards Saltburn will be nominated for, though you feel Barbie could easily get seven or eight nominations – including Margot Robbie for Best Actress:

“Sitting on a sunny rooftop patio of her Los Angeles production company, LuckyChap, flanked by co-founders Tom Ackerley and Josey McNamara, Robbie says, “When we finished the press tour, I was like, ‘I guess I’ll throw all the pink out of my wardrobe now.’” They all laugh. “But the fact that we’re going to the Golden Globes and all that stuff? I truly did not see that coming. I’m not trying to be modest.”

To house its booming production enterprise, LuckyChap is outfitting new digs in L.A. Today, Robbie’s office, one of the only areas that’s fully renovated so far, boasts a plush white carpet and a rendering of a pink high heel that’s reminiscent of the iconic shot of Robbie stepping out of Barbie’s feathered shoes. Her friend also gifted her a piece from a New York street artist that has a 1950s era Barbie sitting on the floor with her stiletto pressed against the face of a crawling Ken doll — a perfect merging of Robbie’s breakout performance in 2013’s “Wolf of Wall Street” and now, Barbie, precisely 10 years later.

PHOTO CREDIT: Victoria Stevens for Variety

In that time, the company has grown to 13 employees, with a film division (directed by Bronte Payne) housed in one area of the office and the TV team (led by Dani Gorin) in another, all working on the 20 projects they have in active development.

“The office is a five-minute skateboard ride away from home,” Robbie says enthusiastically, while she and Ackerley give me a tour.

Before “Barbie,” LuckyChap’s three biggest films — 2017’s “I, Tonya” and 2020’s “Birds of Prey” and “Promising Young Woman” — were successful, grossing a combined $275 million worldwide and winning two Oscars out of six nominations. “Barbie” made five times that and recently earned nine Golden Globe nominations and a record-setting 18 Critics Choice nods, on top of special prizes at the Gotham Awards and slots on the National Board of Review and AFI lists of the year’s best films.

PHOTO CREDIT: Victoria Stevens for Variety

“God, if every year could be like this one!” Robbie exclaims as we sit down, her Australian accent punctuated with a hint of wistfulness.

Beyond the broken records and the accolades, Robbie, Ackerley and McNamara see 2023 as a shining example of everything they hoped to achieve with the company, which was founded in their London flat in 2014. Robbie and Ackerley, who are married, met on the set of “Suite Française,” an independent feature on which Ackerley and McNamara (both Brits) were working as assistant directors. Robbie was an Aussie soap star with big-screen aspirations. The trio bonded over their desire to tell female-driven stories.

How do you plan to build on the success of “Barbie” and “Saltburn”?

TOM ACKERLEY: What we set out to do in the beginning is working. We’ve built this company around filmmakers, and we want them to take big swings and be really bold and tell original stories. We’re happy to take the big swings and miss; we’d rather that than play it safe.

MARGOT ROBBIE: Originality is definitely the key. But the thing about being original is you can’t do the thing that worked before. As much as we’re trying to celebrate the moment we’re in right now, our minds immediately go to what’s next. You can’t be original again; you have to be original every time. Whether it’s “I, Tonya” — the tone of that was so completely original — or “Barbie,” they’re all very bold. We swing for the fences, and sometimes you hit it out of the park and it’s amazing. But even if you didn’t hit it out of the park, you can’t not keep taking those big swings.

How do you decide what projects to take on?

MCNAMARA: It’s as important to know what to say no to as it is to say yes to. I don’t think we’re interested in pumping out 100 movies as quick as we can. It’s more, “Who are the people we love working with, and let’s build long-term relationships with them and help support their careers.” Repeat business is key.

ROBBIE: We have to be really clear about why we started the company and what our North Star is always going to be. Because any opportunity is exciting. We set out to break barriers with and for female talent, and if it isn’t a project that could potentially do that, then it’s not a project for us.

ACKERLEY: We obviously have people we would die to work with, but we’re as excited about breaking new talent as we are working with the best of the best filmmakers, like the Gretas and the Emeralds of the world. We want to look back in 10 years’ time and be proud that we fostered and broke a generation of filmmakers.

IN THIS PHOTO: Olivia Wilde/PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images

LuckyChap has announced that it will be making Olivia Wilde’s next film, “Naughty,” with Universal. The project is on target to begin shooting early this year. What interested you in it?

ROBBIE: We have a penchant for actress-turned-writer-directors, between Olivia, Greta, Emerald and Megan. It’s our sweet spot.

Margot, you’ve mentioned that you want to direct one day. What’s the timeline on that?

ROBBIE: I don’t know. The tricky thing is, as much as I say I’m strict about saying no as a producer, I also get so excited with all the things that I could produce that it ends up taking up all my time. And as an actor, I get to work with so many brilliant directors and watch them do it — it’s like having a front-row seat to the best master class in the world. So it’s really tempting to keep doing that. But directing is a dear ambition of mine”.

PHOTO CREDIT: Cass Bird for WSJ. Magazine

I want to go back to November 2022 and an article from The Wall Street Journal. Looking back a year and seeing how LuckyChap Entertainment have grown since. Even in 2022, Margot Robbie was being heralded as a force for change in Hollywood. Someone very much putting female voices first:

“The company’s current slate of projects widely varies in content and tenor. What the company looks for, according to its principals: material that is left of center. Fresh. Experimental. Yet commercial, they are quick to clarify. Of the projects pitched to them, only “1 percent are the ‘f— yeses,’ ” says Robbie. LuckyChap co-founder and co-principal Josey McNamara adds, “I wouldn’t say [the rest] are ‘hell nos’—a lot of times…it’s not right for us.”

Robbie says that the #MeToo movement has brought even more momentum to the company’s longstanding mission: “The knock-on effect of that was that a slipstream was created for female creatives. I can see quite a few of us riding that slipstream, and I would encourage all female creatives to ride in it.”

Among the talent fostered by the LuckyChap team: filmmaker and writer Emerald Fennell, whose 2020 film Promising Young Woman won her an Oscar, a BAFTA award and a WGA Award, all for best original screenplay. Fennell has become something of an in-house director and proof of concept for LuckyChap, which is also producing her second film, Saltburn, currently in post-production. Fennell says that the company has nurtured and defended her work.

PHOTO CREDIT: Cass Bird for WSJ. Magazine

“They’re not pandering to Hollywood or anyone else,” she says. “They stand behind you and don’t care if it gets them into trouble.” From the beginning of her working relationship with LuckyChap, “They never made me feel like a little girl. They believed in me and helped me,” Fennell says. “I felt safe with them.” And in Hollywood, she says, “it’s no small thing.”

Writer and director Greta Gerwig—who co-wrote and is directing the upcoming LuckyChap project Barbie—also describes Robbie and LuckyChap as champions of the female talent with whom they work. “Once they back a project, they back it all the way,” she says. As both an actor and producer, “Margot has a flash of certainty and then runs at it,” Gerwig says. “She doesn’t have a waffling aspect to her psyche.” 

Robbie and her colleagues are part of a wave of film and TV leaders helping women commandeer top creative roles and tell women’s stories on-screen. Actor and director Eva Longoria founded UnbeliEVAble Entertainment, dedicated to telling scripted and unscripted Latino stories. Writer and director Ava DuVernay founded Array, a collective that produces content that aims to “tell inclusive and entertaining stories that will…[amplify] people of color and women of all kinds across all narrative formats.” Hello Sunshine—a media company created by producer and Oscar-winning actor Reese Witherspoon—“puts women at the center of every story we create, celebrate and discover.” (Witherspoon sold the company in 2021 for a reported $900 million to a new company backed by private equity firm

PHOTO CREDIT: Cass Bird for WSJ. Magazine

It’s an increasingly crowded playing field. While sometimes LuckyChap must compete for projects with other companies with similar mandates, “it doesn’t feel like unhealthy competition,” says Robbie. “I’d be thrilled for even more female-led and female-driven companies to start. The more the merrier.”

“They’re not pandering to Hollywood or anyone else,” Emerald Fennell says of Robbie and the LuckyChap Entertainment co-founders. “They stand behind you and don’t care if it gets them into trouble.” Jacquemus shirt and tie, $755, Jacquemus.com.

In the earliest years in the film industry, women regularly worked as directors and producers. In the early 20th century, director Alice Guy Blaché ran her own studio, Solax, and produced up to three films a week; Dorothy Arzner directed nearly 20 films between 1927 and 1943. However, once motion pictures showed signs of becoming lucrative as mass entertainment, Wall Street took notice; the studio system emerged and quickly locked down the industry. Female directors and producers were largely exiled.

“Hollywood was an open space at the time and a new industry,” says Stacy Smith, associate professor of communication at the University of Southern California and founder of the school’s Annenberg Inclusion Initiative. “[But] when money comes in, marginalized communities are pushed out…. That’s a common theme that runs all the way to present day.” 

PHOTO CREDIT: Cass Bird for WSJ. Magazine

Over the decades, as the industry changed, some determined actresses founded companies or acted as producers in an attempt to assert control over their careers. Actor Mary Pickford founded her own production company in 1916 to create better projects and collaborations for herself and helped found United Artists in 1919 in part to distribute her films. After being designated “box office poison” in 1938, Katharine Hepburn managed to option rights to Philadelphia Story and use it as a vehicle for a comeback on her own terms. The movie earned her a best actress Oscar nomination; Robbie cites it as one of her favorite films. 

“It’s easy to put female names on a list,” Robbie says of getting female-driven films made. “It’s a bigger hurdle to get someone to bankroll [a] project. We still have a long way to go in that regard; that ship is going to take so much longer to course-correct.”

PHOTO CREDIT: Cass Bird for WSJ. Magazine

While galvanizing, these triumphs and others that followed also belie the historical fight for gender equity in the industry. Only five women have won an Academy Award for an original screenplay since 1956, when the Academy established its current configuration of writing categories; just three women have won best director, out of eight total nominations. (Jane Campion has been nominated twice.) Even with the current proliferation of companies dedicated to nurturing female talent, Smith warns that statistics show that inequality remains tenacious.

Today studios and production companies are considering more female directors and writers, says Robbie. “[But] it’s easy to put female names on a list,” she says. “It’s a bigger hurdle to get someone to bankroll [a] project. We still have a long way to go in that regard; that ship is going to take so much longer to course-correct”.

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I think there is something genuinely wonderful and innovative about LuckyChap Entertainment. Their ethos, passion and drive is inspiring! The projects they take on and how they are supporting incredible women and also bringing these captivating stories to life. The future is hugely busy and exciting for them. I know that Margot Robbie especially, as actor and producer, will have a hectic year ahead – and I hope she gets to appear in a film where she uses her natural Australian accent -; maybe awards will come her way and there will be new honours. Margot Robbie, Tom Ackerley, Josey McNamara and Sophia Kerr have created this modern-day empire that, unlike a more faceless company or studio, seems to have a very personal and down-to-earth touch. From the vibe and stunning new offices to the impressive and successful filmography behind them right now, I think that the next few years will see LuckyChap Entertainment grow even bigger. Bringing through incredible upcoming female directors and working in T.V. and film. I am excited by the idea of Margot Robbie directing soon. I have said before how she seems like a natural director. So many projects you could see her helming. Whether a biopic (I am begging for someone to make a Blondie biopic!), literary adaptation, Indie film or blockbuster, you know she could make any film a massive success. I want to end with Variety. They write that, despite female filmmakers like Greta Gerwig and Celine Song (Past Lives) making some of 2023’s best films, there is still huge gender disparity throughout film:

“Greta Gerwig‘s “Barbie” wasn’t just the year’s biggest box office winner. It also made history as the highest-grossing movie directed by a woman. Despite the film’s outsized success, major studios gave most of their biggest gigs to male filmmakers.

That’s the conclusion of a new study by the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film at San Diego State University.  It found that women comprised just 16% of directors on the 250 top-grossing films, which was down from 18% in 2022. There were modest improvements the higher up the list of money-earners you climb — female filmmakers called the shots on 14% of the 100 top films, which was up from 11% in 2022.

IN THIS PHOTO: Celine Song/PHOTO CREDIT: Matthew Dunivan

The findings come as female filmmakers like Gerwig, “Salburn’s” Emerald Fennell, “Past Lives’s” Celine Song and “Priscilla’s” Sofia Coppola released some of the year’s buzziest and most acclaimed movies; and pop divas like Beyoncé and Taylor Swift topped the box office with concert films.

All that critical and commercial success hasn’t changed the employment picture. Indeed, things weren’t much brighter when it came to female talent in other key roles. Overall, women accounted for 22% of all directors, writers, producers, executive producers, editors and cinematographers working on the 250 top-grossing films. That was a decline from 24% in 2022. Moreover, 75% of the top-grossing films employed 10 or more men in key behind-the-scenes roles, while just 4% employed 10 or more women.

In descending order women comprised 26% of producers, 24% of executive producers, 21% of editors, 17% of writers, 14% of composers and 7% of cinematographers. Of these roles, women saw gains as composers on the top 250 films, improving by 6%. The number of women employed as producers, executive producers and writers all declined, while the percentage of female editors and cinematographers was roughly even with 2022.

IN THIS PHOTO: Greta Gerwig/PHOTO CREDIT: Ben Rayner via Festival De Cannes

“It’s the ultimate illusion, Greta Gerwig’s well-deserved triumph belies the inequality that pervades the mainstream film industry,” Dr. Martha Lauzen, the report’s author and the center’s founder and executive director, said in a statement. “The numbers tell the story. Behind-the-scenes gender ratios in Hollywood remain dramatically skewed in favor of men.”

The study found that on movies with at least one woman director, more women were hired for key behind-the-scenes roles than films with exclusively male directors. When women were in the directing chair, 61% of writers, 35% of editors, 10% of cinematographers and 26% of composers were female. On films with male directors, women accounted for 9% of writers, 18% of editors, 7% of cinematographers and 11% of composers”.

I wanted to nod to LuckyChap Entertainment before we see whether Barbie and Saltburn are going to scoop Oscar nominations. It is not about the awards and box office. Even so, for Margot Robbie and everyone at LuckyChap Entertainment, starting on modest ground, accolades and financial success is very important. A sign that their vision is coming to life and connecting with people around the world. Despite the fact LuckyChap Entertainment does not exclusively work with female directors, I think that their collaborators with amazing women in film is one of their best aspects. I think it is the dream of every director/screenwriter (me included) to have their script in the hands of LuckyChap Entertainment. There is that blend of a familial vibe and this very determined and ambitious company that are really adding their stamp on the industry. After a very busy and successful 2023, it already looks like this year is going to magnificent for Margot Robbie, Tom Ackerley, Sophia Kerr and Josey McNamara’s baby. LuckyChap Entertainment has grow into…

A wonderful and inclusive empire.

FEATURE: Queens of Pop: Why the Dominance of Female Artists Should Tip the Industry Scales

FEATURE:

 

 

Queens of Pop

IN THIS PHOTO: RAYE

Why the Dominance of Female Artists Should Tip the Industry Scales

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THE start of this year…

IN THIS PHOTO: PinkPantheress/PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images

has already seen women very much front and centre of critical attention. BBC’s Sound of 2024 was dominated by women. So many of the best new acts to watch are women or bands fronted by women. This year is clearly one where music’s queens will rule. I think this has been the case for years but, especially right now, there is proof that they are owning the airwaves and making the best music around. Even if attention and appreciation is being paid, will the industry reverse gender bias in regards festival spaces? Many women in the industry feel objectified. That labels and the industry treats them as toys or puppets. Not being treated fairly and given much dignity. This all needs to change. We are seeing a new Pop revolution that is fronted by women. Reacting to news that female artists had a huge year across commercial radio in the U.K. last year, The Guardian wrote why the best Pop stars are women. That being said, the industry needs to endure that women are given their dues - and we no longer have to talk about imbalance and inequality through an industry they are defining:

“Madonna, Beyoncé, Britney, Whitney: if you think about the most iconic names in mainstream pop history, you’ll probably come up with a list of women. And this week, we have solid confirmation of female artists’ dominance. British audiences listen to more female musicians than male, according to the latest industry figures for 2023.

It was the most successful performance for women on the UK singles chart since it began in 1952, the British Phonographic Institute (BPI) found. This included artists such as Raye and PinkPantheress, both of whom saw their music proliferate on TikTok this year, and those global heavy hitters you’d probably expect: Miley Cyrus – whose single Flowers stayed at No 1 for 10 weeks on the UK chart – Billie Eilish, Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo et al.

And yet, despite this, unbalanced festival line-ups and award ceremonies dominated by men do little to reflect the cultural weight that woman artists carry. The music business has always been deeply sexist. It is only in very recent years that female pop artists in general have been taken seriously by the music press and listeners at large. But the latest figures do show some signs of change.

First, the figures offer confirmation and recognition that a large majority of the biggest names in mainstream music are now women. And second, they show that the commercial heft of female musicians now matches their societal impact.

Throughout the decades, women have always made the best pop stars, in my view (consider all of those I mentioned above for proof), through a unique mix of sexuality and magnetism and the fact that pop music itself has long been coded culturally as feminine. A “poptimist” shift in the last couple of decades seems to finally have decreed pop music and, perhaps, the women who make it, as worthy of genuine critical attention. Lana Del Rey, for instance – now widely considered America’s greatest living songwriter – was famously dismissed as unserious at her 2012 debut.

Also worth considering is the simple fact that there aren’t really as many male pop juggernauts as there used to be, despite the perma-popularity of artists such as Ed Sheeran, Lewis Capaldi and Harry Styles. Where we had the charisma machine that was George Michael in the 1980s and, in the 1990s and 2000s, Robbie Williams – whose historic 2003 Knebworth concerts still hold the record for the most people an artist has ever played to in Britain – there are few solo male pop artists who, today, feel as if they come close.

The pipeline of female solo artists about to come into the mainstream, too, is in rude health: the most exciting “rising” pop acts in the world now tend to be young women. The coming year, for instance, looks to be dominated by a 20-year-old Canadian named Tate McRae, whose stage presence and physical precision call to mind Britney Spears in the early 2000s. On their way to household name status, too, are Sexyy Red, Sabrina Carpenter, Reneé Rapp and a host of others”.

It is about the industry not only acknowledging the raft of varied and hugely strong female talent defining and evolving Pop. They are creating so much for the industry. Doing so much fantastic work, in the past, that has not been reflected in fairness. Festivals still hiding behind excuses. A lack of appropriate artists to fill the biggest slots. Award ceremonies struggling to nominated women in various categories. Young artists speaking about being used as a prop or disrespected. A very challenging industry that is hard for any artist, this is especially true for young women. There needs to be this respect and understanding that the tide has turned. With women very much at the forefront, how can the music industry have imbalance and still play more male artists?! Festival still overrun with male artists. So many of them are very tired and predictable, whereas there are women who are fresh and oriignal being overlooked. The Pop queens who are getting this amazing press right now are ready to step up. Line-ups for big festivals will be announced soon. We will see truly whether the balance shifts at all. I hope so. We are still in a position where we have to challenge festivals, radio stations and labels regarding the visibility of women and how they are treated. We should not need to have these conversations in 2024!

It is not just ‘Pop’ where women are making their mark. Across so many genres and corners of music, women are very much producing the best work. It is hard to overcome and reverse decades of bias and the norm. The industry naturally and lazily favouring male artists and seeing them as the driving force. Treating them better and given them more opportunities. Although not everything will be eradicated this year, this exposure of female artists and their success should force the industry to address the past and help create a more equal future. The queens of music are not asking for a lot. Only what is owed and rightly earned! With so many natural festival headliners already out there, together with a wave of new artists who mean we are spoiled for choice, we cannot ignore the fact. An industry often accused of sexism and misogyny needs to change! Women need to be properly respected. Many might say they are already though, when we hear stories of imbalance and male artists still being the go-to, this does not really ring true. This year should be one for positive change. It not only gives hope for women coming through that they have a place. It means the industry is much more interesting and varied. Not having to feature the same artists and repeat mistakes. There is hope at least! If we are in the same position this time next year, then we really have to ask serious questions. The news that women dominated the U.K. singles market last year is another sign that things are changing. The industry needs to react. In the coming weeks and months, we will see if…

THEY truly step up.

FEATURE: To Watch in 2024: Tyla

FEATURE:

 

 

To Watch in 2024

PHOTO CREDIT: Epic/Fax Records

Tyla

_________

THIS year is going to see some…

truly awesome artists make their mark on the scene. Someone I have written about before but feel compelled to revisit just came in fourth in the BBC Sound of 2024 list. I will come to the corresponding interview at the end. First, there are a few more that I want to come to. Tyla is someone who is going to make big strides this year. I am going to bring in a few interview so that we can get a fuller impression of an artist who is going to conquer the globe before too long. She is someone I have loved for a long time. Such a fresh and exciting voice in music. Do make sure you check Tyla out and what she is doing. Born and raised in Johannesburg, Tyla hails from a multiracial ethnic group in South Africa with the highest levels of mixed ancestry in the world - and a rich history and cultural identity. Back in October, Wonderland. spoke with the twenty-one-year-old superstar-in-the-making. In their words, Tyla was “Championing the Johannesburg music scene with her ethereal flow and Pop-tinged take on the rapidly rising South African dance genre, Amapiano, the music riser is making her presence known”. This is someone who is going to rise to the highest levels. Such is her talent and passion she has:

“Introducing a rising genre to new audiences is no easy feat. But 21-year-old Tyla – aka Tyla Laura Seethal – is giving it a try. “So I do make Amapiano music, but I wouldn’t say I’m an Amapiano artist,” contemplates the artist as she reflects on the South African music genre that she is bringing to promi-nence. Growing roots in South Africa during the mid 2010s, the genre is a melting pot of Deep House, Jazz and Lounge, which marry in symphonic har-mony, characterised by distinctive sounds packed with signature vibrating synths and wide percussive baselines. “It’s definitely new for the Western world. But I mean, it’s been around for so long in South Af-rica. We’ve been partying to this genre. It’s been a part of our culture for a long time. So naturally, I fell into it. I wanted to explore it as well as put my own spin on it. That’s why I make it a bit more Pop-y.”

PHOTO CREDIT: Wonderland.

The Pop-infused sound in question first graced our ears when the songstress made her debut two years ago, with the uptempo tune “Getting Late” ft. Kooldrink. Amassing 6.2M YouTube views since its release, the internet embraced Tyla with arms wide open and her debut was hailed a success. But, a quick scroll to the depths of her YouTube channel – which hosts archival gems of an infant Tyla bellowing Justin Bieber covers at the camera – is all it takes to confirm that her love affair with music has been nurtured since infancy. “My family is very mu-sical,” the artist confirms as she reminisces on her childhood spent in Johannesburg. “My family sings and plays instruments. My parents cannot sing, but they love music. My gran can sing, she would do it a lot when we were growing up. She’d do competi-tions and that’s how she would get money. She al-ways says I got [my talent] from her, and I probably did.” With her gran’s influence guiding her, a young Tyla began putting pen to paper – well, pen to diary. Filling a journal with her first scrawling of lyrics and song ideas, along with the detailing of boy crushes, the making of Tyla was underway. Will the musings of the young artist ever see the light of day? “There was a song that I recorded that had something that was similar to what I’ve written in that diary. It’s not out, but it was something that was recorded.

With confirmation that there will “definitely be Amapiano songs on the EP,” and her recently-released summer anthem “Water” giving listeners a scintillating hint at what is to come, South Africa’s global musical revolution is in motion. And, Tyla is sure she is the right person to spearhead the move-ment. “Firstly, being from South Africa, I’m from a completely different place. Not many Pop stars are emerging from where I’m coming from. So that is already exciting. I think I have a new sound and I’m also a performer. I dance, I sing, I do it all. And I genuinely have so much passion and love for what I do. I just see the potential and how far I could go not only with music but also outside of music in the industry.” Self-assured she may be, but Tyla is not the only person invested in her success – the social me-dia-crazed TikTokers are also backing her. “I was just seeing people from everywhere making videos to “Getting Late”,” she says of her viral reception on the app. “From places I had never heard about ever in my life. Places that I’ve always dreamed of going to; that was very exciting for me around that time”.

Tyla was featured by Cosmopolitan in October. Someone who was introducing and exposing South African culture to a global stage, there was this growing excitement and anticipation. Songs such as Water have demonstrated why she is so heralded. The latest BBC Sound of 2024 honour shows that her music is spreading worldwide. I predict that she will feature at some massive festivals in the summer:

“Water” has positioned the 21-year-old South African star in a league of popular artists solidifying Afrobeats music in the mainstream (see: Tems and Tiwa Savage). And Tyla is already making history. She became the first South African solo artist to enter the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 in 55 years since Hugh Masekela did it. (That was back in 1968 if math’s not your thing.)

So how does a girl who hadn’t left South Africa before signing to her label adjust to global spotlight? Cosmopolitan sat down with Tyla—fresh off her U.S. TV debut performance on The Tonight Show—for a check-in...and some tips on how not to look ridiculous while attempting the “Water” dance.

PHOTO CREDIT: Ruben Chamorro

Congrats on “Water” going viral! You’re blowing up. I know you wanted to put out a smaller project before your debut album—how is the development process going? Where are you on that journey?

I have a lot of amazing songs. I’ve been recording for basically two years trying to make the project that I’m happy with. My mini one is just a little taste, you know, so people have more things to listen to other than “Water” and people can get to know my sound and who Tyla is as an artist. Then the debut album, mmm! That’s gonna be a moment. I really love how artists used to break back in the day, so I try to bring that back with the things I do. I really liked that time.

Which era are you most drawn to when you look at different times in music history?

The 2000s for sure. When Rihanna was coming up, and Aaliyah was doing her thing. Beyoncé, that era.

I can see a lot of that influence in your fashion too. What type of things are on your mood board when you’re curating a look?

I just like feeling a certain way, you know? When I put on something, it has to make me feel something. In general, the easy island type of vibe has always been mine. A very sweaty, ripped look.

Is there an essential piece that’s best to wear during the “Water” dance? What do you suggest to get the most movement going?

Girl, definitely a skirt. Not a tight one. It can be a little tight by the waist, but your bum needs to be free. That’s the trick. Like, your bum can’t be tense in the outfit.

PHOTO CREDIT: Ruben Chamorro

What type of music were you listening to when you were growing up? Were they into pop culture?

My parents listen to everything. My house was always playing music every day. We’d wake up to music, we’d come home to music. Rap, R&B, pop, our type of House in South Africa—not the oontz-oontz type. Jazz, literally almost everything. So I had a wide variety, and I fell in love with it all. I think that’s why my sound is a fusion of a lot of different things—because I don’t like just one sound.

What would you consider your career high so far?

Oh my gosh, there have been so many moments, especially this year. I feel like this was my year in general. “Water” has made my life. Everything that’s happening is crazy, and it doesn’t feel real yet. Being from where I’m from, this thing doesn’t happen all the time. I’m happy that I’m able to do that not only for myself and my music but also for South Africa and African music as a whole.

There’s so much precision. I think that’s something people respect about you as well—it seems like you have a real respect for your craft. What is your rehearsal process like when you’re getting a performance together? Are you a perfectionist?

I’m definitely a perfectionist. When things are just “eh,” it’s like, what’s the point? But I also have people around me that I trust, so we work very well together to create something beautiful. There’s also the fact that my creative team is from South Africa. So everything I do is South African and close to home and constantly pushing the culture and who I am in general, you know? I love to rehearse. I love to get things right. But there are times when I leave it to God, and it always comes back the way it’s supposed to.

Thinking about your career specifically, if you were able to sit down with the version of yourself that exists 10 years from now, what would you hope she’d have to report back to you?

I would just want her to say that Tyla is the biggest pop star of my time. Because I want that pop star to be from Africa. That’s really something that I want in general and for myself”.

Harper’s Bazzar spotlighted the remarkable Tyla at the end of last year. With a debut album being worked on and new music coming pretty soon, there are going to be more and more eyes on this astonishing artist. I have not heard anyone quite like her. This all means that 2024 is a year where Tyla will dominate. I have no doubt about that. A hugely important name in modern music. If you are not aware of her then do make sure that you check her out as soon as possible:

“Portions of her debut LP have been recorded in multiple countries, including the United Arab Emirates, Nigeria, the United Kingdom, Ghana, and the United States. That global influence permeates her upcoming album, set for release in 2024. Tyla’s new songs—“On and On,” “Truth or Dare,” “Butterflies,” and the “Water (Remix)” with Travis Scott—are available now for fans who preorder her upcoming self-titled album. Her airy voice floats above melodies, detailing how love went wrong and the joy of finding someone new. She is clearly well on her way to the global stardom she’s striving for.

Her diverse approach to production and choice of collaborators ultimately fuel what she considers her “popiano” sound, a fusion of pop and amapiano influences, such as kwaito music. “I just love mixing R&B and pop with African production. That is my favorite type of music,” Tyla says.

Though celebrated for her bubbly persona on social media, there is greater depth to her budding talent—this musical moment has been years in the making. Tyla scripts her videos’ storyboards, is hands-on with her stylist, pens songs from personal experiences, and more importantly, understands the value of teamwork. “Obviously, I enjoy doing things by myself. But I always find that I enjoy collaborating with people. I enjoy those sessions more. It is more creative. I am able to bounce [ideas] off of people. Then, people can bounce off of me,” she says. “I love getting inspiration and sharing where I am from and things about my life and culture.”

The person most responsible for instilling these values in her also helped establish the breezy style that launched Tyla’s career—it was her mother. The singer would raid her mom’s closet as a tyke, hoping to emulate her beauty. “I love fashion … I would wear all my mother’s clothes, heels, shoes, and everything. I would model for my family … I really grew up looking up to my mother and loving the way she carried herself,” she says. While brand names are not yet a major focal point for her at this stage, being put together is. As with her music, Tyla’s style is more concentrated on execution than anything else. So far, the performer has worn looks from Gen Z–adored brands Di Petsa and Blumarine, which have caught fans’ attention. As we have learned over the years, fashion is nearly as vital in building a superstar as music.

That sentiment was showcased on social media recently through a snippet of her video for “Truth or Dare,” filmed in Jamaica, with creative direction from Thato Nzimande. The single’s emphasis on how exes play themselves only to regret it later carries weight with Tyla’s audiences. The lyrics (“So, let’s play truth or dare / Dare you to forget / That you used to treat me just like anyone”) remind listeners that women with their own things going on are at liberty to hold romantic partners accountable.

PHOTO CREDIT: Jeremy Soma

Tyla confirms that she writes about what she is familiar with. “A lot of the new songs I relate to,” she says. “With my songs, I just do storytelling … I do find myself in all the music that I make.” Her eyes are set on having it all, and why not?

She is not afraid to voice what she wants out of fame. “I want to become the biggest pop star and to advocate for Africa and African music wherever I go. That would make me feel like I have made it,” she says. Among her dream collaborators are Rihanna, PartyNextDoor, Drake, and Blackpink, to name a few. Her passion and purpose have led her this far, and will continue propelling her forward.

As she puts it: “I am so ready for everything that is to come”.

I shall come to that new interview from the BBC. After being placed fourth in their annual competition to decide which artists will define the year, she reflected on her upbringing and path into music. Even if people define her with a song like Water, there is a lot more music to come. Her debut album is going to be among the most anticipated of this year. Someone who is rightly earning a lot of praise and celebration at the moment. An artist far too special and strong to overlook:

“I really looked up to Rihanna, because she came from outside America and just dominated the industry," she says. And if a girl from Barbados could do it, why not her?

After "a lot of convincing and a lot of crying", her parents gave her a year to break into the industry. If she didn't succeed, she had to go back to school.

"And I'm still on my gap year now!"

Tyla released her debut single, Getting Late, in 2019, casually creating a new genre in the process.

Called Popiano, it's essentially a more streamlined, hook-heavy variant of Amapiano - the popular South African sound that blends house music with reggae, jazz and trunk-rattling kwaito bass lines.

"Amapiano really felt like me, being a South African girl," she explains. "But I also love pop and R&B so I wanted to mix that influence with sounds from home. It came together very naturally."

PHOTO CREDIT: Epic/Fax Records

Showcasing her soulful, intimate delivery over a shimmering shaker-and-snare groove, Getting Late put Tyla on an upward trajectory in South Africa - but the song lacked a music video, and Tyla lacked the resources to shoot one.

On the boisterous Overdue, she's harbouring a secret crush. The agitated beats of Been Thinking capture the anxious moment where she confesses her feelings.

"I read a lot of teen romance when I was younger, and I love those type of stories," she explains. "It's all very fun and young."

Water is where the passion boils over, as she guides a man back to her bedroom and instructs: "Make me sweat, make me hotter / Make me lose my breath, make me water."

The lyrics were inspired by Aaliyah's Rock The Boat - another bedroom anthem with an aquatic double-entendre - but the sound is all hers, with rattling log drums and South African slang phrases like Hayibo.

It became a phenomenon on TikTok, where million of fans copied Tyla's steamy Bacardi-style dance moves, which she accentuates by pouring a bottle of water down her back.

That trend spawned a craze of its own - where women would sit next to their boyfriends and play the song's opening bars. If they leaned in to catch a glimpse of Tyla's video, they faced all manner of shame and scorn.

The singer takes no responsibility for any subsequent break-ups.

"I'm not a part of all of this!" she laughs.

The song has taken her around the world, onto the stages and TV shows she dreamt of as a child. She made her live debut at Milan fashion week, and sat next to Kim Kardashian at Dolce and Gabbana's Fall/Winter show.

Ciara, Normani, Jack Harlow and BTS member Kim Tae-hyung (aka V) have all been in touch - but her mind was truly blown when Janet Jackson started performing Water as a mash-up with What Have You Done For Me Lately on her US tour.

"I was like, 'What the heck!' And then she DM'd me and she was like, 'Congratulations, stay blessed'," Tyla says.

"I was just star-struck. I couldn't believe Janet Jackson took the time to even say anything, you know? It's crazy."

Tyla's bid for world domination is going to plan, then. And she's ready to follow up Water with her self-titled debut album in March.

"I feel like people are going to be so surprised, like, 'Where did this girl come from?'," she says,

"So I'm very excited because when I listen back to the album, I'm like, the people are not ready!".

A beautiful and wonderful talent that is going to grow through this year, everyone needs to tune into Tyla. Someone who I genuinely think can rank alongside some of the biggest artists of the modern age, there will be a lot of eyes and ears on her debut album. One that is going to introduce her to a whole new wave of fans. When it comes to Tyla, she is well and truly…

A global sensation.

____________

Follow Tyla

PHOTO CREDIT: Epic/Fax Records

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/tyla

TikTok:

https://www.tiktok.com/@tyla_

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/Tyllaaaaaaa

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/3SozjO3Lat463tQICI9LcE?si=tdI8U3bqSdiobIH4XHxTcg

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8HOgNWipVorrlBH8oN2R-A

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/iamtyla/

FEATURE: Spotlight: Gia Ford

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

PHOTO CREDIT: Melanie Lehmann

Gia Ford

_________

AN artist I have admired…

for a long time now, Gia Ford is someone to look out for this year. A tremendous artist whose is truly distinct and instantly memorable, I think that she will have a huge career. Hailing from Sheffield, I would advise everyone to follow her. I am going to get to some interviews with her. So that we can discover more about this tremendous talent. I will start out with this Fred Perry interview:

“Name, where are you from?

Gia Ford, I’m from Sheffield North England!

Describe your style in three words?

Androgyny, drama, prep.

What’s the best gig you’ve ever been to?

Probably Sevdaliza at the Barbican in 2018. She has some of the most immersive music/performances I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing. Her integrity is also really inspiring to me, she does what she has to do for the music and nothing comes between her and her art.

If you could be on the line up with any two artists in history?

Portishead and Pink Floyd. Both probably extremely exciting and inspiring to watch on the same stage you’re on. They’ve been two of the most daring artists I’ve taken inspiration from.

Which subcultures have influenced you?

I’d say the queer community (which I am a part of) and the drag world has influenced me more than I’ve thought about before. The freedom of gender expression, the fantasy, the alter egos.

If you could spend an hour with anyone from history?

Grace Jones. Just to be in her presence.

Of all the venues you’ve been to or played, which is your favourite?

I enjoyed watching Kelela at The Roundhouse - I’d never been before but it was such a beautiful space.

Your greatest unsung hero or heroine in music?

Jeff Lynn of ELO. He’s a genius and not many people knew he wrote so much of the music, including music for the strings.

The first track you played on repeat?

That I can remember… 'Dance In The Dark' by Lady Gaga. There was probably an earlier one but my memory is terrible”.

A song you wished you had written?

'This Woman’s Work' by Kate Bush :'(

Best song to turn up loud?

'Tear You Apart' by She Wants Revenge.

A song people wouldn’t expect you to like?

'Halo' by Machine Head”.

Among a sea of amazing artists out there, Gia Ford really stands out. I am interested to see what comes from her this year. I know that a debut album is coming soon. That will be really great to hear. Her name is definitely highlighted as a truly essential one. I am going to move to an interview from Mancunion. Signed to Chrysalis, they were keen to speak with an artist who was building on her early promise and brilliance. Last year was a great one for Ford. I think that this one is going to be the very best of her career so far. Someone who is primed for huge things very soon:

“Few artists today truly manage to capture a sense of the poetic drama of everyday life quite like Gia Ford. A rising starlet from Sheffield, Ford has recently signed to reborn label Chrysalis – of previous Blondie fame – and is set to play Camden’s famous Jazz Café this Valentine’s Day for the charity Choose Love.

As all good artists are, Ford is a musical magpie, taking influence all the way from golden 70s pop to Shade and Lana Del Rey. Her previously released material – put out by the 1975’s label Dirty Hit – samples an entirely different sonic palette of dark, fuzzy guitars and murky synths. While still expressing a pride she feels over the work, it is a musical direction she has definitely shifted away from. Explaining how she felt about that earlier work: “I was trying to second guess the industry a little bit”.

Now, her music has an Americana twang of a different era. “The new stuff is more of my childhood inspirations … the Fleetwood Macs, the Nick Caves … even the Dusty Springfields … that’s always been my favourite stuff”. A return to old loves. She remarked of the change: “I think I’ve gone back to all of my original inspirations that I never felt confident enough to pay homage to”. “Part of me just wants a complete rebirth… to start again”. 

With potent lyrics full of embedded meaning, Ford is a focused lyricist, with an eye for an unusual image. One song she recalled references the urban grit of Raymond Chandler’s The Big Sleep, while she also pointed to Donna Tartt’s The Secret History as a key literary influence (“the descriptions take you into another world. That’s something I try to do”). “I live my life trying to absorb things that go unnoticed usually … like that classic thing with newspaper articles; there are songs in everything if you keep your eye out”.

As an artist from Sheffield and having went to school in Wilmslow, Ford has recently returned to the North after a spate in the capital. Keen to emphasise the cultural differences, she remarked: “Pandemic London was not fun”.

“London is a very soul-stripping place unless you’re having a lot of fun all the time … I’m not really that kind of person … I’m more of an introspective person. I like space”. Referring to the differences in the scene up here, she was eager to make clear how the North generally is “less ‘industry’ and less pretentious” as well as “less cutthroat … it feels more genuine”. Ironically, it seems the distinct lack of industry presence in the North influences music even at a very granular level, something Ford knows all too well.

The lack of a present music business outside of London does increase the challenge of getting music out there however, a fact felt all too easily by artist attempting to get their foot in the door. We discussed the plans to regionalise BBC Introducing – in part due to dwindling radio listenership. As Ford’s most recent single – the beautifully fatal ‘Car Crash for Two’ – has been championed by Sheffield’s own Introducing DJ, Christian Carlisle, there is a clear fondness for the radio promotion young artists receive through the programme.

“Even when I lived in London I was in touch with him [Christian Carlisle] quite a lot”, she explained, keenly emphasising the ‘do-it-yourself’ grit necessary to break through outside of Britain’s musical centre. With no alternatives provided, the worry among artists such as Ford – in a tender part of their career – is that most support for up-and-comers will dry up. “There is no support really in that sense… you have to try a lot harder”.

Artists such as Ford also find themselves in a drastically different environment to that of the music that inspires them. In an age where even the most controversial or rebellious bands have an Instagram account, we discussed the pressures of social media and the incessant marketing drive behind it. “People think that you have to be TikTok savvy or Instagram savvy … I understand [it] as a great tool, but I think it does fall on the artist’s shoulders so much to get yourself out there”.

Like most artists, Ford releases regular content to keep people engaged, but she was keen to stress how the social-media storm mounts on the pressure: “When I first started releasing music there was a lot less pressure around it”. “My girlfriend does all of my imagery… we used to just have fun and take some amazing photos and post them… creating the world whenever we felt like it”

I will end with a recent interview from Rolling Stone. Previously an artist who made darker, more Pop-driven sounds, Americana is where Gia Ford has her home. Someone who much prefers to write about other people – as she finds writing about herself boring -, there is this small wave of British artists creating wonderful modern Americana. It is always fascinating and different. Against the backdrop of modern Pop, there is something deeper in the music of Gia Ford and like-minded contemporaries:

“On recent singles from her debut album, due out in mid-2024, she uses literature as a springboard from which to explore others’ stories. This is best shown on new single ‘Falling in Love Again’, which tells the story of her friend’s father, who mourned the death of his wife by asking his new partner to dress up in her clothes. “That’s so uncomfortable, but also really beautiful and sad,” she reflects of the story. “It’s about those strange ways that people grieve, and how they aren’t often very comfortable to talk about [them]. He was trying to express something, and he didn’t know how to do it. It just leaked out into life the way these things do.”

This bold and multi-faceted world that Ford creates is also enriched by her co-writers, who bring different perspectives to the stories. “I wish I could just write something completely alone,” she says, “but I think there’s something really amazing about writing with other people because you have so many different perspectives on something. We learn about life through writing songs with other people as well. It’s not just about the song, it’s about the relationship that you have with those people.”

This songwriting style is intimately linked to — and significantly enhanced by — the sonic direction she is now travelling in. On ‘Falling in Love Again’, the story of the grieving widower is given space to make its impact accompanied by sparse and luscious piano licks and woozy guitar. “A lot of the stories that I’m drawn to require a big open sky and big open space,” she says of her new sonic palette, which recalls Fleetwood Mac, Joni Mitchell and her new labelmate on Chrysalis Records, Laura Marling. “It’s hard to describe, but it’s that vastness of sound that I like.”

This particular sound was enhanced by recording her album in Los Angeles at the famous Sound City Studios, where Fleetwood Mac first met. “It felt like I was surrounded by the spirits of all these people,” says Ford, smiling. While there she also visited Laurel Canyon, a place with a distinctive and legendary musical vibe that Ford taps into on her new material.

Her upcoming debut album, though not written as such, has ended up as something of a concept album, as Ford explains. “Every song is about an outsider of some kind. Every character is an outsider. If it’s a song about me, it’s because I also felt separate from something. I haven’t even fully deciphered it for myself yet, but there’s a reason why I’m drawn to that theme. Everyone feels separate from something, don’t they? You live life in your own head, even though we’re all living the same thing. You do feel inherently separate from the world. You’re the main character because you’re the only one that can experience your consciousness.”

If Ford does sing of her own life, it’s through heavy metaphor, such as on new single ‘Alligator’, a driving soft rock hit which sees her refer to herself through parallel beings in the animal kingdom. “I wanted to embody them, so I didn’t talk directly about myself. That song’s about trying really hard to get my music noticed on TikTok and just generally in the world. I was getting frustrated at how difficult it was. I felt like I was doing everything correctly, but no one was noticing it or recognising all the work that I had put in.” In keeping with her distinct and unique lyrical expression, she chose to approach the topic from a metaphorical perspective.

This personal detachment and character-led style is also seen in the singer’s — real name Molly McCormick — artist moniker. “To me, Gia Ford is a narrator. Maybe that will change and maybe she’ll be just me, but I’m an observer. It’s from my perspective, but I’m telling everyone else’s stories.” She then pauses for a second, before deciding: “I think I’m afraid of writing about myself. I’m more comfortable pretending to be other people”.

Such a tremendous and fascinating artist who is going to be in the industry for many years to come, I am excited to hear a Gia Ford debut album. It is going to be a very busy year for her. If you have not discovered Ford and her music then make sure that you do. I have loved her music for a while now. Growing stronger by the year, here is a tremendous British talent who is going to take her music internationally. Even though we have a lot of wonderful artists out there, when it comes to Gia Ford, there are…

FEW like her.

____________

Follow Gia Ford

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/gia__ford/

TikTok:

https://www.tiktok.com/@giaford

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/gia__ford

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/238uE9s8BDKrIYbzpxIgOX?si=ff_j4uDbSBWvRXdOKR5xHA

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGcZG1dWwXphNKKyICYFcZQ

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/giafordmusic/

FEATURE: A Running Start... Kate Bush’s Albums Ranked: The Best Opening Trio of Tracks

FEATURE:

 

 

A Running Start…

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in a publicity photo for 2011’s 50 Words for Snow

Kate Bush’s Albums Ranked: The Best Opening Trio of Tracks

_________

ONE of the most important things about an…

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1985/PHOTO CREDIT: Guido Harari

album and its track sequencing is making the opening few songs as strong as possible. There have been polls in the past asking which album has the best opening-three songs ever. It is hooking the listener in and keeping their attention. I don’t think I have discussed it regarding Kate Bush and her albums (I will include all her studio albums all bar Director’s Cut). She always puts strong opening tracks on her albums. She is great at making sure the first few tracks are interesting and among the best. I wanted to rank the albums with the best three tracks on. In order of merit regarding the strength of that vital trio of songs. Many might feel it is obvious which albums would be in the medal positions…though everyone has their own opinions. There are artists who put a lot of thought into getting that sequencing right and making sure they do not drop a step when it comes to one-two-three. In terms of creating brilliant opening tracks, this is something Kate Bush…

DOES especially well..

___________

NINE: Aerial

Album Release Date: 7th November, 2005

Producer: Kate Bush

Label: EMI

Opening Three Songs: King of the Mountain/Pi/Bertie

Best of the Trio: King of the Mountain

EIGHT: The Red Shoes

Album Release Date: 1st November, 1993

Producer: Kate Bush

Label: EMI

Opening Three Songs: Rubberband Girl/And So Is Love/Eat the Music

Best of the Trio: Rubberband Girl

SEVEN: The Sensual World

Album Release Date: 16th October, 1989

Producer: Kate Bush

Label: EMI

Opening Three Songs: The Sensual World/Love and Anger/The Fog

Best of the Trio: The Fog

SIX: The Dreaming

Album Release Date: 13th September, 1982

Producer: Kate Bush

Label: EMI

Opening Three Songs: Sat in Your Lap/There Goes a Tenner/Pull Out the Pin

Best of the Trio: Sat in Your Lap

FIVE: The Kick Inside

Album Release Date: 17th February, 1978

Producer: Andrew Powell

Label: EMI

Opening Three Songs: Moving/The Saxophone Song/Strange Phenomena

Best of the Trio: Moving

FOUR: Never for Ever

Album Release Date: 8th September, 1980

Producers: Kate Bush/Jon Kelly

Label: EMI

Opening Three Songs: Babooshka/Delius (Song of Summer)/Blow Away (For Bill)

Best of the Trio: Babooshka

THREE: Lionheart

Album Release Date: 13th November, 1978

Producer: Andrew Powell (assisted by Kate Bush)

Label: EMI

Opening Three Songs: Symphony in Blue/In Search of Peter Pan/Wow

Best of the Trio: Symphony in Blue

TWO: Hounds of Love

Album Release Date: 16th September, 1985

Producer: Kate Bush

Label: EMI

Opening Three Songs: Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)/Hounds of Love/The Big Sky

Best of the Trio: The Big Sky

ONE: 50 Words for Snow

Album Release Date: 21st November, 2011

Producer: Kate Bush

Label: Fish People

Opening Three Songs: Snowflake/Lake Tahoe/Misty

Best of the Trio: Misty

FEATURE: Queens’ Gambit: As Women Dominated Music Last Year, Why Now is a Moment for No More Excuses or Lack of Opportunities

FEATURE:

 

 

Queens’ Gambit

IN THIS PHOTO: Miley Cyrus

As Women Dominated Music Last Year, Why Now is a Moment for No More Excuses or Lack of Opportunities

_________

SOMETHING that many already knew…

IN THIS PHOTO: Taylor Swift

but it has now been confirmed that women dominated the U.K. Pop charts last year. Even though it is one sector of the music industry, this dominance spreads throughout music. One cannot say that women are in the minority anymore. I am going to go on to write why, given the fact female artists ruled the Pop charts last year, how there are no more excuses left when it comes to booking female headliners and ensuring they are represented across award ceremonies. An industry that cannot justify imbalance and a lack of awareness. The time for parity is right now. The Independent explained how last year was a big one for Pop’s queens. Something that is more than likely to be mirrored as we go through this year:

“Women dominated the UK pop charts in 2023, even as festivals struggled to improve representation and female musicians were shut out of a number of major awards ceremonies.

British stars including PinkPantheress and RAYE spent a record-breaking 31 out of 52 weeks at No 1 on the Official Singles Chart in 2023, according to the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) trade group. This is the highest figure since the countdown launched in 1952.

Based on combined figures from streaming and physical sales, seven of the year’s top 10 singles were by women, including Miley Cyrus’s hit song “Flowers”, Taylor Swift’s “Anti-Hero”, and Cameroonian-American singer Libianca’s “People”.

RAYE’s viral song “Escapism”, a collaboration with US rapper 070 Shake (real name Danielle Balbuena), was a No 1 hit that also reached No 22 on the Billboard Hot 100, while PinkPantheress’s “Boy’s a Liar” peaked at No 2 in the UK. The remix, featuring Ice Spice, also marked PinkPantheress’s debut on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at No 3.

“Escapism” and “Boy’s a Liar” were the third and eighth biggest singles of 2023, respectively.

The numbers are in stark contrast to 2022 when just two female musicians cracked the top 10 biggest songs: Kate Bush, with her 1985 single “Running Up That Hill”, and pop singer Cat Burns with “Go”.

Ed Sheeran, meanwhile, managed to get three of his songs in the top 10, including “Shivers” and “Bad Habits” from his fourth studio album, = (Equals).

BPI’s chief executive Dr Jo Twist said in a statement: “While work continues towards achieving full representation for women across the music industry, 2023 has been a brilliant year for women in the Official Charts.

“There is a more diverse range of recording artists than ever achieving great success with the backing of their labels. Women spent more weeks at No 1 on the Official Singles Chart than in any previous year, while seven of the 10 biggest tracks were by women.

“This should be celebrated, but without complacency, and our work in the music industry continues to ensure that this becomes the norm.”

IN THIS PHOTO: Dua Lipa/PHOTO CREDIT: Thibaut Grevet for DAZED

Despite pop dominance from megastars including Swift, Cyrus and Dua Lipa, 2023 proved to be a mixed year when it came to acknowledging the talent and success of female artists. 

In January, the Brit Awards came under fire for failing to recognise a single woman in its Artist of the Year category, after it abandoned gendered categories in 2022.

Instead, an all-male shortlist was nominated, comprising pop singers Harry Styles and George Ezra, producer Fred Again, and rappers Stormzy and Central Cee.

Meanwhile, Glastonbury Festival faced its own backlash when it was announced that three male acts – Arctic Monkeys, Guns N’ Roses and Elton John – would headline the main stage in 2023.

Co-organiser Emily Eavis – who was defended as a vocal supporter of women in music by a number of prominent female artists – said that the industry was failing to generate enough viable female headliners.”.

I am writing this on 3rd January. Later today, we find out whether mainstream U.K. radio stations have managed to move towards gender equality. That was not the case last year. Even though one or two are an exception, most have struggled to move towards balance. I am cautiously optimistic there will be some positive signs. If we acknowledge the fact that Pop’s queens are dominating and making huge waves, how can any festival now say there are a lack of women to headline festivals?! I don’t buy there was an absence last year. Now, as we look towards this summer’s festivals, there is a raft of wonderful women who can headline. No festival has an excuse for imbalanced bills and a lack of headliners. There is this disparity between the chart success and playlisting of female Pop artists and a seeming ignorance from those who can reward this with award nominations, festival recognition and general respect (from the industry). It is not only major artists like Miley Cyrus that this applies to. So many wonderful young and fresh Pop artists coming through are also showing that they are festival-ready. To start this year, we get some positive findings regarding Pop’s queens. I think that there will be changes and moves towards equality this year. Whether there is a rapid reaction from the industry when it comes to ensuring there is a lack of female headliners I am not sure. Let’s hope so.

IN THIS PHOTO: Victoria Monét

In terms of immediate recognition and potential reversal when it comes to award ceremonies is the GRAMMYs. Next month, Taylor Swift, SZA, Victoria Monét and boygenius are leading nominations. The Song and Record of the Year categories are dominated by female artists. I think that award ceremonies here will move towards a more female-inclusive feel. It is down to festivals to see whether they can match that commitment. If last year was one for missed opportunities and excuses, there can be none of that in 2024. We see the figures and can see all the talent out there. Women not only storming Pop charts; there is also the end-of-year lists of the best albums that are defined by women. As they are bringing so much to the industry, it is incumbent on the industry now to reward that and erase the bias that has been evident for decades. Not just a one-year reversal. This needs to be something that is sustained going forward! We need festivals to do more to not only ensure that the bills are balanced. There are more than enough women who can be selected as headliners. If we go through another summer where we see no female headliners at particular festivals, then that is going to cause a lot of anger! Given the fact music’s Pop queens have made big moves and are dominating, festivals and award bodies need to…

CHOOSE their next move wisely.

FEATURE: Spotlight: Cristale

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

Cristale

_________

THIS is a phenomenal artist…

PHOTO CREDIT: Shane Anthony Sinclair for Wordplay

who has already been tipped for big things this year by The Guardian. They were full of praise (“Without wanting to stoke the hype fires too carelessly, this Brixton MC has one of the keenest minds and sharpest tongues in rap music today, not just in the UK but across the world. Moment to moment, her flows are astonishing technical accomplishments, with words fiendishly darting into rhythmic space”). Cristale is a spellbinding rapper, poet and voice that is going to be among those at the forefront of new music this year. I am going to get to some interviews with this stunning talent. First, here is some background to the London-based artist:

“Cristale was born in Brixton around the turn of the millennium . She was raised by an incredibly strong family unit to which all  members supported her hard work and dedication associated with but not restricted to Academia, Football, Spoken Word and Poetry. While at primary school, she would compete against her peers in bantering rap battles, with lyrics she and her uncle had written together. Invariably she would win. In year seven, aged 1, she won the first slam poetry competition at her school, beating kids from all other year groups. From there she went on to compete against kids from other schools.

Growing up in a Caribbean household, dancehall artists like Buju Banton and Tony Matterhorn were on regular rotation on Cristale’s family stereo. As she grew up she took a liking to grime rappers like Chip, Stormzy and Wretch 32, as well as funky house acts like T2 and Sweet Female Attitude. Beginning her rap career at 19, her first four mainstream releases were freestyles, Cristale remixed Poundz’s ‘Opp Thot’, Pa Salieu’s ‘Frontline’ and Unknown T and Crazy Cousinz’ ‘Throwback’. She can write lyrics to any type of instrumental, with a vocal style defined by sharp attentive lyricism.

Having grown up writing poetry, her natural talent is as a wordsmith- a trait that aligns her with legendary artists like Lauryn Hill, who carries an essence of realism that Cristale is inspired by. She has a similarly striking attitude on the mic as well, adept at riding any beat and effortlessly likeable. Her competitive spirit is perhaps a legacy of a childhood spent playing football, first at school, where she learned, then she was scouted at 14 to play and train with U16s and U18s at Crystal Palace FC . She is a very non- controversial individual- but she is not afraid of any competition she may face in the UK rap scene.

As a product of south London, she kick started her career by recording at Digital holdings studios, which also gave rise to successful British rap artists like Dot Rotten, Harlem Spartans and SL – Cristale is one of UK music’s hottest prospects. She has singles in the pipeline and a treasure chest of unreleased music on her hard drive. Her latest release “BOOTH (Part 2)” a freestyle over Ruff Sqwad’s classic grime instrumental ‘Together’, is a nod to Chip – a formative influence on Cristale who used the same beat on ‘Coward’ – and an unerring statement of intent.

She is ready for anything the music industry has in store for her”.

There is not a lot of interview material from last year. I am going to go back to a 2022 interview. She spoke with gal-dem about her heritage and why storytelling matters when it comes to her music. Even back then, there was this sense that Cristale was very special indeed. Since, she has stepped up and grown stronger with every release. In 2022, Cristale released the long-E.P., What It’s Like to Be Young:

“Growing up, Cristale would constantly hear people talking about the hardships and struggles of where she lived, especially in the news, “I was told [by] a lot of people – whether I knew them or not –that ‘you’re not gonna make it out’,” Cristale tells gal-dem. But she refused to let the sceptics curtail her rise.

This year she released her debut EP What It’s Like To Be Young, a collection of gritty coming-of-age tales that she uses to open the door for empathy. Tucking clever wordplay into the pockets of unflinching drill beats, Cristale gives a voice to the young people she sees in her neighbourhood and whose backstories are sometimes dismissed.

On lead single ‘13 Going On 30’ she explores her childhood and overcoming obstacles: ‘Started secondary school / Mum said, “Learn your book, don’t turn to no bad girl” (Behave, Cris)” and later “Teach’ said I got so much potential / “Cristale, you don’t know how much you have, girl”

Cristale is quick to credit her matrifocal Caribbean household for keeping her grounded and backing her career. “I had a big support system of women; my aunty, grandma, great-grandma, great-aunt and cousins,” she says, careful not to forget a family member.

Her family has strongly influenced her music. Between the buzz of familial chit-chatter and Jamaican records on loop, she has developed a strong enough accent to confuse fans she met in Jamaica while shooting the video for her hit song ‘Bong Bing’ earlier this year. Her first foray into dancehall, ‘Bong Bing’ saw her team up with Jamaican artist Laa Lee, and became a viral hit on TikTok, being used in over 788,000 videos.

The overwhelming response to ‘Bong Bing’ left Cristale reflecting on her heritage and the kind of artist she wants to be, whether that would mean honing in on dancehall or continuing to experiment with fresh Caribbean sounds. Her mum is mixed Jamaican and Montserratian and her dad is Guyanese: “[I’m] only one-quarter Jamaican,” she says. “I feel like I’ve been served an injustice because I feel more Jamaican than I actually am. But it is what it is, I am fully Caribbean,” she adds. Her heritage is the base from which she constructs her identity, with music melding into the mix. When contemplating the type of artist or person she is, she responds with one clear-cut answer: “I like to tell stories”.

She’s thrilled to find herself part of a new generation making dancehall their own, a musical shift that’s been recognised and celebrated by legend Sean Paul – who happens to be a Cristale fan, too. “After ‘Bong Bing’ blew up, [Sean Paul] followed me on Insta. That was a big shock to me,” she exclaims. “I am an example of the new generation of dancehall even though I’ve only got one track out. I’ve got unreleased tunes with Klassik Frescobar, Roze Don and Noah Powa.”

Cristale is just as keen to bring the moves off TikTok and onto the streets, as seen at this year’s Carnival, where she performed with Jamaican and Guyanese flags hanging from her pockets at the Rampage Sound stage. “You haffi bring yuh flag,” she says, adding that it was a “blessing” to come back to the first Carnival in three years as an artist. “Carnival is about letting your hair down and indulging in culture, not exploiting it but being a part of it,” she beams. “It’s the one day, besides Jamaican Independence, where I feel like people can give back to the culture rather than just taking from it”.

I am going to wrap up in a second. I hope we get some new interviews with Cristale, as quite a lot has happened since 2022. She has put out some of her best music and got onto the radar of some big names’ websites. I know that she will continue to grow and perform on some incredible stages. Before rounding up, there is one more interview that I want to get to. GRM Daily spoke with Cristale about releasing an E.P. and balancing that with her being at university and having to cope with anxiety. It is always fascinating reading Cristale’s words:

“So when did your interest in music start taking shape?

“I know it probably sounds ridiculous to say since I was born, but literally, growing up with my mum raising me, the type of music she would play like Teedra Moses, TLC, Ashanti, that genre.  I’ve always grown up on soulful music, I was kind of born into it in a sense.”

When do you think that started turning into realising that you had a talent for it?

“When I was younger my uncle and I wrote my first bars together, when I was about three. I spat the same ones throughout the whole of primary school and used them for everything and everyone would be astonished, but I was just saying them for the sake of saying them. I’ve only genuinely realised that I have a talent recently. As in the last few months. From me actually developing a fan base and understanding that people listen to me, relate to me and want to hear what I have to say and want to keep track of my life and what I’m doing. That’s made me realise I must have talent.

“Obviously, I don’t have any clout and this industry is based on clout. Thank God, I also don’t have any negative clout around my name or anything like that. I’m not in the blogs, I’m not in anything. So I know that the following is genuine. If it’s genuine, that must mean that people actually respect my art. They must actually believe that I have a talent.  I’m not saying I only realise this because I have fans. Because aside from that, I make music for myself. I don’t make music for anyone else. I think about how I feel, what I’m going to do, what I’ve done, the people around me and the different things that we’ve been through. So I make music for myself.

“Some days I’ll just sit and I’ll go through what I’ve already done. There are loads of songs in the locker that you won’t hear for a while, but they’re there. When I’m sitting down, I kind of have to occupy the space of a consumer and listen to myself like it’s not me. And if I detach myself from myself, and I still like the song that’s how I know like, cool, you’re doing something right.”

Watching your videos, it feels like things come naturally to you. Is it important for you to be seen in the space as a musician, as opposed to a media personality who makes music

“I feel that everything in this life is down to perception which is subjective. Who am I to say how I want people to view me? The most I can do is present myself in a way that is natural. That won’t get received in a negative way, but it’s down to the person. I can’t say I want you to look at me as an artist because you might go from my Instagram and realise that I can play football. You might follow me on Snapchat and see that I’m funny or TikTok and see that I’m creative.

“So for you, I’m just someone that you like to pay attention to. Then you discover oh she makes music. I like to listen to her music, I feel like I know her as a person because I follow her on social media. But then, there’s another set of people that just heard my song on the radio. This is Cristale. I’m going to look through all of her music now. Cool, I  am a fan… oh what and she plays football, she’s got a personality too.  It’s a catch 22 Yeah, and I’m not in control of that.

“I can’t really say I care if people view me like this or view me like that. As long as I’m not viewed in a negative light then I’m good. You can view me as a media personality, an entertainer, an actress, footballer, musician,  poet, orange, apple, whatever you want! Just as long as my general presence isn’t inflicting any negativity on them, I’m calm. You can look at me as whatever you want. Just as long as even though I’ve never met you, the relationship that we have between the phone is good. My music, my personality or my influence makes you feel happy then I’m good.”

That is such a grounded and well-rounded answer and there is such a sense of contentment and freedom in your sound. Where does your inspiration come from and how do you approach your creative process?

“My inspiration comes from life. I do my day by day and when it hits me that this is something, then it becomes something. I could go into the fridge and go to get an orange. Then the orange drops on the floor, but because I’m overwhelmed with uni stuff I’ll start talking about the fact that I was actually holding out very well until I peeled my orange and it just ended up on the floor. And then literally I’ll just write a song about eating food from off the floor and make a metaphor for people that are above you but instead of helping they make you beg.

“It’s literally whatever comes to mind at any given time, and this is all based on experience. Nothing that I come up with or that I say, none of it’s a lie. None of it is fake. Even some of the road stuff that I talk about. Yeah, fair enough, I’ve been through certain things and experienced certain things or seen certain things, but I pray to God every day, and I’m thankful that I haven’t had to experience anything mad like that. That’s why you hear me talking in the songs about the fact that I’m telling a story. And I’m clearly telling them that it is not me that went through it. But right now, I’m the voice for people that can’t speak on what they’ve done. But they’re going through trauma because of it.”

Now I know that visual art and music often go hand in hand. So with covers, photography, videos, the things that accompany a release are you very hands-on in those aspects?

“Very. For the “Militant” artwork, I drew the sketch of what I wanted it to look like, I found the font and everything. Then I just gave it to the graphic designer and he changed the colouring of it officially. But I’m very hands-on with everything. All the concepts for the music video, come from me. It’s why a lot of people say to me now Cristale you’ve got to start having your name as co-director on the music video. It’s like you see the directors have done a very good job, but that doesn’t come from nowhere. I create a very clear blueprint, and then we bring it to life through film.”

You get those credits. It’s worthwhile that people know they are witnessing your creative vision…

“Yeah. Look at someone like Teyana Taylor who does and directs videos for other people. She’s an artist herself, she’s been able to do that through people knowing that she does her own. So no one’s going to know that unless I talk or other people ask. Yeah,I’m gonna start putting it on the video still. Really I should have been doing that since the first one. The old schools “Whites” ,”See Myself” then “Morgan” “Merryland” , “Militant”, they’re all me and the next ones will be me.

“I don’t really go into a situation without knowing what I want. By the time I finished a song in the studio, I can already see what I want the video to look like and I write it down and the video will be like that. I create mood boards, I give a rough treatment. I send it off to the director and then the director sends me their version of the treatment that I’ve done. That basically tells me everything that’s going to happen, how I want it to happen. It’s more detailed and the order is broken down”.

Rightly tipped as a name that we all need to watch this year, Cristale is a sensational rapper, artist and voice that is impossible to ignore. Such a compelling performer and songwriter, we are going to hear her name a lot more this year. Go and follow her across social media and check out her music. Even though this year is going to be one where we see so many artists emerge across multiple genres, you just know that the magnificent Cristale will be…

AMONG the very best.

_____________

Follow Cristale

Official:

https://www.therealcristale.com/

TikTok:

https://www.tiktok.com/@cristaleyy

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/cristaleyy

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/cristaleyy

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/6U1hXHFTV27cbQVXZvnX27

YouTube:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/6U1hXHFTV27cbQVXZvnX27

FEATURE: Spotlight: SPRINTS

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

SPRINTS

_________

DESCRIBING themselves…

as “Garage Punk from Dublin, Ireland”, there is a lot of excitement around the mighty SPRINTS. They releasee their debut album, Letter to Self, on Friday (5th January). It is winning some huge reviews. I will end with one (others include DIY’s and NME’s). Tipped as a debut album to watch this year by Rough Trade, SPRINTS play Rough Trade East on Friday. They then have a series of dates around the country and beyond. An exciting start for a band. Not many artists put out albums in January. It is credit to SPRINTS that they ensure they make their mark early. In the process, we get a potential year-best album right from the off! I will come to some interviews from the band. One from 2022 and a few from last year. First, here are some more details about a wonderful and hugely promising band from Dublin. One that is primed and destined for headline slots:

“Formed in 2019 when Karla, guitarist Colm O’Reilly and drummer Jack Callan - already playing together under a slowly-dwindling former guise - had the lightbulb moment at a Savages gig that they too could play the music they actually listened to and loved, SPRINTS have barely paused for breath since. Recruiting bassist Sam McCann, for their first show back in February of that year, the difference from day one was tangible. “Our only ethos in music is to write something that matters and that means something,” says Karla. “It’s all about expressing our identities, and injecting our personalities into it.”

Often labelled a political band, even the way they inhabit that idea feels refreshing. “I don’t have to know everything to be able to tell you that something’s shit. I understand that women should have access to abortion, and I understand that mental health services are not adequate to stop people from committing suicide, so yeah, I don’t know exactly how much money is being spent on it but I don’t need to in order to tell you that it’s not enough,” Karla stresses. “It’s just a class barrier to make people feel like, if they’re not educated enough, then they can’t be involved in the conversation. But you don’t have to be Usain Bolt to run a race, and you don’t have to understand the theory of everything to understand that, morally, someone’s an asshole.”

SPRINTS have received a wealth of press support (The Guardian, Dork, DIY, NME, Loud & Quiet, Clash, Gigwise and others). They've also received an abundance of support at Radio 1 and BBC 6Music.

“On course towards future raucous, beer-soaked headline festival sets.” NME
“Screw-you power, relentless motorik rhythms and impressively large choruses.” The Guardian
"The Dublin gang neatly package existential panic into a buzzy, punchy musical box – DIY”.

Karla Chubb, SPRINTS’ lead, spoke with God Is in the TV in 2022. With some E.P.s under their belt and people tipping them for big things, it was an exciting time for SPRINTS. Coming out of the pandemic and maybe not being as gig-active as they would have liked the past two years, there was a sense of looking ahead to brighter times – which certainly came true for them last year!

“Dublin noise-makers Sprints have released two EPs to date, last year’s debut Manifesto and A Modern Job released this spring. The 4-piece comprising Karla Chubb (lead singer/guitar), Colm O’Reilly (guitar), Jack Callan (drums) and Sam McCann (bass guitar) are signed to Nice Swan Records. 2022 has been a pivotal year for the band and I caught up with Karla to learn more.

I read that you were inspired to form a band by seeing Savages and Jehnny Beth. Is that true, or was the seed already there?

I think the seed was always there. I think all of us always wanted to be musicians. Myself, Jack and Colm played in bands previously and the guys have played together for years. And with that band we weren’t really fulfilled, and it was at a Savages gig that myself Jack, and Colm were at and she was performing and going into the crowd, and we love their albums. That is when it really kind of hit us that’s the kind of music we want to make, why aren’t we making it, I want to be that visceral and almost like wild. So Savages from the start were a major major inspiration and when we first got into the shed with Sam and we were jamming, I think the only thing I said let’s try jams. Idles and Savages were the main music we were listening to then so we’ll see how it goes. When he plugged his bass in and turned the noise up as he always does, it kinda clicked immediately. And ever since Jehnny Beth has been a massive influence, particularly for Jack and myself, as a writer, as a feminist, everything she stands for, the people who she collaborates with she is just one of the underrated artists.

She comes across as comfortable in her own skin

Yeah and whenever I listen to her on 6Music she was really soft spoken and very gentle and very French, but you see her live and that is something I really resonated with. When I tell people I am a very shy person and not an extrovert in any sense naturally, and that alter ego she has onstage has really spoken to me, I can almost pretend I’m someone else. When you listen to her on 6Music she is not the Jehnny Beth that you see in Savages onstage. It’s amazing to see that come out.

In terms of song-writing are you the main lyricist?

What we say is that I put the bones of everything together and the guys add the meat and the spice and everything else. I would be the song-writer and the only one involved in lyrics, except for Sam. Generally when he’s singing he would write his own parts and I would help sometimes.

And how did you come to the attention of Nice Swan Records?

To be honest, we still don’t really know! We’ve asked them before and they said they saw ‘The Cheek‘ on some random Irish playlist, I think they may have been scouting Irish music. That was before Fontaines D.C. had really exploded and Pillow Queens were around obviously. Their whole ethos is to focus on music outside of the hotbed cities, essentially outside of London where bands may not have the same access to exposure. I remember the day they reached out so clearly. This was during lockdown again. I got the email and I quite literally started shaking. It was from Alex saying “Hey lads we really like your music, what’s your plans?” and I’m like “This is it! This is it!”. To be completely honest they have changed our lives, they are amazing. They are just two really passionate music fans. They’re our managers now as well. They came to Glastonbury with us and they are coming over to Ireland soon to come to gigs. They really know their stuff. And its clear from working with them that they are in it for the music They are not shy to tell us not to take certain opportunities even if it would have meant a percentage for them. They are trying to help us to make the best moves.

You have talked in the past about a feeling of Imposter Syndrome. Has that shifted with experience and more exposure?

I think parts of it have. Performing live I don’t get as many nerves, I still get nervous but its definitely more manageable. I think in terms of writing, I don’t think its gone, I don’t know if it will ever fully fade. I don’t know if I want it to. But even just watching people like Sam and Colm and Jack. Sam can play way more instruments than me. But it keeps you motivated, keeps you pushing.

You are such a central part of the live performance, and you look like you’re having an absolute blast.

We have a lot of fun, I love playing with the guys. I think it just comes down to being a girl in a heavy rock band, and not really having had that much training. Maybe technically not being as good as other people, then maybe there’s the idea I should be extra good, that women often have to try ten times as hard to be given half the respect. That’s very ingrained in me, it’ll never go, I try not to let that hold me back. There are definitely days when I think I’m not that good. But at the end of the day if we’re playing life and performing then maybe that’s my skill, maybe that’s what I have that other people don’t. Its one thing to be able to play Bohemian Rhapsody but its another to be able to write a song”.

I have written features about modern music and whether artists are being personal rather than tackling bigger themes. Hatred, homophobia, issues around climate change etc. With SPRINTS, here is a band that are tackling some big themes and doing so in a really direct, interesting and memorable way. Karla Chubb spoke with DIY in November about the upcoming debut album and how the public part of her being out in the music also will resonate with many others. Messages and lyrics that go beyond her own door:

“With ‘Letter To Self’, she’s “putting this very personal part of [her] life out in the public”, and while its writing was hugely challenging, it was also hugely cathartic. “There was so much weight on my shoulders my whole life, and now I feel like a little bit of it is gone,” she says, her voice thick with emotion. “All these stories are like stones weighing me down, and now I’ve shed a few of them.”

These aren’t mere pebbles, either. Lyrically, the album explores mental ill-health (‘Ticking’ and ‘Heavy’); internalised homophobia (‘Cathedral’); suicidal ideation (‘Shadow Of A Doubt’) and more. But none of these are crosses Karla has had to bear alone. Born, like so many other bands, out of the pandemic, Sprints was “such a positive thing to turn to in such a dark time,” and the relationship between the four band members quickly flourished into something approaching familia

“We’ve all got so much better at knowing how each other works,” adds drummer Jack Callan, “so you know when to leave someone alone, or when someone needs a bit of extra support.” In conversation, this almost intuitive bond is self-evident. When Karla compliments guitarist Colm O’Reilly’s playing, Jack leads us all in an impromptu round of applause; when she mentions her anxieties over reading the album’s reviews, bassist Sam McCann gives her a steadying smile - “We’ll take them as they come”.

PHOTO CREDIT: Ed Miles

These moments, though seemingly inconsequential, capture the band fairly succinctly: a united front that deals in humour and compassion, but with an underlying steely resolve. Take the show they perform just a few hours later. Karla leaves the stage momentarily to don a Taylor Swift ‘Reputation’ t-shirt, before pronouncing: “Support the strikes and fuck the Tories. We’re Irish, what did you think we were gonna say?” They’ve had this keen political edge since their inception (over which time they’ve released two EPs, 2021’s ‘Manifesto’ and 2022’s ‘A Modern Job’), but never has it been more apparent - or more important - than right now.

Karla and Sam have both just quit their jobs - “We can’t physically or mentally manage the balance of them and music anymore” - which, while daunting, is a prospect that’s only become feasible thanks to the notable success of Irish artists in the past few years. “If you see people doing what you want to do, it obviously increases the chances of you actually thinking it’s a possibility, tenfold,” Karla states. “You have to acknowledge the cultural significance of bands like Fontaines DC and Pillow Queens. There are so few acts who managed to break out of Ireland and make careers abroad until recently, but if they’ve done it, we can do it.”

PHOTO CREDIT: Ed Miles

There is, of course, still a long way to go, however. Karla references a recent interview that Rolling Stone and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame co-founder Jann Wenner conducted with the New York Times, in which he commented that no women are included in his new book - “the Mount Olympus of rock and roll history” - because “none of them were articulate enough on this intellectual level” (there are also, astoundingly, no Black musicians included - but there is Bono). “[Wenner] said that Mick Jagger was ‘a philosopher of rock and roll’,” Karla says incredulously, “and that Janis Joplin or Patti Smith or Stevie Nicks - some of the greatest songwriters in the world - were…” she trails off and shrugs. “I might appear one day on a list of the ‘best female punk bands’ or ‘best female guitarists’, but I’ll never appear on a list of all-time great guitarists, whereas Colm probably will.”

Self-doubt doesn’t exist in a vacuum, and Karla’s proclaimed imposter syndrome - tackled on incendiary single ‘Up and Comer’ - is closely tied to her identity as a queer woman in a male-dominated space. While being part of Sprints hasn’t necessarily helped quash her insecurities, it has given her a medium through which to rally against the social structures that supported them in the first place. “Sometimes I think, ‘Am I talking too much about being angry?’” she says. “There is a part of you - a very dark part of you - that thinks, ‘Would my life be easier if I just shut up?’

“There’s always been this idea of the angry woman, or the angry gays, or the angry trans people,” Karla continues. “But anger doesn’t mean bad. Anger means you’re standing up for something; anger means you’re addressing an issue; anger also means collectiveness”.

It has been remarkable learning about SPRINTS and what has gone into Letter to Self. Their phenomenal debut definitely marks them out as a band to watch very closely. Once more showing the quality and variety of music coming out of Ireland. Karla Chubb chatted with Stereogum a couple of months ago about the album and some of the more technical/sonic details that went in. How they achieved a very distinct sound and feel:

“There’s only so much you can do with vocals. [But] when we put the hi-hat on the snare, or Sam puts his bass through like four terrifying pedals and you get that literal screech in your ear that you couldn’t replicate with anything else, not even a synth — I think it’s those elements that actually make the music anxious,” Chubb says. “For one tiny guitar lick, we used four different Vox amps at the same time running through like five different distortion pedals. So there was that level of granularity in it.”

This suffocating sound was the band’s attempt at matching the purgative songs Chubb was bringing to them. Her lyrics came from a time in her life where self-destructive habits were coming to a head. “I realized I saw patterns in my behavior; I would get angry at friends or have relationships break down because I was so angry in myself. I was like, ‘I need to process whatever is inside of me and get it out,’ because it almost felt like there was a poison in [me] and [I] couldn’t breathe until it was all released,” Chubb says.

PHOTO CREDIT: Niamh Barry

The album’s opening track, “Ticking”, is supposed to be a representation of pure anxiety and panic, both lyrically and musically — from the heartbeat-esque kick drum intro to Chubb’s scattered lyrics to the simultaneous descending and ascending riffs in the outro part. It takes the majority of the song’s runtime to kick into the album’s first big rock-out moment; this slow-bubbling dynamic is the most essential part of Sprints’ toolbox. “It’s almost like, again, horror movie-esque, where there’s quiet parts where you wanna lean closer and then it punches you in the face because of that jump in volume,” says Chubb. Elsewhere on the album, Chubb’s dry, seething voice grapples with the music industry’s fickle sexism on “Adore Adore Adore” and “Up & Comer,” the enduring echoes of trauma on “Can’t Get Enough Of It” and finding the will to resist oppressive societal pressures on the title track “Letter To Self.

Before she used the catharsis of songwriting to expel those feelings, it often came out in more destructive ways, says Chubb. “Definitely substance abuse. I think it’s very Irish to turn to alcohol to solve our problems. I became so good at masking, I often still don’t know when I’m doing it myself. And I think that led to an incredible amount of self-consciousness, self-hate and also internalised homophobia. I think I really started to just believe I wasn’t worth being happy, like I didn’t deserve it. It’s through building really solid relationships with the guys in the band and having music and exploring those things really honestly that I’ve started to come out of the other side of that”.

PHOTO CREDIT: Ste Murray

Before coming onto a review, Irish Times interviewed Karla Chubb recently. The Dublin singer and musician discussed identity issues and why Punk resonates to this day. It is always fascinating reading what she has to say. Someone who is always so compelling and honest. You can hear and feel that go into the music. You just know that SPRINTS are going to go a very long way. You wouldn’t bet against them conquering the globe:

“Karla Chubb, the lead singer/co-songwriter of Dublin band Sprints is responding to the fact that, despite some groaning and aching from various quarters of the pop culture multiverse, guitar bands and guitar-based music are not going away anytime soon.

It is, she agrees, a cyclical beast, but being at the coal face, she senses that “alternative music, punk, in particular, is definitely on the rise. You see artists like slowthai and PinkPantheress, who are very mainstream, sampling it [punk], referencing it and using it as an influence. Grime and punk share in their respective birth a lot of idealistic issues and struggles, and because we’re living through turbulent times economically, politically and socially, that’s always going to lead to a rise in more empowered music.”

There are very few female artists that have been allowed to break through, Chubb adds, so, in that sense, Patti, Siouxsie and PJ remain central and influential figures. “The people who troll Sprints on YouTube and Instagram leave comments about our videos along the lines of ‘what is this shit, it’s just ‘90s music again, so why regurgitate it, do something fresh’, and the like, but what we try to do is to take those struggles that are still prevalent today and give it a bit of a refresh, a more authentic touch with a ‘90s-inspired sound.”

Sprints have been in the refreshing business for more than four years, although all four members have been involved in music for longer. Initially influenced by bands such as UK’s Savages and Irish band Bitch Falcon (RIP), the band’s sonic baseline is fast and loud (Gilla Band’s Daniel Fox locates the sweet spot between out-and-out shredding and textured sheer art attack) while the songs are largely based on Chubb’s personal experiences. Assertive music, unambiguous words, live shows that pivot on drama and thrills, a lead singer that gets into the zone song after song with a vocals style that blends rhythm with intonation – what gives?

“Cathartic is the best word. With punk music, you can get pigeonholed as being just aggressive; the nature of it is that because it’s loud and fast it’s perceived as angry, but anger isn’t always bad, it’s also a way of healing. As for personal experience, yes, the music we have already put out and what we will be releasing over the next while is definitely chaptering a part of my life where I have struggled a lot with identity, sexuality and just not knowing what the right place for me in the world is – if there was a place at all, to be quite dark and honest.

“I think processing that is difficult, whether you’re in your 20s, 30s or whatever age you are. The boys give me the open floor with the lyrics and the music reflects that. The anxiety-inducing bass, the snarling guitar, the music build-up – they are supposed to represent the internal struggle and the spiral that many of us suffer from.”

PHOTO CREDIT: Ste Murray

The subject matter for Chubb’s lyrics includes misogyny and sexual harassment (The Cheek), fragmenting relationships (Pathetic) and emigration (How Does the Story Go?). She says figuring out “what I wanted to say and how to say it became a barrier, so what I’ve tried to do is just not to think about it too much. I pick up the guitar and play around with it, and the music evokes an emotion; whatever is in my head is the topic and I’ll just splurge it out. I have found that if I’m not too worried about coming off poetic or well-written then it’s more honest. I have a lot of emotions – I’m Cancer, so I’m very sensitive – so I process a lot but the subject matter comes down to honesty… me figuring out what I should do with my life.”

That shouldn’t be an issue this year or next. Sprints’ recent signing to highly regarded Berlin-based indie label City Slang has presented to the band members (all of whom are in full-time jobs – “we’re very fortunate that the people we work with are kind enough to allow us to balance work with the band for so long”) a projected level of stability.

“What you have to do as a musician – and this is the worst for me as someone with ADHD, who is a complete overthinker and constantly overactive – is that you just have to take it day by day. As much as that means there are big, scary things possibly coming down the timeline – pensions, marriage, houses – you just have to live on a day-by-day basis, take everything as it comes”.

I am going to finish with one of the many incredibly positive reviews for Letter to Self. Even though it is early-January, we have an album that is going to be hard to beat! CLASH were among the first to have their say about SPRINTS’ terrific debut album. One that is going to sound amazing when they take it to venues around the country. Go and buy a copy of an album that everyone needs to hear. It really is going to be among this year’s most important and impressive debuts:

“Dublin four-piece Sprints signed to City Slang in 2023, and blast into the New Year with debut album ‘Letter To Self’. Opening with the brooding beats of ‘Ticking’, the vocals of Karla Chubb begin low, full of foreboding. Questioning and self-doubt are apparent from the very beginning, an uncertainty about oneself. The instrumentation builds into an all-encompassing soundscape – a thrilling start which sets the scene for what is to follow. And to hear lyrics in German, the guttural nature of the language fitting perfectly with the atmosphere of the track. Although born in Dublin, Karla Chubb spent part of her early childhood in Germany, initially turning to music as a consequence of feeling out-of-step with the world.

It’s then straight into the scuzzy static-fuelled guitars of ‘Heavy’.  The external questions continue: “Do you ever feel like the room is heavy?” they ask. The energy and passion evoked here are raw and true. The lyrics build, eventually exploding in an air of frustration “watching the world go around the window”.

‘Cathedral’ is in a similar vein. There is a darkness here; “Maybe living’s easy / Maybe dying’s the same.”  The emotional intensity continues to seep through the music. The combination of Sam McCann’s bass and the guitars of Chubb and Colm O’Reilly combine to create a cacophony of sound, fast and furious.  

‘Shaking Their Hands’ takes us to a different place, with its weariness with life.  More contemplative, witnesses Chubb deliver a softer vocal.  The theme is more thoughtful with the singer “counting the minutes until the clock strikes six” – a sentiment most can connect with.  However it’s an intriguing song as the question is inevitably “whose hands?”.  ‘Adore, Adore, Adore’ was released as a single and projects the idea of being judged with its question “Do you adore me?” The pace rattles along and its chorus of “they never call me beautiful, they only call me insane” suggests a desire to fit in, to be accepted.

‘Shadow Of A Doubt’ has an eerie start with its haunting plucking guitar chords.  Again there is a atmosphere of foreboding, a lack of belonging.  The repetition of “I am lost” is gut-wrenching and Chubb builds the tension until the frustration boils over “can you hear me calling?” The sentiment is heart-breaking as it seems to be a call for help, and that wavering guitar chord perfectly evokes the anxiety.  Likewise with ‘Can’t Get Enough Of It’, the agitation remains. The inevitable ear-worm of the repeating “This is a living nightmare” is breath-taking, as it combines with the soaring soundscape. The mid-track key change takes the listener by surprise as it punches at the very core with its emotional impact. Perhaps there is a sense here of not being able to be oneself, a lack of self-belief, of security in ones own self-worth.  And goodness do those guitar parts add to the overall sense of anxiety.

The sign of a great song is that it still elicits an emotional response long after its initial release. And so it is with the 2022 single ‘Literary Mind’. Re-recorded for ‘Letter To Self’, Sprints have shared that this track has evolved over time. It is pacier than the original single version and is all the better for it. A love song, it relieves the tension felt so far on the album. It’s a song to belt out at the top of your voice, and is thus cathartic for us all. And just listen to McCann’s vocal on the outro, you know Sprints love playing this track. ‘A Wreck (A Mess)’ opens with electrifying guitar riffs and the percussive beats of Jack Callan.  The lighter tone set by ‘Literary Mind’ continues. Again lyrically reflective ‘A Wreck (A Mess)’ is delivered with wild abandon, all scuzzy guitars and thunderous drums. The ebb and flow of the pace keeps the listener on their toes, plus lyrics that will live long in the memory including: “is everyone a wreck, is everyone stressed?”

Latest single ‘Up And Comer’ reached the dizzy heights of the 6Music A-list. The opening guitar riffs stops the listener in their tracks every time.  And then the full force of ‘Up And Comer’ kicks in and once it reaches top speed you just know it’s not stopping with its full-frontal assault. The chorus is simply electrifying.

The title track closes out ‘Letter To Self’ and it takes a stand against the internal turmoil. “I’ll give as good as I get”.  Here there is defiance. The expression is one of hope, of possibility, of coming out from under the weight of expectation, of fighting back. It sees the journey through the album reach its conclusion.  Now the lyrics question those who criticise, those whose behaviour is inappropriate.  ‘Letter To Self’ states confidently “I am alive” compared to the questioning “am I alive?” from opener ‘Ticking’.  It’s a thunderous end, the theme of the track completely different from the rest of the album.

With ‘Letter To Self’ Sprints have produced an album brutally honest and personal. They have not been afraid to express the feeling of being an outsider, of looking for validation, of attempting to overcome self-doubt. The human condition and thus society is complex and difficult to navigate but Sprints have not been afraid to express uncertainty and vulnerability. And all the while they have enveloped these themes in the most glorious noise for us all to find comfort and lose ourselves in.

Is it possible to have an album of the year contender on only the first week in? Of course it is. 9/10” 

Follow SPRINTS and support their terrific work. They have some U.K. dates before heading to Dublin. They then have European dates too. There are also U.S. dates in their diary. A band that will go down a storm there. In fact, they are pretty solidly booked through a large chunk of this year. Don’t bet against them being included at Glastonbury and other big festivals. Letter to Self shows that they are a band we cannot ignore. Another wonderfully original and impressive band to behold! From a country supplying other musical greats like CMAT. It is amazing, though not surprising, discovering all the wonderful music…

COMING from Ireland.

_____________

Follow SPRINTS

Official:

https://www.sprintsmusic.com/

Bandcamp:

https://sprintsmusic.bandcamp.com/music

TikTok:

https://www.tiktok.com/@sprintsmusic

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/sprintsmusic

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/sprintsmusic

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/27nD8P491xX8UzG3j01eIY?si=LDMQSqgYRqCWy6EIwTdIWw

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4Nki4OjnOlh2m9oZGarlSg

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/sprintsmusic/

FEATURE: My Back Pages: The Wonder and Importance of Music Books

FEATURE:

 

 

My Back Pages

 PHOTO CREDIT: Yuliia Tretynychenko/Pexels

The Wonder and Importance of Music Books

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I think here are few finer things…

PHOTO CREDIT: Ricky Esquivel/Pexels

than walking into the Music section of a bookstore! For example, I live quite close to Waterstones in Piccadilly, London. Last year saw some fantastic music books released. Rolling Stone, CLASH, Pitchfork, and The Guardian had their say about the very best of the year. You walk into a bookshop and head towards shelves lined with paperbacks and hardbacks. I love the biographies and reference books. There are also the artist-specific books too. Ones about particular album and genres. Time periods in music that are engrossing and full of detail! My particular favourite section is the coffee table books. Those big hardbacks that are either music photography or a biography. The smell and sensation of approaching those books and having something so impressive there to read. Like record shops where they can cover the albums so they are not damaged and feel new when you buy them, you do not get that all the time with bookshops. People can read the books and, sometimes, you are buying one that other people have leafed through. Regardless, that experience of searching through music books is a very different one to vinyl shopping. Perhaps more sedate and a little different in terms of energy, I find that we do not talk about music books as much as vinyl. The Penderyn Music Book Prize has just its shortlist. Recognising the very best music books from last year. An example of an organisation/body who are taking time t highlight how important music books are!

I wonder whether there are music book clubs. Where people can discuss great music books. Also, music book subscription services where you can get a new one sent to you each month. It can be quite expensive when you have your eyes on really great music books. Like vinyl, these books are an investment. You take days and weeks to read them and can keep coming back. With so much focus being on actual music and physical sales there, we do ignore slightly the literature that is just as important. Some of the best books I have read the past few years have been music books So much passion and research goes into them. As much as I do love a great coffee table book or something like a comprehensive Madonna biography there is a lot to be said about a paperback. Even the slim and essential 33 1/3 series. Option for every music lover. We should be encouraging music fans to buy books in addition to the music. You can learn just as much from a book about an artist as their albums reveal. I was compelled to write as, when I walk into Waterstones, Piccadilly and see the glorious shelves of music books staring back at me, I want to own so many of them! Buying the books new is great through, considering budget, it makes me think about a book club or exchange where you can get your favourite music books and swap them.

PHOTO CREDIT: No Depression

In any case, we do undervalue and under-discuss the wonder and tactile power of music books. Whether you prefer text and the detail you get from biographies or reference guides or the mesmeric nature of iconic music photography, there is that excitement of getting the book. The same sense of anticipation when you see that vinyl album and know it will soon be in your collection! I was really fascinated by all of the great music books that came out last year. There will be loads coming this year. Whilst publications and websites have been busy collating their choices of last year’s best albums, there is far less emphasis and acknowledgement of all the important and must-read music books. Seen as inferior to albums perhaps. I hope this changes soon. There is nothing quite like owning a great book about an artist or a music scene and devoting time to it. You do see music books reviewed but, again, fewer than albums. I think all forms of music-related media and content is vital. Shining more of a light on these is paramount. Also, it would be great to see more people in bookstores and chains perusing music books. They are always quieter than record shops. Maybe that will always be the way. So many people missing out. Just like a wonderful album, discovering a music book can change your life. Last year was one where I bought a few exceptional music books and they are still in my mind now. Putting them on the same level as albums is justifiable. One only needs to read and discover the sheer effort and love that goes into writing them to realise that they are…

PHOTO CREDIT: Min An/Pexels

A thing of joyful discovery and wonder.