Primavera festival: transported by sound
What is it that Jarvis Cocker sang in that Pulp song? Oh yeah. Tugging on strands of blissed-out escapism, Cocker links rave’s field-trip culture to hanging around aimlessly on grass, neatly...
Category: Music
M.I.A.’s “Born Free”: A Statement We Need To Hear
In the nine-minute video for “Born Free,” a song on M.I.A.’s upcoming album, riot police storm an apartment building and round up all the redheaded males. During the raid, the police burst in...
Red Bacteria Vacuum’s Kassan on women and punk
After 10 years in the business, Japan’s Red Bacteria Vacuum is a perfect example of how to do women in punk the right way. Powerful without being over the top about it, by turns aggressive and fun,...
Return of the Ankh: Badu is naked and beautiful
As a Black gender equality advocate, I had mixed reactions to Erykah Badu’s video “Window Seat." I worried about people cheapening the significance of the song. In the video, the artist removes...
Sleeping with starlets: the ladies of Britpop 2010
And so I find myself alone. Hours of luxurious solitude stretch ahead... and it takes about thirty seconds for dirty thoughts to materialize. I draw the curtains, loosen my clothes, light a candle in...
Glenn Beck’s attack on Bruce Springsteen: pathetic
Come back home to the refinery/Hiring man says, "Son if it was up to me"/I go down to see the V.A. man/He said "Son don't you understand" FOX News host Glenn Beck has set himself up as a sort of...
Arch Enemy’s Angela Gossow: “I’m the boss”
At the start of yet another American tour, Kirsty Evans had a chance to catch up with Arch Enemy vocalist Angela Gossow, one of the most ass-kicking women in metal. Having recently participated in an...
John Mayer’s “David Duke” anatomy & Black women
John Mayer is no stranger to controversy. In various interviews and on Twitter, he has made comments that many consider to be racist, sexist, and homophobic. Mayer is a musician, and as such, we...
Polysics want to take you to a crazy, happy space
Polysics are Japan’s answer to Devo. Weird, experimental, blending elements of pop, punk, rock, and New Wave into a stew that’s definitively Polysics, they’re fun and totally unique. With...
“But what did you expect?” – Romance is Boring by Los Campesinos!
(In the 'zine that accompanied Los Campesinos! second album there's a quote emblazoned on white space: "Telling stories is telling lies". They're the words of B. S. Johnson, one of those forgotten...