I was lucky enough to get invited to last week’s Mercury Prize, and although my after-work race to get there from east to west (well, Southwark Bridge to Mayfair) was somewhat stressful (I was cycling, due to the tube strike, and then for some reason the entire Strand was cordoned off), it was well worth [...]
Archive for the ‘Listening’ Category
The music and the Mercury Prize
Posted in Going Out, Listening, tagged Laura Marling, mercury music prize, Mumford and Sons, spanish sahara, the xx on September 16, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Bon Iver Forever
Posted in Listening, tagged bon iver, for emma forever ago on September 2, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
I got a bit of a shock the last time I decided to check out the 25 most played list on my ipod. In the two years that I’ve owned it, a number of key tracks have jostled for space there; every so often I’d download an album or a few songs, and from those, [...]
Michael Sandel on markets and the common good
Posted in Listening, tagged iplayer, michael sandel, reith lectures on July 4, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
The last of this year’s Reith lectures by Michael Sandel, professor of government at Harvard University, is fascinating and incisive, going straight to the heart of the dilemma facing our political leaders today: how to learn from the financial crisis and find a new way of governing. Sandel manages to make his analysis accessible while instructive; [...]
Crazed folk pop hits Eurovision
Posted in Listening, tagged Alexander Rybak, eurovision 2009, eurovision norway, fairytale eurovision on May 15, 2009 | 2 Comments »
As I’m sure you’ve already pencilled in your diary, the final of the Eurovision song contest takes place in Moscow, tomorrow night. The UK has somehow made it into the final despite the appalling dullness of its entry, It’s My Time, sung by Jade Ewen. I wouldn’t bother clicking on the link if I were [...]
Rosenberg: If you are watching this message, it’s because I was murdered
Posted in Listening, tagged Alvaro Colom, Guatemala, Rodrigo Rosenberg on May 14, 2009 | 2 Comments »
UPDATE, April 2011: Almost two years after Rodrigo Rosenberg died, the real, bizarre, and chilling truth about his death has come to light and been beautifully explained by David Grann in The New Yorker. You can read the article here. ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. Rodrigo Rosenberg was born in Guatemala in 1962. After completing an undergraduate degree at [...]
Marling it up
Posted in Listening, tagged Laura Marling on October 26, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Steer: there’s a nice Guardian interview here with one of my favourite songstresses, the Mercury-nominated Laura Marling. * Listen on myspace to her current, beatific single Night Terror. * More on Alas I Cannot Swim * and an old review of Laura Marling in concert at the Union Chapel
When I grow up I wanna be
Posted in Listening, Thinking, tagged female chauvinist pigs, pussycat dolls, raunch culture, when i grow up on September 30, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
It recently came to my attention that the Pussycat Dolls have a new song out. Ok I might as well say it. I watched T4. Confession over. Now, interested as I am in the issues behind gender inequality and female empowerment in the workplace, I was pretty intrigued by the lyrics of the ridiculously catchy [...]
Obama in Berlin, breaking down walls
Posted in Listening, tagged obama in berlin, obama speech, tiergarten on July 24, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Almost 100,000 people turned up today to see Barack Obama in Berlin. He spoke well, though not exceptionally, perhaps staying too close to a somewhat overwrought script. His previous speeches have ironically set an exceptionally high standard that’s hard to meet, let alone exceed. Still, there was lots to be encouraged by, not least his [...]
Does more money make for lesser music videos?
Posted in Listening, tagged Johnny Flynn, music videos, noah and the whale, viva la vida on July 17, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
So, much as I like the Coldplay album, especially played loud when driving long stretches of empty roads in the west of Scotland, I pretty much HATE the video for their single, Violet Hill. If you must, you can watch it here. How much money would they have got to spend on that? Loads. And [...]
Rufus Wainwright at Kenwood
Posted in Going Out, Listening, tagged kenwood house, rufus wainwright on July 6, 2008 | 1 Comment »
I’ve just seen the delectable Rufus playing at Kenwood House on Hampstead Heath and it was a dream. Although the skies had glowered on-and-off all day, there was, miraculously, no rain, and we sat in our striped deckchairs and drank in his luscious voice along with free fruit cider and a gradual music-drawn moonlight. I’d [...]
Viva la Vida
Posted in Listening, tagged coldplay, the dirt is temporary, viva la vida on June 17, 2008 | 7 Comments »
It’s no false modesty to say I’m not very good at writing about music and therefore usually leave the job to my friend Matt (who, btw, has just been nominated for Press Gazette’s student feature writer of the year, yay!) Anyway I’m not going to try to describe why I love the new Coldplay album, [...]
Ready or not: Wyclef on Radio 2
Posted in Listening, tagged charles hazlewood, fugees, radio 2, when charles met wyclef, wyclef jean on May 12, 2008 | 1 Comment »
I don’t normally listen to Radio 2 but by chance I heard an amazing programme called “When Charles met Wyclef” on Saturday. You can listen again and I’d say do it, just as soon as you’ve got a chance. The format’s simple: Charles Hazlewood, one of the UK’s most exciting conductors and a force for [...]
Alan Johnston
Posted in Listening, tagged alan johnston, city university, conflict reporting, stewart purvis on May 7, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
I was lucky enough to hear this award-winning BBC journalist talk at City University last night. Soft-spoken and courteous, responding thoughtfully to the questions of City professor and ex-ITN chief Stewart Purvis, Johnston recounted the terrifying ordeal of his captivity in Gaza. What became most apparent was Johnston’s abiding generosity of spirit, whether in answering [...]
Can you tell me how to get to…
Posted in Listening, Watching, tagged 1234, andrea bocelli and elmo, bert, elmo, feist, norah jones and elmo, sesame street, the reminder on April 28, 2008 | 1 Comment »
A chain of events has led us to Sesame Street. (1) Some weeks ago, Kirst brought home Feist’s album, The Reminder. The only track I’d heard before was “1-2-3-4″, via the ipod nano ad. (2) I felt having the album in the flat was definitely a good thing, but having not had the chance to [...]
Of gated baths and captives
Posted in Going Out, Listening, tagged a cork tale wake, captive state, chris bathgate, juliet murphy photos, slaughtered lamb on April 16, 2008 | 2 Comments »
Chris Bathgate is a singer-songwriter from the Michigan town of Ann Arbor. On Friday I went to hear him play at the rather lovely Slaughtered Lamb in Clerkenwell. Bathgate’s sound is folk dosed with a kind of experimental post-classical grandeur; glued together with scholarly, poetic lyrics it’s a beguiling and often transcendent mix. Have a [...]
Laura Marling & friends at the Union Chapel
Posted in Listening, tagged Johnny Flynn, Laura Marling, Mumford and Sons, Songbox, Union Chapel on March 9, 2008 | 2 Comments »
“There’s a point in the gig every night where Laura has to change guitars,” says the drummer apologetically, “And I have to talk.” The audience laughs. We don’t mind waiting for Laura Marling, the 18-year-old whose voice is jaw-droppingly elastic, like treacle, to change from one acoustic guitar to another. Neither do we mind sharing [...]
