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Electronic Sound review
This year’s been full of unexpected challenges, meaning I’ve lost focus in some areas and chosen not to spend energy documenting things. But making music continues to offer a kind of therapy through play, and I’m grateful.
Of course, releasing music feels like throwing your loved ones into a void, making it all the more rewarding when people connect with it. And attracting a review anywhere, let alone in a respected publication, seems impossible for unsupported artists. So, I’ve made an exception to my hiatus because I’m in the latest Electronic Sound, a print magazine I’ve read for years, and that’s worth a post.
The Creative Act: A Way of Being
Rick Rubin’s book, The Creative Act: A Way of Being, is an absolute joy. I’m not even halfway through, but I felt compelled to write about what it offers to anyone who considers themselves creative.
Radical Landscapes at Tate Liverpool
I’ve been fascinated by landscape since I was a boy, but learning of the Kinder Trespass and later attending festivals opened my eyes to new ways of seeing our land. Even then, I wasn’t seeing the whole picture.
The Beatles: Get Back
You can’t move for long and winding pieces about Get Back. Some writers focus on a person or myth, while others use it to justify their dogma. Me? I’m just a massive fan and have to write about it.
Nina Simone’s Gum
Warren Ellis, most well-known for his partnership with Nick Cave, has written a unique and special book about the meaning we place on objects and experiences.
The power of emotional connection
At a time when some are expressing delight at the industrialisation of everything, revisiting Aarron Walter’s appreciation for thoughtful design on a human scale is heartening.
Dark: let there be light
I’ve finished my whirlwind journey through all twenty-six episodes of Dark, Netflix’s time-travelling, trinity-knotted, mythology-minded, multi-dimensional mindfuck. Spoilers ahead.
Olafur Eliasson: In Real Life
Having admired Eliasson’s work for twenty years, I’d expected to love everything about this significant Tate survey. Instead, I began to wonder if I’d over-invested in his ideas.
Conversations with Nick Cave
For many years, I was only a casual fan of Cave, reducing his songbook to a relatively short playlist. But I always found him fascinating, and it now seems inevitable that I would one day go all in.
A special evening with The National at Royal Festival Hall
An intimate, triumphant show from a band rethinking its process and reimagining its voice. New ground is easier to find when you loosen up and let others in.
Don McCullin at Tate Britain
That one man should witness so many horrors is hard to process. That nations like ours continue to facilitate such atrocity and poverty is devastating.
Dear Nature book launch
Last night I attended the launch of Dear Nature, an important new work from renowned Nottingham artist John Newling. I was also invited to give a reading from the book.
Convenience Store Human
Thoughts on the uniqueness of the Japanese konbini, the subtle science fiction of Convenience Store Woman, and notes from a recent Q&A event featuring author Sayaka Murata and translator Ginny Tapley Takemori.
Bauhaus at The Barbican
Just a quick, hastily-written post urging any UK designers to brave the Olympichaos and catch Bauhaus: Art as Life at The Barbican in London before it ends in mid-August. I’m somewhat obsessed, so I popped along yesterday, and was not disappointed.
The Stone Roses at Heaton Park
In 1989, a band changed my life, but when they recently reformed I didn't want to know. This weekend, I gave my scepticism the slip and witnessed the resurrection.
Glastonbury Festival 2010
I’m back from my fourth trip to Glastonbury Festival, where I celebrated its 40th anniversary in sweltering heat with 180,000 other lunatics.
EECI2009 roundup
It’s taken me over a week to collate all that follows, with videos, slides, images and reports still appearing day by day.
Watching the Watchmen
I’d decided not to write about the Watchmen movie, partly because I’m the kind of fan many of you will dislike: I only read the comics a few months ago.
Designing for the Web
Having read the thing cover-to-cover over the weekend, I was just about to write a detailed post about my friend Mark Boulton’s new PDF book A Practical Guide to Designing for the Web.