Creative pursuits are often portrayed as lone wolf activities – the aspiring writer in their room, the suffering artist torturously painting in their studio – but the truth is, many artistic people collaborate to great effect and far more often than you might realise. There is something deeply satisfying about Continue Reading
Music
Eurovision update: Russia out, new artists selected and Australia Decides
It has not been the world’s finest week … and that’s putting it mildly. Even as the COVID pandemic continues to stalk the world, Russia invaded Ukraine after weeks of military posturing at the border, plunging the emerging Western liberal democracy into a hellhole not even remotely of its making. Continue Reading
Songs, songs and more songs #61: Genesis Owusu, Dune Rats, Moonchild Sanelly & Sad Night Dynamite, Alewya, Holly Humberstone + Eurovision 2022 update
Music moves you. Maybe it’s the beat or what’s being said or a gloriously good combo of the two but whatever it is that presses your buttons in a good way, it’s true that music makes life a whole lot richer, more thoughtful and way more danceable and alive. These Continue Reading
Listen to the sound of beauty: A whole world of #Eurovision2022 news!
Just 92 days to the big event itself and as you’d expect, lots and lots and LOTS of news … Before we dive into all the news that is fit to “print”, let’s kick off with the The Eurovision Awards 2021 which pay tribute to everything good about last year’s Continue Reading
Songs, songs and more ABBA songs: Voyage and before … Dance (While the Music Still Goes On) & While You Danced With Me + more
The release of ABBA’s Voyage album late last year, after a 39-year drought of new full-length releases from the much-loved iconic Swedish pop group – we did get “I Am the City” in the early Nineties on More ABBA Gold and a scattering of part releases in a medley on Continue Reading
Download. Play. Dance. Sing. My 25 favourite songs of 2021
Thank the glitter-splattered moose in the sky (my deity of choice) for music. While I didn’t need an amazing soundtrack to cushion the harshness of a long train commute, it was pivotal to my morning exercise routine which, as the only time I was allowed out during COVID, became incredibly Continue Reading
On 12th day of Christmas … I listened to I Dream of Christmas by Norah Jones
While it’s not necessarily the case for everyone, Christmas usually has the aura of an up close-and-personal holiday in which friends and family draw cheerily near, chestnuts roast on an open fire (Northern Hemisphere, at least; in the Southern, think a turkey on the Weber BBQ) and we can finally Continue Reading
On 4th day of Christmas … I listened to A Sentimental Christmas with Nat “King” Cole and Friends – Cole Classics Reimagined
It is possible for a Christmas album to actually feel like the season after which it is named? Almost as if Christmas has taken on some sort of gloriously heartwarming, reassuring form and come to us complete with all the love, happiness and hope of the season decanted into a Continue Reading
On 2nd day of Christmas … I listened to When Christmas Comes Around … by Kelly Clarkson
Coming back around for a second go at creating a warm-and-huggable Christmas vibe – her first festive record Wrapped in Red (2013) made quite the seasonal impression when it landed, anchored by that powerfully emotive voice and a gift for somehow sounding traditional and original all at once – powerhouse Continue Reading
Songs, songs and more Christmas songs: ABBA, Michael Bublé, Meghan Trainor, Gary Barlow Manchester Orchestra+ The Muppets get Animal-istically festive
Christmas music is wonderful. Granted it may wear thin when you’re in retail and listening to the same tracks day after tinsel-saturated day, but for a great many of us, music adds some extra whimsically charming, emotionally uplifting specialness to a season already brimming with a magical sense of hope Continue Reading