Have you not done tormenting me with your accursed time? Are they a girl or a boy? Is their face bovine? Disfigured? Imprinted by the creases of a lifetime's humiliation? Their mouth. Is it an organ of emission without intellect? And their eyes? Are their eyes filled with tears? Or do they look on.… Continue reading A Game of Guess Who? with Samuel Beckett
Author: James Robinson
Nine Inch Nails – Bad Witch
Short and screech: Nine Inch Nails conclude their experimental trilogy that began with EPs Not The Actual Events in 2016 and ADD VIOLENCE in 2017 with what Trent Reznor insists is a full-length album, but at a svelte 6 tracks and 30 minutes in length is really somewhere in between. Nevertheless not a second is wasted in this pulsating handful… Continue reading Nine Inch Nails – Bad Witch
Boaking Heads – The HULL: ENGLISH Dictionary A-C
The city of Kingston Upon Hull is famous for three things: pattie butties, white telephone boxes and derelict buildings that burn down in mysterious circumstances. It’s also home to a dialect that’s unusual even for Yorkshire. If you’re planning a visit to last year’s City of Culture, or you’re about to be sent to… Continue reading Boaking Heads – The HULL: ENGLISH Dictionary A-C
Eleanor Tomlinson – Tales from Home
Lame heard beauty: Poldark’s Eleanor Tomlinson is following the well-established if not entirely auspicious showbiz tradition of actors releasing covers albums just in time for father’s day. Tales From Home does at least have the distinction of an uncommonly tasteful selection of tracks, including new versions of Gordon Lightfoot’s If You Could Read My Mind,… Continue reading Eleanor Tomlinson – Tales from Home
Lindi Ortega – Liberty
A fistful of belters: The spirit of Sergio Leone hovers over the seventh release from Canadian Country singer Lindi Ortega, and like that director's Spaghetti Westerns, Liberty is quirky, spooky and wildly entertaining. Opening with an Ennio Morricone-style instrumental, the album is awash with Mexican guitar and lyrics about horses, hats and guns. The full… Continue reading Lindi Ortega – Liberty
Hailey Tuck – Junk
Drinking gin in the bargain bin: Hailey Tuck is the latest in the seemingly never-ending stream of modern acts taking tracks from rock and pop’s back catalogue and re-interpreting them in a self-consciously retro style. Although the Texas-born singer has at least headed down the lesser explored of avenue of old-school jazz, and boasts first-class… Continue reading Hailey Tuck – Junk
Willie Nelson – Last Man Standing
Trigger warning: He’s still performing at 84-years old, so when Willie Nelson calls himself the last man standing, he isn’t joking. Nevertheless, there are plenty of laughs to be had on his latest album. That knowing title is reflective of the morbid wit that peppers the lyrics, as is Bad Breath’s refrain that it’s ‘better… Continue reading Willie Nelson – Last Man Standing
Lord Huron – Vide Noir
Bombast from the past: Lord Huron have been on the brink of megastardom for a while, but this third outing from singer-songwriter Ben Schneider and cohorts, chock full of anthemic, folk-inflected indie rock, has the potential to see them truly hit the big time. The best tracks have a soulful, faintly retro vibe. Wait By… Continue reading Lord Huron – Vide Noir
Nothing is Happening Number One – There is a Mag-Lite that Never Goes Out
January 2018 The final major work of Hull’s year as City of Culture had been an epic light installation called WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE? It involved monstrous spotlights – the machines themselves like robot aliens hunched in the streets – which each night would shine on the architectural icons of the city… Continue reading Nothing is Happening Number One – There is a Mag-Lite that Never Goes Out
Johnny Cash – Forever Words
Talking the Lines: Forever Words follows in the footsteps of similar albums dedicated to Hank Williams and Woody Guthrie by taking a handful of Johnny Cash’s unrecorded lyrics and challenging various artists to turn them into completed songs. Although there’s an inevitable slant towards Country and Bluegrass numbers, the most notable tracks take the material… Continue reading Johnny Cash – Forever Words
James JW Robinson 