When I was 13, I had a boyfriend. Yes, stop clutching your pearls. He was a Van der Merwe, nogal. He was from the wrong side of the tracks and in Newcastle, the wrong side of the tracks, was very wrong. But his heart was in the right place. He was a romantic, a gentle …
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Alcatraz se deure is al jare lank toe. In die ’90’s was dit wel die rusplek vir enige alternatiewe siel. As ek reg onthou, het die klub nie eens ’n naambord gehad nie. Jy het in die oostekant van die stad rondgery tot jy die deur herken het. Binne was dit boonop swak belig en …
If you do not know Cowboy Junkies, you are either 12 years old, have lived under a rock for the past 25 years or just have no interest in incredibly talented musicians playing real instruments. But there is hope for you yet. Read on and be amazed.
WRITTEN FOR AND FIRST PUBLISHED BY WWW.LITNET.CO.ZA Rihanna has never really registered on my radar. Yes, she’s damned hot, has a bad attitude and her voice is recognisable, but that is where my interest ended. That was until she performed “Stay”on Saturday Night Live two weeks ago and a minor obsession developed.
WRITTEN FOR AND FIRST PUBLISHED BY WWW.LITNET.CO.ZA A few years back one Lizzy Grant launched her singing career. It went nowhere but south. She reinvented herself as Lana Del Rey – named after the dazzling Lana Turner and the car, the Ford Del Rey. She recorded a simple song called Video Games, edited an interesting …
So Die Antwoord just released a video in which they parody Lady Gaga as a brainless American, who gets hijacked, gives birth to a Parktown Prawn and then is eaten alive by a lion. Why the apparent animosity? She asked them to open for her (an offer they declined) and told them she was a …
Downloading six month’s worth of unlimited music downloads is harder than you might think. You run out of artists to download – artist on your CD shelf, artists on your mp3player and artists your friends suggest. You get download fatigue!
This bird is (stage) named after the actress, Lana Turner, and the car, the Ford Del Rey. Yeah, I kid you not. Funny thing is the name perfectly suits the 60’s look of her (and her videos) and the 60’s/Chris Isaac/Twin Peaks sound she creates. But see for yourselves.
If Florence Welch lived in the 17th century, she would have burnt at the stake for being a witch! The evidence against her? Being a commanding, gorgeous woman that possesses the ability to afflict people through her magic.
do not sing. Not for anyone. Not on any occasion. Not even in the shower.
I have a band-crush! (Band-crush = when you love a band so much that you’re on their mailing list, you’re their Facebook friend, Twitter tweep and Youtube slut and you buy every new album no questions asked.)
Anna Calvi is nie vir almal nie. Net vir diegene met ‘n goeie oor en ‘n oop kop.
Imagine this. A broody Nick Cave ballad written for a Bond film, Shirley Bassey in all her glory behind the microphone and PJ Harvey wrestling Jimi Hendrix for the electric guitar. Yes, that is more or less what Anna Calvi’s debut album sounds like.
I must be getting old. I am no longer immune to Americana. Or indie folk as some folks call it.
We have too few of those moments, when we feel undeniably alive, when we are weightless in our troubled lives.
Terms & Conditions is goed genoeg. Die skerp lirieke, die uiters catchy poptunes, die paar gatskop rock tunes, die gebruik van gesoute musos, haar stem wat beter klink as ooit tevore, dit is alles goed genoeg.
To start off my review of the band Gossip I will quote a very expressive one-liner (copied directly from an email dated September 15th, 2010, with the subject ‘jinne julle ouens die WIND!’ ) that is frequently used by a friend* of mine. This way I won’t be in trouble with my mom. (I hope.) …
When Dan Auerbach, one half of the Black Keys, releases a solo album and there is a strong element of The Black Keys present in the music, don’t fret. If you can produce anything close to the brilliance of The Black Keys, you’ve done well.
I know Natalie Merchant as a) the chick from 10 000 Maniacs and b) the chick who covered ‘Because the night’, an original Bruce Springsteen track that I adore. I also know I have always enjoyed her very peculiar voice. (And if you don’t know her voice there is no hope for you.)
23 years ago Cowboy Junkies recorded an album called ‘Trinity Sessions’ in the Church of the Holy Trinity, Ontario. In 1989 their cover of a Lou Reed track, ‘Sweet Jane’, from this historic album, included in the Natural Born Killers soundtrack, became a worldwide hit and thrust them onto the international scene.
As much as we run away from it, as much as we deny it, most of us have experienced heartache. Sigh No More retraces your steps, softens your denial and finds your darkest hour. Not because the album is sad. Because it is complete.
My friend, Eddie the Farmer, has a farmhouse outside Boons. (Closest dorp Magalies. Closest Woollies Rustenburg.)
Goeie bliksem. Daar is geen woorde om ‘Koto Song’ op die Dave Brubeck Quartet se 1964 album ‘Jazz impressions of Japan’ te beskryf nie.
Met die koop van Zef rapper, Jack Parow, se eerste album het ek sekere verwagtinge gehad; ʼn mate van vuilbekkigheid, windgat wees, kak praat, skerp kommentaar, rou beats (om Jack te quote) en lekker lawwe musiek.
Picture a small jazz pub somewhere along the Mississippi. There’s dingy lighting, not enough chairs and the smell of stale beer hanging in the air. The stage is barely big enough for a ramshackle piano and two barstools.
For those living under rocks, Margot Timmins is the legendary voice behind the legendary Cowboy Junkies and I saw them live!
When you’ve got Cowboy Junkies as your backing band, but you don’t sound like Cowboy Junkies, it is rather impressive. You have kept your own sound, but have consummate musicians to back you up.
Yes, she does look like Anastacia. She is blonde and wears glasses. That is where the comparison ends. Abruptly.
If feeling content sounded like something, that something would be the 29-yeard old Lizz Wright.
I have not been to New Orleans, but I imagine this is the music that drifts through the streets on a warm summer’s night.
The New Music Express describes ‘Horehound’ as “music of ill-repute”. It is damn marvellous!
In 2005 the wife and I walked into a gallery in Rome and quite by accident saw an exhibition of Polaroids by Patti Smith. The beautiful white frames were not hung on a straight wall. No, they were installed at waist level, horizontally, facing up along a curved wall. In other words you looked down …
Pink’s new album is like the Mugg&Bean. Standard issue. No surprises. What you get, is what you got two weeks ago. Or in Pink’s case, a year ago.
If you have the guts to write a song about the inimitable Meg White and call it ‘Meg White’, then you’re alright. (If you don’t know who Meg White is, you’re not alright.)
Morne was the first person to play me Portishead, The Pixies, The Cure, Damian Rice, Violent Femmes and the early Kate Bush. Obviously Morne was a man of great taste. I won’t mention the fact that the two of us single-handedly destroyed a lamppost in the Alberton Boulevard late one Friday night. For more details …
Don’t go on to Youtube and look for Antony. Trust me. He looks like a middle aged woman with bad hair in a caftan, although he sounds like a young man with a broken heart and a gentle soul.
Is it the vocals? Nah, the chick can carry a tune, but she’s no PJ Harvey or Ella Fitzgerald.
Die dominee druk sy kop by die venster uit. Ja, sê hy dikbek, Pick ʼn Pay se generator gor-gor deur die dorp. Dit beteken dit is Eskom ‘load shedding’. Vir ʼn halfuur sit ons dikbek in die voorkamer en wyn proe. Ek het egter ʼn blink idee en die twee van ons sluip in die …
Every now and again a record comes along that gets everything right. A record that is just so well crafted and has so much heart it inspires everyone that listens to it. ‘Raising Sand’ is such a record. It is a gentle album, with subtle nuances and a chemistry that you would not have expected …
So I had this boyfriend at age 13 who used to ‘borrow’ his mom’s car and drive around the streets of the mining town that is Newcastle. I would leave the window of the sitting room (reserved for the dominee) open and wait to hear the engine of the old Mercedes and the sound of …
The woman has not released an album! That is the source of my frustration today. I can’t pre-order it, download it or rush over to the local music shop. Sure, I can download the single, or an acoustic version of the single (that’s being launched today, June 11th) from Island Records. That just won’t do. …
When it comes to Tori Amos we should all accept the fact that compared to her we are all morons. For a courageous moment I even attempted reading the semi-autobiographical book she published in 2005. Even though it is titled, Piece by piece, I found it too overwhelming to read and only managed Chapter One……
Amy Winehouse certainly is as curious as she looks. With long, curly pitch black hair, an even longer face, tattoos of pin up girls, Cleopatra-like eyeliner, skinny legs and a pair of serous silicone implants she looks the part of an almost goth rock n roller. She certainly plays the part with a reputed drug …