Columns
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The Greatest Years In Music #2
Not often can one person single handedly define a year in music, but that is exactly what Bob Dylan did in 1965. By ‘65 Dylan was already the ‘spokesman of a generation’, his early folk albums were filled with hard hitting and deeply political songs, where his nasal voice was accompanied by acoustic guitar. On…
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A View From The Top #101
Based on a rapid calculation done by scrolling down on the PearShaped columns page back until the point when Adele was at the top in late 2015, I have come to the unsurprising yet bleak realisation that in the 100 articles written for this column over the last two years, we PearShaped writers have only…
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Listening Post #33
1) Yaeji – Passionfruit Drake’s Passionfruit was meant to be so much more than it was. Whilst we expected One Dance-like numbers from the chilled summer jam, a lengthy intro set it somewhat behind, leading to it peaking at just #8 on the US Billboard Charts. Yaeji’s cover of the song, featuring a distorted sampling…
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The Greatest Years In Music #1
1977 For the first instalment of this column it seemed fitting to pick a year of great debuts, 1977. In the UK, ‘77 was the year of punk following the development of the genre in the USA. In the preceding years young Brits were caught by its rebellious spirit, and alongside new wave it had…
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Oxfam Jams #6
The Single Over the last few weeks, the shop has had some really exciting donations, which has made it difficult to hold on to my pennies. There have been a range of limited edition and interesting singles from The Clash, Blur, Grandaddy, Muse, and Neutral Milk Hotel, amongst others. There has also been a wide range…
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A View From The Top #100
When Post Malone dropped Rockstar back in September, I never really considered that it might become an unstoppable UK chart topper. Unlike some of the other columnists to have reviewed this track, I actually quite enjoy it. Sure, it’s not exactly a veritable bar fest in hip-hop terms, nor does it inspire any great energy…
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Listening Post #32
1) WESTSIDEDOOM – 2STINGS (Prod. The Alchemist) It’s mainly downhill after this one, unfortunately – this ties King Krule for track of the fortnight. Hungry newcomer Westside Gunn meets larger-than-life legend DOOM in a lethal combination, produced by one of the finest to ever do it: 2STINGS is the deadliest soundtrack for the worst of…
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A View From The Top #99
Alright, confession time: I’m almost glad that Rockstar has remained at number one for its third week. Almost. Because before first listening (I’ve taken to actively avoiding all forms of mumble and Soundcloud rap since I don’t actively seek out hip-hop music that sends me to sleep) I was at least glad that it wasn’t…
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Oxfam Jams #5
Classical As a genre, classical music, in particular opera, has a stigma of being uncool or unlistenable. I have to admit from the offset, its not often you’d see me listening to Bach or Beethoven, though that’s probably from the hours of classical piano lessons when I was younger putting me off. But I have…
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A View From The Top #98
Despite this Friday marking the second successive week Post Malone’s Rockstar has topped the charts, I had yet to give the track a listen before being required to for this column. My reluctance stems from a cynicism at the copycat nature of current American hip-hop. And it is impossible not to view Rockstar against this…
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Listening Post #31
1) Moses Sumney – Quarrel Moses Sumney’s Aromanticism is as strong a debut as they get. Quarrel is one of the album’s greatest tracks, and an undeniably beautiful one, taking influence from fellow singer-songwriter James Blake. Moses’ cosmic, smooth tones are excellently blended with tinkling strings, deep basses and ethereal sounds, creating a 6-minute odyssey…
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A View From The Top #97
Given that I had already begun sketching out a paragraph or two about his overused falsettos and repetitive themes, when I looked up the top song for the charts this week, I couldn’t help but rejoice – it wasn’t Sam Smith! Two artists, Post Malone and 21 Savage, none of whom I had heard of…
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A View From The Top #96
Since A View From The Top started, there have been a fair few questionable number one singles we’ve all had to sit through and analyse. We’ve seen One Dance remain at the top of the charts for an unbelievable 12 weeks, whilst Ed Sheeran then held the number one spot for an equally dismaying 13…
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Oxfam Jams #4
Talking Heads – 77 Forty years ago this month, David Byrne, Chris Frantz, Tina Weymouth and Jerry Harrison, also known as Talking Heads, released a debut album which would become one of the most definitive and inspirational albums of the New York new wave era. Undoubtedly enthusing and encouraging the likes of Blondie’s Parallel Lines…
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Snap, Crackle And The Ideology Of Pop #20
Motivational Pop In a genre that thrives on cheesy love songs and raging emotions, it can be refreshing to find songs which are meant to motivate the listener, rather than help them cry. From Journey’s Don’t Stop Believing, to Stronger by Kelly Clarkson, everybody can find something to take with them from a motivational pop…
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A View From The Top #95
Sam Smith is at number one this week with another inane sad-man ballad. In preparation for writing this article, I went back and read some of my previous View From The Top entries, written since the column’s inception in October 2015. They begin cheerily with a rave review of Justin Bieber’s dancehall-inflected Sorry (one of…
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Listening Post #30
1. Jorja Smith & Preditah – On My Mind UK Garage is having a major renaissance right now. Maybe it’s festival season, the lasting sprit of Carnival, and old school heavy hitters like Craig David having laid the foundations for the comeback. On My Mind mixes exceedingly large UKG vibes with the newest home grown…
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Longsongs #5
13. Marquee Moon – Television [9:58] Released as: a single from the album Marquee Moon [1979]. What’s it about? Like much of Television’s output, Marquee Moon takes an artsy look at the New York of the late 1970s. It’s grimy, mired in dreamy, amateur poetics and somewhat proggy at heart, despite being so rough and raggedy…
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Snap, Crackle And The Ideology Of Pop #19
The Media and Pop No surprise, I was prompted to write this article by Taylor Swift’s latest single Look What You Made Me Do, released just a few days ago. How could I not be? Putting aside the temptation to criticize the song to shreds in this column, let me focus on the love-hate relationship…
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A View From The Top #94
In April 1986, at Johnny Marr’s kitchen table, Morrissey was having a cup of tea. He and his songwriting partner were listening to BBC Radio 1 when the news came on. Brushing aside the rest of the day’s trivialities, the catastrophic news just in: there had been an explosion in reactor 4 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power…
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A View From The Top #93
Getting to write on a brand new song for this column is like winning the lottery now – I had already begun mentally preparing to try and write something original on Despacito for the umpteenth time. Yet, thankfully, here we are this week with 21-year old Dua Lipa’s recently released electropop track, New Rules. The…
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Snap, Crackle And The Ideology Of Pop
Pop’s Outlook on Fame It’s always ironic when you watch a live performance of an incredibly successful pop artist, and realise that what they are singing about is in fact about regretting the luxurious life they have, all while the audience cheers them on and sings the lyrics with them. Yet, so many pop artists…
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Listening Post #29
1. Cardi B – Bodak Yellow When she broke away from Love & Hip Hop: New York, asserting that she was going to make a career as a musician, I doubt many people took Cardi B seriously. She was (and is still) loud and unfiltered on social media, honest and upfront about coming from the…
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A View From The Top #92
We are rapidly speeding towards 2018, and yet, for some reason, the robot responsible for spawning Calvin Harris still hasn’t been destroyed. Feels blindsided me, just as I was getting used to the idea of summer chart toppers that actually feel summery. Two weeks ago I tempted fate, praising what I thought would be the…
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Snap, Crackle And The Ideology Of Pop #17
Reflective pop The theme of a pop song tends to be quite specific – there’s a constant focus either on a particular setting, or a feeling, that tends to dominate the song. Some artists, however, break out of this mould and try to create something a little more introspective, which doesn’t just look at one…
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