Music
American Odyssey- The world building of Lana del Rey’s music
"The past decade of Lana del Rey’s music has ventured from the deserts and neon-lights of Las Vegas to the streets of New York, Hollywood, and eventually rural California."
‘Spectacular throughout’: OUO at the Sheldonian- review
"The Sheldonian Theatre was treated on Saturday of 4th week to a display by some of the University’s best musical talent."
Five Songs for the Fifth Week Blues
"I believe that music makes a lot of things in life better. Fifth week at Oxford is no exception."
Forget Her Not: Rediscovering Women in Music- Week 1
At fifteen, I was fully and completely obsessed with the Californian soul/alternative R&B/jazz/funk band...
Grammys 2024: Reflection of Profitability or Recognition of Artistry?
The 2024 Grammys were everything they should be: glamorous, monumental, and of course, controversial.
Taylor...
In defence of minimalism
People like being right about things - they like being in control.
Now That’s What I Call… Poetry?
Somebody once told me there are a lot of bad song lyrics out there. Imagine, for every subtle, elegant song you hear, there’s bound...
Has ‘Over the Rainbow’ been overcooked?
As ‘We’ll Meet Again’ rang through the streets of the UK on VE
Day on Friday 8th May, with echoes of the previous night’s ‘Somewhere
Over...
Notes on Improvisation
Improvisation is a strange topic to think about. On the surface, it seems to be fairly simple: know the chord progression to follow, choose...
Album Review: Lady Gaga’s ‘Chromatica’
Promoting her latest album on Twitter, Lady Gaga told fans:
“listen from beginning to end, no need to shuffle, this is my true story.”
Indeed, Chromatica...
how i’m feeling now: Hyper-Pop Masterpiece for the Lockdown Generation
Charli XCX’s lockdown productivity is putting us all to shame. On the 6th of April she announced to fans via a public Zoom meeting that...
Review: The 1975’s ‘Notes on a Conditional Form’
Notes on a Conditional Form, the fourth studio album
by The 1975, has created its own chaotic history even before its release. The
band’s latest record...
Historical Opera: A Primer
The ancient Greeks were so moved by music that
in their mythological conception, the father of songs, Orpheus, could move even
the rocks. In less fanciful...
Songs of a Pride Cancelled
Pride 2020, which was supposed to be a celebration of our place in the world looking forward to liberation for even more LGBT+ people...
Streaming and the seismic shift in music release formats
Like many of us quietly fascinated with Matty Healy’s
prolific output, I recently put in a shift to listen through The 1975’s
sprawling new album Notes...
Live Album Review: Vulfpeck at Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden, NY, late 2019. A packed house. We see a stage, empty save for Woody Goss...
‘Don’t Walk Away in Silence’: Ian Curtis Remembered
Monday 18th May marked forty years since Ian Curtis, the lead singer of Joy Division, took his own life by hanging himself in his...
The New Music Celebrity
The glossy pages of the likes of NME and Rolling Stone were pored over by music aficionados in the past, hoping for a snippet of the intent of...
“Ladies, ladies, ladies, ladies” – the women at the forefront of lockdown releases
My initial self-isolation playlist contained what I thought
I would want to listen to during this indoor period - wistful folk-rock and simmering
ambient, the types...