Music for the end of the world: a Plastic Beach retrospective
"Plastic Beach serves as a poetic, wonderfully produced and musically brilliant reminder that the world is slowly ending, everything is artificial and no one seems to be doing very much about it at all."
Dresse me my harpe
The speaker in Anna Cowan’s poem herself undertakes a myth-making activity in playing her harp. “It is time”, she declares, as she unshackles the...
Following the money: the meaning of “selling out”
‘I love selling out’ declared Charli XCX when speaking to NPR about Crash, released in March, a project which sees her lean into mainstream pop, ironically playing the part of an industry ‘sell-out’.
Father John Misty’s “new world of old characters”
"In Chloë and the Next 20th Century, Tillman succeeds spectacularly at creating a new world out of old characters."
In Conversation with Katie Melua
Where do we come from? I mean, where does it all come from, all this? – the books that we read or skim; the...
A critique of the critique ‘industry plant’
Aarthee Pari discusses the meaning of the term 'industry plant' and its validity as a critique of musicians.
‘Stirred to breathless heights’: Wolf Alice Concert Review
"This was the second of three successive sold-out nights for the four-piece at the London venue, and it proved one for us and the remaining five thousand people in attendance to remember."
‘The modern cult of the Girl Boss’ – Review: She Felt Fear
"Surrounded by the pressure to be beautiful, to craft a beautiful life, and to appreciate beauty, is it any wonder that Kathy goes a bit crazy? She Felt Fear is a portrait of hysteria in the twenty-first century."
New writing in Oxford: An interview with Shaw Worth and Kirsty Miles
"I think to write a play you’ve got to be constantly re-inspired. It requires so many exchanges between characters and demands inhabiting so many different psyches."
Pythagoras’ Nightmare: Reincarnation, Coldplay and the Music of the Spheres
Don’t get me wrong. The album is upbeat, cheerful, maddeningly optimistic and, at least intermittently, catchy for most of us mortals. But something tells me it’s not quite the empyreal sound Pythagoras would have had in mind.
Juggling a degree and career: In conversation with Manmzèl
Maintaining a non-academic hobby alongside an Oxford degree is a challenge. Pressures from tutors, friends and oneself conspire to clog up time that could...
The cacophony of crisis
COP26 has brought forth a multitude of images which embody the climate crisis: koalas clinging to rescue workers in Australian forest fires, polar bears...
Reshuffling our thoughts
A shock decision by Spotify has fundamentally shaped the concept of the album in the digital age. Adele’s new album, 30, can no longer be shuffled as...
On Misunderstanding Taylor Swift
"When she does reach pop music, she exerts an extreme amount of control and mastery over commonly used sonic structures. ‘Blank Space’ parodies both the narratives surrounding her and general pop structures. This is done by the marking out of the chorus and the excessive use of four chords that are commonly used throughout music. The basic structure of a song is tripartite: setup, build-up, and climax, often corresponding to the sections verse-chorus, verse-chorus, bridge-chorus.‘Shake It Off’, as basic as it may seem, is one of the most complex songs on the album ‘1989’. This is because each sub-setup, build-up, and climax have their own setup, build-up, and climax. We praise Homer for his ability to expand on his basic structural frameworks: to appreciate the artistry of the compositions, we should look at Taylor’s songs in the same way."
