Tuesday, 30 June 2020

Lockdown reads: Great journalism and writing you might have missed, part 7 (June 2020)

We, inevitably and rightly, begin this months round up of great journalism and writing from June 2020 with the murder of George Floyd on May 25th in Minneapolis, USA, and the fallout and consequences of that tragedy.

At the beginning of the month, as the momentum and snowballing of the protests in the US and beyond became increasingly apparent, and a great wave of anger and pain broke across the world, or, certainly the western world, many publications began publishing guides as to how white readers could seek to educate themselves about racism, anti-racism and privilege. Refinery 29 was one, gal-dem was another, and it's worth reading both to see how these two different publications, both with young female audiences, one predominantly white, one predominantly black, handled this. In a side note, it's also worth mentioning that Refinery 29 was one of the publications to be directly affected by the fallout from the #BlackLivesMatter protests, and from employees speaking out against the actions of supposedly 'woke' employers.

So much has been written about racism, anti-racism, #BlackLivesMatter and George Floyd this month that I've decided to feature some of the more unusual and varied takes on this ever evolving story, and related stories. Not to put the issues in a nice, tidy box, but just because there has been so much that has been written and I want to show you the very best in the way of personal essays, reporting and features. The media has often been fingered as racist, oftentimes rightly, but quality journalism can also make readers pause and think. And that's what I'd like to demonstrate with the following examples.

US citizen Imani Bashir wrote a moving, evocative, and very sad personal essay for the New York Times about her decision to raise her young son outside of the US. In a similar vein, Bryan Lordeus, wrote this viral, poetic manifesto just two days after George Floyd was murdered. Recognising the need for space for an outpouring of rage and grief (in this case) in the US, Medium created a special section for the moment. If you'd never heard of Juneteenth until recently, Texas Monthly ran a moving personal essay on the subject of the anniversary, and what it means.

So often over the past month journalism Twitter has pointed to the discrepancy between post-Floyd callouts for BAME journalists write for publications, and the overwhelmingly white (and, let's face it, posh) make up of journalism as a profession: We don't want to be a novelty you turn to in moments of tragedy, we want consistent work, respect and commissions seemed to be the message.

One publication putting it's money where it's mouth was seemed to be 1843, who have made a good start by commissioning four African-American photographers, who were photographing the #BlackLivesMatter protests in the US, to write a collective photo essay for the magazine about their experiences of the protests and of photographing them. They also ran a thoughtful essay on the long shadow of confederacy as regards street names in the US. Rather more depressingly, The US Press Freedom Tracker has worrying news about the number of reporters and photographers in the US who have been arrested while reporting on the protests, and New Scientist had the figures on how many Black American's have been killed in the US when compared to white Americans. Over at CityMetric, new editor Sommer Mathis proposed that the US couldn't police its way out of this.

If you'd like a neat roundup of how Europe has covered George Floyd and #BlackLivesMatter, EuroTopics has a good summary. The European Network Against Racism also has some handy data on the impact of Covid-19 on BAME communities across Europe.

More positively, New Scientist wrote this month that Scientists around the world were striking and protesting against racism in academia.

In the UK, BBC Reality Check (the BBC's fact checking division) provided figures on the number of people who have died in police custody in England and Wales. In case you're wondering, Scotland and Northern Ireland collect their own figures separately. Big Joanie's Stephanie Phillips wrote a thoughtful piece for Wire about understanding blackness to understand black art. while Jonn Elledge pointed out in a piece for the New Statesman that the history of the British Empire is not being taught in British schools. 1843, meanwhile, had an interview with the only BAME member of the Colston Club. One of the most moving and upsetting pieces, for me, this month was a personal essay by UK Olympian Anika Onuora for Huffpost Personal UK about her experiences of racism as an athlete in the UK. Over in Manchester, citizen journalists The Meteor ran an interview with a man who was recently tasered by Greater Manchester Police, who has clearly had a 'There but for the grace of God' moment when hearing about the death of George Floyd. And The Guardian had the only interview with Reni Oddo-Lodge.

As has been the case with Covid-19, there has been a lot of disinformation and misinformation floating around about #BlackLivesMatter. The Manchester Evening News unmasked a particularly distressing bit of complete bollocks from Facebook, and independent fact checkers Full Fact investigated a similarly divisive bit of social media related nastiness.

Finally, on the subject of #BlackLivesMatter, Yomi Adegoke wrote a thoughtful essay for Vogue on how we need to seriously rethink our current mindset of 'pics or it didn't happen' when it comes to activism.

The other big story this month, of course, has been Covid-19. Surely there's nothing more to say? Well, you'd be surprised.

On the 3rd June, New Scientist attempted to answer why there have been so many deaths from Covid in the UK. Britta Shoot over at CityMetric wrote a sensitive and thoughtful essay about the appropriate ways to memorialise the victims of a pandemic. With the holiday season in ruins, 1843 turned its thoughts to how best to holiday in a pandemic. The Bureau of Investigative Journalism were busy asking a question Matt Hancock clearly didn't want asking this month: What happened to that track and trace app then? BBC Future, meanwhile, had a riveting piece on lockdowned residents who had tapped into their inner Miss Marple and Poiret tendencies during lockdown.

As restrictions began to be lifted in the UK, Nicola Slawson wrote for iNews about why it was wrong to sneer at shoppers queuing up outside Primark. Over in Manchester, The Meteor ran a piece about residents and cycle activists frustration at the lack of temporary cycle lanes being put in place (as promised) as the UK started to come out of lockdown. And what happened next. Wicked Leeks asked whether Covid-19 has killed the zero waste shop, and urged shoppers to shop local.  The New Scientist, meanwhile, had an interview with the editor of The Lancet, Richard Horton, which included a call for an international enquiry into Covid-19. Narratively, meanwhile, had an essay about a group of hippies who've spent the past six months in quarantine in a kind of new age haven.

Covid-19 misinformation and disinformation continues to be rife, and Full Fact, the independent fact checking service, have been working flat out checking and challenging them. Some stories they've got to the bottom of recently are the exact deal that student nurses who volunteered to work early for the NHS were offered, the exact deal that French care workers have been offered by their government, and whether the UK government really were planning to inject UK residents with tracking microchips or not.

And, finally, I have managed to find some really good stories that aren't about racism and anti-racism or Covid-19, which you might enjoy.

Hengtee Lim aka Snippets wrote the kind of story/potential screenplay that really subtly gets under the skin, and which screams TV or film adaptation. 1843 explained how and why satire in Hong Kong is under threat, and Huckmag had an essay on How AIDS activists used art to fight a pandemic. That is, the AIDS pandemic. In an example of a quality essay about a faraway privileged world, 1843 had a searing account of The secret economics of a VIP party.

Image one by Koshu Kunii on Unsplash

Image two by Clay Banks on Unsplash

Image three by Ehimetalor Akhere Unuabona on Unsplash

Image four by Tom Barrett on Unsplash

Monday, 29 June 2020

Sigrid Performs Don't Feel Like Crying Live At TRNSMT | BBC Scotland



Sigrid turns in a euphoric performance as part of this TRNSMT set, and her full live set from Rock Werchter in 2018 looks equally as good. You can watch it in full here.


Sunday, 28 June 2020

Niki & The Dove - You Want The Sun - Yakisessions



A friendly, relaxed and atmospheric gig. The full set for the Niki & The Dove Yakisession can be watched here.


Allie X – Girl of the Year (Super Sunset Digital Concert #SSDC)



A highly atmospheric performance by Allie X here. You can watch an equally impressive intimate gig in full as part of the Mercedes Benz live Garage gig series here.

Saturday, 27 June 2020

Grace Mitchell Performs "Now" || Baeble Music



This is an easygoing live performance in which Grace performs a stripped down version of her frenetic single 'Now'. You can watch an interview and performance by Grace as part of Coachella 2017 here.

Pale Honey - Lesson Learned Live at Roskilde



A highly atmospheric clip of Pale Honey performing 'Lesson Learned' live at the Roskilde Festival. You can watch the bands full performance live at Colours in November 2019 here.

Friday, 26 June 2020

Pink Milk - Detroit



There's not an awful lot of Pink Milk over on YouTube, let alone live footage of the band at their noisy, eviscerating best. This short clip of them enthusiastically covering the theme from Terminator 2 will give you a flavour though, as does this much celebrated and deeply unsettling cover of Foreigner's 'I wanna know what love is'.

Lydmor – Claudia (Live at Roskilde Festival 2019)



This clip is taken from a set Lydmor performed at Roskilde Festival in 2019. You can watch a full pared down session she did as part of the Naked session series here.

Thursday, 25 June 2020

Fantasy Festival number 5: The lineup

Lydmor: Danish composer and musician Jenny Rossander is well known in her home country, but didn't really start to be known in the UK until she released her album I told you I'd tell them our story back in 2018. She makes expansive, emotional electro pop, and you can read more about her here and here.

Pink Milk: Atmospheric Swedish noise merchants Pink Milk will be no strangers to regular readers of this blog. Their debut 2017 album Purple was an icy cacophony swirling through the music scene that year, and while they have been quiet of late, they have more than earned their place in a Fantasy Festival lineup. You can find them over on Bandcamp.

Pale Honey: Swedish grunge duo Nelly Daltrey and Tuva Lodmark were included in 2017's Fantasy Festival series, around the time they released their second album, Devotion. They've been teasing us with new material over the past year so it's to be expected that a third album may well be imminent. You can find out more here.

Grace Mitchell: Grace is another performer who I included in my 2017 Fantasy Festival lineup who has been a bit quiet since. Signed to Taylor Swift and Lorde's record label, she released a series of EP's and stand alone tracks (including the 2017 protest song 'The Kids (Ain't Alright)') that saw her poised to be the next great up and coming left of centre pop star. Here's hoping she's been quiet because she's working on something.

Allie X: Canadian singer/songwriter and visual artist, Allie X, has been bubbling under for a while now. 2020's Cape God album of dystopian synth pop has been well received, and, were things not as they are it would be expected that she would be touring the shit out of it, and probably performing at a number of festivals this summer. You can read a review of the album here.

Niki & The Dove: Swedish duo Niki & The Dove, following ten years of dramatic indietronica have, again, been a bit quiet recently. An alternative version of 'Sister Brother Mother Father' from 2016's album Everybody's Heart Is Broken Now, was released last year, signalling perhaps that they might be working on something but, for now, fans wait.

Sigrid: Norwegian singer/songwriter Sigrid was crowned BBC Music's Sound of 2018 and, since then, she's gone on to release a critically acclaimed pop album (including the legendary 'Don't Kill My Vibe'), do at least one stadium tour, and provide a refreshingly sunny take on Gen Z life. You can find out more here.

Fantasy Festival number 5


Tuesday, 23 June 2020

Dua Lipa Performs ''IDGAF'' Live 2020



A lively performance of 'IDGAF' from Dua Lipa here, you can also watch her 2018 set from Tomorrowland in Belgium here, though it comes with the warning that there are lots of strobes.

Monday, 22 June 2020

Ibibio Sound Machine - Nyak Mien - Edge Sessions @Pickathon 2019 S06E04



This is the excellent Ibibio Sound Machine performing 'Nyak Mien' as part of Edge Sessions at Pickathon last year. You can watch their full live set from The Moroccan Lounge last July here.

Noga Erez - VIEWS - live at inDnegev festival



Noga Erez is shown here performing impeccable recent single 'Views' live at inDnegev festival, which I think happened just about pre lockdown. Since then, Noga has done a #StayHome and Chill #WithMe acoustic live lockdown gig, and a recording exists over on YouTube.

Sunday, 21 June 2020

Girlpool - Hire (Live on KEXP)



This live clip of Girl Pool is taken from a session they did for KEXP, and you can watch the full set here. They also performed as part of the 2017 Pitchfork Music Festival lineup, and you can watch the full set here.

Jade Bird - Lottery (Radio 1's Big Weekend 2019)



Filmed performing her early track 'Lottery' as part of Radio 1's Big Weekend 2019 on the BBC Introducing stage, you can also watch Jade's full live set for The Current from the Armory in Minneapolis here.

Saturday, 20 June 2020

Sarah Roston - Eu Incomodo (I Bother)



I posted the video for Sarah Roston's debut track 'Eu Incomodo (I Bother)' not that long ago, and I'd love to be able to post a fresh track but, truth be told, there's not a lot of solo work available yet. It will come though and, meantime, 'Eu Incomodo' is worth another watch.

Sarah appears as part of Orquestra Jabaquara in this live clip.

Celeste - Love Is Back (Glastonbury 2019)



Performing here on the BBC Introducing stage at Glastonbury 2019, Celeste shows us her slowed down jazz aspect. She recently recorded a session from lockdown for Nest, which you can watch in full here.



Friday, 19 June 2020

Fantasy Festival number 4: The Lineup

Celeste: BBC Music's Sound of 2020 artist is going from strength to strength at the moment. In any other year, she would have been one to watch at every festival on the Introducing stage this summer but, for now, we'll have to be content with watching her from home instead.

Sarah Roston: Brazilian singer Sarah Roston is a flexible talent, as at home with samba and jazz as with reggaetron, as evidenced by her single 'Eu Incomodo (I Bother)' earlier this year. You can find out more about Sarah here.

Jade Bird: Alumni of the BBC Introducing scheme, singer/songwriter Jade Bird is a woman who knows her Stevie from her Janis. She released her debut self titled album last year. You can find out more here.

Girl Pool: Did you know that if you google the words 'Girl Pool' the first result you get will be a pink paddling pool with a mermaid's tail attached to it? The mind boggles. Girl Pool, the band comprised of Harmony Tividad and Avery Tucker, started out making semi acoustic slightly twee awkward indie pop, though their recent output suggests a grittier direction. Find out more over on their website.

Noga Erez: Were Noga not from Tel Aviv, she would be a huge popstar by now. Or maybe not. The arch tone of her lyrics (often searing critiques of social media, technology, misogyny and machismo) and unforgiving nature of her beats might make that impossible but, then, people didn't expect Billie Eilish to become a popstar either so you never know. You can find out more about Noga over on her website.

Ibibio Sound Machine: Futuristic afro funk party music at it's finest. Ibibio Sound Machine always deliver. You can find out more over on their website.

Dua Lipa: Global popstar Dua Lipa is due a festival headliner slot. She's climbed the circuit from small venues upwards from 2016 onwards and 2021 (coronavirus permitting) will see her play her first stadium tour. She has arrived and new album Future Nostalgia has sealed her reputation as a slick pop professional. You can read a recent interview with her here.

Fantasy Festival number 4


Tuesday, 16 June 2020

ROSALÍA - MALAMENTE (Cap.1: Augurio - Live on Austin City Limits)



This is a highly charismatic performance of 'Malamente (Cap.1: Augurio)' live as part of Austin City Limits. You can watch Rosalía's full, astounding, performance at Lollapalooza in Chile here


Monday, 15 June 2020

Ibeyi - Me Voy (Live on KEXP)



This is a song taken from a lovely intimate set by Ibeyi for KEXP. You can watch the full set here.


Jenny Hval performs "Female Vampire" at Primavera Sound Festival 2016 | ...



STROBE WARNING: This footage features increasing use of strobes as the clip progresses

This is Jenny Hval performing the dramatic 'Female Vampire' at Primavera Sound Festival in 2016. If you'd like to watch Jenny's full set live at DC9 in 2014, you can do so here.

Sunday, 14 June 2020

Sui Zhen - 'Hangin On' (3RRR Live from Melbourne Music Week)




This sparky performance by Sui Zhen was taken from a session for 3RRR Live as part of Melbourne Music Week. You can also watch a slightly more recent full set by Sui Zhen live during The Grapevine's 10th Birthday celebrations here.

MINT FIELD - Jardin de la Paz [Tapetown Sessions]



In addition to this clip of Mint Field performing 'Jardin de la Paz' as part of Tapedown Sessions, you can also watch their full set from Highland Park Ebell Club on 5/1/2019 here.

Saturday, 13 June 2020

Biig Piig - Roses and Gold (Live)



This is a warm and easygoing performance of Biig Piig's excellent 'Roses and Gold'. You can also watch a livestream she did for Pirate Live x Future Bounce here.

Julia Bardo - "Desire" (Live at Night At The Museum, Blackburn)




This is a lovely intimate live performance from Julia Bardo in Blackburn as part of Night At The Museum. You can watch a more recent lockdown live of Julia's here.

Friday, 12 June 2020

Fantasy Festival number 3: The Lineup

Julia Bardo: This young musician moved from Brescia in Italy to Manchester three years ago and after playing as part of Working Men's Club for a bit, is now pursuing a solo career. You can read a really good interview with Julia over on the Fred Perry website, and find out more about her here

Biig Piig: One of The Guardian's 'One To Watch' from late last year, and a favourite of 6Music, Biig Piig is the pseudonym of Irish musician Jess Smyth. You can find her on Insta and listen to her on Soundcloud.  

Mint Field: 2020 sees Mexican band Mint Field return with a changed lineup as they begin the build up to their much anticipated second album. You can find out more at their Bandcamp page. 

Sui Zhen: Electronic artist Sui Zhen began her career in Japan in 2016 but is now based in Melbourne, Australia. Last years album Losing, Linda was a understated classic. You can find out more over at her website

Jenny Hval: Experimental Norwegian artist Jenny Hval has built up a cult following over the past five years or so, and has collaborated with a number of other artists, including Kelly Lee Owens. You can access her website here

Ibeyi: French-Cuban sisters Lisa-Kaindé Diaz and Naomi Diaz make sophisticated and intricate music in English and Yoruba, a Nigerian dialect. As well as featuring in Amy Raphael's recent excellent book of interviews with female musicians, A Seat At The Table, there's also a good introductory interview with them here

Rosalía: Catalan global popstar Rosalia Vila Tobella has only been with us a few years, but she is going from strength to strength, steadily climbing the live circuit and performing in bigger and bigger venues, turning in stirring performances at every award ceremony going, and generally bossing it. Now is her moment. 

Fantasy Festival number 3


Thursday, 11 June 2020

Stevie Nicks - Rhiannon (Live In Chicago)



This footage of Stevie Nicks performing Fleetwood Mac's 'Rhiannon' live in Chicago was filmed in 2007. The whole concert is available on DVD, but not on YouTube where it is only available on a song by song basis. As I remember from my 2017 Fantasy Festival series (and a quick search seems to be bearing out this is still the case) there's a lot of Stevie concerts that would have been made available on VHS in the 80s that have been uploaded to YouTube, but nothing really more recent than clips from this 2007 concert.


Wednesday, 10 June 2020

Bat For Lashes - I Feel For You/Jasmine live Albert Hall, Manchester 24-...



This live footage of Bat For Lashes is taken from the Manchester date on last years tour of stripped down performances to promote the Lost Girls album. Accompanied by Laura Groves on keyboards, Natasha Khan turned in a spine tingling intimate performance. You can read my review of the gig over on Louder Than War.

While there are a number of films of full festival sets available on YouTube of Bat For Lashes, the most recent I could find are the 2016 sets from Glastonbury and Pitchfork Festival. I'm pretty sure I went with the Glastonbury set back in 2017 so, with that in mind, I'm linking this time to the Pitchfork festival set, which looks equally as good.

Angel Olsen - All Mirrors (Live at The Current)



This live session recording shows Angel Olsen performing 'All Mirrors', the title track from her 2019 album, live for The Current in the US. I've not been able to locate a decent quality film of any full sets from the 2019/2020 tour, but I have managed to locate footage of her full set from Pitchfork Festival in 2017, which you can watch here.


Tuesday, 9 June 2020

The Staves - Roses (Live at WERS)



This clip of The Staves performing an EP track from a couple of years ago, 'Roses', was taken from a live session for WERS in the US. The Staves have played quite a few festivals now but, due to their position on the bill, the only full set recording I've been able to find is of their 2015 Glastonbury set. Regular readers might remember that this is the same live set I included in 2017's Fantasy Festival series, but it is worth re-watching.

Lily & Madeleine - Canterbury Girls - Live at Paradiso 2019



This clip of Lily & Madeleine performing the title track from their most recent album showcases the band in a traditional live gig environment. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find any festival live footage of them, but I have found a delightfully quirky live set from the IndyGo Music In Transit series, which has the band performing on a Red Line bus in Indianapolis. The Music In Transit live series is supported by Indianapolis Arts Council, and hosted by Square Cat Vinyl. It was, it goes without saying, filmed many months before the US went into coronavirus lockdown, and you can watch the full set here.

Monday, 8 June 2020

Fantasy Festival number 2: The Lineup

Lily & Madeleine: Sisters Lily & Madeleine Jurkiewicz hail from Indianapolis, Indiana. They have released four albums of beautiful slightly melancholic folk pop. You can find out more about them over on their website.

The Staves: Another band of folky musician siblings, The Staves hail from Watford and have released three albums and a number of EP's. Their most recent release is a demo, 'Nothing's Gonna Happen' and you can find out more over on their website.

Angel Olsen: Angel Olsen's sound has evolved and transformed a number of times in recent years. Her most recent album, last years All Mirrors, was an 80s synth infused slice of layered baroque, whereas 2016's Your Woman alternated between folky Americana and punky garage. You can find out more over on her website. 

Bat For Lashes: Natasha Khan's fifth album, Lost Girls, was one of the highlights of last year. To promote it she played a series of stripped down shows in which she talked the audience through her creative process and discussed the 80s synth pop and visual imagery that had influenced the album. You can find out more about Bat For Lashes over on her website.

Stevie Nicks: Member of the classic Rumours era lineup of Fleetwood Mac, and successful solo artist, Nicks has more recently been tagged as the probable inspiration for Daisy Jones in Taylor Jenkins Reed novel Daisy Jones and The Six. Her official website can be found here.

Fantasy Festival number 2


Saturday, 6 June 2020

Lockdown reads: Great journalism and writing you might have missed, part 6 (May 2020)

Note: This post was written, and scheduled for publication, just after the tragic death of George Floyd in police custody in the US. It was written just before the protests and outpouring of rage and grief that followed his death. Rest assured, June's post will feature a lot on George Floyd. I will not forget.

Welcome to this months roundup of interesting reads under lockdown. As you may have guessed, there will be a lot of Covid related content again this month but, not necessarily in the way you might think.

In fact, this months big story in many ways (aside from That One) was all about the media itself. Specifically, the ways in which an industry with a deeply flawed business plan (increasingly and fatally reliant on advertising) is being brought to its knees by the pandemic. Obviously, the media isn't the only industry negatively impacted by Covid but, my God was this the month things really started to go horribly tits up for it. 

An early sign of what was to come, in some ways, was heralded by a mercilessly funny but cruelly accurate pice of satire that appeared in the Medium publication, Sentimental Garbage, on May 1st, in which the author pondered what life might have been like for The Pied Piper of Hamelin as a struggling freelance worker. A week later, Rachel Charlene Lewis at Bitch Media took a more positive tone on the freelance journalist's plight by pointing to the ways in which Twitter had united journalists (especially freelancers) fighting for better pay and conditions. The role of the freelance journalist is often misunderstood so, with this in mind, Farah Khalique published a handy list of the ways Coronavirus had busted myths about the role over on Contently. Then, mere days later, the apocalypse happened, and many of those who had felt they were relatively safe in staff jobs at respectable, long established publications, found themselves without a job. 

A couple of weeks later, Laura Snapes at The Guardian tried to sound a positive note for the music press and how it was coping, and the i ran a lighthearted piece on how they'd adapted to lockdown, but there was no way anyone could pretend that the media wasn't scarily vulnerable. For some, such as Frankie Boyle over on Twitter, the destruction of the mainstream media is a moment to rejoice, but for those expecting to see the back of The Daily Mail, The Telegraph, or The Sun, they will be disappointed: The owners of those papers have bottomless pockets, and Coronavirus will have barely made a dent in their personal profits. 

In the meantime, while I never read Buzzfeed's UK edition, I will mourn the loss of the paper edition of The Economist: A calm, balanced, professional magazine with intelligent, responsible journalism, which will now only be available digitally. Similarly, it's unlikely that a responsible journalism organisation such as The Bureau of Investigative Journalism here in the UK will be untouched by Covid, even though it doesn't rely on the advertising model. As to why they are worth supporting, and championing, their recent investigations into the UK governments 'Everybody In' emergency housing of the homeless population provides a very good case for independent, honest, professional media

In happier news, Positive News (the clue is in the name) reported on the way in which community radio has become a lifeline for communities in a time of Covid, while Jonn Elledge wondered if cities should turn golf courses into parks during lockdown over at CityMetric. Also in the spirit of how we might use this moment to pause and think about creating a better world for ourselves was this piece in New Scientist, which made a balanced, scientific case for Universal Basic Income. 

With the furlough scheme opening for applications in May, and many workers having faced layoffs and financial hardship, thoughts turned increasingly to the workplace for many. Some have spoken despairingly of the lack of work available for applicants at the moment (it's not that bad; I have been looking this week) while many will not be searching for work at all. One area crying out for workers is the farming sector, and there has been a recruitment drive in recent weeks to get enough workers to ensure the crops are picked. Wicked Leeks Matt Chittock spoke to farmers and workers, who told him the Land Army rhetoric being used by the government is not helping their cause. Over at the Tribune, union activist Charlotte Bence was giving readers a short lesson in workers rights as UK employers were being encouraged by the government to get workers back to work.

There has been a rise in community activism, organisation and mutual aid initiatives in the UK thanks to Covid, which has not gone unnoticed. Rebecca Solnit wrote a long read for The Guardian about  mutual aid this month, which is worth a read. Similarly, Wired ran this piece about a citizen science project in Baltimore in the US, which is paying out of work residents to analyse images from the Hubble Telescope. In the Highlands of Scotland meanwhile, a rewilding project is still taking place, despite the lockdown and Positive News wrote about it. They also wrote about a London charity that turns food waste into meals and how they have adapted during lockdown

It would be hard to get through a survey of May's journalism without mentioning Dominic Cummings, and many of you will be inwardly groaning at this point. If you must read about it one more time, Hugo Rifkind does a good opinion take on the whole sorry saga over at The Sunday Times, and Full Fact have forensically fact checked his explanation for his behaviour to see if it adds up when taken against the official government advice

There were some non-Covid stories this month, but a lot of them are tragic ones, such as the death in custody of George Floyd in the US (a story very much evolving as I type), and the protests in Hong Kong. Hong Kong activist Wilfred Chan wrote this piece, The Infinite Heartbreak of Loving Hong Kong, for The Nation on the 23rd May. There will be a lot on George Floyd, and the fallout from his death, in next month's roundup. 

And finally, perhaps suspecting that many of their readers were yearning to escape from the world, 1843 ran a long read on British artist Sam Winston, and his quest to escape from information overload.

First photo by kilarov zaneit on Unsplash

Second photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash






Friday, 5 June 2020

Laura Marling - Fortune (Live at Home on Later... with Jools Holland)



It feels very apt to conclude the first of my Fantasy Festivals for 2020 with a live performance from home by Laura Marling. It very much reflects the mood and mode of performance of the times. If you'd like to watch Laura's full set at Boiler Room as part of David Lynch's Festival of Disruption in 2018, you can do so here.



Emmy the Great - Mahal Kita (HD Live at Roode Bioscoop Amsterdam, 23 Mar...



Finding decent quality live clips of Emmy The Great on YouTube proved a bit elusive, alas, but here is Emmy performing the impeccable 'Mahal Kita' in Amsterdam. While there are no full live sets available to view on YouTube, you can, with patience and perseverance, reconstruct her 2011 End of the Road festival set from 2011, one song at a time, if you search YouTube.

Thursday, 4 June 2020

First Aid Kit - My Silver Lining (Live At Life is Beautiful Festival Las...



Swedish sisters First Aid Kit are no strangers to the festival circuit, as this clip taken from their set at Life is Beautiful fest attests. Similarly, if you'd like to watch the bands full live set from the Palace Theater in the US in 2018, you can do so here.

Honeyblood - She's A Nightmare (6 Music Live Room)



A typically intense performance by Honeyblood, this live performance for 6Music acted as a taster for last years In Plain Sight album. While I haven't been able to locate a full live festival set recording on YouTube, I have found this Paste Studio NYC live session from last year, which is well worth a watch.



Wednesday, 3 June 2020

Emma Pollock - 'Confessions' @ The SAY Award: Live at the Longlist 2018...



Performing at the the Scottish Album of the Year longlist ceremony back in 2018, this is a typically easygoing performance by Emma Pollock. I haven't been able to find a full live stream of her on YouTube, but she did recently feature in an episode of Stay At Home Festival, which you can watch here.




Siobhan Wilson performs Whatever Helps live at Paisley Arts Centre (The ...




This spellbinding performance of 'Whatever Helps' by Siobhan is indicative of her charisma as a live performer. While I couldn't find a full live set by her on YouTube, I did find a recent at-home cover of Tim Buckley's 'Song to the siren', which is well worth a watch.

Tuesday, 2 June 2020

Maple Bee - No Ropes on Me




Despite a lengthy musical career, both as a solo artist and as a member of Tabitha Zu, Zu, Mediaeveal  Baebes and Queen Adreena, there's not that much footage of Maple Bee on YouTube. What few live clips there are are poor quality phone videos, so there isn't really any live work to point you to at the moment. A shame. If you would like to watch another video after watching 'No Ropes on Me', you could do much worse than to listen to 'This Face This Name'.

Helen McCookerybook - Songs from the kitchen: Don't be Silly, He Said




Helen McCookerybook's intimate songs from the kitchen performances pre-date lockdown, and I've always enjoyed the relaxed, easygoing tone of them. During lockdown, despite missing the live scene, Helen has been an enthusiastic adopter of the online gig. She performed an online gig for Loud Women back in March, which does unfortunately include a bit of screen freezing, but if you'd like to give it a watch, you can do so here.

Monday, 1 June 2020

Katy Carr on Trojka Radio - Wojtek




An intimate, easygoing and bilingual performance by Katy Carr, this performance was filmed for Trojka Radio in Poland. I haven't been able to find a decent quality full set stream of Kay on YouTube, but if you'd like to see more she has recorded a lockdown performance for Merseyside Polonia and Polish Heritage day, which you can watch here.

Zoe Graham performs Hacket & Knackered live | Quay Sessions



This recording of Zoe Graham performing her single 'Hacket & Knackered' for BBC Scotland was broadcast as part of her adoption by BBC Introducing, the BBC new musical talent scheme. Because Zoe is such a new performer, there doesn't appear to be a full live set available to view on YouTube but you can watch an interview with Zoe in which she also performs her song 'Anniesland Lights'.