Mallrat - 'Groceries' live on The Set

It proved quite difficult to find a good quality live clip of Mallrat performing live with an audience, but this is a good choice I think. You can watch a full radio session by Mallrat, videoed and with an audience, for Alt 104.5 in the US here, but you need to wait for the 1 minute mark to pass on the video before anything starts to happen, so do bear that in mind.

Patricia Lalor - 'Around the Corner' [Live]

This is Patricia Lalor performing 'Around The Corner' at home. You can watch the video to Patricia's new single 'Alone' here. She also did a lockdown live show on Insta back in April, which you can watch on YouTube here.

Fantasy Festival number 16: The Lineup

Patricia Lalor: Fourteen year old Patricia Lalor is a singer/songwriter from Wexford, Ireland. She first came to the public's attention as a pre teen when her YouTube cover of Hozier's 'Cherry Wine' was praised by the singer as one of the best covers he'd ever heard. Since then, she's begun writing her own material and her work as been likened to SOAK and Billie Eilish. You can read an interview with Patricia here and her YouTube channel is here.

Mallrat: Grace Shaw is a musician, rapper, singer and producer from Brisbane, Australia. She released my favourite single of last year ('Charlie'), has toured with Maggie Rogers, and is on course to be a massive star. You can find out more here.

Arlo Parks: Arlo Parks is an 18 year old poet and singer/songwriter from London. She has been much championed by the BBC, particularly 6Music over the past year, especially for her single 'Black Dog' and her understated and elegant cover of Radiohead's 'Creep'. You can find out more here

Greentea Peng: Neo-Soul and self described 'psychedelic R&B' (thank you Wiki) singer Aria Wells is from South East London. Her most recent single, the uncharacteristically political 'Ghost Town', spoke out against gentrification and social cleansing in London, but she's more known for her mellow soul flavoured EP's. A debut album is awaited with considerable interest. You can find her on Soundcloud.

Self Esteem: Sheffield's Rebecca Lucy Taylor, formerly of Slow Club, has been having a lot of fun with her new slyly subversive pop and R&B orientated project, Self Esteem. You really haven't lived until you've been on the dance floor at a gig full of women screaming 'YOU DON'T OWE THEM ANYTHING!' back at her during 'Girl Crush', as my review of her set last year at Band on the Wall in Manchester will attest. Rebecca has supported Florence + The Machine in real life, specifically last year in Scotland, and Rebecca and Florence were, memorably, the stars of the first YourShelf podcast, which you can hear here. You can find Rebecca on Insta.

Kelsey Lu: US singer and cellist Kelsey Lu first came to my attention when she opened the Florence + The Machine headlined British Summer Time festival in Hyde Park, back in 2016. I was struck by the power and beauty of her voice, as well as the way her songs felt as much like soundscapes as regular songs. At that point she'd just toured the US with Florence and Grimes, had released a couple of EP's, and had been taken under the wing of Blood Orange's Dev Hynes. Her debut album Blood was released last year and included the beautiful single 'Due West' as well as an atmospheric and understated take on 10cc's 'I'm Not In Love'. You can find out more here.

Maggie Rogers: Even if you don't think you know the music of Maggie Rogers, you will know her song 'Alaska', and probably its story of how Pharrell Williams came to hear it, and love it, back in 2016. A prodigious songwriter, she released her first album in 2012 and, while her career up until 'Alaska' could be considered a bit of a slow burner, her most recent album, last year's Heard it in a past life, a fabulously catchy dance pop album fuelled by sophisticated songwriting and irresistible hooks, was something of a breakthrough. You can find out more here.

Florence + The Machine: South Londoner and BBC Introducing alumni Florence Welch has been making complex, idiosyncratic baroque flavoured pop and indie rock as Florence + The Machine since 2007. She has risen from playing the tea tent at Glastonbury as an unsigned artist in 2007 to headlining the Pyramid stage in 2015, and now sells out stadiums and headlines festival bills around the world. Since 2007, Florence + The Machine have expanded from being simply Florence and whoever she could get to play guitar for her to a full band, and most of the main nucleus of musicians from the 2008 period remain. The lineup currently stands at about eight people. You can find out more here.

Fantasy Festival number 16

Lorde - Perfect Places (Glastonbury 2017)

This is Lorde performing the anthemic 'Perfect Places' at Glastonbury 2017. Other songs from the set are available on YouTube, but only as individual clips. You can watch Lorde's full set from Life is Beautiful Festival in 2017 here.

Chvrches - Miracle (TRNSMT 2018)

This is Chvrches back in their home town for TRNSMT 2018. You can watch the whole of this live set here.

Basia Bulat - Already Forgiven (Live on eTown)

This is Basia Bulat performing 'Already Forgotten' live for eTown back in May. You can watch a home concert from Basia here.

Phoebe Bridgers - I Know the End (Live Debut)

This is Phoebe Bridgers debuting her song 'I Know the End' at the Bootleg Theater in Los Angeles in October last year. You can watch her full set at Brooklyn Steel for Pitchfork live in late 2018 here.

Overcoats - Leave the Light On - Lucky Barn @Pickathon 2018 S06E10

There are some great live sessions by Overcoats over on YouTube, but I really wanted to find a live video of them with an audience, and this one of them performing at Lucky Barn for Pickathon was worth searching for. You can watch their full live session for Paste Studio Live NYC from November last year here.

Connie Constance - Let Go (The Biggest Weekend)

This is Connie Constance performing the brooding 'Let Go' on the BBC Introducing stage at The Biggest Weekend festival in 2018. You can watch part one of her session for We Transfer and Giles Peterson here.

Birch - femme.one (Official Music Video)

As with Becky and the Birds, Birch is so damn new she barely has any content on YouTube at all. In the absence of any live footage, this is the video for album title track 'femme.one'. The song 'Spelling Lessons' is also worth checking out.

Becky and the Birds tour Feb/Mar '20

There isn't any live footage of Becky and the Birds on YouTube as of yet but, judging from this tour video, she would have been gigging now were it not for Covid 19. You can watch the lyric video to the most recent single 'Paris' here.

Fantasy Festival number 15: The Lineup

Becky and The Birds: Becky and The Birds is the nom de plume of Swedish singer, songwriter and producer Thea Gustafsson. She released a self titled EP in 2018 and, since signing to 4AD, has released three singles. Were it not for the pandemic, she would be touring now. You can find out more here.

Birch: Birch, aka Michelle Birsky (not to be confused with the singer/songwriter Diane Birch or Gina Birch of the Raincoats) is an NYC based singer and songwriter who makes quietly political observational guitar and synth based music. Her debut album, femme.one, was released in 2019 and included the single 'Spelling Lessons'. You can find out more here.

Connie Constance: Watford singer songwriter and poet Connie Constance released her debut album, English Rose, last year. She has been described as 'indie soul' and early single 'Clouds' certainly promised much. She has been steadily building up her sound since then, as well as gigging and writing extensively. One to watch. You can find her on Insta.

Overcoats: NYC based synth pop/soul duo Overcoats released their second album, The Fight, back in March. Even they recognised it wasn't a great moment to be bringing a new album into the world, but they decided to go ahead anyway in the hope that the album might provide comfort for a few people in an uncertain world. They have a knack for bending genres and singing the unsayable. You can find out more about them here.

Phoebe Bridgers: Los Angeles Singer songwriter Phoebe Bridgers, as well as being an accomplished artist in her own right, has worked extensively with Julien Baker and Lucy Dacus (as Boygenius) and with Conor Oberst (as Better Oblivion Community Center). Solo single 'Kyoto' has been something of an indie rock summer hit, and it's taken from her new album Punisher. You can find out more here.

Basia Bulat: Canadian singer songwriter Basis Bulat has her roots in folk but she's also highly capable of making sparkling classic pop as well, as her 2016 album Good Advice will attest. Her most recent album, Are You In Love? was a more sprawling affair, but well received nonetheless. You can find out more here.

Chvrches: Glasgow's Chvrches make sometimes dreamy, often beautiful, many times frenetic, synth pop. Their most recent album, Love Is Dead, was released in 2018. You can find out more here.

Lorde: Auckland's premier electro pop star seemed recently to be gently teasing us by changing her Twitter handle to 'Did Lorde release an album today?' the answer, so far, is No. On the basis of her previous two albums, Pure Heroine, and Melodrama, album number three should be worth the wait. You can find out more here.

Fantasy Festival number 15

Solange - "Cranes in the Sky" | Live at Sydney Opera House

This is Solange performing 'Cranes in the Sky' live at Sydney Opera House. There are other songs from this show available on YouTube, but not the full set. You can watch Solange's set from NorthSea Jazz 2017 online though, and it's not a bad recording, but not professionally filmed. I think I used it last time but it's worth another look.

Jessie Ware - Your Domino (TRNSMT 2018)

This is Jessie Ware performing 'Your Domino' at TRNSMT 2018. You can watch Jessie's full concert for WarChild live at Bush Hall in 2018 here.

Lykke Li - Deep End (The Biggest Weekend)

This is Lykke Li performing 'Deep End' at the BBC's The Biggest Weekend festival in 2018. You can watch highlights from her Primavera Sound 2018 set here.

Estelle Performs "So Easy" LIVE | ON THE 8TH FLOOR

This is Estelle performing 'So Easy' from her most recent album, Lovers Rock, on The 8th Floor. There is a disappointing lack of full live sets by Estelle over on YouTube so I'm afraid that's your lot today as I'm struggling to find even a decent quality single track video. Sorry.

Jorja Smith - Teenage Fantasy (Glastonbury 2019)

This is Jorja Smith performing her song 'Teenage Fantasy' at Glastonbury 2019. You can watch a short fragment of her set for MTV Push in early 2019 here.

Suzi Wu - Taken Care Of (Austin Session: SXSW 2018)

This is Suzi Wu performing an acoustic version of her song 'Taken Care Of'. There's a severe lack of Suzi Wu live stuff on YouTube, but this bootleg recording of 'Grim Reaper' from a gig in Brooklyn in early 2019 has camerawork that's not too wobbly.

Koffee - Toast (Glastonbury 2019)

This is Koffee performing her hit 'Toast' at Glastonbury 2019. You can watch her full live set from Rockpalast 2019 here.

Fantasy Festival number 14: The Lineup

Koffee: Koffee is a Jamaican singer, songwriter, rapper, DJ and guitarist. She released the critically acclaimed EP Rapture in 2019. You can find out more about her here.

Suzi Wu: Suzie McDermott from North London signed to Def Jam last year and has, to date, released two EP's, Teenage Witch (which included 'Taken Care Of') and Error 404 (which included 'Highway'). Her oeuvre is very much in the line of world weary vocals and crunchy beats. You can find out more here.

Jorja Smith: Walsall singer Jorja Smith is on the rise. Her debut album was critically and commercially well received, and everyone either has collaborated with her, or wants to do so. She writes unflinchingly about social issues and has the voice of an angel. You can find out more here.

Estelle: Hip Hop, R&B, soul and reggae singer Estelle lives in the US these days. Her most recent album was a slice of pure lovers rock (called Lovers Rock) in 2018, and she stamped her identity on that genre of music perfectly. You can find out more over on her Insta.

Lykke Li: Swedish born singer and songwriter Lykke Li creates sophisticated left of centre pop music with seemingly effortless ease. All of her four albums have been well received and she continues to climb the ladder. You can find out more here.

Jessie Ware: Londoner Jessie Ware makes smooth pop soul and dance floor bangers with irresistible hooks. She also does a rather fine food podcast with her mum. You can find out more about Jessie's music here.

Solange: The goddess that is Solange Knowles was initially better known for her songwriting than for her singing, but her classic third album A Seat At The Table changed all that. Since then, she's appeared at quite a few festivals and it's very likely that you would have had the chance to see her this summer, promoting her current album When I Get Home. You can find out more here.

Fantasy Festival number 14

Courtney Barnett - Hopefulessness (Live from Piedmont Park)

A nice outdoors live appearance from Courtney Barnett here. You can watch multiple live sets by her via YouTube but the one I've chosen for you today is her live set from Primavera Sound 2019, which you can watch here.

Jesca Hoop - Red, White and Black (The Quay Sessions)

This is Jesca Hoop performing 'Red, White and Black' for The Quay Sessions at BBC Scotland. You can watch Jesca's full live session for Paste Studios NYC from November 2019 here.

Jane Weaver - "Slow Motion" (Live at WFUV)

This is Jane Weaver performing her elegant song 'Slow Motion' live on WFUV. You can watch Jane's full set from the Old Granada Studios in Manchester here.

Shonen Knife Live Performance on ABC ME's New Year's Eve House Party 201...

This live TV clip of Shonen Knife suggests it was one helluva New Years Eve party in the studio. If you'd like to continue that party, you can also watch Shonen Knife Live at the Bootleg Theatre in summer 2019 here.

SKATING POLLY - They're Cheap I'm Free @ Surfside 7, Fort Collins CO 9.2...

This live clip of Skating Polly performing 'They're Cheap I'm Free' gives a good flavour of their gigs. You can also watch Skating Polly's full live session for KEXP in late 2018 here.

Press Club - 'Suburbia' live on The Set

A lively performance from Press Club on The Set. If you'd like to watch their live set from Stafford Redrum in August 2019, you can do so here.

Hatchie - "Sure" (Live at SXSW)

This is Hatchie performing an acoustic version of 'Sure' at SXSW. You can watch her full set at Primavera Sound 2019 here.

MISS JUNE RDU Live To Air

You're getting a few songs from Miss June here and, if that's not enough, you can also watch a full live session interspersed with interviews on The 13th Floor from 2018 here.

Fantasy Festival number 13: The Lineup

Miss June: Auckland punk/grunge/indie band Miss June released their debut album, Bad Luck Party, in 2019. Coming hot on the heels of exemplary snarling punk singles such as 'Best Girl' and 'Enemies', it was keenly anticipated and did not disappoint. There's an interview here and the band's website is here.

Hatchie: Brisbane's Hariette Pilbeam, aka Hatchie, writes sun drenched happy-sad indie pop reminiscent of the early nineties and the Heavenly Sunday Social. Her debut album, Keepsake, was released last year. You can find out more here.

Press Club: Melbourne's Press Club have released two albums of ferocious grunge punk. Their first, Late Teens, featured the anthemic 'Suburbia' and second album Wasted Energy picked up where they left off. They are indefatigable. You can find out more over on their Bandcamp.

Skating Polly: Self styled creators of 'Ugly Pop', Skating Polly have been making music since their teenage years. They received early support from Exene Cervenka of X, also from Babes In Toyland, who took them on tour when singer/bassist Kelli Mayo was only 15. Since then they've collaborated with Louise Post and Nina Gordon of Veruca Salt and released five albums, most recently The Make It All Show in 2018. They are an unyieldingly energetic live act, and well worth seeing if you get the chance. You can find out more here.

Shonen Knife: The legendary Osaka band Shonen Knife have been making Ramones infused punk rock since the early 1980s. Kurt Cobain worshipped them, the 1990s music press was baffled by them, but they have consistently released album after album of frenetic Japanese punk and are a fantastic live act. You can find out more over on their Bandcamp.

Jane Weaver: Psych soundscapes from Liverpool via Manchester, Jane Weaver is a veteran of the 1990s Manchester indie scene who featured in the lineups of Kill Laura and Misty Dixon before going her own way as a solo artist. Her reputation has grown year on year, but she remains one of Manchester's best kept secrets. You can find out more here.

Jesca Hoop: From California to Manchester and back to the US again, Jesca Hoop is a restless soul, and this is reflected in the experimental nature of her music. Often folky, frequently electronic, always different. Her most recent album, Stonechild, was released in 2019. You can find out more over on her Bandcamp.

Courtney Barnett: Sydney's Courtney Barnett is two albums into a career that has seen her rapidly go from deadpan indie rock favourite to one of our most likeable rock stars. It's likely that she would have been on many festival bills this summer. You can find out more here.

Fantasy Festival number 13

PJ Harvey Let England Shake Open'er Festival Live

This is PJ Harvey performing 'Let England Shake' at Open'er Festival in Poland in 2016. You can watch her full set from Øyafestivalen festival in Oslo, Norway, in 2016 here.

Regina Spektor - "Blue Lips" (Live at WFUV)

This is Regina Spektor performing 'Blue Lips' as part of her 2019 live session for WFUV. Other songs from this session are available on YouTube if you search under WFUV and 2019, but not alas as one stream. In the meantime, here's Regina's full live set from Soundstage 2016.

Tracey Thorn - Sister (Official Video) ft. Corinne Bailey Rae

Despite releasing her solo album, Record, in 2018, I don't think Tracey did a lot of gigs that year. If she did, they weren't filmed, so I'm going with the excellent promo video for 'Sister' instead. That said, there's a lot of Everything But The Girl live stuff on YouTube, and this clip of 'Temperamental' from November 1999 is a good one.

Cat Power - Metal Heart (Glastonbury 2019)

This is Cat Power performing 'Metal Heart' at Glastonbury 2019. You can watch her performing in a more intimate live setting as part of NPR's Tiny Desk series in 2019.

Laura Gibson - Goners (Live on KEXP)

This is Laura Gibson playing a live version of the title track from her most recent album, Goners, back in 2019. You can watch the full KEXP session here.

Half Waif - Keep It Out (Welcome Campers)

Nandi Rose Plunkett recorded this live track as part of a welcome pack for some US kids going away to camp over summer last year. It's a nice clip, featuring as it does a live version of 'Keep It Out' plus a short interview and Nandi Rose hanging out with the kids at camp. 'Keep It Out' is from her last album, Lavender, and Nandi Rose recorded a live session from home for Cardinal Sessions back in April to promote new album, The Caretaker. That session is a bit short, so you might also like to watch her NPR Tiny Desk session from late 2018 as well.

Julia Jacklin - Pressure To Party (Live in KUTX Studio 1A)

A fast song from Julia Jacklin as part of her live session for KUTX, you can watch Julia's full session here

Emma Back - If I knew, Live at Richmond House Concert 2019

This is Emma Back performing 'If I knew' live at Richmond House in 2019. Emma recorded a full live session from her living room during lockdown back in May, which you can watch here.

Fantasy Festival number 12: The Lineup

Emma Back: Emma Back is a singer, songwriter, violinist, teacher and community musician from Vermont. Her music is strongly influenced by Greek and Balkan traditions, and I interviewed her for The F-Word back in 2018, shortly before the release of her debut album Little World. You can find out more here.

Julia Jacklin: Australian singer and songwriter Julia Jacklin is two albums into a steadily building career. She seems to lean towards the Throwing Muses end of indie rock, and as with fellow compatriot Hatchie, her songwriting is drenched in sunshine and makes for great feel good music. You can find out more here.

Half Waif: Nandi Rose Plunkett's fourth album, The Caretaker, the follow up to the critically acclaimed Lavender, was released back in March. Seemingly more electronic and textured than her previous album, it builds on the success of it's earlier sibling and should see a steady return in terms of more people hearing her and being aware of her sophisticated songwriting and voice, which is reminiscent of early Laura Nyro at times. You can find her on Bandcamp.

Laura Gibson: Singer, songwriter and multi instrumentalist Laura Gibson has been a staple of the US underground for some time now. Whereas 2012's La Grande had overtones of gothic Americana, her most recent album, 2018's Goners, showcased a spikiness and an anger that hadn't been as apparent in her earlier writing. She will continue to surprise us. You can find out more here.

Cat Power: From underground star to overground star, to well respected singer, songwriter and musician, an influence and touchstone to many of the current generation of musicians,  Chan Marshall has more than earned her place. You can find out more here.

Tracey Thorn: The legend that is Tracey Thorn first came to the public's attention in post punk band the Marine Girls back in 1980. She and Ben Watt formed Everything But The Girl as students in Hull in 1982. Since EBTG finished in 2000, she's become a writer, and her return to music in 2018 with the album Record, marked a new exciting direction. You can find out more here.

Regina Spektor: Russian American singer, songwriter and pianist Regina Spektor has been making delightfully clever, slightly off kilter records since 2001. She's one of those artists who just gets better and better, making music that is straightforward enough to not be out of place on Radio 2 ('Samson') to complex pop baroque's such as 'Small Bill$'. You can find out more here.

PJ Harvey: Polly Jean Harvey's debut album Dry was released 28 years ago this year. It is being re-released, along with her entire back catalogue of albums, over the next twelve months. As influenced by Captain Beefheart as she is compared to Patti Smith, she has twice won the Mercury Music Prize and she is one of UK music's quieter stateswomen. You can find out more here.

Fantasy Festival number 12

Lockdown reads: Great journalism and writing you might have missed, part 8 (July 2020)

As the fallout from George Floyd's death and Black Lives Matter protests continued, a number of stories this month have shone a light on the ways race, and racism, can interact with other inequalities and forms of prejudice. Vicky Spratt, the I's housing reporter, wrote a powerful piece about tenants rights in informal renting situations and how they intersected with poor housing and health stats for BAME communities in the UK. 

Journalist Marvarine Duffy gave an enlightening and powerful interview to BJTC about why BAME journalists need to be being hired as journalists, not 'diversity hires'. If you want to read more about the number of BAME journalists in the UK who are quitting newsrooms, you can do so here. 

In a related journalism note, and also what feels very much like a case of making something positive from a negative situation, a London woman is launching a couple of magazines for young black boys and girls.

Over in the US, Buzzfeed News asked What Happened In Bethel, Ohio? scene of one of the most vicious stand offs between BLM protesters and hard right nationalist protesters. This is a thoughtful, unexpected piece, and the demographics of it may well surprise you. And sadden you. 

Two UK publications who have been providing particularly insightful, and helpful, coverage of the Covid-19 pandemic, both in the UK and around the world have been Private Eye (who have turned their coverage of the UK pandemic over to their medical columnist MD, aka Dr Phil Hammond) and New Scientist, who have covered the pandemic with appropriate levels of dignity and scientific dispassion. Private Eye publish a limited amount of their magazine content online, but I would recommend a subscription to them if you can. You can find details on their website. This month New Scientist wrote a thoughtful piece about grief and Covid-19, and explained why Covid-19 is making both HIV and malaria outbreaks more deadly.

I often find, especially in the past four months, that friends and family don't really understand how the press, and journalism, works. There is a tendency to see only the bad in the profession (and there certainly are plenty of examples of bad journalism) but, given the extremely parlous financial state journalism is in at the moment, I would urge you to ignore and not give oxygen to clickbait, and to champion instead those organisations who I would deem strong examples of 'responsible journalism'. As well as Private Eye and New Scientist, I'd add to this list The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, who - this month - published their investigation into Europe's response to coronavirus. Since this investigation was published, EU ombudsman have launched an inquiry into failings around Covid-19. 

I'd also include 1843, a division of The Economist, who published this harrowing but necessary long read on the Covid-19 pandemic in London, as seen through the eyes of doctors, nurses and paramedics. If you'd like to hear more from hospital staff about what it's really been like during the pandemic, I would also recommend listening to The Coronavirus Frontline Special over on BBC Sounds. The original series, The Coronavirus Frontline, was recorded by a doctor at Bradford Royal Infirmary on his smartphone, then edited into programmes by the BBC World Service. It was broadcast in March, April and May. This special episode acts as a catch up, filling you in on what's been happening at the hospital since May. 

The Economist has been hit hard by the economic fallout from the pandemic, and usually its digital content is only viewable if you have a subscription, they have, however, made their Covid coverage free, but you do have to register to view it. 

In other Covid related news, my old editor at CityMetric, Jonn Elledge, is doing sterling work at the New Statesman with this piece about politicians and their failure to wear face masks while on the publicity trail.  He's also been asking why the government won't extend the ban on rental evictions. 

The issue of masks has caused a lot of debate (to put it politely) in the UK, and beyond. One of the saddest stories to read this month was the tale of Phillippe Monguillot, a French bus driver, who died after being attacked by passengers on his bus who refused to wear face masks. 

In other Covid related news, independent fact checkers Full Fact have formally raised their concerns about inaccurate testing data with the regulatory authorities. The Independent ran a harrowing story about five women who were found dead in Doncaster in the space of two months, giving a face to anonymous figures about the increase in domestic violence in the UK under lockdown. Garment workers overseas have been impoverished by the cancellation of orders without financial compensation to suppliers by UK fashion brands, as the blog Treehugger reports. 

Much has been written about e-scooters and 'micro mobility' travel of late as various countries around the world seek to ease lockdown and find ways to transport a public who have been frightened off public transport but who no one wants to see take to cars en masse. Paris Marx at CityMetric provides a detailed analysis as to how helpful e scooters and e bikes will be in the months and years to come. 

Those of you in the UK will be aware that Greater Manchester, parts of Lancashire and parts of Yorkshire were put back into lockdown at midnight on 30th July. The announcement itself was made by Matt Hancock, the health secretary, three hours beforehand, on Twitter. 

In the chaos, rage and general resigned fed up-ness that ensued, Hold The Front Page pointed out that it was local newspapers who the confused and angry general public turned to in seeking information. Jennifer Williams, Politics and investigations editor at the Manchester Evening News, tweeted their story, with the comment that maybe the Johnson administration should factor in the local press when making sudden policy reverse ferrets late at night. 

Muslim residents in Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Yorkshire were particularly annoyed by the suddenness of the decision, not just because it was taken and implemented just as Eid celebrations were due to start, leading many to ask "Would they have done this at 9pm on Christmas Eve?" but also because some politicians, like this councillor, have been blaming BAME communities for the rise in cases. Making for a tense and angry past couple of days all round. 

Expect more on the fallout from the new lockdown next month.

Over in Japan, they're trialling a number of autonomous robots in service sectors, partly for Covid-19 reasons, partly because they were thinking of doing it anyway. You can read about the convenience store robot here and the fast food robot here. The Tokyo Olympics might be off for this year (and many suspect will never be held in 2021) but the wearable air conditioning device created for the games has launched. Oh, and the UK government is having chats with Japan about 5G. If you're interested in reading more stories about Japan, I recommend you subscribe to the Tékuni newsletter, which is all about Japan, usually from a tech based angle. 

I've a couple of music stories for you this month, celebrating a new talent and some legendary talent. The new talent is Celeste, the BBC Sound of 2020, who is interviewed by DIY here. There's also a piece about the new Go-Go's documentary in USA Today here, which is a pretty deep dive into the band and why they were/are so important. 

Finally, there were a number of stories I read and found interesting this month that didn't really fit, thematically with anything else that was going on or, if they did, only indirectly. To begin with, a new Polish start up has created an alternative to plastic, as reported by Wicked Leeks, analysis of data detailing who was/is involved with Extinction Rebellion protests challenges the stereotype of who makes an XR protester, as reported in New Scientist, and Nesrine Malik wrote an opinion piece for The Guardian about why 'cancel culture' is really about elites losing power in the social media age.

The Columbia Journalism Review featured a hard to read but extremely thought provoking piece about how coverage of sex crimes in Spain has opened debates about revealing identifying details in the press. Women's Health (who definitely aren't my usual reading matter) ran a piece with a woman who self describes as 'fat and fit', who feels left out of debates around wellness. This piece is particularly pertinent in the context of the UK governments anti-obesity drive, and was signposted to me by Sian Meade-Williams at Freelance Writing Jobs, a newsletter you can subscribe to here, should you be looking for a freelance writing job. 

An American Tragedy, by Thacher Schmid, was published over on Narratively last month. It's a long, complex, desperately sad but also thought provoking read. Sit down with a hot drink and a biscuit, and soak it up. 

And finally, Tune In, Drop Out by Ann Babe from Rest Of World reports on solo living opt out culture in South Korea and asks if honjok's were both more prepared for life in lockdown, and if they are coping better, particularly as South Korea's economy increasingly shapes itself to their needs. Depending on your take on this, you'll probably be either appalled or delighted by her findings. 

Image one Ehimetalor Akhere Unuabona on Unsplash

Image two by SJ Objio on Unsplash

Image three by Marat Mazitov on Unsplash

Janelle Monáe - Make Me Feel (Glastonbury 2019)

Alas, the BBC don't appear to have made Janelle's full set from Glastonbury 2019 available. It's highly probable that it was viewable on iplayer last year, and that they might make it available again at some point, but for now, there's only a couple of songs on YouTube.

Similarly, there are full live sets by Janelle available on YouTube but they're all phone filmed and most are not great quality. This one, from NorthSea Jazz Festival 2019, while not that long, is one of the better quality ones.

The Gossip - Standing in the way of control (live)

I was struggling to find a decent, professional quality, bit of footage of Gossip from their 2019 tour so I'm including the clip I used in liu of a solo Beth Ditto live clip during 2017's Fantasy Festival series. I saw Gossip in Manchester on the 2019 tour and, as such, can testify that the energy levels were just high then as they were eleven years previously at T In The Park, where this clip was filmed.

You can watch Gossip's 2012 full live set from Rock im Park festival here.

Sampa The Great - Final Form (Brisbane, Sept 2019)

A suitably electric live version of the single 'Final Form' in Brisbane in September 2019, it contrasts with the somber lockdown tone of her live session for Africa Day in late May 2020, which you can watch here.

Khruangbin - Rules - Slab Sessions #Live Music #Discover #Indie #Rock #B...

This Slab Sessions version of 'Rules' from early 2020 was something of a fundraiser, which you can find out about if you click through to YouTube. You can watch Khruangbin's full live set from Villain as part of Pitchfork Live in 2018 here.

Poppy Ajudha - Tepid Soul - Live at Village Underground

Unfortunately there doesn't appear to be any full live sets from Poppy Adjudha on YouTube. There are a lot of interviews though and the lockdown video for the recent single 'Strong Womxn' is here and is worth a watch.

The Japanese House "Saw You in A Dream" Live at Hodgepodge Superfest 2019

A touching acoustic moment from The Japanese House. You can watch the full live set from the Tokyo date of their 2019 Japan tour here.