New Year, New Book Pile

 

The big end of year round up post

Welcome to my annual end of year round up!

Rather than write a long, epic post, I've decided to slim things down a bit this year. As such, I'm not doing a list of gigs of the year (because there were too many good ones...) and, having given the matter some thought, I'm not providing a list of pieces I've written this year. There was some discussion on Twitter about this custom last year and I can see why people find the practice a bit obnoxious, so I'm sacking it off.

Also, because it seemed to go down well last year, I will be posting my songs of the year list in a series of day-by-day posts again. There will be 25 this year, and number 25 will be up online tomorrow.

12 albums of the year

12) Starcrawler - Devour You
11) Helen McCookerybook - Green
10) Honeyblood - In Plain Sight
9) The Regrettes - How Do You Love?
8) Hatchie - Keepsake
7) Miss June - Bad Luck Party
6) Ioanna Gika - Thalassa
5) Siobhan Wilson - The Departure
4) Billie Eilish - When we fall asleep where do we go?
3) Bat For Lashes - Lost Girls
2) Gazel - Gazel's Book Of Souls
1) Self Esteem - Compliments Please

12 books I've read and loved this year

Yrsa Daley Ward - The Terrible
Molly Bloom - Molly's Game
Hannah Ewens - Fangirls
Amy Raphael - A seat at the table
Stella Gibbons - Pure Juliet
Hilary McKay - The Skylarks War
Taylor Jenkins Reid - Daisy Jones & The Six
Amy Engel - The Roanoke Girls
Lucy O'Brien - Dusty
Nick Rennison - Bohemian London
Celeste Bell and Zoë Howe - Dayglo
Jordan Mooney and Cathi Unsworth - Defying Gravity

12 classic Podcast episodes from 2019

I think my overall favourite podcast this year has been Best Pick, the podcast that watches and discusses every single Oscar winning movie in random order. While every episode is riveting in scope and detail, it's worth noting that they're just as entertaining when the film disappoints as when it exceeds expectations. As such, listening to them eviscerating Gladiator is just as much fun as hearing them get excited about It Happened One Night. Their recent take on Gigi was a good one, but a favourite episode for me this year has been their take on Casablanca.

The BBC's Brexitcast has obviously had a lot of good material to work with this year, and while I can't remember which episode it was that featured the Dutch mascot for the Netherlands Brexit preparations, I did find their Saturday Night Leaver episode to be particularly hilarious. On a more serious note, the international collaboration with the World Service's Global News Podcast was particularly powerful. 

There's been some really good takes on work in podcast land in 2019, particularly in the areas of women and work, freelancing, and finances. Is This Working? was launched this year by Tiffany Philippou and Anna Codrea-Rado, and it featured a particularly powerful episode about class with Vicky Spratt, plus a very useful mediation on getting fired. There was also An Honest Account, Rachael Revesz' podcast, which covers the finance end of things, and included an episode with Anna Codrea-Rado about freelancing and finances, plus a powerful take on debt and being working class with Jasmine Andersson.

At the music end of things, Canadian punk DJ Siobhan Woodrow launched her podcast, She's A Punk this year, which included many powerful portraits of punk women around the world, including this episode with War On Women's Shawna Potter. Woodrow has recently announced she's taking a break from the podcast until the start of 2020, but she certainly doesn't sound like she's done yet. Far from it.

There was also a fascinating discussion about the ten year legacy of Florence + The Machine's Lungs over on Never Marry A Mitford, a searingly powerful in depth discussion about the state of music education in UK schools on Reasons To Be Cheerful, and a fascinating, and frequently very funny, epic discussion about music and literature between Florence Welch and Rebecca Lucy Taylor over on The YourShelf Podcast.

In the realm of politics and related matters, The Next Episode discussed what happens when you effectively no longer have an MP and The North Poll provided a refreshingly non London centric take on politics. In the US, Reply All explained why that viral tweet about feral hogs wasn't all it seemed, and the TFGM Podcast provided a suitably sober take on the second anniversary of the Manchester Arena bombing. 

13 articles I've enjoyed reading this year

Catching up with the women who were expelled from school (Precious Adesina, Refinery 29)

The uninhabitable city: What happens when heatwaves become the new normal? (Hettie O'Brien, The New Statesman)

Work isn't working: The real reason more women are going freelance (Anna Codrea-Rado, Refinery 29)

Peterloo 200 years on: The Manchester bloodbath which left 18 dead and changed the course of British history (Dan Thompson & Damon Wilkinson, Manchester Evening News)

"We need this film now more than ever" (Nic Crosara, The Overtake)

Secret life of a fashion week peon (Lacy Warner, Narratively)

The 11-year-old girl taking skateboarding by storm (Joe Henley, Narratively)

The diver who brings up the bodies (Sunaina Kumar and Farah Mohammed, Narratively)

How more than 12 students at one university ended up dead by suicide (Hannah Ewens, Vice)

How communism prepared me for a no-deal Brexit (Joanna Hosa, Financial Times)

How to feed a protest movement: Cooking with Extinction Rebellion (Dan Hancox, 1843)

'I'd rather see a white doctor, if you don't mind' How patients can hurt doctors too (Neha Maqsood, Rife Magazine)

The four huge issues being overlooked in the General Election debate so far (Jennifer Williams, Manchester Evening News)

First image by Joanna Kosinska on Unsplash

Second image by Ross Sneddon on Unsplash

Third image by Zoltan Tasi on Unsplash

Fourth image by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

New book pile

The book pile

I have been to the library... and I've also got some DVD's to watch...

The book pile has been fed

The book pile needs feeding...

I have requested some library books to fill it up a bit.

I feel vaguely uneasy if there aren't enough new books to read.

The book pile, post Christmas and after a visit to the library

The book pile has been fed...

The book pile, post Christmas

End of year round up: Reading and writing

Welcome to the first of this years end of year roundup posts!

Today's post is focusing on reading and writing. 

Photo by Susan Yin on Unsplash

12 Books I’ve enjoyed reading this year:

Normal People, Sally Rooney

The Lonely City, Olivia Laing

The Bling Ring, Nancy Jo Sales

A beginner’s guide to being mental: An A-Z from anxiety to zero fucks given, Natasha Devon

Sunbathing in the rain: A cheerful book about depression, Gwyneth Lewis

How to be champion, Sarah Millican

The angry chef: Bad science and the truth about healthy eating, Anthony Warner

Useless Magic, Florence Welch

Sunny Side Up, Susan Calman

100 Acts of Miner Dissent, Mark Thomas

Along for the ride, Sarah Dessen

This is going to hurt: Secret diaries of a Junior doctor, Adam Kay

Stuff I’ve written this year:

For The F-Word:

“And I can stay as long as I like, ‘cos no one’s calling me to come back inside” (Honeyblood live in Manchester)

“We really wanted to be part of the solution rather than the problem” (Interview with Viv Jones, Kookie magazine)

In the land of the milk and the honey (Review of Hot Brown Honey at HOME)

The endurance factor (Review of Tancred's Nightstand album)

First in the world somewhere (Review of Penny Pepper's memoir First in the world somewhere)

Sassy as (Review of Tami Neilson's Sassafrass album)

A whirlwind of creativity (Review of Florence + The Machine's High As Hope album and Florence Welch's book of lyrics and poetry, Useless Magic)

Singing out loud (Interview with Emma Back)

Upgrade, advance, repeat: Future Bodies at HOME (Review of Future Bodies at HOME)

Stories of the She-punks (Interview with Helen McCookerybook and Gina Birch about their film Stories from the She-Punks: Music with a different agenda)

State of total independence (Interview with She Makes War)

For Medium:

The humble cassette pet: An ode to home taping (Piece written for Cassette Store Day)

A 1990s teenage soundtrack… on vinyl (How the nostalgia soundtrack of the 1990s revival doesn't match up to the contents of my record collection)

For Louder Than War:

Tancred, Gulliver’s Manchester - Live review

Virginmarys, Club Academy, Manchester - Live review

Articles and short pieces I’ve read and enjoyed this year:

Jackpot by Amanda Oliver (Medium)

I Gave My Facebook Password to the Whole Internet by Joe Veix (Medium)

2018 Depression Olympics (Revamped for Winter) by Amanda Roseberg (Medium)

A guide to giving your cats their annual performance review by Thryn (Hacker Noon, via Medium) 

“Just like Ibiza in the 1990s” Welcome to Love Island for the over 30’s by Emma Kernahan (The F-Word)

Kenickie’s ‘Get In’ Is Still The Ultimate Burn-Out Album by Alex Widgard (Noisey)

Fun Home: Reading it first vs watching it first by Ellie Wilson and Emily Zinken (The F-Word) 

Logged off: Meet the teens who refuse to use social media by Sirin Kale (The Guardian)

Neil Gaiman and Chris Riddell on why we need libraries - an essay in pictures (The Guardian)

A Guide To Making New Friends by Snippets (Medium)

From Newcastle and New Zealand to the Killing Fields of Cambodia by Holly Baxter (The Independent)

Grammy’s Preview: At home with Florence Welch, who may finally win after eight nominations by Nick Duerden (Billboard)

“Stop coming for me”: How popstars are fighting burnout by Rebecca Liu (The Guardian)

The Haunting of Hill House’s author Shirley Jackson was an overlooked genius by Moya Crockett (Stylist)

Lucy O’Brien - The Catholic Girls (punkgirldiaries)

8 Harry Potter films we want to see more than Crimes of Grindelwald by Robyn Vinter (The Overtake)

Grrrl Power: female musicians in the 21st century - A special exclusive report! by DJ Gremlin and Nick Linazasoro (Brighton & Hove News) 

Who will believe thee? by Ellie Pilcher (The F-Word)

Six things I learned from six years working in retail by Kate Crudgington (The Huffington Post) 

What does working class even mean? by Phil McDuff (The Overtake)

I wouldn't be a writer without Rookie by Hazel Cills (Jezebel)

Favourite Podcasts of the year:

Made of Human and Page 94

The book pile: Going down, getting ready to be fed again...

The book pile this morning...

The book pile

I have been to the library and, as such, the book pile has been fed.

The book pile, today

It's been a tough few months...

Penny Pepper: Post punk singer/songwriter, activist, author... heroine!

Recently I reviewed the excellent memoir by Penny Pepper, a post punk singer/songwriter who used to perform under the name Kata Kolbert back in the 1980s.

Her memoir is called First in the world somewhere, and I liked it for it's matter of factness. It's an extraordinary story told in a very down to earth way, and it's not one of those memoirs that falls into the misery memoir bracket. On the other hand though, it's not one of the equally trying breed of memoirs where everything goes right and a rags to riches narrative ensues.

I was initially attracted to the book because of the punk connection, but I quickly realised that this was not going to be a straightforward punk/post punk memoir, mainly because Pepper's experiences of punk, and of the post punk music world in London, have been unwillingly filtered through a mesh imposed by perceptions of her disability.

Those of you aware of the social model of disability (as opposed to the medical model of disability) will  probably be able to guess what I'm getting at but, to spell it out: Imagine having to interact with punk as a teenager who can't easily get to punk gigs because they are not wheelchair accessible. Imagine trying to launch a career as a singer/songwriter when record companies seem unable to look past your wheelchair and listen to the songs.

I actually found it quite hard to review the book, not because I didn't enjoy reading it, but because I found myself slightly hamstrung by stereotypes around disability coupled with a desire to explain that it wasn't going to be one of those kind of books. Ie, a misery memoir, with a 'determined but always struggling' heroine. I didn't think that kind of framing device did the book, or it's author, justice.

I'm really pleased that I got to read the book, and to review it, but I'm aware that my review hasn't quite done the book justice as I would have liked. To which all I can add is: Go read it, it's ace.

Photo of Penny Pepper taken at Edinburgh Book Festival by Edinburgh Elite Media. Provided by Penny Pepper's PR Laura Horton.

The book pile, much diminished and waiting to be fed

Fed

The book pile, tamed and waiting to be fed...

Book harvesting: This weeks book pile

I shan't read them all at once, that would be madness... Plus I still have two chapters of the Emily Wilding Davison book to finish.

1969 and All That: Nik Cohn's Awopbopaloobop Alopbamboom: Pop from the beginning

Nik Cohn grew up in Derry, and this – his first book – was written in 1969, that significant turning point for pop music, a moment that appears not to have been lost on Cohn at the time of writing.

His text is capable of passion and dismissal in equal measure, but there is often a clear sense of ‘What next?’ in his chapters, and an unerring prescience so far as anticipating seismic change is concerned. For example, he defines the late 1960s as a second stage of pop, one in which clear factions have developed – mainline, industrialised pop on one hand (80% he says) and idealists on the other hand. Of the mainline pop stars, he writes: “[they are] computerized” and “They have a function and they sell records. They make money. When I’ve said that, I’ve said everything.”

Of the idealistic 20%, they are “hardly even pop stars anymore.” He adds “In ten years, they’ll probably be called by another name entirely, electronic music or something, and they’ll relate to pop the way that art movies relate to Hollywood.”

Cohn was 22 when he wrote the book, and had been writing about rock’n’roll for four years in the UK and US. But, as he puts it in his preface to the 2004 edition, “I had met most of the people who interested me, and the edge of my passion was starting to dull. Time, I thought, to gather my thoughts into one final package, and move on.”

The book was written over seven weeks in a house in Connemara, and is the product of Cohn’s previous 4 years, working at a time when music journalism itself was still largely undefined and ever evolving, much like the music it was covering. As Cohn writes, he had no examples to base his book on, no reference books or research. He wrote it “off the top of my head, whatever and however the spirit moved me.” He adds “What I was after was guts, and flash, and energy, and speed. Those were the things I’d treasured in the rock I’d loved. They were the things I tried to reflect as I left.”

The book itself reflects this writing process: Reading it is like being seated in a particularly fine American dinar or London expresso bar with a young, excitable raconteur, determined to tell you everything about popular music from its roots in jazz and blues in the 20s right through to the state of play in England in 1966. It is selective (as all music histories are) but also deliciously irreverent, a type of music writing that became a stylistic pastiche in the 80s with Smash Hits, and has now largely died altogether.

Because the book was written in 1969, and Cohn has (very sensibly) refused to update his observations in the light of later events, his is a curiously refreshing take on the 1950s and 60s musical landscape. He likes what he likes (Little Richard, PJ Proby, The Who, Tina Turner, amongst others) and has little time for what he doesn’t like (Dylan, later period Beatles, Trad Jazz, so on) But never once does he claim to be in the right so far as taste goes: He makes it clear that these are merely his opinions, his own taste.

Even the book’s dedication is enough to lure you in: “To Jet Powers, Dean Angel and Johnny Ace.”

As a twelve or thirteen year old, I first read Awopbopaloobop Alopbamboom as a series of short stories, so alien and unknown to me were many of its subjects at the time. But the lyrical immediacy of Cohn’s writing makes it readable in this way. It isn’t an academic or objective book, it is friendly and partisan, Cohn appearing in his role of narrator as a character in himself. These days an hour on the internet would remove any confusion and, indeed, mystery. Had the internet existed in 1969 both popular music and Cohn’s book would have been very different indeed.