December’s tracks of the month: Three class acts – Darkstar, Richard Hawley and Acid Arab
These artists do not set out with the conscious aim of looking at class. But through their art they have created works of beauty that demonstrate the complexity and changing nature of working class life
October 2015 Tracks of the Month: Birth of a Nation
Imperialism leaves behind germs of rot which we must clinically detect and remove from our land but from our minds as well.
The Manchester punk scene – joy and pain
In 1976-77 punk hit Britain like a tidal wave, sweeping away all the tired music that stood in its way. It wasn’t just a London thing. Across the country local scenes developed. Many would argue that Manchester was the most important. In his occasional blog looking at punk, Hassan Mahamdallie looks at the Manchester scene.
Tracks of the month: Serge Gainsbourg – an unlikely revolutionary
You know there is a drought of good music when swathes of the music press tell you Marks to Prove It, by the Maccabees, is the album of the summer. So in the never-ending search for new and exciting music, I have spent the last month buying reissues and crate digging.
Tracks of the month, June 2015: The ghosts of Ferguson haunt US music
The protest song is back and its return can be dated precisely to 9 August 2014. On that day a police officer shot and murdered an 18 year old black man, Michael Brown. Since then, we have seen a number of artists produce songs of rage, lament and protest.