Nine cover versions that are better than the originals. Because it is possible. (Disclaimer: They are not all bangers; I just love that word.)
Category: Music
The fade: More than just a haircut
The fade: When a song doesn’t have the guts to end properly. Continue reading “The fade: More than just a haircut”
Swedish humour, as demonstrated by Björn Ulvaeus in ‘The Winner Takes It All’
A few years ago, for some reason, and I honestly can’t imagine what that reason could have been, I watched a documentary called ABBA, The Best Pop Group Ever – THE STORY, which you can see here. But I’m kind of glad I did, because the story of the circumstances surrounding the making of ‘The Winner Takes It All’ was totally nuts, and I’ve never forgotten it.
You may remember, that’s the video when this
turns into this
Continue reading “Swedish humour, as demonstrated by Björn Ulvaeus in ‘The Winner Takes It All’”
My favourite verse from The Magnetic Fields’ ‘Queen of the Savages’
Granny panties: a new low
Hairstyle aside, a naked Yo-Landi Vi$$er would surely be a 10, by the standards set in ‘today’s media’, mostly because of her boobs, for which a new word – one step up from ‘perky’ – should be coined.
But when she’s not naked, she’s frequently kitted out like a Ringwraith, wearing solid black contact lenses that stir our primal fears, noshing human hearts and being really, really onbeskof. Continue reading “Granny panties: a new low”
Lark + Taxi Violence + Plastics = BEAST
Review: BEAST, SMOKE SWIG SWEAR (2013)
BEAST is South Africa’s supergroup. They’re our The Traveling Wilburys or The Raconteurs, and they’re just as super. I’ve been wanting to do this review since about 10 minutes after I first heard their album when it was released a few month ago – it’s really, really good.
So, charisma abounds with Inge Beckmann (Lark), Louis Nel and Rian Zietsman (Taxi Violence) and Sasha Righini (The Plastics) on drums. The Taxi Violence guys both play bass, so there’s no ‘regular’ guitar, which for most of us just means we want to describe the music as ‘dark’, but we’re not sure why. Continue reading “Lark + Taxi Violence + Plastics = BEAST”
‘I just want to be treated like an ordinary … legend’
I went to see Rodriguez live in Cape Town the other night, and it was totally worth the R420 I paid. Wait … 420 bucks!? Is that a Big Concerts joke I only just got?
Anyway.
Because of one thing and another, I never got to see any of Rodriguez’s previous concerts in South Africa. After watching the documentary I rued not seeing that first concert in Cape Town, which looked so incredible and heart-warming, although a friend insists the reality was very different to the celluloid; that Rodriguez was so intoxicated he could barely sing, and that the crowd were more confused and disappointed than the enraptured and awed they appeared on screen. Don’t know if that’s true or not.
This time around perhaps the concert was lacking in other ways, after all Rodriguez is 70 now – and quite an ‘old’ 70, when I think of my sprightly 83-year-old grandfather. But it was still one of the best musical experiences I’ve ever had. Just to hear those great lyrics live, and that voice, which really hasn’t lost much since 1970.
Continue reading “‘I just want to be treated like an ordinary … legend’”
The best live act in Cape Town
Review: Lark, Gong is Struck (2012)
Lark are one of South Africa’s greatest bands EVER. I really believe they deserve to be world famous; Inge Beckmann is a most awesome frontispiece[1], and their live act is the most powerful thing you’ll see. They released their fifth album, Gong is Struck, in July.
Gif it to me, baby
Ah, gifs. The gift that keeps on giffing.
Last night at the Two Door Cinema Club gig, at a secret location in a location, I tried out this gif app I found in the Android store.
It’s just like actually being there, right!?! Continue reading “Gif it to me, baby”
Before the Ninja
I’ll never forget seeing Waddy Jones perform in March 2009, near the Bart Simpson statue in Cape Town.
Project Jennifer 
