2024: A Year in Music
26 Thursday Dec 2024
Posted in Books, Lana Del Rey, Music, Non-Fiction
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26 Thursday Dec 2024
Posted in Books, Lana Del Rey, Music, Non-Fiction
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28 Thursday Dec 2023
Posted in Lana Del Rey, Madonna, Music, Updates
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A Certain Ratio, A Year in Music, A&W, Alma Mater, Avalanche of Love, Bleachers, Burt Bacharach, Candy Necklace, Celebration Tour, Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd, Elvis Presley, God Games, Holly MacVe, Hollywood Bowl, Ireland, John Denver, Jon Batiste, LA Hex, Lana Del Rey, Life Lesson, Lost at Sea, Madonna, Mitski, My Love Mine All Mine, Nothing Really Matters, People Say, Rob Grant, Samo, Say Yes to Heaven, Shane McGowan, Sinead O’Connor, Steve Mason, Suburban House, The Kills, The Pogues, Tina Turner, W.I.T.C.H.

Lana Del Rey’s ‘diarist era’ has surely reached its apogee with Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Boulevard. Sprawling, eccentric, and soul-baring, it has more in common with her poetry than previous albums. In a female-dominated race, her five Grammy nominations include the supremely dark A&W, hailed by many as song of the year; while the jazz-inflected Candy Necklace has already nabbed two MTV awards. Continue reading
29 Thursday Dec 2022
Posted in Lana Del Rey, Madonna, Music
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A Year in Music, All the Good Times, And in the Darkness Hearts Aglow, Angel Olsen, Angelo Badalamenti, Big Time, Black Obsidian, Bobbie Gentry, Buddy's Rendezvous, Caitlin Rose, CAZEMI, Compilations, Country Music, David Lynch, Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd, Dream-Pop, Euphoria, Father John Misty, Finally Enough Love, Fun Boy Three, Ghost Town, Grapevine, I'll Never Fall in Love Again, Irene Cara, Julee Cruise, Lana Del Rey, Madonna, Remixes, Ronnie Spector, Ska, Soundtracks, Terry Hall, The Colourfield, The Girl From Chickasaw County, The Ronettes, The Specials, Watercolour Eyes, Weyes Blood
My favourite album of 2022 – Weyes Blood’s And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow – arrived quite recently. It’s dream-pop with passion, as Natalie Mering’s cut-glass vocal mines for hope amid post-pandemic isolation. Continue reading
23 Thursday Dec 2021
Posted in Amy Winehouse, Books, Film, Lana Del Rey, Madonna, Music, Non-Fiction, Television
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A Year in Music, Ace Records, Alabama 3, Amy Winehouse, Barrie-James, Beyond Black, Blue Banisters, Charlie Watts, Chemtrails Over the Country Club, Choctaw Ridge, Documentaries, Instead of Dreaming, Jennifer Otter Bickerdike, Kate Solomon, Lana Del Rey, Lives of the Musicians, Lyndsy Spence, Madame X, Madonna, Maria Callas, Marissa Nadler, Naomi Parry, Nico, Rickie Lee Jones, Riverside, Rolling Stones, Sleep Walk, Tyler James, Yolanda

As the world’s big sleep entered its second year, Lana Del Rey turned away from social media and gave us not just one, but two albums: Chemtrails Over the Country Club and Blue Banisters. Continue reading
08 Sunday Aug 2021
Posted in Books, Lana Del Rey, Periodicals, Poetry
≈ Comments Off on SOLEDAD #6: Lana’s ‘Violet,’ Nouchka Van Brakel, and More
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Jenny H. Batlay, Lana Del Rey, Marcelline Block, Nouchka Van Brakel, Ruth LaSure, Sam Nortey Jr., Samm Deigan, Soledad, Sunmates, Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass, World War II

Issue 6 of SOLEDAD Arts Journal – out now via Amazon for just £3.13 in the UK, or $3.78 across the pond – is also the 20th volume from Nostalgia Kinky Publications, including predecessor ART DECADES (and I’m proud to have appeared in all but five.) This issue is peppered with lyrics from French singer-songwriter Véronique Sanson.
The cover story is an exclusive interview with Dutch filmmaker Nouchka Van Brakel, in conjunction with a new triple-boxset on Blu-Ray from Cult Epics. Editor Jeremy Richey has also spoken with film historian Samm Deigan about his new book, The Legacy of World War II in European Arthouse Cinema. Marcelline Block interviews author Sam Nortey Jr., who shares an extract from his novel, Thumbwars. Marcelline also contributes a scrapbook history of feminist artist and scholar, Jenny H. Batlay. There’s poetry from Marcelline and Ruth LaSure, and Emily Clare Bryant meets Sunmates, a synth-pop band from Lexington, Kentucky.

And finally, I’ve written a 24-page essay on Lana Del Rey’s debut poetry book/spoken-word album, Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass. I hope you’ll enjoy delving into this fascinating project as much as I did.

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