Fergal Kinney
, March 15th, 2021 10:24
By 1995 Stereolab should have been at the peak of their powers, so why didn t it feel that way to Tim Gane and Laetitia Sadier? Fergal Kinney examines the series of events that saw the band escape the dead end they d ended up in culminating in the release of one of their most celebrated albums
Viewed from the outside, by 1996 Stereolab must have seemed like a unit that could only ascend. Half a decade into the project, affectionately termed “the groop” by its nucleus members, the couple of Tim Gane and Laetitia Sadier, Stereolab appeared to be going overground. 1994’s
Nicholas Burman
, March 13th, 2021 10:09
John Smith, the artist and film-maker whose landmark short The Girl Chewing Gum is amongst the jewels of the British avant-garde, has spent lockdown filming out of his bedroom window and downloading clips from YouTube. He talks to Nicholas Burman about his new films Citadel and Covid Messages
Citadel by John Smith, courtesy MUBI
Artistic and philosophical responses to lockdown appeared almost as quickly as lockdown itself did. Stuck inside, everyone was left with a sense of: what s this? And what s next? With a playful and ironic approach to deconstructing the narrative conventions of documentary cinema, the work of British art film maker John Smith has been pondering the what s happening? question for a few decades now. In recent years, Smith s also developed a special interest in identity, both national and internationalist. No doubt informed by his experiences teaching international students, and his relationship with the European art
Bernie Brooks
, March 13th, 2021 10:08
Roy Wilkinson talks to Bernie Brooks about his serialised non-nonfiction book Dark Lustre, the path of most resistance, the predatory capitalism of modelmaking, and more I ve got a few visual prompts here, announces Roy Wilkinson. It s going to be a multimedia extravaganza, he says as he waves a brochure in front of his webcam. We ve been chatting about museums and museum funding for the better part of a half hour – the pamphlet in his hand relates to one in Birmingham. We re meant to be talking about
Dark Lustre, his ongoing, serialised non-nonfiction book, and in a way, we are. While
With Drums
Richard Foster
, March 12th, 2021 08:49
Rutger Zuydervelt’s lockdown project, stitching together bursts of stick work from the likes of Tony Buck, Greg Saunier, and Yuko Oshima, proves an insightful glimpse into the downtime of musicians, finds Richard Foster
If any record ever needed to be chosen to demonstrate the protean nature of making or listening to music, then I would suggest you listen to Machinefabriek’s
With Drums. The often fleeting auditory qualities of Rutger Zuydervelt’s latest release, crammed full of percussive divertissements, let us do a multitude of things. We can ignore the record, or pay passing reference to it whilst doing something else. We can quickly process what’s going on (it’s Machinefabriek with lots of contact-book pals, and drums, from other pals), and consume appropriately, in our allotted digital spaces. We can also indulge ourselves and play footsie with it by decodifying the witty titles, or dive fully into the wormhole t