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(Denis Balibouse/Reuters) A pop genius’s political poetry sets the record straight.
Van Morrison’s new three-LP album
Latest Record Project, Volume 1 is so radical so out of fashion, it’s ahead of fashion that it also recalls the most widely celebrated album from exactly 40 years ago: The Clash’s punk-reggae-rap lollapalooza, their triple LP
Sandinista!
The Clash’s overt political pop was dedicated to peer-pressure attitudes that define rock-music hipness. Morrison, at age 75, is no longer considered “hip,” but
Latest Record Project, Volume 1 proves bolder than
Sandinista! because Morrison’s emotional-political drive dares oppose genuine political conformity, the COVID lockdowns of the past year.
Behind the scenes with JZ Microphones: “This is where the magic happens!”
13th May 2021
“I think the secret for JZ Microphones success is listening to our audience.”
Andris Evelis, Head of marketing, is dissecting the brand’s industry appeal, and his comment seems perfectly appropriate for a microphone specialist.
The manufacturer has won over a legion of admirers with its hand-crafted condenser microphones, its unique Golden Drop Capsule technology is revered by artists and technicians alike.
Producer and engineer Josh Newell (Linkin Park, Avril Lavigne, Black Veil Brides), says: “The V67 is everything you’d want if you mixed a vintage tube with a modern mic: It has a full low midrange with a great top end. Great for guitars and bass, both acoustic and electric, and so good on vocals that I even liked how I sounded singing through it.”
Last time I met James Mercer was on the eve of the release of
Wincing The Night Away. Today’s meeting is a little different. I’m in Sony Records’ London offices, the British home to Columbia Records who look after Mercer s new label Aural Apothecary.
I’m told “you’ve got 25 mins”, and the door swings shut, leaving the pair of us sat in a sound proof room with gold and platinum discs for pop records sparkling on the walls.
It’s a far cry from our previous meeting, which took place in a pub. You couldn t have wished for a better drinking partner. Mr Mercer was one of the most considerate and thoughtful gentleman I’d met, let alone interviewed, and forced me to question many of those ‘never meet your heroes’ theories. Back then, we talked over pints for an hour or two about everything from televised war to literature so bleak that it should come with a suicide warning. Dictaphone switched off, interview over, we went for a steak and he told the folks from his