#colin andrew sheffield

[dustedmagazine]

Dust Volume 10, Number 10

The Ex

October closes with a macabre flourish — blackened gardens, elaborate yard displays of skeletons, Halloween, the day of the dead, a terrifying American election.  We music lovers react in various ways, some turning to darker, more ominous musical textures, others seeking solace and distraction, still others ignoring the backdrop completely and listening to what they would listen to anyway.  And so, we gather another wide-ranging dust, spanning sounds inspired by a Bolivian earthquake, pogo-friendly snappy jangle, a crust supergroup, a celebration of the Ex’s 45 years in music, and much more.  This month’s contributors include Jennifer Kelly, Bryon Hayes, Bill Meyer, Jonathan Shaw, Christian Carey, Ray Garraty, Tim Clarke and Ian Mathers. 

Alma Laprida — Pitch Dark and Trembling (Outside Time)

Alma Laprida is an experimental artist and musician from Argentina, here playing a medieval stringed instrument—the tromba marina—through a 21st century array of effects pedals and an 18-inch subwoofer. The instrument, with its yards-long strings and vibrating bridge, is, by itself, capable of unusual sounds. Its natural timbre hovers between a cello and a trumpet. But fed through Laprida’s electronic rig, the sound turns harsh and ominous, blistering and dissolving into tones so low you feel rather than hear them. This album comes from a live performance at Bard College in 2023, taking as its subject Laprida’s experiences during an earthquake in Bolivia. In the long, “Trembling,” low, sustained vibrations make the air tremble, while trebly, metallic sounds skitter and rattle, like pots and pans clattering in the shock. A clock ticks in the foreground, steady on top of roiling, shifting undercurrents. “Vibra,” the other lengthy track, looses then subdues the tromba’s brassy sound, letting the echoes linger for long, not-quite-empty minutes. A corrosive blare interrupts, a foghorn in a world of mists and uncertainty, then clear string tones and its scratching echoes. Pitch Dark and Trembling distills an ambient unease into sound.

Jennifer Kelly

Artificial Go — Hopscotch Fever (Feel It / Future Shock)

This Cincinnati quartet produce a short, sharp brand of post-punk that induces spontaneous pogoing. Hopscotch Fever is Artificial Go’s debut, but it could easily be mistaken for an unearthed gem from late-1970s England with its snappy rhythms and chiming, angular guitars. Vocalist Angie Wilcutt (Corker) adopts an English accent as she sings charmingly, her lyrics unfolding in an energy-filled stream of consciousness that keeps pace with the bouncy backbeat of songs like “Payphone,” “Aphrodisiac,” and the band’s calling card “Artificial Go.” Cole Gilfilen (Corker, The Drin), Micah Wu, and Claudio Thornburgh round out the band’s lineup. Like a game of hopscotch, their churning jangle is a lot of fun but comes to a halt far too quickly. Hopscotch Fever is full of earworms. Its effervescent spirit lingers in our brains long after the music stops.  

Bryon Hayes

Black Toska—The Orphan (Self-Release)

The Madrileño goth punks in Black Toska return with six more haunted, synth-swathed, night visions, revisiting a sound Dusted described in early 2023 as “like John Spencer without all the arch theatricality or Rocket 808 in less of a growl and more of a croon.” If anything The Orphan is even more ominous than Dandelion was, with corrosive guitar sound tripping a hole in “Little Dead Bird” and a fever-dream unease percolating through “The Only Thing We Need.” The best cut is the title track, intimating baroque dangers its flowers-of-evil flare of wah wah and mannered vocal melody. “Who can steal a baby?” asks Victor Garcia, his elegant, jaded voice hemmed in by wild surges of electrified dissonance, as you’re left to consider that bad things—and compelling music—flourish in the shadows.

Jennifer Kelly

Paul Bryan — Western Electric (Paul Bryan Music)

The title might cue you to ponder your power situation, but the intent is more oblique. Bassist-programmer-producer Paul Bryan took Sonny Rollins’ Way Out West, an exercise in restriction that happened to open doors of conceptual opportunity for everyone who was feeling confined by the piano’s roll as the chord cop of bebop. But Bryan, whose cv. includes production and arrangement work with Jeff Parker, Josh Johnson, and Aimee Mann, is a plugged-in kind of guy, so his restriction involved writing the material on a little Yamaha keyboard and recording it with a trio comprising Jay Belleroe on drums and Josh Johnson on alto sax. Since you can’t completely separate a studio dude from his gear, there’s some processing and programmed drum, which results in the album having a soft jazz-funk feel that is uncluttered, but hardly minimal. Western Electric is the answer to a question that few might ask; what if you subtracted the guitar and the layered production from Jeff Parker’s New Breed?

Bill Meyer

CPC Gangbangs — Roadhouse (Slovenly)

CPC Gangbangs is back after a long hiatus and not a bit tamed. The Montreal garage punks with ties to Les Sexareenos and Spaceshit flared out in 2007 and reappeared (some of them) as Red Mass. But 17 years later and without explanation, they bash and slam and clatter again, serving up two covers and one original, all flayed and confrontational like it’s the rock-is-back aughts all over again. CPC Gangbangs jack up Louisiana swamp rock “Going Back to Philly” on agitated city-boy jitters. They blast through “Rock ‘n Roll Enemy #1” from the SF proto-punks Crime with furious intent. They haunt Bo Diddley’s grave site with a rackety beat in “Roadhouse.” It’s referential but never reverent, well-informed but never studious, good stuff.

Jennifer Kelly

Deadform — Entrenched in Hell (Tankcrimes)

Sort of stupid to reference the notion of “supergroup” in relation to a subgenre as witheringly anti-commercial as crust, but Deadform hits all the right notes, as it were: three dudes who have Oakland’s concrete ground into their bodies, and who have played crucial roles in bands as storied as Dystopia, Stormcrow and Laudanum. Dino Sommese (of Dystopia, and also Noothgrush and Ghoul) has the most recognizable name, for listeners beyond the Bay Area and outside of crust’s stinky, dirty milieu, and he pounds the skins and hollers with energy belying his 50-some-odd years. But all the players (including Brian Clouse and Judd Hawk) are all in. Entrenched in Hell doesn’t move beyond crust’s characteristic properties: lotsa nasty metal-tinged guitar parts, some sludgy yuck clotting up the bloodstream, the smell of filthy dreadlocks, and so on. It’s a heavy record, the second half of which hits especially hard. Check out “Peacekeeper” and especially “Fetid Breath.” Then pick yourself up off the dank floor of whatever squat you passed out in and play the tunes again.

Jonathan Shaw

Efterklang — Things We Have in Common (City Slang)

Danish post-rock band Efterklang has been releasing recordings for 20 years, as well as producing an opera in 2015 and making music through core members’ side projects. Things We Have in Common is the culmination of a trio of albums, beginning with Altid Sammen (2017) and continuing with Windflowers (2021). This time out, the group doesn’t eschew its characteristic experimentation, but several of the songs evince a gentle, art pop vibe, particularly “Plant” on which singer/cellist Mabe Fratti guests, “Getting Reminders,” with Beirut and “Animated Heart,” featuring the choir Sønderjysk Pigekor. Efterklang on its own is persuasive too. “Shelf Break” has an artful use of vocoder against oscillating synths and abundantly syncopated percussion. “Leave It All Behind” combines whispered vocals, keyboard arpeggiations, sustained sine tones and a drum thwack on alternating beats. Taken as part of the trio of recordings, Things We Have in Common is its hopeful conclusion.

Christian Carey

The Ex — Great! / The Evidence (Ex Records)

In 2024, the Ex are celebrating their 45th year by putting out their first new music in six years. It’s just two songs on a 45-rpm record (although they’re also throwing a celebratory shindig in Amsterdam and Mechelen late in November). Not many bands last 45 years, and of those that do, it’s pretty rare for them to put out work you’d want to hear as much as the songs that first drew you into their camp. The Ex are not a common band. The quartet of Terrie Hessels, Andy Moor, Arnold de Boer, and Katherina Bornefeld are still engaged with the moment; the words to these two song address current realities with a combination of elliptical expression and blunt veracity. They’re still engaged with each other, locking into these tough, intricate, but fat-free tunes with combustible chemistry intact. And they’re still tuned into the joy and outrage that’s infused their work across four and a half decades. That’s pretty rare.

Bill Meyer

Jill Fraser— Earthly Pleasures (Drag City)

Electronic composer Jill Fraser has been making music for commercials and films, as well as performing New Age pieces live, since the 1970s. Earthly Pleasures is her first album release in a while. It demonstrates her versatility with vintage gear such as the 1978 Serge Modular synth and newer resources such as Ableton Push 3. “When We Get to Heaven” is a ten-minute long track that uses these resources to make a diaphanously appealing arrangement. “Amen 1” and “Amen 2” are more aphoristic, the first with clouds of harmony and a sci-fi sounding ascent, the second with sparking bell timbres, oscillating percussion, sampled voices, and a fluid keyboard part. Earthly Pleasures closes with “I Stand Amazed,” with trebly, widely spaced synths. Fraser has suggested that the theme of this album is, “What happens to our music when we die?” History suggests that mileage varies, but while she is earthbound, one hopes Fraser has more recordings to share.

Christian Carey

Häxenzijrkell — Portal (Amor Fati)

German maestros of bummer black metal Häxenzijrkell are back with another slab of downtempo musical maelstroms, engineered to drag you into a terrible, soul crushing void. That description and the band’s sonic profile sound a lot like blackened doom, but somehow the music on Portal scans as straight-up black metal — at least to this reviewer’s ears. The best tracks are at the end of the record: “Assiah” and “Aeon” drone, churn and distend like the effects of some of that legendary brown acid, which we aren’t supposed to eat. There’s nothing especially lysergic (to invoke that too-trivially used term) about the textures or production of Portal. It’s more the nightmarishness of the tunes, the mechanical edges on the band’s sound, the taste of something metallic at the back of the tongue — all that stuff accumulates, alongside the deliberate, glacial progress of the songs. Soon that glistening, awful wall of ice looms over you. You can see your face on its glassy surface. You know it’s a bad idea to stare, but you can’t help yourself. It’s excruciating. It’s entrancing. You are through the Portal.

Jonathan Shaw

Boldy James & Harry Fraud — The Bricktionary (Boldy James / SRFSCHL)

The Bricktionary is the fourth Boldy James’ tape this year and apparently not the final one. The producer Harry Fraud has also been too busy lately, spreading himself too thin. The good news is that Boldy is good even on generic beats (probably half of his output has been on some unknown guys’ production). It’s the kind of street music which never forgets that it’s an art and not a report card. The best track here is “Shadowboxing.”

Ray Garraty

Danny Kamins — Retainer (Sound Holes)

“Solo Horn,” declares the J-card art, and it does not lie. This tape presents Texan Danny Kamins playing sopranino and baritone saxophones at home, alone. It would appear that he spent his lockdown time developing his circular breathing. On the small horn, his examinations of patterns that subtly vary and throw off flurries of orbiting overtones feels like an homage to Evan Parker’ solo soprano work. Parker got there first with such authority that he has made it hard for other people to do it and not simply sound like him. Kamins sounds great but doesn’t quite overcome the challenge of differentiation. The baritone is another matter. Kamins sculpts massive ribbons of tunneling, rippling sound to consistently compelling effect.

Bill Meyer

Seiji Murayama / Jean-Luc Guionnet — Balcony Inside (Ftarri)

Multi-instrumentalist, graphic artist, composer, improviser, film-maker, etc.; Jean-Luc Guionnet is a confirmed polymath. On Balcony Inside he and frequent collaborator Suijiro Murayama perform a duet for church organ (Guionnet) and snare drum, cymbal and voice (Muriyama). But it might be more accurate to say that they play with space. There’s the apparently capacious interior of the Taborkirche, which Guionnet represents with massive chords that beat against the walls. And there’s the space inside your head, which is likely to be rearranged by Muriyama’s horror-movie-victim cries and emphatic, elastically rhythmic beats. A seasonal suggestion: pipe this music loudly out of your house on Halloween, and keep a tally of how many are drawn by these massive sounds and how many avoid your house.

Bill Meyer

The Necks — Bleed (Northern Spy)

It’s impossible to guess where The Necks might head next, whether live or on record. Their new album, Bleed,is a single 42-minute track that unfolds patiently in an episodic fashion. There are no conventional rhythms from Tony Buck; instead, he punctuates the space with chimes, bowed cymbals and snare and tom rolls that suggest something ominous is about to happen. Sparse, sustained piano notes from Chris Abrahams are left to hang in the air — listen carefully and you can hear breathing in the room — or Abrahams switches to organ and projects pulsing clusters of notes into stereo space. In an unexpected turn, an electric guitar appears, with accompanying tube amp hum. Lloyd Swanton’s bass is largely absent, save for occasional isolated octave plucks, or some ominous bowing. When the piece coalesces in its final stretch with two piano chords, bass and guitar, the music is begging to continue in this vein for at least twice as long as it does but is cruelly cut short. That’s The Necks for you: always expansive, always surprising, always tapping into music’s eternal potential.

Tim Clarke

Rich the Factor — The North Face Whale, Vol. 3 (WE MFR)

We mostly listen to Rich the Facc’s music because of his gruff voice. The North Face Whale, Vol. 3 is another sample of his voice. The big mistake would be to try to pay attention to what he’s saying on these songs. It is some usual nonsense about how he’s “on money mission, not on dummy mission.” Even after dozens of replays no song off this tape stays in memory. But it’s fine. You have only one question: how is The North Face Whale, Vol. 3 any different from Vol. 1 and Vol. 2?

Ray Garraty

Colin Andrew Sheffield — Moments Lost (Sublime Retreat)

Sound source resonates with subject on this brief minimax (a 3” CD embedded in a 5” plastic disc) CD made by Colin Andrew Sheffield, an electronic musician who resides in Austin TX. Sheffield’s preferred method is plunderphonics; he mines his own media collection for sounds to be procured and (most of the time) processed into music of his own. Moments Lost is a soundtrack made from soundtracks. Sheffield has marshalled a mass of samples from movies, mostly string passages that imply moments of pause, reflection, transition and loss, and layered and sequenced them into a 20.33” sequence of sounds daub association and reverie like a painter might daub paint. Played at low volume, it could be your next go-to ambient recording. But if you spend time listening closely, perhaps while peering at the sleeve’s stills from a film that Sheffield played along with the music when he first presented it at the Molten Plains Festival in Denton in 2023, you might find your physique and consciousness sinking deep while you hit the play button over and over.

Bill Meyer

Chelsea Wolfe — She Reaches Out to She Reaches Out to She (Loma Vista)

Considering Chelsea Wolfe hasn’t put out a solo LP since 2019’s Birth of Violence, and that was basically a folk record, casual fans may well wonder what kind of upheavals led to this very different seventh album. On a personal level there have been plenty (sobriety, relationships changing, learning to live alone, etc) and that combined with additional pandemic time spent working on the demos led to Wolfe going in a more electronic direction and deliberately seeking an outside producer (Dave Sitek of TV on the Radio, many others) to transform the songs. The result is further in a darkwave/trip-hop direction than the already protean Wolfe has previously gone, and also one of her most consistently engaging records. Whether on the noisier, spikier bursts of “Whispers in the Echochamber” and “Eyes Light Nightshade” or the more delicate likes of “The Liminal” and “Place in the Sun,” there’s a beautifully sung and relentless Gothic vibe to the whole thing that’s extremely satisfying. Wolfe may well choose to move on again after this, but it’ll be a bit of a shame if she does.

Ian Mathers

[gacougnol]

Images from Colin Andrew Sheffield

[samohtkcuf]

Listen to: Images by Colin Andrew Sheffield

[louff4tw]

Bridgerton book Guide

Julia Quinn

Prequels -

The Rokesby Series A Generation before the Bridgertons,

They were the Rokesbys

2016 Because of Miss Bridgerton Billie Bridgeton and George Rokesby

2017 The Girl with the Make-Believe Husband Cecilia Harcourt and Edward Rokesby

2018 The Other Miss Bridgerton Poppy Bridgerton and Andrew Rokesby

2020 First Comes Scandal Georgiana Bridgerton and Nicholas Rokesby

Collaboration

2023 Quenn Charlotte Quenn Charlotte and King George

Bridgerton Couple

2000 The Duke and I Daphne Bridgerton and Simon Basset

2000 The Viscount who loved me Kate Sheffield and Anthony Bridgerton

2001 An Offer from a Gentlemen Sophie Beckett and Benedict Bridgerton

2002 Romancing Mr. Bridgerton Penelope Featherington and Colin Bridgerton

2003 To Sir Phillip, With Love Eloise Bridgerton and Phillip Crane

2004 When he was Wicked Francesca Bridgerton and Michael Stirling

2005 It's in His Kiss Hyacinth Bridgerton and Gareth St. Clair

2006 On the Way to the Wedding Lucy Abernathy Gregory Bridgerton

Epilogues

2013 The Bridgertons: Happily Ever After All + Violet Bridgerton

Bevelstoke Series (they know the Bridgerton I believe)

2007 The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Miranda Cheever and Viscount Turner

2009 What Happens in London Olivia Bevelstoke and Harry Valentine

2010 Ten Things I love About You Annabel Winslow and Sebastian Grey

Lady Whistledown

2003 The Further Observations of Lady Whistledown Susannah Ballister and David Earl of Renminster Thirty-Six Valentines

2004 Lady Whistledown Strikes Back Everyone The First Kiss

2021 The Wit and Wisdom of Bridgerton: Lady Whistledowns Official Guide Everyone

Ghraphic Novel

2022 Miss Butterworth and the Mad Baron Miss Butterworth and the Mad Baron

Not fully Bridgerton but in same Universe

The Smythe-Smith Quartet (Not fully Bridgerton but in same Universe)

2011 Just Like Heaven Honoria Smythe-Smith and Marcus Holroyd

2012 A Night Like This Anne Wynter and Daniel Smyth-Smith

2013 The Sum of All Kisses Sarah Pleinsworth and Hugh Prentice

2015 The Secrets of Sir Richard Kenworthy Iris Smythe-Smith and Richard Kenworthy

[sublimeretreat]

Bill Meyer writes about "Moments Lost" by Colin Andrew Sheffield @ Dusted Magazine

"Played at low volume, it could be your next go-to ambient recording. But if you spend time listening closely, perhaps while peering at the sleeve’s stills from a film that Sheffield played along with the music when he first presented it at the Molten Plains Festival in Denton in 2023, you might find your physique and consciousness sinking deep while you hit the play button over and over."

[lovesongforthedeadche]

Colin Andrew Sheffield - In Between

[juliansiegel]

UPCOMING DATES 2023

CLICK BELOW FOR TICKET LINKS

TUESDAY 7th FEBRUARY BIRMINGHAM SYMPHONY HALL STAGE

THURSDAY 9th FEBRUARY TURNER SIMS, SOUTHAMPTON

FRIDAY 10th FEBRUARY SHEFFIELD JAZZ

SATURDAY 11th FEBRUARY DERBY JAZZ, DEDA STUDIO THEATRE

SUNDAY 12th FEBRUARY LONDON, RONNIE SCOTTS JAZZ CLUB

BBC Jazz Award winning saxophonist Julian Siegel embarks on a major tour in February 2023 with the Julian Siegel Jazz Orchestra celebrating his acclaimed album Tales from the Jacquard (Whirlwind Recordings). The Orchestra features some of Julian's favourite musicians from the UK and European scenes and presents a rare opportunity to see this handpicked, stellar line-up perform together (see full tour line up below).

The tour will feature Julian’s music for Jazz Orchestra from the new album, from expansions and arrangements of music written for small band to the suite commissioned by Derby Jazz composed especially for the orchestra ‘Tales from the Jacquard’ plus new arrangements and compositions written for this tour. ’Tales from the Jacquard’ draws inspiration from the lace-making process and the Jacquard cards, which controlled the lace knitting machines. (Julian’s parents and family ran a lace manufacturing business in Nottingham for over 50 years).

Julian gratefully acknowledges the support of Arts Council England in making this tour possible.

“One of the major highlights of this year’s jazz calendar”  London Jazz News

“Essential listening”  The Jazz Mann 

"A beautiful balance between an open writing and more traditional pictures." ★★★★ All About Jazz 

"Razor-sharp section work and a string of superlative solos." Bebop Spoken Here

The JULIAN SIEGEL JAZZ ORCHESTRA contains renowned bandleaders, composers and soloists in their own right. Conducted by Nick Smart, the band features saxophonists Stan Sulzmann, Tori Freestone, Nathaniel Facey (Feb 7, 10 + 11 ) Paul Booth (Feb 9 + 12), Michael Chillingworth and Gemma Moore, Trumpeters Tom Walsh and Steve Fishwick alongside Claus Stötter and Percy Pursglove from NDR Bigband Hamburg, Trombonists Mark Nightingale, Trevor Mires, Harry Brown and Richard Henry, Guitarist Mike Outram, all based around the dynamic and creative rhythm section of his long standing group the Julian Siegel Quartet, featuring pianist Liam Noble (Feb 7 + 12), bassist Oli Hayhurst and drummer Gene Calderazzo. The highly in-demand pianist Ross Stanley also features on three dates of the tour (Feb 9, 10+11)

(see below for full line up)

JULIAN SIEGEL JAZZ ORCHESTRA - LINE UP

Saxes / Clarinets / Compositions / Arrangements   Julian Siegel

Conductor  Nick Smart

Trumpets Tom Walsh, Percy Pursglove, Steve Fishwick, Claus Stötter

Alto Saxophone Mike Chillingworth, Nathaniel Facey (7th, 10th, 11th) Paul Booth (9th, 12th)

Tenor Saxophone Stan Sulzmann

Tenor Saxophone and Flute Tori Freestone

Baritone Sax and Bass Clarinet Gemma Moore

Trombones Mark Nightingale, Trevor Mires, Harry Brown

Bass Trombone and Tuba  Richard Henry

Guitar Mike Outram

Piano  Liam Noble (7th, 12th) Ross Stanley (9th, 10th, 11th)

Double and Electric Bass Oli Hayhurst

Drums Gene Calderazzo

JULIAN SIEGEL SHORT BIOGRAPHY

Julian Siegel is an in-demand saxophonist on the UK and European Jazz scene who has worked with many of the top figures in the music. In 2007, he was awarded the BBC Jazz Award for Best Instrumentalist. He is currently touring with the Julian Siegel Quartet, featuring pianist Liam Noble, bassist Oli Hayhurst and drummer Gene Calderazzo.

As a sideman Julian has played in large ensembles led by Kenny Wheeler, Andrew Hill, Hermeto Pascoal, Michael Gibbs, Django Bates, John Taylor, Nikki Iles, Stan Sulzmann, NDR Big Band, Colin Towns and Jason Yarde to name a few. Inspired by these great experiences and coupled with a long standing wish to write for larger ensemble, Julian formed the Julian Siegel Jazz Orchestra embarking on its debut UK tour in March 2017.

READ MORE ABOUT THE WRITING OF TALES FROM THE JACQUARD

COMPOSER BLOG

[musicmakesyousmart]

Colin Andrew Sheffield & James Eck Rippie - Essential Anatomies

Elevator Bath

2016

[historylaura]

We'll Meet Again Chapter 11 the Dinner is up. Ready to meet some of the Aunts and Uncles who are also favourites of mine.

[somerabbitholes]

Essays

Here’s a (non-exhaustive) list of essays I like/find interesting/are food for thought; I’ve tried to sort them as much as possible. The starred (*) ones are those I especially love

also quick note: some of these links, especially the ones that are from books/anthologies redirect you to libgen or scihub, and if that doesn’t work for you, do message me; I’d be happy to send them across!

Literature + Writing

Godot Comes to Sarajevo - Susan Sontag

The Strangeness of Grief - V. S. Naipaul*

Memories of V. S. Naipaul - Paul Theroux*

A Rainy Day with Ruskin Bond - Mayank Austen Soofi

How Albert Camus Faced History - Adam Gopnik

Listen, Bro - Jo Livingstone

Rachel Cusk Gut-Renovates the Novel - Judith Thurman

Lost in Translation: What the First Line of “The Stranger” Should Be - Ryan Bloom

The Duke in His Domain - Truman Capote*

The Cult of Donna Tartt: Themes and Strategies in The Secret History - Ana Rita Catalão Guedes

Never Do That to a Book - Anne Fadiman*

Affecting Anger: Ideologies of Community Mobilisation in Early Hindi Novel - Rohan Chauhan*

Why I Write - George Orwell*

Rimbaud and Patti Smith: Style as Social Deviance - Carrie Jaurès Noland*

Art + Photography (+ Aesthetics)

Looking at War - Susan Sontag*

Love, sex, art, and death - Nan Goldin, David Wojnarowicz

Lyons, Szarkowski, and the Perception of Photography - Anne Wilkes Tucker

The Feminist Critique of Art History - Thalia Gouma-Peterson, Patricia Mathews

In Plato's Cave - Susan Sontag*

On reproduction of art (Chapter 1, Ways of Seeing) - John Berger*

On nudity and women in art (Chapter 3, Ways of Seeing) - John Berger*

Kalighat Paintings  - Sharmishtha Chaudhuri

Daydreams and Fragments: On How We Retrieve Images From the Past -  Maël Renouard

Arthur Rimbaud: the Aesthetics of Intoxication - Enid Rhodes Peschel

Cities

Tragic Fable of Mumbai Mills - Gyan Prakash

Whose Bandra is it? - Dustin Silgardo*

Timur's Registan: noblest public square in the world? - Srinath Perur

The first Starbucks coffee shop, Seattle - Colin Marshall*

Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, Mumbai's iconic railway station - Srinath Perur

From London to Mumbai and Back Again: Gentrification and Public Policy in Comparative Perspective -  Andrew Harris

The Limits of "White Town" in Colonial Calcutta - Swati Chattopadhyay

The Metropolis and Mental Life - Georg Simmel

Colonial Policy and the Culture of Immigration: Citing the Social History of Varanasi - Vinod Kumar, Shiv Narayan

A Caribbean Creole Capital: Kingston, Jamaica - Coln G. Clarke (from Colonial Cities by Robert Ross, Gerard J. Telkamp

The Colonial City and the Post-Colonial World - G. A. de Bruijne

The Nowhere City - Amos Elon*

The Vertical Flâneur: Narratorial Tradecraft in the Colonial Metropolis - Paul K. Saint-Amour

Philosophy

The trolley problem problem - James Wilson

A Brief History of Death - Nir Baram

Justice as Fairness: Political not Metaphysical - John Rawls*

Should Marxists be Interested in Exploitation? - John E. Roemer

The Discomfort You’re Feeling is Grief - Scott Berinato*

The Pandemic and the Crisis of Faith - Makarand Paranjape

If God Is Dead, Your Time is Everything - James Wood

Giving Up on God - Ronald Inglehart

The Limits of Consensual Decision - Douglas Rae*

The Science of "Muddling Through" - Charles Lindblom*

History

The Gruesome History of Eating Corpses as Medicine - Maria Dolan

The History of Loneliness - Jill Lepore*

From Tuskegee to Togo: the Problem of Freedom in the Empire of Cotton - Sven Beckert*

Time, Work-Discipline, and Industrial Capitalism - E. P. Thompson*

All By Myself - Martha Bailey*

The Geographical Pivot of History - H. J. Mackinder

The sea/ocean

Rim of Life - Manu Pillai

Exploring the Indian Ocean as a rich archive of history – above and below the water line - Isabel Hofmeyr, Charne Lavery

‘Piracy’, connectivity and seaborne power in the Middle Ages - Nikolas Jaspert (from The Sea in History)*

The Vikings and their age - Nils Blomkvist (from The Sea in History)*

Mercantile Networks, Port Cities, and “Pirate” States - Roxani Eleni Margariti

Phantom Peril in the Arctic - Robert David English, Morgan Grant Gardner*

Assorted ones on India

A departure from history: Kashmiri Pandits, 1990-2001 - Alexander Evans *

Writing Post-Orientalist Histories of the Third World - Gyan Prakash

Empire: How Colonial India Made Modern Britain - Aditya Mukherjee

Feminism and Nationalism in India, 1917-1947 - Aparna Basu

The Epic Riddle of Dating Ramayana, Mahabharata - Sunaina Kumar*

Caste and Politics: Identity Over System - Dipankar Gupta

Our worldview is Delhi based*

Sports (you’ll have to excuse the fact that it’s only cricket but what can i say, i’m indian)

'Massa Day Done:' Cricket as a Catalyst for West Indian Independence: 1950-1962 - John Newman*

Playing for power? rugby, Afrikaner nationalism and masculinity in South Africa, c.1900–70 - Albert Grundlingh

When Cricket Was a Symbol, Not Just a Sport - Baz Dreisinger

Cricket, caste, community, colonialism: the politics of a great game - Ramachandra Guha*

Cricket and Politics in Colonial India - Ramchandra Guha

MS Dhoni: A quiet radical who did it his way*

Music

Brega: Music and Conflict in Urban Brazil - Samuel M. Araújo

Color, Music and Conflict: A Study of Aggression in Trinidad with Reference to the Role of Traditional Music - J. D. Elder

The 1975 - ‘Notes On a Conditional Form’ review - Dan Stubbs*

Life Without Live - Rob Sheffield*

How Britney Spears Changed Pop - Rob Sheffield

Concert for Bangladesh

From “Help!” to “Helping out a Friend”: Imagining South Asia through the Beatles and the Concert for Bangladesh - Samantha Christiansen 

Gender

Clothing Behaviour as Non-verbal Resistance - Diana Crane

The Normalisation of Queer Theory - David M. Halperin

Menstruation and the Holocaust - Jo-Ann Owusu*

Women’s Suffrage the Democratic Peace - Allan Dafoe

Pink and Blue: Coloring Inside the Lines of Gender - Catherine Zuckerman*

Women’s health concerns are dismissed more, studied less - Zoanne Clack

Food

How Food-Obsessed Millennials Shape the Future of Food - Rachel A. Becker (as a non-food obsessed somewhat-millennial, this was interesting)

Colonialism's effect on how and what we eat - Coral Lee

Tracing Europe's influence on India's culinary heritage - Ruth Dsouza Prabhu

Chicken Kiev: the world’s most contested ready-meal*

From Russia with mayo: the story of a Soviet super-salad*

The Politics of Pancakes - Taylor Aucoin*

How Doughnuts Fuelled the American Dream*

Pav from the Nau

A Short History of the Vada Pav - Saira Menezes

Fantasy (mostly just harry potter and lord of the rings)

Purebloods and Mudbloods: Race, Species, and Power (from The Politics of Harry Potter)

Azkaban: Discipline, Punishment, and Human Rights (from The Politics of Harry Potter)*

Good and Evil in J. R. R. Tolkien's Lengendarium - Jyrki Korpua

The Fairy Story: J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis - Colin Duriez (from Tree of Tales)*

Tolkien’s Augustinian Understanding of Good and Evil: Why The Lord of the Rings Is Not Manichean - Ralph Wood (from Tree of Tales)*

Travel

The Hidden Cost of Wildlife Tourism

Chronicles of a Writer’s 1950s Road Trip Across France - Kathleen Phelan

On the Early Women Pioneers of Trail Hiking - Gwenyth Loose

On the Mythologies of the Himalaya Mountains - Ed Douglas*

More random assorted ones

The cosmos from the wheelchair (The Economist obituaries)*

In El Salvador - Joan Didion

Scientists are unravelling the mystery of pain - Yudhijit Banerjee

Notes on Nationalism - George Orwell

Politics and the English Language - George Orwell*

What Do the Humanities Do in a Crisis? - Agnes Callard*

The Politics of Joker - Kyle Smith

Sushant Singh Rajput: The outsider - Uday Bhatia*

Credibility and Mystery - John Berger

happy reading :)

[dustedmagazine]

Colin Andrew Sheffield — Don’t Ever Let Me Know (Auf Abwegen)

Colin Andrew Sheffield’s music is made for drifting. The Texan artist, whose work sometimes appears on his own Elevator Bath label, cuts sounds loose from their moorings and rearranges them into implicit travelogues that invite the listener to follower their changes in texture and mood. 

But while you won’t always know what you’re hearing, he doesn’t deny the listener a compass. He composed Don’t Ever Let Me Know in response to his father’s death, and the material that makes up its two side-long pieces was sourced from recordings obtained in their shared home town of Austin, TX. And the title suggests that the music has an ambivalent relationship with the facts. Since Sheffield takes plenty of liberties with his material, it makes sense that the gist may be his grist, but it isn’t the loaf. So, the listener can treat these disclosures as navigational aids, or they can chuck the map and see where the sounds take them. Either way, the music is up to the job.

It certainly doesn’t flaunt its origins. Sheffield has so thoroughly chopped and filtered his material that an uninformed listener might suppose that he uses synthesizers and organs, not samplers. But, since he knows its original essence, one supposes that he might be influenced by that knowledge, even if he only does so by making sure that no one else knows. What comes out imparts a sense of distance. The music feels as though it’s being heard from another place, even though it’s coming right out of that speaker in your sightline. One might speculate that Sheffield is disclosing something about his relationship with his father, but you might get just as much by imagining some artificially lit, nighttime cityscape that draws Sheffield’s resonations down the street and around the corner towards some unknown destination. Changes come patiently, but often enough to create a sense of event that’ll see you through to the end and, quite likely, back to the beginning again. 

Bill Meyer

[calciopics]

The Hillsborough 97

Ninety-six men, women and children lose their lives with hundreds more injured. The oldest victim was 67, the youngest, Jon-Paul Gilhooley, aged just 10, was the cousin of Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard. 

The name of the 97th Hillsborough disaster victim, who died last year, has been added to Anfield's memorial. Andrew Devine suffered life-changing injuries in the crush at the 1989 FA Cup semi-final in Sheffield, but survived until his death in July 2021.

Jon-Paul Gilhooley - 10 yo Philip Hammond - 14 yo Thomas Anthony Howard - 14 yo Paul Brian Murray - 14 yo Lee Nicol - 14 yo Adam Edward Spearritt - 14 yo Peter Andrew Harrison - 15 yo Victoria Jane Hicks - 15 yo Philip John Steele - 15 yo Kevin Tyrrell - 15 yo Kevin Daniel Williams - 15 yo Kester Roger Marcus Ball - 16 yo Nicholas Michael Hewitt - 16 yo Martin Kevin Traynor - 16 yo Simon Bell - 17 yo Carl Darren Hewitt - 17 yo Keith McGrath - 17 yo Stephen Francis O'Neill - 17 yo Steven Joseph Robinson - 17 yo Henry Charles Rogers - 17 yo Stuart Paul William Thompson - 17 yo Graham John Wright - 17 yo James Gary Aspinall - 18 yo Carl Brown - 18 yo Paul Clark - 18 yo Christopher Barry Devonside - 18 yo Gary Philip Jones - 18 yo Carl David Lewis - 18 yo John McBrien - 18 yo Jonathon Owens - 18 yo Colin Mark Ashcroft - 19 yo Paul William Carlile - 19 yo Gary Christopher Church - 19 yo James Philip Delaney - 19 yo Sarah Louise Hicks - 19 yo David William Mather - 19 yo Colin Wafer - 19 yo Ian David Whelan - 19 yo Stephen Paul Copoc - 20 yo Ian Thomas Glover - 20 yo Gordon Rodney Horn - 20 yo Paul David Brady - 21 yo Thomas Steven Fox - 21 yo Marian Hazel McCabe - 21 yo Joseph Daniel McCarthy - 21 yo Peter McDonnell - 21 yo Carl William Rimmer - 21 yo  Peter Francis Tootle - 21 yo David John Benson - 22 yo David William Birtle - 22 yo Tony Bland - 22 yo Gary Collins - 22 yo Tracey Elizabeth Cox - 23 yo William Roy Pemberton - 23 yo Colin Andrew Hugh William Sefton - 23 yo David Leonard Thomas - 23 yo Peter Andrew Burkett - 24 yo Derrick George Godwin - 24 yo Graham John Roberts - 24 yo David Steven Brown - 25 yo Richard Jones - 25 yo Barry Sidney Bennett - 26 yo Andrew Mark Brookes - 26 yo Paul Anthony Hewitson - 26 yo Paula Ann Smith - 26 yo Christopher James Traynor - 26 yo Barry Glover - 27 yo Gary Harrison - 27 yo Christine Anne Jones - 27 yo Nicholas Peter Joynes - 27 yo Francis Joseph McAllister - 27 yo Alan McGlone - 28 yo Joseph Clark - 29 yo Christopher Edwards - 29 yo James Robert Hennessy - 29 yo Alan Johnston - 29 yo Anthony Peter Kelly - 29 yo Martin Kenneth Wild - 29 yo Peter Reuben Thompson - 30 yo Stephen Francis Harrison - 31 yo Eric Hankin - 33 yo Vincent Michael Fitzsimmons - 34 yo Roy Harry Hamilton - 34 yo Patrick John Thompson - 35 yo Michael David Kelly - 38 yo Brian Christopher Mathews - 38 yo David George Rimmer - 38 yo Inger Shah - 38 yo David Hawley - 39 yo Thomas Howard - 39 yo Arthur Horrocks - 41 yo Eric George Hughes - 42 yo Henry Thomas Burke - 47 yo Raymond Thomas Chapman - 50 yo Andrew Stanley Devine -55 yo John Alfred Anderson - 62 yo Gerard Bernard Patrick Baron - 67 yo

[ramblingromance]

Tagged by @literaryillusions to list ten of my favorite heroes and ten of my favorite heroines from romance novels. I always blank with posts like this, but I’m gonna try my best. These are not listed in any particular order, just the ones that came to the top of my head were listed first.

Favorite Heroes:

1. Sebastian St. Vincent, Devil in Winter: Perhaps a polarizing character for some, Sebastian is one of the ultimate reformed rakes in my opinion. (Maybe a tired trope, but a personal favorite of mine nonetheless.) While he tries to act cold and uncaring, he wants nothing but the best for his heroine pretty much the moment she steps foot into his life, becoming a better man in the process.

2. Vincent Hunt, The Arrangement: One of the biggest cinnamon roll heroes I have ever had the pleasure to read about, though not a surprise coming from Mary Balogh. Vincent is also probably one of the youngest heroes I have ever read about as well, and also lives with a disability after having been blinded during war.

3. Anthony Bridgerton, The Viscount Who Loved Me: The stuffy older brother archetype who is forcing himself not love due to past traumas, but oh does he love a whole hell of a lot, sucking out bee sting poison and all.

4. West Ravenel, Devil’s Daughter: This man right here had such sweet redemption arc, and it didn’t even happen in his own book! Bit of a reformed rake, charming and funny, also wonderful with children! He’s a catch.

5. Liam MacKenzie, The Highlander: My first Scottish hero, and he left quite the impression. He’s rough and brash, but goodness does he just adore his heroine. I don’t tend to like heroes that are super high on the alpha charts, but there’s something tender about Liam too, maybe where he’s already a father when we first meet him. Kerrigan Byrn’s stories tend to have an old school feel to them, and are often filled with very dark pasts and lots of drama, so just a fair warning now if you decide to pick this one up for yourself.

6. Chase Reynaud, The Governess Game: Ah, another devil may care character? What a surprise! Chase likes to keep his feelings in check due to past trauma, but the truth of the matter is, he feels, like a whole lot, and especially for those two charges he claimes he wants to be rid of.

7. Colin Bridgerton, Romancing Mister Bridgerton: Goofy, and seen as nothing but a smooth talking sort of fellow, Colin often wishes he were taken a bit more seriously. Funny and adventurous, his favorite things are his wife and food, in that order, though I’m sure his family makes the list somewhere in there too!

8. Leopold Daughtry, A Duke of Her Own: Known mostly as the Duke or Villiers, he is featured in every single one of Eloisa James’ books in her Desperate Duchesses series. Smooth talking, rakish, and also a bit of a matchmaker. Throughout the series he decides to start doing the right thing after decisions in his past begin to catch up with him.

9. Robert Blaisdell, The Duchess War: I need to read more from Courtney Milan, because I really liked her take on this particular hero. A radical duke trying to atone for the past sins of his family, oh, and refreshingly enough, he’s a virgin!

10. Andrew James Rokesby, The Other Miss Bridgerton: Knows how to Captain/Sail a ship, witty and a great person to have a conversation with, he also will take you on an adventure in Portugal and make sure you get to taste some delicious malasadas for yourself!

Favorite Heroines:

1. Evie Jenner, Devil in Winter: Seemingly a quiet and and shy wallflower with a stutter, she secretly has more sass and bite than she let’s on. Also has one of the biggest rakes wrapped around her little finger.

2. Sophia Fry, The Arrangment: Another quiet and unassuming young lady, she thinks pretty lowly of herself, but throughout the course of the story she gains strength and the ability to realize that she does deserve love.

3. Kate Sheffield, The Viscount Who Loved Me: a bit loudmouthed and always finding herself in some sort of trouble where her hero is concerned, she entertained me to no end, and I found I really wanted to be her friend. A wonderful older sister. Plus she owns a corgi!

4. Lillian Bowman, It Happened One Autumn: You either like her or you don’t, but I found I liked her very much. She’s brash, stubborn, and isn’t afraid to speak her mind. During the course of her book, I found she was making me laugh quite a bit.

5. Penelope Featherington, Romancing Mister Bridgerton: Often looked over, and having been pining over her best friends’s older brother for like...ever, Penelope has more wit than people give her credit for, as well as a very big secret.

6. Samantha Masters, The Scot Beds His Wife: A tough cowgirl from the Wild West, she finds herself in Scotland as she runs from her past and her problems, going toe to toe with her hero, who just so happens to be her very annoying, very Scottish neighbor.

7. Wren Heyden, Someone to Wed: Wren has spent most of her life as recluse due to a somewhat disfiguring blemish on her face, as well as a past filled with traumas. Her story of learning to accept herself, finding love, and face anxieties really spoke to me. I found myself crying during this one, which for me, can be a rare treat in a way.

8. Penelope Campion, The Wallflower Wager: Preferring the company of animals to that of people, aside from her choice of a few close friends, I found myself relating quite a bit to Penelope, while also being drawn to her sunny personality.

9. Constance Stonewell, The Earl I Ruined: Coming across as flighty to others, and seemingly only having interest in gossip and fashion, Constance actually has more wit than people give her credit for, as well as a big heart intent on helping others.

10. Jemma Duchess of Beaumont, This Duchess of Mine: Unabashedly scandalous, clever, and a hell of a good chess player. She’ll entice, intrigue, and entertain you even from her first appearance in the Desperate Duchesses series.

Okay, so there’s my list! I know there’s plenty I’m forgetting, maybe even some I like better who didn’t make it onto this list simply because my memory failed me. Either way, this is what I wrote up, and I’m sticking with it.

I’ll tag @thebooklrandtheduke, @natreadsromance @all-the-kissing-books @pollyssecretlibrary @sunnysaysbookreviews @mfred and anyone else who might like to participate! Also don’t the feel the pressure to do this if you don’t have the time, or if you’d just rather not.

[harrietvane]

do you mind talking about why you dislike Love Actually and Richard Curtis's romcoms? I've seen you mention it in some of your tags and I'd love to hear your thoughts :)

Long post, so scroll now, ye who care not.

OK, so like better voices than mine have articulated Why Love Actually Sucks Balls, but you were kind enough to ask for my view, so strap in I’m gonna talk about Jane Eyre, and the 1990’s Fran Drescher sitcom The Nanny also. It’s coming up on western civilisations’ holiday season, so why not, it’s a good time to tell this movie to choke, because it’s about to be repeatedly thrust upon us once again. (Disclaimer: I acknowledge Richard Curtis is responsible for Blackadder and Vicar of Dibley, so whatever else, we’re still cool on that basis. But I have spite and to spare, so there’s plenty to go around).

My main beef is actually the context. Technically, if all of the below bullshit was in an offbeat movie from any other movie market (I’m thinking maybe a French, or Spanish movie from the 90′s boom, Almodovar style?), the focus would probably be a black humour take on ‘Lord What Fools These Mortals Be!’, sort of look at the inherent ridiculousness of mankind, and how we get in our own way, blah blah, might have been cute. I’d buy that. This movie? A british movie for the american market? It’s sold with a big holiday sticker on it saying ‘ROMANCE’, and specifically ‘ADORABLE ASPIRATIONAL ROMANCE THAT YOU SHOULD ADORE AND ASPIRE TO’. Also the context *inside* the movie itself (through a narration voiceover no less) is that all of these narratives is somehow proof that ‘Love, Actually is all around’, and specifically in a good, wholesome, happy way, overall at least. These stories are redeeming, even if they’re not all happy, they’re Good™ or whatever. The context outside the movie is the same: british TV advertising, hard copy packaging, holiday specials, outdoor gala screenings: they all say over and over: THIS IS SQUISHY HOT PINK NEON LOVE, wholesome, healing, and healthy. You should want this, aspire to this, think this is the cat’s pyjamas! It’s a wide and varied look at the beautiful power of love from all angles, comic, tragic, the lot. 

Is it fuck. The ‘positive’ romance stories range from Stage-5 Creeper to Crotch Puppet Afterthought, the ‘melancholy’, thwarted romance stories seem to say ‘if you’re a woman who’s not readily/immediately bangable to your allocated straight dude, romance is over for you I’m afraid’. Let’s recap, shall we:

Much has already been said about Andrew Lincoln’s character BLANTANTLY SHARKING ON HIS BEST MATE’S WIFE being uhhh, less than fresh. I don’t even feel like I need to justify this one, it’s so over-the-top. The main point is that movie itself maintains this as a tragic, swoony, thwarted, heart-string-tugging missed connection, rather than The Worst Friend Ever (meaning: it assumes we’ll be 100% onboard with Keira Knightley skipping secretly away from Chiwetel Eijiofor to grant his best mate one treasured kiss, as opposed to saying ‘what the FUCK Mark, why are you telling me this, this is super inappropriate?? and my only wedding video is just you zooming in on my face? Pls get help’.

We all love National Treasure Colin Firth and all, but like is Love, Actually fixating on a woman who literally can’t speak to you? Has said nothing understandable to you? About whose own life you’ve never yet, and could never have asked about? Whose main interactions with you have been to wordlessly clean your room, bring you food, and tidy it away after? Your ideal woman, who you meet immediately following a break up, is one who silently meets all your domestic needs, while making zero emotional or intellectual demands on you whatsoever? WOW, SHOCKER. (Oh but it’s cute or whatever, they have him propose, and there’s a mix up when her sister appears, but she’s Ugly™, so it’s funny that the sister is not getting romance. I mean, how could she, an uggo?? Classic joke. Good times.)

The Prime Minster and his tea lady: more on Curtis’ Domestic Servitude Kink below, whoo boy.

Laura Linney would really really like to sleep with Rodrigo Santoro, and god bless her who wouldn’t, but she is tragically unable to, because she has family commitments as being the sister – not even fulltime carer, just RELATED TO -  a brother living with disability. Sorry folks, romance is OFF THE CARDS, FOREVER for Laura here. How can she??? That’s the nature of love, actually. Can you have sex right now this moment? No? Whelp, sorry, thanks for playing, back to the Tragic Assisted Living facility for you. Gosh it’s unfortunate that’s a truth universally acknowledged that any whiff of disability = no romance for you ever. (Don’t start me on 4 Weddings* [edit: *it’s totally Notting Hill, not 4 Weddings, thank] and how that husband is like The Best because he continues to love his wife even though her legs don’t work. What a champ, honestly, do they have an award for that?) I have to stop now before I get sarcasm poisoning, but my eyes will continue to roll.

How could I say anything bad about the Liam Neeson widower and his adorable lovestruck son storyine? Lol, I’m gonna. Have you seen the Buffy episode The Zeppo? Xander is convinced the only way girls (as a concept, not in the specific) will like him enough to sleep with him is if he has A Thing. The Thing is posited as ‘being cool’ by having an object or skill that alone will be the magic bullet to romance. Musical instrument prowess is considered, and he ends up just getting a car to be his Thing. This just seems like a redux of that logic. This kid could get some genuine direction from the movie to get to know this girl, learn her interests and share his, see if she likes him as a person by being A PERSON, but the narrative just backs away from that and eventually DOES just say ‘play the drums in the show, she’ll like you’ and that’s …it. But it’s cool, teenagers don’t learn key interpersonal dynamics at this age or anything, she kisses him for some reason, whatever. (Bonus points for gifting his dad with a literal supermodel as a punchline, after making that an actual joke earlier about the shallow nature of attraction, and love is about filling a one-sided need.)

I could go on, but I have very little to say about Freeman falling for a girl whose tits he’s been holding for a week, the no-homo pop star Nighy plot, or the guy that goes and has sex in Wisconsin with Bond Girls, and can’t be bothered, which leads me to…

Richard Curtis’ Domestic Servitude Kink. Must I kinkshame Richard Curtis in his own home?? Nope, I’m kinkshaming him AT WORK in his narratives, surrounded by his nubile, pliant, adorable female employee characters. Oh Mr Curtis, I seem to have dropped a pencil!

OK, so like a M/F Domestic Servitude romance is an extremely old trope, and extremely common, and I’m not here to tear that up, because done well it’s amazing, lot of petrol in that King Cophetua narrative tank. I’m a fan. The most famous in-context historical example being Jane Eyre, for instance: he’s her boss, she’s his paid subordinate, they’re both 100% aware of that. It’s a great way to explore the real-life class and power dynamics of these 2 train wrecks of human beings, and they vomit their ridiculous drama llama feelings all over a 600 page novel. Super fun, they’re both awful humans, I love them. Mid-century you might have The Sound of Music, and in more modern times you get 1990s sitcom The Nanny, both extremely well-developed romances involving paid employees, and part of their value is that the shows KNOW THIS. They’re aware it’s the basis for their dynamic, that they have to directly play with that, and develop beyond to go anywhere. Watching Fran Fine in her runway-fresh Moschino minidresses jump on Maxwell Sheffield’s desk for the 800th time making him super uncomfortable (and not a little turned on) is always such a treat. It’s right out there on the label. The problem with Love, Actually, is Curtis doesn’t want to admit that naughty secretary seems to be a cornerstone of what gets him going, romantic-stylez. 

One (1) time in the movie would be ‘sure, why not’. Literally the highest political office in the land, making overtures to the woman who brings him tea, i guess might be a bit off, but let’s say it’s done well, and maybe Hugh Grant and Martine McCutcheon’s charisma gets us over the line (his behaviour is cute because her last man didn’t like her body, but the prime minister DOES like her body! so it’s cute!). Whatever, seen worse. Two (2) times however is making a point, and Colin Firth is driving his silent portuguese maid home - not a french maid but so close! - and deciding he’d like her to bring him tea and clean his toilet for as long as they both shall live, and that also seems to be her greatest joy. Ah, l’amour. OK, I guess you like the thing, everyone has a thing, but at least you’re done now. Wait, you mean there’s a third (3rd) one? Everyone’s Fave Alan Rickman drives the plot of his own marriage’s tragic romance because he’s having stiffening feelings about his own Naughty Secretary halloween costume, after all. All the beautiful speeches about Joni Mitchell give Thompson some nice things to do, but it still assumes the Nature of Romance is to want to plough the help. A man can’t help it! It’s how romantic attraction works! Once would be whatever. Three times and there’s a tag on Ao3 for that, so please just scratch that itch and stop selling it to me in a heartwarming christmas movie as the Universal Nature Of Romance, so varied, so vast, the full spectrum! Just 2 hours to tell a story: but 3 whole narratives and 7 actors devoted to the variants on the naughty maid story. My point is be upfront about it and I’d be all for it - pretend it’s not A Thing You’re Doing and my creep-meter goes ping. Steven Shainberg’s ‘Secretary’ has a scene where the boss literally puts a saddle on his employee, and I find it to be one of the most genuinely moving romances I’ve ever seen. Love Actually makes me feel like Curtis is sending me a ‘u up?’ late night text about his secretary fantasy.

Anyway, I fucking hate this film, and not necessarily because of the content, but because of the context. The movie tells me to love it as aspirational romance. My culture tells me to love it as aspirational romance. Everyone tells me to love it as a varied and full exploration of reasons to get up in the morning, because it’s an aspirational romance. It makes me want to claw my own face off.

[sublimeretreat]

3 reviews of Sublime Retreat releases in Vital Weekly !

FALTER BRAMNK – MUSIC FOR LUMINOUS BACKGROUND (CD by Sublime Retreat)

And sure enough, the music may be generated through improvisations, edited later on, the result is quite interesting. Maybe a bunch of shorter pieces is not what you expect from this label, but it works well in terms of variation. The music has a moody character, especially when Bramnk bowes his glass, and it gets a rather unsettling feeling. Sometimes, he plays slow and thoughtful, and on other occasions, a bit more chaotic and random, but nothing sounds all too traditional improvised percussion music.

JONATHAN DEASY – LE SACRE (CD by Sublime Retreat)

There is an orchestral aspect to the music; I wondered if I was listening to processed cello or trombone sounds at various times, and I realised it wasn’t. The slowly ascending and descending notes sometimes give the music a dramatic feeling. It’s movement too slow to fit a soundtrack (unless the film is of similar slowness), but it’s music to sit back and enjoy. Best enjoyed, at least here in these surroundings, on an average volume, and let this roll about slowly in my environment.

COLIN ANDREW SHEFFIELD – MOMENTS LOST (CD by Sublime Retreat)

While the music is very abstract, there is always a trace of a melody here, no matter how deeply buried in the music. There is the overall drone, though not long and never static, and there are smaller events below the current. None of the source material, described as “assorted vintage soundtrack LPs”, can be recognised because the treatments are that wide. And yet there is an orchestral feeling to the music, the soundtrack aspect shining through occasionally. With all the grainy and dark processing going on, this is very much the sort of thing one expects Sublime Retreat to release