Ben Granger Simpatico – The Charlatans See all albums by The Charlatans at Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com A childish and vapid point, but some bands make it really easy for childish and vapid reviewers to have a go at them when they first come up with their names. Back in the day there was Dodgy and […]
Paul Neilan: Apathy and Other Small Victories
Jayne Margetts Okay, so I listen to Thom Yorke, and enjoy reading books about people living with a gun pointed to their head. Call it entertainment, or living vicariously through others; apathy, black humour, a touch of the politically incorrect and make me laugh out loud, in these dark and here troubled times. I remember […]
Abby Lee: Girl With A One Track Mind
“…it’s about time that a different – non-sexist, non-passive, progressive female – perspective on sexuality broke though into the mainstream, so the more of us doing it, the better…”
Peter Morfoot: Burksey: The Autobiography of a Football God
Chris Hall Burksey: The Autobiography of a Football God – Peter Morfoot See all books byPeter Morfoot at Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com This has got cult classic written all over it. Burksey is the spoof autobiography of Tristan Stephen Burkes, a world-class footballing genius and monstrous idiot. Although a fair amount of football knowledge over the […]
Alexei Sayle: The Weeping Women Hotel
Ben Granger The Weeping Women Hotel – Alexei Sayle See all books by Alexei Sayle at Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com It is wise to greet novels by comedians with trepidation. It should go without saying the qualities needed for performing comedy are not necessarily the same ones needed of a novelist, but say it I must, […]
Matthew Robertson: Factory Records: The Complete Graphic Album (FAC 461)
Chris Hall Factory Records: The Complete Graphic Album – Matthew Robertson See all books about Factory Records at Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com In the late 70s, the mysterious, topographical radio waves of Joy Division’s Unknown Pleasures appeared like a burst of energy in an empty void, signifying the arrival not only of one of the best […]
Jack London: The Iron Heel
Ben Granger on Jack London’s neglected dystopian novel that rivals 1984 and Brave New World in its prophetic vision of the future When it comes to accolades for the most lauded prophetic dystopian satirical novels of the early twentieth century, there’s no doubting which are the big two. The hyper-Stalinist all-surveillance paranoid nightmare of Orwell’s […]
Morrissey : Ringleader Of The Tormentors
Ben Granger Ringleader Of The Tormentors – Morrissey See all albums by Morrissey at Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com Morrissey, for so long adrift in the incongruous lanes of Los Angeles, seems on this album to have finally come alive on the streets of his new home Rome. His art has always laid in the tension of […]
Suhayl Saadi: Psychoraag
“…I see little point in attempting to mimic what’s already been done very well by others. But I mean, I didn’t write Psychoraag thinking, “Halleluia! Now I’m going to write the first Asian Scottish novel!”…”
Roger Morris: Taking Comfort
Ian Hocking Taking Comfort – Roger Morris See all books by Roger Morris at Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com When the Macmillan New Writing imprint was announced late last year, a fault line developed in UK publishing. Hurrahs on one side, boos on the other. Why the rumpus? The imprint is dedicated to the publication of new […]
Bret Easton Ellis: Lunar Park
Ben Granger Lunar Park – Bret Easton Ellis See all books by Bret Easton Ellis at Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com Lunar Park presents itself as the straightforward first-person narrative of “Bret Easton Ellis”, spoiled, self-obsessed, solipsistic rich boy etc. etc. etc. author in a state of debauched twilight. We join up with Bret as he half-heartedly […]
David Nobakht: Suicide: No Compromise
Chris Mitchell Suicide: No Compromise – David Nobakht See all music by Suicide at Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com Just finished the top notch hardback edition of David Nobakht’s biography of synth-rock pioneers Suicide. I would have loved to have written this book. Very much a band biography rather than a personal history of Suicide’s two members, […]
Mil Millington: Love And Other Near Death Experiences
Ian Hocking Love And Other Near Death Experiences – Mil Millington See all books by Mil Millington at Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com British author Mil Millington found success with his first book, ‘Things My Girlfriend And I Have Argued About’, which drew upon his so-named cult website. This book set the trend for his next two, […]
Trainspotting The Play: Harry Gibson: 10 Years On
“…Trainspotting keeps bringing new people into theatres; theatre managers cry out happily, ‘We’ve never sold so much lager’…”
The Fall : Fall Heads Roll
Ben Granger Fall Heads Roll – The Fall See all music by The Fall at Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com It’s time again for the Seer of Salford to blast forth his enchanted bombast. With more albums now than anyone can count, and with its title surely a sly reference to the number of foot-soldiers fallen from […]
Joshua Davis: The Underdog: How I Survived The World’s Most Outlandish Competitions
Chris Mitchell The Underdog: How I Survived The World’s Most Outlandish Competitions – Joshua Davis See all books by Joshua Davis at Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com Joshua Davis set out to win. At anything. Living in a crappy apartment with a crappy job and a loving but long suffering wife, Davis set out to prove himself. […]
Nic Dunlop: The Lost Executioner
Chris Mitchell The Lost Executioner is my Book of the Year. Like my pick for last year, Emma Larkin’s Secret Histories: Finding George Orwell in A Burmese Teashop, The Lost Executioner is a personal travelogue into a country that tries to understand its recent, disastrous politics. Where Secret Histories documents Burma’s slide into a real-life […]
Half Man Half Biscuit : Achtung Bono
Ben Granger I may as well declare my stance at the outset. Half Man Half Biscuit are Britain’s most under-rated band, and their singer/writer Nigel Blackwell is not only one of the land’s finest humourists and satirists, but also a chronicler of the tawdriness of modern British life whose vision is shot through with true […]
Marina Lewycka: A Short History Of Tractors in Ukrainian
Ian Hocking The marketing executives at Viking must have tapped pens thoughtfully against teeth before agreeing to the title, A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian. Helpfully, the book is subtitled “a novel”. The cover is nicely east European: duotone block print. Its author is Marina Lewycka, a lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University. Her own […]
Carly Milne – Naked Ambition: Women Who Are Changing Porn
Chris Mitchell A collection of essays from women working in the US porn industry and women consuming porn outside it, Naked Ambition is an intelligent and provocative survey of pro-porn female opinions. There’s little in the way of gushing praise about the industry itself – most of the writers agree that newcomers get eaten alive […]
Magnus : Sleepwalker
Chris Mitchell These days I’m reduced to randomly choosing new music at the bootleg CD stalls on Bangkok’s streets. I don’t bother with the music press anymore so I have no idea who’s up and coming, who to find out about, who to watch – these days I just pick albums on whether I like […]
Ralph Steadman: Gonzo: The Art
“Bloodsucking business men, venal politicians, dollar drugged gamblers, archetypal beholders of negation and power transmogrified into grinning reptilia… In the ferocious stroke of a few simple lines Steadman trans-atlantically expresses all the negative facets of the human condition to a terrifyingly hilarious degree.”
The White Stripes : Get Behind Me Satan
Ben Granger They may have been going for years beforehand but it was in 2001 that weirdo-duo The White Stripes became known to the world, arriving in fine feral style with their supercharged brand of primeval punk blues. They were hyped to the max with their red and white uniforms and carefully contrived sister/brother/lover cartoon […]
Aisle 16: Live From The Hellfire Club
Edmund Hardy There is power and its modes, the democratic nature of speech, and the politics of wit; thus, satire. Aisle16 are a collective of six stand-up poets, “poetry’s boyband”, and their book hopes to be “The poetry book it’s not embarrassing to be seen carrying.” It collects over fifty of their poems. When we […]
Gert Hofmann: Parable Of The Blind
Edmund Hardy The Knocker knocks on the barn door and six men stumble around, trying to get up. The novel opens: “On the day when we’re to be painted – yet another new day! – a knocking on the barn door drags us out of our sleep. No, the knocking isn’t inside us, it’s outside, […]
