Category: Uncategorized

Arab-world dance music really gets me going; something about the hypnotic/seductive thrust of it… the visions of hookahs and curling smoke… the drive to elegant pleasure pushing against jewel-encrusted oppression. Omar Souleyman is the latest one to get me thrusting my hands in the air and tracing curlicues. Apparently he started out playing “Dabke” folk…… Continue reading May ’24

[So um, after two and a half years of blogging I finally got the clever idea of adding a “subscribe” button — it’s down at the bottom. Thanks Mauro! ] Here at the slowgraffitti tower in mid-town Manhattan the weather is blustery, and the biggest, warmest April shower is being rained down by Belgium’s Bolis…… Continue reading April ’24

I’ve been getting so much mail from people going, you know, good to know about the latest in Indonesian Dubstep Dangdut, but what about proper rock bands from the USA? Well you’re welcome, and actually PACKS are the latest glittering expression in that storied lineage, unfurling Madeline Link’s rich and slightly raspy vocals and banana…… Continue reading March ’24

A year that rhymes with More.

You know, I used to do a lot of sharing about my personal life in these pages but lately I’ve been all business — here to win, not to make friends. Perhaps I’ll try and be a little softer and more human in 2024, please let my assistant know what you think. So I went…… Continue reading January – February ’24

I did a lot of baking in 2023, and here are some of this year’s most special muffins and tarts. 25. The Tubs – Dead MeatThese Welsh Londoners crafted something sublime out of codependent self-hatred. Do we need another guitar bass drums rock band? Yes please if they deliver heavenly pained harmonies and titles like…… Continue reading Best Albums of 2023

On her latest one Acts of Light, Hilary Woods sculpts sound in great swaths of minor chord texture, building seductively doom-laden worlds with titles like “Burial Rites,” “Vigil,” and title of the year contender “Wife Mother Lover Crow.” She sometimes veers toward the melodic, i.e. the unreasonably lovely undead Enya evocation of “Where the Bough…… Continue reading December ’23

“It’s Crazy It’s Party” is a dizzying pinnacle of human achievement by Finnish Eurovision almost-winner Käärijä and Estonian weirdo genius rapper, dancer and cultural Trojan horse Tommy Cash — a satire of Euro-bro culture that also makes me want to be one. The lyrics, partly in Finnish, translate to “Party yesterday, party today and party…… Continue reading November ’23

Tirzah and Mica Levi have been besties since forever, and the records released under Tirzah’s name have all been collaborations. While Mica is quite the karma chameleon, recording delightful new wave-influenced racket as Michachu and the Shapes and Good Bad Happy Sad and scoring toney art-house auteur films, Tirzah tends toward the minimal, taking fragments…… Continue reading October ’23

The title track on Leftfield’s 2022 album This Is What We Do was cute, in fact it was pretty great in its own low-key way. But the re-worked track, called “We Do Dub,” on the new This Is What We Do. Version Excursion, is a full-on arsequake as they used to say, building up exquisite…… Continue reading September ’23