CTM 2024 Collapsing time with Heinali’s baroque compositions Posted on 02/02/202402/02/2024 By Mark There was a smell of Time in the air tonight. He smiled and turned the fancy in his mind. There was a thought. What did time smell like? Like dust and clocks and people. And if you wondered what Time sounded like, it sounded like water running in a dark… Read more
CTM 2024 User Syndrome’s Brutalist assault on musical architecture Posted on 31/01/202431/01/2024 By Mark User Syndrome, live 30th January Radialsystem, Berlin as part of CTM 2024 Imagine a phone call in the 80s, and on the other end of the call is Jim Thirlwell, aka Foetus (Foetus uber Frisco, You’ve got Foetus on your breath etc). And he plays you his new track. But all you… Read more
CTM 2024 The incidental sonic dentistry of Ben Frost’s new album Posted on 29/01/202430/01/2024 By Mark Ben Frost with Greg Kubacki and Tarik Barri (visuals) live 27/28th January Betonhalle, Silent Green, Berlin as part of CTM 2024 Where some of Ben Frost’s work over the past ten years could be said to lull you into a bed of audio reverie, easily transporting you through time in… Read more
CTM 2024 Osmium take a whirling dive into territories hewn from basic atomic elements. Posted on 29/01/202429/01/2024 By Mark Osmium live 28/29th January Betonhalle, Silent Green, Berlin as part of CTM 2024 Osmium, a new configuration of artists (some who have worked together previously) consists of Hildur Guðnadóttir, Sam Slater, James Ginzburg from their various worlds of movie soundtracks and the neo-tribal avant-garde stylings of Senyawa‘s vocalist, Rully Shabara…. Read more
CTM 2024 HJirok and the illusion of performative truth in music. Posted on 28/01/202430/01/2024 By Mark HJirok live 27/28th January Betonhalle, Silent Green, Berlin as part of CTM 2024 There’s an illusion that we all buy into when we consume music (contemporary Western music, at least). The illusion is that the performer standing before us, opening their soul, is revealing something about themselves. This is their… Read more
CTM 2024 Come for the organ, stay for the beats. Posted on 28/01/202430/01/2024 By Mark Anna Von Hausswolff live 26th January 2024 Betonhalle, Silent Green, Berlin as part of CTM 2024 Von Hausswolff’s appearance on the CTM 2024 programme was a chance to share her forthcoming album with an appreciative audience ready for the sonic onslaught of her six-piece band (including two drummers, excellent work). Maybe it’s… Read more
digital art An old condition in new flesh: LuYang NetiNeti at the Zabludowicz Collection. Posted on 13/11/202229/01/2024 By Mark LuYang NetiNeti at the Zabludowicz Collection, 22 September 2022–12 February 2023. The kinetic energy of LuYang’s multimedia work will feel at once familiar and just slightly off-kilter for the more casual observer of contemporary eastern pop culture. Familiar in its use of CGI-generated avatars, cranked-up dance beats and k-pop visual… Read more
Uncategorized Nation on the verge of a nervous breakdown – Nomadland Posted on 09/10/202109/10/2021 By Mark Nomaldland scours the American landscape, lifting the rocks and scraping at what clings beneath to survey what’s left behind as the great American Dream rolls across the country. Blending documentary and scripted drama, Nomadland encapsulates the essence of capitalism with a softer hand than might have taken place in pure… Read more
Uncategorized Slow time in Macqueen’s Supernova Posted on 01/07/202129/01/2024 By Mark Landscapes move in slow time in Harry Macqueen’s Supernova, but it’s always Autumn. It’s always that last glimmer of warmth reflecting off the water’s edge before the seasons change. Sam (Colin Firth) and Tusker (Stanley Tucci) are taking one last journey together, visiting family and taking in the Scottish landscape…. Read more
A culture clash of one Posted on 15/11/2020 By Mark It turns out, that when you drink wine and beer in one session, you want to watch 1950s musicals. Maybe it’s the clash of the two styles and social protocols that go with each drink, perfectly reflecting the strange emotional heft that comes when two (or more) people break into… Read more