From March 1967 to November 68, the home of gallerist Paul Keeler – on Balls Pond Road in North London – became the headquarters of an art collective called the Exploding Galaxy, and a bona fide hippie commune. Here, Gemma de Cruz quizzes Jill Drower, author of a memoir, 99 Balls Pond Road: The Story…
The prolific garage rocker Ty Segall is back and on form with a new album Emotional Mugger. He’s brought in his previous collaborator the filmmaker Matt Yoka for some gory dytopian visuals that fit hand in glove with Segall’s sound. Yoka’s promo for Thank God For the Sinners saw a mass of naked bodies forming…
Saturday night saw The Libertines end the UK leg of their first arena tour at London’s O2 Arena. It was, by all accounts a triumphant homecoming. There was a weight of expectation – The Libertines have always been at their best when confined to an intimate venue, face to face with a raucous crowd of…
The title was donated by my friend tui of Orla Wren and I wrote a short piece of verse based upon it, intended to be spoken (rather like the Eno/Cluster song ‘Broken Head’). It’s loosely about a river fisherman and a rather low-rent Naiad (river Nymph, that is). He sees her every time he goes…
Bruising are a four-piece band that formed in Leeds roughly a year ago. I guess a good way to describe them would be something like, I say: post-punk-sugary-garage-indie-pop-rock and you go ‘Right, sounds cool. Thanks.’ But then again, with all the messiness and misnomers of ever-evolving cross-genres cropping up here there and everywhere in music…
I feel old, this week. January 23rd marked the 10 year anniversary of what is, in all honesty, one of the seminal albums of my generation. After the initial terrifying realisation that I’m aging at an alarming rate had passed, it was replaced by the warm glow of nostalgia. ‘Whatever People Say I Am…’ came…
The Royal College of Arts students opened their studios in Battersea to give us a glimpse of what there is to come. After the typical beer bottle holding experience of the opening night on Friday, I returned on Saturday to see the actual works. The departmental demon of the RCA divides the open studios to…
Scrolling through Gordon Holden’s website it’s hard to tell what is art, what is product, and what is just a big joke. But the California based artist isn’t trying to choose one path, his irreverent, pop art products are consumable and never take themselves too seriously. His installation of bizarro humanoid trees at PULSE art…
MagCulture opened their doors in December 2015, deliberately positioning themselves next to a kebab shop and a launderette in the less bustly strip of St John’s Street in Clerkenwell. This elegantly designed shop took over from, somewhat appropriately, the former Squires newsagents and carry some 250 titles complete with an open ‘browsing’ policy. I caught…
On January 10th, the world awoke to the news that David Bowie had died, aged 69. People took to the streets of Brixton, to a hastily organised street party to celebrate the life of its most famous son. The following morning, I made my way to Brixton to pay tribute, as so many others had,…