Rambling on about music

Thank you for the music

Ruth Saxelby — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 13:17:07 +0000

Songs I loved at various points for various reasons this year, in alphabetical order. Thanks, 2011.

Adele – Someone Like You

Apparat – Black Water

Autre Ne Veut – Your Clothes

Babe Rainbow – Greed (feat Yung Clova)

Blanck Mass – Land Disasters

Blondes – Wine

BNJMN – One Sea (Lukid remix)

Bullion – Pressure To Dance

Clams Casino – What You Doin’

Cubic Zirconia – Night Or Day

Cymbals – Half Ask

Dam Mantle – WE

Deadboy – Wish You Were Here

d’Eon – Tongues

DJ Manny – All I Do Is Smoke Trees

Drake – Look What You’ve Done

FaltyDL – Waited Patiently

Ford & Lopatin – Too Much Midi

Friendly Fires – Blue Cassette

FRKWYS 7 Ensemble – Just A Little Pollution

Future Islands – Before The Bridge

Gang Colours – In Your Gut Like A Knife

Gil Scott-Heron & Jamie xx – I’ll Take Care Of You

Grimes – Vanessa

Gwilym Gold – Flesh Freeze

Harmonizer – World Complete

Holy Other – With U

How To Dress Well – Suicide Dream 1 (Orchestra Version)

Hudson Mohawke – All Your Love

Hyetal – Phoenix

Hype Williams – Farthing Wood Dub

Jacques Greene – Another Girl

Jamie Woon – Night Air (Ramadanman Refix)

James Blake – The Wilhelm Scream

James Ferraro – Sim

Jessie Ware & Sampha – Valentine

Julia Holter – Goddess Eyes

Kode9 & the Spaceape – Love Is The Drug

Konx Om Pax – 7^th Dimension

Koreless – 4D

Kuedo – Salt Lake Cuts

Laurel Halo – Constant Index

Light Asylum – Dark Allies

Machinedrum – Lay Me Down

Mirror Mirror – Interiors

Nicki Minaj – Super Bass

Nicolas Jaar – Wouh

Omar-S – Here’s Your Trance Now Dance

Oneohtrix Point Never – Replica

Patten – Blush Mosaic

Perfume Genius – All Waters

Pictureplane – Trancegender

Pink Skull – Human Hair Disco

Pure X – Surface

Rustie – Flash Back

SBTRKT feat Sampha – Hold On

SLEEP ∞ OVER – Romantic Streams

The Weeknd – Next

When Saints Go Machine – Add Ends

Wild Beasts – Plaything

WU LYF – Concrete Gold

Yuck – Stutter

Zomby – Sens

Boiler Room feature // Notion magazine

Ruth Saxelby — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 13:38:41 +0000

Click images and then ‘Permalink’ links to read.

Rustie ‘Glass Swords’ review for The Book

Ruth Saxelby — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 17:23:38 +0000

Read the full first issue of The Book magazine online here >>

Nicki Minaj ‘Fly’ video review for The Book

Ruth Saxelby — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 17:22:13 +0000

Read the full first issue of The Book magazine online here >>

James Ferraro profile in Dazed & Confused

Ruth Saxelby — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 15:35:58 +0000

Sleep ∞ Over profile in Dazed & Confused

Ruth Saxelby — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 15:34:38 +0000

Cubic Zirconia profile in Dazed & Confused

Ruth Saxelby — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 15:32:36 +0000

Gwilym Gold interview in Dazed & Confused

Ruth Saxelby — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 15:28:14 +0000

12 hours

Ruth Saxelby — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 21:27:14 +0000

A few songs from a few hours in a field and a club. Sledgehammers, all.

A lonely life

Ruth Saxelby — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 09:18:35 +0000

Interviewer: Do you think it has become easier for women to follow their vocations?

Rebecca West: I don’t know. It’s very hard. I’ve always found I’ve had too many family duties to enable me to write enough. I would have written much better and I would have written much more. Oh, men, whatever they may say, don’t really have any barrier between them and their craft, and certainly I had.

[Paris Review interview, 1981]

Reading this just now brought to mind something that Meredith Monk said last October in conversation with Blondes (google for the feature on Dummy, it’s a great read). Some years ago a conflicted student had asked her for advice and she had told him, “a creative life is a very lonely life.” Clearly this struck me but at the time I had naively assumed she meant in a romantic way. Now, having read the above, I realise the sacrifice is so much greater.