Author Archive
November 28, 2020 by Simon Sweetman
Poem: saudade
don’t know why i get so nostalgic all the time, i seem to be wondering all the time have spent a good portion of this life thinking about the life that has already happened – and am doing this as it is happening. guess it can’t happen after. though that’s only a guess for now […]
November 27, 2020 by Simon Sweetman
Stardust: Film
Stardust Director: Gabriel Range Salon Pictures / Wilding Pictures / IFC Films Stardust is a little movie. That could have been fine. There are some wonderful small pictures. But Stardust is also a terrible movie. Plagued by many things – not just a lack of Bowie’s music, and distancing from the estate. For a start, […]
November 27, 2020 by Simon Sweetman
King Sweeties: We Are The Bosses (ep)
King Sweeties We Are The Bosses (ep) (Independent / Bandcamp) King Sweeties is a musical duo comprised of Bic Runga (drums, vocals) and Cass Basil (bass, vocals) and this is their debut EP which arrives on the back of three of the tracks first being released as singles.
November 27, 2020 by Simon Sweetman
Poem: Moving Out of Vivian Street, 1996
Poem: Moving Out of Vivian Street, 1996 The image is the early poems blowing down the street – comedy: I put the folder down for a split second I open the door, and in that moment the wind billows and to this day I don’t know what’s worse – that some of my poems are […]
November 26, 2020 by Simon Sweetman
Megan Thee Stallion: Good News
Megan Thee Stallion Good News 300 Entertainment It’s hard to believe that this is Megan Thee Stallion’s debut album. And I mean that in purely musical terms – 2019’s “mixtape” Fever felt like an album-quality collection, and was a broad announcement; my introduction. I loved that set of songs, played it often – it gave […]
November 26, 2020 by Simon Sweetman
The Vinyl Countdown # 11
Tori Amos, Under The Pink (1994) It’s been a pretty good year for reappraising Tori Amos. I’ve been back through most of the catalogue, I talked about her live on air (RNZ), I loved her memoirand I got hooked on the old stuff all over again. Someone kindly gave me a copy of Boys For […]
November 26, 2020 by Simon Sweetman
Poem: Won’t Get Fooled
The 50th Anniversary edition of The Who’s album, Who’s Next is a deluxe edition – featuring 17 versions of Won’t Get Fooled Again. That song plays again and again and again and again and again and the fools gather to listen to the next one and the one after that and they don’t see the […]
November 26, 2020 by Simon Sweetman
Kodama 木: Yamabiko [EP]
Kodama 木 Yamabiko [EP] dreaming of distant worlds Yamabiko is an album of layered synth-sounds, all at once introspective and otherworldly, this is music to keep close to your chest but it also expands the mind; music that combines the ambient blueprint laid out by Brian Eno with the glitch/dissonance/disintegration ideals and ethereal soundscape patterns […]
November 26, 2020 by Simon Sweetman
George Benson: Weekend In London
George Benson Weekend In London Provogue In 1978 George Benson released Weekend In L.A. It’s one of my all-time favourite records; one of the albums of my childhood. We grew up with it in our house – and we loved both the guitar instrumentals (the title track) and the funky band workouts (On Broadway). We […]
November 25, 2020 by Simon Sweetman
Poem: Billie Holiday Created Modern Jazz Singing And Also Loved Drugs, Drinking And Fucking
The official story is that Billie Holiday lived a sad life. She was abused and grew up to abuse alcohol and drugs as part of her escape. She peaked, then crumbled, then died broke and losing her voice and all well before the age of 50. But Billie used every interview to point out she’d […]
November 25, 2020 by Simon Sweetman
Sweetman Podcast # 240: Lucy Roche
Welcome to episode 240 of Sweetman Podcast with support from our sponsors – T Leaf T and Yeastie Boys Now – as you probably know, as well as the usual platforms (this site, soundcloud, iTunes/Apple) you can now get to Sweetman Podcast on Spotify – follow it there and have it saved in your Spotify […]
November 25, 2020 by Simon Sweetman