Songs can be many things. In written literature there are names for them, but songs, we seem to think, are…
Mind blown, thinking changed
In The Dawn of everything I found a great deal of food for my confirmation bias. This is often a…
An unforgetting shout
I’m not very familiar with the music of Kevin Martin, also known as The Bug, despite his prolific output, and…
Old new reboots
I was late coming to Tomb Raider (of course) because I had to wait for it to come out on…
Get it while you can
Vanguard Street Art is an exhibition charting the development of street art in Bristol from the 1980s, when American hip-hop…
Visual worlds
Among the games that I’ve played while catching up on the last few decades of big-budget productions, Horizon: Zero Dawn…
Representing
This third and final part of Kim Stanley Robinson’s Science In The Capital series maintains the very consistent tone established…
Fancy comfort
It was quiet when we went for lunch at The Peacock in Chelsworth, on a friend’s recommendation. However, I definitely…
Have you heard the news?
Since the 1940s, when big bands were last big business, few of them have had any longevity. The orchestras of…
Eating the world
Not many of us, I suspect, think of the British Empire much in terms of food. I certainly didn’t, before…
What would it be like?
This beautiful and moving short comic by Xulia Vicente (published by Shortbox, natch) is allegorical and speculative in equal measure.…
A shotgun blast of flawed brilliance
Seveneves is Neal Stephenson in his pomp. This book combines all his most splendid qualities as a writer: his febrile…
Simply present
Having taken a total break from playing music at the onset of the pandemic, I’ve been gradually coming back to…
Plausibly grim
I found my way to the Snowpiercer comics by way of Bong Joon-Ho’s excellent 2013 movie, but they are legendary…