Oliver Arditi

Blog archive

  • Monday Musings: What’s So Good About Music?

    Monday Musings: What’s So Good About Music?

    I’ve been thinking back recently to my abortive attempt to train as a secondary school music teacher, and the furious bout of self-examination it induced. The process, which was not a positive one, but from which I learned a great deal, forced me to question, and explicitly articulate the value that I place on music.… Read more

  • Shrine 69, Another Dead Hero, Meadows & Hobopope & The Goldfish Cathedral at The Northcroft Social Club, Sudbury, 20 May 2011 (metal/ pronk/ heavy rock)

    Shrine 69, Another Dead Hero, Meadows & Hobopope & The Goldfish Cathedral at The Northcroft Social Club, Sudbury, 20 May 2011 (metal/ pronk/ heavy rock)

    The Northcroft seems to be going all out to turn itself into one of Sudbury’s busiest venues. They’ve been putting on a variety of local and regional acts from all areas of the musical spectrum, but tonight their upstairs room was hired out by some of the noisy bastards. The opening ceremony was provided courtesy… Read more

  • Hope and Social – Sleep Sound (alternative rock)

    Hope and Social – Sleep Sound (alternative rock)

    I remember at school my art teacher exhorting the class to stop drawing tiny pictures in the corner and to cover the page with bold strokes, to step out and give voice to whatever it was we wanted to express. Well, there are no bushels on top of Hope and Social’s light: they fill the… Read more

  • Fresh Like Dexie – Step In The Sun (funk rock)

    Fresh Like Dexie – Step In The Sun (funk rock)

    Fresh Like Dexie are funky. Very funky. I’ve been a fan of funk since I first heard Herbie Hancock’s Headhunters and the Parliafunkadelicment Thang in my late teens, and I devoted a lot of time after that to studying the music, so I have some idea whereof I speak.Funk can sound pretty busy to the… Read more

  • Monday Musings: Advice For Bands – How To Annoy Me And Lose My Interest

    Monday Musings: Advice For Bands – How To Annoy Me And Lose My Interest

    I write this blog; I also write reviews for two excellent websites, the music magazine eBurban and very wonderful independent bands’ resource Live Unsigned. Doing these things requires me to find out about various bands and musicians, listen to their music, get a handle on where they’re coming from, and communicate with them. None of this Read more

  • Fernando’s Kitchen at The Junction, Cambridge, 19 May 2011 (world fusion)

    Fernando’s Kitchen at The Junction, Cambridge, 19 May 2011 (world fusion)

    There are not many completely independent bands that can pack out a venue the size of The Junction (which is not huge, but it’s a substantial venue); and a smaller subset of those which perform something as commercially challenged as ‘world music’. Fernando’s Kitchen are playing a good game (admittedly with a strong hand), and… Read more