Oliver Arditi

Blog archive

  • Review Of The Year 2012, Part 1: 12 Albums

    Review Of The Year 2012, Part 1: 12 Albums

    It’s that time of year again, the nights drawing in, the pointless over-consumption going into overdrive, and the music bloggers arranging releases into spurious hierarchies of how hip they think they make them look. Well, let me issue the same caveats I always do: I don’t claim that these are the best albums of the… Read more

  • Various Artists – Straight Outta B.C. – Tape One (hip-hop)

    Various Artists – Straight Outta B.C. – Tape One (hip-hop)

    B.C. Birmingham City. Britain’s second city, and crucible of the world’s first industrial revolution; ask most people in Britain about it though, and they’ll probably think it’s just some Midlands city, and they certainly won’t think of music at the first mention of the name. Unlike Liverpool, Manchester or London, Brum is not associated in… Read more

  • The Echelon Effect – Field Recordings (post-rock/ ambient)

    The Echelon Effect – Field Recordings (post-rock/ ambient)

    The development and inheritance of stylistic traditions is rarely as linear or orderly as is commonly imagined; the evolution of art seems to follow a process of cultural selection analogous to the biological processes identified by Charles Darwin. In art, as in nature, developmental processes diverge, converge, intersect and run parallel in unpredictable ways; just… Read more

  • Various Artists – Singles and EPs

    Various Artists – Singles and EPs

    Why do I write reviews? Largely so that I can blag free music instead of buying it like everyone else, and so I can kid my conscience that my inane ramblings are an adequate substitute for paying musicians their due. Of course I can (and will, given half a chance) list any number of more… Read more

  • Straw Bear – Black Bank (folk-pop-rock)

    Straw Bear – Black Bank (folk-pop-rock)

    Songwriters are faced with a number of choices, regarding the weighting of significance towards the different parts of their practice. Many or most of those that might be described as singer-songwriters signal their emphasis on writing rather than performance, or on non-verbal aspects of composition, by ensuring that the ‘music’ doesn’t draw attention to itself.… Read more

  • There Is No Teenage Love – There Is No Teenage Love (ambient/ drone)

    There Is No Teenage Love – There Is No Teenage Love (ambient/ drone)

    This album is enigmatic from the start, or even earlier in fact. Who is this skinny, elfin featured, uncomfortably hunched girl with smoke in her mouth and a triangle drawn on her sternum? What do they mean by saying ‘there is no teenage love’? As a statement, it is true in some senses, and untrue… Read more