Oliver Arditi

Blog archive

  • Various Artists – The Deep Vain Trombonist (sampler)

    Various Artists – The Deep Vain Trombonist (sampler)

    Dusty Curtain Face Records is not a record label in any conventional sense of the term, or even anything that could usually attract the description ‘recording studio’. It’s a sign of things to come, a point of facilitation for independent artists that passes devastating comment on the whole panoply of the music industry circus purely… Read more

  • Chad VanGaalen/ Xiu Xiu – The Green Corridor # 02 – Split 12”

    Chad VanGaalen/ Xiu Xiu – The Green Corridor # 02 – Split 12”

    When two artists share a split release, there’s usually an immediately apparent reason for it, a close stylistic correspondence, or a specific creative contrast within the context of a broader similarity. Punk and hardcore bands often release splits together, as do sludge and stoner metal acts. So when two halves of a split release seem,… Read more

  • Various Artists – Album Roundup

    Various Artists – Album Roundup

    Da Waffle House Boys are all about loyalty; don’t even think about suggesting patronising some other fast food franchise, and definitely don’t even mention IHOP, motherfucker. The beats on True Facts are smooth and irresistibly funky, and the flows that they float are a lazy, infectious slick on their surface, giving the lie to any… Read more

  • The Domestics – Keep It Lean (punk)

    The Domestics – Keep It Lean (punk)

    Punk didn’t come out of nowhere. Of course there’s a powerful myth in which it did, one subscribed to by its fans and detractors alike, but by the time it hit in its different ways, with its different relationships to popular culture and politics, on both sides of the Atlantic, its sounds and practices had… Read more

  • Rick Fury – Fist Of Fury (hip-hop)

    Rick Fury – Fist Of Fury (hip-hop)

    I’m going to force myself to write this review without quoting the lyrics; there’s nothing necessarily wrong with quoting lyrics in a review, but with Rick Fury it’s too tempting a cop-out. When I find it hard to put my finger on the right words, his are so eloquent that it’s easier just to put… Read more

  • Monday Musing: Hacking, Creativity And Cool

    Monday Musing: Hacking, Creativity And Cool

    There’s a cinema ad I see sometimes… I think it’s for a phone or something. So, a singular failure as an ad, but as an inspiring piece of film-making it hits the nail on the head. It basically shows people (mainly young and pretty people, but you can’t expect social realism in a phone ad)… Read more