Oliver Arditi

Blog archive

  • olds sleeper – plainspoken (folk/ Americana)

    olds sleeper – plainspoken (folk/ Americana)

    I get a lot of visual clichés when I listen to this album. I get sunset, Mr. sleeper’s weatherbeaten face, eyes hidden by the brim of his hat, battered boots on the rail of the porch as he plays, wonky rows of telegraph poles marching off across a flat, parched landscape. I get dust: dust… Read more

  • The Bandana Splits (retro pop)

    The Bandana Splits (retro pop)

    It seems to be an automatic attribution nowadays to describe any use of a historically located pop-cultural style as ‘ironic’. I caught myself on the verge of unreflectingly starting off about The Bandana Splits’ ‘ironic appropriation of 1950s pop tropes’ or some such bollocks, and then I thought, actually what’s so ironic about it? I… Read more

  • Monday Musings: Death of a Simplicity Geek

    Monday Musings: Death of a Simplicity Geek

    I’ve decided to devote this edition of Monday Musings to talking about Steve Jobs. You may wonder what a recently deceased technology corporation executive has to do with the sort of things I usually write about, other than iTunes, obviously. The short answer is that I’m not too sure, but I felt the need to… Read more

  • Saturday Summary 024

    Saturday Summary 024

    Two deaths loom large this week. The first is of a seminal figure in the history of the acoustic steel string guitar, folk innovator Bert Jansch. First coming to widespread attention as a part of folk/ jazz fusion pioneers Pentangle, his playing was influential on more than one generation of guitarists, starting with his contemporaries… Read more

  • Various Artists – Singles & EPs

    Various Artists – Singles & EPs

    Marley Butler makes music of remarkable clarity: his soundscapes are usually clean, open affairs, in which the boundaries between sonic elements are clearly defined; his rhythms are regular, precise and simple; ideas have room in which to breathe, and although he does not overuse spatialising effects such as reverb and delay, the worlds he creates… Read more

  • Grem!i da Muke – Live Sessions (rap)

    Grem!i da Muke – Live Sessions (rap)

    Most people will remember a cheeky kid at school, one who can’t be reasoned with, but just continually mouths off in the most disgusting fashion, while giggling uncontrollably. Everyone wants to thump him, because he’s so annoying, but no-one ever does, because he’s actually really funny, although most people would never admit to being amused.… Read more