Thanks for giving Louise's record a spot here, Neil... Also, it's very nice to see the dadá joãozinho on this list too. I grabbed that record from a store at random and fell in love with it. Hoping to see him perform in the new year when I go down to Brazil to visit my in-laws!
Neil Kulkarni will not read this, but I will say it anyway for posterity.
In my book you are not a music journalist until I have directed a torrent of foul language at a derisive article or review that you have written about a band that I happen to like. Based upon that metric alone, Neil was a music journalist and then some.
Back in the 90s, at around 4:30am on Wednesday mornings, I would rise, if I had gone to bed at all, and then walk three miles to the 7-11 in Westcliff-on-Sea where I would harass the long suffering staff until they put the weekly music press on the shelves. I would then take my copies of Melody Maker and NME to a bench in the shadow of the Cliffs Pavilion (where Oasis - a band that Neil regarded as prosaic - recorded their Live by the Sea video). I would read both magazines cover to cover. Often, in the pages of Melody Maker, I would encounter his writing - the revolutionary screed of someone who refused to march in lock-step with a cultural movement that seemed intent upon painting the Union Jack on every available surface. He was strongly opinionated, sometimes to the point of being obnoxious, with a conversational, biographical style; the embodiment of a man walking down a narrow aisle lined on either side with shelves of priceless china ornaments, with his elbows all the way out.
As the article to which this comment is attached will attest, Neil's scathing diatribes sometimes overshadowed his cosmopolitan passion for music of all types. He was a writer who, throughout his life, kicked at the walls of media exposure that likes to present music as a narrow vista and sought to broaden that horizon into a panorama.
SO much to enjoy here. Thank you for taking the time to put this together, Neil.
Thanks.
Hadn't heard of Athos before. On first listen, I really like the instrumental tracks. Great call on Big Blood as well. My favorite record of the year.
Thanks so much for this Neil. All the best for 2024.
Thanks for giving Louise's record a spot here, Neil... Also, it's very nice to see the dadá joãozinho on this list too. I grabbed that record from a store at random and fell in love with it. Hoping to see him perform in the new year when I go down to Brazil to visit my in-laws!
Neil Kulkarni will not read this, but I will say it anyway for posterity.
In my book you are not a music journalist until I have directed a torrent of foul language at a derisive article or review that you have written about a band that I happen to like. Based upon that metric alone, Neil was a music journalist and then some.
Back in the 90s, at around 4:30am on Wednesday mornings, I would rise, if I had gone to bed at all, and then walk three miles to the 7-11 in Westcliff-on-Sea where I would harass the long suffering staff until they put the weekly music press on the shelves. I would then take my copies of Melody Maker and NME to a bench in the shadow of the Cliffs Pavilion (where Oasis - a band that Neil regarded as prosaic - recorded their Live by the Sea video). I would read both magazines cover to cover. Often, in the pages of Melody Maker, I would encounter his writing - the revolutionary screed of someone who refused to march in lock-step with a cultural movement that seemed intent upon painting the Union Jack on every available surface. He was strongly opinionated, sometimes to the point of being obnoxious, with a conversational, biographical style; the embodiment of a man walking down a narrow aisle lined on either side with shelves of priceless china ornaments, with his elbows all the way out.
As the article to which this comment is attached will attest, Neil's scathing diatribes sometimes overshadowed his cosmopolitan passion for music of all types. He was a writer who, throughout his life, kicked at the walls of media exposure that likes to present music as a narrow vista and sought to broaden that horizon into a panorama.
Good list. RIP