The Star's critics ANDY HEDGECOCK, MARTIN HALL, MICHAL BONCZA, ANGUS REID reviews Holy Cow, One to One: John and Yoko, King of Kings, Panda Bear in Africa
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Ben Lunn: Marxist Notes on Music
Musings on the role of music at the royal funeral and how a democratisation of this art form should have our highest concern as the nations' cultural landscapes depend on it
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PATRICK JONES recommends a vital anthology from Afghan and Iranian poets where the political and personal fuse into witness-bearing and manifesto-making
WILL STONE is impressed by Hania Rani who is already making a name for herself in the male-dominated world of modern classical music
MIK SABIERS enjoys the theatrical feminist six piece who have a lot of fun that the audience feeds off as the set rolls on
New releases from Ibex Band, Lucy Dacus, and Various Artists
MARY CONWAY is disappointed by characters so un-nuanced as to be unreal, a stereotypical plot and a conceptual vampire
WILL STONE appreciates an artist who can swerve from industrial noise to clubby trance pop without missing a step
AROUND this time last year, I wrote in response to the appointment of our previous “minister of culture” that music is not useful to capitalism. This remains the case, however, I did fail to mention the usefulness of music to the state.
The funeral of the monarch on September 19 was an incredible opportunity to not only see the British establishment showing off all their bells and whistles, but to clearly demonstrate music and art as a whole has a very specific role within state apparatus as we see it.
Now, I won’t bemoan the fact that the art in the funeral only showed one side of the late monarch – this is a mental response, using a funeral to critique the deceased is ultimately crass; we can challenge the enforced mourning period, which thankfully the Morning Star has been excellent in covering, but the funeral proper has to be given a certain amount of respect.
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