The Bard reflects on sharing a bed, and why he wont go to Chelsea
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Album reviews with Ian Sinclair: August 15, 2023
Reviews of Ani DiFranco, The Clientele and Emma Rawicz
MARY CONWAY applauds a new play that foresees the unscrupulous tactics of a future far-right minority government
RON JACOBS is moved to tears by an eloquent journal of heartfelt intensity and human portraiture
ROBERT OVETZ recommends a case study, from the University of Leicester, in their struggle against precarization, AI, privatisation, outsourcing, and work intensification in higher education
IAN SINCLAIR welcomes a lucid critique of a technology that reproduces and enables oppression, power, and environmental devastation
SIMON PARSONS applauds an impassioned demonstration of the fundamental role of women in the history and protection of the forest ecosystem
Ani DiFranco
Little Plastic Castle
(Righteous Babe)
★★★★
THIS 25th anniversary remastered reissue of Ani DiFranco’s album Little Plastic Castle confirms the Buffalo-born left-wing feminist should take her rightful place as one of the greatest living US singer-songwriters.
Her highest charting record, it’s a dazzling fusion of political and personal folk-rock. The talk sung Fuel is an incisive, often humorous late-90s state of the nation address, while live favourite Gravel takes aim at a two-timing lover. There is a real joyousness to the music too – like when the brass kicks in and swings on the title track, and in the emotional comfort and release given by the sweet-sounding As If.
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IAN SINCLAIR welcomes a lucid critique of a technology that reproduces and enables oppression, power, and environmental devastation
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Reviews of new releases by Jens Lekman, Big Thief, and Christian McBride Big Band
