Mask On

Here's a piece that was fun to write - a history of people in pop who wore masks or otherwise heavily disguised their appearance with make-up, including the late MF DOOM, the five-years-late David Bowie, The Residents, Slipknot, Daft Punk, and more. For Tidal.com.

mouth music (peak squeak)

Kieran Press-Reynolds deliriously reviews Playboi Carti's delirious Whole Lotta Red. 

(Ignore the stupid headline, which was not his handiwork).

Here's what Kieran says by way of introduction: "I've written many album reviews. This one, though, is special. I've been waiting two years, two years of trawling through forums for leaks and staying up late expecting the album to drop only to be disappointed. So hyped that I finally got the chance to review this intoxicatingly incoherent mind-trip. It feels a little strange, given everything that's happening in the world, to write so seriously about baby voices and alien gurgle-rap, but hey, sometimes the stupidly fun things are the most comforting, distracting in times of distress."

The Secrets of 'Gardens'

 Fancy some fragrant respite from non-stop insanity and evil? Here's my essay on Virginia Astley's ambient cult classic From Gardens Where We Feel Secure, the British tradition of rhapsodic pastoralism, and the post-postpunk microtrend for Wide Brimmed Hat Pop. Part of Pitchfork's 'Sunday Review' series of appreciations of lost classics and significant albums they never covered because, well, the magazine didn't, exist yet, did it?

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Still flying the Wide Brimmed Hat Flag in 1988