DOUGLAS FIELD relishes the hard-boiled language, satire and humour of the third and last of the Harlem trilogy
Latest editorial
Album reviews with Ian Sinclair: August 15, 2023
Reviews of Ani DiFranco, The Clientele and Emma Rawicz
STEPHANIE BROWN draws attention to the hidden labour of the female embroiderers, and how a 19th century replica made no such error
MIK SABIERS revels in a band that ploughs an idiosyncratic furrow of expletive laden, guitar-driven alt rock
ANDY HEDGECOCK, MARIA DUARTE and ANGUS REID review Synthetic Sincerity, Our Hero, Balthazar, Heartstopper Forever, and A Year In London
The bard invites readers to a gig, raps for Clacton, and lays out the Burnham-Hurzeler conundrum
RON JACOBS recommends an important book that enhances the oppositional theories put forth by Fanon and, in doing so, remakes psychology itself
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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