Tag Archive: Sacred Bones


A Blanck Mass Lockdown Soundtrack

Benjamin John Power has described this album as “A snapshot of a painful period”. The deaths of his father and beloved producer Andrew Weatherall cast a dark shadow over the recording. He may not have intended it as a soundtrack to the global lockdown but that’s exactly what it sounds like to me.

The Koyaanisqatsi-eseque buzz of the first four minutes is followed by a celebratory blast akin to the ‘Olympians‘ track used during the opening ceremony of the London Olympics in the Summer of 2012. Seems like a lifetime ago.

Most reviews of Blanck Mass cite Power’s earlier work with Andrew Hung as one half of the Bristol-based of the Fuck Buttons duo which created the aforementioned ‘Olympians’ but that was then. This is now. Continue reading

MARISSA NADLER – BLACKER THAN JULY

MARISSA NADLER LIVE AT HANA-BI, RAVENNA, ITALY. 27th September 2014

marissaBlack becomes Marissa Nadler. It suits her pale complexion and matches the atmosphere of her songs.

On stage, however she is not dark and gloomy but polite and unpretentious. Her much publicised stage fright is not evident. It helps that she is accompanied by cellist Janel Leppin who lends gravitas to the tunes.

This being a free concert at a beachside bar/club, there’s always a chance that you get an audience of sightseers rather than true fans but the small but appreciative crowd were on Marissa’s side from the outset.

Of the thirteen songs she played in a one hour set, only three were from her earlier records; the rest were all from her latest album, July. This song-cycle covers a year in her life, from one July to the next, and centre on an acrimonious break up.

Bleak settings in cheap motels and lost highways add to the forlorn mood. The bitterness and anger is controlled and directed towards moving on rather than wallowing in self pity. Continue reading