Author Archives: graemelawrence

According to James Acaster, the greatest year for music of all time. Let’s see about that. Lemonade – Beyoncé. A Moon Shaped Pool – Radiohead. Skeleton Tree – Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds. Atrocity Exhibition – Danny Brown. Blood Bitch – Jenny Hval. The Hateful Eight. High-Rise. Son of Saul. Kubo and the TwoContinue reading “Week 28: 2016.”

Silent Shout. Swedish electronic duo The Knife’s 2006 record, Silent Shout, is an interesting one. After the first listen I quite liked it, after the second I hated it, but then, having given it another chance, I loved it. Now I’m in an awkward position in that I can’t listen to it in case IContinue reading “The Sound of 2006.”

January: A stampede during the Stoning of the Devil ritual on the last day at the Hajj in Mina, Saudi Arabia, kills at least 362 pilgrims NASA’s Stardust mission ends successfully, the first to return dust from a comet NASA launches the first space mission to Pluto as the New Horizons spacecraft begins a nine-yearContinue reading “The News of 2006.”

The Host. Lazy, unintelligent Park Gang-du works for his father, Hee-Bong, at a small food stand on the bank of the Han River. While his daughter, Hyun-seo, and his father watch his sister, Nam-joo, compete in a national archery competition, Gang-du, along with other onlookers, notice a large, mutated creature stirring under a bridge; theContinue reading “The Cinema of 2006.”

Munich. Lady Vengeance. Caché. The Wind that Shakes the Barley. The Host. Mr Beast – Mogwai. Saturday Night Wrist – Deftones. Silent Shout – The Knife. Donuts – J Dilla. Burial – Burial.

Peter Gabriel. Before 1980’s Peter Gabriel (thoroughly engrossing review already available) and after his solo breakout album Peter Gabriel in 1977, comes Peter Gabriel’s Peter Gabriel; also not to be confused with 1982’s Peter Gabriel. On this, the second of four eponymous albums, the artist (whose name I seem to have forgotten) takes his soundContinue reading “The Sound of 1978.”

The Shout. On the grounds of an asylum, a cricket match is held involving visitors, staff and patients. A young doctor, Robert Graves, is chosen to act as one of the scorers and is warned by the chief medical officer about his scoring partner, a patient by the name of Charles Crossley, who claims hisContinue reading “The Cinema of 1978.”

January: The Chilean government wins a referendum on the legitimacy of Augusto Pinochet’s rule Bülent Ecevit, of CHP, forms the new government of Turkey The Holy Crown of Hungary is returned to Hungary from the US, where it was held since World War II Critic of the Nicaraguan government, Pedro Joaquin Chamorro Cardenal, is assassinatedContinue reading “The News of 1978.”

Assault on Precinct 13. Drunken Master. That Obscure Object of Desire. The Shout. Midnight Express. David Gilmour – David Gilmour. Peter Gabriel – Peter Gabriel. More Songs About Buildings and Food – Talking Heads. Hemispheres – Rush. Équinoxe – Jean-Michel Jarre.

January: Samuel Beckett’s play Waiting for Godot has its stage premiere (in its original French) as En attendant Godot at the Théâtre de Babylone in Paris United States President Harry S Truman announces the United States has developed a hydrogen bomb In Montréal, Marguerite Pitre is the thirteenth and last woman hanged in Canada EstonianContinue reading “The News of 1953.”