Author Archives: graemelawrence

Kick the new year off with a new year; winding the calendar back four years to 2017. The Handmaiden. Silence. The Red Turtle. The Florida Project. Endless Poetry. Damn – Kendrick Lamar. Drunk – Thundercat. Sleep Well Beast – The National. American Dream – LCD Soundsystem. Utopia – Björk.

Document. With last week’s REM album still murmuring in the old ear canals, a real development in their sound can be heard compared with their early work. While Murmur was an indie classic that rejected cliches, Document is a progression towards the more accessible rock that appears on 1988’s Green. Deeper, richer, more pronounced guitarContinue reading “The Sound of 1987.”

Raising Arizona. Hi and Ed are an odd couple. Hi is a serial convenience store robber, in and out of prison after repeated offences; Ed is the policewoman tasked with taking his many mugshots. They fall in love leading Hi to propose upon his next visit to the pen, the punishment of prison at lastContinue reading “The Cinema of 1987.”

January: Seoul National University student Park Jong-cheol dies during torture at the Security Investigation Office in Namyeong-dong President of Ecuador, Léon Febres Cordero, is kidnapped by followers of imprisoned general Frank Vargas, who successfully demand the latter’s release Pennsylvania Treasurer Budd Dwyer shoots himself with a revolver during a televised press conference after being foundContinue reading “The News of 1987.”

Films: Blind Chance. The Fly. Raising Arizona. Wings of Desire. Au Revoir les Enfants. Albums: Document – REM. Darklands – The Jesus and Mary Chain. Sister – Sonic Youth. You’re Living All Over Me – Dinosaur Jr. Sign o’ the Times – Prince.

January: High ranking Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie is arrested in Bolivia The International Olympic Committee restores Jim Thorpe’s Olympic medals to his family Seatbelt use for drivers and front seat passengers becomes mandatory in the UK CITV is launched as a new branding for late afternoon programming on ITV First breakfast time television programme,Continue reading “The News of 1983.”

Videodrome. Max Renn is the president of a less than savoury TV station: Channel 83 specialises in everything from softcore porn to hardcore violence. Publicly, Max justifies the choice of programming as a means of economic survival: he offers viewers content they won’t find on other networks. Privately however, Max regularly indulges in the reprehensibleContinue reading “The Cinema of 1983.”

Let’s Dance. The sax-laden, funky bass enriched melodies, dripping with Stevie Ray Vaughan’s Texan blues guitar, on Bowie’s fifteenth (!?) album are really rather good. Owing much to the co-production by Chic’s Nile Rogers, Let’s Dance has a more accessible sound than is the case on some of Bowie’s other records, with “Modern Love”, “ChinaContinue reading “The Sound of 1983.”

Films Videodrome. Nostalgia. The Ballad of Narayama. Tootsie. L’Argent. Albums: Murmur – REM. Let’s Dance – David Bowie. Swordfishtrombones – Tom Waits. Power, Corruption & Lies – New Order. Depois do Fim – Bacamarte.

Dubnobasswithmyheadman. Fellow passengers stare at me on the bus. Underworld’s heavy bass electronica reverberates through my eardrums, stimulating the muscle memory in my jaw. As I sit there at 7:30am on a Monday morning, gurning to the anthemic rave bangers, I understand the strange looks. They’re looks of jealousy. “Why am I not listening toContinue reading “The Sound of 1994.”