Mathieu Deflem, a professor of sociology at the University of South Carolina, is offering a class on Lady Gaga:
The synopsis for the course reads: “The central objective is to unravel some of the sociologically relevant dimensions of the fame of Lady Gaga”.
Prof Deflem, 48, who has met the singer, real name Stefani Germanotta, on a number of occasions, said: “We’re going to look at Lady Gaga as a social event. Other people say that Gaga’s the new Madonna. I see it more like there’s people who have this very individual thing. Frank Zappa had it. Prince had it. Miles Davis had it. Jimi Hendrix had it. And Lady Gaga has it.
Angus wrote, sang and played electric and acoustic guitar on the album of which he co-produced with his accomplice ‘Finn’ (Govinda Doyle) on drums and bass. The album was recorded over 6 weeks throughout 2008 in an old water tank in the scorching hills of North QLD, Australia. Finn’s wife would cook supper for them and her new born baby whilst they worked till the young hours of dawn.
“I’ve been skipping off in between tours for about a year now to shake my head of these songs” explains Angus. Every one of the emotions in your head has it’s own voice and this album is what became of them’.
Smoking Gun sees Angus crawl into the alt music underground world, embracing a myriad of themes, emotions and genres that allowed Angus the freedom to take a simple idea for each song and let it take whatever trip it lead him on.
In my opinion, it's a good album, but I miss Julia.
Goldfrapp - Head First (2010)
(click image to download)
Tracklisting
01. Rocket
02. Believer
03. Alive
04. Dreaming
05. Head First
06. Hunt
07. Shiny And Warm
08. I Wanna Life
09. Voicething
March 23rd saw the release of Head First, the new album from one of the few acts that can bring dance and indie fans together: Goldfrapp. The UK duo provide precious few surprises on the new album, instead dishing out fairly straightforward techno pop.
Head First may be Goldfrapp's simplest album to date. Save the ethereal album closer "Voicething", these tracks have been stripped nearly bare of the gauzy swirl that has so often separated the group from straight dance acts.
One can't help but get the feeling that some of these songs were rushed for the album. Some tracks, like the trudging "Dreaming", feel half-conceived. Others, like the rather ordinary "Hunt", feel like Alison laid it down in the studio and said 'alright that'll do'.
There's nothing decidedly groundbreaking or terribly fresh sounding on Head First. It's an enjoyable, but not stellar, dose of danceable indie pop.
I Speak Because I Can (2010)
01. Devil's Spoke
02. Made By Maid
03. Rambling Man
04. Blackberry Stone
05. Alpha Shallows
06. Goodbye England (Covered In Snow)
07. Hope In The Air
08. What He Wrote
09. Darkness Descends
10. I Speak Because I Can
** Laura Marling plays The Acadmey, Dublin on 10th April **
Pale faced and precociously talented, Laura Marling was just 18 when her 2008 debut album, Alas I Cannot Swim, was nominated for the Mercury Prize. Her assured Hampshire vernacular vocals, “unnervingly grown-up” lyrics and deft’n’definite acoustic guitar picking saw her compared with the young Joni Mitchell.
Now 20, with the release of her second album, I Speak Because I Can, we see a change in tone, if not direction. The production here is more deliberate and pored-over, expanding upon the earlier bare-bones approach. A leaf out of the Mumford and Sons school of orchestration has also been taken, with Rambling Man the greatest representation of this. The development in vocal styling is also stark; gone is the wispy, quick-fire phrasing and in walks deeper, slower, huskier proclamations. In many ways darkness has replaced the brightness.
It doesn't appear within her scope to make an outright bad album, and here we are shown a few more glimpses of her gift, but yet not an overwhelming outpouring of it. It's clear that there has been a progression as a songwriter, with a previously unfound depth apparent on these ten tracks. Though it undoubtedly draws on the travails of the past two-or-so years, there remains, without a doubt, more in the can from young Laura.
(BBC Music)
