The Clash

Quote of the day: Chuck D on The Clash



Chuck D narrates The Clash podcast on Spotify

“I think it’s key for songwriters to be faster than media. There’s no reason for the news to be quicker and more hip than a song. Your computer and your smartphone are tools as well as toys. So I encourage artists to always stay awake, and stay aware. And you can get your art and your expression through the clutter of it all by just being very solid, and to the point, and trying not to look at the results, because I think metrics and analytics mess things up. They only measure more, and more is not better.”
Chuck D, narrator of Spotify’s podcast on The Clash, talks about creativity versus metrics, and social media for self expression, not self promotion, NBC News (more…)



Nostalgic ephemera: useless crap or valuable treasure?



1 Ica-Off-site

David Bowie Is at the V&A was a brilliant trip down memory lane as well as a peek into the brain of the enigma that is Bowie. However much we see of him, do we really feel like we know the man? Apparently, he kept an archive of everything he had ever done from his early youth.

Every song lyric, sketch, photo, sleeve design was carefully stored for…what? He didn’t know at his early age that he would become an icon of his time, but I guess the ambition was there.

Looking at the vitrines curated by a cast of London creatives at the ICA Off-Site project, ‘A Journey Through London Subculture – 1980s to now’, it’s clear that a lot of people have also kept the ephemeral fragments that sum up their artistic journey. From flyers to Polaroids, to scratchy notes and stickers, what to some looks like old junk, is of intrinsic value, especially in the digital age of cloud storage. (When was the last time you printed out your iPhone photos?) (more…)



Somerset Calling: Strummer of Love



Last weekend I went to my first proper festival and now I think I get it. OK, we didn’t camp, but we did get arse-deep in mud, bounced around to some amazing bands, got acquainted with the festival portaloo experience (the only chance to sit down in 12 hours) and discovered the joys of a tech-free weekend*. (more…)