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Like Flies On Sherbert by Alex Chilton
Like Flies On Sherbert by Alex Chilton
(0 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"I heard this record in Minus Zero record shop in Portobello Road - it was an old shop that had been there since the early 70s or early 80s, and it stocked a lot of Bob Dylan, Beatles and The Beach Boys. Kind of power-pop albums. I used to go in there to buy Big Star and Big Star-related records, and it was the best place in the UK where I could do that. I'd gotten all the Big Star that I really needed in my life, but I wanted more Alex Chilton records. I asked the store to play me Like Flies On Sherbert. They put it on after saying it was rubbish, and the first thing I heard was the sound of tape stopping and re-starting; the record is full of lots of those sounds. It's a pretty lo-fi, raggedy-sounding record in terms of the production and the performances. It just sounded really unlike anything else I've ever heard before. Really loose and groovy. It's full of life - like a punk record with soul. You can tell that they were probably very high and drunk while they were making it - mistakes and everything are included in it. That's why I made a second About Group record called Start And Complete with Charles Hayward, Pat Thomas and John Coxon, in one day without anyone knowing the songs before we played them. I wanted to capture spontaneity. The record I made with About Group is much softer than this, as my style is very different, but this album is definitely an inspiration on me."

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Kate Nash recommended track Dy-Na-Mi-Tee by Ms Dynamite in A Little Deeper by Ms Dynamite in Music (curated)

 
A Little Deeper by Ms Dynamite
A Little Deeper by Ms Dynamite
2002 | Hip-hop
4.7 (3 Ratings)
Album Favorite

Dy-Na-Mi-Tee by Ms Dynamite

(0 Ratings)

Track

"Fuck, I was so excited when I heard this song. I was staying up late one night - I can’t remember what radio show I was listening to, it was a radio that would play new songs - and I taped it off the radio. It was just so fucking cool, [sings “Dy-Na-Mi-Tee”]. I think that was the first song I heard where I thought ‘I could write a song.’ “After that I did my first ever performance in public. I’d done a school performance before that, but I did a performance with a garage MC who asked me to sing and I was ‘Lady K’ [laughs]. I sang in Croydon at a pub or something and I was doing the garage thing for a bit. That was the biggest music scene at that time in the UK, pirate radio was bigger than normal radio. I would go clubbing in Watford, I would grind in the clubs and I would get CDs from the DJs there who would have all new stuff. “That sort of reminds me of punk in a way, it was just kids in their bedrooms and they were running the clubs. I felt Ms. Dynamite did something really meaningful and she felt like a political artist to me. I don’t think I knew that at the time, but I think that’s why I was drawn in by her. I was looking at lyrics in a different way then too, thinking about the world a lot and wanting to help the world, maybe being political and not realising it. I wanted to write about the fucked up shit in the world."

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Hazel (2934 KP) rated Rabbit Hole in Books

Jul 20, 2021  
Rabbit Hole
Rabbit Hole
Mark Billingham | 2021 | Crime, Mystery, Thriller
7
7.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
The title of this book is absolutely perfect and after having read it, I feel like I went down a Rabbit Hole and am only just beginning to emerge!

I am a huge fan of Mark Billingham's work, particularly his Tom Thorne Series, but this is a standalone psychological thriller that explores the fractured mind of Alice Armitage and her quest to find a killer whilst an in-patient on an acute psychiatric unit.

I said I felt like I went down a Rabbit Hole and that's because the reader is immersed totally within Alice's mind; the whole of the book is written from her perspective and focusses on her trying to solve a murder whilst dealing with the mental health difficulties she and those around her are experiencing but from her point of view rather than a clinical one, i.e. simplistic, but with a bit of humour so it's not all dark and heavy going.

Alice is an unreliable narrator which had me scratching my head wondering what was actually real and what was only real from Alice's perspective. This, I think, was genius as it provided plenty of opportunities for distractions and mis-directions which worked well but mashed my head a little!

This wasn't an easy book to read and I have a feeling it won't appeal to everyone but if you want to read something a bit different, I would recommend but be prepared to join Alice in the Rabbit Hole.

Many thanks to Little, Brown Book Group UK and NetGalley for my copy in return for an unbiased and unedited review.
  
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Hazel (2934 KP) rated Seven Days in Books

Oct 12, 2019  
Seven Days
Seven Days
Alex Lake | 2019 | Crime, Thriller
9
9.0 (4 Ratings)
Book Rating
Oh my goodness ... you have got to read this book!!!

Harrowing, hopeful, heart wrenching, gripping, thrilling and full of tension, this is one of those books that you won't forget in a hurry. It's absolutely gripping from the very first paragraphs and takes you through all manner of emotions from anger, disgust and hatred to love, sympathy and hopefulness. Although a very difficult subject-matter, it is dealt with carefully and without sensationalism; it felt authentic and believable and, unfortunately, is only too real.

You quickly become invested in the plight of Maggie and her son, Max; the strength of her human spirit and the will she has to keep her son safe whatever the cost oozes from the pages. It doesn't stop there though, oh no, her family are as big a part in this book as Maggie and Max and they embark on their own roller coaster ride in which you are a but a passenger.

Written from different perspectives and covering different timelines, you might think that this would be confusing ... it is anything but. With short chapters, great pace and easy writing, this book is a gem of a read and, cliché I know, hard to put down. I couldn't read it fast enough and thank goodness I was coming towards the end on a Saturday evening so it didn't matter if I slept in the next day!

This is most definitely a 5 star read for me and highly recommended.

Eternal thanks go to HarperCollins UK, HarperFiction via NetGalley for my copy in return for an honest and unbiased review.