- Music should be understood as a historical exercise just as much as it is considered a creative one. “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it” as the saying goes. Those who remember the past today seem similarly condemned to repeat it despite their best efforts. But that’s more likely the fault of the rest of their peers who fail to remember and condemn others to simply repeating past victories ad infinitum. “No man is an island” as another saying goes.

<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>- Growing up in public does not seem easy. From the array of youth plucked into the X Factor universe to pop stars whose careers begin as children, we observers have seen mixed fortunes for these performers. The effect seems particularly jarring on those who rocket suddenly to success at a youthful age. And while it would be absurd to place young Irish punks Fontaines D.C.

- Stereotypes are hard to shake. Once something gets into popular consciousness, the standard viewpoint is all that is seen, whereas what may be the more correct or appropriate truth is unable to be seen clearly. In Western culture the figure of “Lucifer” is taken to be the personification of evil – Satan, the Devil, Beelzebub – when all of those figures are actually different and have far more diverse beginnings and connections to the collective cultural belief system.

<p><span><span>- <em>Skakes</em> is the fifth release from roaming Australian singer-songwriter <strong>Emlyn Johnson</strong>, and it's his most straight forward yet. That's not a bad thing.<br />

<p><span><span>- In 2001, American punk band Strike Anywhere released their debut album and announced their intentions with the classic line “<em>We live in defiance of empty times</em>”. It was a lyric that reflected radical politics in that pre-War On Terror world - where the aim was to highlight the spiritual emptiness and the social and environmental costs of the American consumerist dream.</span></span></p>

<p><span><span><em>- </em>Pandemics don’t suck, usually. If you aren’t directly affected by the particular malady usually the societal side-effects don’t invade one’s personal space. However, 2020’s pandemic <em>assoluta</em> has not just touched everyone’s lives but it’s thumped them into a shape barely resembling recognisable forms. Every creative arts worker has been dealt a blow that might produce some extraordinary literature, music and art in years to come – if any creatives survive this year and the next.