In my Uber to Battersea Park, the driver asked me: ‘why do you run?’ The question stumped me at first, perhaps because so much of the training I do is unconscious – a part of my daily routine, one of my non-negotiables. That’s not to say that running is a thoughtless activity – I often […]
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I have a playlist called ‘Lofi favourites’, which became the soundtrack to much of the studying I did at university. One of the first songs I added to the playlist was a song called ‘If I Ever Build a House’. It’s a bit repetitive, just some strings and synths over a beat track, but the […]
The last night of the fair… (15/05/2023) I imagine my route as two snakes intertwining, hesitant to cross over unless they have to. I came across a proverb today (from the Don’s insta): ‘Ne’er cast a clout till May is out’. Turns out a clout, in this sense, is not something to do with power […]
Apocalypse Now is a series of ‘surely this can’t get any worse’ moments. Lieutenant Colonel Kilgore telling his soldiers to go surfing whilst the beach they’re on is being directly attacked? Try worse. Willard, our quiet protagonist, killing a innocent Vietnamese who barely survived a point blank attack from a machine gun? Nope, even worse. Willard […]
I went into Eo expecting to have a good old cry. Admittedly, I was primed for this expectation: one review from the BFI trailer reads: ‘It left me shattered… Just being there, quietly weeping with others gave me a sense of communion’ – film as religious catharsis. And yet, entering into a cinema with that […]
La Dolce Vita: the good/sweet life. But is life really that sweet, or good? Is Marcello a mere documenter of the various depravities of Rome, or an active relisher of them? And is a statue of Jesus flying over the outskirts of the Vatican necessarily profane? The film begins and ends with miscommunication: firstly because of […]
I seem to be watching most films at the BFI now. I used to think – especially during the pandemic – that there was no difference between watching a movie on a laptop in your bedroom and watching one projected onto the big screen, surrounded in the darkness by a crowd of strangers […]
I remember watching Seven Samurai with my Dad when I was around 13 or 14… and not remembering much of it. To be honest, I was mostly just bored, checking my phone every 5 minutes or so (much to my Dad’s annoyance). I guess I was too young at the time to appreciate the type of film he was trying to share with me […]
Returning to your secondary school is always a strange experience. Driving up the leafy avenue of Goddington lane, walking under that many-sided chapel, through the white reception gates – such mundanities are charged with an unexpected significance […]
Canadian-Japanese singer-songwriter Saya Gray blends folk with ethereal electro-pop in the first track from her new project, 19 MASTERS. Make no mistake – Saya Gray may be a new artist, but she is certainly not a new musician. Growing up in a “funky little house in Toronto”, Saya describes […]
In their latest track, “Something’s Going On”, the 8-piece collective find hope amid lockdown despair. KOKOROKO arose out of a feeling of lack; upon discussing their shared love of London afrobeat groups, co-founders Sheila Maurice-Grey and Onome Edgeworth realised that the scene was failing to represent [...]
Formed as a lockdown collaboration between Do Nothing and Megatrain, Divorce’s first single, “Services”, has left a confident mark on the scene. I guess we have Hockley Hustle to thank (amongst other things) for this unexpected marriage between Do Nothing and Megatrain. […]
As the first track to introduce his new project, Yen, “Soft Satellite” sees Yenkee bring existential musings together with glimmering synths. Musicians find their way to creating music in a variety of often unexpected ways. Graham Cooney, better known by his stage name Yenkee [...]
‘I don’t know what’s going on in your mind But I know you don’t like what you find When you’re moving through solid air, solid air’ …So sung the British singer-songwriter, John Martyn, in reference to his close friend and labelmate, Nick Drake. The words ‘solid air’ served as a metaphor for Drake’s depression […]
In Plato’s Symposium, Socrates recounts Diotima’s bizarre assertion that ‘all men are pregnant’ and ‘yearn to beget’ upon the beautiful. This yearning stems from a primordial desire for immortality; men sacrifice themselves in battle to win ‘a deathless memory for valour’, parents acquire immortality through their children […]
I sat with spoken word artist and Durham student Fahad Al-Amoudi to discuss spoken word in the mainstream, slam poetry and the importance of poetry in a divided world. Do you make a distinction between spoken word artists and poets in the more general sense? Not necessarily […]
The EY Exhibition is a dazzling display of Picasso’s prolific output throughout 1932, otherwise known as his ‘year of wonders’. Straddling the barrier between his public and personal life, this exhibition illuminates Picasso’s love for his mistress, Marie-Thérèse Walter; his fame as one of the leading artistic forces of the twentieth century […]
The lack of spaces dedicated to showcasing artwork in Durham is deeply saddening, especially given the wealth of artistic talent the county has to offer. However, the recent exhibition Wabi Sabi defiantly demonstrates the potential for Durham to assert itself as a hub of artistic culture […]
Αrchy Marshall’s latest release is a bold and expansive artistic statement, yet strangely elusive. Recording under the pseudonym King Krule, Marshall deftly blends genres of free jazz, brutal punk riffs and smooth hip-hop beats to form a cohesive album. Explored within the seventeen tracks are meditations on unrequited love, isolation […]
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