10 Things We Leant About Patti Smith

On Wednesday (28th October) Patti Smith took to the stage at London's Emmanuel Centre, not to sing (that comes later), but to have a good old chin wag with critic and novelist Andrew O'Hagan instead. 
During their fleeting 90 minutes together the pair discussed everything from Smith's new memoir M Train and her seminal debut album Horses 40th anniversary, to her love of detective shows and desire to open her own cafe.
It's proof, if needed, that there's still much we don't know about the 68 year old. 
Here then, is 10 things we learnt about punk's first lady...  

1. The first record she owned was Madame Butterfly by Eleanor SteberBut the second is much cooler: Another Side by Bob Dylan,."My mother said: I don't know who this is but he looks like someone you might like."

2. To her punk rock means freedom
"It's just another word for freedom" she reveals, "It's a grass-roots art formed by the people, loved by the people, played by the people."
When asked where a new punk movement might come from she's alot more ambiguous, "I think only the new generation knows that" she says, "You don't need a new punk movement, you just need a movement that people care about. You don't need a new anything, you just need the thing; it doesn't need a name, it's an energy. It's bubbling beneath our feet, every generation makes it's contribution."  

3. She loves detective shows...

"Whether it's Morse, or Lewis, Wyecliff, George Gently, I love them all." she reveals, but it's Kenneth Branagh's eponymous Wallander that's her favourite.
"Often they drink too much, they're bums, they're obsessional- they have to be visionaries and unravel these deep puzzles. They drink too much wine at home at night listening to opera- just like me." To which the entire audience erupts with laugher. 

4.  ...And coffee

Especially Dunkin Donuts, which she claims is no better than a $100 cup from Tokyo,

"[It] gives the illusion that you're sort of in the swing of things". 

5. She was part of a 'Scarlet Fever Club'

An exclusive club for only the worst sufferers of the disease, Smith was joined by the only other member, author William Burroughs. 

6. If she could only use one medium it'd be writing

Whilst Smith would be "sad not to draw or take photographs or perform" she couldn't live without picking up a pen. "I have to write" she reasons, "It's part of who I am."

7. She has lots of writing rituals

When Smith puts pen to paper she has to do so "[on] my own little table in my own little cafe", but most importantly in the morning. "I like to write in the morning" she reveals, " Wake up early before anyone else, when anything seems possible."

8. She wants to open her own cafe

She came "very close a couple of times", but after lamenting that she "make[s] such bad coffee" it's probably for the best that she sticks to the day job. 

9. She likes Adele and Rihanna

When asked what she was currently listening to, no one expected Smith- one of punk rock's creators- to namecheck  chart-toppers Adele and Rihanna. "I like to hear the female voice" she said.
Other artists to get a mention were Karen O, My Bloody Valentine and Jimi Hendrix, who she claimed "isn't even a guy or a girl, he's beyond."

10. She's still got it 

Smith surprised the audience with an impromptu acoustic performance of Because The Night, Power To The People and a song she wrote for her daughter, the former inciting a sing along that ended in a standing ovation. Proof, if you needed any that whether on paper, on record or in conversation, Patti Smith is still very much a force to be reckoned with.

REVIEW// Savages/ The Answer

Savages are back and they're not leading us in gently 

On their second album Savages aim was simply to write "the loudest songs ever", no mean feat for a band who's already raucous debut drew comparisons to Joy Division and Siouxsie Sioux.
But, The Answer, the first track to be taken from new album Adore Life, released on January 22nd, is an all together more punishing affair.

Abrasive guitars cut through frontwoman Jhenny Beth's shrill cry of "If you don't love me you don't love anybody", underpinned by thundering drums, as though they are declaring sonic war on the world.

It's a sound that veers on the edge on violent, suggesting the band have taken more than a few cues from last year's collaboration with Japanese psych-rockers Bo Ningen on Words To The Blind.
It's what makes The Answer less of a statement of intent as a bombastic rallying call to post-punk arms.

Prepare your eardrums, Adore Life is gonna be loud.

REVIEW// U.S Girls/ Half Free

Meg Remy's fourth album is a liberating listen, that's still impossible to pin down

Half Free, the title of Meg Remy's fourth album, could easily be nonsensical,  but one listen to it's politically-charged lyrics and it takes on a whole new meaning.

On opener Sororal Feelings Remy attacks a husband who has slept with her sisters through off-kilter pop hooks and lyrics that Morrissey would happily give his floral shirts for: "Now I'm going to hang myself/ hang myself from my family tree." 

Damn That Valley's dancefloor-filling beats could easily take on the charts, but Remy's war widow wails ensure that she doesn't stray too far from the left-field.

If Window Shade's shimmering synths and sugar-sweet vocals had you pigeon-hole Remy, Sed Knife sees her break out of those shackles, ditching dub for rollicking rock riffs.

Remy's ability to evolve and transform with each song may be contradicting the album's oppression hinting title, but that's what makes it all the more liberating.
She might only be half free to the world,  but musically Remy has no barriers. 

REVIEW// Frozy/ Lesser Pop

On their fourth album the Seaford trio prove that simple can be effective

Finding money you didn't know you had, sleeping in and the smell of freshly cut grass... The simple things in life are the best, and Frozy is no exception.

Their fourth album Lesser Pop compromises of 13 no-frills, no-egos lo-fi pop songs.

Opener Ferris Wheel embraces simplicity. Based around the child-like observation of "A ferris wheel takes you up in the air/ and now you're back down." It illustrates not only the innocence of it's subject matter, but the band too. 

Angela's chorus is a one word cry to it's protagonist, a girl who, like Frozy themselves, doesn't need make up to be effortless, recalling the equally-as-modest Mouldy Peaches.

Cardinals is bizarre yet bitter sweet. Gentle guitars float over singer Nicol's dreamy vocals, like one of it's title's feathers. 

Despite the simplicity, there's a distinct whiff of melancholy from what seem like sunny, sugar sweet pop songs on the surface.
"Think of March again/ it's the month you made a big mistake"  sings Nicol on March Again, or Where Are You's deadpan of "When you see me walking down the street/ you turn around and start running away." Suggesting that the only thing Frozy can't simplify is their emotion.

Like all simple things, Lesser Pop is short and sweet, over in 30 minutes. It makes for a fleeting listen, that's as fun as it is heartfelt and introvert. Not so simple after all.

Lesser Pop is out on October 16th via Oddbox Records, preorder here

REVIEW// Static Animal/ Majorca

Blissed-out bedroom pop from Melbourne mysteries

There's something alluring about an enigma and right now no one is more of a mystery than Static Animal.

Hailing from a bedroom somewhere in Melbourne they are practically unknown save for the fact that they make beautiful blissed-out dream pop.

"I'm so tired but I still find time" they sing on debut track Majorca, perhaps an ode to their bedroom beginnings. All hazy, reverb-drenched vocals that recall early Jaws, underpinned by breezy guitars that shimmer and swirl like the sea of the coastal scape they beg to soundtrack.

One would be mistaken for thinking Mac DeMarco had upped sticks and moved to the beach in the chorus' slacker-esque lament of "It's alright/ let's go", perhaps for giving it all up and doing that yourself.

And DIY is exactly what Stactic Animal does, Majorca's kaleidoscopic home production already bursting out of the four walls it was created in, and you can expect the band to do the same. They might just be known in their bedroom now, but don't bet on them remaining a mystery much longer.