Kate Tempest - "Bad Place For A Good Time"

Hip Hop, like every other music genre, is evolving as new artists add their style or idiosyncrasies. What started from the streets of New York and travelled across to the West Coast, eventually became commercialised. The gangsters took control of it again but by then it had basically become an international genre that crossed all races and languages. Some good and a hell of a lot was just bad. One such artist from the good side of the ledger is Kate Tempest. She could be the leader of the new generation that is coming from the streets, once again. But the streets are in London this time around.... and the most satisfying aspect from Kate Tempest is the poetry. No gangster bragging, or any other fucking bragging, which is getting a bit tired now. It's just great poetry and story telling from the perspective of the average person in a large city. "Bad Place For A Good Time" should convince you that the genre is in good hands.

Ladyhawke - "Paris Is Burning"

Maybe the best metaphor, for this blog, comes from our own Ladyhawke with "Paris Is Burning"



Eagles of Death Metal - "Complexity"



So cruel!

The Three Johns - "Nonsense Spews From My Song Machine"

"Nonsense Spews From My Song Machine" from The Three Johns is another nearly forgotten song from the 80's. It's from their album 'Death of Everything' released in 1988. The Three Johns featured Jon Langford from The Mekons, who continued with The Mekons after the demise of The Three Johns around 1990. These guys were very much the socialists in the era of Thatcherism, like many others - but they never seemed to get too serious while putting their message out there. "Nonsense Spews From My Song Machine" has that sound where post-punk was evolving into alternative rock - the synths were thrown out, the guitars were back out front, but the drum machine wasn't yet discarded.