Social Items

TPQ
Showing posts with label Christopher Owens. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christopher Owens. Show all posts
Christopher Owens 🔖 has just completed reading a potboiler. 


A writer returns to his college town, where he is to conduct what will be the final published interview with Thomas, his ninety-year-old mentor. But after he drops his smartphone in the hotel sink, he arrives at Thomas’s house with no recording device – a fact he is mysteriously unable to confess.
What unfolds from this dreamlike circumstance is both a brilliant meditation on those technologies that enrich and impoverish our connections to each other, that store and obliterate our memories, and a moving exploration of the relationships that make us who we are.

I know. Who farted, right?

Universally hailed on its release earlier this year (even winning the Orwell Prize for Fiction), this 145-page book has been sitting on my shelf for most of the year. It’s cover ever so slightly reminiscent of HAL from 2001: A Space Odyssey, the combination of mounting praise and HAL trying to hypnotise me into reading the book finally broke my resistance.

And you know what, it’s ok.

Split into three parts (an interview between the narrator and his old mentor, Thomas; an argument with a curator after the narrator reveals he didn’t record the interview; and a conversation with Thomas’s son Max) the book skips along at a steady pace but with little weight (at least not until the end) nor with any particularly engaging characters. The end result is a collection of vaguely interesting ideas that never quite come together in a meaningful sense but you recognise the author’s intent and still go along with it.

Take this excerpt for example:

The man in the old-fashioned hat came by to check the tickets. I enlarged the little QR code and he scanned it. Then I put my earbuds in and began to listen to a talk, recorded in Paris in 1973, that Thomas gave about translation. I took a photo of the win-try, postindustrial landscape through my masked reflection as the train picked up speed, and then I checked and deleted the photo and shut my eyes and faced the past. My mentor paused, fifty-one years ago, and poured water into a glass. Someone in the audience coughed twice.
I was in Paris. (I don’t know how else the recording influenced the dream.) I was getting Eva from what must have been her school. I stood outside a tall and ornate wrought-iron fence, waiting for the gates to open. There were other parents and caregivers around, whispering to each other or into their phones. I don’t speak French, but it was clear that people were anxious. The wind was picking up. I heard sirens in the distance. I looked at my phone, but there were no alerts.

As you can probably guess, technology and our ambivalent relationship to it are a driving theme. While you can appreciate the ambition and the very skilled prose that does a lot of the heavy lifting, it ultimately feels like it has nothing to say while suggesting otherwise.

Such contradictions could be fascinating but in this case it’s akin to a potboiler.

Ben Lerner, 2026, Transcription, Granta Press. ISBN-13: 978-1803513805

⏩ Christopher Owens was a reviewer for Metal Ireland and finds time to study the history and inherent contradictions of Ireland. He is currently the TPQ Friday columnist and is the author of A Vortex of Securocrats and “dethrone god”.

Transcription

Christopher Owens 🔖 It’s not a controversial statement to say that the education system in Britain is in severe trouble.


With shrinking budgets in schools, barely trained teachers drowning in paperwork and underpaid classroom assistants having to multitask at everything from running breakfast clubs to kids with serious medical conditions, it’s a miracle there hasn’t been a catastrophe so far.

However some have argued that the general increase in children with special educational needs could very well be the proverbial straw on the back of the camel. The cost of training teachers and classroom assistants, setting up specialist areas and the general day-to-day realities are an awful lot for already overburdened schools to deal with.

Considering that a report published last year that certain areas have closed waiting lists altogether and another 31 have redrawn the boundaries to qualify as ASD, it seems the NHS is starting to buckle.

Is this a consequence of our risk averse society and is it writing people off before their lives have truly begun?

Dave Clements thinks so.

A consultant who has written for The Guardian and the Huffington Post among others and a former governor at a primary school, his experiences with his own child have inspired this book as well as what he sees are larger cultural issues that manifest themselves through this debate.

As he says:

There are, without a doubt, genuine needs now being identified that we wouldn’t have picked up on before. However, there is also a cultural receptivity to being, or declaring oneself, neurodiverse. To do so is valued, encouraged and even celebrated. While there are positives to this approach in some cases, we need to get beyond the fluffy, relentlessly affirming (but none too reflective) language of neurodiversity-speak. Many of these children face very real disadvantages, both because of their conditions and because of society’s continued failure to accommodate or address their needs effectively.

He begins by discussing the recent trend of celebrities (everyone from Kae Tempest to Darren Day) seemingly being diagnosed with ADHD and finding it so freeing. Of course, others have pointed out that the flipside to that is that what were once considered annoying or bad habits (laziness, lateness, messiness) could now be rewritten as something stunning and brave. The end result being that we reduce life changing conditions to a series of personal habits and choices.

Going on, he points that there is a double standard in the debate: while there is a general air of smugness about ‘understanding nurodiverse people’, they can often be arrested for saying the wrong thing in that moment or even killed. This is why it’s crucial to have genuine conversations about these issues so we don’t subject those who need our help to two-tier standards.

The following quote sums up how broadly the boundaries for autistic spectrum disorder can be:

The autism spectrum includes everything from the severely learning disabled or non-verbal to the academically gifted. Nevertheless, despite these wide variations in presentation, those diagnosed with ASD have three sets of traits in common: difficulty with communication, problems ‘being around people socially’ and particular behavioural characteristics. ‘For a diagnosis of autism’, states the Royal College of Psychiatrists, ‘there must be evidence of unusual development in the first three years of life’.
According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) – guidance produced by the American Psychiatric Association from which experts around the world tend to take their lead – a diagnosis of autism requires ‘persistent deficits in social communication and social interaction across multiple contexts, as manifested by the following: deficits in social-emotional reciprocity, in nonverbal communicative behaviours used for social interaction, and in developing, maintaining and understanding relationships’.
And again, there is the stipulation that: ‘Symptoms must be present in the early developmental period…’ However, for the World Health Organisation, there is already some slippage on this point: ‘Characteristics may be detected in early childhood, but autism is often not diagnosed until much later.’

Some might argue that this isn’t a bad thing, but isn’t it better to have well-defined boundaries that draw a distinction between a personality trait and a life changing condition? Does this mean that what we once understood to be misbehaviour wouldn’t be considered as such anymore? Does this mean the standards that parents and teachers pass onto young people have to be constantly rewritten?

It may not have been the first thing you thought of but, like anything, keep digging and you’re left with some fundamental questions that may not be easy to answer.

When discussing how schools have been impacted because of this, Clements does indeed discuss success stories, but he notes that it’s the teachers with years of experience that are at the centre of such tales. Plus, as the number of kids with a diagnosis of ADHD have increased, schools can feel pressurised to put in mitigations in place in order to make it seen that everyone’s in this together. Add in that some teachers are told to think of everyone in their class as neurodiverse; it results in a lowering of stands across the board.

A timely book that asks a lot of questions not just in terms of schools but also wider society in general.

Dave Clements, 2026, The Crisis in the Classroom: How the Special Needs Explosion is Destroying Education, Luath Press. ISBN-13: 978-1804252802

⏩ Christopher Owens was a reviewer for Metal Ireland and finds time to study the history and inherent contradictions of Ireland. He is currently the TPQ Friday columnist and is the author of A Vortex of Securocrats and “dethrone god”.

The Crisis In The Classroom 📚 How The Special Needs Explosion Is Destroying Education

Christopher Owens 🏴“You wanna hear something really heavy? You Wanna Hear Something That’s Gonna Kick Your Balls Off?”

So said Conrad ‘Cronos’ Lant, bassist vocalist for Venom when on stage at Trenton Gardens, New Jersey in 1986. Although funny in isolation, the attitude sums up Venom: defiantly loud for the crowd and oozing self-confidence.

Something that Cronos had in abundance.


Born in London but moving to Newcastle Upon Tyne at a young age, Lant made a name for himself working at Impulse Studios in the city as a tape operator/assistant engineer. He later recalled that having to work with so many small-time bands who merely wanted to be clones of what was already going on at the time fuelled his rage and desire to make Venom stand out.

And stand out they did.

By fusing punk rock (with an awareness of the nascent UK82 acts like Discharge and The Exploited), heavy metal and the theatrics of Alice Cooper and David Bowie, they created something that was faster, uglier and much more evil sounding than the likes of Iron Maiden.

Lant told the Guardian that he:

. . . had that snot and piss and shit element, which I wanted to put back into metal. I saw more and more bands shoving socks down their pants and putting lipstick on, and I just was disgusted by that, to tell you the truth. Fucking hell, if heavy metal was anything it had to be raw and dangerous and in your face.

In terms of the theatrics, he once wrote that himself, guitarist Mantras and drummer Abaddon:

. . . had decided on using stage names very early on. I thought it would be lame to be singing about Satan and Demons and all the dark forces, and to have basic normal names. I felt it wasn't right, we needed names to fit the personalities, something more formidable and demonic. That was always my problem with Ozzy. He’d sing about dark figures then spoilt it all by going, 'Oh God, help me!’ Duh, Wrong! That was stopping one step short of where I wanted to take this band. We were prepared to go beyond the Hammer Horror of Black Sabbath.

 


I discovered Venom in 2006. Like many a thing that has influenced me in my lifetime, it was thanks to Killing Joke.

A review of their (then) recent album Hosannas... compared it to Venom (which was a bit off) so it made me track down Welcome to Hell and Black Metal. Two astonishing records that blurred the lines between Iron Maiden and Discharge. Pretty much ground zero for thrash metal, death metal and black metal. Later records were more miss than hit, but this year's 'Into Oblivion' is actually a great record so at least they went out on a high.

Because of that drive and determination to do something different, he was a divisive figure.

Cro-Mags guitarist Parris Mayhew recalled that:

Cronos was a jerk to Cro-Mags when we played with Venom. Our bass failed and we were on stage standing in front of a hostile Chicago metal audience with a bass that didn’t work with an audience chanting “fuck you go home!”. We asked to use his bass and he said, “$200.” And put out his open palm. Dick.

In his book Get in the Van, Henry Rollins wrote that:

Venom took almost an hour to get onstage. They had roadies tuning their guitars and shit. Finally, they hit stage. They were hilarious. It was like seeing Spinal Tap. The drummer had a guy that held an electric fan next to him and kept him high and dry. The singer/bass player was named Kronos [sic]. He had some great raps. He got the crowd to chant what I thought was 'Black Funky Metal' over and over, which I thought was pretty cool and then I thought that maybe I was wrong about these guys. I found out later that it was 'Black Fucking Metal.' Oh, excuse me. I expected them to go into [the Spinal Tap song] 'Sex Farm' at any second.

Regardless, they changed music for the better with their first two records and praise will always be forthcoming from me.


⏩ Christopher Owens was a reviewer for Metal Ireland and finds time to study the history and inherent contradictions of Ireland. He is currently the TPQ Friday columnist and is the author of A Vortex of Securocrats and “dethrone god”.

Conrad “Cronos” Lant

Christopher Owens 🎵 with the 67th in his Predominance series alongside some observations on a new magazine.

It’s always gratifying to see new magazines hit the shelves, particularly ones that try to add to the discussion rather than just operate as an excuse for adverts.

And it’s even better when well established ones (in this case Shindig!) put out a one-off edition dedicated to a topic that could fill a magazine in itself.

Such is the case here.

The top 100 tracks has the obvious (Robyn Hitchcock, The Cult), the less obvious (Psychic TV, Strawberry Switchblade) and the ‘ever so slightly stretching it’ (A Guy Called Gerald, John Foxx) but plenty of obscure numbers to ensure you go down a YouTube rabbit hole for a while. Alongside pieces on the Television Personalities, Spacemen 3, The Prisoners and Siouxsie and the Banshees, the issue makes it plain how the year zero approach (“No Elvis, Beatles or Stones in 1977”) had given way to a love of 60’s psychedelia and garage rock, setting the stage for some astonishing bands (and Dr. And the Medics) to come to the fore.


🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵


Horns up 

New Horizons



The Rezillos – Psycho Tornado

The legendary Scottish cartoon punk/rockabilly act return with their first new album in over a decade and it’s just what you expect: upbeat rock n roll that makes you click your fingers like a hip daddy-o. ‘Cranium’ is a perfect example of just how joyous and inventive this band can be, while ‘Peppermint Lounge’ salutes the legendary New York nightclub.

The album can be streamed here and purchased here.

Godflesh – Decay

After the solid, if unspectacular, release of Purge, it seemed that the industrial metal legends were settling comfortably into a holding pattern. Thankfully, Justin Broadrick realised this and produced their best album since ‘Post Self’. Opener ‘Master and Slave’ pulverises while ‘Ferel Colony’ feels like a homage to ‘Eighties’ by Killing Joke and ‘Consume Me’ isn’t for lightweights.

The album can be streamed and purchased here.


Golden Oldies


The Slits – Cut

One of the pioneering post-punk records, this astonishing debut sees the band creating a hybrid of reggae, punk, indie and jazz. Songs like ‘Instant Hit’ and ‘Shoplifting’ (where you can hear singer Ari Up admit to pissing herself) have a girlish enthusiasm and sensibility that’s impossible to replicate. Bassist Tessa is the secret weapon as her basslines can make dead men jump.



Gang of Four – Entertainment

Another masterpiece from 1979 that changed so many lives. From the likes of INXS, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Nirvana and Bloc Party, the combination of black funk and white noise continues to influence today. Lyrically, songs like ‘Ether’ compare British rule in Ireland to finding oil in Rockall, while ‘Anthrax’ criticises the concept of love while deconstructing the love song.

  

⏩ Christopher Owens was a reviewer for Metal Ireland and finds time to study the history and inherent contradictions of Ireland. He is currently the TPQ Friday columnist and is the author of A Vortex of Securocrats and “dethrone god”.

Kaleidoscope 🎵 The Effect of Psychedelia on the 80’s + Predominance 67

Christopher Owens 🔖 “A contemporary variant of the horror film with a particular focus on human bodies that are subject to torture, mutilation, mutation, decay, degeneration, and transformation, usually shown in graphic detail..” 




. . . as well as “A science fiction genre focusing on a blurring of distinctions between humans and machines in bleak dystopias with lawless subcultures.”

That’s how the Oxford Dictionary of science-fiction refers to both body horror and cyberpunk, and they’re pretty spot on.

Although normally separate genres, the combination of the two has steadily increased in popularity over the last number of years, perhaps tapping into our own fears surrounding mortality, the future, health and beauty.

Does Warm Fusion do this?

Read on and find out.

The plot is fairly simple, as seen by this blurb on the publisher's website:

After a series of murders rip through the city’s brothels, an escort named Vin Young, who cosplays as the Brothers Grimm’s Snow White—and is one of the generation of deformed victims—pursues the killer, or killers, joins forces with Jarrod Hannover, the lone cop assigned to the case. The two eventually arrive at a biotech megacorp developing Warm Fusion, a pioneering technology meant to replace prosthetics limbs—and soon confront the sociopathic scientist Nicholas Fleischer, his monstrous alter-ego, Mr. Barnaby, and the hideous monster that he’s been secretly developing.

Not the most innovative plot, admittedly, but it’s all about the execution after all. Does the writing and art combine to suck the reader into the world envisaged?

Yes and no.

While it cannot be denied that Alberto Ponticelli’s artwork and Lee Loughridge’s colours are exemplary, they cannot hide the fact that the main protagonist (Vin Young) is not a particularly interesting or compelling character. While she has a backstory, it’s not developed enough to make the reader care. Similarly, Jarrod Hannover (the cop) has little to no character traits besides operating an AI that can transcribe his thoughts at a crime scene, as you can see below.


And as for the bad guys?

Similar story.

It is disappointingly light on transgression as well: characters have sex while having robotic arms or missing limbs but this is very familiar terrain for the genre. Having characters mouth off about feeling nothing but chasing extremities does not give it added context.

Finally, it’s a three-issue story that feels like it could have done with a fourth. There could be something in this as there were reports that the publisher had problems with distribution at one point so it’s not beyond the realm of possibility that they decided to cut the run short to ensure it could be published as a graphic novel.

Passable reading but falls short as a cyberpunk story and as a body horror story. 

Scott Hoffman (Writer), Alberto Ponticelli (Illustrator), Lee Loughridge (Colourist), 2026, Warm Fusion. DSTRLY ISBN-13: 978-1962265256

⏩ Christopher Owens was a reviewer for Metal Ireland and finds time to study the history and inherent contradictions of Ireland. He is currently the TPQ Friday columnist and is the author of A Vortex of Securocrats and “dethrone god”.

Warm Fusion

Christopher Owens 🔖“We hang around with people I know, people I went to school with, family, lovers, fans, philanthropists, poets, scholars and wasters. We’re from Pandemonia and that’s where we’re going to remain.”


So said Pete Doherty whenever his band The Libertines first made it onto the cover of NME in June 2002. The humble bragging and pseudo-intellectualism radiating from that quote is one of the many reasons why so many took to the band. And who could blame them?

With the 25th anniversary of punk in the air, the recent arrival of the Strokes in Britain and eclectic nightclubs like London's Trash and Glasgow's Optimo helping to shape the tastes of a generation, it was evident that something was brewing. Something that was utterly of the moment but was perfect for the retroculture that became the 00's.

As well as this, the ramifications of Napster and illegal downloading had left the traditional record business in a state of flux but had allowed bands to build fanbases by connecting with likeminded people online before the introduction of MySpace changed the game altogether. Speaking in 2014, Johnny Borrell (Razorlight) described the shift:

This whole period . . . was a fucking revolution for A&R. Back in the day, A&R meant going out to gigs and watching bands, but in this era, it became sitting at your computer trawling Myspace, then Facebook and YouTube, for the freshest, youngest thing going. Bands weren’t allowed to develop on their own before they were swept up in the machine . . .  And it wasn’t just the labels . . . what we all witnessed over this era was many magazines and radio programmers switching from having an actual editorial perspective, to being run as focus groups for companies to shift products to 16-24 year olds. And I mean that very literally: groups of kids in a room being played demos to see which they liked most, in order to boost advertising from Motorola or whatever.

Proof that Reginald C. Dennis was correct: the industry is like the Borg in Star Trek as it adapts, consumes and sets the agenda.

Whether I liked it or not, this music helped shape my formative years (14 in 2000 and 24 in 2010) and to see it now be the subject of retrospectives about ‘indie sleaze’ (a term no-one used at all in this time period) is more than a little disconcerting. However, there is no doubt that it is an interesting period to look back on. Not just from the tech aspect but also from a cultural and historical perspective.

Cards on the table here, very few of the bands in here did anything for me (the sole exception being Franz Ferdinand who were something else entirely). Regardless, a music book can still be great even if one has no interest in the bands covered.

So Janine Warren deserves kudos for interviewing some of the illuminati from that scene (The Libertines, Bloc Party, The Futureheads, Maximo Park, The Long Blondes) and ensuring that their stories aren’t relegated to beer-soaked memories but are placed in the proper context.

The most interesting chapters revolve around sexism in the industry, the epoch defining success of the Arctic Monkeys, the increasing corporatisation of the scene and the ghoulish following that Pete Doherty attracted (increasing tenfold when Kate Moss showed up). While some of the quotes have a strong whiff of revisionism about them (I highly doubt Paul Smith from Maximo Park genuinely thought in 2005 that leaving pronouns out of his lyrics would make them more inclusive) and other quotes are telling inditements on what effect an elitist mindset has on you (Alex Kapranos dismissing Web 2.0 as your racist granny having a Facebook account), the participants offer up sobering recollections of those times and question their own complicity in how things turned out.

Whether one agrees with them or not, it is nice that there’s no room for mythology and that, having been in the eye of a diminishing storm (end of traditional record sales) as well as being engulfed by a larger one (tour, tour, tour), there is some clear-headed perspective and a willingness to admit to faults.

One thing that did interest me was just how little discussion there is of September 11th and 7th July as well as there being no mention of the Jean Charles de Menzes killing. For me, these are seismic events which have shaped modern Britain in ways which we’re still coming to terms with over two decades on. And yet, with the ham-fisted exception of the Rakes (whom the title of this book comes from), very few tried to tackle the events head on and if they did it was fed into a general malaise about modern life and the rat race, thereby reducing these historical events to matters of personal psychology.

Regardless, this is an entertaining and considered book that attempts to wrestle the ‘indie sleaze/landfill indie’ tags away from a scene that was derided for years. While it certainly doesn’t make me want to reappraise The Duke Spirit or White Rose Movement, it did entertain me and left me thinking that it wasn’t the worst time in the world.

Janine Warren, 2026, The World Was a Mess But His Hair Was Perfect: The Last Indie Music Scene 2000-2010. Omnibus Press. ISBN-13: 978-1915841261


⏩ Christopher Owens was a reviewer for Metal Ireland and finds time to study the history and inherent contradictions of Ireland. He is currently the TPQ Friday columnist and is the author of A Vortex of Securocrats and “dethrone god”.

The World Was A Mess But His Hair Was Perfect 📚 The Last Indie Music Scene 2000-2010

Christopher Owens  ✍ “The grist that curtails will make us strong/And you'll be dead before I'm born/Puh!” - The Fall

31st August.

A memorable date for a variety of reasons: the terror of knowing that summer was over and that a new term of school was coming up still takes up space in my psyche around this time. It’s also a time whenever Seasonal Affective Disorder can kick in for many.

However, two anniversaries occur on this date that, for many, helped to shape the world we currently live in.

***


On this day 32 years ago, it was announced that the Provisionals had declared a ceasefire.

I vividly recall the euphoria and mistrust in the air. We were in uncharted terrain. Looking back at the process that began in October 1982 and would only be concluded in July 2005, this was a major milestone that had come about through sheer bluff and deception on the part of Gerry Adams whose personas of 'man of war' and 'peacemaker' became a high wire balancing act and, remarkably, he pulled it off while avoiding a major split within the IRA (although he was nearly deposed during an IRA convention in 1996).

Was it worth it?

For republicans, it meant they could call the Provos an undefeated army (although how they square that with British rule still in place is a different matter). For loyalists, it meant that they were still British (although the next 30 years would throw up many an ideological quandary that haunts them today). For the ordinary people, it was the first step on a road to normality that is not finished but does at least offer a way forward.

In some ways, globalisation has now given the situation in this country a wedge that has pushed both sides even further apart: nationalism/republicanism (generally) has gone Eurocentric while unionists/loyalists (generally) has gone in a Brexit style direction. Both of these, combined with a decaying infrastructure, loss of common bond within communities, disconnect between elected representatives and the voters and stagnant wages, has added an extra layer of gunpowder onto a tinderbox (as we saw in Belfast a few months ago).

But the road to peace must continue.


***

The second event is the death of Diana, occurring 29 years ago.

Undoubtedly a preventable death given an added layer of sordidness thanks to the knowledge that paparazzi snapped pics of the aftermath without offering assistance, it was undoubtedly a shock to wake up that morning and hear the news.

However, what was unprecedented was the public display of mourning which veered into mass hysteria. Even William and Harry have talked about feeling bewildered at what was unfolding.


Of course there were other factors at play, ones that you could trace from Gazza's tears at the 1990 World Cup. With the fall of the Soviet Union, the launch of the Premier League, Britpop, the rise of New Labour, the pre-millennium optimism and the 'end of history' euphoria that would be further emphasised by the IRA ceasefire arguably contributed as well. Britain was seemingly ready to throw off the shackles of its recent past and wanted to party like it was 1966 but at the same time demonstrate that the old stoicism was gone, to be replaced by emotional vulnerability.

Thus, the caring 90's was born.

And Diana fitted in perfectly: a wronged woman who was seemingly going against the aloof and staid royal family by not only divorcing but also with her choice of partners. Don't believe me? Bea Campbell wrote of Diana’s Panorama interview that, to the ‘chagrin of the establishment’, Diana had:

joined the constituency of the rejected – the survivors of harm and horror, from the Holocaust, from the world war and pogroms, from Vietnam and the civil wars of South America and South Africa, from torture and child abuse.

Mourning her death not only allowed you a chance to have a pop at the royals but also show just how much of a good person you are. And woe betide anyone who dared step out of line with the prevailing sentiment.


This included the likes of:

🔴Private Eye, with Ian Hislop later told The Independent that “The fact is that is that this supposed deep grief expressed itself in terms of self-righteousness.”

🔴Christopher Hitchens, who described the whole thing as being fuelled by “…a deferential mass media that became an echo chamber and feedback loop to the blubbering classes.”

🔴Fabio Piras, who was attacked by a former builder because he stole a teddy bear from outside the palace. The builder was later quoted as saying that he “…did it for Diana. She was the Queen of everyone's hearts. How dare he come over and do this.''

***

All these years later, seeing a defanged Sinn Fein get upset by Andy Burnham’s comments re. a border poll while celebrating Kieran Nugent and downplaying reports they had defaced a mural for Brendan Hughes, I can’t help but marvel at how the revolution has gone.

Likewise, seeing various politicians and political commentators use the suicide of Jason Arday as an opportunity to batter their enemies and regulate the press goes to show how dissenting voices are needed now more than ever.

August 31st. The end of summer but also the beginning of post-truth.

⏩ Christopher Owens was a reviewer for Metal Ireland and finds time to study the history and inherent contradictions of Ireland. He is currently the TPQ Friday columnist and is the author of A Vortex of Securocrats and “dethrone god”.

Midnight In The Century

Christopher Owens 🎵 with the 66th in his Predominance series.

"I seek the buildings blazing with moonlight/In Channing Way/Their very eyes seem to suck you in with their laughter/They seem to say/"You're all right now So stop a while behind our smile

In Channing Way." - Scott Walker


Horns up 

New Horizons



Icons of Filth – Time of the Signs

Often regarded as one of the most ferocious anarcho bands to have emerged in the wake of Crass, Cardiff legends Icons of Filth return for their first new album since 2002 (and the first without frontman Stig). As you’d expect, anger and ferocity are very much the keywords here with the band railing against everything from capitalism (‘Payday Loans’), war (‘Bombing for Democracy’) and zealots (‘Arseholier’). Musically, they’re as intense as they were in 1982.

The album can be streamed and purchased here.

Emma Ruth Rundle - These Killing Times

For her first solo LP since 2021’s ‘Engine of Hell’, Emma Ruth Rundle has returned to a band setting. This is a Very Good thing as the songs are ten times as powerful and feel fleshed out. ‘Catherine Weel’ has an “end of summer” vibe as well as referencing Charles Manson and the Weather Underground and ‘Human Kindness’ is a sinister and intimate number.

The album can be streamed and purchased here,

Vitamin X – Ride the Apocalypse

Running at under 30 minutes, the 17-track album from the Dutch legends is a short, sharp kick in the balls that’s needed in times like this. Nothing fancy, not reinventing anything. Just life affirming hardcore mixed with Stooges style solos and thrash riffing that gives you that extra stir to do that extra shift in the office for more flexitime no problem.

The album can be streamed and purchased here.


Golden Oldies



The Special AKA – In the Studio

Three years from the epochal single ‘Ghost Town’, Jerry Dammers returned with a stripped-down band and an even bleaker vibe (one that had been evident on the harrowing 1982 single ‘The Boiler’). Although songs like ‘Free Nelson Mandela’, ‘What I Like Most About You is Your Girlfriend’ and ‘Racist Friend’ became staples, don’t expect upbeat ska numbers.



MDC – Millions of Dead Cops

If you were to boil 80’s US hardcore down to a single album, it would be this masterpiece. Choc-a-bloc with ferocious riffing, seditious lyrics delivered by a rabble-rousing firebrand and an aesthetic owing much to the anarcho world, it remains utterly essential. ‘I Remember’ is the obvious standout but ‘Dead Cops"/"America's So Straight’ isn’t that far behind.



Easterhouse – Contenders

Mainly remembered for their support for the Provisionals as well as the Revolutionary Communist Party, Manchester based Easterhouse made two excellent albums that sat somewhere between post-punk and the jangle pop of The Smiths, best exemplified by ‘Nineteen Sixty-Nine' with its lyrics attack those who hide behind a Union Jack in Ireland.



The Sensational Alex Harvey Band – Next

Despite influencing a litany of post-punk, goth and metal bands, Scottish glam rockers SAHB aren’t discussed as much as they should. Yet, their version of Jacques Brel’s ‘Next’ terrified a generation of children when performed on the Old Grey Whistle Test and the astonishing ‘Faith Healer’ radiates such power; it’s no wonder it has been widely covered.


⏩ Christopher Owens was a reviewer for Metal Ireland and finds time to study the history and inherent contradictions of Ireland. He is currently the TPQ Friday columnist and is the author of A Vortex of Securocrats and “dethrone god”.

Predominance 66

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)