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Articles by Ali Lewis
Poem Of The Week: Hilltop By Ruth Sharman
arts Hilltop You see it sometimes: the way the light strikes a distant hill, singling out the space between trees like a sudden bolt of memory, or an answer coming through from the other side. A benign shock of emergent energy, Ruth Sharman's fine, profoundly distilled poem encourages a sense of the falling away of scales, of belated recognition.
Poem Of The Week: Pretending Not To Sleep By Ian Hamilton (1938-2001)
arts Pretending not to Sleep The waiting rooms are full of ‘characters’ Pretending not to sleep. Your eyes are open But you’re far away At home, am Rhein, with mother and the cats. Your hair grazes my wrist. My cold hand surprises you. The porters yawn against the slot-machines And watch contentedly; they know I’ve lost. The last train is simmering outside, and overhead Steam flowers in the station rafters. Soft flecks of soot begin to settle On your suddenly outstretched palms.
Poem Of The Week: Trust Me By Mary Ruefle
arts Trust Me What can be discussed in words I beg to state in brief. A man has only one death: it may be as light as goose down or as heavy as a fatted hog. Gingerly the flowers open and are crushed in the vat. What's in your new perfume? The hills of Africa are in it, and the cormorants with their mouths full of fish, a bed of carnations, a swannery in Switzerland, the citrine sun baking Napa and a rhino whining at the moon.
Citizens Of Nowhere: Journeys Of Hope - The Letters Of Meyer And Sonia By Alison Marshall
arts Alison Marshall’s capturing of a circuitous historical journey between Russia, South Africa and the UK embodies, almost by definition, a testament of first-hand witness: following in the footsteps of her grandparents, by means of a long correspondence conducted over several pre-war months, Marshall painstakingly pieces together an unbreakable relationship whose strength brokers the pain of deracination whilst yielding an invaluable, if accidental, picture of love and endurance in an age...
Ezra Furman: „Es gibt viele entmenschlichende Kräfte in unserer Welt. Ich möchte eine humanisierende Kraft sein.“
Liz Furman, beruflich bekannt als Ezra Furman, und ich treffen uns an einem bitterkalten Sonntagnachmittag im Berliner Columbia Theater. Später am Abend wird die beliebte US-Indie-Künstlerin ein ausverkauftes Konzert vor einem Publikum spielen, das schon lange vor Beginn ihrer Vorband erschienen ist, um sich einen Platz in den ersten Reihen zu sichern.
Ezra Furman: “There are a lot of dehumanising forces in our world. I’d like to be a humanising force.”
Liz Furman, known professionally as Ezra Furman, and I meet on a bitterly cold Sunday afternoon at Berlin’s Columbia Theater. Later that night, the beloved US indie artist will play a sold-out show to a crowd who have turned up well before her support band has begun, to be sure of their place at the front.
„We Belong Together“ – Really? | >>FastForward Magazine
Ezra Furman and Harry Styles – one week, two artists, two worlds. On Sunday afternoon, I talked with US artist Liz (known professionally as Ezra Furman) in her dressing room at Berlin’s Columbia Theater. Furman, a Jewish, bisexual and transgender artist whose ten albums are all forms of protest music, was preparing to play to a sell-out crowd that evening. She had just come from a tour of four cities in Austria, whose fans had supported her when she was starting out nearly 20 years before.
„We Belong Together“ – Wirklich? | >>FastForward Magazine
Ezra Furman und Harry Styles – zwei Artists, zwei Welten. Am Sonntagnachmittag sprach ich mit der US-amerikanischen Künstlerin Liz (bekannt unter ihrem Bühnennamen Ezra Furman) in ihrer Garderobe im Berliner Columbia Theater. Furman, eine jüdische, bisexuelle und transgeschlechtliche Künstlerin, deren zehn Alben allesamt Formen von Protestmusik sind, bereitete sich darauf vor, am Abend vor ausverkauftem Haus zu spielen.
Jasmine.4.t.: “I’m so privileged to be a ray of hope and potential for young trans people”
“I still don’t believe it’s real,” Jasmine.4.t. says, laughing. It’s been a rollercoaster year since the release of her critically acclaimed debut album “You Are the Morning” in January, and she’s barely had time to draw breath. She feels it’s surreal to be back in Berlin, playing her own headline shows, after supporting Lucy Dacus here in 2018. Jasmine Cruickshank’s meteoric rise is the stuff of wild dreams for any artist.
Poem Of The Week: The Sick Rose by William Blake (1757-1827)
arts The Sick Rose O rose, thou art sick! The invisible worm That flies in the night, In the howling storm, Has found out thy bed Of crimson joy, And his dark secret love Does thy life destroy. William Blake’s fine poem of corrupted innocence would be serviceable in any context or setting: crushing experience, like the malevolent worm whose trajectory seems inexorable, undermines the pristine fabric of hope in two short quatrains, laying waste utterly.
Poem Of The Week: Why Brownlee Left By Paul Muldoon
arts Why Brownlee Left Why Brownlee left, and where he went, Is a mystery even now. For if a man should have been content It was him; two acres of barley, One of potatoes, four bullocks, A milker, a slated farmhouse. He was last seen going out to plough On a March morning, bright and early. By noon Brownlee was famous; They had found all abandoned, with The last rig unbroken, his pair of black Horses, like man and wife, Shifting their weight from foot to Foot, and gazing into the future.
Poem Of The Week: The Last Train By Vidyan Ravinthiran
arts The last train to arrive in Jaffna during the war 30 years ago rusts on the tracks the unimaginable touch of time has turned it the colour, exactly of this land’s ferrous soil -of blood that is four men round a fire purple smoke slants upward - trunks form the bier Vidyan Ravinthiran’s remarkable ability to set the tone of a poem in the colours of landscape and memory is never better served than in this brief, dense excursion into the heartland of Sri Lankan history.
Poem Of The Week: Leeds 1975 By Faith Lawrence
arts Leeds 1975 This night-day, day-night bus is the first, last, only emissary of the lighted world, the thin-as-care suburb of lino and candlewick. A sigh, a stutter, a final choke. Two slippered figures at the stop step forward, then back. They don’t know how cold they are.
The Imp Of Surrealism: Anthony Earnshaw At Dean Clough
arts It comes as no surprise to learn that the surrealist artist, Anthony Earnshaw, was a great admirer of Charlie Chaplin, or more particularly, the Chaplin of Modern Times. Perhaps the affinity was closer to a sense of identification than admiration, for the film whose theme is ‘the triumph of the little isolated man, coping with a big wide world over which they have little control’ mirrors, in detail, the anomie which was a likely consequence of the artist’s own early experience.
The Imp Of Surrealism: Anthony Earnshaw At Dean Clough
arts It comes as no surprise to learn that the surrealist artist, Anthony Earnshaw, was a great admirer of Charlie Chaplin, or more particularly, the Chaplin of Modern Times. Perhaps the affinity was closer to a sense of identification than admiration, for the film whose theme is ‘the triumph of the little isolated man, coping with a big wide world over which they have little control’ mirrors, in detail, the anomie which was a likely consequence of the artist’s own early experience.
Poem Of The Week: Pastoral By Ali Lewis
arts Pastoral Three weeks alone and all I can read are these backwoods American poets with their figs and windfall peaches and their one good chair of four legs from which they observe the changing yaw of the up-early light as it climbs and then brims the horse trough, or the rich patterning on an earthenware jug filled with slow syrup their father tapped himself and sealed, his old clay fingerprints held still on its lip - and attend to what such heirlooms might want to teach us, if we can...
King Princess: “I think bringing people joy through music is a form of rebellion”
It’s a sunny morning in Berlin and King Princess, aka US singer/songwriter and now actress Mikaela Straus, is feeling really good. “Apart from the fact the world is burning,” she adds with a short laugh. It’s an interesting time for Straus, who first attracted a devoted queer fanbase in the late 2010s with her explicitly lesbian songs and openness about being gay and genderqueer.
The 1975: 12 Songs, die wir uns fürs Glastonbury Festival wünschen
Diesen Freitag wird die britische Band The 1975 zum ersten Mal als Headliner beim Glastonbury Festival auftreten. Es ist ein entscheidender Moment für die Band, die erstmals 2013 auf dem Festival gespielt hat. Zwölf Jahre lang hat er sich nun angebahnt.
The 1975: 12 Song Predictions for Glastonbury Festival
This Friday, British band The 1975 will headline Glastonbury Festival for the first time. It’s a career-defining moment for them that’s been twelve years in the making. The band first played the festival in 2013. Despite massive global success over those twelve years, the four-piece from Manchester, fronted by Matty Healy, will know certain sections of the media and the public already have their claws out, ready to pounce. It’s unfair but inevitable.
„More“ von Pulp: Bauernmärkte, Pendlerzüge, ruhige Kneipen und Wohltätigkeitsläden
„More“, das erste Pulp Album nach 24 Jahren, sollte eigentlich nie entstehen. Pulp Frontmann und Gründer Jarvis Cocker war sich fast ein ganzes Vierteljahrhundert sicher, dass er nie wieder eine Platte machen wollte. „This is Hardcore“ im Jahr 1998 fertigzustellen, war für ihn , wie er sagt, „Folter“ – er fühlte, dass es für Pulp der Anfang vom Ende war. Die Band veröffentlichte ihr letztes Album „I Love Life“ im Jahr 2001, bekam dafür gemischte Kritiken und zog sich daraufhin weitgehend zurück.
Pulp ’s „More“: Farmers‘ Markets, Commuter Trains, Quiet Pubs and Charity Shops
“More”, Pulp’s first album in 24 years, was never supposed to be. Frontman and founder Jarvis Cocker had spent most of that quarter of a century convinced he never wanted to make another record. Trying to finish 1998’s “This is Hardcore” had been “torture” for him – he felt it was the beginning of the end for Pulp. The band released their last album “I Love Life” to mixed reviews in 2001, then pretty much called it a day.
Self Esteem: „I want to make sure we can all tell our stories, for as long as we want to“
Rebecca Taylor, aka Self Esteem, joins our interview during a break from rehearsals for the live show of her forthcoming third album “A Complicated Woman”. I tell her she must be one of the hardest-working artists in the industry and she laughs. “It’s like breakfast, 7ams, then I’m rehearsing, then lunchtime press, then evening press! But it’s all good stuff. Not so long ago, no one cared about my new album!” It’s said that it takes years of work to become an overnight success.
Netflix drama „Adolescence“: Men are king
There is a moment in „Adolescence“, the Netlfix show that everyone, everywhere seems to be talking about at the moment, where Briony, the psychologist assigned to assess 13-year old Jamie, accused of murdering a girl at his school, asks Jamie if his dad is friendly with other women. Jamie assumes Briony is implying his dad cheats on his mum. “No,” he answers. “He loves my mum”. When Briony reframes the question, Jamie is just confused and annoyed. “No, his mates are his mates,” he answers.
Netflix-Serie „Adolescence“: Die Männer sind Könige
„Adolescence“ ist die Netflix-Serie, über die gerade alle sprechen. Darin gibt es einen Moment in dem Briony, die Psychologin, die beauftragt wurde, den 13-jährigen Jamie zu evaluieren, der beschuldigt wird, ein Mädchen an seiner Schule ermordet zu haben, ihn fragt, ob sein Vater Freundschaften mit Frauen pflegt. Jamie denkt Briony wolle andeuten, sein Vater betrüge seine Mutter. „Nein“, antwortet er. „Er liebt meine Mutter.“ Als Briony die Frage umformuliert, ist Jamie verwirrt und genervt.
Bartees Strange: „These horrors are things that we’re all facing and we can overcome, but it’s real“
Bartees Strange is a genuinely unique artist. This kind of hyperbole is common in music industry promotion but in Strange’s case, it’s actually true. His career to date has been an exercise in ripping-up the rule book, his adopted surname utterly, poignantly appropriate. Born in England to an opera singer mother and a military father, Bartees Strange grew up largely in Oklahoma. He was the oldest child of a Black family living in a white, working-class community.
Bartees Strange: „Wir sind alle mit diesen Ängsten konfrontiert, und wir können sie überwinden“
Bartees Strange ist ein wirklich einzigartiger Künstler. Diese Art von Übertreibung ist in der Musikindustrie üblich, aber in seinem Fall ist es tatsächlich wahr. Im Rahmen seiner Karriere hat er bis heute andauernd das Regelwerk zerschlagen. Entsprechend ist sein angenommener Nachname völlig passend. Geboren in England als Kind einer Opernsängerin und eines Militärvaters, wuchs Bartees Strange größtenteils in Oklahoma auf.
EUSEXUA von FKA twigs: „Ein kraftvolles und gefährliches Konzept“
FKA twigs definiert EUSEXUA, nicht nur der Titel ihres lang erwarteten dritten Albums, sondern eine ganze Lebensphilosophie, als „Schönheit und Ehrfurcht im Moment einer intensiven menschlichen Erfahrung“. Sie hofft, dass Menschen, die das Konzept wirklich annehmen, „ein Gefühl von Freiheit… von Befreiung mitnehmen“. Bei EUSEXUA, sagt sie, „geht es ums Überleben“. Man kann verstehen, warum sie sich so fühlt.
EUSEXUA by FKA twigs: „A powerful and dangerous concept“
FKA twigs defines EUSEXUA, not just the title of her long awaited third album but a whole philosophy for life itself, as “beauty and awe in the moment of heightened human experience”. She hopes people who really connect to the concept will take away “a sense of freedom…liberation”. EUSEXUA, she says, “feels like a matter of survival”. You can see why she would feel this way.
„She gets the job done“: Warum Chappell Roan der Popstar ist, den junge Frauen brauchen und verdienen
Seit Ende September versuche ich, über Chappell Roan zu schreiben, seitdem ich ihr Konzert in Berlin gesehen habe. Aber bis jetzt ist es mir nie so recht gelungen. Dabei muss über Chappell Roan geschrieben werden: Seit ihrer Karriere im April auf einer völlig beispiellosen Skala durch die Decke ging, wurden Millionen von Worten über sie verloren. Aber es gibt noch so viel mehr, das gesagt werden muss. Ich habe so viel zu sagen, dass ich nicht weiß, wo ich anfangen soll.
„She gets the job done“. Why Chappell Roan is the pop star young women need and deserve
I’ve been trying and failing to write about Chappell Roan ever since I saw her perform in Berlin at the end of September. Chappell needs to be written about: there have been millions of words about her since her career blew up on a wholly unprecedented scale in April. But so much more that remains and needs to be said. I had so much to say that I didn’t know where to start. I also struggled with the constantly evolving narrative surrounding her.
Kelly Lee Owens schwingt sich mit „Dreamstate“ in neue Höhen
So viel Erfolg in der Musikindustrie hängt vom Glück ab oder, um es prosaischer auszudrücken, davon, zur richtigen Zeit am richtigen Ort zu sein. Für die walisische Elektrokünstlerin Kelly Lee Owens scheint dieser Ort und Zeitpunkt genau jetzt zu sein.
Kelly Lee Owens ascends to new heights with “Dreamstate”
So much success in the music industry comes down to luck, or, to put it more prosaically, just being in the right place at the right time. For Welsh electronic artist Kelly Lee Owens, that place and time seems to be Right Now.
Charli xcx schreibt Geschichte neu mit „Brat and it’s completely different but also still brat”
Lange bevor das digitale Zeitalter und die sozialen Medien alles auf das individuelle Ego ausrichteten, wurde Kunst als kollektiver Prozess betrachtet. Shakespeare, der wohl größte Schriftsteller aller Zeiten, übernahm seine besten Ideen aus bereits existierenden Texten und passte sie an, um sie in neue Werke umzuformen.
Charli xcx rewrites history with “Brat and it’s completely different but also still brat”
Long before the digital age and social media made everything about the documentation, validation and celebration of the individual ego, art used to be seen as a collective process. Shakespeare, arguably the greatest writer who ever lived, took all his best ideas from preexisting texts, adapting and reshaping them into new works.
„In Waves“ von Jamie xx: In der Welt große Wellen schlagen
2024 ist definitiv das Jahr des Dance-Albums, dessen kulturelle Landkarte von Charli xcx‘ alles beherrschendem Album „Brat“, Fred agains Mammut-Sets in Reading und Leeds und der massenhaften Anbetung von Chappell Roans Queer-Karnival-Pop dominiert wird. Auch Szenegrößen Four Tet, A.G. Cook und Floating Points haben einige ihrer besten Werke veröffentlicht.
„In Waves“ by Jamie xx: Making big waves in the world
2024 is definitively the year of the Dance Album, its cultural map dominated by Charli xcx’s all-conquering „Brat“, Fred again’s mammoth Reading and Leeds sets and the mass adoration of Chappell Roan’s queer carinval-esque pop. Along the way, scene stalwarts Four Tet, A.G. Cook and Floating Points have released some of their best work.
Oasis Reunion: Bitte kein Bucket Hat Summer 2025
Hier kommt die unpopuläre Meinung der Woche: Die Oasis-Reunion ist das Schlimmste, was der Musikindustrie im Jahr 2024 passieren kann. Und da wir über Oasis gerade nur in Übertreibungen sprechen können, sage ich sogar, dass es auch das Schlimmste sein wird, was der Musikindustrie im Jahr 2025 passieren wird. Wenn die Tournee tatsächlich stattfindet. Man kann Oasis im Moment nicht entkommen. Das sind schlechte Nachrichten für mich oder – nun ja – für jeden progressiven Menschen.
Oasis Reunion: Why we don’t need Bucket Hat Summer 2025
Unpopular opinion of the week: the Oasis Reunion is the worst thing to happen to the music industry in 2024. Since we can only speak about Oasis in hyperbole just now, let’s say it’ll also be the worst thing to happen to the music industry in 2025. If the tour actually goes ahead. You can’t escape Oasis just now. This is bad news if you’re me or – you know – a progressive person. Your social media timeline probably looked pretty similar to mine a few weekends ago.
„I Wanna Dance to Me“: Wie Frauen die elektronische Musik im Jahr 2024 dominieren
Schließen wir einmal kurz die Augen und stellen uns den durchschnittlichen Electronic Music Artist vor – bestimmt ein Mann, oder? Wahrscheinlich ein weißer Mann. Wahrscheinlich ein Mann in den Dreißigern, Vierzigern oder älter. Sehr wahrscheinlich ein Mann in T-Shirt und Cargohose, ein bisschen wie ein Landschaftsgärtner. Jugend und gutes Aussehen spielen in der Welt der elektronischen Musik keine allzu große Rolle.
“I Wanna Dance to Me”: How women are dominating electronic music in 2024
Close your eyes and picture an electronic artist. You pictured a man, right? Probably a white man. Probably a man in his thirties, forties or even older. Very probably a man dressed in a t-shirt and cargo pants, a bit like a landscape gardener. Youth and good looks tend not to matter overly in the electronic world. It’s just one of the aspects that make it such a positive space to create.
„Romance“ von Fontaines D.C.: “Falling in love at the end of the world”
Als die irische Band Fontaines D.C. 2019 mit ihrem Debütalbum „Dogrel“ auf der Bildfläche erschien, war sie der Traum eines jeden Musikjournalisten und Festival-Bookers. Sie hatten alles: jugendliche, rastlose Energie, Punk-Sensibilität, einen charismatischen Frontmann, der schnell als die Stimme seiner Generation gepriesen wurde, und Headliner-Potenzial. Vor allem aber hatten sie großartige Songs.
Fontaines D.C. ’s „Romance“: “Falling in love at the end of the world”
When they burst onto the scene in 2019 with their debut album “Dogrel”, Irish band Fontaines D.C. were a music journalist and festival booker’s dream. They had it all: youthful restless energy, punk sensibilities, charismatic frontman who quickly found himself lauded as the voice of his generation, headliner potential. Most importantly, they had great songs.
Club Classics: “Brat”, das neue Album von Charli XCX
Auch im Jahr 2024 gibt es noch diese seltsamen, aber weit verbreiteten Vorurteile gegenüber elektronischer Tanzmusik. Erstens: dass es sich um ein minderwertiges Genre handelt, das weniger musikalische „Fähigkeiten“ erfordert als Rock oder Pop. Zweitens: Dance kann, anders als andere Genres, keine emotionale Wahrheit ausdrücken.
Club Classics: “Brat” by Charli XCX
Some strange but pervasive beliefs continue to surround dance music in 2024. One: that it’s a lesser genre, requiring fewer musical “chops” to create than rock or pop. Two: dance music can’t express emotional truth like other genres. Sure, you can pop a pill and get high to it, but the emotional element is seen as external to the music, something only the listener brings. Three – and this one’s more of a whisper – women can’t succeed as dance artists.
“Poet trapped inside the body of a finance guy”? Taylor Swifts “The Tortured Poets Department“
Es ist Taylor Swifts Welt, und ob es uns gefällt oder nicht, wir leben alle in ihr. In einer Branche, die immer noch von Frauenfeindlichkeit geprägt ist, sollte Swifts weltweite Dominanz in den Album- und Single-Charts, im Äther, in den Medien und in der Live-Musikszene für Feministinnen ein Grund zum Feiern sein. Es sieht auch nicht so aus, als würde die Ära Swift in naher Zukunft zu Ende gehen.
“Poet trapped inside the body of a finance guy”? Taylor Swift and “The Tortured Poets Department“
It’s Taylor Swift’s world right now and like it or not, we’re all living in it. In an industry still tainted by misogyny, Swift’s global domination of album and singles charts, airwaves, media outlets and the live music scene should be a cause for feminist celebration. The Swift era shows no signs of coming to an end either.
Poem Of The Week: Home Thoughts, From Abroad By Robert Browning (1812-1889)
arts Home Thoughts, from Abroad Oh, to be in England Now that April's there, And whoever wakes in England Sees, some morning, unaware, That the lowest boughs and the brushwood sheaf Round the elm-tree bole are in tiny leaf, While the chaffinch sings on the orchard bough In England—now! And after April, when May follows, And the whitethroat builds, and all the swallows! Hark, where my blossomed pear-tree in the hedge Leans to the field and scatters on the clover Blossoms and dewdrops—at the...
Review: Stoking The Fire - Oluwale Now
arts An Anthology Of Poetry, Prose And Artwork Responding To The Story Of David Oluwale The sheer colour and vitality of Leeds’ annual West Indian Carnival, and of the exponents of cultural identity in all of its dynamism, its beautiful, restless energy, endorses the patchwork pageant of integration that mostly seems to work in despite.
Poem Of The Week: Anthem By Kirun Kapur
arts Anthem Love begins in a country Where oranges weep sweetness And men piss in the street. Your hands are forever binding Black strands in a plait. Your mother’s Childhood friend has steeped Your skin in coconut oil, tucked Her daughter beside you – the night Is a womb, live with twins. Heat’s body presses every body. Sharp chop of your uncle’s cough Clocks the hours; your sister’s washing, The rush of your thoughts. Morning Is nine glass bangles hoisting sacks Of sugar from the floor.
A Glimpse of the Light: Mozart Requiem At Huddersfield
arts Review Requiem, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart O Choruscans Lux Stellarum, Hildegard von Bingen, arr. Ellie Slorach. Ave Verum Corpus, William Byrd. Ave Verum Corpus, Re-imagined, Roderick Williams, after William Byrd. Starburst, Jessie Montgomery, orchestrated by Jannina Norpoth.
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