People respond to International crises and moral dilemmas in different ways. I know some for example who, faced with the looming prospect of the second Gulf War - GW2 as were encouraged to call it - began a self-imposed media blackout. I belong psychologically to the other camp – I leave my radio and sometimes TV on all night. Perhaps this derives from spending much of my childhood on the other side of the world and therefore feeling that there is always something going on elsewhere or maybe it’s the trauma of losing after-school TV to the Watergate Scandal coverage back then.
In any case it doesn’t seem to concern me that I ‘m not conscious for most of it – when I was a teenager I used to listen to ABCFM in my sleep hoping to subconsciously ingest the great classics. So for me international crises and moral dilemmas, during the night at least, induce a kind of quasi-insomnia – a half world of words and images. This piece is about that world.
A live record from the legendary Diamanda Galás finds the artist exploring the outer fringes of pop with only her voice and a piano. Bandcamp New & Notable Mar 30, 2024