Knees up Mao Zedong
In the 1970s, composer Cornelius Cardew went from avant-garde experiments to songs that aimed to speak directly to workers in struggle. He failed miserably then, but perhaps he’s worth listening to again?
16 Articles by:
Robert Barry
Robert Barry is a freelance writer and composer. His latest book is Compact Disc (Bloomsbury, 2020).
Property Will Eat Itself
The transformation of industrial spaces into clubs and then into flats in cities like Manchester has created a strange ouroboros of self-consuming development.
The War Against Noise
Despite doomed patrician attempts to shut it out, noise can never entirely be avoided — and a level of ‘social noise’ is part of convivial life.
Lewisham’s Rebel Music
In South East London, sound systems have long formed a part of political resistance. A music festival in Lewisham taps into that history.
Leaving the Music Industry
Thirty years ago, the KLF staged a dramatic attack on the music business at the 1992 Brit Awards. How political was that gesture in retrospect, and could we see its like again?
Conduct Yourself!
A revolution in classical music in the early Soviet Union began with getting rid of the boss – the conductor.
One Britain Tunnel Vision
The embarrassing ‘One Britain One Nation’ day for schools, with its notorious song, passed with hardly any participation – but its existence showed a growing revisionism in the concept of ‘British values’.
A Shared World
The German-French duo Stereo Total, whose member Françoise Cactus died in February, made charming, cheap, and democratic music out of the wreckage of post-Wall Berlin.
Repetitive Beats
The Design Museum’s show Electronic showcases how a once-revolutionary music has become bourgeois and clichéd, but contains scattered hints at what was once possible.
Remembering Ennio Morricone
Ennio Morricone’s melodic writing was among the most distinctive in cinematic history – but beyond these classics, ‘The Maestro’ was also committed to the radical democratisation of music.
Rhythm Knows No Borders
The Home Office’s new rules for touring musicians inflict a harsh regime on musical workers, and try to put borders around sound. It won’t work.
Spiral Scratch
The ‘Scratch Orchestra’ founded in the 1970s by composer Cornelius Cardew was an experiment in democratic music-making, turning the orchestra into the microcosm of a new society.
There are Other Worlds (They Have Not Told You Of)
The Apollo landings, however much they were driven by militarism, brought about a wave of cosmic dreaming, where people on earth dreamed of new possible worlds.
Decolonising Punk
An interview on race, punk and hating Winston Churchill, with the self-described ‘Black Fleetwood Mac’, Big Joanie.
Can We Imagine a Socialist Spotify?
Streaming services are hastening music’s subservience to advertising and ripping off musicians — but they could serve more utopian purposes.
Pop & Populism
The UK singles chart has long been a barometer of popular desires. Today, it’s telling us that everything is up for grabs.