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Observer Music Monthly

Observer Music Monthly

The Observer Music Monthly was launched in 2003 as a monthly supplement to The Observer newspaper. It ceased publication in January 2010.

57 articles

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Three Lions: Fat Les and 'Jerusalem'

Report and Interview by Andrew Smith, Observer Music Monthly, 21 May 2000

After scoring with their World Cup hit 'Vindaloo', Damien Hirst, Keith Allen and Alex James are back with the official song for Euro 2000. But ...

Moby: Definitely Moby

Profile and Interview by Andrew Smith, Observer Music Monthly, 15 October 2000

"I was a rigid punk rock Marxist. Then I was a rigid vegan dance music Christian." Today, he's loosened up and become one of the ...

Missy Elliott: Missy in Action: Missy Elliott

Profile and Interview by Ted Kessler, Observer Music Monthly, 5 August 2001

As a child, Missy Elliott sent daily letters and tapes to her heroes Michael and Janet Jackson, asking them to save her from abuse and ...

Yoko Ono: Just imagine: Yoko Ono

Interview by Andrew Smith, Observer Music Monthly, 4 November 2001

In the '60s, Yoko Ono married John Lennon and campaigned for peace in Vietnam. More than 30 years on, she's still irrevocably linked to her ...

So Solid Crew: Ghetto Blasters: So Solid Crew

Profile and Interview by Andrew Smith, Observer Music Monthly, 25 November 2001

SHOTS RANG OUT and a man collapsed in a heap near the dance floor. Another lay slumped, bleeding profusely, in a doorway near the toilet. ...

Elastica Limits

Profile and Interview by Andrew Smith, Observer Music Monthly, 10 March 2002

As Britpop's queen, she had everything: In Elastica, she had a best-selling group and in Damon Albarn, a boyfriend lusted after by thousands. But then ...

Kurt Cobain, Nirvana: The Last Star: Kurt Cobain

Essay by Barney Hoskyns, Observer Music Monthly, June 2002

Why Kurt Cobain's legacy is worth fighting – or at least waiting – for ...

Norman Jay: Minister of Sound

Profile and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, Observer Music Monthly, 23 June 2002

It's a long way from illegal raves to Buckingham Palace. But Norman Jay, the godfather of club culture, has been there and done that – ...

Cryin' the Blues

Overview by Charles Shaar Murray, Observer Music Monthly, 16 November 2003

In September 2002, the US Congress officially designated 2003 as 'The Year Of The Blues.' Why this year of all years? ...

Beyoncé, Destiny's Child: Beyoncé: Uh-Oh! Uh-Oh! Uh-Oh!

Interview by Simon Garfield, Observer Music Monthly, 14 December 2003

It was the year of R'n'B, and of the song. Above all, it was the year of Beyoncé Knowles, the Destiny's Child diva whose solo ...

The Darkness: Band of 2003

Report and Interview by Tom Cox, Observer Music Monthly, 14 December 2003

"IT'S GOING TO BE a bit like having sex in front of your parents – you know, that moment when you're a teenager and you've ...

James Brown: Beat The Devil: James Brown's Demons

Profile by James Maycock, Observer Music Monthly, February 2004

DAMN! LIFE WAS sweet and dandy for the Godfather of Soul in the last few years. But James Brown's slippin' and slidin' once again – ...

Lambchop: Aw C'mon/No You C'mon

Review by Ben Thompson, Observer Music Monthly, 1 February 2004

LIKE OUTKAST'S Speakerboxx/ The Love Below, the eighth album by Nashville's premier artisan country/ soul collective is a double-disc set designed to prompt endless speculation ...

OutKast: Superfunk Brothers

Profile and Interview by Chris Campion, Observer Music Monthly, 22 February 2004

Outkast are a rap act like no other - as interested in Kate Bush as in hardcore hip hop, and as likely to be found ...

N.E.R.D.: N*E*R*D: Fly or Die (Virgin)****

Review by Ben Thompson, Observer Music Monthly, 21 March 2004

IF ITS ILLUSTRIOUS predecessor – 2001's visionary soft-porn psychedelic soul masterpiece In Search of... – was anything to go by, the release of a new ...

Patti Smith: Trampin' (Columbia)

Review by Charles Shaar Murray, Observer Music Monthly, 21 March 2004

NINE ALBUMS IN just under thirty years: no-one can accuse Patti Smith of chronic overproduction or artistic profligacy. ...

Nick Drake: Stranger To The World

Retrospective and Interview by Pete Paphides, Observer Music Monthly, 25 April 2004

Nick Drake's rare talent was almost ignored in his brief lifetime. Since his suicide 30 years ago, his legend has grown and now the discovery ...

Inside Grime

Profile and Interview by Chris Campion, Observer Music Monthly, 23 May 2004

FRIDAY NIGHT AT Pals Bar & Brasserie in Croydon. An idolatrous battle cry curls through the venue. "You doan wanna war wid whoo? War wid ...

Massive Attack: Blue Lines

Review by Ben Thompson, Observer Music Monthly, 20 June 2004

FROM THE METROPOLITAN angst of 'Safe from Harm' - "If you hurt what's mine, I'll sure as hell retaliate" - to the insistent shaken bottle-top ...

Talk Talk: Spirit Of Eden: Talk Talk

Review by Barney Hoskyns, Observer Music Monthly, 20 June 2004

THE SELF-REINVENTION of Mark Hollis was one of the more startling musical events of the late '80s. ...

In a Spin

Comment by Pete Paphides, Observer Music Monthly, 18 July 2004

Will iTunes really kill off the record shop? Perhaps not – after all, digital information isn't something you can have and hold. And, says Peter ...

Bob Dylan: Is It Rolling Bob?: A Reggae Tribute to Bob Dylan

Review by Michael Gray, Observer Music Monthly, 15 August 2004

THE SUBTITLE CONFESSES that all we have here is a concept album – that despite the liner notes claiming that "Jamaica was into Bob Dylan", ...

Metallica: Monster Mash

Film/DVD/TV Review by Charles Shaar Murray, Observer Music Monthly, 19 September 2004

Metallica: Some kind of Monster (Released: October 1) ...

Ray Charles: Brother Ray in Vision

Comment by Charles Shaar Murray, Observer Music Monthly, 14 November 2004

AT A RECENT MOVIE screening, I bumped into a publisher friend who specialises in music biographies. Every so often, he told me, some film production ...

Nirvana: With the Lights Out (DGC)

Review by Charles Shaar Murray, Observer Music Monthly, 12 December 2004

THE DOMINANT MOTIF of Nineties rock was backward time travel. In the UK, the likes of Supergrass and Oasis seemed to have discovered The Beatles ...

Alpha Blondy, Salif Keita, Youssou N'Dour, Orchestra Baobab, Oumou Sangare: Various Artists: 20 Years History – The Very Best of Syllart Productions

Review by Charlie Gillett, Observer Music Monthly, 21 December 2004

Ibrahim Sylla is African music's answer to the likes of Berry Gordy. Charlie Gillett pays homage to the man whose influence is felt from Paris ...

Darko Rundek and Cargo Orkestar: Ruke

Review by Charlie Gillett, Observer Music Monthly, Summer 2004

IF ONE DAY I suddenly fall to the ground in two pieces, the cause of my demise will be put down to a lifetime of ...

Moogers And Shakers

Film/DVD/TV Review by Charles Shaar Murray, Observer Music Monthly, 23 January 2005

THE NAME ACTUALLY rhymes with 'vogue,' but the incorrect phonetic pronunciation somehow seems more appropriate to the noises made by the eponymous instrument created in ...

Salif Keita, Youssou N'Dour: Various Artists: Golden Afrique, Vol 1

Review by Charlie Gillett, Observer Music Monthly, February 2005

MOST OF THESE wonderfully atmospheric, seminal recordings were made in West Africa during the 1970s, a decade when a regime change was happening in recording ...

Camille: Le Fil (Bout du Fil)

Review by Charlie Gillett, Observer Music Monthly, April 2005

AT THE TIME of receiving this record, I had never heard of Camille before, and knew only that she is French. The photo on the ...

Turbonegro: Clowns Of Evil Go on the Rampage

Report and Interview by Chris Campion, Observer Music Monthly, May 2005

THE STREETS OF Hamburg are awash with piss and broken bottles and cock-eyed sailor boys with queer intentions. A two thousand-strong army of Turbonegro fans ...

Patti Smith: 'Even As A Child, I Felt Like An Alien'

Profile and Interview by Simon Reynolds, Observer Music Monthly, 22 May 2005

PATTI SMITH today looks as striking as the 28-year-old instant icon who defiantly out-stared the viewer from the cover of Horses. With her strong nose ...

Circulus: If You Go Down to the Woods Today

Profile and Interview by Tom Cox, Observer Music Monthly, 19 June 2005

If you go down to the woods today... then you're sure to meet Britain's finest neo-medieval psychedelic folk-rock band. Or you are if you're author ...

Various Artists: Balkan Beats (EastBlock)

Review by Charlie Gillett, Observer Music Monthly, July 2005

THIS IS THE ALBUM I needed when I played records at the Big Chill for the first time, two years ago. ...

50 Cent: Right on the Money

Profile and Interview by Chris Campion, Observer Music Monthly, 21 August 2005

He's the top-selling artist in the world, his life story is being filmed by an Oscar-nominated director and he's moved on from being a rap ...

Madonna: Looks Good on the Dancefloor

Interview by Simon Garfield, Observer Music Monthly, 20 November 2005

With 'Hung Up' at number one and her new album also set to storm to the top of the charts, Madonna has taken back her ...

U2

Interview by Paul Morley, Observer Music Monthly, December 2005

1: IN A VAST penthouse suite on top of a hotel that could be anywhere in the world overlooking a city that seems to shimmer ...

Prince: The Special One: The Return of Prince

Profile by Barney Hoskyns, Observer Music Monthly, February 2006

This is a previously unpublished version of a cover story for the Observer Music Monthly. ...

Sly & the Family Stone: Looking at the Devil: Sly Stone and There's a Riot Goin' On

Retrospective by Barney Hoskyns, Observer Music Monthly, March 2006

DICK CAVETT didn't know what had hit him. The mild-mannered, impeccably liberal TV host had had some far-out guests on his ABC talk show, but ...

Tiny Tim: Hello Stranger: Tiny Tim

Retrospective by Chris Campion, Observer Music Monthly, September 2006

HE WAS A GOTHIC APPARITION in a grey plaid jacket, a mane of wiry black hair spilling over the shoulders. His face, powdered and blotchy, ...

Arcade Fire: Keep the Faith: The Arcade Fire

Profile and Interview by Paul Morley, Observer Music Monthly, 18 March 2007

Love, death, religion, war: Arcade Fire explore such epic themes in so thrilling a fashion that critics, fans and their rock star peers find themselves ...

Devendra Banhart: Stranger than Folk: Devendra Banhart

Profile and Interview by Chris Campion, Observer Music Monthly, 12 August 2007

IN A HOUSE on a hill, in a canyon near L.A., Devendra Banhart scatters popcorn on the earth like seed. "This is for the hairs," ...

The Good Bad & The Queen: The Good, the Bad & The Queen: The Good, the Bad & The Queen

Comment by Simon Reynolds, Observer Music Monthly, 9 December 2007

Observer Music Monthly's album of the year 2007 IN RECENT YEARS, Damon Albarn has cut a David Byrne-like figure. With his own label that excavates worthy ...

Goldfrapp Get It Together In The Country: Seventh Tree

Review by Barney Hoskyns, Observer Music Monthly, February 2008

The duo Goldfrapp, huge in their native Britain, have confounded fans of their staple glam-disco sound with the "psychedelic folk" of their new album. ...

Scarlett Johansson, Tom Waits: Scarlett Johansson: Anywhere I Lay My Head (Atco)

Review by Barney Hoskyns, Observer Music Monthly, May 2008

WHEN TOM WAITS started his musical apprenticeship in the LA of the early 1970s, he harbored secret Tin Pan Alley fantasies of having his work ...

My Bloody Valentine: Daydream Believers: My Bloody Valentine

Retrospective and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, Observer Music Monthly, 18 May 2008

BACK IN DECEMBER 1991, when My Bloody Valentine embarked on a British tour to promote Loveless, their "difficult" second album and sonic masterpiece, the four-piece ...

Various Artists: Nigeria Special: Modern Highlife, Afro-Sounds & Nigerian Blues, 1970-76 (Soundway)

Review by Charlie Gillett, Observer Music Monthly, June 2008

IT WOULD have been difficult to find a way to hear this music in the UK back in the early 1970s – nobody was playing ...

El Mamouni, Rajery, Sissoko: Sissoko, El Mamouni, Rajery: 3MA (Contre Jour)

Review by Charlie Gillett, Observer Music Monthly, August 2008

GIVEN THE CHOICE of listening for the first time to new albums by two unknown artists, one instrumental, the other vocal, I instinctively opt for ...

Julian Cope: Stone me!

Interview by Jon Savage, Observer Music Monthly, 10 August 2008

Julian Cope believes in music made by outsiders for outsiders. Now 50, and still incandescent with his passions for Krautrock and stone circles, he tells ...

Katy Perry: Kiss Me, Katy

Interview by Sheryl Garratt, Observer Music Monthly, 10 August 2008

Katy Perry's 'I Kissed a Girl' is a runaway hit in the States – and she's now repeating that success over here. Sheryl Garratt caught ...

Buffalo Springfield, Crazy Horse, Crosby Stills Nash & Young, Neil Young: Neil Young: Against the Tide

Retrospective and Interview by Mark Cooper, Observer Music Monthly, 11 October 2008

Charles Manson, the Iraq war, a near fatal aneurysm: Neil Young has spent five decades fighting anything foolish enough to get in his way. On ...

Oumou Sangare: Seya

Review by Charlie Gillett, Observer Music Monthly, 15 February 2009

SO WHY, with more than 50 African countries to choose from, do we keep returning to the music of Mali? Surely there must be other ...

The Mamas and The Papas, John Phillips: King of the Wild Frontier: Papa John Phillips

Retrospective and Interview by Chris Campion, Observer Music Monthly, 15 March 2009

IN AUGUST 1977, John Phillips was supposed to be recording the album with Keith Richards that would mark his comeback. ...

Various Artists: Woodstock 40 (Rhino)

Review by Barney Hoskyns, Observer Music Monthly, July 2009

WE ARE ALL so inured these days to the business of rock festivals – sponsored, multi-generational, beamed into our living rooms – that it's difficult ...

Bat for Lashes: "She's not wicked, nor kooky. And don't tell her she's like Tori Amos…"

Profile and Interview by Chris Campion, Observer Music Monthly, 6 September 2009

NATASHA KHAN does not feel herself. She is standing in the living room of a cramped Brooklyn apartment on a frosty January morning. If first ...

The Thrill Of It All: The Advent of MP3 Blogs

Essay by Nick Hornby, Observer Music Monthly, 6 September 2009

MY FIRST NOVEL, High Fidelity, was published in 1995, and shortly afterwards, I embarked upon my first American book tour. I took with me a ...

Chipmunk, Dizzee Rascal, N-Dubz, Taio Cruz, Tinchy Stryder: N-Dubz and The Second Coming of Brit Pop

Overview by Ben Thompson, Observer Music Monthly, 1 November 2009

It has been a long, rocky road for homegrown urban music in the UK, but this year N-Dubz and a close-knit group of stars have ...

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