John Lewis
John Lewis has written about music and the arts since the mid-'90s. He wrote for Time Out London between 1998-2007, where he ended up editing the music section, and has since written for Uncut, The Guardian, Metro, The Times, The Independent on Sunday, the Financial Times, The Scotsman, Sight & Sound, the Illustrated London News, Glastonbury Free Press, Time Out New York and ThePoke.com. He co-edited 1000 Songs To Hear Before You Die, co-wrote The Bluffer's Guide To Jazz and has put together dozens of compilation albums for labels, including EMI, Outcaste and Nascente. He is married and lives in east London with two children and two cats. When not writing about music, he edits books on cars, civil engineering and political history for a publishing house, plays the piano for weddings and private parties, and cooks a mean vegetable biryani.
ats. When not writing about music, he edits books on cars, civil engineering and political history for a publishing house, plays the piano for weddings and private parties, and cooks a mean vegetable biryani.
27 articles
List of articles in the library by artist
Amadou and Mariam: Amadou & Mariam: Afro Vision
Profile and Interview by John Lewis, Hotline, February 2009
Amadou and Mariam, the blind couple of Mali, talk to John Lewis about Led Zeppelin, Damon Albarn and feeling shy. ...
Sleeve and programme notes by John Lewis, Barbican show programme, 28 June 2013
IN MANY WAYS, Laurie Anderson and the Kronos Quartet come from very different worlds, and not just because they're based on different sides of the ...
Arctic Monkeys: Alex Turner: "Tupac's 'California Love' is my karaoke tune of choice"
Profile and Interview by John Lewis, Metro, 6 June 2011
Arctic Monkeys frontman Alex Turner talks to Metro about how living in the US made the band's new album Suck It and See sound more ...
Profile by John Lewis, Populous, May 2014
IF YOU WANT an embodiment of the contradictions that seem to define Beyoncé Knowles, just listen to her 2008 anthem 'Single Ladies'. Sonically, it's one ...
Essay by John Lewis, Guardian, The, 6 October 2016
A generation of jazz musicians has grown up with hip-hop in its blood. The result is the thrilling reinvention of a genre that has been ...
Interview by John Lewis, Hotline, November 2008
Jarvis Cocker could tell you all about glaciers but instead this month he's choosing to celebrate one of Britain's finest independent record labels. John Lewis ...
Ornette Coleman, The Roots: The Roots with Ornette Coleman: Royal Festival Hall, London
Live Review by John Lewis, Guardian, The, 17 June 2009
IT SEEMS fitting that Philadelphia hip-hoppers the Roots should help kick off Ornette Coleman's Meltdown festival. ...
Review by John Lewis, Metro, 31 May 2013
IF SURREY DJ outfit Disclosure illustrate anything, it's the endlessly cyclical nature of dance music. ...
Review by John Lewis, Metro, 1 February 2013
THE TENTH ALBUM from Eels shows that, while they may have fallen out of the limelight, their music is as sharp as ever. ...
Duke Ellington, Sun Ra: The secret history of the jazz greats who were freemasons
Essay by John Lewis, Guardian, The, 2 July 2014
Jazz and freemasonry are unlikely bedfellows, but in the 1950s, the secret society became a support network for musicians and the world's largest fraternity for ...
Review by John Lewis, Metro, 11 January 2013
EVERYTHING EVERYTHING follow up their 2010 Mercury nominated debut Man Alive with Arc – and the results are both pleasingly complex and maddeningly simple. ...
Profile and Interview by John Lewis, Hotline, May 2010
Paloma Faith talks to John Lewis about art, artifice, sadism and feminism. ...
Review by John Lewis, Metro, 30 September 2011
Feist's direct, simple and appealingly childlike melodies shine throughout latest album. ...
Frightened Rabbit: "We were never cold enough to be art school"
Profile and Interview by John Lewis, Metro, 7 February 2013
Frightened Rabbit's Scott Hutchison talks about swearing, not being an art school band and their new album Pedestrian Verse. ...
Hayseed Dixie: Meet… John Wheeler
Profile and Interview by John Lewis, Hotline, January 2009
John Lewis talks to the Hayseed Dixie frontman turned solo comedy troubadour ...
Sharon Jones: Make A Date: Sharon Jones
Report and Interview by John Lewis, Metro, 1 March 2012
Sharon Jones of the Dap Kings is enjoying the life of the late-flowering soul diva. ...
Kaiser Chiefs: Hail to the Chiefs
Profile and Interview by John Lewis, Hotline, October 2008
With their third album about to hit stores, the Kaiser Chiefs tell John Lewis about their dancefloor-filling new sound. ...
Profile and Interview by John Lewis, Hotline, May 2009
Synth-pop queen Ladyhawke, aka New Zealander Pip Brown, talks to John Lewis from the back seat of a New York taxi. ...
Lil' Kim: The hip hop star is a little big woman in a man's world
Interview by John Lewis, Metro, 11 July 2013
"I'M A GIRLY GIRL," says Lil Kim. "I'm strong but I'm very timid. Very dainty." This, of course, is the same Lil Kim who wrote ...
Profile and Interview by John Lewis, Hotline, September 2009
Rave pioneers Orbital were the surprise hit of this summer's festivals. They tell John Lewis about finding fresh inspiration. ...
The Roots: How I Got Over (Mercury/Def Jam)
Review by John Lewis, Metro, 27 June 2010
PHILADELPHIA'S ROOTS aren't really like any other hip hop acts. They're a proper live band, for starters (you might have seen them guesting as the ...
Review by John Lewis, Metro, 11 September 2011
SINGER/SONGWRITER Ed Sheeran is a 20-year-old Prince Harry lookalike from Suffolk who somehow straddles the worlds of folksy MOR and hip hop. ...
The Unthanks: Folk is the new punk
Profile and Interview by John Lewis, Hotline, October 2009
The Unthanks have made fans of people who never thought they'd like folk. The secret of their success? Raw authenticity. John Lewis tells how folk ...
Interview by John Lewis, Hotline, November 2008
50 this year and touring his best album in decades, the Modfather talks to John Lewis about Algerian passions, drunken binges and a wariness of ...
Wild Beasts: Masculinity is so unnatural
Profile and Interview by John Lewis, Metro, 21 February 2014
"MACHISMO IS basically a drag act," says Wild Beasts' frontman Tom Fleming. "There's a gross swagger that usually accompanies masculinity, and that's something that's learned ...
Cassandra Wilson: Cassanda Wilson: Breathing new life into sound
Profile and Interview by John Lewis, Metro, 22 November 2010
Jazz great Cassandra Wilson tells Metro how British history has left its mark on the genre and how she has followed its ley lines. ...
John Zorn: Zorn@60: John Zorn and guests including Mike Patton and Marc Ribot
Sleeve and programme notes by John Lewis, Barbican show programme, 12 July 2013
FOR THOSE OF US who've grown up listening to his music, it seems remarkable that John Zorn is celebrating his 60th birthday. ...
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