From last month’s jaunt to the vibrant plant Pop we’ve careered to the periphery of music’s vast universe to uncover more outsiders and edgy agitators intent on penetrating our collective subconscious. This month, we bring you a selection of artists who provoke, be that minds, conversation or lawsuits, and in turn hope it inspires you to action, in whatever form that may take. Perpetual crusader M.I.A. leads the pack, paving the way for our own mini uprising. Vive la revolution!
Find Clash Issue 90 in your local newsagent, or buy it via PayPal below.
Featured in issue 90 of Clash magazine…
Since we last met M.I.A., a fierce custody battle, a bird-flipping Super Bowl and even a name change have shaped the unflinching artist’s latest album, ‘Matangi’. Clash digs deeper into her inquisitive mind to discover the revelations and inspirations that consumed 2013, and learn the truth behind her musical collaboration with Julian Assange.
On the promo campaign for their third and final album, ‘In Utero’, Nirvana spent the day in New York with photographer Jesse Frohman, who captured the trio in uniquely intimate circumstances, and fated singer Kurt Cobain in a relaxed yet revealing state of mind. Here, Frohman remembers that unforgettable November day.
Few musicians of recent times have been quite as disillusioned as Willis Earl Beal. Many profess their despondency towards a money-orientated industry, the downsides of fame and often a loss of freedom in the face of their successes. Willis Earl Beal expresses his revulsion with such vigour that you wonder why he’s playing the game at all. Meet the reluctant realist as he talks to Clash.
LETTERS TO THE EDGE
What would you write, if you could send a letter to your hero of years gone by? The paragon of your personal life. Someone who will never know how much they affected and influenced all that you are, regardless of the years, miles and opportunities (or lack thereof) that separated your existences like an infinite chasm of space, time and dust. We asked three musicians - Gudrun Gut, Money’s Jamie Lee, and Optimo’s JD Twitch - this very question, and present the letters we received in response.
GENESIS P-ORRIDGE
Meet visual artist, musician and ‘cultural engineer’, Genesis P-Orridge: an identity shifting prankster, poet and provocateur; founder of industrial pioneers Throbbing Gristle, a progenitor of early rave with the band Psychic TV, creator of a quasi-occult magikal order, a veteran of commune living and self-imposed exile. For two decades, in collaboration with fellow artist, and now sadly deceased partner Lady Jaye, they have attempted to create a third being, the Pandrogyne, by undergoing multiple surgeries to physically resemble each other. It’s an extreme work about subverting gender, behaviour and ultimately the conjoining of two souls in love. It’s also a must-read.
What? You want more? Well, how about all this:
MAC DEMARCO strips off and flashes his…gap-toothed grin.
OMAR SOULEYMAN lifts the lid on the Syrian music scene.
We pay our respects to the late, great LOU REED.
JONWAYNE reveals the secret of balancing MC and production skills.
JOHNNY FLYNN on his biggest role to date.
Our five hot NEXT WAVE picks: DENAI MOORE, HAWK HOUSE, JUNGLE, LOLO and ROYAL BLOOD.
Ten things you never knew about BOB DYLAN.
And, in addition to our Online Reviews, there are a wealth of albums dissected in our reliable reviews section, including Lorde, Pusha T, Special Request, Midlake, Jake Bugg and many more.
Plus, there’s 20 pages of Clash Fashion, and the latest in the world of film.
Want more Clash, but on the go? Don’t forget the Clash App, available here.