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Thursday 24 October 2019

Old Swan


The Keith Haring exhibition at Tate Liverpool is a worth a visit if you're in the North West of England, a really well put together collection of his work, from his early chalk on paper art to large pieces on tarpaulin and the huge, thirty foot long mural Matrix (a section of which is above). I was a big fan of his cartoon/graffiti/comic book art in the mid to late 80s and seeing it all close up was exciting. Liverpool has changed so much since I was a student there in the late 80s/early 90s, the city centre transformed (like so many other cities) but it also still feels like Liverpool, a city with a definite sense of place and its own culture.

Back in 2017 Mark Lanegan collected the remixes commissioned for his album Gargoyle. Among them were two remixes of Beehive by Andrew Weatherall, a version of Nocturne by Adrian Sherwood and this one by Pye Corner Audio. I must have overlooked this one at the time- when I pulled the record out recently I couldn't recall anything about it which was a mistake- this is dark, electro- noir with Lanegan's voice surrounded by a storm of drums and synths. Old Swan is an inner city part of Liverpool, a mainly streets of terraced houses. I don't know if it has anything to do with Mark Lanegan's Old Swan- coincidence probably.

Old Swan (Pye Corner Audio Remix)

Mark Lanegan has a new album out, Somebody's Knocking, which I haven't heard yet but the reviews are good. Anther one to add to the never ending list.

2 comments:

Brian said...

I'm not sure if it's like this in your part of the world, but I feel like Haring is back. There are at least two major clothing chains selling T-shirts of his works, and I have seen kids my son's age (middle school) wearing them. The greats never really die. Speaking of greats, Lanegan is at it again, and we here in Seattle claim him as our own.

Adam Turner said...

This exhibition is definitely part of a renaissance. There's an event Dave Haslam is putting together coming up, An Afternoon Without Keith Haring, which looks good. Graffiti, interviews, music etc.