Safi Bugel

Jan 24, 2025 | theguardian.com | Safi Bugel

In 1976, composer Mort Garson released Mother Earth’s Plantasia, an album of early electronic ditties designed to help listeners’ house plants grow. Though its horticultural facility is questionable, it became a cult classic among record collectors, beloved for its sweet, jaunty music as much as its concept. Propagation is also the raison d’être of Music to Grow Seeds By, a new cassette label that pairs a packet of seeds with a release.

Dec 27, 2024 | theguardian.com | Safi Bugel

From BarcelonaRecommended if you like Throbbing Gristle, Boy Harsher, PeladaUp next Headline London show in MayDame Area aren’t bothered about making hits – in fact, when the Spanish-Catalan electro-punk duo see a song catching on in their live shows, they might remove it from the set list. “We never want to be dependent on any one track,” says Silvia Konstance, who whispers, shouts and thrashes at drum pads alongside Viktor L Crux.

Dec 25, 2024 | theguardian.com | Safi Bugel |Stevie Chick |Michael Cragg |Elle Hunt |Ammar Kalia |Rebecca Q. Liu | +4 more

Charles Aznavour – For Me … FormidableThis year I completed Duolingo in French, but found myself no closer to being able to carry out what I would call a conversation. (Exchanging likes and dislikes doesn’t count.) I decided to go Paris to practise on some unsuspecting locals, procured via Hinge. One man proved surprisingly game: he not only spoke excellent English but was a self-described anglophile, more up to date than I am on UK politics and truly passionate about Marks & Spencer.

Nov 13, 2024 | theguardian.com | Ben Beaumont-Thomas |Safi Bugel |Ben Beaumont-Thomas

Roy Haynes, a drummer who was one of the last remaining musicians of jazz’s swing and bebop eras, has died aged 99. His daughter Leslie Haynes-Gilmore said he had died following a short illness. Haynes’s energetic style, which also encompassed fusion and avant-garde jazz, earned him the respect of many contemporaries across a career that began in the mid-1940s. He played with artists including Charlie Parker, Bud Powell, Sonny Rollins, Miles Davis, John Coltrane and dozens more.

Nov 8, 2024 | theguardian.com | Huw Baines |Ben Beaumont-Thomas |Safi Bugel |Lauren Martin |Alexis Petridis |Laura Snapes | +1 more

Patti Smith – Pissing in a River (1976)Chosen by Phoebe Lunny, singer/guitarist of Brighton duo Lambrini GirlsThis is so beautiful and heartfelt, but the lyricism is uncompromisingly Patti Smith. The expression “pissing in a river” captures the sense of recklessly pouring yourself into something that remains unmoved – maybe it will blow back into your eyes and sting, but you do it anyway.