Hello! Thank you for signing up to, or stumbling on, this no-news-newsletter written by me, Ashley Clark. If you do choose to subscribe—and it’s free—you’ll receive bulletins about whatever’s on my mind: usually some combination of art/film/music/literature/football. If that sounds good, hit the button!
First up this week, I’d like to share some writing on Steve McQueen’s five-film anthology Small Axe. It accompanies the Blu-ray edition of the series released last month by Criterion (where, if you don’t know, I work as curatorial director). The piece is now up online, and I’m proud of it. To dive back into these films for the first time since late 2020, when they were first broadcast, was a powerful, challenging and ultimately invigorating experience. Similar can be said for the process of writing the essay, and I was fortunate to have Andrew Chan (author of a forthcoming can’t-possibly-not-be-brilliant book on Mariah Carey—pre-order here!) on board as my editor. At 4000 words, it’s a bit of a beast, but it still only really scratches the surface of what I feel to be among the most remarkable recent achievements in filmmaking, British or otherwise. You can read it here!
I’ve written here before about the uncanny joys of sample recognition, and the sad recent passing of pianist Ahmad Jamal made me think of another such example: the instantly haunting, five-second sonic shard that, four minutes and fifty-six seconds in, pierces through “I Love Music”, the second track on the Ahmad Jamal Trio’s 1970 LP “The Awakening”.
This sample, of course, forms the rolling melodic basis of Nas’s “The World Is Yours”, track four from 1994’s “Illmatic” (it’s hardly a revolutionary opinion, but it still gets my vote for greatest hip hop record ever made.) The sample was devised by producer Pete Rock, and its visionary nature—what an ear from Pete!!—blows my mind every time I hear it. Here’s a super-brief but very cool video which breaks down the rest of the samples which make up the track’s foundation.
Fair play to the Just Stop Oil protestor Eddie Whittingham, who dramatically gatecrashed a snooker match last month at the Crucible Theater armed with a bag of, perhaps, paprika?—maybe this direct action will ultimately help his and his colleagues’ cause, which is a good one. But the above photograph made me laugh hysterically, and still does. I couldn’t decide whether it looked more like a deleted scene from Peep Show—what has Jez (Robert Webb) got himself into now?—or a screengrab from some high-concept 80s music video for Bronski Beat or Erasure. I know what you’re thinking: “Stop!” And I’m only too happy to oblige. Here’s the most fabulously literal music video I’ve ever seen:
Before I go, some expectation setting. I had suggested as much in a recent post, but it was always likely that once I’d spared myself the obligation to publish weekly, I’d enjoy that taste of freedom quite a bit. (Why do writers torture ourselves so much for no reason.) As such, from this moment on, until the next time I change my mind, “Keeping Up” will be published whenever I feel like it! Don’t scramble to unsubscribe, because it’s likely that I will feel like it on a semi-regular basis, but the rhythm will certainly change. Thank you, as ever, for reading and subscribing. I really do appreciate it.
Here’s a laid-back Floridian beach banger (thanks for the tip, Be With Records) to see you out. Until next time!
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Oh dear lord, that crucible photograph!
I have a screening coming up in that room and I will feel massively disappointed if there isn't equivalent drama.