Volume 1, Issue 2 – October 2017
Riffs: Experimental writing on popular music
Issue 1 Vol. 2, October 2017, edited by Dr Simon Barber, Birmingham City University (UK)
A song can be about anything
About peace or war, or the sins of industry
Or the discontents of fame, or of obscurity
Or how we first met, on the warmest day
And how I hadn’t planned to love someone until you came
Or how we survived on happiness and sleeping on the floor
Or how you used to love me but you don’t even know me anymore
– Dan Wilson, ‘A Song Can Be About Anything’ from Love Without Fear
Riffs-Vol1Iss2-Oct2017Front cover image: Brian David Stevens. Design by Beth Kane.
Simon Barber – Editorial
Brian David Stevens – Dropping Pebbles
Tom Pierard – Mimesis (1, 2 & 3)
Tom Wilson – About About: A Songwriter’s perspective
Camila Aisa – UNBROKEN CHAINS: the fascination of psychedelia with bicycles and the long strange trips that ensued
Daniel Fardon – SONG-PEACE-WAR-SINS-INDUSTRY-DISCONTENT-FAME-OBSCURITY
Fiamma Mozzetta – El Tren Fantasma: A Familiar Journey into Unknown Narratives
Adriano Tedde – Bone Machine (1992). What the hell is Tom Waits singing about?
Leon Clowes – How can you sing a song if you have no voice? Disabled musicians, activism, technology, and the authenticity of creativity
Katie Rochow – Aotearoa: Picturing the lyrics of the land