Also can’t be emphasised how much this went hand in hand with the war on terror and Islamophobia. The liberal & cosmopolitan vibes of the first term were gone by 2001.

Yes, they definitely legitimised those views, both through their policies and willingness to entertain “legitimate concerns”. From the proudly bigoted Blunkett to the Ed Stone to Starmer, it’s all part of the same trajectory.

We’re very lucky that he was openly clueless about music but was happy to employ those who did.

That whole Virgin ambient series is so great, not least cos so little of it resembles what’s now marketed as ambient. Ocean of Sound and Jazz Satellites are personal touchstones.

He established his own language, but I love how he placed that in different contexts, eg pirate radio jungle, harmolodic funk, noisy Japanese prog etc. Very much focused on the future, challenging orthodoxy whether in the mainstream or experimental worlds.

Oh definitely. I really appreciate his ongoing interrogation of his own ideas, his openness to new approaches, the playful yet artistically curious bringing together of different musicians with Company etc

At the end of the day, noise is just sound and like anything else, it can be done well or not.

I am interested in asking artists about their motives and process, but ofc their’s isn’t the last word. As the DB comment shows, context is everything, and the Dada antics of the Dutch school are often more challenging to musicians and audiences than “out” sounds.

I do think too much emphasis can be placed on the intention behind noise being provocation. Noisy and dissonant textures just sound good.

Bailey wasn’t averse to playing harsh noises to annoy certain people - see the Mark Wastell piece in the current Wire.

The Blair government talked up the necessity of economic migration while introducing increasingly harsh anti-migrant legislation. Playing into media hysteria about migration was a convenient distraction from the failure of their neo-liberal policies and paved the way for the horror of Farage.

Had a similar experience on a local Glasgow to Stirling train a couple of years back. Complained to Scotrail on twitter in real time, who said it left the depot like that. Doubt many of the stations en route had working loos either.

Is it still online? Would love to read.

What particularly annoys me about caroline is they rip off the disjointed rhythm thing from the brilliant Still House Plants and apply it to earnest bible camp indie folk that makes Neutral Milk Hotel sound like Crass.

Geese and the unbearably precious caroline are my “what is this shit?” indie hypes of the year.

Funding from the same US right wing groups behind the transphobia that has taken over UK media/politics.