Moonage Daydream – Review Carmen Paddock September 17, 2022 Reviews Throughout the career of pop legend David Bowie - especially as he burst onto the scene as alter ego Ziggy Stardust - the question of personal and artistic identity was at the fore of his publicity. Brett...
Really Good Rejects – SXSW Review Carmen Paddock April 7, 2022 Reviews The luthier’s craft can seem one from another age, the archaic title passed down despite evolving instruments and musical styles. In today’s music industry, Reuben Cox is one of the most respected makers...
Invisible: Gay Women in Southern Music – IFFR 2022 Review Carmen Paddock February 3, 2022 Reviews With Nashville’s iconic music industry still largely devoid of LGBTQ+ household names, it is easy to spend a lifetime listening to country western music without realising gay women are behind many words and...
The Velvet Underground – Review Scott Wilson October 15, 2021 Reviews Almost fifty years since The Velvet Underground went their separate ways, their legacy only grows. Now understood as pivotal in pushing the boundaries of music at the time, Todd Haynes’ documentary tells the...
Oasis: Knebworth 1996 – Review Scott Wilson September 22, 2021 Reviews Some might say Oasis performing to 250,000 people across a weekend in the summer of ‘96 was the definitive musical moment of the decade. Oasis: Knebworth 1996 makes it hard to disagree. At the heart of the...
Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry – Review Weiting Liu May 30, 2021 Reviews “The world’s a little blurry. Or maybe it’s my eyes.” This line from Billie Eilish’s record-breaking debut album When We Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? turns into the apt title of director R.J....
Stardust – Review George Howarth January 14, 2021 Reviews This film was previously reviewed in November 2020 as part of our Raindance 2020 coverage. Feathers were unquestionably ruffled when it was announced last year by Duncan Jones that the upcoming biopic of...
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom – Review Anahit Behrooz December 21, 2020 Reviews Midway through Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, the eponymous singer – played by Viola Davis – sits with one of her band members in their studio. She has, until now, been portrayed as a diva: refusing to sing...
David Byrne’s American Utopia – Review Tom Bond December 12, 2020 Reviews This film was previously reviewed in October 2020 as part of our London Film Festival coverage. David Byrne’s American Utopia begins with what is almost a caricature of the man himself. Infamously awkward...
The 10 Best Fictional Bands in Film Jess Goodman September 14, 2020 Analysis, Features, Top 10 You and I have witnessed many things, but nothing as bodacious as Wyld Stallyns. Yes, that's right, it's time to face the music. The long awaited sequel to Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure and their...
The Go-Go’s – Sheffield Doc/Fest 2020 Review Nick Davie June 21, 2020 Reviews From the punk scene in L.A. to Broadway musical, this documentary is a deserved and welcomed portrait chronicling seminal all-female band The Go-Go’s rise, fall, and eventual reunion. America’s first, and...
Streetlight Harmonies – Review Alysha Prasad April 11, 2020 Reviews From the inner-city street corners to stages around the nation, Streetlight Harmonies from director Brent Wilson tells the history of doo-wop, a musical movement that began in the post-war era that is seen not...
Yesterday – Review Tom Bond June 27, 2019 Reviews Imagine if you woke up tomorrow and the world had forgotten The Beatles. If you were an aspiring musician at the end of their tether you couldn’t wish for a better gift. This is the genius concept of...
The ORWAV Playlist – 2018’s Music Moments Bertie Archer December 4, 2018 Features, One Off As the end of the year draws near and the nights draw in, what better time to catch up on the films you missed in 2018 or revisit the best of the vintage. A great music cue, where the soundtrack, score, or...
Grace Jones: Bloodlight and Bami – Review Cristina Radulescu October 27, 2017 Reviews The essence of such an imposing presence as Grace Jones may be difficult to appropriately capture on screen without inadvertently reducing her to a stereotype (be it that of a Jamaican woman, a Disco-era...