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Alex Cretey Systermans

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Something like 15% of the internet must look like this now.

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Do you consider Blackheart a feminist album? Yeah. But listen, before you write that down, let me go back. People throw that term around so strongly these days that I want to be careful in the way I state this: I am just a woman. I’m a woman that has stood by her brand and this independent push for a very long time. A lot of my other records have taken a feminist approach because I feel like there are not enough of us out there having the voice that we should have, and when we speak, we’re ridiculed. A lot. I’m not here to call myself a feminist, but what I love about our brand is that as a woman, I’m able to put out an album that never antagonises the woman, only lifts her. And what we’re trying to do is beyond than just being a woman or the colour of your skin – there is no gender, no colour and no genre to this music. It is universal. Blackheart is not a feminist album – the movement that we’re doing is a feminist act.

For the folk at FACT, I got to speak to the brilliant Dawn Richard about her vocal evolution, what it means to fall, DJ Carisma and the Greek myth of Calypso. I also got to say some spirited shit about her sophomore album Blackheart! Seriously, buy Blackheart already.

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2015

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A whirlpool interchange connects three major roads by the Miracle Garden in Dubai, UAE. When construction of this junction began in 2006, Dubai contained 30,000 industrial cranes - 25% of all cranes on the planet. Whirlpool exchange Dubai, United Arab Emirates 25.055363303°, 55.248780015° www.overv.eu

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Black Narcissus | Michael Powell / Emeric Pressburger | 1947

Scenic paintings by W. Percy Day and/or his visual effects assistants

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The Red Shoes (Michael Powell y Emeric Pressburger, 1948).

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A Grid of 10 Beloved Comic Strip Characters Reimagined in the Style of 10 Different Cartoonists

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67.030581°S, 58.303324°E Edward VIII Ice Shelf, Antarctica

photo by Ray Hegarty

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Love this song and have never looked up video of Koray before. Very cool.

Have I posted this lately? It’s my favourite Erkin Koray track, a groovy, slow-building psychedelic jam that should blast the cobwebs from your ears.

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This totally vindicates my approach to copywriting (always alliterate).

Early D&D Ad, circa 1980. Girls definitely allowed.

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Hey look I actually wrote more than 10 words on tumblr!

Dancehall Queens inna 2014 

1. Spice: “Like a Man" & "So Mi Like It”

"Like a Man" was a little inevitable for the top choice here, but this song is brilliant apart from being the perfect DQs mission statement. Spice lampooning a typical male performer’s "whine fe mi, gyal" track, while also delivering a peerless example of same was a perfect having-cake-and-eating-it moment. Meanwhile, "So Mi Like It" is 156 seconds of Spice giving a master class on riding a (fantastic) riddim. "Back Bend" and "Snake Charmer" could be here too — it was her year.

2. J Capri: “Reverse It" & "Lyrics to the Song”

At the beginning of the year, I figured J Capri would top this list, but nothing has quite risen to the level of the scorching “Reverse It” since it dropped in February. I wanted more from her, but there’s no need to feel disappointed (especially when you include her Vybz Kartel feature “Mamacita”). “Lyrics to the Song” won’t have you blasting your airhorn, but I always have room in my heart for dancehall that manages effervescence.

3. Denyque — “How to Rave”

Denyque seems to be perpetually bubbling just under the surface of breaking out. I do think she could be a genuine pop star, but in the meantime at least we have the occasional treat like this laid-back party jam that sounds especially nice now in frigid winter.

4. Ishawna — “Restraining Order”

"Equal rights and justice fe di gyal dem inna 2014 / Ca right yah now its all about we."

5. Tanya Stephens — “Unapologetic”

This blog’s patron saint on just how saintly she isn’t.