Author: Andrew Maitland Southern

"There are too many Andrew Southerns in the world. I've checked. There's a whole bunch of us. It's kind of annoying. In an over-populated world it's humbling to realise there are multiple versions of you. Maitland, on the other hand, is a name you don't see. Like any writer, I need to make my mark. So I can sink into the Andrew Southern soup or go the Maitland way. It's a name my ego loves and humility shies away from. I can't sink into the soup. It's not my style. So grandiosity it is. You can call me Andrew, though. Not Andy. There are too many of those too.

Queer British Paganism: Meltdown 2012

Opening with Derek Jarman's Journey to Avebury the scene was gently set. A super 8 movie. Almost a travel document. A visual diary, a diary which continued throughout the night, for this wasn't a...

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Theatre of Trolls – Masquerade Ball

'The wretched, the beautiful, the horned-nosed and sweet-bosomed soon strutted and strolled before me.' Andrew Maitland Southern falls hard for a comely bust. It's not every day the...

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John Squire – Celebrity Stars

What do you get when you mix modern celebrity with traditional Islamic design? Faceless stars? Or celebrity with depth? This isn't a joke by the way. John Squire needs little introduction....

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Modern Panic – Carnevale Grotesque

Art can be like a wedding cake, full of jam and sponge and sugar on top. It's tasty, once in a while, but won't blow you away. You can spend a lot of money on it, but it won't really...

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Wet Paint – Woe

Life, like wet paint, is messy. It's painful, it's colourful too. Sometimes it comes in one colour. Sometimes it's black. We all have our ups and downs. It seems Wet Paint have had a...

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Running in the Dark

Having lived a drug-free life, I sometimes wonder if I'm missing out. Is there really an experience only a substance can provide? I'm standing in a field in the English countryside. I can...

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Lillian Bassman – Enter the Boutique

I don't go to boutiques. I don't check out fashion photography either. But this is something different. There's a world in here. Standing outside the Donna Karan boutique off Regent...

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Gold-Bears – Are You Falling in Love?

What's that sound in my ears? The Gold-Bear's debut album is messing with my head. And my hands are dancing too! The Gold-Bears have been developing their sound for a number of years. Formed...

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Going Nowhere?

Nowhere is an arts-based event inspired by the infamous Burning Man, but is Nowhere a quaint “Euro-taster” or an event in itself? For the last eight years the Spanish desert has been lit...

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//Tense// – Escape or Soundscape?

“Your official diagnosis is schizophrenic psychosis…” drones a machine on the title track of Escape, the new EP from Tense. Sounds cool. Sounds ominous. But am I tense? Words mean...

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Start and Complete – Complete at the start?

About Group's new album “Start and Complete” is an experiment in spontaneity. A fine idea, but does spontaneity really breed better music? When About Group got together to record...

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Tennis – Carpe Diem, Cape Dory!

During the summer months, we've all taken off to find that elusive something. Some of us collect trinkets, others snaps – and some record an album. When “Tennis”, husband and...

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Syd Barrett – The Art is in the Letters

Barrett's mythologised life finally comes down to earth in the first major exhibition of his art and letters. But is he a little too human? January 1968. Crammed into the back of a van, Pink...

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Hunx and His Punx – Too Young to Be in Love

The Hunx and His Punx's new album “Too Young to Be in Love” gives 1960s pop a queer twist, but did the Hunx forget to pack before racing to the past? You've seen the film. Marty...

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