My very good friend Diane Martel just died.
It’s too soon for me to properly comprehend this. I’m just numb. She was a great artist and if you’re curious about her work, just google her and you’ll spend hours discovering the incredible work she made.
What you won’t learn about is what an astonishing human being she was. A massive support for me in so many ways, as well as being the smartest, wittiest companion. The source of the finest understanding of all art forms from the highest to the lowest.
I first met her just over twenty years ago when we made the video for Do You Want To together. I’d never met anyone like her before. Fearless and intellectually ravenous, while being rooted to the street. I’m so fortunate that I knew her. Could call her my friend.
Goodbye D. Love you so much.
Those of you who now have the album may have noticed that it is dedicated to Geordie McMillan and you may be wondering who that is. Well, Geordie was a very good friend of mine for a couple of decades. He was one of the wisest, kindest people I’ve ever known and made my life immeasurably richer. He was a good friend of the band and was there for the gestation of all of our records from the second one right up to this one. He was a guitarist himself and we’d often enjoy sitting playing a Johnny Cash or a Buddy Holly lick in the studio together. If you enjoy the record, please save a thought for Geordie. His presence is unquestionably there.
This is the cover of our new LP The Human Fear and if you swipe, you can see the piece of work called Seven Twists by @dora.maurer which inspired it.
Dóra’s work is very powerful, especially this image which does what we aspire to do with music: it has a stong, unforgettable immediate impact, yet triggers your own emotional response, bringing it a depth which allows many returns.
Beyond the geometric boldness of Seven Twists, there is a a suggestion of a darker introspection, which reflects the lyrical themes of The Human Fear. I can’t think of a more appropriate image to visually communicate what the LP communicates aurally.
There are obvious differences between the two images: the original piece is made up exclusively of self portraits of one person (Dóra) while, as we are very much a group of five people, ours evolves in a different way, revealing the different personalities that make up our entity. If you swipe again, you can see the back cover, where the order of appearance is reversed. As within the group, each person is required to complete the whole.
Of course we contacted Dóra to let her know how we had been inspired by her and receiving her approval for our interpretation has been a very affirming response.
That’s what good art does - it inspires you to go out and do something yourself. Thank you, Dóra.
A couple of days ago I posted this photo of me checking out L’Origine Du Monde (The Origin Of The World) painting by Gustave Courbet when I was at the Leopold gallery in Vienna.
I received a message from Instagram saying that the post had been removed. Their “technology” had “detected nudity” then “a member of our team took action.”
It’s incredible that a work of art can still cause so much controversy 160 years after it was created.
While some would consider it to be the objectification of the female form for the male gaze by removing the head of the model, it could also be argued that it is the opposite: that the graphic realism subverted the unrealistic idealised depiction of the the female nude in contemporary painting. Usually in the (I’d argue faux-intellectual bourgois) context of classical/mythological narratives, the female nude was eroticised to the point of pornogrpahy, but in a smooth, hairless, fantastical rendition of the form that bore no relation to what a woman actually looks like.
Does that sound familiar? Filters? AI? The commodification of the female form to hit engagement? Hypocrisy?
Personally, I don’t see this painting as pornography. All the best art is a source of stimulation for intellectual and emotional response: thought, question and discourse and that is undeniably the case here. For me, it is the title which elevates it beyond the daring and technically proficient realism. That is the point. Where we all came from. Respect it. Respect our mothers. The mothers around us. the mothers of our children. Appreciate the beauty of the reality of the human body without shame or stigma.
As for Instagram? Well, it’s their platform and they can do what the hell they like, I suppose, whether I agree with them or not. It does bring a sense of wry satisfaction, however, to notice that the mendacity of convention surrounding the representation of women has not changed that siginificantly in nearly two hundred years.
I’m sure you all have your own opinions.
☄️ @franz_ferdinand ont enflammé le @transbolyon a l’occasion de la première date de leur tournée française complète hier soir !
Petit cadeau en dernière slide 🎁🎶
On vous retrouve sur quelle date ? 📅
We were delighted to welcome @alkapranos ahead of @franz_ferdinand sold out gig at @livehouse_dundee 🎤
We explored #VADThreadMemory and our Scottish Design Galleries 🏴 and filmed something fun ahead of #VADCatwalk opening on 3 April 🎬
@franz_ferdinand thank you for the shoutout!
#vadundee #FranzFerdinand
How well does Franz Ferdinand know Franz Ferdinand? I recently had the pleasure of sitting down with the band @franz_ferdinand ahead of their show on the forecourt of the Sydney Opera House, and felt like someone ought to check their knowledge of their namesake. You can catch the full interview at the link in my bio.
#franzferdinand #musicdiscovery #indiesleaze #musicrecommendation #vinyl #postpunkrevival
