Articles by Cazz Blase
'Drums, keys, beat machines and whatever else she can fit in her road case'
Trained violinist Emily Wells successfully merges hip-hop and classical to create a folktronic sound that is all her own. She has brought out seven albums since 1999, mostly on her own label. Cazz Blase has a listen to Mama, her first release in the UK
Cazz Blase // 3 June 2013
Desperately seeking Dolly
Cazz Blase immensely enjoys, despite not being a die-hard Dolly Parton fan, a girl's journey in search of her mother
Cazz Blase // 30 May 2013
Aiming for the moon
Cazz Blase listens to Laura Mvula's debut album, Sing to the Moon, and finds there is much more to her wider output than the upbeat single 'Green Garden' would suggest
Cazz Blase // 17 May 2013
Hole story of Schemel not Love
Cazz Blase enjoys the documentary about Hole's drummer Patty Schemel that puts one of the most exciting bands of the 1990s firmly on the rock'n'roll map without losing intimate touch
Cazz Blase // 4 December 2012
Master of her music: Santigold adds a second album to her portfolio
Cazz Blase listens to Master of My Make Believe and finds a range of musical influences and engaging mix of moods, from the crunchy and energetic to the quietly anthemic
Cazz Blase // 29 May 2012
Celebrating Sisterhood! Viv Albertine, Gina Birch and Helen McCookerybook perform in Hyde
Three punk pioneers reunite for an evening of rage, honesty, playfulness and sound experiments. Cazz Blase attends the show and talks to the acts backstage
Cazz Blase // 12 April 2012
Walk like a panther
With her positively geeky enthusiasm for the making of her music, eccentric costumes and abundant charisma, Barbara Panther is an unforgettable performer. Her distinctive voice has seen her compared to Bjork, Grace Jones and Fever Ray but she has a style all of her own. Cazz Blase checks out her self-titled album and finds Panther to be an artist with imagination, an ability to tell stories and musical inventiveness
Cazz Blase // 24 March 2012
Heartbreak soup: washed ashore by Boy Friend's Egyptian Wrinkle
Texan all-woman duo Boy Friend occupy the space between shoegazing and post rock with ease. Cazz Blase follows up on her updates on the blog with a review and speaks to the band to find out about their influences and plans
Cazz Blase // 16 March 2012
Categories: Interviews, Music, Reviews
Women and the UK music press
Music is a universal language. But don't tell the UK music press, which is marketing itself to a definitively male readership. Cazz Blase takes a look at the marketing materials put out by the big music magazines
Cazz Blase // 12 February 2012
Categories: Culture and Media, Work and Play
Florence: the next instalment
Cazz Blase reviews Florence + the Machine's latest album and finds Welsh's ability to follow her own path and confound people's expectations, while soaking up diverse musical genres, to still be in full force
Cazz Blase // 29 December 2011
Abi Wade - And Blood and Air EP
At a time when folk music is enjoying plenty of exposure, new blood Abi Wade's brave and disarmingly simple first EP is a fitting addition. Cazz Blase reports
Cazz Blase // 18 November 2011
Be the same; be the change: Maple Bee and her world
Cazz Blase reviews the career of Maple Bee (AKA Melanie Garside from Mediaeval Baebes), taking in the albums Hello Eve, Home and Chasing Eva along the way
Cazz Blase // 23 October 2011
From riots to riot grrrl: Heavens to Betsy revisited
Are you a fan of Heavens to Betsy or riot grrrl? Artist Katie Hare has put together a sound and video installation based on the seminal band's 1993 album Calculated, to appear in London on 14-16 October. Cazz Blase reports
Cazz Blase // 5 October 2011
A shocking shade of pink
Shocking Pink was a magazine for and by young women, that rejected the adult-oriented feminism of the periodicals of women's liberation in favour of a youth-led agenda that prefigured riot grrrl. Cazz Blase talks to the women who made it happen
Cazz Blase // 13 August 2011
Categories: Culture and Media
Generation Indigo
Cazz Blase reviews Poly Styrene's final work, an angry album with socially biting lyrics but an overall optimistic theme
Cazz Blase // 29 May 2011
A woman called Toothpaste: an interview with Lucy Whitman
Cazz Blase interviews Lucy Toothpaste, who wrote the fanzine JOLT and played a central role in the punk feminist movement
Cazz Blase // 20 May 2011
Categories: Culture and Media, Herstory, Interviews, Magazines, Music
Punk women write back
Women from the 1970s punk scene in the UK have not stood by as their contributions were erased from the music history books, but have documented that time with their own books and films. Cazz Blase reports
Cazz Blase // 2 January 2011
Categories: Culture and Media, Herstory, Interviews
Women in punk: the return
The 1990s brought with them grunge, riot grrrl - and fresh inspiration for the women at the centre of Britain's 1970s punk scene. Cazz Blase continues her series
Cazz Blase // 12 October 2010
Categories: Culture and Media, Herstory
Women in punk: the disappearing years
What happened to the women of 1970s British punk once the 1980s dawned? Cazz Blase continues her series
Cazz Blase // 22 July 2010
Categories: Herstory
Women of the punk era
Cazz Blase interviews women of British 1970s punk on the music - and the politics, in part three of her series
Cazz Blase // 24 April 2010
Categories: Culture and Media, Herstory
Writing women back into punk
In the second installment of her series, Cazz Blase looks at how punk was covered by the music and feminist presses, the work of female journalists, and how women punks came to be largely written out of the history books
Cazz Blase // 14 March 2010
Categories: Culture and Media, Herstory
Women in punk: 'Too Good To Be Forgotten'
Women's involvement in British punk has been marginalised and written out of mainstream histories. In the next few months, The F-Word will run a series of features on women in punk by Cazz Blase. By way of introduction, here she sketches out her own first encounters with the genre, and carries out a vox pop in Manchester to gauge whether the person on the street can name any women in punk
Cazz Blase // 28 February 2010
Categories: Culture and Media, Herstory
Uglies
Uglies opens in a world where every teenager undergos extreme surgery on their 16th birthday to mould them into hypnotic and hypnotised 'Pretties'. Cazz Blase reviews a four-part 'trilogy' with plenty to say about body image, cosmetic surgery, citizen journalism, celebrity, the environment and, of course, growing up
Cazz Blase // 3 September 2008
Categories: Books
'Freedom always has a price'
Cazz Blase considers how Marjane Satrapi's autobiographical story of coming-of-age in Iran and Europe transfers to the big screen
Cazz Blase // 11 August 2008
Categories: Films
Tales of low-paid work
Monica Dickens worked as a cook, servant, nurse, in an aircraft factory and as a junior reporter. Cazz Blase reviews her unsentimental portraits of working life in the first half of the 20th century
Cazz Blase // 4 April 2008
Categories: Books
Live Alone and Like It
Does advice for the single women of 1936 have any bearing today? Cazz Blase reviews Marjorie Hillis' guide to independent living
Cazz Blase // 12 March 2008
Categories: Books
An interrupted life
Etty Hillesum was an 'impassioned, erotically volatile, restless' woman, who was murdered during the Holocaust. Cazz Blase reviews her diaries
Cazz Blase // 8 February 2008
Categories: Books
The woman behind Persephone Books
Nicola Beauman makes a living from re-printing the forgotten works of female writers. She talks to Cazz Blase about chick lit, the 'surplus' women of the inter-war years and the book trade
Cazz Blase // 31 October 2007
Categories: Culture and Media, Interviews, Work and Play
Crinolines and corsets... again
Period drama concentrates almost exclusively on the bonnets and Bennets universe of the 19th century novel, while there are few adaptations of more recent material dealing with gender politics and the sexual revolution. Cazz Blase makes some suggestions
Cazz Blase // 5 October 2007
Categories: Culture and Media, Sex and Relationships
Zines: for when mainstream media lets us down
Feminist blogs are blooming, but many women seeking a creative outlet still turn to hand-made zines. This May, the Women's Library in London will play host to Zine Fest!, showcasing women's zines past and present, as well as providing scissor-and-paper classes for aspiring zinesters. Red Chidgey, who is organising this first-of-a-kind event, explains to Cazz Blase why zines still flourish and picks some of her favourites
Cazz Blase // 29 March 2007
Categories: Activism, Culture and Media, Interviews
Trickster's Choice / Trickster's Queen - Tamora Pierce
Cazz Blase introduces Tamora Pierce's latest fantasy series for young adults, which feature strong heroines and touch on issues of colonialism and race.
Cazz Blase // 4 December 2006
Categories: Books
The Gossip - Manchester July 2006
Cazz Blase reviews a storming gig by The Gossip in Manchester on 18th July 2006.
Cazz Blase // 13 August 2006
Categories: Music
Roger Fishbite
Cazz Blase reviews Emily Prager's story about a thirteen year old girl which raises interesting questions about childhood and abuse.
Cazz Blase // 2 July 2006
Categories: Books
But What of Us? UK Riot Grrrl - Part 4
Cazz Blase updates her classic UK Riot Grrrl history by looking at developments from 2000 up to the present day. Covering an oft ignored but vital chapter in the story of UK feminism, she asks: Where to now for Ladyfest? Has the internet crushed print zines? How has riot grrrl influenced teenage fiction? And, is Riot Grrrl dead or has it just evolved?
Cazz Blase // 9 April 2005
Categories: Feminism
But What of Us? UK Riot Grrrl - Part 3
The third part of Cazz Blase's series looks at the problems inherent in Riot Grrrl, disagreements within the scene over whether it had run its course, the marketing of "Girl Power" and the future of Riot Grrrl. First published in the zine "Real Girls".
Cazz Blase // 13 January 2005
Categories: Feminism
But What of Us? UK Riot Grrrl - Part 2
The second part of Cazz Blase's 3 part series looks at the political aspects of UK Riot Grrrl; how it brought awareness of feminism to a new generation, encouraged female friendship and solidarity, and how gender politics entered the music scene. First published in the zine "Real Girls".
Cazz Blase // 4 November 2004
Categories: Feminism
But What of Us? UK Riot Grrrl - Part 1
Cazz Blase's history of Riot Grrrl in the UK is an important introduction to a movement that is often ignored and discounted by cultural critics and even some feminists. Seen through the eyes of the women and girls who were involved, the first part of this 3 part series recounts the origins of Riot Grrrl in the UK and discusses the musical and DIY aspects of the new Grrrl resistance. First published in the zine "Real Girls".
Cazz Blase // 10 September 2004
Categories: Feminism
Troy
How does this gung-ho Hollywood film tackle questions of war, feminity and masculinity? Cazz Blase reports. Directed by Wolfgang Peterson (2004).
Cazz Blase // 20 July 2004
Categories: Films
Searching For Sense And Reason
Cazz Blase sympathises with novelist Jenny Colgan's criticisms of the derogatory term "Chick Lit" - but insists the problem is more complex, and also not as new as is commonly thought.
Cazz Blase // 16 October 2003
Categories: Books
Interview with Lucy O'Brien
Cazz Blase interviews the author of She Bop II
Cazz Blase // 16 December 2002
