Latest news with #Alt-J
Spectator
02-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Spectator
Highs and lows: The Boys, by Leo Robson, reviewed
The Boys, the entertaining debut novel by the literary critic Leo Robson, is set in Swiss Cottage during the 2012 London Olympics. Johnny Voghel is 'methodically lying about', home on leave from an admin job in the West Midlands and grieving both for his mother, who died the previous year, and – by extension – his father, who died when he was a child. A typical day is spent 'smoking badly rolled cigarettes, watching the ring-fenced patches of grass suffer in the heat, nodding at passers-by, tweezing grey hairs from my nostrils and popping the spots on my chin', before walking into the centre to gaze at the BT Tower with its Olympics countdown. On returning home, he flicks through books in bed, 'looking for marginal comments that would remind me of my mother or father or of Lawrence [a half-brother], unlock a secret or hint at one, offer a glimpse of their dreams or invite them into mine'. Robson skilfully portrays Johnny's poignant efforts to overcome his feeling of atomisation and reconnect with the estranged, charismatic Lawrence, whom he lures back to London from Chicago with the aid of a Susan Sontag book. While the siblings feel their way around loss, grief and the tussle of family dynamics, a host of other characters circle around them. Various ensembles go on picaresque journeys through Olympics-gripped London, chatting about New Labour, social housing, Alt-J and new-wave cinema, and finally having a house party. Plot feels secondary to the experience of hanging out with this crowd, relishing their repartee and seeing where the day (or night) takes them. In contrast to the pleasurably nerdy specificity and the optimism of the novel's time and place are the seemingly ageless, aimless, depressed brothers at its heart. Johnny, we are told, is 30, yet the daily pattern of his and the older Lawrence's life is more akin to that of a student than an adult, and he frequently slips into memories of his teenage years. In the tailspin of grief, the two are still just 'boys'. They may know their way around north London but they've got lost on the path to adulthood. Fortunately, each brother finds in the other 'the only person he can be himself with'. Thus bolstered, Robson suggests, the two will be able to move on from lingering adolescence and, by the novel's close, they have begun to embrace more grown-up responsibilities. This nostalgic trip to the heady London of the Olympics left me, like Johnny, returning to the present with renewed optimism and verve.
Daily Mirror
23-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Alt-J fans finally find out what band's name means after nearly two decades
Alt-J have been making music for almost two decades and have won a number of awards - but some fans are only just learning the meaning behind their unique band name Alt-J enthusiasts might have been bopping to their tunes for years, yet many remain clueless about the meaning behind the band's name. The indie rockers, who formed in 2007 and consist of Joe Newman, Thom Sonny Green, Gus Unger-Hamilton, and previously Gwil Sainsbury, have made waves in the music scene. Their first album, 'An Awesome Wave', scooped up the prestigious 2012 British Mercury Prize, catapulting them into stardom across Europe and the States. Hits like 'Fitzpleasure', 'Deadcrush', 'Something Good', 'Breezeblocks', 'Tessellate', 'Taro', and 'Interlude II' have become anthems for many, but the origin of their enigmatic name has left some fans on Reddit utterly gobsmacked upon discovery. The truth is, Alt-J' s real moniker is the delta symbol ∆, a nod to change in mathematical terms. Mac users can replicate this by hitting Alt-J on their keyboards. Gus Unger-Hamilton revealed to FMQB the quirky genesis of their name: "Gwil discovered the alt-J shortcut on his computer, which creates the 'delta' symbol, and he thought we should call our band just the delta symbol, which is a triangle in the Greek alphabet." He added, "That was kind of our band name, but we chose to pronounce it alt-J because we knew being played on the radio, you need to really give your band a name that is spoken and not just written. "So it was going to be said 'alt-J' and written like a triangle or a delta. But now the delta symbol remains as sort of a masthead for the band." A Reddit user was left impressed after realising the indie band Alt-J (∆) got their name from the Mac keyboard shortcut for the delta sign, stating: "Today I learnt the band Alt-J (∆) was named after the command for making a delta sign with a Mac computer." Another chimed in with a fun fact about keyboard layouts: "On the Danish keyboard layout, they should be called Alt-k. Alt-j makes an arrow and not the delta sign." One fan expressed their enthusiasm for the Leeds-based outfit, saying: "I really like Alt-J. Love both of their albums and I am really excited for their next one. Probably too early to say but 3WW might actually be my favourite song of theirs (it was Nara before, and Taro before that)." Throwing in their two pence, another added: "I remember when Alt J was first getting big that they were always getting compared to Radiohead and at one point they even bragged about being better than Radiohead, because they started off making a better album than Radiohead did." They continued: "Anyway, I think they are pretty good but not really a favourite band of mine since I mostly only dig their debut album which is phenomenal. I will listen to their next album, but the lead single was a bit boring to me and their second album was underwhelming, so my expectations are not very high (I'd love to be pleasantly surprised though...)". Finally, a third user couldn't help but gush over the band's first major release: "I love Alt-J! One of my absolute favourite bands. An Awesome Wave is a work of art from start to finish, probably my favourite debut album from any band. As for This Is All Yours, there's some filler in there in my opinion but the stronger songs on it are superb, namely 'Nara' and 'Intro'. "New album got me pretty hyped, and I liked 3ww a lot. Extra awesome was the fact they worked with Ellie Rowsell from Wolf Alice which for me is a very cool collaboration. Certainly an interesting direction for them to go in, it seems. Could be the album that defines them."
