Tessa Mayes is a London-based journalist and author. e: info@tessamayes.co.uk

Musical youth

The violins played low volume, scratching noises. Imaginary mice were scurrying all over the place, picking up food, building their nests and bumping in to each other. The pipes went up a minor scale and then musically ran off. Silence. But not quite. The harpists plucked at base notes. The imaginary world of nature looked peaceful but lurking beneath was life. Huge applause.

Is there a new global working class?

The answer to the title of a debate at the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) ‘Is there a new global working class’ is ‘yes.’ So you can stop reading now!

Glenn Branca at the Frieze Art Fair

I didn’t know what to expect. It just sounded an original thing to listen and watch. Were they going to make 100 electric guitars sound like a full orchestra? Would they reveal the full spectrum of guitar sounds? What musical story would be invoked?

Vote for the funnyman?

We may live in a society which lacks political ideas, but that doesn’t mean ‘narratives’ from comedic sources are always better than nothing. The celebration of comedy as better than nothing reveals the weakness of contemporary public discourse, but the Cult of Comedy is no solution.