The Culture Fix is the place where I share the books, films, music, articles, interviews, plays, exhibitions, places, and even food, I’ve enjoyed recently.
Recommendations may refer to content in either English, Spanish, French or Italian and sometimes not available in English. But since this is a publication called Abroad written by a multilingual foreigner in London, and hopefully appealing to those curious to explore beyond their own borders, this shouldn’t come as a surprise or be an obstacle to widen your cultural horizons.
There are two kinds of people in this world.
Those who have lived blissfully ignorant of the Oasis reunion tour mania and those who have gone absolutely mad for it and will harass the first with stories of how life-altering seeing the Gallagher brothers has been. Rumour has it this second group is affected by a serious case of POCD (Post Oasis Concert Depression) that prompts them to watch every reunion video made from a shaky phone while people jump up and down to the beat of Cigarrettes and Alcohol on the other side of the pond.
Because yes, the Oasis reunion has also been a resounding success in North America and the official feel-good event of the year. Perhaps because, as this Hollywood Reporter review puts it, in an era of algorithms and digital self-centredness it has reminded us of the power and value of human connection in the here and now.
I don’t mind admitting I belong to the second group of people above. To prove it, I wrote a lengthy eulogy of their last Wembley show in August. I’ve been living in a haze ever since and I feel incredibly lucky to have experienced such a wonderful sense of communion with 90,000 strangers but more surprisingly also a weird sense of optimism about the future.
Thank you to everyone who has engaged online and also offline on that piece and has shared lovely comments on it and how it’s made them feel even when they aren’t Oasis fans themselves. I guess when you’re passionate about something, you just gotta spread the word with other people and tell them what you heard because you’re gonna make a better day. It’s either that or they’ll unsubscribe, there’s no in between.
Since that balmy August evening I’ve been immersed in music, more so than usual, so this edition of the Culture Fix comes full of music recommendations and music-adjacent content, especially since Britpop is back in full swing even if Britain feels a bit less cool this time around.
So without any further ado, here’s what I’ve been reading, listening to and watching over the past few weeks plus a couple of cultural highlights to look forward to.
Ready to be the coolest rentrée conversationalist?
In the last edition of The Culture Fix I shared how much I had enjoyed Le Perfezioni (Perfection in the English edition) by Vincenzo Latronico, which was a modern take on Les Choses by George Perec. During a trip to France to see my sister I got my hands on a copy of Les Choses (Things in the English translation) and I can see how it has influenced Latronico’s excellent novel on the disillusionment and ennui that afflict the millennial generation in the digital era. While Latronico’s book is of its time and captures the zeitgeist of the moment (those who have been forced to emigrate in search of better jobs abroad will probably feel his words deeply), Perec’s Les Choses is a timeless story, one that will resonate in 50 years’ time in the same way it did when it was published in 1965, when he captured the hopes and dreams, but also the routines and boredom and eventual surrender into the predictable markers of adulthood -and the doubts and questions such realisation arises- of a young French couple in the cusp of a new era.
Because the Oasis fever has hit hard, I really enjoyed diving deeper into the band’s origin story and influences via Live Forever: The Rise, Fall and Resurrection of Oasis by John Robb. If you’re a fan of the band, you may know many of the behind-the-scenes stories already, such as the fight between Liam and Noel at the legendary Rockfield studios as they recorded (What’s the Story?) Morning Glory. Besides the anecdotical, of which there’s plenty as Robb was a first-hand witness of many of the scenes he writes about, the book’s strength lays on its comprehensive account of the different elements that contributed to the rise of the musical scene in Manchester in the 80s that paved the way for bands like The Smiths or The Stone Roses to drive attention away from London and inspire a new generation that saw themselves reflected in their idols.
In this same spirit, Don’t Look Back in Anger. The Rise and Fall of Cool Britannia by Daniel Rachel has proven to be beyond entertaining and insightful to understand better the wider context into which the UK rose to cultural dominance in the 90s. The influence of the UK during those years was such that even in my remote town in La Mancha my memories from the mid 90s onwards are linked to British bands, a picture of Kate Moss in a magazine wearing a lovely boat neck top and a white skirt at a party, Hugh Grant flopping his hair and mumbling under the rain (even when I didn’t get to see Four Weddings and a Funeral until many years later), and of course the day the news announced the death of Lady Di, which remains a moment frozen in time. Daniel Rachel, through an impressive exercise in evidence-gathering from everyone who was anyone in the 90s (from Damon Albarn to Noel Gallagher, Tracy Emin to Tony Blair, Irvine Welsh to Nick Hornby) paints a fantastic picture of the undercurrent of excitement of the times, the feeling that things were about to change for the better and the confidence (sometimes verging on arrogance) that young artists exuded and how they weren’t afraid to do things their way and leave their mark.
You can’t talk about the 90s, music and Nick Hornby and not mention High Fidelity, one of the funniest novels ever written. Each time I go back to it, I find something new and these past weeks have created an urge to read it again, this time to focus on all the musical references it is peppered with. It captures perfectly the spirit of that time and the central role of music in many people’s lives, but also the confusing nature of relationships, what we want out of them and, more importantly, whether we’re willing to offer as much. Definitely one to put on your all-time, top five most memorable 90s British novels.
High Fidelity essence in a nutshell.
Documentaries
I have greatly enjoyed Supersonic, the 2016 Oasis documentary that tells the band’s ascend to musical dominion and ends with their historic two nights at Knebworth in 1996 at the peak of their fame. Highly recommendable whether you’re a fan or not as it is very well made from the storytelling point of view (A24 is behind it after all). For fans, it also offers previously unseen behind-the-scenes footage from their pre-fame days, when they played in half-empty venues, and great commentary on some key moments such as the first North American tour when Noel almost quit, or how they thought they wouldn’t be able to sell out Knebworth and then five per cent of the British population at the time applied for tickets. The emotional stakes are as high as the musical ones throughout and you feel the excitement of witnessing a band in the brink of stardom, whose members will soon go on to become rock and roll stars, and how everyone around them couldn’t help but take notice. This is a phenomenal and uplifting ride as you watch Liam and Noel bicker, joke, and above all understand each other without words the moment the music plays. Supersonic indeed.
If Supersonic finishes on a high, As It Was, the 2019 documentary on the impressive musical renaissance of Liam Gallagher, starts on a low: the night Oasis broke up during the Rock in Seine festival in 2009. Unlike other music documentaries that try to present a contrived arch of redemption and talk very little about the music itself, you can feel the passion and honesty in Liam’s desire to make new music after the unceremonious disbandment of Beady Eye (the band the Oasis members formed after Noel Gallagher left), be able to get back on stage, and sing as he used to. There is a vulnerability that shines through as the fear of not being able to do it again makes him reflect on his previous lifestyle and behaviours. It’s quite refreshing to listen to him after watching Supersonic and see that while there is a lot of the confidence and attitude that made Liam Gallagher the frontman that he is and Oasis the band it was, there are a lot more layers to him as he drops the bravado and shows gratitude for and to the people who have helped him come back to the top of his musical game, which was on an ascendent curve as he returned to Knebworth in 2022 as a solo artist. It is argued that his extraordinary musical renaissance and capacity to engage with younger audiences may have been instrumental in making the Oasis reunion happen and become the cross-generational success it has been and watching this documentary you have to agree there is some truth in it. Plus the man is a born comedian so the laughs are guaranteed provided you can understand his accent.
Films
It’s been a long summer and a bit underwhelming on the cinema front to be honest. Between superhero movies (I quite enjoyed Superman, didn’t see the point of Fantastic Four and couldn’t wait for it to be over), franchises (Jurassic World:Rebirth was as forgettable as unnecessary) and action flicks (F1 was, against all odds, rather good despite being a bit too similar to Days of Thunder), there’s been little space for original content so the stakes were very high when anything truly not belonging to an existing IP ventured into the big screen.
Cue to Materialists by Celine Song. I wish I had anything good to say about it1 but I don’t and it’s a shame because I really looked forward to it after the beautifully moving Past Lives. It was bland beyond measure and completely miscast. Dakota Johnson may rock a frock but she can’t act even if they paid her (which turns out they do); Pedro Pascal has been so ubiquitous this summer that he’s became part of the furniture and it shows in this movie: you could have a chair acting in his place and it wouldn’t have made any difference; to say Chris Evans was the best thing and he wasn’t even good gives you an idea of how disastrous Materialists, a film with a good premise but bad actors and even worse script, was. The dialogues remained extremely surface-level and presented the characters as a collection of insufferable navel-gazing people with the emotional depth of a lobotomised amoeba. A far cry from the rich subtleties of Past Lives. The only occasion the film has of redeeming itself it’s quickly brushed under the carpet as if nothing when it could have taken the story and the characters into a new direction, hopefully somewhere where they would have made sense. I watched the film in Paris with my sister amid a heatwave and we agreed it left us cold. And not in a refreshing way.
In a summer where remakes have ruled supreme, two have been notable exceptions and I’m very glad both of them are comedies as this is a wildly unrepresented genre in cinemas and it’s wonderful when you can laugh out loud in the company of total strangers. The Naked Gun with Liam Neeson and Pamela Anderson was delightful and while the jokes and plot faltered a bit towards the end, the first two thirds of the movie delivered. I went back for seconds just for that hotdog scene and the laughter was louder and more hysterical than the first time. Besides, the rumours of a romance between Liam Neeson and Pamela Anderson, whether true or not, have given me life so if felt rude to watch this movie just once. Both very good in their roles and with great comedic timing, so hopefully this won’t be the last time we see them together on screen.
The Roses is the other comedy that proves not all remakes are bad when done right. In fact, this modern take on the classic The War of the Roses puts a brilliant Olivia Colman and Benedict Cumberbatch face to face at the top of their acting game and it pays off big time. Can we please start a campaign so they do a comedy together every few years for our sanity’s sake? They are clearly perfectly suited for their roles as loved-up couple that slowly becomes vicious against each other in the most entertaining and wicked ways while delivering some witty dialogue at the speed of light as they try to annihilate each other in the process. If you find yourself laughing at things you realise a second too late you probably shouldn’t be laughing about, you’re one of us.
This summer I’ve finally got around watching Amadeus, a film I was shown at music class in high school and was never resumed for reasons I can’t remember. And for equally mysterious reasons I never thought of picking it up myself and finish it until this year, when a restored version has hit cinemas. I’m glad I’ve delayed it so much as in the meantime I’ve been able to see a few of Mozart’s operas in London and got to appreciate the man’s genius even more so it’s been totally worth it. All the three times. My main takeaway? Mozart was a true rock and roll star even if the term didn’t exist back in the day. A new series based on the original play that inspired the movie is in the making which seems a bit hasty considering I’ve just got around seeing the movie, but I guess if you didn’t put it off for decades this may come at the perfect time.
Coming up
I’m not sure if the world, or us for that matter, are ready for Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights adaptation, which is coming to a screen near you on Valentine’s day 2026, a fitting date given the poster has already set the scene by giving big 70s soft porn B-movie vibes. A very demure, very mindful image all things considered given Fennell’s previous Saltburn universe with its bathwater drinking and grave thumping in the rain.
The anticipation is real as initial screenings with test audiences delivered mixed reactions, with those disliking the film highlighting its hyper sexualisation and divergence from the original book. I welcome every book adaptation as an opportunity to revisit or read the source material so I can see how much the film deviates from it. However, while I haven’t yet got around reading Wuthering Heights, I suspect a nun getting aroused upon the image of a languid hanged man is a scene I won’t come across on Brontë’s novel. I’ll have to order a big bucket of popcorn for this one both at the cinema and when reading the hundreds of essays this film is likely to inspire.
Hamnet, on the other hand, is gathering positive reviews at Toronto Film Festival ahead of its official release with critics praising the smouldering performances of Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal. The trailer looks very promising, to the point it may convince me to watch a movie about a novel I’ve avoided like the plague. After all, if there’s a man who can change my mind when it comes to literary snobbery is Paul Mescal, the king of the sexy sad characters, who single-handedly (along with Daisy Edgar-Jones) converted me to Sally Rooney after I saw him in Normal People. Never say never.
If you were a fan of Britpop, good news for you as your favourite band (provided is not Oasis) is probably back this year. From Suede’s new album Antidepressants (released on 5th September) to Pulp’s return to Glastonbury and the launch of their latest album More back in June, Damon Albarn debuting a new Gorillaz album at the last of his Copper Box shows in London, or Radiohead2 announcing their first tour in seven years, the saying “Britpop is dead, long live Britpop” has never been more accurate.
In fact, over the past few weeks I’ve been listening to The Ballad of Darren, Blur’s latest album from 2023 and The Narcissist may be not only one of the best songs in the album, but one of Blur’s top 5. I am now gutted their reunion tour passed me by as funnily enough I have listened to Blur a lot more over the years than Oasis. Clearly the emotional tsunami element that made me buy tickets in the blink of an eye for the Gallaghers was missing somehow. At least Blur is still making great music so there’s always next time.
And from the band that may have kickstarted Britpop to the band and man that came to ride the wave when the party was over: The Verve and Richard Ashcroft, who has taken a prominent place of honour in my Spotify after seeing him live at Wembley opening for Oasis. I couldn’t think of anyone better given the longstanding relationship between Ashcroft and the Mancunian band (Cast no shadow was in fact about him after The Verve disbanded for the first time) or whose music has been as enduring and anthemic. Few songs at an Oasis gig not sung by Oasis can conjured up the crowd to sing along in the way Bittersweet Symphony did. His new album Lovin’ You will be released in October but until then I’ve been exploring The Verve’s catalogue and Ashcroft’s prolific solo music career. The man is a joy for the ears, that goes without saying. Few musicians have the capacity to create such timeless yet nostalgic and uplifting but hunting melodies and lyrics sung in such a soulful and heartfelt way. Long live king Richard!
Besides revisiting the Oasis discography (which has been wonderful as I’ve got plenty of new music to enjoy as the last album of theirs I was fully aware of was Be Here Now), I’ve gone down the Liam Gallagher solo career rabbit hole and boy has it been worthy! His comeback can only be compared to Hugh Grant’s renaissance. When you thought all he could do was play mumbling romantics until his looks vanished (is that even possible?) the man did a 180 and surprised us with his best roles, going from strength to strength. Liam Gallagher seems to have taken a leaf out of Grant’s book and ever since releasing his solo debut As You Were in 2017 he’s been on an ascendent trajectory.
It’s impressive how much he’s worked to recover his voice, which now has a depth that suits his new music very well and adds a touch of gravitas to the sneer in the Oasis songs, which fits them perfectly. His follow up albums Why Me? Why Not? and C’Mon You Know show a man (along with his his co-writers) that while not reinventing the wheel is not afraid to venture into new territory. His debut solo single Wall of Glass being a good case in point. And while Liam may have expressed some reluctance about singing ballads or music that deviates too much from rock, his voice suits slower tempos incredibly well, of which Paper Crown, When I’m in Need, For What is Worth, Once or One of Us are excellent examples.
His solo music, in fact, offers a better glimpse into what Oasis could have sounded like today had they stayed together and incorporated new influences. Songs like Wall of Glass, Halo, Shockwave, Diamond in the Dark, Everything’s Electric (co-written by Dave Grohl, who is also on drums) or C’Mon You Know would have made a more cohesive Oasis record than Be Here Now, which despite my love and appreciation it is a Frankenstein of an album.
On top of solo albums, Liam Gallagher has kept busy with acoustic and unplugged recordings, something he was notorious for avoiding. In fact, he walked out mid recording at the MTV Unplugged Oasis did in 1996 which Noel had to carry on his own as Liam heckled him from a balcony off screen. The moment is now a rare gem as Noel performs solo at the peak of Oasis world fame. The funny thing is that as much as he may have despised acoustic sessions in the past, in the present Liam’s voice sounds fantastic when it carries the weight of the song with little instrumentation.
And if that were not enough, he’s also come around about not collaborating with other artists and has recorded a song with Richard Ashcroft, C’mon People (We’re Making it Now) a new version of Ashcroft’s original song for his Acoustic Hymns album. I’m a fan of the two so telling you I love it and that they need to make more music together it’s probably implied.
Not happy with that, Liam has also done a full album with no less than John Squire, of The Stone Roses fame, one of the bands along with The Beatles that influenced Oasis sound. An amazing pairing that closes a music cycle that began somewhere in the late 80s in a Manchester club and has culminated into ten songs that bring together the guitar genius of Squire and the unmistakable vocals of Gallagher. The North has musically risen again it seems.
And of course I haven’t forgotten about Noel. Here’s what I’ve been listening to from him on repeat because this truly wasn’t on anyone’s bingo card and it feels surreal to hear him say he is proud of Liam.
Have finally visited the new V&A East Storehouse. Despite being a storage space for the extensive and wide-ranging V&A collections, it is a very immersive and entertaining opportunity to explore items at your leisure, which visitors can also order in advance for a more in-depth guided experience.
It is more impressive than it looks from my camera phone I've really enjoyed the novelty of not being traditionally guided as you are at an exhibition, where you follow a narrative, or at a museum display, where there's a logic behind why certain objects are grouped together in a space.
From the Olympic torch used in the London 2012 games to blue plaques, mugs with slogans from the miners' strikes in the 70’s and 80’s or the David Bowie Centre (which is opening in late September), the V&A East Storehouse is perhaps the building that best exemplifies the spirit of London as a city: a seemingly disconnected and extraordinary catalogue belonging to a wide range of people and places that somehow all fit together in the most unique way to create something bigger than the sum of its parts
Last weekend, under an auspicious sunny afternoon, I visited for the first time in my 16 years in London Abbey Road studios. Well, the outside of it as we mere mortals aren’t allowed inside. But at least we have the gift shop and the zebra crossing, which is a nightmare for any vehicle that needs to get through that road without running over a tourist that is taking their picture Beatles style. I left with a book, a tote bag, some Beatles pins and the feeling of an afternoon well spent as I had previously been snooping around in search of Liam Gallagher’s former home in nearby St John’s Wood3 (which I found)
On my way towards Marylebone, I walked to the sound of the eponymous Abbey Road album by The Beatles, which contains gems as the exceptionally upbeat Octopus’s Garden, often reprised by Oasis at the end of Whatever4. Gosh, what a time to be alive!
What better way to end this culture fix issue than the promise of more Britpop in the horizon? Say no more. The Battle, a comedy play by John Niven set in 1995 at the height of the Battle of Britpop, when Blur and Oasis both released singles on the same day. As per the testimonials in Don’t Look Back in Anger by Daniel Rachel, the press loved Britpop because it sold newspapers as everyone wanted to know their favourite band’s antics. A singles chart battle between two of the strongest contenders in British music at the time was a gift that fell from heaven. Apparently, Damon Albarn was the instigator as he kept moving the release day of Blur’s Country House on purpose to go against Oasis’s Roll With It. The press sure had a great time out of it. I am looking forward to seeing how this translates to the stage. The Battle will be touring in 2026 across the UK before coming to the West End. You can bet I’ll go see it and be ready to Roll With It all over again.
Abroad is an independent publication about London, living in between cultures, languages, books, music, films, creativity, and being human in the age of artificial intelligence.
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As a rule of thumb only things I have enjoyed make it to the Culture Fix to spread the joy with others but clearly there was some unfinished business between this film and I and it needed to come out.
Technically Radiohead were never under the Britpop umbrella, neither were Gorillaz, which are a separate music venture led by Damon Albarn, but for convenience given the overlap in time with the former and the fact that Blur’s frontman created the latter, it seems logical to group them together.
By the way, St. John Wood’s is a lovely area even if you aren’t into a bit of healthy old stalking so feel free to visit anytime without any pressure to look suspicious and peak through people’s windows while you walk around it.
Because tone cannot be inferred from text I am not being sarcastic here. I do like Octopus’s Garden and believe is a very underrated song in general but especially in an album that includes heavyweights like Come Together, Something and Here Comes the Sun. However, the moment you play it, you can’t stop smiling and singing along and it remains stuck in your head. It has an infectious and instant feel-good energy that I find very necessary these days.
Was so pleased to see (thanks to you!) that the reissue of Amadeus is the theatrical cut. Ages ago, bought the then available DVD, and it was terrible - the director's cut; sadly flabby, ruined a wonderful film. Time for a new copy...
I loved Hamnet so want to know why you avoided it.