The number 101 has unfortunate connotations. Most obviously Room 101 in Orwell’s 1984: the rats, the boot stamping on a human face for ever as a symbol of what humanity has in store. I write this during the second week of the invasion in the Ukraine (March 2022), so that seems realistic.
More personally Room 101 was the number of the room in which I spent a somewhat terrifying year (1973-74) as my form room in the second year at senior school. Still, what does not destroy us … actually scrap that, I was certainly not strengthened by that experience.
But Episode 101 has nothing but positivity associated with Sombrero Fallout, I’m happy to say. We embark on our second century of episodes with renewed vigour. It is traditional for us - I say ‘traditional’ but really ours is a rather recent tradition - to run a Women To Watch episode early in the calendar year. For 2022 I noticed that it’s International Women’s Day this week, so that’s the link this time round.
It’s a bit but not very international, if I’m honest. The US and UK feature heavily, but The Netherlands and South Korea are there also. And Nilufer Yanya is of Turkish, Barbadian and Irish heritage, so she’s doing some heavy lifting there.
I can remember back in the ‘80s when NME ran a poll for Best Female Artist each year. Either Kate Bush or Annie Lennox seemed to win it every single bloody year. Now look where we are. My Music Club - ‘Banned For Life’ - which is composed of mostly curmudgeonly middle-aged men, managed to vote for a female Number One in our End Of Year Poll. Even more gratifyingly it was Strong Feelings by Dry Cleaning, receiving some sort of a vote from 7 out of 9 of us. Well done, guys.
There’s a long way to go, of course, but I hope I’m right in saying that the world of alternative music has been at the forefront of advancing the female cause recently. Certainly this tracklist stands comparison with any that we’ve run in the first 100 episodes.
Tracklist:
Fruitcake, Subsonic Eye
Stabilise, Nilufer Yanya
6 week party, Anorak Patch
50/50, Jockstrap
Sick and tired, Lime Garden
Deepfake, Deep tan
Falls on me, Sylvie with Marina Allen
Everybody hates me, Coach Party
Come home, Pip Blom
Burglar, Honeyglaze
Woman, Little Simz, Cleo Sol
Let’s sing, let’s dance, Sun Hye Jin
Baby don’t cry, Sunflower Bean