What is a "nasty vortex"? And how does one distinguish it from a pleasant one? These and other questions have been provoked by leading urban thinker Kele Okereke, the Bloc Party frontman, after he decided to have a teensy pop at Vice, his record label in the States and phonic arm of the trendy mag that's too cool for you.
"That's one of the things that I most regret about our history," the singer said in a recent interview. "I wish I'd voiced my concerns at the time, articulated them more clearly.
"The people that we work with are lovely, and they're a separate company from the magazine, but Vice the brand just fills me with dread, really. It's a real kind of nasty vortex, where any decency and general compassion to other people has just been completely obliterated.
"I don't know if the magazine is still like that, but it certainly was very much so back then."
Sources close to a branch of American Apparel can assure Okereke that the magazine is the same as ever, but that the Dos and Don'ts feature continues to be funny. Bloc Party are on Wichita Recordings in the UK, so it doesn't really matter.
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