Tell me how it feels
Growing up on the music press meant that from about the time I hit my teens until the time downloading replace CD buying, I was is a state of constant! almost unbearable! excitement! Tracking down hot...
View ArticleThe mix-up
My dad is a king of mix-tapes. His great works have included “original versions of songs which are better known for a cover”, the Ian-Dury heavy “list songs” and the great, unending project to get...
View ArticlePicturehouse: Twilight
It’s quite hard to explain why I decided to watch Twilight without blaming it all on Rachel Penny or making myself sound like the kind of perv who watches High School Musical for libidinous kicks...
View ArticleLive music: Katie Stelmanis
The Porter, Bath 18 June 2009 The Porter Cellar Bar is a tiny, low-ceilinged space. When Katie Stelmanis begins to sing, her operatic voice swells and fills the vaults, and it’s almost too much: from...
View ArticleLinkblogging: the King is dead etc
How did I feel about Michael Jackson dying? Relieved, as though a huge matter of collective guilt had finally expired and could be shrugged off at last. However baroque the revelations of the...
View ArticleNew favourite song: John Cassavetes
Thoughts while reviewing DVDs: 1.Hey, this film is directed by John Cassavetes! I simply must listen to 1990s accordionist electro-pop punk Angel Corpus Christi’s song, John Cassavetes! 2. Hang on,...
View ArticleLive music: 65daysofstatic
The Thekla, Bristol, 4 July 2009 (Photo by seanjp, used under Creative Commons license.) Power means nothing without precision. The huge, headstomping, heartshaking noise that 65days generate is shaped...
View ArticleEditions of you: Roxy and magazines
Before home video made it possible to possess film, print was the only was the only to claim ownership of visuals. Roxy Music made records, but they made a world too – a freakish outgrowth of the style...
View ArticleTrish Keenan RIP
I’d say Broadcast were one of my favourite bands, only my relationship with them would make other acts pray not to show up on my Facebook profile. I first heard them in ’96, when The Book Lovers EP was...
View ArticleFor the girls
Mat Osman: Very early on there was a Britpop club on Oxford Street, and the fliers had all the bands who were played, Oasis and stuff, and at the bottom it had this little thing saying ‘sorry girls, no...
View ArticleRiot Grrrl and inventing feminism
It’s 1994 and I’m in the car with my dad. I’m 12 or 13 and we’re listening to music, and it must be 1994 because the cassette we’re listening to is a power pop tracklist from Mojo magazine published in...
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