I’ve never been able to make up my mind whether I like the Lambrini Girls for their shouty punk energy or hate them, probably for the same reason.

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Obviously there’s no ‘good’ way to die but to lose your life in a house fire, as Jill Sobule has done, must rank among the most unfortunate and unpleasant of all. (more…)

This is not just a great tune but a cleverly constructed composition – created by combining two tracks recorded 37 years apart.

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Here’s my latest playlist for the month of April and as ever it’s eclectic; one of the most diverse yet. We’ve got postpunk guitar legends (Keith Levene, John McKay), banging dance choons (ATB, Altern-8, Baby D), vintage soul (Three Degrees, James Carr), old-skool hip-hop (Luniz) and nu-skool reggae (Protoje), ambient (JakoJako) and country (Kaylee Rose) and tributes to those who left us in April (Max Romeo, David Thomas, Mike Berry, Wizz Jones…. Pope Francis).

You may not have heard of him, and neither had I, but Wizz Jones was a pioneering figure in British folk: a man described by Bert Jansch as “the most underrated guitarist ever.”

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Kaylee Rose is a Nashville-based artist who taps into tradition with this song about a cheating partner, set to a simple backing. It’s the archetypal “three chords and the truth” – the phrase Harlan Howard used in the 1950s to sum up country music’s appeal.

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David Thomas regarded this as the nearest he ever came to writing and performing a straight-up pop song. Which tells you all you need to know about the Pere Ubu frontman, who has just died.

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If World War I was “the war to end all wars” then Warfare ought to be marketed as the war film to end all war films. It’s that good.

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Ashley Johnson sings this heartbreaking song at the end of the powerfully poignant second episode of the second season of The Last Of Us.

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I’d never heard of JakoJako or the Dragon Bridge in Vietnam, which is the inspiration for this soothing slice of minimalist techno by the Berlin-based electronic artist.

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