RIP Terry Hall (1957-2022).

The Specials were part of my youth, and I saw them several times, including that magical first time with Madness and Dexys and The Selecter all on one bill in 1979.

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I have never been to Nigeria but I feel as if I’ve spent time amid the hustle and bustle of Lagos while listening to sound artist Emeka Ogboh’s album 6°30’33.372″N 3°22’0.66″E.

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Song of the Day

With its spooky folk-horror video and creepy choral vocals by the Mediaeval Baebes, Orbital have created a post-pandemic anthem that fuses their characteristic dance rhythms with the playground song Ring A Ring O’Roses.

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I can’t pretend i was ever a big Fleetwood Mac fan.
So the death of Christine McVie didn’t resonate with me as strongly as with those millions who bought Rumours. But the outpouring of love and sadness for her death is a poignant reminder of the unifying power of music.

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RIP Wilko Johnson (Dr Feelgood, Ian Dury & The Blockheads, The Solid Senders) 1947-2022. Gone but never forgotten.

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The hot summer night Pulp and Leftfield played in an outdoor amphitheatre in Barcelona. And I was there.

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Like mother like daughter… this is Madonna’s daughter Lolahol slavishly coping the methods that brought her mother to public attention more than 40 years earlier.

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I came late to the party with Low; I missed their whispery slowcore beginnings and my engagement was limited largely to their magnificent Christmas album, which should be a staple of every home in December. It certainly is in mine.

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Suede: Electric Ballroom, London – live review

I have not closely followed the career of foodie rapper Loyle Carner but I’ve got time for anyone who makes his stage name a spoonerism of his real name (Benjamin Coyle-Larner).

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