As a longtime fan of The Dears, I’ve always enjoyed the melancholy music and Bowiesque / Morriseyesque / Albarnesque croon of frontman Murray Lightburn. Even so, this is something I never expected from the creator of apocalyptic albums like Degeneration Street and No Cities Left.
Tom Verlaine of Television has died, aged 73.
This isn’t the best thing the provocatively named Canadian band Fucked Up have ever done. Because that would be when they took part in the self-explanatory Festival of the Fuck Bands in 2008.
There they performed alongside their fellow provocateurs Fuck, Fuck Buttons, Holy Fuck, Fuck The Facts and Starfucker. Where was this festival held, do I hear you ask? Why, there could only be one place… the Austrian village of Fucking.
This is their latest tune, I Think I Might Be Weird. The video, intended as an ode to OCD, is funny, surreal, slightly disturbing – and certainly illustrates the song title.
Fucked Up, who formed in Toronto in 2001 (Canada seems to be home to many, if not most, of the F-word bands), have released close to 100 singles, EPs and albums and are known for live shows lasting up to 12 hours: a long time to listen to grinding guitars and rasping vocals.
They’ve taken the opposite approach for their latest album, One Day, with the whole thing written and recorded in 24 hours, with each band member working remotely while adhering to the rule.
Sometimes a song comes out of nowhere and grabs your ear. That happened to me when Guy Garvey played this on the radio just before Christmas.

If there’s a more powerful, pertinent and poignant protest song than Midlife In A Small Town by Dead Sheeran, I’d like to hear it.

Like most of us, I imagine, I spent a lot of time watching the telly over the course of this year. These were my favourites and I think they demonstrate pretty clearly why anyone who wants to “defund the BBC” is an idiot.
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.
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.
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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