Here’s a trio of songs for Christmas – one for opening the presents, another for after dinner at the end of the day, and one for Boxing Day.

(more…)

Alarming news – in my old age I may be starting to like jazz. Yes, I’m afraid a lifetime of jazzophobia may be under threat after I heard this dude, Yussef Dayes yesterday. On a sunny day on my car radio, his music blew my mind.

(more…)

If there’s going to be a soundtrack to the end of the world, then we could do a lot worse than this: Spitting Off The Edge Of The World by Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

(more…)

By far my highlight of Glastonbury was this performance by the Mary Wallopers – a virulently anti-capitalist anti-British bunch of folkies from the Irish border town of Dundalk.

(more…)

Austrian supergroup My Pretty Clementine put Vienna back on the musical map for the first time in a couple of centuries.

(more…)

The Goon Sax broke up in 2022 only six years after forming in their teens in Brisbane, leaving us with three albums and this gorgeous radio performance.

(more…)

Mark Stewart, who has died, was not past his prime. He was not in his 90s, or 80s, or even his 70s. He was only just into his 60s and he had much more to give.

(more…)

Is there a Glam revival? If there is – and this would seem to suggest as much – then it’s crept up on me unawares. Rather like that cat Mud sang about. Apparently this video has gone viral, and I can see why: it’s like a pastiche of something from an early 70s Top of the Pops.

(more…)

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.

(more…)

Tom Verlaine of Television has died, aged 73.

(more…)