Tim Hardin’s struggles with addiction are mirrored in Black Sheep Boy, his heartbreaking tale of alienation from his family.

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Tramhaus are The Netherlands’ best-kept secret – a post-punk band from the (low) land that gave us Focus, Golden Earring and, er, Pussycat. (more…)

Samuel Maghett – “Maghett Sam” merging into Magic Sam – was a Chicago bluesman who had moved north from his Mississippi Delta birthplace in 1956 when he was 19.

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Sixties soul veteran Gary U.S. Bonds had a second career in the early ’80s after Bruce Springsteen wrote and produced two albums for him.

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Dead Pioneers are a Native American punk band making radically political music about white people’s perceptions and misconceptions of indigenous peoples.

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Whatever we expected from Pete Shelley’s solo debut in 1981, after a string of superlative singles by Buzzcocks, a queer synthpop anthem came as a surprise.

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I have to admit that, like most others, I was initially attracted to this tune by its sampling of Lou Reed’s Walk On The Wild Side. But there was much more to the New York rappers than that – though Reed got all the money and the teenage rappers never saw a penny.

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DJ Shadow teamed up with rap duo Run The Jewels on Nobody Speak, one of the standout tracks from his 2019 comeback album.

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Dwight Yoakam came along at just the right time for me, in the mid Eighties, launching a lifelong love of country music.

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Back when punk and reggae were rebel bedfellows, I discovered this deep cut – thanks to Johnny Rotten. I still can’t find out much about it.

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