There’s a film in cinemas right now about a long-forgotten British funk band called Cymande, who disappeared 50 years ago and have decided to reform. Change one or two details – replace 50 with 40 and change funk to dub reggae – and you could be talking about Creation Rebel.

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It’s a shame… but after 70 years together, The Detroit Spinners are finally no more. Henry Fambrough was the last surviving original member of the group who were born in the Motor City but came to define the lush Philly sound. (more…)

I wonder what genre, what category, Stereolab are put in in record shops. Come to that, I wonder whether there are still record shops; but if there are, where would their records be placed? (Apart from somewhere between Steps and Stereo MCs). 

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I discovered Can at the age of 16, back when I was at school. Not because I was some sort of cool avant-garde kid but purely because they put out an album for a cut-price 59p. 

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Not sure how I’ve missed seeing or hearing this remarkable piece of pop history before – a ten-year-old Michael Jackson singing the blues.

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When I heard this infectious slice of Northern Soul on the radio I thought two things: first that it was by a black dude, and secondly that it was a reaction to the state of the world today. Wrong on both counts.

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Lana Del Rey must wonder who she has to fuck to win a Grammy Award. Once again this week she walked away empty-handed.

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This song came out when my kids were at primary school and we used to sing it every day as they were about to leave the house, with one minor lyrical change – “Get your fleece on.”

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Last night I went to see music legend Michael Rother and took my chum and self-styled (kraut) ‘rock expert’ David Stubbs along to the Barbican to help me identify some of the tunes.

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Here is the MC5’s infamous hometown performance by a Detroit highway in July 1970.  Thirty-four years later I finally got to see them play for myself.

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