1) Can I begin with a footnote?1
It makes sense to do so, since for all intents and purposes the Strokes are a footnote – that least sexy of paratextual props2 – a scribbled quibble in the margin of pop history, not even parasitic (since that w[…]

1.
This is an article about the Strokes. Yes, yes: I realize it’s gauche to go on about the Strokes. Let’s get that out of the way as soon as possible: you may well feel that a lot more words have been written about this particular ban[…]

Moving Towards A Unified Theory Of Pop Music: This is possible the ultimate goal of NYLPM, though one which is rarely stated since many of our pop boffins secret believe it is impossible. Nevertheless I think I made a key discovery last night: all de[…]

Get back behind your desk: “”In London they say Tim, we love ya,” he rhymes on All Y’All, before dropping into a faux-cockney accent so lamentable even Dick Van Dyke would scoff. “They call me things like wicked and the […]

MILES DAVIS – Sketches Of Spain
As I’ve said before – I really, really hate Jazz. Jazz to music is what Whose Line Is It Anyway is to comedy – we forgive the crap jokes because they thought them up on the spot. Except with Who[…]

Steps – Gold
Steps – some human atom in the five-faced hundred-bodied pop machine that was Steps – decided to call their greatest hits album Gold. You know, like Abba’s greatest hits album, Gold. It was a good joke because it […]

E-Mails from artists are an occupational hazard/blessing of running a music weblog. Mostly they’re from people I don’t know asking for reviews or mentions of a new CD. Very occasionally, though, they’re from someone shockingly unexp[…]

BOOTYLICIOUS! – Bootlegs And Why I Love Them
“Some of these bootleggers / They make pretty good stuff…” (Bob Dylan, “Sugar Baby”, 2001 – sample it!)
SKEE-LO – “I Wish (Soulwax Remix)”
It was[…]

A*Teens and Alice Cooper in year’s most unlikely collaboration: Tom wants the rest of us to contribute more? Fine. I decided to view the NME website for the first time in months and saw this bizarre headline staring me in the face. My mind […]

This Is My Truth: “Unless something hugely dramatic happens before February 1, 2002 the courts will declare that Richey [Edwards] is legally dead.” (from Mojo Magazine, February 2002)[…]