Practical Criticism II: There were two serious questions/points lurking behind yesterday’s (somewhat sarcastic) proposals.
1/ Assuming that the tiny-review model for published music criticism is likely to dominate for at least a while, how best[…]

GIRLS ALOUD – “Love Machine”
SKIFFLE IS BACK!!
Yrs, Easily Pleased, Tooting.[…]

Pop Factor: 400
At Glastonbury, Goldie Lookin’ Chain were enormous; the dance tent was flooded with people trying to cram themselves in and catch a glimpse of the comedy Welsh rap troupe. You wouldn’t have got that sort of crowd for MC M[…]

How Dr Who Made Me A Liberal
“Inside the party, more than a few people know I’m a fan, so when a set of Doctor Who-related questions came in to party HQ from a fan group during the 2001 British General Election campaign, I was given the r[…]

Christianity + Marketing = DOOMSDAY
(I’m assuming they’re Christians.)[…]

Distilled from several years of pop experience, here from the WORST to the BEST are ways to approach a cover version.
The Acoustic Guitar: i.e. “Any good song will sound great on an acoustic guitar”, runs the prized nugget of MOJO wisdom […]

Against The Corporate We
My mouth tells me that Innocent Smoothies are very nice. My brain suggests they are a great deal better for me than that next can of coke. So why am I so suspicious of them? This provides a clue:
“We promise a lot of th[…]

Sexy History
I’m reading Rubicon by Tom Holland, a pacy account of the corruption and collapse of the Roman republic in the first century BC. It’s a period I’m interested in because my own Roman studies started with Augustus, with t[…]

Practical Criticism
I wonder sometimes if music criticism shouldn’t be more practical. I suppose I’m thinking of the music criticism you pay for in magazines. The ‘music press’, with a handful of sterling exceptions (you know […]

One thing I like about Soca is that it often prefers a bit of good honest entendre-laden smut over slacker chat. So here over a typically sweet sunny day tune we have “Come water my garden… I need a gardener who can work this soil…&[…]