You will no doubt be astonished to learn that in my search for pop perfection I download a lot of tat. None of it deserves a separate review, most of it is dribbly and half-arsed, but writing a round-up at least forces me to give it a second listen.
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On the one hand I think if you’re going to advertise a pub quiz then you should have the bloody pub quiz and not call it off because too few people have turned up, on the other I can see that pubs are businesses first and they’re not goin[…]

This is an excellent little article about pub quizzes, from the quizmaster’s perspective. I came with my bristles up, expecting to find all sorts of quiz snobbery on show, but no, the author seems fair-minded and has wise things to say about al[…]

A cover so humble that it’s almost just a mix, but glued to my playlist anyway. I don’t know what people were expecting from this – self-reference? snare rushes? sex? – but what they’re getting is a faithful version, with a litt[…]

THE BROWN LOG: EDGE
What is the Brown Log? Part of the Wedge’s remit is talk about magazines. And where better to read magazines than on the bog? Every week I will buy a magazine – sometimes one I’d normally get, often one I’d[…]

RACHEL STEVENS – “Sweet Dreams (My L.A. Ex)”
Check out the parentheses for how seriously Rachel S Club is taking the whole grown-up market thing. Not only has she been going out with someone, not only was that someone from exoticall[…]

UK Readers: if you’re reading this on Sunday, and you have a pound or so to spare, pick up a copy of The Observer. Its Sports Monthly has a special edition this week, with the ‘Fifty Greatest Sports Photographs’ – a good read,[…]

It’s All In The Mind is a good blog I only found today – I read this entry on Auden and Rilke just after I’d written the Lene review below. Few are fonder than I of queasy middle Englishness but I see what he’s getting at &#82[…]

Some of the other pop logs have been talking this one up and they’re quite correct. Lene Nystrom used to be in Aqua and now songwrites for Girls Aloud among others: “Duty” could have fetched good money on the pop transfer market but[…]

Further proof of my indie deprogramming – I downloaded the Postal Service’s puddly version of Phil’s monster ballad and the wind-machine original and Phil’s version sounded so much better than the Postal’s blips-and-rain[…]