The Real Actual Bulworth: white-suited anti-corruption ex-MP Martin Bell to make hip-hop record focussing on ‘dumbing down’ in the media. “The idea for the track came from Andy Lawson, creative director of Like Minds, an ideas gener[…]

The Sixth Freaky Trigger Pop Music Focus Group: Yes it’s FINALLY HERE![…]

Conservative Pop Music: via Nate P’s blog comes this list of great conservative pop songs. “Al Wilson, ‘The Snake’ (#27, 1968): explains liberalism”. I very much disagree with most of the views the guy seems to hold but […]

SAINT ETIENNE feat. WILDFLOWER – “Soft Like Me”
I feel a bit bad for giving “Action” a slagging here the other week – it does do an adequate job of leading off Finisterre but the real highpoints come later in the d[…]

The day the music died: Stuart Jeffries puts the case against Pop Idol and the colonisation of the charts by TV. A lot of blood and thunder and what seems to be a strong central point (ignoring the use of the lazy m-word) – “Manufactured […]

Sinker vs Frith (well not versus, exactly…) – rewarding rockcritics.com online exchange with Simon Frith: readers emailed in their questions and Frith answers some more comprehensively than others. My question was “Can I be a Mercur[…]

TOM’S TOP TEN!
MALCOLM MCLAREN – “Double Dutch”
ANDREW WK – “We Want Fun”
HOLLY VALANCE – “Down Boy”
THE BEATLES – “Magical Mystery Tour”
BLACK SABBATH – “Into […]

Digital Download Day: I just got phoned up for a comment on this by M*tro – it was the first I’d heard of it (good work PR people). This is “the future of music” according to the site, i.e. “the present of music” &[…]

ANDREW WK – “We Want Fun”
How could anyone hate music as happy as this? The opening minute – with no WK in sight – is outrageously, beautifully, gleeful. Glitterbeat drums introduce the riff from “I Wish It Could B[…]

Alex came down last weekend and after the pub we went back home and listened to some records with Sarah. I had the remote for the stereo. I wanted to play them all the freshest, funniest tunes I’d found lately but it’s not a great idea to[…]