TOWARDS A TOP 10 LIST, 1: The Kylie Problem
Or, “How much account in a Top 10 albums list should you take of the fact that you like albums you just bought more than the ones you bought in January?” This is particularly acute with a pop re[…]

quicksilver shapeshifter is a great-looking new music weblog by ILM regular Mel W. Too early to make any kind of overview of what she’ll be talking about but a look at her top 50 2001 LPs will give you some idea of the range.[…]

And while I sorted out the archives, I made myself a tape![…]

Freaky Trigger Archives: before we get onto all that, though, here is a sorted-out FT Archive. There’d been snarl-ups in the archiving of some of the restored pieces, so stuff like Sterling’s Hannah Marcus review (complete with awful edit[…]

This year the Village Voice sent me a Pazz And Jopp poll ballot, which was surprising and kind of them. I’m not a professional rock critic, after all, and I’ve hardly even been keeping my end in as a hobbyist this year. I felt excited abo[…]

The Christmas song has always been an odd part of pop – music and songs designed to represent, to evoke a specific season, a time, a place. Even if – especially if – that season is itself a social fiction. Pop after all shares moder[…]

Compare and Contrast: Blogging is hip-hop (November 2001) and Blogging is hip-hop (July 2000, entry #96). And for some proof – bloggers at war![…]

Pitchfork’s Top 20 Of 2001 is more interesting than you think it is. Still rather too scared of having a good time (unless that good time is validated by 900 different samples) but the site’s vision has gradually widened and the poll refl[…]

Counter attack: the Christmas party season and a hideous workload have served to nip the NYLPM renaissance in the bud rather – sorry about that, normal service etc. Here’s an article about the race for the Christmas No.1 to keep you in th[…]

Ethan P on Roots Manuva: “Who gives a fuck about “ten pints of bitter?””. Well, not you Ethan, cuz being American you’re not old enough to drink it yet.
(Serious response – the Roots Manuva album is a bit overrated[…]