The death of music retail as we know it?: the most interesting things in this article are the things only barely touched on – the apparently common, even fashionable attitude that music should be free. Something about that worries me – no[…]

DUEL!: Skunk Anansie vs Primal Scream.
A slight lack of updates yesterday as we all got down to the Pop Music Focus Group. Ballots were sent out Sunday, votes in by next Saturday, but more importantly a good time was had by all (oh, my aching head). […]

Fleischer on Madonna’s Pie: ho ho ho ho, Madonna’s Pie, geddit? “In Madonna’s hands, the song ceases to pertain to its subject matter.” – yes, and that’s a good thing, since the ‘subject matter’ i[…]

popjustice.com: in a chickenshit world, finally a site that matters.[…]

DUEL!: I know it’s a holiday here and in America, but anyway here’s today’s Duel, James vs Muse.[…]

The Oysterhead Enigma: so let’s get this straight. A band featuring members of Phish, Primus, and the Police get together for a one-off ‘jam’, and the mainstream press doesn’t cover it, and we’re supposed to believe that[…]

Screen Ravers: Simon Reynolds on rave movies – perceptive comments on Human Traffic and the upcoming Groove with little of the disillusionment that’s characterised his recent writings. Nice. (This link grabbed from a symmetric plastic nar[…]

They Came From The Stars (I Saw Them): live review of an extraordinary new band, fresh up on FT.[…]

If you wanted to take part in the Pop Music Focus Group you should have received a ballot today. And quite possibly you’ll have received one even if you didn’t want to take part. If you’ve not received a ballot, and want to play, sh[…]

Reactions to my
soul questions
: josh blog goes off on a sort-of-tangent to what I was talking about and looks at some of the underlying issues involving ‘tendencies’ in criticism with typical intelligence. I think he’s right in t[…]