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[…]

Abortion is not very popular among New Country’s demographic; when children are involved it’s usually a positive thing, a sign of God’s providence. There are hundreds of ‘well she got pregnant young, but we pulled through song[…]

PUERTO MUERTO – Jean Lafitte
What is the secret of a good record? Innovation often swings it, or even better the fine crafting of someone else innovation. It can be the pure buffing of production, or the raw excitement of something lo-fi and en[…]

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[…]