On a recent radio program I heard some old dude talking about how kids dance these days: “Just all by themselves! Jumping up and down with their hands in the air!” This guy goes to some good parties, I thought. “Not like in my day &[…]

If you take pop history from the emergence of Elvis to right now, the release of Thriller– the highest selling album there will ever be – sits at the midpoint. This coincidence nagged at me when I reviewed the album’s reissue, not v[…]

Just a short front page reminder to everyone that it is Poptimism TONIGHT at the Horse Bar, and as you might imagine we will be paying our respects.
Respectively to:
a) Sky Saxon (you’ll hear Pushin’ Too Hard)
b) Farah Fawcett (you’[…]

This summers hit comedy, The Hangover, is one big lie. Firstly, as hit comedies go, its not all that funny. For a shaggy dog stringing along of vaguely absurd scenarios it has a paucity of imagination about how absurd it can get. Whilst pitching as t[…]

I have been very remiss in not pimping the reissue of Saint Etienne’s Foxbase Alpha in a grand 2CD deluxe edition. (A similarly deluxified Continental is also out: other records will follow across the year.) Not only is it one of my favourite 9[…]

As one of the few people who can speak confidently on higher mathematics AND popular trashy cinema, my heart always sinks whenever the lead in an action film is a maths academic. Its not that the ranks of professors and dons are not by nature action […]

Stats: A raw sheep cheese from Spain, made with a thistle rennet.Bought from: BrindisaTasting conditions: I had this for lunch, on wholemeal bread.

This cheese appears hardish, and has a slightly translucent pale yellow rind with spots of green-gr[…]

Just as there is a thin line between love and hate, or strong ale and LOOPY JUICE, there can some times be not much between excellent pubcraft and pubtwattery. One man’s smart land grab for a table in a pub is another’s aggressive take-over bid. […]

having recently obtained “le gendarme integrale” – a collection of the six louis de funes movies wherein he plays a fiercely proud yet totally hapless member of the french national guard – it occurred to me that there’s […]

Another shockingly underpopulated comments thread. So if you’ve got anything to say about this 1958 Elvis soundalike track do so? Love its staircase of tempo, its atmospheric intro? Or want to talk about Conway Twitty as a country artist, the m[…]