On the right, down below the weblog links you may now see a box called “Listening to”. This is an agglomeration of FT writers’ listen-to data so you can keep tabs on the yawning chasm between our trendy claimed tastes and the shite […]

Pitchfork on Bonnie Prince Billy: I think the new Bonnie Prince Billy album is quite – no, very – good. It’s re-recordings of his older Palace tracks in a warm, country-rockish style, faintly reminiscent of early-70s Dylan. Having m[…]

SASHA – “Hanky Panky” (aka PopNose5): Sasha is part of a post-Sean-Paul pop-dancehall trend, literally in her case since her big break was on Paul’s “I’m So In Love With You” single. Now, I’m no expert […]

PAY TV – “Trendy Discoteque” (aka PopNose4): An object lesson in how context can change my reactions to a song. I was recommended this song on a Europop ILM thread by Edward O. I like a bit of Europop, and also it turned out that th[…]

THE BETA BAND – Heroes To Zeros
“What on Eart will they do next?”, Tom asked, on this very site, way back in ’99. If you had told me then that the answer would be “release a straight up indie rock record” five yea[…]

Worst Prize EVER! Woolworths in Tooting (my most-visited record shop, thumbs up for teleworking) had a refit the other week and relaunched with a special Mother’s Day competition. On entering the shop you were greeted by the huge cardboard face[…]

(aka PopNose3): Also in the Fopp £3 only pile was the album I got this from – Songlines Presents World Music: The #1 Tracks From The #1 World Music Albums Of The Year”. It has a very nasty cover on which totally ordinary card has be[…]

A few songs into my shift at the Birkbeck end-of-term party a guy came up to the decks. “Do you have a card?” “What?” “I’m getting married this year, I wondered if you had a card, you know, with your mobile on it.&[…]

SOUL DIMENSION – “Trash-An-Ready” (aka PopNose2): I have been able to find out almost nothing about this track! Search parties came back empty-handed save for an offhand reference by the all-knowing Woebot to early hip-hop/dancehall[…]

Troubled Diva is playing a game comparing ‘this week in pop’ across the decades, with a sort-of megamix for each day. Great idea, well executed. Currently the 1960s are winning: a shame I think as my own pop researches suggest that 1964 w[…]