1) Rebel Jew-Silver Jews
The geography of Texas, the glory of a girl named Michelle and ‘The Rebel Jew, who died for you’ all tie in to an aching ballad that cries for a sense of liberation and freedom.
2) You’ve Gotta Serve Somebod[…]

I’m off to France for a week, so no updates from me (and no Focus Group either, sorry). Hopefully NYLPM’s other contributors will pick up some of the slack and run riot while I’m away. Have a lovely Easter Weekend![…]

Would you believe me if I told you 102 Beats That Part 2 was finally up? No? Well don’t click that link then.
(It’s not ALL up – just the stuff I have, which is most of it. If you’re reading this and thinking ‘Blimey I d[…]

Tom’s Top Twelve
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN – “Jungleland”
JIMMY SPICER – “Super Rhymes”
BOOMKAT – “The Wreckoning”
JX – “Son Of A Gun”
MIS-TEEQ – “That’s Just Not[…]

JUNIOR SENIOR – “Chicks And Dicks”
2003 is – commerically speaking – the Year Of The Ambiguous Pop Duo. t.A.T.u. are the most important band in Europe, of course; the White Stripes are at number one; Junior Senior’[…]

One of the big problems with fads is that they generally do burn out the general public – even the general hipster public – to a specific sound, which is a shame when the victims are records as beautiful as this one. Will admit to not hav[…]

I have more than a bit of sympathy for Jess on this thread — I find the earliest hip-hop tough going sometimes too. Thing is, I usually find myself nodding my head more at the positive descriptions of and arguments for Funky Four &c. than […]

Good Charlotte – “Girls and Boys” / Big Brovaz – “Favourite Things”
You wait ages for top pop tunes slamming materialism and referencing that old song which goes ‘these are a few of my favourite things’[…]

White Stripes-Seven Nation Army
This is proof that all of the shyness is bullshit, all of the desire to not be rock stars is nonesense. They play rock and roll, and this rock and roll gets them on the charts. See no one in the fly over cares about t[…]

White Stripes – Elephant
“Realness”, in pop, is a deeply silly idea/ideal. Show me a wholly “real” artist and I’ll show you a profoundly boring personality. But you can’t, so there’s no worry. There&[…]