Okay – so the flute thing didn’t pan out (flute – pan – geddit?). Perhaps the big chart sound for the next couple of mintyhs might be the carnival sound. This is not strictly latin or soca, just anything vibrant, strident and […]

AND YOU WILL KNOW US BY THE TRAIL OF DEAD – “Source Tags And Codes”
The problem of boredom in alt.rock music is probably just the problem of me noticing boredom in alt.rock music more easily. (That’s the generous interpretatio[…]

Ethan on ILM flailing to describe a condition I’ve been experiencing (and therefore trying to explicate) for some time now. Listening right now to the new(est) Unwound record – and yes, it’s every bit as good as everyone makes it o[…]

SOULWAX – “Push It (Remix)”
The major labels are circling, and if that’s not a writ they’re carrying it’s a chequebook; the clubs are packed so tight you can’t breathe; the papers are racing to be first to si[…]

DUEL 2002 — Round 1 Match 10

Duel 2002 – Round 1 Match 10

Which Of These Artists Is Worse?

U2

Ryan Adams

View current resultsView message board

Duel returns from its unseemly hiatus with a big-name match-up, two art[…]

R-E-S-P-E-C-T?: Subjects given their first entries in the new [E]ncyclopaedia [Britannica] include lesbianism, the drug ecstasy and hip-hop music. Well, it’s only taken hip-hop a couple of decades, but LESBIANISM? I have a hunch that conserv[…]

POP-EYE 18/3/02
There was a time, about two years ago, when the news was a wee bit slow and silly season had kicked in when the papers suggested that the UK charts were too fast. Singles were barrelling in to number one and bouncing way back out agai[…]

FT Birthday Update (And Other News)
1. The response to the birthday thing has gone from good to spectacular – I now have around fifty entries. Thanks!
2. I’m extending the deadline anyway because the entries have been so good and I want e[…]

Dylan And Me: caution, if you’re the kind of reader who thinks autobiographical detail doesn’t belong in pop criticism, you won’t like this. Also up today – Familiarity Breeds Surprise, another personal essay, this time by Bil[…]

I’m not quite sure what kind of reception Adam F’s KAOS project has got in hip-hop circles, but I for one know that the records that have come out of it have been a damn sight better than his previous noodlings. Is there a distinctive Bri[…]