M is for….”My Before And After” by Cotton Mather, a track which has caused me a certain amount of grief, by being infectiously tricksy power-pop, a style I usually have great difficulty liking for all the reasons you might expect (c[…]

L is for….”A Little Knowledge” by Scritti Politti, the one good reason to shell out for Cupid And Psyche ’85 rather than just pick up the associated twelves in jumble sales as and when. A fluttery, trebly, precious production […]

A Conversation With Jessica Simpson….or, in fact, a new piece on Freaky Trigger, as ‘Jessica’ and I bandy around some more thoughts on teen pop and its various uses.[…]

Barmy Army: having said, oh, there’s loads in the Guardian today I might as well blog some of it. This is an excellent review of Alan McGee’s first offerings on his new Poptones label, identifying and parading the reasons why the whole la[…]

“A knowledgeable fellow of excellent taste” (it says here), Lee Jackson was also an a.m.a. regular in the good old days, when he posted as keyserfleck and demonstrated good humour and mighty learnings on the subject of the psych-pop-noise[…]

A lot of stuff in the Guardian today, but the most amusing pop-related story isn’t linked, sadly – William Hague, the balding runt currently leading the Tory party into saloon bar oblivion, has fallen foul of Massive Attack, after choosin[…]

K is for…..”Kids”, which is the new Robbie Williams single. It’s a grievous heap of arse. Robbie Williams is, as everyone loves to remind us, a Proper Pop Star, who is Entertaining yet still Down To Earth as well as being a bi[…]

Josh points out this Motion review of Aaliyah’s fine “Try Again” single, which is well-written but does rather make you agree with Simon Reynolds’ suggestion in the latest Wire that ‘intellectual’ pop writers are n[…]

Hyacinths And Thistles: my review of the latest Stephin Merritt side-project. For once the hosannas are muted.[…]

J is for…”Je Suis Venu Te Dire Que Je M’En Vais” by Serge Gainsbourg. From his Vu De L’Exterieur album, it’s as near as he came in the 70s to conventional singer-songwriting. That record takes the strummed, sensiti[…]