When I was ten or eleven, at the end of the 1980s, we got satellite TV. Partly this was to allow my father, raised in part in Germany on a British Armed Forces base and a fluent German speaker, to watch German channels (and most importantly his beloved Borussia Dortmund). But it also had a […]
The final part of /Countdown 2024 sees me looking at the best gigs of the year. Some statistics for my gig-going in 2024. I went to 36 shows (each festival is counted by number of days – so Infest is three days, so counts for three shows), and saw 110 live sets. I saw 105 […]
Back to writing about the best gigs of the year for the first time in three years. Some statistics for my gig-going in 2022. I went to 36 shows (each festival is counted by number of days – so Infest is three days, so counts for three shows), and saw 106 live sets. I saw […]
Welcome to /Countdown/2022 – this year’s wrap-up of the best new music that I’ve heard across the year. I begin as usual, with the best compilations and reissues in no particular order, although it should be noted that as is the norm these days, there are a whole lot of reissues coming through.
That what started out as a hastily-scheduled event to celebrate the life of Jamie Duffy has turned into a large, multi-day, multi-city festival over the past decade is something of wonder: but what is also great is how it has fostered a wider family of sorts, one of multiple groups that come together from all […]
Another busy week of work, and seeing the incomparable Einstürzende Neubauten last night, and here’s this week’s new music to hopefully distract you a bit.
A bit of a grim end to the week, really, with the sudden death of Andy Fletcher of Depeche Mode announced yesterday (among a number of other notable deaths within about 24 hours). I wasn’t ever the devoted fan that many of my friends still are, but DM has been part of my musical life […]
This week, what started out as a quick round-up of the best music I was listening to at the time (not necessarily new music initially), thanks to a request from another user on Livejournal, reaches fifteen years of posts.
As I’ve noted before, I come from a military family. My parents both lived overseas as children and teenagers when their fathers were stationed in Germany (in different locations), and then met while living on adjacent army camps, as I understand it, north of Salisbury – and indeed I was born in Salisbury, and for […]
Another busy week of new music and upcoming announcements – not to mention lots of choice on the Livestream front, too. In addition, I’ve overhauled the events page in a big way, so see the link further down for that. Livestreams and waiting for new releases seem to be the order of the day, for […]
Three weeks into January, Trump is gone from the White House, but things still feel pretty bleak here in the UK. Lockdown looks like it’s going to go on for a while yet, festivals are beginning to be cancelled for the summer (again), and so livestreams and waiting for new releases seem to be the […]
The seventh part of Transmission, the a-z of industrial. This continues our look at industrial music, and is this week all about bands beginning with “f”, and we’ll finish off this letter in 008.
I’ve said it before, but really, I can’t believe I haven’t covered this before. Dancing is such an important companion to music. It can be a joyful release, a form of protest, epoch-changing, style-leading, a celebration, a way of meeting or courting people or even dealing with unimaginable horror. It has changed the world, it […]
This week’s Ten has been long-planned to have this subject, but how it was going to work was the bit I didn’t really know. So, I chose to open it up.
A few months ago, Tuesday Ten #226 howled about dogs. But in the meantime, Elin – among a few others – was unimpressed that I did songs about dogs, but not cats. So time to redress the balance, with some songs to mewl along to. Bring your kitten heels to dance.
This year: 170 bands, 57 days worth of gigs. Five festivals, three countries, eight cities/towns. From venues holding thousands to those holding tens. Due to personal issues and, frankly, being too damned busy for much of the year, I didn’t get to write about many of them aside from the festivals, so writing this list […]
In the annals of crazy plans by me, this one was up there with Festival Kinetik 4.0 in 2011, where my friend Tim and I headed to Ottawa and then Montreal for a heavy, heavy week of music, drinking and sightseeing. Doing Cold Waves III came up from similar origins – a lineup too good […]
I actually started this 80s rundown a couple of years back, but life and other things have rather got in the way. So, a little bit of spare time has allowed me to get this finished. Without further ado, then, let’s get on with it.
Following last week’s awesome fun of submissions from many of my readers and friends, I thought I probably ought to suggest my own to this. So this is a postscript, of sorts, offering five albums that I celebrate as being my idea of perfect albums. I’ve been careful to ensure that I haven’t repeated any […]
