The Afterword

Musings on the byways of popular culture

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Doves

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Venue:

Moseley Folk Festival

Date: 31/08/2025

There are bands that you feel are ‘yours’ and Doves are definitely that. While I can’t say I was in on The Cedar Room on release day in 2000, I had signed up to their brand of Northern Windswept Romanticism © by There Goes The Fear and The Last Broadcast saw them top the UK charts. The first time I saw them live was at the late lamented V Festival, one of the first we took ourselves post-kids with two under three in tow, to. We saw about 10 minutes of several bands in between worrying about eldest wanding off never to be seen again, but on the second stage I can vividly remember an intense version of Pounding. By the time Kingdom of Rust came out in 2009 we had babysitters sorted and saw them at the Academy, a truly great gig. And that was it until this year. There was a hiatus for solo albums, then COVID, then a new albumThe Universal Want. I had tickets for the tour in 2021, only for it to be cancelled in sad circumstances, as bassist and lead vocalist Jimi Goodwin’s mental health prevented him » Continue Reading.

Ain’t there one damn youtube clip that can make me break down and smile

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My eldest apropros of nothing sent me an utterly brilliant youtube clip of (presumably) Dutch local TV in which an old man demonstrates how to park a car 58 inches wide in a garage 60 inches wide. While very funny it also harks back to a vanished golden age of ‘Fenton’ and other clips before memefication, conspiracy nutters, Mark Goldbridge shouting, and all the other stuff that youtube now consists of. So please post your old-school youtube faves (Fenton, Old Man Parks Car and any others I can remember in the comments). No Downfall or other memes, I’m after the OG clips to bring a smile to all our faces in a troubled world. Two minutes or less (again the original youtube spirit).

Have we heard the last of them? Leave your legacy here pls

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The presence of Morrissey in the have we heard the last of them? thread prompted the thought ‘I hope so’. The interest in the unreleased album whose title track is described as about the 2017 Manchester Arena bombings, which Morrissey described as “England’s 9/11′ can only be that of curious bystanders at an ongoing bin fire. Does anyone apart form Morrissey believe it’s ‘the best album of his career’ – ie better than Vauxhall and I or Your Arsenal.

Second entrant: Primal Scream. Leave me with my Screamadelica and Don’t Give Out.. memories Bobby please. I’ve not heard the latest for these reasons but Chaosmosis was pretty mediocre.

Your entrants for those you would quite happily see resting on their laurels. The Rolling Stones would also come to mind. No return to form for me, I thought Hackneyed Diamonds pretty embarrassing.

Haim – I Quit

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What does it sound like?:

Four albums in and Haim have long since left their starting point of Fleetwood Mac 80s sunkissed harmonies, gated drums and a reverb-heavy sound (I re-played If I Could Change Your Mind and Don’t Save Me from their debut just to be sure, yup still there).

This album’s heaviest samples are a lifting of The Edge’s scuzzy guitar line from mid-90s U2 track Numb and George Michael’s backing vocalists from Freedom ‘90 (ok not that far from the tree). The latter is on album opener Gone, sitting on top of a shuffling acoustic guitar line that recalls nothing so much as Let It Bleed-era Stones complete with Mick Taylor-esque blues shredding. It sets out the tone for this album which sees several tracks (most notably Blood on the Streets) draw heavily from the late sixties early seventies sound.

I’ve listened to this album a good number of times. It’s both very varied – in say a way a Taylor Swift album isn’t – and very consistent – like the best of Swift, while still being unabashedly a series of succinct three minute poppers. Here’s some highlights:

Opener Relationships – we start with » Continue Reading.

Reach for the Stars: Fame, Fallout and Pop’s Last Party

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Author:Michael Cragg

What music were you listening to in 1996? I am guessing it was much more likely to be the petering out of Britpop, big beat from the Chemicals or Fat Boy Slim, being scared by Firestarter on TOTP, or the last ‘peak’ album from REM – New Adventures…

Well if you were ten then the seismic events of the year were the break up of Take That, the biggest pop band of the decade, and the seismic rise of the Spice Girls who did what the Takers could not and became a global phenomenon.

From these events this marvellous book tells the story of the last golden age of UK pop. I mean pop pop, not bands who were poppy but bands put together from stage school graduates through ads in the back of The Stage. Bands where an appearance on CD:UK and being one of the 20 singles added each week to the Woollies CD singles racks were the route to success rather than the toilet circuit. Manufactured, cynical and (this book would argue) consistent producers of brilliant music.

The story of the Spice Girls, while not perhaps the Beatles, is well-thumbed. Those of Steps, 5ive » Continue Reading.

Wimbledon round up thread

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In between work and graduations I’ve managed to see a fair bit of Wimbledon over the last fortnight. It’s been a pretty good one, while following a pattern that the Slams have been in for the past three years: Alcaraz, Sinner or Djokovik (of which more later) for the mens, while chaos and upsets reign in the womens.

The Brits had a fair showing without the key hopes (Draper and Radecanu) looking like they could go particularly deep. Draper doesn’t appear like someone who plays effortlessly, shall we say, and after going deep in the French and Australians, plus some tour finals, he looked tired. Radecanu is still finding her way back, and in the first couple of rounds showed glimpses of her power. I think the top ten and a tour title are reasonable goals for her the next few years. Norrie and Kartal provided some early entertainment, and the sheer number of Brits in the first few rounds was encouraging.

The women’s draw saw seed after seed tumble, from Gauff and Rybakina to Sabalenka in the semis in which (let’s remember) Ansimova played out of her skin to create enough pressure to force Sabalenka’s jitters to emerge. » Continue Reading.

Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning

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Year: 2025 Director: Christopher McQuarrie

And so we arrive at the End Of A Major Film Franchise, now traditionally requiring a two-parter finale of bottom-numbing length. And so it is with MI8 and its just shy of 3 hours run-time. We saw it on a Sunday afternoon which seems about the right time, and on the big screen which is definitely the right place.

The plot, as is also traditional in MI films is both convoluted and nonsensical. Malware baddie The Entity is now taking control of all the world’s nukes to create some sort of Matrix-style nuclear post apocalypse world to rule over, where Mcafee and Norton are but a distant memory and there are no pesky humans to turn things off and on again. To combat it Tom must get into the sunken sub that started it all in the predecessor with his special key, and take a portable hard-drive together with another piece of code while avoiding the Russians who also…and returning Entity’s Representative on Earth Gabriel…before his own government…oh god this really does make no sense.

What’s great about this film, as with all the MIs is the set-piece stunt action sequences delivered through practical » Continue Reading.

ATM – hacked ebay account

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Mid-morning I received a text from the bank about a suspicious set of purchases on my credit card from my ebay account. I rang them back, and they cancelled three transactions of escalating value – a classic fraudster tactic – made from ebay today. I have two-factor authentication enabled, so to access ebay they must have hacked my gmail as well as they didn’t sent texts to my phone when buying, presumably counting on someone not checking their emails as often. Password changed on my email, and ebay. Ebay themselves don’t want to know it would appear as that is all they suggest doing. Bank are issuing new credit card and I’ve stopped all ebay transactions with them until I feel everything is safe again. Anything else I should be doing from those with a bit more knowledge of this.

Your instrumentals by people who sing please

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A minor but real pleasure is the discovery of an instrumental in a band or singer’s catalogue where singing is an integral part of their sound (ie most rock and pop Mogwai notwithstanding). Often an oddity – Flying and 12-Bar Original are probably two of the more obscure Beatles tracks, never mind the even more buried Cayenne and Cry For A Shadow. So, your instrumental tracks – not instrumental versions of a track that has a vocal version, or a 30-second intro – from artists not known for them. I’ve put one of my very favourite ones from Teenage Fanclub in the comments, as listening to Bandwagonesque again occasioned this thought. Done a brief check of previous posts but if there’s one someone else did please repost.

Five days with Peat – an Islay visit

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moseleymoles on Visiting Islay, home of nine whisky distilleries

I know that whisky and in particular single malts are a frequent topic of discussion here, so I thought some reflections on a five-day stay on Islay earlier this week might interest a few. Various discussions and a life celebration led me and Ms Moles to book an air b and b just outside Port Ellen for a short stay earlier this week.

One of the attractions of Islay is that you get nine – nine! – top-notch distilleries within less than an hour of each other. Four (Laphroig, Lagavulin, Ardbeg and the recently-opened Port Ellen distillery, are within hiking distance of Port Ellen. Ardnahoe, Bowmore, Bruichladdich, Bunnahabhain, Caol Illa and Kichoman complete the set. We booked three distillery tours in advance, the Calmac Ferry from Kennacraig to Port Ellen and off we went in the car.

Our accommodation was a mile outside Port Ellen, so at the last minute we added two days of e-bike hire. This proved to be a godsend. Mrs Moles has less appetite for the lengthy hike than I do, but was very happy e-biking around the island.

Our first booked tour was Laphroig, the » Continue Reading.

Your cultural challenges

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Spurred on by the recent podcast thread I have added two significant to-do’s to my long cultural list: catching up the 175 episodes so far of Andrew Hickey’s A History of Rock and Roll in 500 songs, and playing along with Jocelyn Duchesne’s comprehensive (5,110 so far) Spotify playlist of every track Hickey refers to. That’s a couple of years at two podcasts a week.

So what are your substantial cultural challenges this year? We have 86.95% of the year left so plenty of time to get that seven-series box-set done.

Amongst mine are:

Finish the 1001 albums to hear before your die generator – up to 920 so 80 to go.

Reads: Two more of Patrick O’Briens Aubrey and Maturin series. I am rationing them to two a year, unlike a friend who read them all in 18 months once I introduced her to them! I should finish in 2032.

Continue my first to last read throughs of Ballard (up to Cocaine Nights), Coupland (All Families are Psychotic) and contemplate starting another go through all of Philip K Dick’s sci-fi novels. Hopefully nearer finishes than 2032 (not the Dick, about 32 novels there though most very » Continue Reading.

Unreasonable Pleasures

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Yesterday I cooked dinner. In the fridge, along with all the fresh produce bought earlier that day, were two spring onions with the outer skins going crispy, a quarter of a Savoy cabbage, the last one of last week’s carrots, a pak choi, the end of a bag of spinach and few peppers. One thai curry paste pod, some coconut milk and jasmine rice later and we had a great thai curry. I take a quite unreasonable pleasure in the using up of the yellow-ticketed, the half-used, and the remnants of last weeks shopping, in fashioning a tasty meal.

Post Nominals part two: would you take a gong from Charlie?

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I have some work dealings with an individual who proudly post-nominals his email signature with ‘CBE’. My predecessor in my current role got an MBE for her work.

So, never mind taking a bullet for Charlie. Would you accept a MBE/CBE/OBE from old sausage fingers and his crew? In full those are: Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE) Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE)

(Almost) Every REM album mapped onto the Beatles catalogue- a game to play at home

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Listening to New Adventures in Hi Fi recently I had the startling revelation that it was sprawling, misunderstood at the time, some half-successful experiments, but increasingly seen as one of their very best albums….it was their White Album. Twenty minutes later here’s where I’ve got to.

Pt One

Abbey Road – The ‘make it like it used to be one last time before we go’ one Collapse Into Now

Let It Be – the bitty and frustrating with moments of magic still one Monster

White Album – the sprawling at times perplexing masterpiece one New Adventures In Hi-Fi

Sgt Pepper – the slightly overrated with the famous songs on one Out of Time

Revolver – the actual undisputed GOAT one Automatic For the People

Rubber Soul – the quantum leap WTF we’re making art now one Document

Daisies

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Year: 1966 Director: Vera Chytilova

There are good films that are good, good films that are hard work, and a very small subset of good films that are profoundly irritating. While being good at the same time. So it is with Daisies, a 1966 film that fully deserves its poll numbers in the 2022 Sight and Sound poll as the 28th best film of all time.

Part of this irritation is definitely intentional. The two central characters, locked together in every scene, are blonde Maria and brunette Maria. The first scene, with their exaggerated high voices, childish intonations and doll-like movement set up one central idea in the film: that women are reduced to cartoon-like roles by the patriarchal society of sixties Czechoslovakia. After this prelude the main action of the film unfolds in a sequence of places in which the girls show an utter lack of respect for their male betters, and bring destruction and chaos wherever they go. They go to a restaurant and annoy the man who is paying for their meal by over-ordering. They get drunk in a nightclub and annoy the patrons. From their chaotic flat they call men and wind them up. Waiters, attendants, » Continue Reading.

Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans

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Year: 1927 Director: FW Murnau

This is the 11th best film ever made, according to the 2022 Sight and Sound poll, and the latest in my sporadic walk through the lesser known titles – no need for another review of The Godfather or Apocalypse Now.

Here’s a counterfactual theory: the talkies were the worst thing to happen to cinema as an artform. Having started as moving pictures pure and simple, in thirty years it had developed to become an entirely new artform. FW Murnau (he of the 1922 Nosferatu) was a director who raised the silent film to peaks of artistic expression, and here is a pretty compelling slab of evidence in the form of his first big Hollywood movie.

Sunrise was released in the same year as The Jazz Singer, 1927, the year that effectively saw the talkies take over as the next stage of film technology. While I don’t buy this argument, there’s no question that the requirements of recording sound made the film a more stagey artform for a few years.

Murnau’s film starts out with a melodramatic plot, something out of a Victorian gothic novel. A man and a woman live with a maid » Continue Reading.

Moles’ Mixes of 2024

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Here’s my own microchart of the best DJ mixes of the year as none will actually trouble the main year end chart, and they’re hardly reissues as many have barely been issued in the first place.

Anna – Global Underground 46 (Lisbon) This venerable series has whittled its releases down to barely one a year, but the quality is always high. This one takes its sweet time to charge up, but by a mesmerising track featuring Juliana Barwick halfway through side one its warm, uplifting shape-shifting rhythms are in full focus. It’s much more organic in feel than my other two compilation picks with lots of moles faves here including Bicep, Bonobo, Orbital and Yotto. Disc one ends with a downtempo section that (gulp|) has some Tangerine Dream anologue-y vibes as Anna’s own music has quite an ambient flavour. CD2 is more uptempo, but the relaxed melodic vibe shot through with a loose-limbed Hispanic flavour remains an intoxicating constant. For anyone who’s never got on with squarer four to the floor house or techno I would thoroughly recommend.

John Digweed – Live In Stereo Let’s be clear, this is an excellent mix, with Digweed’s widescreen electro in full effect, » Continue Reading.

Deaccessioning my museum

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If this site stands for anything it’s surely absurd over-analysis of our musical choices. So, in that spirit here’s a thread about Oxfaming, ebaying, or to give it a fancy dan title: deaccessiioning:

The process by which a work of art or other object is permanently removed from a museum’s collection to sell it or otherwise dispose of it.

For work of art in this case read ‘Yes’, a mid-period Pet Shop Boys CD, for museum in this case read my shelves. Now there may be some of you who with a devil may care attitude can just toss a CD in the bin with no more thought than a trucker tossing a hopelessly tangled Carpenters greatest hits cassette from his rig into the hedgerow. This thread is not for you. It’s for those who have a more extended dialogue with themselves about exactly what and when has to leave.

Firstly, let us say it is only with the greatest of reluctance that this subject is approached at all. Thoughts such as ‘Don’t I have enough music’ ‘Why did I buy this’ and even darker thoughts such as ‘Do I really think my kids will be grateful for the chance » Continue Reading.

The The

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Venue:

The Halls Wolverhampton

Date: 27/09/2024

You may notice there’s no The The in the photo. For his first tour in six years Matt Johnson spent his first minute onstage entreating the audience not to take any photos. It mostly worked, and despite checking my own desire for a souvenir snap I enjoyed not looking at the band through someone’s phone camera standing in front of me.

Next move was an object lesson in serving audience expectations around a storied back catalogue while also giving the new album its due. We got a set of two halves: the first half (‘the listening set’) being the entire new album played, the second half being the classics. Now why don’t more artists in a similar position do this. Artist gets everyone to listen to the new stuff without worrying that there won;t be enough time for This Is The Day or Infected.

Ensoulment sees Matt Johnson in a mellow, autumnal mood. Its twelve songs, immaculately played live, cover topics such as trump (Kissing The Ring of Potus), the death of his dad (Where Do we Go When We die) and online dating (Zen and the art of dating). Apart » Continue Reading.

Killer of Sheep

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Year: 1978 Director: Charles Burnett

As there won’t be another Sight and Sound poll before 2032, there’s no need to rush through the top fifty finest films of all time. Yesterday’s watch, recommended by a friend’s son, was perhaps the most obscure film in the top 50: Killer of Sheep was certainly a new one to me.

The film’s genesis is pretty remarkable. It was made on weekends over four or five years with a largely non-professional cast. Writer and director Charles Burnett submitted it as his masters thesis – the cinematic equivalent of turning in OK Computer as a Music Tech MA graduation final project. Once finished it was acclaimed at the Berlin Film Festival but was unreleasable as Burnett had stuffed the soundtrack with greats from a century of jazz and soul, but neglected to secure the rights to any of the music. Eventually film curators cleaned up the print and sorted the rights. It’s hardly widely available still – your only – cough – legal option a pricy secondhand dvd. A quick google however will reveal numerous online options, the one we ended up watching had subtitles but was fine.

The film itself is in black » Continue Reading.

Vegetable Men (and Women etc)

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As the pea stems turn white, the potatoes are dug up and the apple glut hits it’s time to take stock of the 2024 growing season.

Owner of an allotment for a decade, and still one of the younger plotholders, I’ve been seeing apocalyptic comments on twitter about complete failures and small or no harvests this year. A mixed picture for me.

As a weekender I have narrowed down what I grow over the years to only the safest crops. So spuds – which this year was a decent crop but the average size was pretty small. Runner beans were a real challenge to start – the ‘slugageddon’ of a sodden May required frequent visits and the application of organic pellets several times. Now the crop is pretty good and I’m giving them away, turning them into kimchi and chutney etc. The apple harvest, from three trees I inherited, has been ridiculously good.

Peas should work, as they are pretty pest repellent, but I get a couple of bowls of pods and am not sure if I need to grow many more plants, start then earlier or what. Rhubarb – which is a bit of mine, a bit of » Continue Reading.

Civil War

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Year: 2024 Director: Alex Garland

This is an extremely well-made film that is also extremely annoying and frustrating. Its genesis appears clear enough: after the Trump assault on the capitol in 2021 zeitgeist-recycler Alex Garland clearly thought that there was a great idea for a movie. Fast forward three years and we have the first January 5th film, in cinemas before the end of the story is even known. We start with Nick Offerman as a President who has staged some kind of coup and is embattled in a civil war against the ‘Western Forces’ – ie California, and unlikely secessionist partner Texas.

Garland drops us into the middle of this conflict as feted war photographer Kirsten Dunst – none too subtley named Lee Miller, and her correspondent buddies resolve to go to Washington to interview the President before he’s exiled, executed or worse. Before they can get out of the hotel however a young apprentice female war photographer Cailee Spaeny who Lee saves in a bombing outrage, turns up to hitch a starry-eyed ride. I cannot tell you how personally annoying I found her character. Not only does she follow Lee around like a sad puppy, she’s a hipster » Continue Reading.

Changing of The Guard (no really this time)

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If there’s one takeaway from this year’s Wimbledon it’s that we are finally at that uber-tennis moment The Changing of The Guard (™). This idea first took hold at the start of the noughties when a 19-year old Federer demolished then top dog Pete Sampras, rendering his serve and volley instantly out of date. Roll on four years and those who had dominated mens tennis in the preceding decade, particularly Sampras and Agassi, were swept aside by first Federer and then in quick order Nadal Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic. Between them these four (actually a Big Five with Stan Wawrinka ,whose ridiculous one-handed backhand won him as many slams as Murray) won all bar 5 of the 40-odd slams in the twenty years to 2003. As a comparison you only need to go back half a dozen years in the golf majors to tot up more different winners, and a similar period in the womens tennis slams.

This year will more likely than not end with not a single slam being won by those who have dominated mens tennis for the past twenty years. Though Thiem, Medvedev, Zverev and Tsisipas have threatened, and won the odd slam, something different » Continue Reading.

Finally….the big Taylor Swift thread

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As Airswift1 departs these shores after a month of concerts it seems a good time to take stock of what’s happened over the past twelve months. Though there’s been some comment action, this corner of the musical internet, along with probably The Wire and Folk Roots, are about the only bits not to gorge themselves on a non-step diet of Swift entrees, nibbles and desserts. So consider this an extended intro to the Eras Tour Thread. A few starting points for you all:

It might be that we’ve got nothing to say about this phenomenon. The Guardian recently ran a piece about Ronaldo being now too famous to play football. I think much the same might be said about Taylor Swift and music. But the difference of opinion that myself and @locust expressed over her latest album (more on TTPS below) might suggest that there are thoughts waiting to surface among the massive.

I did not apply for tickets to the Eras tour but my best friend, a fifty something sociology lecturer did. He went to Edinburgh with his early twenties daughter having dropped the best part of £250 on tickets, plus travel and accommodation on » Continue Reading.

Audiobooks – an apology

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Audiobooks an apology

As a confirmed literary snob (or professional as we say round here) I have always been highly dismissive of audiobooks. This is a person who reads in excess of 100 books a year – read em and weep Goodreads. The Kindle was a revelation a decade ago. After the first holiday when I didn’t have to take up most of my baggage weight in paperbacks I never looked back. An entire library in your pocket for the train, brilliant.

But audiobooks. Someone else in control of the reading speed. A voice coming between me and the text. The smack of being read aloud to in childhood. The memory of those deathly dull classic serials on Radio 4 on a Sunday afternoon. Strictly for the civilians. Because I can read while listening to music, so why would I? And have you seen how long they are – eighteen hours, twelve hours – I mean won’t I have forgotten what happened at the start by the end.

But what’s this? The green Deathstar that is Spotify offering fifteen hours of audiobooks for free. Six months on I am a pretty complete convert. Family matters have involved a good » Continue Reading.