A Bowie top ten? Why not? I haven’t thought very long and they’re not necessarily in order but here are ten songs very dear to my heart:

Sweet Thing/Candidate/Sweet Thing (reprise)
“Heroes”
Stay
Rock ‘n’ […]

In no particular order:
Mount the Air – The Unthanks
Vulnicura – Björk
Carousel One – Ron Sexsmith
Carrie & Lowell – Sufjan Stevens
Hairless Toys – Roisin Murphy
Still – Richard Thompson
No Cities To […]

Locust has the right of it – Christmas & The Beads Of Sweat is her third masterpiece in a row (after Eli & New York Tendaberry), and for me the best. Been On A Train is fecking amazing.

Sorry fella, I heard this song for the first time this morning, and thought it was all of those things.

Aaargh: “should have WON,” I mean

*pipes up from the back* The Roisin Murphy album is fucking brilliant. It’s the only one of the 12 I’ve heard all the way through, which obviously means it should have one. I like the cut of Benjamin’s jib though, […]

John Sayles:
City Of Hope
Passion Fish
The Secret Of Roan Inish
Lone Star

Four terrific films, all very different, all of which he wrote as well. He also did a great cameo acting role in City Of Hope. His […]

Wake Up Bhuna
Love Me Dupiaza
A Life In The Dehi
Happy Burfi
What Lack Of Love Has Dhunya
Haldi Young Dudes

I have mixed feelings about the Jamie Lawson song. On the one hand, yes it *is* a rather poor song; on the other hand, I was delighted to hear it. He was a regular performer in the early days of the semi-mythical […]

Toad The Wet Sprocket are quite good from what I’ve heard. That name though.

As usual, the answer is Richard Thompson. A number of his songs fit the bill, most notably Has He Got A Friend For Me?

He turned up at the Kashmir Klub about ten years ago, and sang all three hits. I hadn’t liked any of them, but strangely enough they all sounded much better just accompanied by his guitar (and I don’t say that as […]

I honestly don’t know how anyone could hate Christmas Rapping, but hey, de gustibus etc. A Pretty Good Christmas is a bloody brilliant Xmas choon too, as any fule no. Of ones that haven’t been mentioned yet, I […]

… what are we gonna do with it?

Linda Lewis is an earlier example of a
Black British woman who got pigeonholed. She was a folk influenced singer-songwriter who is now chiefly remembered for her disco hits. It’s a shame as Fathoms Deep is a […]

I don’t think I dare listen to this, not because of any animus against Natalie Imbruglia, but because I absolutely *loathe* the original. It’s certainly the worst thing by The Cure I’ve ever heard, and one of […]

I think it’s a work of genius. Donna Tartt started with a brilliant novel, followed it up a decade later with an even better (and relatively underrated) one, then a decade later topped even that one. Best writer […]

I was in one of my local shops yesterday, and as I walked around I became aware (so I thought) that a stereo somewhere in the shop was playing the intro to Shine On You Crazy Diamond – the long, slowly fading in […]

I saw her a few times, once with Lone Justice, the rest solo. Never less than riveting. And as to the records, for me her best is Peddlin’ Dreams, a very strong set of songs, kicking off with Season Of The Fair, […]

Kinda impossible, but off the top of my head:

Stephen Maturin
Tyrion Lannister
Boris from The Goldfinch
Hermione Granger
Sarah Lund