There was a Britpop-era band called Octopus whose first (only?) album came in a cd sleeve that folded out to be a board game. I don’t think I bought it *just* for the cover, but it probably helped me choose that o […]

Aphex Twin uses an alias or two. According to wikipedia: James has recorded as AFX, Blue Calx, Bradley Strider, the Universal Indicator, Brian Tregaskin, Caustic Window, The, Smojphace, GAK, Karen Tregaskin, […]

And here’s mine:

1. The Phoenix Foundation – Evolution Did: Great Kiwi band, maybe slightly poppier and shinier here than usual.  The album this is from, Fandango, is worth a listen if you like this (as is the […]

The signs went up just before Christmas, and it seems like there’s already a new tenant lined up.

Cheers @tinysuns! I did think when I was putting this together that some of it might be a little obvious, don’t know what it was about this theme that caused that. Glad you enjoyed some of it. I’ll get the […]

Those are probably my favourite albums by those two artists! 66 here. Classic Rock is my downfall, I don’t have anything by Led Zep or the Who, and only one or two by the Stones, Pink Floyd and Dylan.

Sad to see Byres Road Fopp in the firing line again. I haven’t spent much on music this year but most of it has been there.

The one I have is The Love of Hopeless Causes, I’ll check out those others though, ta!

Gah, I meant to say, seemed like you ran with ‘change’ meaning money! Looking forward to finding out what’s what.

@kid-dynamite some additional thoughts;

Number 6 is, I think, as old as it initially appears, if that makes sense! Number 8 I thought you might have known. Number 9 is indeed NIN, a fairly old track just in […]

Cheers @retropath2! That’s about as good as I could hope for. Neither number 1 nor number 10 are from the 80s, both from this decade. Number 5 is indeed Luke H, with his main band. As for Mr Mould, I’m just […]

@kid-dynamite

1. Very atmospheric start, twangy guitars and rumbling drums. Wouldn’t sound out of place in a Tarantino movie. Ends with a howl that maybe suggests werewolves?

2. Breakneck power pop. […]

@retropath2

I recognise the song but not the singer, this sounds pretty modern, a stripped back country version compared the more lavish versions I’ve heard, which suits the lyrics.

2. Sounds like a modern […]

First @tinysuns

1. Spoken word / a cappella hip hop – a short, atmospheric opening.

2. Old school acoustic blues, pretty much just a guitar, voice and surface noise. Always happy to hear this kind of […]

Cheers @kid-dynamite! That’s not too bad a hit rate. You’re right about the 90s indie and then branching out. I’ll hopefully get to my reviews at the weekend once I’ve dealt with sick kids/broken boilers/work stuff…

Vox was the fist monthly for me. My sister bought me a copy while I was in hospital, with Harriet Wheeler from the Sundays on the cover (the internet tells me it was January 1991 so I was 13) as well as the Happy […]

The Guardian has this covered:

Apparently we should all be buying potted Christmas trees that we can grow outside for the rest of the year!

When I copied Portishead’s Dummy from my sister’s original cassette I cut out It’s A Fire to get it down to 45 minutes. I played that tape to death. By the time I finally replaced it with a CD at least a decade […]

There are certain songs that I still expect to cut out before the end, because they breached the 45 minute limit!

I’ve had a similar experience with Ursula Le Guin recently. Stuff I’d been aware of years but for whatever reason I only just got round to reading, and it’s brilliant.