This is great. Sally is a Bowie aficionado.

Favourite 10 Bowie songs Ashes To Ashes Be My Wife Rock 'n' Roll Suicide Sweet Thing/Candidate Station To Station Life On Mars Sons of the Silent Age Drive-in Saturday Always Crashing Moonage Daydream

youtu.be/eSbEl5wt-18?... Deb Grant played this on BBC 6 Music this morning. I've never heard it before. A New York pair of sisters singing a song written by their father. Released in 1982 and big on the block party scene. It is a total banger.

Bloody hell! Well done Macclesfield.

Favourite 10 Beatles covers Fanny - Hey Bulldog Sandie Shaw - Love Me Do Joe Cocker - With a Little Help The Feelies - Me & My Monkey Sufjan Stevens - What Goes On Marcia Griffiths - Don't Let Me Down Breeders - Happiness Candy Flip - Strawberry Fields Nina - Here Comes the Sun Siouxsie - Prudence

The more I engage with reality today, the more I think about this TV movie.

Today I discovered a band from my hometown of Reading that formed in 1977. They were called Lemon Kittens and they made avant-garde punk pop. Quite possibly the worst band I've ever heard. They make The Cardiacs sound like REO Speedwagon.

Renee Nicole Good wasn’t a “self proclaimed poet” although there’s nothing wrong with that. She was a recognized poet who won the 2020 Academy of American Poets, University & College Poetry Prize.

#5DebutAlbums9094 Silver Jews' debut album, Starlite Walker, is a messy thing of wonder. The brilliant Dave Berman (backed by three members of Pavement) immediately set his stall out with this record. Brilliantly surreal lyrics set to slightly shambolic slacker rock. Nailed on for my top 5.

Nina is 16-years-old. She appears to be fading before our eyes. She really enjoyed a little nibble on some leftover cheese, so let us be thankful.

This is completely on point.

youtu.be/f6KZ4yUfzL8?... Whenever I think of incredible drumming, this performance pops into my head. Morris is like the most efficient of steam engines. He barely breaks a sweat yet his rhythms sound like the world collapsing in on itself.

Sod it. Top 10 drummers, top of the head. Jaki Liebezeit Steve Shelley Stephen Morris Idris Muhammad Mo Tucker Clyde Stubblefield Dave Lombardo John Bonham Mickey Hart Richard Starkey

Townes Van Zandt - The Old Quarter House Tim Buckley - Dream Letter Live in London David Bowie - Santa Monica 1972 The Velvet Underground - 69 Jane's Addiction - S/T MC5 - Kick Out The Jams Neil Young - Time Fades Away Nirvana - Unplugged Dylan - Bootleg 1966 James Brown - Apollo

#5DebutAlbums9094 Flying Saucer Attack's self-titled debut from 1993. Fragile folk songs drowning in a sea of feedback, they christened their own sound as 'rural psychedelia'. Despite featuring a slightly ill-advised cover of Suede's The Drowners, this will almost certainly make my top 5.

Right, ignore this list. I forgot about Mani, Holger Czukay & Danny Thompson. Now Charles Mingus is on the phone and Cliff Burton is ringing my doorbell.

Top 10 bassists, top of my head Carol Kaye Steve Hanley Paul McCartney Kim Gordon Robbie Shakespeare Mike Watt Bootsy Collins Geezer Butler Larry Graham Jah Wobble

Listening to Slates on the way to work & hearing Older Lover for the first since I discovered that it was allegedly written about Mark E Smith's than current older lover & Fall manager Kay Carroll & thinking that she probably wasn't best pleased. I mean it's not Something by The Beatles, is it?

Wikipedia template for every prominent right wing businessman

Has Tom Waits ever covered Yoko's Listen, The Snow is Falling and if not, why not?

Who are your top 10 all-time favourite guitarists? Top of the head stuff. Jimi Hendrix Dave Navarro Richard Lloyd/Tom Verlaine Eddie Hazel Richard Thompson Joni Mitchell D Boon Cate Le Bon Bert Jansch Johnny Thunders Andy Gill Neil Young Kevin Shields OK, not 10, but hey.

Today's post. A 28 track Margo Guryan album, Seasons by Pete Jolly (thx for the tip @iammilliam.bsky.social ), a Betty Davis album & all the way from the US, an amazing Brazilian LP by Edu Lôbo that @andrewmale.bsky.social & @jspacewoman.bsky.social were discussing before Xmas. All for under £100!

What have you done with our indoor tree?

This song has popped up on three albums that I have randomly listened to in the 10 days since I posted this! The Cramps, Holly Golightly & now Françoise Hardy. And to think I thought that I didn't know the song.

#NowPlaying Does anybody know how this went down with the hardcore folk people of 1966? Was it praised (as it should have been), or did they feel that she was stepping on their toes? Many of these arrangements are similar to those later used by Pentangle, Fairport, Trees, etc.

Tree down, record player back in its regular spot. A sense of calm has returned. I think that Christmas decorations can have a negative effect on your mental health after they've been up for too long. They're very 'busy' as a backdrop.

This is brilliant.

#5DebutAlbums9094 This seems like a good place to start. Super chilled jazz tinged hip-hop with whip-smart lyrics.

Jesus Christ. He is a legal man. As wet as a wet wipe that has been floating in our heavily polluted rivers that he has done literally nothing about. Vote GREEN for fuck's sake.

Here you go. A proper English slice of alternative pop. They are just kids, can't wait to hear what comes next.

Starmer and Farage both drape themselves in flags but once again it's really clear where their loyalty really is. It's Trump first. They will always be on the side of the super rich and powerful - no matter how heinous the crime. This is not patriotism. It's subservience.

Don't miss out on this one. This album has the secret Slowdive DNA coursing through its veins.

Hey @bigpotatorecords.bsky.social have you seen who's at number 80?

Obligatory crap phone photo of the full moon.

youtu.be/yIA_NVFnXZ8?... Happy heavenly hundredth, Sir George.

That thing when you get paid early because of Xmas & everything looks good & then all of your direct debits come out on the 1st of Jan and you realise it's fishpaste sandwiches for lunch for 31 days.

After months of remaining tiny, Cassie has had a growth spurt and now looks like she has a powerful supernatural aura about her.

#NowPlaying Why isn't this woman a fucking superstar? She's like every Motown girl band rolled into one Essex human being.

My car/kitchen/walking stats for 2025. Albums most listened to.

Nothing new, then.

youtu.be/wHqcBL_a7q8?... Remembering one of my favourite moments on MTV. Beavis & Butthead do Pavement.

#NowPlaying This is far better than the shit you're listening to right now.

youtu.be/jhMk_wLm07E?... I'm exhausted, so won't make it to midnight. Enjoy this amazing song and have a wonderful new year x

My lovely wife @alsalv.bsky.social has just spent 5 minutes beneath a car trying to reassure a young ginger cat that the fucking ridiculously loud fireworks won't hurt him/her.

#NowPlaying Heading into 2026 with the sound of the 1916 Western Front.

I only went to three gigs this year, but they were all ace. Fiery Furnaces, Cate Le Bon (both at The Barbican) and HOO at the Rising Sun Arts Centre in Reading. I'll try to get out a bit more in 2026.

Morning. Here's a lovely clip of Tyrannosaurus Rex on French TV in 1969. I suspect that Marc would've been fuming had he known how high in the mix Steve's lovely harmonies were. youtu.be/clxAZ8afXco?...

How has this only got 7 likes?

Some absolute bargains in the @driftrecords.com sale. I just ordered LPs by Betty Davis, Pete Jolly & Margo Guryan, all 41% off.

From our neighbour @discodeb72.bsky.social Just our cat Cromarty wandering into other people's houses to talk about The Fall like some kind of missionary.