As a lifelong Hampshire cricket fan this is terribly sad news. Another of my childhood heroes gone. One of the greatest ever hitters of a ball.

This is a truly amazing list. I'd heard of at most 25 of the artists. Have dipped into the other 75 and found excellent stuff (Italian doom rock, something involving a lyre, Osmium) and some utter rubbish (cumbia trance, an indescribable Japanese thing, Bar Italia*) - well worth exploring! * - joke

Introduce yourself with 5 concerts you've seen Nirvana The Go-Betweens Mega City Four Toumani Diabaté The Cropdusters

Keen to hear everyone's krautrock suggestions for #5debutalbums7074 - got Faust, Cluster and Harmonia lined up but this one starts as my favourite...

Looking forward to #5debutalbums7074, can't think of a better place to start than this...

Something I think we can all get behind. 'This Love Is ... Right' by The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart tonight at the Highbury Garage - we're now at the stage where 2009 counts as nostalgia but it was good fun...

POV: you’ve been hiding under the Palace of Westminster for hundreds of years. See what we uncovered during recent surveys of the Palace as we prepare for its restoration.

If you are a football fan of my sort of vintage, you'll enjoy this piece. Superb interview.

I can highly recommend this to the shoegazers amongst you. I haven't got time to do the Vince McMahon meme but: - From Muscle Shoals ✅ - Silly but amusing name ✅ - On @soniccathedral.bsky.social ✅ - Concept album about Lindisfarne ✅ Sister Ray Davies - Holy Island.

A Charco Press subscription was definitely the best thing I did to treat myself this year. Consistently excellent contemporary Latin American literature arriving at random intervals through the year - a joy, and I have already signed up again!

Always love dogs of the month. Emotional rollercoaster this one...

Exciting music day - tickets secured for Chapterhouse and House of Love (the latter at my excellent local venue I can walk to) and new music from Katie Crutchfield, Daniel Avery, The Twilight Sad, The Weather Station and no doubt more...

Post a perfect album from 1989, a perfect music year. Can't believe it's been an hour and no-one has posted this yet!

Another couple of gems for #5DebutAlbums1014 - the shortlist is growing rapidly...

Another certainty for #5DebutAlbums1014 - the brilliant debut by Desperate Journalist

This beauty is the first one that comes to mind for this... #5DebutAlbums1014

Quite possibly the greatest chorus in synth pop history 🖤x youtu.be/y9KgEs3Zksg?...

This was a very enjoyable and thought-provoking read about endangered crafts in Britain - I feel like we could do more to support them, like Japan and other countries do with Living National Treasures. And it did prompt me to donate to @heritage-crafts.bsky.social...

No book needs to be 400 pages long. Over 250 is pushing it...

To be honest I make quince jelly mostly for the colour...

I've listened to this more than anything else in the first week of #5DebutAlbums8084. Heading for a spot in my top 5...

So many absolute classics to choose from for #5debutalbums8084 but this has got to be up there, and I'm looking forward to revisiting this old friend over the next three weeks...

Getting into full Mr Autumn mode with some apple and quince chutney...

It's never happened before in 355 previous Parkruns and it will definitely never happen again, but somehow today I was first finisher - in Aachen of all places. Cue Barry Davies...

What a great gig tonight at the Roundhouse - great crowd, great support act, and above all The Beths on superb form - fabulous.

Quinces are one of the colours of autumn for me - absolutely massive crop this year...

How am I doing @sentimentbot.bsky.social ?

Right, let's get started - thanks for the new challenge Richard! I predict one of these four will do significantly better than the other three... The Shins, Interpol, The Avalanches and, erm, Avril Lavigne (which I maintain was great at the time and still stands up...) #5debutalbums0004

I have a serious glut of quinces. This is less than half of them. If you are in the Hertford area and would like some, do get in touch...

youtu.be/qdVDqjFaN54?... This was a wonderful highlight from last night's Suede concert (and was immediately followed by So Young, Metal Mickey and Beautiful Ones). What a band 🖤

Throwing Trash and Animal Nitrate out as songs 5 and 6 in the set... 😯

No prizes for guessing where I am tonight...

Tomatoes from the garden still going well...

Immediate impression is that the new Suede album is a stunner. As John Peel used to say of the Fall "always different, always the same", in the best possible way. The last two songs especially are very powerful - I can't think of anyone who has written so movingly for so long about death as Brett.

As an antidote to the constantly dreadful news, have some philosophical concepts:

This fan-made Trance State video is amazing. Who knew dancing German footballers was the vibe the song needed? Thank you Rachel Apps www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYcz...

Oh go on then... #next4gigs

Two of my great musical loves here... 🖤

First day of a much-needed break. Where better to start than the Hanseatic League Museum in Lübeck? Kids absolutely buzzing, literally dragged me to Thomas Mann's family home straight after...

Mood...

Extremely classy comments by Wiaan Mulder. In the massively unlikely event he ever finds himself in that territory again, he's definitely earned the right to keep going next time...

Olivia Rodrigo & Robert Smith play Just Like Heaven at Glastonbury tonight. Video: BBC

During President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's visit to Parliament today, we reflected on the current situation and the UK’s enduring commitment to Ukraine. It was an honour for myself and the Lord Speaker to welcome him back to our Parliament. 🇺🇦🇬🇧

Outstanding selection of Blue Note albums in the #5Albums50s60s3 selection, a number with the great Joe Henderson on sax. All these plus Hank Mobley, Donald Byrd and Jimmy Smith too. I would think Lee and Horace both have a chance of doing well?

In honour of Joy Division's iconic album Unknown Pleasures being released on this day in 1979, I'm again sharing one of my favourite ever video clips (Peanuts vs Joy Division dance party)...

Pretty happy with today's secondhand book haul...

Fabulous 500th Panshanger Parkrun today. In honour of the fancy dress theme of things beginning with D, a few of us surprised our friend Dave by going as him...

The mulberries are starting to ripen. Which is nice.

The annual photo of a relatively orderly vegetable patch - moment of maximum hope!