There are some stunning scenes and incredible images in Nolan's Odyssey but I'm not sure it's the masterpiece everyone says it is. Hard to turn an episodic epic into a film that isn't also episodic... 🤔

Lovely interview with Kim Thayil. Badmotorfinger remains the Soundgarden high point for me. Amazing guitarwork www.theguardian.com/music/2026/j...

Bought this on a whim and listened to it for the first time on my Walkman on a coach from Bristol to London. Won me over right away and a lock for #5debutalbums9599. Lasting regret is I never caught them live...

what do you do once you've disbanded a brilliant band? Well, if you're Tim Finn you get together with your big brother and make a lovely little record, putting Crowded House behind you for a while. A delightful listen for #5debutalbums9599

Next up for #5debutalbums9599 is this brilliant slice of fragile melancholy from Bonnie "Prince" Billy. Not even Johnny Cash could improve on the title song.

Was it really 31 years ago that Natalie Merchant released this #5debutalbums9599 contender?! Yep, but it still sounds great. Brilliantly crafted songwriting, arranging and understated playing.

This is unlikely to make my list for #5debutalbums9599 but it's a decent enough album from Aberdeen's Geneva.

How about this for #5debutalbums9599? Listened to it on Friday. Still great.

This news story made me double take. It wasn't what I thought ...

Wow!

Anyone hoing to the Scottish Dogmatics Conference in June?

BREAKING: Iran says regime change operation in US is well underway as a string of senior officials and military chiefs resign from their roles 👀

Had a fun time this afternoon doing some Zoom teaching about "Hope and Grace in Cormac McCarthy" to a class at #SpringArbor College in Michigan. there were some great questions about his work.

Just finished this fascinating account of CCM by @drleahpayne.bsky.social. I stumbled across names that I'd forgotten and a whole world I never knew existed.

Went to see #ProjectHailMary on IMAX for boy 2's 20th birthday. Thoughts: Ryan Gosling is one of only a handful of actors who could carry it off. Yes, it's too long. That karaoke scene is perfect. It's laugh-out-loud-funny. It's heart-breaking. Sandra Hüller is brilliant. 8/10 for me.

Just collected the 19 yr old from uni. "You look normal," he says to me. What on earth was he expecting?

An interesting listen for #5debutalbums8589 that I haven't seen mentioned yet. Probably won't make my 5 but it's worth a spin. A sign of great things to come for Mudhoney, Pearl Jam, Mother Love Bone, TOTD etc.

Small Prophets on iPlayer is superb. Great writing, great acting, wonderfully original.

A contender for #5debutalbums8589 Decent Glasgow hard rock from a group out of same sort of stable as Texas

Might throw my hat into this ring...

It's not everyone's cup of tea but this is an impressive contender for #5debutalbums8589, particularly given that the drummer was only 14 and the rest of them hadn't yet turned 20. The kids, eh?! 🙂

#5debutalbums8589 starts with this from Zurich's The Young Gods, a dead cert for me.

If any #JaneSiberry fans would like to be interviewed for a book I'm hoping to write about her When I Was A Boy album then please get in touch!

5 authors I've read at least 5 novels by: Nicola Barker Umberto Eco William Faulkner Amit Chaudhury Wendell Berry

This is a contender for my #5debutalbums0509 shortlisting. Great stuff from Mike Patton and friends.

Looking forward to this read:

Not sure if this counts for #5debutalbums50s60s. If so, it's definitely in my top 5. What's the referee's decision, @richards7370.bsky.social ?

#5debutalbums50s60s This is a fantastic record. Shame it's so little known

Lovely exhibition of 100 Makers in Japan House, London

Had a great time at the #WesAnderson exhibition at London Design Museum

Don't think I've seen this by One Dove in the #5debutalbums9094 posts. It's a lovely little album produced by Andy Weatherall and Stephen Hague. Well worth a nostalgic listen

3 shoegaze contenders for #5debutalbums9094. Moose didn't match the promise of the Cool Breeze and Reprise EPs, imho. Chapterhouse don't quite do it for me. But the Ride album is nothing short of brilliant. Shoegaze was a great scene!

Just finished the David Bowie: The Final Act documentary on Channel 4. Seemed a good day to watch it. Recommended.

Two admittedly obscure selections for #5debutalbums9094 from the UK Christian scene. If you went to Greenbelt in the early 90s or read Cross Rhythms magazine, then you might have come across these: Tribe of Dan: sort of Grebo blues Billy Penn's Brother: acoustic protest with a very sharp edge. Great

Three contenders for #5debutalbums9094 bought on the basis of a good review in Kerrang! or Metal Hammer. Infectious Grooves shows why Robert Trujillo is wasted in Metallica. Features Ozzy, & Steven Perkins from Jane's Addiction. Stevie Salas is decent Glam-lite Warrior Soul: humourless but angry!

Next up for #5debutalbums9094 are these two. Michael Franti leaves the industrial sound of the Disposable Heroes for a gentler vibe (apart from Vernon Reid's guitar solo on the last track) with Spearhead. Arrested Development rap about homelessness, social justice and peace.

Two more contenders for #5debutalbums9094. Both solo projects from established singers & both quite frighteningly beautiful. Mark Lanegan ropes in mates from Nirvana & Dinosaur Jr, while Kristin Hersh pulls in Michael Stipe. Hard to choose between these two.

These two 4AD albums by Belly and The Breeders are both brilliant. For my money, Star is a more fully formed debut than Pod and is likely to nudge in to my #5debutalbums9094 list.

A great run of three #5debutalbums9094 from Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament on just two years. Mother Love Bone's Apple was good, but Ten and Temple of the Dog are faultless. For my money, TOTD is a shade ahead of PJ. Such a fertile period!

First up for #5debutalbums9094 is this from Hole. Fierce, furious and better than so much else

My number 1 fiction & non-fiction books read in 202: Fiction Rumer Godden - In This House of Brede A successful business woman enters a convent. Sounds dull but isn't; this treasure of a novel is wonderfully illuminating and reorienting. #booksky

I sat next to Massive Attack's Daddy G in a juice bar. I walked past Henry Rollins when I was going to the loo. He's really quite short

Top 7 reads of 2025 Non-Fiction, numbers 4 to 2 4 Robert Farrar Capon - The Supper of the Lamb Theology, cooking & knife care 3 John Lewis-Stempel - England: A Natural History Beautiful British landscape 2 @chloedalton.bsky.social - Raising Hare Moving memoir of wildness, love & hope #booksky

OK #booksky, my year in reading: 82 books read. The top 7 fiction & non-fiction books read in 2025: Fiction 7. Richard Ayoade - The Unfinished Harauld Hughes Clever, funny, original 6. Daniel Kehlmann - Fame A tiny bit more so... 5. Barbara Kingsolver - Demon Copperhead Brilliant

You know it's Christmas when your boiler develops a leak! 😡🎄💧

#5albums25 Released way back in January, this Veils album finds Finn Andrews in reflective, piano-driven mood

Pleased that my copy of @jmayward.bsky.social's book arrived today. A Christmas present to myself

Today has mostly been playing with silicone sealant and rehanging shower doors

Introduce yourself with 5 concerts you've seen: Jeff Buckley Iron Maiden Hole The Young Gods Kristin Hersh

One for @joncoutts.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/film/2025/no...