Been thinking a lot about Ben de la Cour since I was lucky enough to see him supporting Lucinda Williams. He's been described as Southern Gothic Americana Noir which ticks all my boxes. My favourite song so far is Swan Dive, but it's too sad to post so here's another. www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiWq...

"Trilby set to rakish and his suit truss tight, Paul Smith leaps from the drum riser with a scissor kick ..." I went to see Maxïmo Park in Glasgow and wrote about it for The Guardian. www.theguardian.com/music/2026/f...

I am heart sore this morning at the death of Jeane Freeman, a wonderful Cabinet colleague. Jeane gave selfless service to Scotland especially as Health Secretary during Covid. In designing Scotland’s social security system, she put dignity and respect at its heart. (1/2)

What a treat to see Bis in Glasgow tonight, supporting Maxïmo Park. They were a joy.

An unexpected moment during Maxïmo Park's set: they dedicated a song to Alan Warner for writing Morvern Callar and These Demented Lands.

An unexpected moment during Maxïmo Park's set: they dedicated a song to Alan Warner for writing Morvern Callar and These Demented Lands.

What a treat to see Bis in Glasgow tonight, supporting Maxïmo Park. They were a joy.

Thank you for these kind words, Peter. If you’re interested in seeing these songs live, all tour 🎟s are available here: linktr.ee/wasylyk

Interesting piece on Andy Goldsworthy's Gravetstones art work on the BBC website. It's an "exclusive first look" apparently. I offered it to a national newspaper last year but they turned it down. I ended up writing it for my Substack. smallfinds.substack.com/p/small-find...

‘It’s dedicated exclusively to female artists, from Frida Kahlo to Tracey Emin’: readers’ favourite unsung museums in Europe

A beautiful, uplifting new song from @andrewwasylyk.bsky.social, taken from his forthcoming album Irreparable Parables. The album will be out next month on @claypipemusic.bsky.social. He's touring Scotland and England in March, and those shows will be great, I'm sure. www.youtube.com/watch?v=TODD...

My all-time favourite house is for sale. Absolutely sickening. themodernhouse.com/sales-list/s...

www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyMd... This is beautiful. I love these two, and I love their love for Elliot Smith.

I went early or late with the Inventory on Blood & Chocolate by Elvis Costello and the Attractions, but it's Wednesday so here it is one last time. Read it via www.patreon.com/backlisted @backlisted.bsky.social for roughly a 45th of the cost of a ticket to his upcoming Radio Soul! 1977-86 tour.

Vasari writing on Michelangelo’s Pietà, and indeed all his other work, is so beautiful and so rapturous and so refreshingly unresentful given he knew he could never touch MA’s greatness.

Ludovic Mann - the original archaeological influencer. This is a blog post I wrote for EUP in 2021. I’m currently writing a paper about the scrapbook featured here. euppublishingblog.com/2021/02/08/l...

Give yourself a moment, and read this little excerpt from 'Anne of Avonlea' by the wonderful Lucy Maud Montgomery.

"All those blurred years seem to find expression in her voice: that exquisite carnal slur." Peter Ross on a great Lucinda Williams gig. Aren't we so lucky to have Celtic Connections to brighten up the winter?

Ich was poostinge translaciouns ynto Middel Englisshe of pop songes long bifor bardcore came arounde, and Ich must admit Ich now understande how Salieri felt about Mozart

There are places that whisper to us: "Hurry home!" Places that whisper: "You are not alone here." The idea that consecrated ground is silent on such matters is risible. The average English boneyard is crowded with shades. It enfolds with spectral mumbles. – #CJosiffe #Ghosts

A new instalment of INVENTORY is available now via the @backlisted.bsky.social Patreon. I put my heart, soul, brain and guts into this one, plus a lifetime of listening. 👓 This week: Elvis Costello and the Attractions, Blood & Chocolate but mostly blood. 🍫 www.patreon.com/backlisted

"Drunken Angel and Lake Charles were — as with so much of this supreme writer’s work — a tender summoning of ghosts." I went to see Lucinda Williams in Glasgow and wrote about it for The Times. www.thetimes.com/culture/musi...

I posted this late last night when it went online, but here it is again for morning people. My review of Friends Again – and Lloyd Cole in support! – playing their first show in more than forty years.

"Friends Again? Nothing on the Old Fruitmarket stage suggested anything other than delight in each other’s company and joy in playing these songs." I went to see a very special show and wrote about it for The Times. www.thetimes.com/culture/musi...

Spoke to fellow #nonfiction champion @jamesmcconnachie.bsky.social for today's @thetimes.com but I think I'm done commenting on The Salt Path now. We need #nonfiction now more than ever and one unreliable book doesn't change that

"These are not men in their sixties trying to return to their twenties. They are bringing all their skills and life experience to songs they crafted four decades ago." Lovely review of Friends Again live in Glasgow, by @teddyjamieson.bsky.social. www.heraldscotland.com/life_style/2...

This little clip is really so beautiful youtu.be/7O20QaknYh4?...

Joyous Friends Again gig at the Old Fruitmarket in Glasgow tonight, wonderfully supported by birthday boy Lloyd Cole.

People who have read Upon A White Horse may like to know that Ian Jackson, the geologist who I met at Sycamore Gap, has started a podcast series: Reading Rocks. It's on Spotify, Apple, Amazon and Audible. From what I've heard so far, it's very engaging and informative.

This is great. I adore Mackenzie Crook and consider Detectorists one of the genuine masterpieces of the sitcom format. His new show sounds gently nuts, which is very him somehow. www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...

If you have ever wanted to hear me talk about the role of Forteana and folklore within Hookland in an East End pub …. April is your lucky month.

My new book Still In A Dream: Shoegaze, Slackers, and the Reinvention of Rock, 1984-94 is out in June on @whiterabbitbks.bsky.social . It's a love letter to the music of my youth and a flashback to the most exciting time of my writing life. Pre-order geni.us/StillInADream

I honestly believe the world would be a far better place with more wassails, a joyful mix of magic and nature and song and dance and community, so I set up www.wightwassail.com and we will be having our own to wake up the trees this Saturday with a local Morris side. Wassail!

Today is Robert Wyatt’s 81st birthday. He is one of the greatest pop singers ever, I am so envious of what he can do with a song. This is certainly one of my top Robert Wyatt recordings, possibly my number one. Great use of mellotron too. youtu.be/tdVkqLrsr4M?...

Today’s beer mat. A Brent Goose painted onto a John Watson Malboro World Championship Team beer mat from the 1970s. Beermat painting. Watercolour. darrenhaymanart.com

For this #MosaicMonday, recalling a visit to the Musee Rolin in Autun many years ago, where this rather splendid but somewhat pensive sea bull is doing a few leisurely laps. #AncientBlueSky 🏺

2/3 Inside the bear pit, Sheffield Botanic Gardens. When the Gardens opened in 1855 it held two brown bears, but the poor things were sold in 1859. I'm told it's the best preserved surviving bear pit in Europe.

St Mark, Broomhill, Sheffield, George Pace's remarkable 1963 rebuilding of a church gutted in the Blitz. East window by Harry Stammers.

If anyone has been enjoying Upon A White Horse and would like to tell the Guardian about it, please, that would be great. Thank you. www.theguardian.com/books/2022/f...

New episode of Monstrosities Mon Amour. See the National Theatre through the eyes of an archaeologist: @reblambert.bsky.social explains how it’s like a henge. Also her love for Dolph Lundgren’s Masters of the Universe! johngrindrod.substack.com/p/monstrosit...

But why has Freddie Mercury manifested in the flames of Up Helly Aa's Viking longship? www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

That's why they call him Mr Fahrenheit

But why has Freddie Mercury manifested in the flames of Up Helly Aa's Viking longship? www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Niche question, but for people who know France quite well, does anyone ever walk from Vezelay to Autun? As a sort of pilgrimage route, I mean. Or would that be nuts? Advice would be much appreciated, thanks.

Russian drone strike on Ukrainian passenger train kills five

NEW: I asked @deaconbluemusic.bsky.social what they thought of Reform UK's Scotland leader Malcolm Offord quoting their greatest hit, Dignity www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

“Grey as granite, sere as winter leaves, they look as though they would crumble at your touch.” This is great, by Dani Garavelli, on the mummies of Urbania.

Edwin Morgan's poem 'Grendel', in which he voices the creature from Beowulf, has thrilling opening lines: It is being nearly human gives me this spectacular darkness. The light does not know what to do with me.

Penultimate new episode up now. The Sacred and Profane Love Machine by Iris Murdoch, with guest Ian Patterson in Socratic dialogue with Andy Miller, Una McCormack and Nicky Birch. @unamccormack.bsky.social @iammilliam.bsky.social www.backlisted.fm/episodes/256...