Birmingham Bullring wishes all its patrons a very Merry Aptio Setup Utility and a Happy New BIOS Information ✨

For me this always feels like the lane from the opening of The Dark Is Rising, even down to the attendant rooks, and especially on Christmas Eve

Two from GBV to consider for #5albums25, both decent, but with so much competition do I think the unthinkable…?

Exhibit 4: Another enjoyably inventive and varied slice of psychedelic pop/rock. Standout track: Dogstar #5albums25 youtu.be/uE89kXaBgNk?...

Exhibit 3: I’d rank this higher than the also-excellent Tubs album (I didn’t strictly see them live but Lan did make a guest appearance with the latter). Standout track: Sara #5albums25 open.spotify.com/track/3wMkQf...

Exhibit 2: A consistently strong album and highly recommended live. Standout track: The Thing Is #5albums25 youtu.be/ouDxDBzjNSk?...

A number of my contenders for #5albums25 would also be candidates for gig of the year. Exhibit 1: Bob Mould maintaining his late-career purple patch with another seamless stream of bangers. Also skull-crushingly loud live. Standout track: When Your Heart is Broken youtu.be/Skw0uTe7r8A?...

More from the #5albums25 new-to-me pile, I’m thoroughly enjoying this mad slice of electro psych proto punk garage fury. Standout track: Sneaker youtu.be/tgzycuvl_bM?...

It’s good go see Prolapse back for #5albums25. When the triple guitar/double vocal/motorik beat attack works, it really works, as on opening (and best) track The Fall Of Cashline youtu.be/xZt47WyBqjI?...

This is definitely a #5albums25 new-found delight - they may wear their influences firmly on their sleeves, but nonetheless manage to sound entirely fresh, infectious and immediately, totally engaging: Standout track: Just Don’t Know (How To Be You) youtu.be/hhpFB9fpBLo?...

Just two weeks until 2026 is here. More importantly, just two weeks until #Top30FirstAlbumFirstTrack starts. #MusicChallenge #MusicSky Full details below 👇

With ‘Bright Lights’ not an option, this definitely moves even more strongly into contention - famously Warner Bros’ worst- selling album ever, this displays both Thompson’s indifference to the norms of music stardom and pioneering development of folk rock #5debutalbums7074

Genuinely love whoever in aincient Mesopotamia decided that the correct shape for weights was ducks. RETVRN

Their most straightforwardly folk album, and also probably my favourite (which may not be entirely coincidental), which includes the sublime ‘All Things Are Quite Silent’ - definitely a contender for my #5debutalbums7074 list

Syd Barrett’s solo albums walk an uneasy tightrope between highlighting the frequent brilliance of his song writing and feeling like you’re intruding on a mental breakdown, but this has too many great songs for its #5debutalbums7074 claims to be ignored

Relatable Corvid

Behold: the perfect GDPR statement. #DPElf

I first came across Dave Evans through the dazzling fingerstyle guitar of ‘Stagefright’ - plenty more of that to enjoy on his debut, an unassuming slice of contemporary folk which deserves to be better known #5debutalbums7074

Well this is very much something to look forward to in the new year bevisfrondmusic.bandcamp.com/album/horror...

Splendid, mellow Chicago blues from an often-overlooked master #5debutalbums7074

A solid debut, although I do prefer ‘Some Day You’ll Have These Blues’ - worth a listen not least for the anguished riff of the title track #5debutalbums7074 youtu.be/uvVKH0DK_90?...

#90sTop30 #MusicChallenge Thanks as always to @tansleyjames.bsky.social for another great challenge

#90sTop30 #MusicChallenge Vaguely ranked Day 30 Game Of Pricks Guided By Voices - Tigerbomb (1995)   Arguably their best song - I’ve always preferred this one to the lower-fi ‘Alien Lanes’ version youtu.be/HLINRoC4f1k?...

#90sTop30 #MusicChallenge Vaguely ranked Day 29 Rock Music Pixies – Bossanova (1990)   Your mouth’s a mile away - Pixies at their shoutiest, thrashiest best - from their last great album youtu.be/vDVpJIidloc?...

The best album of their partnership - superb guitar even by Thompson’s standards, great vocals from both and, in ‘The End Of The Rainbow’, perhaps the most comically bleak song of his career. A dead cert for my #5debutalbums7074 list

Her first and finest solo album, this is chock full of great, mainly original, songs and a strong contender for #5debutalbums7074

#90sTop30 #MusicChallenge Vaguely ranked Day 28 Loose Fit Happy Mondays – Pills’n’Thrills And Bellyaches (1990)   An insistently, trippily danceable, loose-limbed rhythm section, overlaid by a guitar riff which is pure gold youtu.be/RGVzR1x2y7E?...

#90sTop30 #MusicChallenge Vaguely ranked Day 27 Goldfinger Ash – 1977 (1996) A struggle to choose between this and ‘Oh Yeah’ youtu.be/35hDrzcHnIA?...

#90sTop30 #MusicChallenge Vaguely ranked Day 26 Mount Everest Teenage Fanclub – Songs From Northern Britain (1997) A standout track from an album that barely puts a foot wrong youtu.be/5ou8v2Gd--Q?...

Remarkable story, and demonstration of the things engineers grapple with unknown to most of the public. I remember the Northern line being closed for the London Brodge works but had no idea that was helping deal with this unique problem further up the line as well.

#5debutalbums7074 offers the possibility of going full folk, with options from Anne Briggs, Clannad, Fotheringay, Steeleye Span, Sandy Denny and Richard Thompson (both with and without Linda) 🤔

#90sTop30 #MusicChallenge Vaguely ranked Day 25 A.M. 180 Grandaddy – Under The Western Freeway (1997)   Bleepily addictive youtu.be/jEtQzQQoZRE?...

#90sTop30 #MusicChallenge Vaguely ranked Day 24 Gee Angel Sugar – File Under: Easy Listening (1994) I can’t quite believe I’m actually going to finally see them live next year. This comes from as perfect an opening sequence of tracks as you’ll find on any album youtu.be/lXFiycUbG3I?...

#90sTop30 #MusicChallenge Vaguely ranked Day 23 Walking In The Great Shining Path Of Monster Trucks Clutch – Transnational Speedway League (1993)   Here’s a pummelling live version - I could listen to that opening riff pretty much forever youtu.be/vxdou0Wu69M?...

Postbox bollards outside the Post Office. Absolutely delightful. #WorldBollardAssociation 📮

This is an exciting find: the remains of the building used by the House of Commons as its temporary chamber between 1835 and 1851. If you want to know what that building looked like, see our short article: historyofparliament.com/2025/09/25/t...

#90sTop30 #MusicChallenge Vaguely ranked Day 22 Los Angeles Frank Black – S/T (1993) Probably the highlight of his ‘Teenager’ gig earlier in the year - the coda especially is sublime youtu.be/fuLllNyfiHs?...

Just realised my lot really weren’t very imaginative with their titles… #5debutalbums1014

#90sTop30 #MusicChallenge Vaguely ranked Day 21 Quality Of Armor Guided By Voices – Propeller (1992)   When British Invasion and garage rock collide youtu.be/7MYbIdZqRtM?...

Another candidate for gig of the year - can’t remember ever seeing a band so obviously having so much fun, or going so hard without pausing for breath throughout…

We installed a new Jane Austen display case in time for Jane's 250th birthday in December. The display is available in the Treasures Gallery (free) at the British Library in London until 15 March 2026. Blogpost: www.bl.uk/stories/blog...

Standing by for @bobmouldmusic.bsky.social at the Dome…

#90sTop30 #MusicChallenge Vaguely ranked Day 20 Skintrade Bob Mould – The Last Dog & Pony Show (1998)   I’m off to see him live tonight, so this seems appropriate - this album was probably the best of his 90s solo output youtu.be/79YmuqKwWFQ?...

#90sTop30 #MusicChallenge Vaguely ranked Day 19 Lay Lady Lay Ministry – Filthpig (1996) I’m not sure what it says about me that I always seem to prefer Dylan covers to the originals - the album version is great but the live performance here is even better youtu.be/ExJymZl7z7k?...

#90sTop30 #MusicChallenge Vaguely ranked Day 18 Safari The Breeders – Safari EP (1992) Great song, great video… youtu.be/xT6oZGThwis?...

The eyes of Chichester Cathedral’s early C17th weathercock suggest it’s seen a lot, having survived the collapse of the spire in 1861 and being strafed by the Luftwaffe in the Battle of Britain (as the machine gun holes in its tail attest), before finally being replaced in 1978

#90sTop30 #MusicChallenge Vaguely ranked Day 17 Off Shopping Trolley Thrilled Skinny – Not Half An EP (1991)   Infectious stuff from Luton’s finest youtu.be/uN6jw4e1CxY?...

#90sTop30 #MusicChallenge Vaguely ranked Day 16 The Move Beastie Boys – Hello Nasty (1998) Who else could manage to drop in a harpsichord to such sublime effect? youtu.be/5AG-p856wj4?...

#90sTop30 #MusicChallenge Vaguely ranked Day 15 In The Meantime Helmet – Meantime (1992) That syncopated riff is just 🧑‍🍳😘 youtu.be/mWwhdINdMs8?...

#90sTop30 #MusicChallenge Vaguely ranked Day 14 Avon Queens Of The Stone Age – S/T (1998)   The stoner riff to rule them all youtu.be/aimHMr-Ee4o?...