And so 1974 concludes with its singular combination of strangeness (there are things here I cannot describe; they have to be experienced) and sincerity, a place of balance that will only hold for so long #twoways #wingedflight #nopointinstoppingnow

Refurbishment of the Young Punctum blog reaches and redoes December 1974, concluding what must be a definitive summary of what was supposedly a dull year in which nothing musically interesting happened: funthirty.blogspot.com/2025/04/dece...

STREATHAM KNOWS

"The dancefloor is dead"

Refurbishment of the Young Punctum blog reaches and redoes December 1974, concluding what must be a definitive summary of what was supposedly a dull year in which nothing musically interesting happened: funthirty.blogspot.com/2025/04/dece...

Kevin Patrick Shields. Born OTD in 1963, Queens, NYC, to Irish parents. Moved to Cabinteely, Co Dublin, aged 10 www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KpL...

Also one of the greatest singles made by anybody: uncorrectedboundproof.blogspot.com/2025/04/chap...

Exactly what I did. Worked from home innit.

The great man read my blogs and his posthumous influence can be felt everywhere, from Geordie Greep to KNEECAP. Far more important than anybody realised in his time.

3 years for Zack P to really sharpen up and get in there.

For the 12 people on here and the three who might care, June's Nightshift is online now at nightshiftmag.co.uk/2026/jun.pdf Last one, may feature teary-eyed nostalgia.

The feeling you get when you sense you've been muted again. Oh well. If you can't say what you feel you're wasting your time as a human being on this planet and if you tiptoe on eggshells all the time for fear of bruising someone else's fragile ego then that isn't living.

Name a better engineer than a London beaver. We’ll wait. 🦫 These incredible creatures were reintroduced to the city and have already stepped up to stop flooding at a Tube station and restore local habitats. Nature is healing (and civil engineering).

oh dear! is it really no better than that (haven't heard it yet)?

Right up my street, this; will watch in my leisure!

Still one of the greatest singles made by anybody.

Former BBCtv continuity announcer Judith Chalmers has died at the age of 90. This (in places sexist and body-shaming) interview with her is from 1961: transdiffusion.org/2023/10/09/j...

Good Guardian piece (presumably online only) on the rather splendid Knats: www.theguardian.com/music/2026/a...

The legend @cmatbaby.bsky.social said a lot more in her acceptance speech than what RTÉ are reporting. (Video posted by Lisa McLoughlin on Instagram - www.instagram.com/reel/DYnTKR3...) #Speirgorm

What an emotional way to end the show! youtu.be/zG0HFw0edXY?...

#NowPlaying as recommended to me by @dreamcargoes.bsky.social at FB - produced by Geordie Greep and it's rather extraordinary: open.spotify.com/album/5XtH8s...

I've seen today's Grauniad Opinion page and what's at the top of it. But it's a nice day outside, I have work (from home, but it's still work) to do so I'm not going to waste any more of however much life remains for me getting mildly vexed about it. The sun's come out from behind the grey cloud &c.

Mayor Mamdani Keeps Up The Wins For New Yorkers,And He Just Keeps Getting Better.......👏🏻

"The studio was like heaven for us." Decades after their collaboration, Steven Hall offers rare insights into Arthur Russell's creative process, his ban on vibrato, and their search for musical purity. Tell Us Today — Steven Hall Remembers Arthur Russell:

My spirit animal, as I always say.

"I'LL LET YOU SET THE PACE"

Domestically, work-wise and meterologically it's been rather a good day today. Online it's been a fucking depressing day. There's an important lesson to be learned.

Ah, I see the chap who complained about "bitter little shitters" earlier on today here and I pretended he wasn't talking about me has now blocked me. Glad he's doing so well in life that he can afford to alienate those who have supported him. See you on the way back down.

Very long, but worth watching if you have a spare couple of hours - T J Clark, former King Mob member and one of the world's greatest living writers, talks about capitalism without images: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mryi...

Guardian Opinion | I have to pay for my Pilates classes on Clapham High Street so why shouldn't pensioners have to choose between working out and eating? By Zoe Williams

Muting the name of the deceased children's television actor. It's never not sad when someone goes (though I can think of quite a few still-living exceptions to that rule) but the guy was 79 and you've become your own parent now and have to pay for everything, that's how life works, sorry.

*insert Lauren gag of your choice*

Columbo and Blake's 7 were on TV half a century ago. If you have nothing to say about what's on now (and I don't mean reality gameshows or similar) then I increasingly think it's your fault, not television's.

Yep, "we'll do your homework for you, take the job you would have got and leave you in the gutter to rot, so maybe you should have just killed yourself the short way." Also, it's "which" and "However," not "that" or "But -", but who cares about that in humanity's twilight?

A George Michael interview quote to Morley in BLITZ magazine, early 1983: "I don't think you have a grasp of basic human requirements." Applies to quite a few people now.

That's how it is now, though, isn't it? No common language any more. Used to be all "did you see XYZ last night?" chat but nobody these days even knows what a TV is, let alone watches it. All wrapped up in our private globes.

One thing to get irked about is the continued misapplication of the word "crowned" when referring to someone who's won an election or at sport or had a number one record. It's harking back to the childhood fairytales ensconced in your DNA and if we can't overcome these we're going to perish.

The continuing struggle involved in explaining to other people here that I'm not them and they aren't me. It's quite exhausting and not fun. Tip:when you refer to "that" such-and-such, please specify what you're talking about because others aren't necessarily going to know & we can't read your mind.

"‘Make your own kind of music,’ Cass Elliot exhorted us in her joyful ode to being true to yourself." Hack hack hackety hack McHackdom and it wasn't a hit when it came out because you all wanted Donald Peers and Malcolm Roberts, thanks.

Guaranteed to make my eyes glaze over a.k.a. shift one's attention back to work: references to old sci-fi TV shows. I spent my teenage years mostly listening to free jazz.

Just saying I'm put off reading most things to which people here lurk because of being persistently interrupted by glorified pay-us begging letters. I'll just look through you in the newsagent's, you're not that special, thanks.

New Uncut! I wrote about newly discovered tapes of Cream’s Wheels Of Fire, and interviewed Elvis Costello and Clive Langer about writing ‘Shipbuilding’.

Vi a David Byrne hace siglos en un teatro en Madrid y fue uno de los mejores conciertos de mi vida. Esta versión de Burning down the house en el programa de Stephen Colbert demuestra que sigue siendo lo más ❤️ m.youtube.com/watch?v=EtvK...

RIP Gunter Hampel (1937-2026)

RIP Gunter Hampel • Berliner Jazztage 1972

"'I don't make music, I am music.' A typical Gunter Hampel quote about Gunter Hampel … Modesty has never been his thing, however, his musical work and the appreciation he has received for it prove him right." Gunther Hampel (1937 -2026):

Don, Moki, Neneh, & Eagle-Eye Cherry Kyoto 🇯🇵 1974 📷 unknown to me

One of the fundamental handicaps to British cultural life over the last forty years is that we've all been far too C86 and not nearly enough C81.

The shade of Bill Shankly would like a word.

Teeth - criminally overlooked UK psych band; solitary album (Deram Nova, 1969) now goes for three figures