Yesterday it was 19 degrees & I went out in rolled-up shirt sleeves. Now, I’m about to put the heating on. Who’s running this show?

It is striking just how much the tenor of reviewing has changed. Last year a live review of mine from MM in the 90s surfaced & I was truly appalled by what I’d said about the band’s appearance. Playing to the gallery of our peers was def part of the culture then - but that doesn’t excuse it.

We do? Am utterly bemused by this. Though it might just have explained an ad (don’t remember what for) that made no sense to me, in which a guy staring into his fridge is transfixed by half an old onion. Is he seeing - dah-dah-DAH - a face?

The worst thing about this shitting flu’ - apart from the shivering, persistent hacking cough, all-over aches & exhaustion, that is - is that it makes coffee taste foul. I mean. Give me a break here…

I’m guessing plenty of people already do. Though this leads us to the hoary art vs entertainment debate. And involves the question of whether we’re ok with attributing “authorship” to AI. Along with scrapping the integrity of the idea. Personally, nope.

Her “thinking” seems to be that if she sits here for another 15 intense minutes, I will feed her early because I know no better. First-blink challenge is ON.

Jerkfest - Australia’s littlest Big Day Out. Love this story about grass roots, community & lack of a profit motive. On ya, Geelong! www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03...

No fan of catchphrases but “get your own oil” is excellent. Am tempted to start barking it in all manner of inappropriate social situations. (At least, I would if I socialised.)

I eat a lot of tofu so can attest to the fact that an unwrapped block left at the back of the fridge really starts honking after a while but: “one of the worst smells I’ve smelled in my life” - from a fire chief? A stranger to the durian, obvs. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

Because it’s Sunday. And it’s bloody gorgeous. youtu.be/gTppGfwGH1M

“All of us kids who grew up in the underground know that feeling—of being unwilling casualties of our parents’ war”: this longform essay by one of the “Weather kids” is a compelling read, whether you’ve seen PTA’s movie or not.

This is beyond shameful, from a Labour government - saving at the expense of those most vulnerable & in need of support. And what will they use to determine whether a claimant’s condition “might improve”? Scrying?

Terrific, warm-hearted interview with a remarkable man. (Whose novel I now absolutely need to read.) www.theguardian.com/books/2026/m...

Brand new posting from local tosser of word salad. A point in there somewhere, but it’s struggling for air…

I wrote this essay for @thequietus.com about Mark Fisher and the film inspired by him, We Are Making a Film About Mark Fisher, which I helped birth. Flashbacks to early noughties computer room scrolling through @simonreynolds.bsky.social's Blissblog >>> thequietus.com/opinion-and-...

Formations by Rorschach

Queen Aretha. Heard her version of “I Say A Little Prayer” on Sunday morning radio & I just stood & listened. While I remembered that it was originally a B-side. We are not worthy.

3/4 floors closed & an army of drill-revving builders in: right now the concourse at London’s Liverpool St Station would be a less stressful place to work than my local library. *flees in despair*

Wow, this is wonderful - reportage with an Impressionist slant.

Amazing. When worlds collide, etc.

Can’t wait to see this. I love the colourful, hectic expressionism of her work.

Jesus. Why not just call him a slow thicko & be done with it? #BlindDate

Spring - the season of growth, light & renewal. Also bastard scaffolding.

Jason Isbell Explains How Music Is Like The News But For Sounds. Subscribe to The Onion at https://membership.theonion.com/?campaign=701a500001bfegPAAQ.

Listening to the new Foos LP I am reminded that I saw them play a set at some Invictus Games thing an aeon ago. The end of their set involved a hearty embrace between Dave Grohl & Prince Harry & many bro-ish backslaps. Talk about worlds collide…

I love everything about this. And as an admirer of YL’s singularly odd films, would kill to see the exhibition. www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...

It’s an experience of too many, of course, but the unimaginable anguish & pain of having to hide your true self for decades hits so hard in TP’s story. The sacrifices involved, my god. That professional football today, the Premier League in particular, remains gay intolerant is beyond shameful.

Even by his own standard, Trump’s preposterous claims & deranged ramblings have seriously ratcheted up in the past few days. Wherever tf his mind has gone, it’s not coming back…

Love this pic of Howard Devoto, 74 today. Happy birthday, sir…

Astonishingly candid records by often unknown photographers, saved by the work of one man…

Sunshine blasting through the window, Fugazi’s ‘Exit Only’ on the wireless - all is well.

U.S. Suffers Additional Casualties In War It Won Last Week

I’ve decided* that the tipping point for “being old” is deciding not to go out & do something as intended, because of the weather (too wet and/or cold). Once, it would never have occurred to me to opt out of anything for such a feeble reason. Now, however… * anecdotal evidence: own behaviour

Hah. Kacey Musgrave’s complaint that there “ain’t nobody’s tool up in my shed” is def a… different metaphor for a “Dry Spell”. Droll, cheeky new song/vid with an agreeable swing but it doesn’t really go anywhere, dammit. youtu.be/NlohfwTunwU

Dead god. Imagine having a soul so black & corroded you were willing to be paid to do this, as a job. And were as dim a bulb as he clearly is.

“Struck by falling manufactured space debris” - it’s how we all want to go, really.

The Larry David in me has been stirred* by downstairs neighbours, whose interpretation of recyclable is “any shit we need to get rid of”. Today’s dump next to our bins: 4 giant sheets of polystyrene, a big oil can, a plastic broom handle & 2 greasy pizza boxes. * 8/10 on Pointless Seething scale

A belated birthday salute to the extraordinary Anselm Kiefer, 81 y/day. His installation are overwhelming, due not only to their monumental scale, but also to existential & historical themes w emotional wallop. Pic here from his 2023 White Cube show, which moved me to tears w/o quite knowing why.

Attention night owls: the excellent “Sound of Metal” is showing on BBC Two at midnight.

Totally wiped after 7 hours of door duty last night but most tiring was no. of people baulking at entry price - £12. So, less than the cost of two pints - for SIX bands. Patience for explaining how they get paid, & why they obviously should, ran out pretty fast. Also, haggling? C’mon, people.

Revisiting this gorgeous, eerily abstract piece by Laurie Anderson, with ANOHNI - from her album taking Amelia Earhart’s final flight as its theme. #IWD youtu.be/z-xF1zBsunY

Few profiles are as terrifying in their detail. The man’s a deranged monster, vilified even by his own mother. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

Good morning! It is Bandcamp Friday and today we are donating all profit from today's sales to the Trans Continental Pipeline, a nonprofit that helps trans folks move to Colorado from hostile states. We have a limited edition sweatshirt available ONLY today: bikinikill.bandcamp.com/merch/limite...

Just 10am but already today's best news: a new album from Aldous Harding, "Train On The Island", is due on May 8. Terrific first single here. youtu.be/vyKaSM1FJ8w?...

The House of Lords Digital & Communications Committee just published their report on AI, copyright & the creative industries, and their conclusions could not be clearer. 🧵 1/5

Hilariously mistaken (& futile) on so many levels. The spirit of Jim Hacker is about…

Never met a piece of Nathan Bowles’ music I didn’t like but “Gum Bump”, brand new from his Setting trio, is irresistible: a lightly fried, improv-based mix of kosmische, dub, ambient techno & gamelan music. (LP out April 24.) settingsounds.com

Bang on the button, clearly. But I shouldn’t imagine it’s going to stop any time soon. Late-stage capitalism is racing gleefully to the cliff edge, dragging us all with it. We’d need an entire overhaul of humankind’s twisted value system first…

This is indeed v lovely & I challenge anyone to watch it without blinking back a tear. If you’re cynically thinking, well, yes, he’s an actor so pushing emotional buttons is his business, then I double down on that challenge. (Also: sweetly, Timmy Chalamet is transfixed.)

Well, Bobby G’s tribute to Noel Gallagher last night has surely seen off his rep as a rebel rock’n’roller sneering at the status quo - one big slice of obsequious pie, topped with cheese & ham. Kind of weird.