Reading an old interview w Stephen Malkmus & just lol’d. Asked about how it felt to be back in Portland after two years in Berlin, where “you’re even allowed to look unhappy on the street. It doesn’t mean that you’re depressed or anything. You’re just being kind of realistic.” #CaliEuropean

I have crossed the sweater Rubicon.

Insanity on a galloping horse. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Absolutely gutted by the news of JD Twitch. We’ve lost his seemingly boundless energy, his belief in the very broadest of musical horizons & his evangelical spirit - all shockingly early. One of the best, he was.

Trying the daily Three Good Things exercise. Again. Today’s number one…

Loving this slapdown from the exasperated judge: ‘Merryday noted the “many, often repetitive, and laudatory (toward President Trump) but superfluous allegations,” and “much more, persistently alleged in abundant, florid, and enervating detail”’. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

This is great - a satisfyingly deep & super informative dive.

How to talk about RR without noting his extraordinary handsomeness? You can’t. Truly, “movie star looks”. Which must have been an odd & significant weight to move through life with. He wore it lightly, though - a thoroughly likeable star & obvs a huge champion of independent film making. Vale, Bob.

Anyone fancy placing a bet on when Starmer will up & run away to sea?

What an absolute knockout this new Makaya McCraven album is. Off The Record (hah) = 4 new EPs built from live improvisations reconfigured via editing, overdubs etc. A thrilling fusion of jazz, experimental hip hop & electronics that’s simultaneously super hot & cool af.

You say ‘sfumato’…

Kinda wish I’d had one of these in the ‘90s, to parade in front of the grisly & aggressive gang of touts who were always outside the Forum in Kentish Town. (Message still applies, obvs.) nicholasdaley.net/products/tou...

What does it take? The UK’s timidity re calling Israel to account for the horror that is Gaza beggars belief. If only our govt had the clear-eyed conviction, compassion & (yes) cojones of Pedro Sanchez. Instead, they’ll be rolling out the red carpet for Herzog. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/s...

The ecstatic chaos of the 10 seconds after the door is opened is just…

My god, the grand-scale, absolute dystopian horror of this. www.theguardian.com/global-devel...

It may have been a no-show from the full ‘blood moon’ but sunset was spectacular. #nofilter

I get that “nature, red in tooth & claw”, but small dog has just caught & killed a pigeon on beach in front of e/one enjoying late sun. Now proudly parading around with it in its mouth, while wagging tail & occasionally stopping for a chew. Will not surrender it to mortified owner. #sundayidyll

Everyone, everywhere seems to have lost their fuqing mind. Time to call in a comforting curry…

Mad story involving Argentinian real estate listing which revealed a painting on the wall that was stolen by Nazis from a Jewish art dealer in Amsterdam 80 years ago. Owners’ response was to deny all knowledge & replace it with a tapestry. SO busted!

The end of avocado roulette. Maybe. Though it does involve shopping in the UK’s worst supermarket & travelling to Colchester. Imo a heavy squeeze deterrent - say, booby trapping individual fruits - is the only way forward.

Yes, the Voynich manuscript. But a far greater mystery is how you can pay £60 for a haircut - plus tip - & then have to snip off the not quite level bits with nail scissors when you get home.

Sheesh. How deep were they digging?

This is frankly terrifying. Will we slash fossil fuel emissions? Highly unlikely. We can’t see the process, so we’re blind to the inevitable result. We are a species hell bent on self-destruction.

Just delivered, my first post-Brexit passport - reigniting my anger & despair at everything I/we have lost. Travel/residence freedoms no small part of a disastrous decision we chose to bloody make. Absolute bollix to it.

About half an hour ago I found out that today is a bank holiday. This despite having noted that everywhere seems insanely busy, that kids are everywhere & the local bakery is shut. Also, that my in-box has been blessedly quiet. Not that it matters, but… duh.

Would someone please bottle the laughter of drummer & composer Kahil El’Zabar, in convo on 6 Music with @gillespeterson.bsky.social? It’s an utter joy to hear - rich, relaxed & full of life. Goes without saying that the music - with his Ethnic Heritage Ensemble - is an equal joy.

Lol at this a) for acreage of academic wankspeak, b) idea that men have just begun pretending, to pull progressive women (pre “performative”, it was plain ol’ “faking it”) & c) ignoring fact that acting in bad faith for relational advantage isn’t gender specific. www.theguardian.com/fashion/2025...

It’s Friday. The sun is shining & I am cheered along in my work by Water From Your Eyes’ new LP, out today. It’s maybe less gloriously deranged than their last but still excellent skewed fun. Do yourself a favour, etc. youtu.be/B6QUT0Re_8Q?...

Man, I absolutely LOVED Shudder To Think bitd & this (top-quality) footage of them playing “X-French Tee Shirt” in May has just reignited my ardour.

Should anyone else be in need of a calm-down from unrelenting horror, the BBC is covering London Zoo’s annual weigh-in. It is s-l-o-w work (pity the presenter struggling to fill). www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cz...

How Zelenskyy sat next to Trump without reaching to strangle him with his bare hands, I do not know. Trump is Putin’s errand boy & enforcer combined, his charade sickeningly transparent. These “negotiations” are such an egregious betrayal of Ukraine it’s beyond belief.

Provocative, jingoistic little twerp with zero historical insight. Can’t his parents get him a job as a hedge-fund manager or something? (When he’s started shaving, that is.)

How, when you’ve clearly explained in an email why you’re (100% reasonably) unable to do x, can someone think, “okay - could you do x?” is a sensible reply? GIVE ME STRENGTH.

Extraordinary understanding, reason & compassion, especially given the unimaginable anguish of MWK’s family. He’s right, of course: government’s capitulation to agents of racism like Reform is as shameful as it is reckless.

The enormity of the attacks on Ukraine is impossible to grasp. Let me show you the horror of a single day | Oleksandr Mykhed

Nobody turns to Philip Roth for shits & giggles but… jeez. In terms of telling life truths, he’s totally unforgiving. This (from ‘Everyman’) is brutal - but beautiful in its boldness, too. (Stiff drink now required.)

It looks like Megs has gone emo. Now that’s a show I might possibly watch.

I don’t have a bucket list but if I did, visiting these cosmic bomb sites would definitely be on it. www.theguardian.com/travel/2025/...

Underwhelming pic of tonight’s truly magnificent (full) moon. Step outside & treat yourself to a good stare…

Who’s the Dimwit in Chief gonna have to fire now, then? #inconvenienttruth

New to me & a quid very well spent, it turns out. Gives a different charge to the phrase ‘deathless prose’.

Who knew there was such a thing as a cauliflower-cheese ‘sausage’ roll? Not me. Have just inhaled one for breakfast. Obscenely delicious. #cholesterolrising

Someone’s moved the East Sussex coast to the Balearics. #nofilter

Birthday shoutout to the trailblazing Ms Gentry, way ahead of her time in terms of artistic self-direction. And 83 years young today. youtu.be/Wz3SVL3DB6E

“People have lost their lives queuing to get food & water” - like it’s an accident due to carelessness. For the love of god, will world leaders stop with the mealy-mouthed bs? It’s deliberate slaughter of the most vulnerable, as a strategy. Say it. www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

PSA: for anyone at home rather than out doing whatever it is that people do on a Saturday night, I can recommend Aki Kaurismaki’s ‘Fallen Leaves’ (BBC Four, 9.45). It’s deadpan & sober, verging on the sad-sack, like most of his movies, but also a weirdly sweet, involving take on the rom com.

Wow, this is quite the bombshell.

It’s unconscionable. And real.

Just drained a can of Lucky Saint while reading this. It’s super interesting on the ritual & situational aspects of drinking alcohol, as well as its addictive potency. Plus: a (largely US) guide to what’s out there in zero land. No ruddy lagers, but.

Groovily ebullient gospel on the new single from Lady Wray’s terrific ‘Cover Girl’ LP (out Sep 26). It has it all - ‘60s soul, ‘70s funk, ‘90s R&B; Aretha to TLC & MJB. But it’s way more than just a throwback set. Plus: her Voice. Man. youtu.be/SgZ0ZEdMzkA