Pulp reforming

I was pretty excited when it was announced a few weeks ago that Pulp are getting back together to play some concerts next year. Pulp have been one of my favourite bands since I was nine years old. Yet I have never seen them live. Many times my friends and I have discussed going to […]

Fabulous Absolute

About ten years ago I shunned music radio. It no longer reflected my musical tastes, so I turned to speech radio stations instead — all on the BBC. After a while, I began to get into BBC 6 Music. I was still interested in the speech elements of the station more than the music. Adam […]

BBC 6 Music should be enhanced, not killed

If the reports that the BBC will close down 6 Music are true, it is a great shame. Of course, this could be seen coming. The BBC has been utterly weak in almost every respect for the past few years, and it is difficult to escape the notion that it is too big, with too […]

Going radio gaga

The country lurches back into its usual routine this week. But with the new year comes changes, and a vital part of everyone’s daily life — the radio — will seem very different. My parents are concerned about what will happen to Radio 2 after the departure of Terry Wogan from breakfast. They were not […]

My top twenty albums of 2009 — part one

It is the end of the year. I like music. That can only mean one thing: a run-down of the music I have bought this year, arranged into vague order of how much I enjoyed them. In this twentieth anniversary year of Warp Records, it has been a stonking year for the label in my […]

20 Warp albums — part 4

This is the fourth group Warp albums that I am looking at, celebrating 20 years of the seminal record label. To read the other parts of this series, check out the table of contents on the right. Pulp — Intro Surprised? Not many people know that Pulp were given a substantial leg-up by the people […]

The Designers Republic

The other day I learnt from my brother that the graphic design company The Designers Republic went out of business earlier this month. My interest in graphic design is not particularly heavy. But the interest I do have in it has all stemmed from my exposure to the work of The Designers Republic. Their work […]

Music of 2007: #20–#11

Getting there slowly but surely. We might be two weeks into 2008, but that won’t stop me from looking back at 2007. By this rate it will be February before we get to the end of this list… 20. The Tuss — Rushup Edge Whoever is responsible for this is at least a genius at […]

My ten favourite albums of 2006

So here it is at last, my top ten. As always, you’ll have to press play every 30 seconds on the audio clips. 10. Franz Ferdinand — The Fallen / L. Wells Okay, so this isn’t an album, but did you want me to call this post “my ten favourite albums and / or singles […]

Obscure Pulp YouTube extravaganza!

Pulp has been one of my favourite bands ever since I was nine. Maybe that’s why I turned out so weird. To think that I grew up listening to that mucky man’s tales of debauchery. I can’t have known what he was on about until I was well into my teens. I remember asking my […]