In the summer of 2000 I turned twenty two and as per tradition back in those days I was treated to a bunch of CDs from my core group of music-loving friends. It was always exciting to receive a pile of albums all at once, even if I knew I’d be getting exactly what I’d […]
Read MoreI have a somewhat sheepish confession to make. Now bear with me, but the first time I heard The Smiths I was not impressed. The track I’d stumbled across was Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others, a quirky little tune that appeared as simplistically self-explanatory as its title suggested. ‘‘Some girls are bigger than others’’ […]
Read MoreI was wandering around Our Price Records one day in the mid 90s when suddenly a song struck me like a well-fired arrow. “Avoiding all work, ‘cos there’s none available’’. With its new wave beats, thorny guitars and cynical vocals I initially thought it might be The Cure. But the longer the track went on the […]
Read More‘‘You’re a Neil Young fan?’’ a friend of a friend once asked me. ‘‘Really?” ‘‘LOVE Neil Young’’ I clarified, putting on my best ‘‘don’t fuck with me!’’ look. ‘‘You don’t think his voice is annoyingly whiny?’’ “Nope’’. ‘‘You don’t find a lot of his music to be plodding, uninspiring dad-rock?’’ “Not in any way’’. ‘‘Hmm, ok. […]
Read MoreI can’t put my finger on when exactly Britpop became such a dirty word. A genre that once channelled such an acute sense of hope and reinvention, today it’s often referred to with an acidic dismissiveness. Cock an ear to any non-believer and you’re likely to hear buzzwords like ‘‘derivative’’, ‘‘pedestrian’’ and ‘‘false dawn’’. Britpop […]
Read MoreAlbum Review: Bryter Layter by Nick Drake. One day in my late teens I spontaneously picked up a copy of Q Magazine from my local WH Smith. Informative, witty and covering a varied array of artists, it wasn’t long before I declared myself a loyal reader. Their excellent feature pieces brought me fascinating stories behind […]
Read More1995 was a golden year in my budding journey as a record collector. At seventeen years old I had barely twenty albums to my name but was greedily lapping up as much new music as my free time allowed. Which, as I happily underachieved my way through college, turned out to be quite a lot! […]
Read MoreMovies have always been a great source for discovering new music. Forrest Gump got me hooked on the song For What It’s Worth, setting in motion a lifelong Neil Young journey by way of Buffalo Springfield. Just Like Honey meanwhile, the stunning closing track in Lost in Translation, pointed me in the direction of Psychocandy, the […]
Read MoreAs a committed record collector there are few greater feelings than discovering an amazing band the masses don’t know about. You can’t help but succumb to a sense of triumph, a feeling of: These guys are fantastic and nine out of ten people have no idea! Part of you wants it to stay that way; you […]
Read MoreI’ve always had a preference for artists that like to keep you guessing, bands and singers that over the course of their careers have boldly jumped into the unknown time and time again. People who’ve taken their music and audiences to exciting new places. One such artist is Beck, the incalculable singer-songwriter whose twelve studio albums […]
Read MoreWhat more is there to say about The Beatles? Pioneering, prolific, insanely talented and highly influential they virtually wrote the book on popular music as we know it. Choosing my favorite Beatles album was a tough one, especially as I go through phases of favoring different LPs. Would I go for the artsy progression of Rubber […]
Read MoreIn the mid noughties I began to delve deeper into soul music, the latest genre to grab my attention in an ongoing bid to expand my musical horizons. And like most of these adventures the results proved revelatory! I fell for The Temptations and learned that Otis Redding really was as good as everyone claimed. I was […]
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