2026-02-27 23:54:14
Manchester, UK. Late 1999; I don't recall the exact month but it was post-September because the Freshers had arrived.
The Roadhouse was legendary for its low ceiling dripping sweat, loud speakers, and knee-high stage — a truly intimate venue.
Cyclefly were playing and the crowd were ready!
Touring "Generation Sap", their debut album, the Irish/French alternative rock band were fronted by the charismatic Declan O'Shea; a striking figure with neon red dreadlocks, yellow PVC pants, and nothing else.
I was front and center, surrounded by a heaving mob of fans with a face full of Declan's crotch. I tucked a cheap necklace into his waistband and got a wink in return.
Anyway, this is a "new music" post, not a "music you've been into for nearly 30 years" post.
Fast-forward a decade and Declan (now dread-less) and Christian have formed a new band called Mako DC. I presume that's their initials there to differentiate them from the various other bands called Mako.
A handful of singles and two albums; 2012's "Living on Air" and "TIMELESS" arriving in 2021 (did they do that with the dates on purpose?)
Of the two, I think "Living on Air" is probably my favourite. As you'd expect from two key players in Cyclefly, there's a touch of the old magic in there. Declan's voice takes a softer approach which, at times, slides into a Brian Molko impression and the guitar is equally laid back. It's clearly alternative rock but alt rock that has matured out of its late-90's post-grunge phase and kind of found its own feet.
I don't see either album replacing Generation Sap on my playlist — that album stands up surprisingly well to repeated listens over the last three decades — but I will be returning to them.
2026-02-26 03:58:22
When the chief suspect in the disappearance of Áróra's sister is found dead, and Áróra's new financial investigation leads to the street where her sister was last seen, she is drawn into a shocking case that threatens everything
This is the final part of a five book series that I've been reading now since 2022, eagerly awaiting each new release. Despite one of the leads being a police officer, I've become quite invested in the characters and their development through the series.
The dramatic conclusion, however, felt rushed. This sometimes happens at the end of a series when you have 40,000 character arcs to neatly tie off but the Áróra Investigates series is largely two people and one crime.
The reveal of the killer came suddenly and was surprising more for that than the actual identity; without too much in the way of spoilers, the killer confesses within 30 seconds of being in a police investigation room!
That said it was nice to get more of the back story on Ísafold's murder (the entire reason for the series). The structure felt nice; almost alternating chapters of flashbacks working their way forward, and the investigation working it's way back until they both converge with Ísafold's death.
I was saddened by the ending proper (there's a Three Weeks Later chapter) and, while not as bleak as some of Sigurðardóttir's endings, it's pretty bleak.
If you were hoping for sunshine and rainbows, prepare to be disappointed.
2026-02-23 02:56:23
04:00 — woke with a terrible thirst, mind racing with fever dreams. "unplug your phone, cable may be warm" warns my phone. the cable is cold, the water is tepid, the night is long
I may be at my most poetic and most dramatic at 4am!
One of my favourite things about living somewhere flat and expansive is, once the storm has passed exposing sunshine in its wake, the trees and buildings are all lit up with a golden light against a charcoal backdrop of the storm in the distance. It's like two completely different weathers at the same time!
We have some software at work that uses APIs for various LLMs and I was running a data pull this week. One thing that struck me was the cost; Gemini was £30 but Claude was £390 for the exact same prompts. I'm pretty certain that Claude is the more realistic pricing and Gemini, like everything Google own, is propped up by advertising dollar.
The first crocuses have sprung forth from the lawn. Still too early for gardening.
targets, projections, and KPIs (whatever the good godfuck those are)
2026-02-22 16:29:56
I can be a bit of a curmudgeon and focus on the negatives when I feel the pressure. I know it's not good for me to get into that negativity spiral so reflecting like this is important.
So, without further ado, here are some things I have been enjoying lately.
2026-02-20 18:17:36
Area 11 is fronted by "Diggy Hole II" vocalist, Thomas "Sparkles*" Clarke who sounds so much like Frank Turner I had to check he wasn't. Inspired by anime and J-Rock, this Nottingham hard rock band throw out high octane pop-y inoffensive rock songs that aren't pop-punk, hard rock, British indie, or heavy metal but also all of those things. I can hear Iron Maiden and Babylon Zoo and Million Dead and Fall Out Boy and Dragonforce and Medic Droid and Wombats and Enter Shikari. "Heaven-piercing Giga Drill" is a bloody good introduction!
Not only good advice but a catchy indie song, "Be Gay, Do Drugs, Hail Satan" by Super Cassette deserves repeated plays. In fact, stick it on every party playlist you have. Somewhere in the tiny sliver Venn diagram overlap of Decemberists, Cavetown, and Los Campesinos with a dose of Harley Poe.
When people say punk is dead
they aren't really looking hard. Dropkick Murphys and Haywire just dropped a 1980's British street punk sounding anthem railing against ICE. Nice. "Citizen I.C.E." reminds me of The Exploited and Aglio é Olio.
I'll be honest, I've never heard grungegaze dream indie before but I can't argue with a woman from Wigan! Greater Manchester's TTSSFU blend Nirvana and the Pixies with Cocteau Twins and a heck of a lot of fuzzbox into something incredible. The whole of 2025's "Blown" is well worth a listen.
2026-02-18 05:10:02
I devoured this
said V.E. Schwab in a jacket quote either carefully written or carefully chosen because it references consuming.
There is a secret race of creatures, the eponymous Book Eaters, that look like humans but are nourished by the words and ideas they osmose when they literally eat books. It's a little on-the-nose for this unrepentant bookworm (and, apparently, a certain New York Times bestselling author).
These poor souls live in manor houses dotted around the country like half a dozen vampiric Brontë families shepherding their dwindling number of fertile women around for breeding escorted, in the most fanciful way, by "Knights"; a paramilitary organisation comprised of wayward Family sons and their tame "Dragons" — Mind Eaters, monstrous corruptions of Book Eaters who, instead, feed on the thoughts and dreams of living creatures.
Devon Fairweather is one such bride but, like all good heroines, isn't going to suffer under this dumb patriarchy any longer. Fuelled by a mother's righteous fire, Devon takes control of her own life after discovering her newborn baby is a Mind Eater.
Chock full of references to fairy tales, Sunyi Dean's gothic debut feels like a labour of love; a personal novel of love — for books, for children, for life.
This book feels like it inhabits the Venn diagram intersect of Bridget Collins' The Silence Factory and Holly Black's The Book of Night. There's a timeless out-of-time feeling; as though the real world is happening off stage, mixed with Devon; six foot tall, men's black jeans, buzzcut. Not an anti-hero but not a typical hero either.
Some of the chapters felt they had had a bit more love than others but whether this was Dean's fault or her editor's I couldn't say. Nothing to ruin my enjoyment of the story though. I, like Schwab before me, devoured this book then sat back –satisfied– and thought I wish there was pudding a sequel.