2025-10-09 16:29:11
A list of my favourite musical artistes — one for each decade I have lived in.
I imagine my favourite musicians in the 1970's were my parents singing nursery rhymes. My favourite music from the 1970's is probably punk. I never really got into Southern Blues Rock or Disco or Funk. Picking just one band is tricky but I'd say Sex Pistols - despite not being the best punk band of the time, and despite whatever happened to John Lydon recently, no-one can deny the impact they had on the music scene and culture in general.
In a decade obsessed with up tempo neon the moody, loquacious, and darkly camp Pet Shop Boys made dance music, club music that hits differently — cultured, cerebral, orchestral. They are still releasing music forty years later with not a drop in quality!
This entire decade was dominated by two main genres: Grunge and Punk. I was so very punk; green mohican, tartan bondage pants, army boots. All my friends were long-haired fans of the Seattle scene. Forced to choose, I'd say Alice in Chains but also there is "Dookie"…
Nu-metal Baby! I remember hearing Slipknot for the first time. John, the DJ in Jilly's Rock World, would play "Wait and Bleed" and "Spit It Out" and for a while I thought they were two different bands. When I found out they were by the same artist I knew they'd be something special.
¡Los Campesinos! soundtracked the early half of the decade.
Rise Against featured heavily towards the end of the decade. My "comfort" music to angrily cope with "Just Fucking Do It" rubbish requirements at work; headphones on, silently screaming.
I've got back into metal in the last few years. Metalcore, death metal, power metal. Particularly European heavy metal because it's just better than American metal and doesn't have that weird toxic masculinity vibe to it. I'm looking at you, Machine Head. Infected Rain manage to combine metal with electronics in a way that is reminiscent of nu-metal but fresh and unique.
2025-10-06 14:56:39
The first in Susan Cooper's "The Dark Is Rising" Sequence sees a trio of middle class Londoners on a family holiday to Cornwall and a quest for the Holy Grail of all things.
Ably assisted by their Great Uncle Merry and Rufus the dog, siblings Simon, Jane, and Barney follow the clues in an old manuscript to track down the last known resting place of the Holy Grail. An urgent mission as the Forces of Evil™ are also on the hunt for it. A mighty coincidence!
Over Sea, Under Stone reads more like a Famous Five book than traditional urban fantasy; instead of being directly referenced, magical elements are hinted at. The "supernatural" features of the villains could be children's imagination.
It's clearly a children's book but that's not said in a derisory way. The level of peril, the complexity of the storyline, the simplicity of the "light/dark, good/evil" theme, it's all aimed at younger readers but it still lands with me as an adult.
2025-10-06 00:11:44
The "red creep" in full russet glory inexorably marches across the maples driving Summer's green into distant memory.
Autumn is here now, the maples decree, so I drink tea, I wear lambswool, and I read Susan Cooper.
Heard the Tawny Owl again. Much louder and for longer; she is probably defending her tree from the Barn Owl or her own fledged juveniles. I've not heard a Tawny here before so she may be new to the area and asserting dominance! Either way, that loud "heh-whick heh-whick" cutting through the dark and quiet night is both terrifying and awe-inspiring.
Had my annual flu jab this week. Bit of an ache-y arm for the day but a small price to pay for protecting myself and helping to protect others in my community.
Storm Amy hit us late in the week. Yellow weather warnings for 105kph (65mph) winds risking "danger to life". The old lad that tends the graveyard is out with his leaf blower…
All knowledge is sacred, but it should not be secret
Susan Cooper, "Over Sea, Under Stone"
2025-10-05 21:05:50
Warning!
With apologies to William Carlos Williams
I have eaten
the plums
that were on
the plum tree
and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast
Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so ripe
2025-10-03 22:55:04
An apology
I'm sorry but, at the time of writing, Songlink is down. Links today are mostly from YouTube Music but with the tracking parameters stripped.
I love me some atmospheric post-Black Metal on occasion and EVILFEAST popped up on a playlist with "Fullmoon over the eastern woods" which, while maintaining that "dark shoegaze" kind of vibe, drops into a rather catchy and bouncy –almost jovial– chorus! Really nice example of the how the genre can flex.
Reflecting on life following her near-death experience, "One of the Greats" by Florence + The Machine is just brilliant!
It must be nice to be a man and make boring music just because you can
Now don't get me wrong, I'm a fan
You're my second favourite front-man
And you could have me if you weren't so afraid of me
It's funny how men don't find power very sexy
So this one's for the ladies
Welsh female-fronted metalcore band Dream State have dropped a new single "Words Unsaid" and it slaps. Jessie Powell's vocals flit between breathy and raw, underpinned with a solid wall of metal. Lovely stuff.
Synthetic percussion I can only describe as "schlurpy", bitty plinky melody, and squidgy portamento all add a dark yet accessible edge to "Joker" by Ms* Gloom.
Speaking of dark, I heard "Origin:Orphan" by The Hidden Cameras on the soundtrack to Mae Martin's latest show, Wayward, and it's haunting af!
"Feasts of Lunacy" by Botulism is classic old school death metal that was sadly unreleased when it was recorded back in 1997. Chugging, growly, staccato. Windmill that hair if you still have it!
One of those rock bands that borrow heavily from the pop music playbook, The Comedown add an over-produced feel to the quiet-verse-loud-chorus formula on "Shiver". Nowt wrong with it but won't be in my top ten most played any time soon.
Nothing ground-breaking with "milk of the madonna" by Deftones. Solid 'tones post-"White Pony" output. •Goes to play Elite instead•
I had never heard of Kim Dracula until their tour bus burst into flames and decided to check them out! I picked "Make Me Famous" because I liked the title and, wow!, it's like Mindless Self Indulgence crossed with Sikth, Marilyn Manson, and Igorrr!
"Too Cold" by Vanilla Ice not actually new or new-to-me really because I've heard Vanilla Ice's "heavy metal" album before but I forgot it existed so this is kinda new-to-me (again). Surprisingly, Ice pulled together a supergroup of 90's musicians as his backing band.
2025-10-03 03:21:46
I booked myself in for a flu jab this week like a responsible citizen. The pharmacy sent me a "pre-consultation" — a digital form to complete before my appointment so they don't have to fill in my details while I'm there.
So far, so normal.
The link they sent me was for a third-party website; unrelated to me or the pharmacy. It appears to be a company that specialises in this sort of thing. I presume there are many pharmacies up and down the country (maybe even the world) who have out-sourced this expense to such a company.
Of course I had to create an account.
When I got to my appointment, the pharmacist was struggling in that way people do when using an unfamiliar system. They apologised a couple of times and it was made apparent the change in system wasn't a universally liked decision and had been mandated from on high.
Usually, in my experience, that means the Finance team have made the decision and delegated the burden on everyone else.
So far, so normal.
Fast forward a couple of days and I get an email from them; that's fair I checked the box in case I needed some medical information sending out or whatever.
But it wasn't from the pharmacy, it was from the third party onboarding system asking for feedback.
Thank you for choosing us
read the subject line. Which was rich considering that "choice" was mandated — firstly unwillingly foisted on a pharmacy team then unwillingly foisted on me. No-one in this interaction "chose" the company — I don't think it's even possible to choose them, as a patient!
The lesson, I guess, is that your marketing language needs to reflect your business model. If your operational strategy is to be the de facto platform for an industry then you need to acknowledge that users have no choice and so thanking them for choosing you sounds somewhere between disingenuous and plain stupid.