Sing-a-long-a-blog-along

Uh oh, it seems like we've fallen through a time warp! It's very likely you're reading this on January 5th, which counts as day 5 of this blog, but I'd like to be 100%, unequivocally clear that this was all absolutely written on the 4th. It's day 4. Clearly. I wouldn't lie to you about this. Today, on January 4th, things are bleak. Boris Johnson has just announced a third lockdown which looks like it's going to last well over two months, all schools and universities are shut and online, and the internet is generally very unhappy. I get it. It's January 4th (day 4), and I feel that too. It's like we're back to March 2020 again, except that it's really January 4th, 2021. Not a good feeling. On days like today (January 4th), I usually reach out to some comfort music that's scraped me through some of the hard times of before, and there's nothing more comforting to me than Gang of Youths. They've gotten me through a whole lot, and my h

The 80s. Many consider them to be good. There were leg-warmers. Neon. Excessively jingoistic action movies. I don't personally see the appeal, but it definitely seems as if the idea of them had caught on. Hey, it's enough to fuel the success of Stranger Things alone. People really love that nostalgia. Could have been the way they used relentless positivity to cover up the gaping flaws and inequalities of Western society, led as it was at the time by Ronald Reagan, a man who I personally consider to be decomposing in the ground right now and being eaten by worms. Who's to say? I was a 90s kid, by which I mean I lived through nine months of the 90s and my memory came online somewhere around 2004. Don't ask me. Today's song of the day is from the 80s! It's the Go-Go's 1984 single "Head Over Heels". So upbeat and poppy and optimistic, right? Makes you think of malls and ice cream and Rambo. But just remember, folks. The 80s were bad as well as good. Do

I've always been a little behind the times with music. I guess that's by virtue of starting to listen to it properly at a really  late age, but in any case, I've definitely been more the type to cling to the "This is Of Monsters and Men" playlist than forge out ahead in favour of whatever the heck Pitchfork gave an 8.8 this week. Last year, I tried to change that, and it worked! Kind of. Ish. I have to admit that comfort food music is a hard habit to break, and I don't even think I want  to break it. I did find some stuff, though. Broadened things out a tiny bit. It was a hard year to go for the new, but I got Fiona Apple out of the bargain, so I can't complain too much. Anyway, one of my favourite discoveries of 2020 was Porridge Radio, whose album Every Bad straight-up ruled; exciting, jaggedly emotional, confrontational rock music that felt like an amazing realisation of neurosis. 'Born Confused', 'Lilac' and 'Sweet' are on a con

Day one! Season two! We're back! 2021! Sorry about that. I'm trying really hard to summon some pep for the start of this new year, but I gotta admit that I'm running a little low. Not for any valid reason, mind - I stayed up until 2.30am last night watching live basketball (in case you're wondering, basketball is going to be a main theme of this season, and the fate of the Toronto Raptors will  influence how all of this blog goes) and I don't deal well with late nights. As I type this, I am so tired that I feel like I can see through walls. Still, optimism, right? New year and all that. There are some things to be optimistic about this year. We're still in disease hell, but vaccines exist, and at some point this year I hope all of you feel that sweet, sweet jab of ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 into your veins (or BNT162b2 if that's more your speed, I don't judge). That's something, right? Better than nothing. I really want to go to the movies again. Today's so

Hi again. It's been a while, huh? Also, not that long. Time is... bendy this year. June is December but years ago now. I don't really know how to sum it up. There's cognitive science out there you can read if you fancy it.  I guess there's probably somebody reading this who wasn't about when this blog was up and running. Hi there, if you're that person! How are you doing? Lovely weather we're having, isn't it?  This is a concept blog, but it's not a very complicated concept. Every day I write a little bit about one song. It might have been one I discovered that day, or got me through some stuff that day, or just one I've always wanted to blab about. Most entries are written late at night in a confused haze. I pledged to do 500 days at first, then I realised that was stupid. Then I cut that to 365, but I realised that was still stupid. Eventually I rounded down to a reasonable 100, which seemed manageable at day 90. I then stopped for no reason at

Sometimes I can be a little snobby about music. It's not my fault, it's society's, but it's still a thing nonetheless. There's a bad /r/indieheads tendency in me to reflexively snark about indie pop music, the kind of radio-ready stuff that is really pushing the definition of 'indie' to its limits. This part of myself sucks, but it's there. Some of us are more enlightened, though. My friend Alice, for instance, is much more consistent in enjoying music that is fun to her without worrying whether it's sufficiently cool or not. She even likes Ed Sheeran, which makes my contrarian dickhead self shiver. Still, I'd like to be that way. It sounds nice, and liberating, and a lot more fun than being an /r/indieheads (sorry to Reddit) killjoy. Today's song of the day is one that I hope Alice will appreciate - "Cheetah Tongue" by The Wombats. I'm not a huge Wombats guy. Their name is silly, and not in the cool way, and I don't kno