The Dead Cannot Contradict: R.I.P. M.E.S. 1957 – 2018

There have been a lot of obituaries for the great Mark E. Smith in the last week. This will not be one of the better ones, but it is my one. In my experience, the bands you love in your teens are, although they have…

The Vanishing Everything of Everywhere; Goodbye 2017

“Time, time, time, see what’s become of me…” When The Bangles covered Simon & Garfunkel’s A Hazy Shade of Winter in 1987, the song was 21 years and one month old, now The Bangles’ version (from the underrated – according to me – movie of…

Right vs. Good – a rambling digression about the arts

  This is not all about black metal, or all about music even, but it essentially began with the De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas Alive album that Mayhem, the pioneers of Norwegian black metal, released towards the end of last year. PART 1: MUSIC Despite somewhat…

Play For Today – Current Playlist 25th November 2016

  After many delays, another week, another playlist… 1. Kristin Hersh – Wyatt At The Coyote Palace (Omnibus Books, 2016) Review here!  2. Stench Price – Stench Price EP (Transcending Obscurity Records, 2016) 3. Baby Tears – Succubus Slides (Choice Records, 2016) 4. Bethlehem – Bethlehem (Prophecy Productions, 2016)…

All the stuff and more; why bands should split up and never, ever reform

  Firstly, let’s acknowledge that there are a few reasons that bands who have long since split up should reform, but they are mostly reasons relevant to the band itself and not their fans; unfinished business (various kinds) reaping the rewards (personal, financial) that they didn’t get…

Copy? Compliment? Coincidence? Incestuous album covers!

Firstly; if you’re looking at this because of the word ‘incestuous’, shame on you! Anyway, for a variety of reasons, lots of album covers seem to pay tribute to/copy/look like lots of other ones, which is what this is all about. In the early days of…