Good luck with getting to the end of this ....
Saturday, July 25, 2026
It Starts With a Birthstone - 200 Albums for 2026 # 159 Jesca Hoop - Long Wave
Saturday morning becomes Saturday afternoon. And Jesca Hoop's new album Long Wave Home suddenly is a preferable option to.... well anything. It's like sitting diwn and switching on your TV to find The Clangers or Noggin The Nog playing. And.getting yourself a cup of tea and some toast. And leaning back on the settee.
Long Wave Home is a reminder that's not really needed of what makes her such a singular and cherishable artist. It's a playful, intricate set of songs shifting fluently between the personal and the political. From the off the album feels like a process of gradual accumulation if beauty.
The songs feel complementary. Not showy. Music like this is a placebo fundamentally. A message that things are going to be OK. Calm your nerves and make yourself anither piece of toast. Curl up. Which is precisely what I intend to do,
Best Ever Albums - 2,000 - 1,001 - 1,352 Pavement - Brighten the Corners
Pavement were always rather wilful. That was their charm . And their flaw. Stereo is one of the mst annoying songs I've ever heard.It was chosen as a single for some reason. Elsewhere they pile on the quirks and the melody. The whole point of the band was that they were smarter than thou and incredibly pleased with themselves. Their influence is quite measureless. They predateand chime with the Post Millennial condition. We're all too clever for our own good.
Song(s) of the Day # 4,461 Robyn Hitchcock
'Yesterdsay's rain. Falls on tomorrow's parade.'
It's Robyn Hitchcock the grand old dame of English Psychedelic Rock with his latest album The Confuser. He's as unashamedly reto as he ever was. Looking back to '65-'67. The Byrds and Barrett's Floyd. This will not change your world.. It may brighten up your day. Songs about Dead Astronauts played by a man with a floppy fringe in a polkadot shirt
Friday, July 24, 2026
It Starts With a Birthstone - 200 Albums for 2026 # 160 Buck Meek - The Mirror
Buck Meek new album The Mirror.has a strangely retro cover . He's looking over his shoulder, clasping a chainmail fence. It's all strangely Pat Benatar or The Cars. The album itself also seems oddly disorientated. Ynmoored. Perhaps he is. Unmoored from Big Thief who he usually anchors on guitar.
It's a lovely record anyhow. Very 2026 Hippie. Bug Thief are highly Hippie these days. That's why they're greatly loved I imagine. The Mirror. has precious little connection with Benatar and Cars apart from its sleeve.
But it's a fine recird. I'm not sure how the Big Thief surviving trio do it but I'm glad they do. Buck Meek here is Floating In Space. And frankly it suits hum. .
Best Ever Albums - 2,000 - 1,001 - 1,353 Supertramp - Even in The Quietest Moments
This is fifty years old. It seems like a differnt century !!!
Song(s) of the Day # 4,460 The Strokes
The Strokes and I have history. Twenty five years ago, between their first and second albums I went to New York City with a good friend and his partner and we seriously considered moving there. Partly because of the Strokes and the scene they'd inhstigated and spearheaded there.
We saw Interpol and The Walkmen while we were there. Aso Mo Tucker and watched Alan McGee DJ-ing . Visited Trump Tower. Had some intense and memorable experience. It was a few months from 9/11. I met a guy in a bar who I later suspected might have been there. The idea haunted me for a while. We drank a lot of beer walked, experienced the great city to the full. I haven't been back. I'm not sure I will.
The move was not feasible. New York City like everywhere then and now was in the process of gentrifying and I didn't have a skillset that was required. I also decided it probably wasn't for me much as I loved it. . Instead I went to Wroclaw, Poland by train and got the teacher training qualifications and skillset that I required to get to where I needed. To gain some kind of authority and have at least some idea about what I'm doing inside and outside the classroom. I'm glad I became a teacher. It's the great road.
While I was in Wroclaw that long hot summer of 2002. I listened to Is This It ? a lot. I went out with a Ukranian girl who was on the course. She was working in Katowice and I was offered a job there during the course. I accepted partly because of the girl and partly because of the school she was working at which sounded like a place I needed to be.
This proved to be the case. I went to Katowice and found the road I needed to be on . The relationship didn't last but I learned a lot from the Ukranian girl . In Katowice I learned pretty much what I needed to know about what I do. I worked hard and also played hard. Learned about life and love. Met the most beuatiful woman I'll ever know. Had an incredible and joyous experience with her. Which still continues.
Now I'm 60. I'm listening to The Strokes seventh album Reality Awaits in my parents living room. . It seems pretty good to me. Veined with life and experience like we all are. But unashamedly emotional, goofy and intense and maverick and true to what made them such a great band. I'd say they remain one. It also feels like they're finding new roads. Which is something it's always a good iea to try to do.
Thursday, July 23, 2026
Best Ever Albums - 2,000 - 1,001 - 1,354 Young Marble Giants - Colossal Youth
Forty Minutes. Make a lastomg statement. In its way as explosive as the first Gang of Four and joy Division from the quiet, well behaved kids at the front of the class.
It Starts With a Birthstone - 200 Albums for 2026 # 161 Dogwood Tales - Destination Heaven.
Dogwood Tales working with Euphoria Again. Destination Heaven.. Where we're all going to meet again I trust. An emotional Alt Country band from Harrisonburg, Virginia. Another recommendation frim best friend of It Starts With a Birthstone Darren Jones, aka First mate Starbuck. Thanks again Darren, this is rather lovely.
Records like this see, rather commonplace but always hit the spot. Tou get the sense that every small town in America has a bend like this. Setting up their gear onstage and getting ready to play. Steel pedal player sat at a desk at the back of the room. Letting the days go by. Same s it ever was.
500 Greatest Albums of the 2000's # 110 Madvillain - Madvilliany
Filmic. All of the fun of the fair.
Song(s) of the Day # 4,459 MEMORIALS
All Clouds Bring Rain by MEMORIALS is a Psychedelic Folk Album of the Modern stripe.. It's warm and and full of inventive and melodic. moodshifts. File beside Jane Weaver and Naima Bock.
Wednesday, July 22, 2026
It Starts With a Birthstone - 200 Albums for 2026 # 162 Francis of Delirium - Run Run Pure Beauty
England are labouring in Atlanta against. I have the TV on, but the volume down. I'm afraid I've seen this too many times and I have Francis of Delirium's Run Run Pure Beauty. on at my desk. Luxembourg's finest woe is me merchant. Some things never go out of fashion
Song(s) of the Day # 4,458 Accessory
Accessory is one of the less inspired band monikers I've stumbled across of late. But I'm altogether taken by their latest album Dust. The man behind accessory is jason Ball and the band come out of Chicago. The record is like its title . Indie motes in sunlight, coming together and then drifting apart. There's much beauty and wonder to be experienced here.
500 Greatest Albums of the 2000's # 111 MGMT - Oracular Spectacular
The one that was hige. Before MGMT decided that what they really wanted to be was the Television Personalities. There's nowt as strage as some American.Folk. But the album is magical and charts fresh pathways. It's unconstructed by genril constraints and considerations like all great Millennium records.
Tuesday, July 21, 2026
Best Ever Albums - 2,000 - 1,001 - 1,355 Julia Holter - Aviary
My Uncle Malcolm died recently. He was my last remaining Uncle. We had a special friendship in his last few years. From COVID on. We corresponded on Whatsapp about film and books and family. Work and aging. Rail travel. All kinds of things.He was an incerdibly funny and erudite man. Sweet and wise and sometimes sad. Like the best people who you know ,I'll always miss him.
We sometimes spoke about music as it's my central preoccupation. Hence, this. But it wasn't worth dwelling on things too much as we had much more to talk about when it came to books and films. Malcolm didn't care for Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, David Bowie or Kate Bush who I raised as converation points . I didn't really feel it worth pursuing though he was interested in the writing I do on here. He wrote himself.
He said that he liked Julia Holter which surprised me as it seemed out of character. He wasn't someone who ccould be pigeonholde.and I'm listening to Aviary now as I make my way into my Wednesday morning journey my lessons. My 'work' .
Aviary is symphonic and mysterious. Enigmatic. Reminds me of Bjork sometimes. Of an orchestra warming up at others. It's rather incredible and mysterious. I have Malcolm's dialogue with me on my phone this morning to remind me of his singular voice. As for Aviary. It's like being in a conservatory. A hothouse.Tendrils. Palms. Interior life. There's a lot here. . It's rather wonderful. I'm glad Malcolm liked this. I do too.
500 Greatest Albums of the 2000's # 113 Jenny Lewis & The Watson Twins - Rabbit Fur Coat
Take me back to the river.
Song(s) of the Day # 4,457 Yard Act
'The moral of the story is fish....'
Theres always space in the pop marketplace for the new loundmouth on the block. You're Gonna Need a Little Music Leeds band Yard Act's album tells you very early on that it has nothing to say and then goes on for 40 minutes anyway, after namechecking David Gedge and Howard Devoto in the first three minutes . And piling it on from that point on as if the Arctic Monkeys never even happened
It's like spending an evening in a pub with someone twenty years younger than you who thinks they're hilariousy funny and you're lucky to be in their company and never stop to ask you what you think. It's reasoably diverting but never really makes its own case.
Let's face it many some us grew up with Morrissey, Ian Curtis, Ian McCulloch, Paddy MacAloon and Mark E.Smith. Those before us had John Lydon, Joe Strummer and Pete Shelley. Ten years earlier their were Lennon, Jagger. Ray Davies and Townshend. A few years earlier they had The Kitchen Sink and Thr Angry Young Men. Sillitoe, Braine, Osborne and Amis.
One thing these lists have all got in common . There are no women there. You're Gonna Need a Little Music is all very well but it might have cast its net slightly wider. But Stop Me If you Think You've Heard This One Before.
Monday, July 20, 2026
Best Ever Albums - 2,000 - 1,001 - 1,356 Warren Zevon
A horse of a different colour. Wry, dark. Could have written novels.Did really !
500 Greatest Albums of the 2000's # 114 Gruff Rhys - Candylion
Gruff Rhys and the rest of Super Furry Animals understand the principle of albums allowing you to create your own distinct universe. Often best imagined as a retreat into childhood.Scott Walker. Ivor The Engine and The Magic Roundabout.
It Starts With a Birthstone - 200 Albums for 2026 # 163 Missed Dunks at Summer League
Missed Dunks at Summer League debut album Fared Well. The band hail from Greensboro North Caroline. They find a subdued groove somewhere between Built To Spill and Murray Street Sonic Youth. Then ride it round the block onto the highway and into the sunset.
This is a record that builds a fabulous atmosphere of its own drawing evidently on that Nineties sound but building its own nest. And it's a snug rug indeed. Highly more-ish !!!
Song(s) of the Day # 4,456 Lido Pimenta
It's Monday morning and I have a fresh Lido Pimenta album Caribenya to empower me and kick start the working week. It's a wonder which reminds you if you require a reminder of the wonder of the world and how little we understand of the sheer miracle of existence.
I don't speak Spanish though perhaps I should as I have any number of Spanish relatives. But this has rhythms and tendrils that speak a universal language and summon the listener to the dance and the feast,
Sunday, July 19, 2026
1967 Top 40 8th June # 15 The Bee Gees
I've always found The Bee Gees slightly depressing. Very rarely more so than here.
Best Ever Albums - 2,000 - 1,001 - 1,357 Waxahatchee - Saint Cloud
Waxahatchee, Kevin Corby and todays Song of the Day Star Moles chart new American highways. There will always be a need to tell old stories in new ways.
It Starts With a Birthstone - 200 Albums for 2026 # 164 Smirk - Speculative Fiction
Speculative Fiction. Wipe that Smirk off your face Punk. Wondrous West Coast Dread Art Punk. X, Crime and Wipers, and Gun Club come to mind. This is a blistering entre to my evening. Breathless, claustrophobic and clutching for the divine. Or failing that a good three minute tune.
500 Greatest Albums of the 2000's # 115 Air - Walkie Talkie
Air is a great name which needed to be taken from the shelf and put out there for all to see. Walkie Talkie is funadmental to the essence of Air.The strange, intan. gible essence of being alive Sexy boys. Gaulloise.
Song(s) of the Day # 4,455 Star Moles
Emily Moales is Star Moales and she's on the Highway to Hell . Heading out of Philadelphia where she dwells and onto the Great American Road. Frankly this is an enchanting record akin in some ways to Kevin Morby's Little Wide Open. None of this stuff is over yet. depite the wailing and gnashing of teeth of the glass half empty brigade. Refuge can be found in the magic of the past. Back to the future. On a well travelled road.
There's magic in the desert and the soil. The well travelled roads.Highway to Hell evokes any number of signpost and further reading and listening. Learning. ; Judee Sills, Laura Nyro Joni Mitchell. Same as it ever was. Press your foot on the pedal . Wind down the window. Towards the horizon. Believe in magic
Saturday, July 18, 2026
Best Ever Albums - 2,000 - 1,001 - 1,358 Bob Dylan - Modern Times
Deep breath. From 2006. Is Bob drunk? He seems in a loose mood. There's fun to be had !
It Starts With a Birthstone - 200 Albums for 2026 # 165 Dorea - O Que Mais Voce Quer Saber De Mim
Pop Matters had a tagline which caught my attention yesterday 'Dorea's second album is vulnerable and seaworthy' Like a gullible carp casting its gills around a meaty hook I couldn't help myself. Or alternatively as a Blog writer who enjoys sea metaphors myself.
It's an altogether enchanting record. I'm very taken by albums that make you feel like you're in a dream and O Que Mais Voce Quer Saber De Mim Has that intent and impact. Sometimes Brazilian records in the Tropicalia tradition do this best. It casts a spell that broadens and stengthens its grip with cunning stealth.
It Starts With a Birthstone - 200 Albums for 2026 # 166 Searrows - Death in the Business of Whaling.
Searows Death in the Business of Whaling. An album that I was naturally disposed to warm to given that I've adopted the pursuit of whaling as a metaphor for the journey, guiding principles and momentum of this blog. We drive into the coming storm prow aloft head onwards in the face of it because it's all we can do. Where was I? Ah yes Searows,
This is folk essentually and dispenses atmosphere and tenacity in spades. This record has precedent; Big Thief, Alex G, Phoebe Bridgers and Ethel Cain.Glum resilience and digged and admirable durability. I'm much taken with this.,
500 Greatest Albums of the 2000's # 116 The Strokes - Room On Fire
I was in Budapest when this came out. 2003.The most beautiful woman in the world came to visit me there for a week over Christmas and New Year. We went out on the town every night, ate great food and drank and drank and drank some more .Went to the opera. Danced ourselves silly in a nightclub in the Budapest Metro. It was just an extraordinary time. We had a wonderful time. Exactly what life is for. It was the best Christmas of my life. The adrenalin of this record fills me with the pure buzz of the week.
Song(s) of the Day # 4,454 Cindy
Cindy from San Francisco. They're playing songs from The Velvet Underground Songbook, Their latest album Another Country. As I rise and pack and prepare for a train journey South to be with my elderly parents.
Now I'm down South in my family's bosom with all the madness that entails. I have Another Country on again and actually it feels rather like Christmas. Perfect soundtrack. Mum is downstairs preparing tea. All is right in the World. Frankly, if this is Another Country, I'd like to go there immediately.
We must live in the moment and appreciate our good fortune. I appreciate mine. Cindy make me appreciate it more. They don't veer from a well established formula that has kept me happy for my adult life and will do so as long as I'm on this earth. Until it ends with a tombstone as the blog I write's title implies.
Friday, July 17, 2026
500 Greatest Albums of the 2000's # 117 Smog -- Dongs of Devotion
I could listen to the albums of Bill Callahan and Smog a lot more than I do. His songs and manner suit my stride to a much greater degree than those of for example of Nick Cave and Jack White. He's altogether comfortable within his skin and does't take it all too seriously. He has a good understanding of the great moments of life. The memories that need to be cherished. He's wonderful company.
Song(s) of the Day # 4,453 Lenny Kaye
Lenny Kaye strikes me as an admirable man. A Rock & Roll Man. Goin' Local his debut solo album at the age is simplicity and wonder and really rather lovely. This strikes me as tapping on a seam of honey. Into an essence. It's a quite beautiful record of childlike wonder.
Thursday, July 16, 2026
Best Ever Albums - 2,000 - 1,001 - 1,359 M.I.A. - Arular
An album that reflects a country in the act of becoming. Twenty years on it still is.
It Starts With a Birthstone - 200 Albums for 2026 # 167 Sunday Mourners - A Rhythm Absolute
I've been keeping this in reserve for a few weeks. Planning to post it on a Sunday. Now is the time. It's no longer Sunday Morning but here are the Sunday Mourners. You know what you're getting very early on with A Rhythm Absolute . And that's what you get for ten songs and 41 minutes.
Strokes, meets Nap Eyes meets Television meets Richard Hell & the Voidoids . 'We were saying let us out of here before we were even born. 'There's little deviation from the set script but if it's broke as the saying goes, why fix it ! This is an album that seriously rocks in an appropriately unhinged manner.
500 Greatest Albums of the 2000's # 118 Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand
Franz Ferdinand were a band with a great name, great hairdos, great cheekbones and a great set of tunes. They knew their Pop History, the importance of the guitar and that Art Rock was one of the great ideas and a road that needed to follow. Angularity.I love this record. They then became a band on the circuit.
250 Albums Of Memories # 7 Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
Wilco don't really sound like a Millennium Band. If anything they sound like the band that picked up the torch from R.E.M. after Bill Berry left. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot has a grand majesty and scope. It's old school but feels like a cool set of dads hitting the dance floor on the High School Reunion Ball.
I saw Wilco in Newcastle about 16 years ago fairly soon after I'd arrived in Newcastle. I'm glad I've seen them. I always get the sense that they're actually quite modest in the way that bands I really love tend to be.
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