I think what I love about the great Rock & Roll stories is that there always seems to be pretty much everything at stake. 'Oceans fall and mountains drift.'
Sunday, August 2, 2026
It Starts With a Birthstone - 200 Albums for 2026 # 151 The Chutes - The Chutes
'Let's go out tonight'. No let's not lest's stay in and feel sorry for ourelves. 'Do you remember when we used to hate the sunshine.' It seems that in 2026 the Spiritual home of the jingle jangle sound of C-86 and Sarah Records is San Farncisco. Latest piece of evidence for the prosecition The Chutes. The debut album by.... erm. See if you can guess.
This is wan, knowing and doesn;t stray from the Twee formula for a moment. It's all highly crafted, sticks to the script and that's all fine by me. A night that never ends. Well actually this does. After seven songs and twenty two minutes,
500 Greatest Albums of the 2000's # 102 Loretta Lynn - Van Lear Rose
An archive of beauty. Splendor.
Song(s) of the Day # 4,468 Of Montreal
Of Montreal's latest album aethermead is from the off driven by an arthouse persona driven conviction which has been worked on and refined for years. Athens, Georgia band always goes down well on It Starts With a Birthstone. Particular one with no obvious resemblance or DNA of their obvious antecedents B52s, R.E.M., Pylom amd so on and so forth,
This has a more particular set of reference points. The Wainwrights, Southern Literature and Films. A glass of wine from a good year. The finer things in life. This is gossamer light and deft. A rewarding as a rich meal in the company of cultivated company.
Saturday, August 1, 2026
It Starts With a Birthstone - 200 Albums for 2026 # 152 Bill Orcutt - Music In Continuous Motion
I may have got to that age. The age where I can happily gaze at a fly wnadering across a pain of glass facing out on the street below While listening to Bill Orcutt's Music In Continuous Motion on my television set as the sun goes down. Then going over and cooking my tea. There are wirdse ways to spend a Monday evening in April,
The record is like something that Tom Verlaine and Tichard Lloyd might have dreamed up. Otcutt has been round the block more than most. He was apparently initually unspired to create by seeung Muddy Waters perform on The Last Waltz.. He's supported Sonuc Youth. He has nothing left to prove. But Music In Continuous Motion proves it. Just the facts !
500 Greatest Albums of the 2000's # 103 William Basinski
There are four volumes of this should you have an afternoon free. There are worse ways to spend your time. Reflections on mortality and time conceived after 9/11.
Song(s) of the Day # 4,467 Land Whales
It's 2026. Where are we going? Your guess is every bit as good as mine. I have no crystal ball and I'm just back from my free eye test in tolwn where the optician said to me that the world would be completely unrecognisable in ten years time. I suspect he may be right. I needed new glasses but didn't buy any . Given the exorbitant cost.
I'm an EFL Teacher. I don't kid myself otherwise any longer. What you get in an EFL teacher is that they don't know very much about anything but a little bit about virtually everything. Enough anyhow to keep the conversation going.
I'm reasonably conversant and interested in music too. Hence this blog, which was launched in 2013. I started writing about the records I bought when I started building a record collection back in the Eighties. Now I try to focus on 'new' music. Although some of it doesn't sound completely 'new' to me,
Take Land Whales. Formed in La Habana in Cuba in 2021. They used to go under the name of Hey Joni, which tells you what you need to know.
If I consider myself remptely knowledgeable about anything apart from the rudiments of English lexis and grammarowaLand Whales are fond of Sonic Youth. They used to call themselves Hey Joni . They owe a debt to that band which they will never fully pay and their latest album How To Make A Breakfast sounds like a dogs dinner of distortion. feedback and inchoate rage in Sonic Youth's best tradition. You have to hane it to Land Whales. They're doing their legacy proud.. As someone else said 'It's a dirty job but someone's got to do it.' Land Whales sound far from beached.
Friday, July 31, 2026
Best Ever Albums - 2,000 - 1,001 - 1,346 The Waterboys - Fisherman's Blues
There was a gig during my first year at university which became the stuff of legend. I wasn't there. Isn't that always the case. I bought Fisherman's Blues which came out therefter. The Waterboys night still remains full of soul. Like all the best nights.
It Starts With a Birthstone - 200 Albums for 2026 # 153 Chanel Beads - Your Day Will Come
The second Song of the Day album in as many days from New York musicians. Start spreading the news, again lads. Sophomore album Your Day Will Come sounds neat in my living room on a Thursday evening.Endorsed by big hitters like Lorde, Rosalia and Billie Eilish. The record is elusive and high;y seductive.Chanel Beads
Song(s) of the Day # 4,467 Pye Corner Audio
What more could you want on a Friday morning than More Songs About The Sun. Just on cue here come Pye Corner Audio with just that. Feelgood electro throbbing chugging into clear waters and heading for the distant horizon. It seems clear we have the wind in our sails !
Thursday, July 30, 2026
It Starts With a Birthstone - 200 Albums for 2026 # 100 Squarepusher - Kammerkonzert
The best way to be drawn unto a new record I find is to hear it first time in a record shop.Yesterday I wandered into Canterbury after a long day teaching. I made my way down St Margarey's Lane and poppped in at Vinylstore Jr to see my pal Nick making last minute preparations for Record Store Day. He had the new Squarepusher album Kammerkonzert on his turntable.
It sounded great and now it sounds great again as I'm listening to it in my parent's living room as the evening draws to a close.. Punchy, Jazzy exercises that might surprise those who associate Tim Jenkinson with more obviously 'Street' exercises from way back when . This is a thrilling record
Best Ever Albums - 2,000 - 1,001 - 1,347 Sam Cook - Night Beat
Sam Cooke is one of the great 'What ifs...' The hanging question marks.
It Starts With a Birthstone - 200 Albums for 2026 # 154 Jesse Ware - Superbloom
I listened to Jesse Ware's latest album Superbloom last night. I'm listening to it again now. She takes the heady essential ingredients of original Seventies Disco. Distuls them to the essence and then unleashes the cork and allows you to rise to the ceiling like Uncle Albert in Mary Poppins. So you're floating up towards the ceiling. With all your favourite people. The helium fuelled staircase to heaven !
500 Greatest Albums of the 2000's # 104 Broadcast - Ha Ha Sound
I have this album on record and every time I play it it immediately makes me want to own all of Broadcast's albums on vinyl. They were a quite extraordinary band . A band that sound as if they are turning the world spinning backwards in time.
Song(s) of the Day # 4,466 The Fragiles
It's that Velvet Underground sound ! Full of great tunes this one. A good song to me is like a narrative. Something that takes you in and takes you away. That has a melodic, lyrical, rhythmic or dissonant resonamce that transports you to a magical space and rises up to the challenge of your rival.
The Fragiles third album Sing The Heat Of The Sun is full of such narratives. And they knit together with propulsive and compelling energy. Kicking off like The Feelies adandoned offspring. They switch and change throughout the album but always take the weather with them. Heaven ! Independent heaven.
This is by turns wan and suburban. But it's also rather fearsome and deceptive. Fragile and wan. There's something just beautiful about this sound even if its instantly familiar
Wednesday, July 29, 2026
Best Ever Albums - 2,000 - 1,001 - 1,348 Phil Collins - Face Value
This album was so ubiquitous in the Eighties that it's difficult to write about without severe jaundice and melancholy sinking into my bones. I have to take it off.
500 Greatest Albums of the 2000's # 105 Coldplay - Parachutes
You can buy a vinyl copy of Parachutes in Waterstone's if you wish to. Well 'We live in a beautiful world' as the song goes. I was in Sicily when Coldplay broke. I found them a bit wet . Then I went to Poland. A Rush of Blood To The Head came out and a beautiful Polish woman drove me from Katowice To Krakow and back one wonderful day and I came round to them rather. But I'm listening to this and it still sounds rather wet
It Starts With a Birthstone - 200 Albums for 2026 # 155 Lenny Kaye - Goin' Local
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.
Song(s) of the Day # 4,465 Labrador
Philadelphia's Labrador's first album for four years The Rosy Red World has a wonderful sleeve. An image of unwashed plates and cups in a sink. The scene that greets most of us at some point every day. Also a wonderful opening song 'It's mine all mine.' The resounding sound of clanging chords. Crazy Horse reborn.
Labrador are an American Bar Band im excelsis. You can hear the sound of the left of the dial AOR Alternative Classics echoing in every song . Creedence. Sir Douglas Quintet , Replacements, Reigning Sound. Labrador keep it simple. And bring home the bacon for breakfast.
Tuesday, July 28, 2026
It Starts With a Birthstone - 200 Albums for 2026 # 156 Yard Act - You're Gonna Need a Little Music
'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.
500 Greatest Albums of the 2000's # 106 Kraftwerk- Tour De France Soundtracks
I went to a Record Player event when thinks suddenly clicked into space about Kraftwerk. They were describing the future.
Best Ever Albums - 2,000 - 1,001 - 1,349 Pink Floyd - Ummagumma
Some albums make more sense as you get older. I still struggle with Waters self regard but this appeals to me more than it would have done when I was twenty.The self indulgence is still hard to stomach, But the fascination with mental health struggle appeals more somehow.
Song(s) of the Day # 4,464 National Photo Committee
Chicago's National Photo Committee are a proper throwback on long awaited debut album Red Hot Photo Committee. To eccentric American alternative days of yore; Silver Jews, Sebadoh and Pavement, Dinosaur Jr, , The Colorblind James Experience, Camper Van Beethoven. Eccentric misdirections that take you back to the Eightires and out onto the open road.
This is joyous flying of the freak flag. This kind of expression cannot and will not be repressed. The best way to go forwards is sideways. The record sleeve is emblazoned in resplendent tigers. The album itself is pure joy and artistic expression and camaraderie of the kind that will never go out of fashion.
Monday, July 27, 2026
Best Ever Albums - 2,000 - 1,001 - 1,350 Death Grips -Bottomless Pit
Relentless.Strangely exhiliariating. See how long you last
500 Greatest Albums of the 2000's # 107 Manic Street Preachers - Journal For Plague Lovers
By 2009 Manic Street Preachers had refined what they did to brand status and you either cared what they had to say or you didn't. I awlways liked them for their fearlessness and their resolve to use ideas a as best they could. Their records were always Reading Lists. By this point they'd been invited into the fold and you suspected they rather liked beimng on the inide flicking through their well thumbed Gramsci and Sylvia Plath paperbacks.
It Starts With a Birthstone - 200 Albums for 2026 # 157 Robyn Hitchcock - The Confuser
'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
Song(s) of the Day # 4,463 The Chutes
'Let's go out tonight'. No let's not lest's stay in and feel sorry for ourelves. 'Do you remember when we used to hate the sunshine.' It seems that in 2026 the Spiritual home of the jingle jangle sound of C-86 and Sarah Records is San Farncisco. Latest piece of evidence for the prosecition The Chutes. The debut album by.... erm. See if you can guess.
This is wan, knowing and doesn;t stray from the Twee formula for a moment. It's all highly crafted, sticks to the script and that's all fine by me. A night that never ends. Well actually this does. After seven songs and twenty two minutes,
Sunday, July 26, 2026
The Johnny Rotten Shoe -Capital Radio. Juy 16th 1977 # 1 James Connolly
In the high summer of Punk, while I was between Primary and Secondry School John Lydon (nee Rotten( went onto Capital Radio in discussion with Tommy Vance and played a number of his favourite records. This didn't go down down well with NcLaren and Glitterbest but left an incrdible document and an indication of where Jonny was heading,
500 Greatest Albums of the 2000's # 108 Notwist - Neon Golden
Notwist always make me think of a late friend who loved them. Music is like that. They have a new record out there which is excellent. They stay the course. Neon Golden is from the start thoughtful, reflective and rewarding. Wordy. Good words.
Best Ever Albums - 2,000 - 1,001 - 1,351 Japandroids - Celebration Rock
'We yell like hell to the heavens...'
We start with fireworks. Then drums. The guitars meshed in feedback. Then piercing militant guitars. I've heard it before in the early Eighties with U2 and The Dream Syndicate. This strikes me as lacking direction. But you can't fault the fire in Japandroids bellies. I warm to it as it spins.
It Starts With a Birthstone - 200 Albums for 2026 # 158 Langkamer
'Laugh and the world laughs with you. Cry and the world laughs at you.'
Getting through the day by the skin of their teeth. Bristol's Langkamer are up and at them on tour in an Indie venue near you in support of fourth album No .
It's old school Indie guitar joy. A kissig cousin of Courtney Barnett and Bill Ryder Jones. Dating back to Teenage Fanclub, Pavememt, Lemonheads et al. And beyond that to XTC, Neil Young and The Velvet Underground Attitude and swagger, And devil may care shrug,
I warmed to No immediately. It lives in the moment. And encourages you to do the same/Old fashioned fun. An excellent record. Yes from me !
Song(s) of the Day # 4,462 Trooper Salute
Nagoya's finest. A bowl headed quintet Trooper Salute release one of the most evocative and versatile records you'll hear this or any other year in debut album Tomodatchi (I Had Friends). Talking about the important frontiers between youth and adulthood. The record draws on recognisable genres like Shoegaze and Math Rock in a by turns yearning, unashamedly emotional, playful and daring manner. It strikes me this has staying power.
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,
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