Mike_Diver

Also out this week: http://www.dancetotheradio.com/news.php?newsid=44

this is a FANTASTIC record. Sadly it probably won't get the props it deserves, but so pleased to see it given a decent score/write up here.

Good review, too. As expected, sir.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/258c

(Great review James.)

Trufact

Smile and Liam smiles with you.

Make it tomorrow or you and I are over.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/9ww6

only if you're very lucky.

innit.

Is all. (Well, it's not, but anything more will look silly once a sub looks at this review.)

*etc etc etc arguing over silliness etc etc etc*

Kudos for LOTP, Micachu, TWTW, Grammatics, Tomassi, Phantom Band.

I interviewed Matt Pryor.

http://www.clashmusic.com/feature/the-get-up-kids-interview

Surely, surely something like this can be done here. And do not give me Field Day as an equivalent.

You'll see.

And for, rather than at, is the right word.

...

They were The Ace.

On Saturday July 25. Notting Hill Arts Club. 4pm.

It's RoTa, innit!

http://tinyurl.com/lt88z5

Not a rant, mind.

I do think it's a real shame - a REAL SHAME - that Micachu and Late Of The Pier are not highlighted.

But that's all.

MD

I realise that elementary nepotism plays its part in the appreciation of what is and what isn't a good piece of writing - just as subjectivity plays its part, so too does one's relationship with the individual in question. So, I'm bound to represent on behalf of my circle of esteemed colleagues, those writers I believe to be at the top of their game; and elders in my position are going to counter with their own choices, inevitably critics of their age and social standing, who they've been friends with - or at least a professional associate of - for some years.

So, to summarise: music writing is good and it's not dying anytime soon, and we all have our favourites and enjoy debating on the subject. Yay, us!

MDx

Well, look at a publication like the Stool Pigeon and tell me that there aren't writers there - wide-eared and ambitious, with an insatiable appetite for the new, the progressive - who will, before long, be just as celebrated. And you find these writers at (almost) every publication - not as a flood, but certainly in drops.

Nostalgia in music criticism puzzles the hell out of me - it's great to look back and appreciate the work of a writer, but to essentially stand firm and declare that none of the new breed - with their high-speed internet connections, easy-access blogs and instant-fix downloads - are of a comparable quality is madness. Does music not grow each day? Does it not shift, mutate, evolve? It does, and accompanying critique must, too.

Nobody is a legend 'til they've outlived their audience.

People discussing music on the internet.
Bastards discussing being bastard racists on the internet.
I'm not sure there's any parallel to be made here.

...I really won't care if you consider it tragic or not. Just as I don't now. But good on you for fighting whatever this fight is, as pointless as it is. The echo comes back louder and louder as the room empties but on you holler, relentlessly. To have your determination must feel like the most wonderful blessing. Have a good one.

Boost the interactions and the advertisers will come (etc).

Oh, to call upon well-to-do parents: it'd certainly help the month-to-month struggle to pay the bills, cover the rent, and eat anything that isn't a value range-sourced pasta-based meal.

That said, I do have a career in this industry; I am employed full time, and listening to music is, really, what I do for a living. And I do, just about, get by. "Lower rungs of rock writing" - no, I'm not a particularly memorable writer, but I've worked really hard to get somewhere at an editorial level so I'll happily take that over loads of passionately penned but ultimately unpaid work, cheers.

(Wow, you've really provoked a serious response! Congratulations, you.)

You said you'd go easy on me in public.

He is a music writer. He is based in the UK. These things are true. He is respected for his enthusiasm (misplaced though it can be - just listen to the above-praised Dirty North) and commitment to the proverbial cause. But 'one of the best'? No. Not at all. Perhaps that was the case once, but not today. Sorry.

I have lots of respect for John, don't get me wrong. Although I don't think we've ever met, we share a circle of professional colleagues, and I admire how he's stuck to his guns throughout his career. He captures the feel of an experience far better than I can. But there are many who do it better than he does. Young, hungry, desperate writers with passion to spill and ears so finely tuned to tomorrow that they will soon depose the old guard completely.

And they know full well who they are.

...could've done with a sub, this. No offence likes.

I said no.
Don't be silly.
Go sit in the corner and think about what you just said.

and that is it.

IT IS SUPER.
http://www.clashmusic.com/reviews/lets-wrestle-in-the-court-of-the-wrestling-lets

Hey!

worriedaboutsatan are playing in LONDON, at the Social, on June 22.

With 65daysofstatic (DJs), Rival Consoles and Digitonal.

£5 adv - http://www.wegottickets.com/event/51659

Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=112912970020&ref=mf

...which means Kev was on stage with him... and Sam? I was left holding the baby, by whom I mean Beth from TNV if I remember correctly... splendid Spanish timesss...

It's not as good as ^this^ tho.

http://tinyurl.com/qnpjg3

IMAGE RIGHTS.

I think it's a LOL.

Nah. Just a slightly different perspective on a great album - playful over po-faced, which many a review of this album is. I should know, I wrote one!

http://www.clashmusic.com/reviews/mastodon-crack-the-skye

...is a legend. I am SO LOOKING FORWARD to the ICA show tonight.

http://www.clashmusic.com/reviews/the-horrors-primary-colours

(it's quite a bit like Charles')

http://www.clashmusic.com/reviews/mastodon-crack-the-skye

Thing is, the Mastodon album wasn't widely promo'd, so chances are it fell tween DiS cracks.

is fantastic. For real.

Ididsummindifferent - http://www.clashmusic.com/feature/singles-round-march-9th

Feb 28.

a two-part Prodigy interview here:

http://www.clashmusic.com/feature/the-prodigy-interview-part-1

It's, like, 9,000 words...

Is a little different...

http://www.clashmusic.com/reviews/the-prodigy-invaders-must-die

I honestly think this sits well in their catalogue, which goes...

NUMERO UNO: Jilted Generation
Fat of the Land
Invaders Must Die
Experience
Outgunned

The View album isn't ALL bad.*

*PROFESSIONALISM MAKES ME SAY THIS.