Happy Halloween to those of you into that sort of thing. Personally I’m not, but when in Rome… Besides, this trailer is fan-bloody-tastic.

Download: Justify My Love (William Orbit remix) – Madonna (mp3)

Yes, Daddy is being lazy and letting you do all the work today.

You know what else I hate? Not finding out that one of my favourite groups are on tour and playing where I live until the night of the actual bloody concert and missing it as a result. This never happened back in the days when I read the NME religiously every week, now it’s so much harder to keep your finger on the pulse. My old finger anyway.

The band in question were avant-pop radiophonic/electronic act Broadcast, who I saw live several years ago and would love to have seen again as they’re on the ever-shrinking list of active bands whose new releases I buy automatically which helps to preserve the illusion that I’m still hep to what the kids are digging. The good news was they were on tour in support of their first new record in four years, an experimental mini-album with the brilliant title “Broadcast & The Focus Group Investigate Witch Cults of the Radio Age” which is all a bit peculiar and sounds like the incidental music to some cult 1960s horror movie you caught late one night on BBC2 when you were a kid that gave you nightmares for weeks. It comes with this beautifully creepy “trailer” video which has a major “Children of The Stones” vibe to it.

For those that aren’t familiar with Broadcast’s eerie radiophonics (shame on you) try these tracks from their previous albums on for size. The best description of them I can think of is Francoise Hardy singing the theme from Dr. Who.

Download: Pendulum – Broadcast (mp3)
Download: Unchanging Window/Chord Simple – Broadcast (mp3)
Download: The Book Lovers – Broadcast (mp3)

Just for the hell of it, here’s one more video.

I do like a bit of posh.

Don’t you hate being asked that? I think I’d find it easier to explain quantum mechanics than come up with a simple answer to that question. When I was about 14 I could just say (and I did) “I like ELO, Queen, and Elton John” which was as far as my taste went at that age but, like everything else in life, it’s so much more complicated now. If I said “well, I like all sorts” (which is true) it would be too vague and noncommittal and I’d sound like one of those people who isn’t all that bothered about music and only buy two albums a year, both of which are related to something they saw on the telly and were on sale at the supermarket. For a while I used to say “I like everything from the Sex Pistols to Frank Sinatra” which is more specific, also true on one level, and name-drops two acts with unimpeachable cred, but I don’t really like everything on the imaginary spectrum between those two and sorting out who I do and don’t would take all bloody day, by which time the person who asked the question would have left the room or fallen asleep. If I was a real ponce I could reference Miles Davis’ quote about there being only two types of music — good and bad — and say “I like GOOD music” but I think I’d want to punch myself in the face if I ever said anything as smarmy as that.

But what I think annoys me the most about the question is the assumption that a person’s taste can be reduced to a single “kind” — and even if it could wouldn’t you hate to be that person?

So next time someone does ask me I think I’ll just sing this song to them.

Download: Music – John Miles (mp3)

(For those that don’t know this was a big UK hit in 1976)

I didn’t deliberately set out to write a long post about Fleetwood Mac that didn’t mention Stevie Nicks it just turned out that way. This was probably a little remiss of me as she was obviously the most visible member of the group by virtue of being the prettiest one and having the most distinctive voice, but she also had this Mystic Meg persona that made me think she’d sniffed way too much incense so I was never quite sure what I thought about her. Like Kate Bush you wouldn’t mind her being your girlfriend for a while but you’d soon get tired of spending all your time sitting in dark rooms reading tarot cards.

I have always loved this song though and she really belts it out in this clip. Love her Farah Fawcett hairdo too.