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Quick, there’s very little time to spare. We’re almost at the end. The weekends here are impossible as far as writing anything is concerned, and there’s only one of them left separating me from a reunion with my mum and my brothers, from the inactive sprawl of ‘the Holidays’. My father hasn’t got any software … Continued

“I don’t want to go blind,” That’s what you said. You just came out with it. “I don’t want to go blind,” I was knackered from the drive, with a mouthful of tea, savouring the moment, you and me, perfect no wind, nothing, you picked your moment and launched. We’re in your garden, sunny Worcestershire, … Continued

Welcoming Nuggets legend, Mr Lenny Kaye to The Social Gathering for reflections on the photographs of David Godlis and the fabled streets of Manhattan. I run into Godlis on St. Mark’s Place in the East Village.  As I have for over forty years.  I’ve never called him by his first name.  We exchange pleasantries, whatcha … Continued

The foghorn sounds.  Its abrupt and terrific interjection comes from a square black mouth, a colossal metallic holler that is stupefyingly loud. It floods my ears and shakes my guts. I am overwhelmed. I freeze. Tiny hairs rise on my covered arms. Its moaning blast ends in a gruff grunt that jolts me from my … Continued

Long before Christan Marclay was proverbially dragging in people who don’t normally go to art galleries to see his conceptual masterwork, The Clock, he was creating musical mélanges with turntables in homage to some of the greats. Turntablism began in the 1970s, with early practitioners like DJ Kool Herc, then became a central tenet of … Continued

Between February and August this year, I listened to all Andrew Weatherall’s Music’s Not For Everyone shows broadcast on NTS Radio between 2014 and 2020.  Seventy-three shows, from which emerged five playlists and thirty hours of music.  My self-appointed task, originally embarked upon as an expression of grief, was done.  But then I found it … Continued

God, I miss the pub. With two harsh lockdowns, a fleeting partial respite and one period of baffling regulation apparently drawn up by a mandarin left over from when the temperance movement was still gaining traction, this year has presented something of a challenge to those of us whose social life revolves almost entirely around … Continued

When this crisis started, when every live music event in the entire world was cancelled pretty much over night for the foreseeable future, I was in disarray. I was one good festival season away from having saved up enough money for a deposit. An end to rent slavery seemed like a fair renumeration for sacrifices … Continued

Double figures! I have to say I am a little surprised to still be writing this, ten episodes in. What started as a way to justify my voluminous TV watching to a sceptical family has now become a highlight of the fortnight for me and, it seems, rather popular with at least a few people.  … Continued

Today Katy issuch a motherfucken bitch.I hate her guts somuch that she belongsin hell. She theUglyest, trashest, stupidest, fuckestmother fuckenassole damnhell AssFucken bitch,  I’m sat, Indian-style, on the beige shag carpet behind Katy’s parents’ black leather sofa from Finger’s Furniture, hunched over, furiously writing the most hateful words I can think of with a No. 2 … Continued

Yesterday saw the publication of Robin Turner’s book …Believe In Magic: the First 30 Years of Heavenly Recordings. As you probably know, our bricks and mortar home The Social was set up by the people behind Heavenly Recordings. And, as you probably also know, that venue was an attempt to build a permanent home for … Continued

This is a reflection on time, a train and some presidents of the United States. It’s about the non-linear eddies created by people moving through time, and maybe it’s about the idea that our innate need to define life in a linear way defeats our understanding of how some things happen and are connected. It’s … Continued

A friend suggested I call it a musical meta-biography, but until that catches on, here’s me trying to explain what William The Conqueror is by way of a story. I’d had eight years of breaking even as a non-offensive, red bearded, singer-songwriter. I wasn’t a failure as such, but I was creatively empty, skint and … Continued

Turquoise eyes, cherry lips, jelly bracelets, twist-a-beads untwisted, lace leggings, black heels, slick clip-on plastic hundred dollar bills; a nice touch that we used a cut piece from my homemade yellow crop top for the bandana, I was stoked on that for sure. We, is my mom and I. We always made my Halloween costumes. … Continued

When I was a small boy my best friend Richard and I created a game of startling complexity. It grew from the ground like a flourishing vine, twisting and transforming things until it had insinuated itself into the landscape. The game, and our uncritical playing of it, altered reality. Freeing itself from the confines of … Continued

And… we’re closed. For now. It’s not as if we really had to. But we felt we had to. Recently, the Dutch government decreed a shutdown of all cafes, restaurants and pubs to stem a huge surge of infections. Events – including gigs – are still allowed, but with a 30 person maximum. WORM could … Continued

Aided by a witch and the magician Alan Moore, David Bramwell takes an occult journey back in time up the river Don, in search of the supernatural secrets of our waterways and to solve the mystery of a drowned village which has long haunted his memories. Travelling through the industrial destruction of our landscape he arrives in a pre-Christian … Continued

My grandmother on my mum’s side, Patricia, died young, in her early fifties. My memories of her are faint, the approximation of several early childhood encounters at best. When I think of her now all I recall is a cloud of cigarette smoke and skin the texture of cracked leather. Apparently she died while she … Continued

Yes she did. Have you ever tried not being scum? Last week I wrote something about how in the 80s it was just Liverpool earmarked for managed decline, but this time round no-one is safe, for the simple reason that the Tories don’t need or even want the cities anymore, such is the level of … Continued

According to John Higgs, we gave up on the future in the 1980s. Before then our shining vision of a utopia free from disease, work and the laws of gravity was ingrained in our culture. We were always only a decade away from a world of economic equality, total sexual liberation and better waterslides. But … Continued

There follows, in the life of Muntu, a peaceful interlude, a brief snatching at bliss, as he moves into Vlada’s shabby apartment in Kraków and takes a job as a receptionist in an art gallery. Peaceful, that is, aside from the shady characters that would appear at the flat at all hours of the night … Continued

Purely coincidental but its all gone a bit ‘hygge’ at Wasted Towers of late. A preponderance of new and rediscovered Danish / Swedish TV brilliance means that this episode of the guide leads with three dramas from the lands of Andersen, Bergman, longboats, and shock European Championship wins (ask your parents).  Starting with the new, … Continued

Sweet Dreams: The Story Of The New Romantics, the newly published book by Dylan Jones, has sent me back down the psychedelic wormhole of my enduring obsession with Hot Gossip. There’s something to love about all of the UK television dance troupes of the late 1960s to early 1980s: the gleaming angels in The Go-Jos; … Continued

Last night, a short text arrived from my older brother that simply read, “Fuck”. A minute or so later, my phone vibrated with a Guardian news notification stating that Eddie Van Halen had died.  Fuck.  To say that Eddie Van Halen was my brother’s teenage idol – and in turn, mine – is a phenomenal … Continued

Hi Dad.  Sorry it’s been so long since I last wrote to you. There’s a lot going on. I’ve not been walking in the mornings, and it shows. Drift-time has fallen off the priority list. I’ve been putting other stuff in front, and I’ve forgetten how you showed me to walk and switch the head … Continued

I don’t know what you believe about the nature or existence of luck, but whether you think a person makes their own luck, or it’s just a random thing, the fact remains that I am a lucky, lucky bastard. I haven’t won the lottery or anything but it has to be said, things in my … Continued

The big question with any super deluxe edition of a legendary album is whether it’s better than the myth.  Often when you hear all the outtakes or additional tracks from a record it can demystify a beloved album in a disappointing way.  It’s also hard to know where to draw the line and who to … Continued

In a state of frenzied arrogance around 18 months ago I took it upon myself to hurl a few digital petrol bombs at some of the country’s most beloved acts from the comfort of my hovel in Streatham. In choosing to attack two groups at once I believed I was demonstrating a supreme confidence: a … Continued

Burroughs and Reed had mutual friends, but the two didn’t actually meet face-to-face until 1979. By then Burroughs had become a fixture in Manhattan’s Lower East Side neighborhood. There, in his windowless, three-room apartment at 222 Bowery, he held court among the musicians, intellectuals, writers, and junkies littering the scene like discarded show posters strewn … Continued

During the pandemic I saw for the first time Jim Jarmusch’s epic film Only Lovers Left Alive, in which the vampire couple brilliantly played by Tilda Swinton and Tom Hiddleston try to deny their true nature during the entire film, partly by procuring blood through sophisticated means such as purchasing it from hospitals. Then of … Continued

One thing that I have noticed whilst writing this guide over the last few months is how much TV output is reliant on crime. The detective story is by far and away the winner of the TV drama stakes and ubiquitous across all providers. Mostly, the stories themselves are replicants: washed up detectives, oddball detectives, … Continued

Introducing our second piece from writer Patrick Ofosu. Going by the name Epytion he describes himself as ‘a learner expressing thoughts and feelings in words through poetry, monologues and short stories’. In this piece we find ourselves in another place, perhaps at some point in the future, the offices appear to be back in full … Continued

(Artwork by Jason Vaughan) Ahead of their new EP release – ACID ZOO – next month, The White Hotel’s BOMB SNIFFING DOGS have sent us their new single and video – THE NATIONAL + – via track and trace.  Check out the video here and BSD’s vocalist and lyricist, Austin Collings explains the makings of … Continued

I still have the spiral bound notebook that was my companion while writing, where I would note down my historical research and annotate my real-time reactions to listening to music recordings. I also have the large, floppy Philip’s Multiscape Britain 2000 road map of Britain which became my alternative atlas. I circled and highlighted many … Continued

And so we reach our 23rd and final weekly Broadsheet. 23 weeks ago Robin declared that we would put together a Sunday edition of all the greatest hits from the Social Gathering plus some stuff that was (almost) keeping us sane in the heart of the lockdown. As things slowly return to something like normal … Continued

Around the time I started writing these posts I also started writing a collection of personal essays about various periods in my life down through the years, in a way these posts were kind of the bi-product of that process, but also a way of confronting a general anxiety I have about publishing anything. When … Continued

Today, September 3rd 2020, is perhaps the most demented day in British publishing history with over 650 titles released. I doubt there will be many titles from figures as righteous and influential as Annie Nightingale, the First Lady of Radio One, acid house pioneer, broadcasting legend of five decades. Hey Hi Hello is her story and it is, … Continued

A subject like this is to all intents and purposes open ended, so towards the end you need to start drawing arbitrary lines round it. As the book’s closing sentence implies, I had to tie up the boat and disembark, otherwise I might have drifted into oblivion. In writing about a historical period spanning 150 … Continued

This week we’re on holiday in the rain. And the internet has turned against us. Please accept this minimal mail out, pour yourself a glass of something boozy and see you next week for a proper catch up. Cheers!

“A clock spends its life marking time, but does it understand mortality?” goes the Chain and The Gang lyric, “Music’s not for everyone, keep it away from them”.  It’s the first track Andrew Weatherall played on his eponymous Music’s Not for Everyone NTS shows that ran monthly for nearly six years, and the last on … Continued

I enjoyed the responsibilities given to me at The Camp. Answering the phone to people hunting for last minute holidays on unexpected sunny weekends, showing guests to their chalets, preparing pies & pasties for people in the clubhouse and when I was older I would serve behind the bar. And although it was hard work … Continued

Back in January I cycled from Blackfriars to Little Portland Street on a gloomy evening to celebrate the 20thbirthday party of The Social. An hour or so before festivities started I met with Jeff and Danny from Heavenly to discuss the book we were all working on written by Heavenly stalwart Robin Turner, marking another … Continued

Arriving Somewhere But Not Here Last Tuesday morning. There’s sunshine blitzing through tent canvas and I’m awake. It’s around 6am somewhere right on the Dorset coast. Outside the tent, there’s a melancholy lowing coming from out at sea; a plaintive whale song for the busiest sea lane in the world. Although it sounds like musical … Continued

The smell of woodsmoke and heavy, Welsh mud, and the mist lifting off the field as I cross it in my wellies to buy a cup of coffee, the first squeals of soundcheck feedback from the main stage. That could be any mid-August weekend of the last thirteen years, each of which I’ve spent at … Continued

What news from the Continent I hear you cry? Well, we enter into the arena of the unknown.  Rotterdam in particular has seen a dramatic rise in infections over the last month, leading some to question whether bars and clubs should be kept open. But as yet – mercifully – there is no concomitant rise … Continued

The sing-songs around the piano of years gone by were replaced with the juke box. This permanently contained predominantly 80’s records because the records rarely got changed. My brother remembered that every time the juke box was switched on it would automatically play ‘Tainted Love’ by Soft Cell. He grew to hate that song. Another … Continued

It’s 7:16pm in Heathfield, East Sussex and I’m “working from home” while listening to Radio Al-Hara. The DJ, Mango Thief, is doing what great selectors do: enhancing each song by bedding it in a new context. After an urgent Shazam, the song playing turns out to be “Take Notice” by late Detroit beat-maker J Dilla. … Continued

We asked publisher Julian Vinuales (Libros de Kultrum) to report back from his home in Barcelona, only to discover he had spent all of lockdown in Roses, several miles up the Catalan coast … The village of Roses, where we lay our (obscene) scene, and the territory known as Alt Empordà, stretching north to Portbou … Continued

This week all of us behind The Social Gathering have found ourselves staycationing all at once, in one way of another, somewhere or other . . so whilst this bar never closes we have been running on a slightly lower gear. Summer holiday vibes. I for one have been enjoying hanging out in Sophie Green’s … Continued

My grandparents were almost in retirement when they bought the camp. I knew my nan wanted to be by the sea and I knew that my grandad bought the camp for her but I had never really considered that it was a slightly odd thing to have done at their age. My nan had always … Continued

William Burroughs is a highly significant figure in the world of music, even if he professed little knowledge about the form. It’s not hard to see how his writing – exploding with disquieting, even ghastly imagery – might serve as fodder for music genres like punk, heavy metal, and industrial. To be sure, it is … Continued

I’ve got to get this off my chest: just how completely fucking shit the phonies and bellends that have made up and represented the Labour Party for my entire life have been and continue to be. Never have I wanted something to succeed so much and watched it fail to so badly, time after time … Continued

Summer finally arrived this week and the British public suddenly became all sun boiled, stuck in traffic jams on irascible family outings. It’s great to be on holiday isn’t it? Either you’re on one long staycation trying to avoid the Prime Minister and his spawn or you’ve gone abroad and are facing down two week’s … Continued

Hey Dad,  How are you doing?  No need to answer.  I know.  Wish you were here, just the two of us walking like we used to.  How long has it been?  I mean… Since… Y’know. I swear I remember you lifting me out of my pram.  So now, given the circumstance, I’ll walk for you … Continued

A few weeks ago, our friend Mathew Clayton got in touch about a book he thought we’d like. Mathew is a bit of a genius, and his recommendations are always worthy of spending time over. This was no different. The book told the story of one family’s relationship with a holiday camp in Torbay over … Continued

As the weeks drag on and everything apart from the things I care about seems to open – no gigs, no theatres, cinemas replaying stuff I’ve seen a million times – I find myself getting pulled back to earlier times and, indeed, imagined times.  There has always been something irresistible to me about the late … Continued

“You already rang me two hours ago saying you were at a funeral in Essex.” “I’m on my way now” “Don’t bother. You don’t work here anymore”. It was noon on Solon Road and Cooper had called Teri our boss at Threshers for the second time that day to explain why he couldn’t come in. … Continued

This week I tried to be nicer. It’s hard in the face of everything that is going on isn’t it, to summon the energy not to just call people bad names, shout and swear. Swearing comes particularly easy to me (at the very best of times) but right now I find myself shouting the worst … Continued

The Orielles’ Disco Volador barely left our record player for months after release, the celestial orange vinyl got a lot of play, and always from start to finish. Without doubt an album of the year over here at The Social. We’re very happy to share this exclusive video today from a live session the band … Continued

Apologies if this week’s condensed edition has arrived later than normal – the summer holidays have kicked in with all of the attendant issues that arise with kids shouting at you for sugar 24- 7. Over the last week, we’ve each left our immediate bubble and put tentative steps out into the wider world. In … Continued

Randell Jarrell wrote, ‘a good poet is someone who manages, in a lifetime of standing out in thunderstorms, to be struck by lightning five or six times’, and Pessimism is for Lightweights, since its first publication, indeed since its first performance in front of an appreciative Jeremy Corbyn, has shown itself to be one of Salena Godden’s … Continued

Will Burns writes on John Carpenter’s cult classic They Live, using Craig Oldham’s book published by Rough Trade Books,  They Live: A Visual and Cultural Awakening to engage in ideas of the violence implied in rhetoric and political lies and how the care inherent in poetic language can be mobilised as a radical act. Ever get … Continued

There were thousands of them. Millions maybe. All across the sky, billowing around like some dusty gold and yellow snowstorm. They filled the air, running the line of the highway for miles. Ten miles. Twenty miles. Lou couldn’t tell anymore. The desert passed by the window, a blur of sand and rock and scrub. If … Continued

Other than what we’ve published on the website I’ve found reading anything other than Twitter near impossible for 3 months. I didn’t read a single book for most of lockdown, that was until Sophie gave me her copy of Sixteen Trees of the Somme by Lars Mytting. She hadn’t even read it herself but was … Continued

They came from houses on the sides of hills, from bedrooms that looked out onto shades of green, the smell of silage smeared on the air.  They’d seen the clubs in the films, on the TV, and they knew that their little places attached to hotels, or above the bar where their fathers were drinking, … Continued

Inspired by Une sale histoire by Jean Eustache 1 My story is the kind of story that women will scorn to read. I should tell my readers now that the actions of the episode that follows are less important than the philosophy hidden inside of them. In fact, the study of the tale, in which … Continued

In a move akin to giving the role of brewery tour guide to an alcoholic, last week I was given six months free NOW TV whilst buying some insurance. Appropriate thanks to Confused.com (other comparison sites are available) and I now hope for a similar deal from an opticians as more viewing time has been … Continued

Last week, for the first time in ages, I sat on WORM’s terrace on the corner of the Witte de Withstraat and Boomgaardstraat and supped a pint of draft ale in the sun. And then I had another. It was a moment that is still beyond description for me, beyond even the powers of a … Continued

11 years ago Mathew Clayton and his friend Simon Benham set up the Free University of Glastonbury, a programme of talks from authors, musicians and other full-time dreamers that takes place each year in the Crow’s Nest in the Park. ‘What hempen homespuns have we swaggering here, so near the cradle of the Fairy Queen’ … Continued

Wendine escapes to Dallas with Jerry Lee: a flash fiction homage to Nick Tosches by Wendy Erskine. With artwork by Babak Ganjei My mamma said if you gonna lift that skirt an paint that face an run round with the unholy, then we gonna send you to a place where they will put the righteousness back … Continued

Among the first reported covid cases in Mexico are prominent businessmen who were skiing with their families in Vail, Colorado. On March 15th, the millionaire José Kuri, cousin of one of the richest persons in the world, Carlos Slim, was reported dead due to the virus, after catching it on a skiing trip. Then, as … Continued

In 1968 Vashti Bunyan set out on a journey that still resonates five decades later. Today we’re publishing the first in a series of regular posts by Vashti at The Social Gathering, beautifully illustrated by the author herself. I needed a way to keep my dog and not lose my mind. I left home – … Continued

The reality of the pandemic descended upon me during a Guns n´Roses concert in Mexico City. The date was March 14th. While Mexico hadn’t yet formally declared any confinement measures (that would happen on March 23rd), the pandemic was well advanced throughout the world and many bands cancelled their participation in one of Mexico’s biggest … Continued

2016 has been a difficult year, of course it has.  It’s as though my radar has been scrambled.  This has got me wondering what I’m up to, deep down in the rabbit hole of Andrew Weatherall’s Music’s Not For Everyone.  I feel like I have tunnelled to the centre of the earth and can’t turn … Continued

Stood outside Downing Street yesterday I saw something that cut through even my own iron clad pessimism. I haven’t been reading or writing much these last few weeks, well I haven’t been writing at all, I’ve been too busy sliding down a greasy pole, making the most of lockdown easing, seeing a few friends, drinking … Continued

I was born and raised in a house of cars and maps. The cars went over my head, sometimes through our garden fence and once upside down with me in it. It took a long time for me to get into cars, but maps had me hooked from the second we met. Dad – like … Continued

So much can change in a short space of time. I started writing this before we were all talking about Barnard’s Castle and replacing eye tests with Wacky Racers style day trips and losing whatever sense of ‘all in this together’ we had to start with. It was always a fragile idea at best anyhow, … Continued

We have covered the premature death of Andrew Weatherall age 56 from many angles in these pages over the past three months. The shock and sadness, but also the affection and respect for a man of astonishing creative integrity, has been the bass leitmotif of lockdown; a constant reminder we’ve lost a man who created … Continued

Back to normal eh? Eh? I can’t honestly work out if I feel happy or tense about this Big Reopening we are encouraged to join in with. I’m chuffed that we can start programming film, art and live streams (for example some live drum and bass gigs-cum-broadcasts in late June and early July, and a … Continued

As every fan knows, Prince recorded far more songs than he ever released.  Most years he put out less than ten percent of the work he completed.  The mythology around his music depends as much on what he squirreled away in his famous Vault as the songs he officially released.  Over the years fans and … Continued

At the end of July, White Rabbit Books publishes a memoir by Chris Frantz, who has the distinction of founding, playing and recording with not only one but two of the most influential North American bands. Remain in Love, published 40 years on from the release of their classic album Remain in Light, tells the story of … Continued

Today on The Social Gathering, we’re pleased to bring you an extract from an interview with artist Junior Tomlin. It’s taken from a new book – Junior Tomlin: Flyer & Cover Art – an amazing retrospective of his work in the ’80s and ’90s. Junior’s artwork was a vital and unmistakable part of the burgeoning … Continued

At the end of last week we asked friends in the States if they could paint us the view from there as part of our regular series and also what we could do as The Social Gathering to help. Screenwriter Camilla Blackett responded by holding up a mirror. Please read and consider what she’s saying. And … Continued

With Q – and all of the music press – under even greater threat as the covid recession looms, Katherine Cantwell of Heavenly Recordings writes about the magic of music mags. Before lockdown, buying Q was a monthly breaktime routine. I like an excuse to nip to the corner shop in Soho and grab a … Continued

One of the biggest questions raised by lockdown is what happens next. And specifically, will we all just go back to old ways of living. Is it possible to change the pace we were all hurtling along at before everything stopped, chasing those daily goals irrespective of the effect on our mental wellbeing? Is it … Continued

Last month we brought you the first part of the hugely popular Cold War Steve/Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery collaboration. Today, we’re excited to present the second (and final) part of the commission on The Social Gathering. This consists of two never before seen CWS collages which feature characters from notable Pre-Raphaelite works in Birmingham … Continued

On working with Bob Stanley & Pete Wiggs on their seminal ‘Presents’ compilation series by Liz Buckley, Label Manager at Ace Records Five years ago, I was sat in a Highgate pub with Bob Stanley, having a bit of a catch up, talking records, drinking the usual ‘couple of quick afternoon pints’ that always turn … Continued

The explosion of digital TV means that, even now, many weeks into lockdown, there is still a massive amount of unwatched, ready to discover televisual wonder out there. It also means that some of those gems suffer the ultimate fate of being cancelled after one or two series, leaving plotlines hanging in the air when … Continued

In my first piece for this esteemed publication, I ended by posing a question: can the Netherlands really survive and prosper with closed borders and a relatively inactive Schiphol?  This question is of direct relevance to the European and trans-continental music industry as it was pre COVID. Things don’t look that rosy for the established … Continued

A few weeks back, The Social Gathering opened the doors on its daydream travel agency. Imagine An Island is here to transport you out of the here and now, away from this reality to lands beyond the lockdown as yet undiscovered.  Each new destination is visualised by a different artist. Having last stopped at an unspoilt nutopia … Continued

On February the 18th 1956, Tutti Frutti hit #21, its highest position in the US top 100. Or rather, the original version did. It’s so hard to recapture Little Richard’s explosive impact, but listen to Tutti Frutti in the chart of the time and you get the idea. It’s obvious that nothing like it had … Continued

The biggest thing clouding my vision is my martyr complex. Even with all the bountiful fruits that life has delivered for me to devour, my rather adept imagination still throws up a sense of having endured a superior kind of suffering to those around me. I have borne indignities that few could possibly understand, I … Continued

(artwork by Caio Wheelhouse) I shouldn’t have been surprised that as the world altered entirely, I’d be watching from the vantage point of the kitchen. ‘Second-Hand Time’ by the Belarusian author Svetlana Alexievich collects oral testimonies from ordinary Russian citizens on the fall of the Soviet Union, during Perestroika and Glasnost. A lingering image from … Continued

If I was to say Wind of Change by Scorpions was a guilty pleasure of mine, it would be a lie. It’s a record I genuinely love. That love is possibly a hangover from an early ’80s upbringing in old South Wales, where low-grade heavy metal was less a lifestyle choice and more a by-product of ambient … Continued

We’re extremely proud to bring you the second part of The Social Gathering’s podcast series, where Steve Mason’s reads from one of the greatest endurance stories ever told – Shackleton’s journey to the South Pole. Here, Steve recaps where we are.  Reading and sound design by Steve Mason.  Illustrations by Peter Turner.  At this point, it’s … Continued

Of all the weird and wonderful tales to have emerged in the last six weeks, my little brother deciding to finally try and get a job is the most confounding. Nathan has been a dedicated job hunter since he left our mum’s bungalow in Co. Tyrone to live on my couch in London after getting … Continued

When it’s a ritual.   Enter the Temple of Gnostic Sonics, a sanctuary of sound from the Music’s Not For Everyone shows of 2017.  Shows that begin with Andrew Weatherall’s ritualistic bidding to don your ceremonial gowns and headwear, huddle around your devices, sisters and brothers (always sisters first), gnostic explorers and fellow lovers of … Continued

OK, so week three. Nice of the BBC to bring back Killing Eve, though I’m not feeling it like I once did – just me? – and a few big hitters including HOLLYWOOD set to land on Netflix (more on that in a week or so) but, fear not! There are still tons of undiscovered … Continued