Guardian Music — It's not a sin to love mainstream music or painting. Sometimes it's good to stand with the crowdIt's always tempting to prefer the underdog to the champion, the obscure to the illuminated. That is probably how most of us first discovered we had a "se... more info

The Vinyl Villain — A wee cheat here......the sleeve above is that of the CD released in the USA. The UK version was red instead of green.....Yup, despite there being a few Billy Bragg compilations over the years, not to mention 2 x Boxsets, most of the tracks that he ... more info

Guardian Music — (Anti-)John Peel's description of the Fall - "always different, always the same" - might equally apply to the Austin, Texas band Spoon, who have made it to seven albums without any significant variation in high quality. Leader Britt Daniel is a maste... more info

Guardian Music — The Pulp singer's new 6 Music show got off to a promisingly eccentric start, complete with echo effect and Betjeman singleListen to Jarvis Cocker's 6 Music show via iPlayer It's been a diverse few months for Sheffield's thinnest and tallest ever pop ... more info

Guardian Music — Can you dance to a song called Cockadoodledon't? A startling new work called Off Kilter uses Ivor Cutler's songs to celebrate Scottish danceOne weekend last summer, Ashley Page was sitting at home playing some CDs. The choreographer credited with rev... more info

The Vinyl Villain — And finally completing the series of tracks and words as found on the CD The Indie Scene 1986, a compilation released in 1992.mp3 : That Petrol Emotion - It's A Good Thing (Demon D1042)Ireland's That Petrol Emotion emerged from the remnants of The Un... more info

The Vinyl Villain — There's just no way I could ever claim to have bought this back in 1979. I listened to John Peel occasionally, but not every night. And his was the only show that played any songs by Wire.And although I became aware of them during my students days in... more info

All About Jazz — GOOD SHOW, OLD CHAPS... MOSTLY On this day in 1922, the British Broadcasting Company (BBC) began radio service in the England. No matter where one finds themselves in the world, the letters BBC form a crucial shorthand for serious radio work that ul... more info

Guardian Music — I have often tried to work out whether Will Oldham reminds me more of white breath on a cold day or the sound of crickets on a hot nightThere are some songs that are barely songs at all, that are barely more than cuckoo-spit. It's not about their len... more info

The Music Fix — Feature: Shitmat talks about John's life and his legacy. more info