Simon Harper

When the drone of the massed just intonation violins you’re cranking playfully twines with the sound of vacuuming next door, creating billowing and resolving beating tones.

There are certain writers whose styles just dovetail neatly with my tastes, and Pynchon already feels like one of them.

That said, before I finished I'd already bought a copy of Against the Day, like a sicko.

Life & distractions got in the way so I recently went back to the start of this. Enjoyed it a lot - I really connected with Pynchon's freewheeling, maximalist style (and his jokes) & am a sucker for a shaggy dog story. Where should I go next? Preferably one of the shorter books: maybe Inherent Vice?

Saint Bernhard King of complaints.

"And that’s Bernhard’s genius: a spiral is the perfect style for writing self-hatred." An enjoyable piece on how Thomas Bernhard's work still resonates with readers now, and an apparent "renaissance" of his style (fair to say, comparing a book to Bernhard gets my attention). dirt.fyi/article/2025...

It’s gone so quickly from ‘boat people’ to all immigrants. So quickly from ‘I don’t mind if they come here legally and pay taxes’ to ‘actually it’s anyone foreign’. We are living in the ‘first they came for’ poem. All to give the population a scapegoat so the super rich can hoard yet more wealth.

Not sure who it'd be for - hardcore fans can find that story in the books & comics, and can't see it pleasing casual cinema-goers. There's a rare thrill in seeing *fully-realised* Bond in naval uniform, but that's it.

He's going to meet a young German soldier called Hugo von der Drache, isn't he?

RIP Danny Thompson

RIP Danny Thompson. Here's a playlist featuring just some of the hundreds of songs that were graced by his bass playing. Includes Nick Drake, Pentangle, Donovan, John Martyn, Sandy Denny, Marc Bolan, David Sylvian, Kate Bush, Talk Talk, Lilac Time, Julian Cope etc
▶️ open.spotify.com/playlist/4XS...

The only thing I'd insist upon in a new Bond movie, other than it not being an origin story, is that they should have Timothy Dalton back to play M.

The appeal of Bond is that he’s cool and strange. The fascination is “how d’you learn to do the things you do?” Y’know like in the Carly Simon song.

Answering that, with an origin tale, is the wrong story. Like most prequels, it’s data not story. He’s interesting because we don’t know, we guess.

I'm honestly getting really tired of being lectured about how 'health' works by utterly clueless narcissistic old men who all look like they drank from the wrong grail

Galton and Simpson hit on the perfect formula. You take two people, both of them idiots. One is (usually) slightly younger, thinks of themself as a bit of an intellectual, and has social climbing ambitions. The other is (usually) slightly older, proudly working class, and savvier.

Was going to do that "ten best sitcoms" meme, but then I remembered that about 90% of all sitcoms worth watching are just Hancock's Half Hour lightly reskinned.

so much is bad right now but the AI stuff in particular is making me insane. a desperate attempt to smother all human creative labor at an absurd cost to the planet by some of the most short-sighted, rapacious, and pathetic people who have ever lived

Who remembers the heyday of the MP3 download blog? The Mediafire era? Well thanks to some interest from @danielbachman.bsky.social I uploaded a bunch of stuff I had once posted on such a blog. Found tapes, bootlegs, train sounds, deep folk, and more:

Revisited the H2G2 books a few years ago. First four are superb still - I found Mostly Harmless (which I was reading for the first time) a real slog, though. Maybe I was in a bad mood at the time but I found it a weirdly joyless book. Especially in comparison with that first one, which just sings.

becoming a bit of a pet complaint at this stage but I'd love to see a study that shows that British readers actually prefer a massive chunky book, because I love a little paperback so much I can't imagine everyone else loving these huge editions

When critics complain that a piece of music “doesn't go anywhere,” where, exactly, do they want it to go? Maybe music can be interesting just hovering and vibrating and shimmering and ululating and grinding in one place? Don't they realize repetition can breed transcendence?

David Squires' comic on the cranky capers Van Morrison David Squires delves into cultural comics for the first time, as he depicts the cranky antics of 'Astral Weeks' singer Van Morrison following his 80th.

Pleased to say I’m going to drawing fortnightly cartoons for @faroutmagazine.co.uk on the subject of music and film (couldn’t resist one small football reference in my first one, though). faroutmagazine.co.uk/david-squire...

Tape 189: The Story You Keep Looking For Gamifying My Favourite Things Again

This week in the newsletter - what your three favourite films reveal about the story you most like to look out for, and maybe the story you most like to tell.

open.substack.com/pub/joznorri...

Arranged on coffee table: Paperback copy of Ian Thompson's book, Synths, Sax & Situationists: The French Musical Underground 1968-1978 CD box set Terry Riley: The Columbia Recordings CD copy of the new Edena Gardens album, Dispossessed

Recent arrivals in the mail:

Ian Thompson's book on the French musical underground

New album by Edena Gardens

CD box set of Terry Riley albums

Jackie-O Motherfucker on stage at Supersonic Festival.

Six Organs of Admittance on stage at Supersonic Festival.

Another year of #SupersonicFestival done. Day 2 highlights: Smote & One Leg One Eye, Death Goals and ZD Grafters. Day 3 highlights: Abdullah Miniawy, Cinder Well and a special performance of/by Funeral Folk; especially enjoyed Six Organs of Admittance and Jackie-O Motherfucker. What a festival. 🙏🤘👏

This thread is exactly how I feel about genAI. Completely turned off by it on all artistic, intellectual and moral levels. I have no interest in anything it can say or generate. It is anti-human.

Reflections while being serenaded by a playlist of [artists redacted] at the garden store just now:

For 30 years we’ve had a strain of indie rock that sounds like Neil Young fronting an incompetent high school orchestra, and the verdict of history, when it comes, will be merciless and unforgiving.

032: Eight albums of nice but esoteric music. Avant-everything!

My latest is here! Perhaps you’ll find something nice but esoteric to listen to this long stupid weekend.

motherslug.substack.com/p/032-eight-...

Just waiting for Moin. Soundcheck suggests it's going to be LOUD. Having a chilled evening today rather than rushing between venues - Zu then home for me.

See you Sunday!

Water Damage performing at Supersonic Festival. It was loud.

Down the front for Water Damage, who were even better than I'd expected. 45 minutes of relentless, pulverising drone, at immense volume. 🤘 Will be difficult to top that this weekend. #SupersonicFestival

Nathan Barley "Is something brilliant happening?"

I recently wrote a piece about Nathan Barley, which ended up being more about Galton and Simpson's film The Rebel. One aspect of the film - the art itself - particularly intrigued me...

worldoftelly.beehiiv.com/p/nathan-bar...

graphic of a gold star written "has never even opened ChatGPT"

AI Is a Mass-Delusion Event Three years in, one of AI’s enduring impacts is to make people feel like they’re losing it.

Hello. I wrote a nice long essay about AI and this very strange moment where we're constantly told we're living in the dawn of a strange new future but the only thing that's actually clear is that everyone feels pretty unmoored and uncertain. I hope you'll read it