claire biddles

Dave review – prodigiously skilled rapper conjures thrilling intimacy on a grand scale Showcasing chart-topping album The Boy Who Played the Harp, Dave charismatically switches between heavy beats, rock-show grandeur and searching introspection

went to see superstar rapper/cute boy dave last night and loved it – from clubby ragers to big '90s rock ballad bombast with ease. review at @theguardian.com www.theguardian.com/music/2026/m...

went to see lily allen‘s highly anticipated new show for the guardian….she was fully not on stage for the first half, then ran through her new album like she was in a dress rehearsal she wanted to skive. not great!!!

YouTube video by kondowsan walk out to winter/Aztec Camera

www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0Nv...

under "Reception and Legacy" for The Wild Angels

ME NEITHER i couldn't believe that i mentioned him in passing and then he was like 'oh yeah he literally wrote my reference for art school'

Daniel Blumberg: ​‘The ingredients were there to make something… Meeting the compositional maestro behind the complex web of sounds and rhythms in Mona Fastvold’s The Testament of Ann Lee.

just seen that my @lwlies.com interview with daniel blumberg about THE TESTAMENT OF ANN LEE is now online as well as in the magazine :) have a read please lwlies.com/interviews/d...

YUKIO MISHIMA: Suddenly I came across a picture whose only purpose had been to lie in wait and ambush me.

PHILIP GLASS:
duh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh

YUKIO MISHIMA: The white matchless beauty of Tifa Lockhart's body, her midriff engorged with icing.

PHILIP GLASS: duhnuhnuhnuhnuhnuhnuhnuh

yeah, from my POV I went from covering fandom as an expert specialist staff writer, to being a freelancer who *can't* cover fan culture in the same way due to market contractions and layoffs.

two months on from this and @msclairebiddles.bsky.social is about to watch the olympic men's final with me... hockey fan transformation complete

🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️THAT’S MY BESTIE

extremely good release

😭

let dogs have a go on the luge track

I had a hoot talking to fellow goth millennial and confirmed cutie patootie jamie campbell bower about his fav records for @thequietus.com!

omg the ultimate claire x rishaad crossover!!

YouTube video by samuraiinCfede Scott Walker - Darkness (Plague of Locusts)

Hat-tip to @msclairebiddles.bsky.social for her terrific Invisible Jukebox with Daniel Blumberg in the current issue of The Wire, and a special thanks for turning me on to this absolute belter. www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0Lm...

aw thanks james i really appreciate this!! also glad to spread the word of this uniquely horrifying [complimentary] song x

I used this guide to fill out the consultation which was useful bc it's purposefully not very clear and also biased! do it before midnight tonight please www.gov.uk/government/c...

i'm reading jack the modernist atm !

It's Never Over, Jeff Buckley review – a touching but incomplete… Amy Berg's tribute to a singular artist is well-intentioned and often interesting, but doesn't quite live up to the its complex subject.

i reviewed amy berg's new jeff buckley documentary for @lwlies.com and wrote about why it's difficult to fully capture his artistic and personal strangeness in one film – in cinemas this friday lwlies.com/reviews/its-...

Interview BAFTA-Nominated Director Akinola Davies Jr on My Father’s Shadow The British-Nigerian filmmaker speaks to Josh Slater-Williams about performing masculinity, shooting in Lagos and compiling playlists for his heads of department. 04 Feb 2026

Still from the film MY FATHER'S SHADOW (2025)

For the @curzon.com Journal, I spoke with BAFTA nominee and Gotham winner Akinola Davies Jr about his Lagos-set debut feature MY FATHER'S SHADOW, directing as DJing, and the importance of authentic shooting locations.
www.curzon.com/journal/baft...

really important to know that a you can go to posh places and get a drink and b you should absolutely use the electricity while you’re there

charging my phone! at claridges

ffs so true as well

arg it’s been deleted what was it!

'The former Marc Almond and Einstürzende Neubauten collaborator conjures sensual rituals and half-dirges. An intense listen, but a beguiling experience – where the veils that separate desire, death and longing are worn thin'

Annie Hogan - Tongues In My Head

buff.ly/9uiHWJc

hell yeah bitch i'll see u there x

are u going to see suede paul!

‘ugh the taste and insight jumped out’ — me at my own selections of songs for this feature

what if instead of every writer having an individual premium substack we had lots of writers working together for one publication. you might have editors, too, and designers. and only one regular fee, instead of seventy billion! wonder who will invent that. sounds like it’d be good