Leon McDermott

Yeah LSR would be quite the jump! First one I got was Candy Apple Grey (Goldrush Records, Perth, Sept 92). I remember the green stapled-together mail order catalogue from Gema in Reading which had so many imports and was where I got Flip Your Wig and Zen Arcade.

Oh, this is such a lovely piece. Copper Blue came out when I had just turned 15 and led me deep down the Hüskers rabbit hole (not easy or quick in 1992 rural Scotland). And props for the shoutout for You Can Live At Home!

Coming soon to an episode of In Our Time.

Totally feels like the kind of thing that, 30 years ago, would have had Tom Bell in a sinister behind the scenes role.

Dolly Mixture 1978-1984. Launch party for Debsey Wykes' amazing book, Teenage Daydream is this Wednesday. Dolly Mixture film with Paul Kelly, Jenny Rollo and Stephen Pastel (dj). And, and Matthew Rich will be live screenprinting an edition of this image. Tix here... monorailmusic.com/product/teen...

Tony Blair, learning all the wrong lessons, as per.

Think I need to read The Searchers. (I’ve liked Beckett’s previous stuff but missed this one.) Must say though (because I think of you in a film context) when you said “There’s a bit at the start of The Searchers when Blair goes to watch Benn” I thought “don’t remember THAT bit in the film.

Benn had his flaws, no doubt, but he was something else. I remember seeing him aged 15 in Dundee c. 1992 (in a wee room above a pub); his speech was great but it was the sheer charisma that got me. My dad, who had met him before many times, introduced me to him. It was like meeting History.

I’ve seen plenty of photos of shells in WW2 chalked with names, messages etc. And the same up to/including Israeli forces in Gaza. I think that this fits the same bill. (Don’t doubt that in this case cinematic influence might have been a factor but that’s supposition)

Ah, Asylums I’ve put on so many tapes for people! Pretty sure that the Cramps cover was by Sonovac. As for Dawn Rider that was (had forgotten about them!) a band called Mum & Dad who I think were from Manchester & linked to Andy Votel etc.

Oh me too, in terms of thinking different about all sorts of music, and so many tape swaps.

Ha, I still remember removal day - me & Jack and a couple of your mates who still on one after 69 the night before. Don’t recall making you a tape but hope it was good, can you remember what was on it?

Back about - I guess - the early 2000s you made me a tape and the first track on it was Journey In Satchidananda. Properly made me rethink what I thought about jazz.

That building at (I think) 9 to 11 or maybe 13 Duke St, only two floors with the big windows on the first floor, what was it originally for? Nothing on old maps to indicate its purpose but it’s plainly been built for … something.

It’s Bandcamp Friday tomorrow - what better time to drop some cash on this great compilation.

ILX and Friends Celebrate JD Twitch - ONE MORE TUNE, by The Dark Outside, TDO Cassettes & Bibliotapes 41 track album

New megacomp just dropped to raise some money for support for Keith @optimo-espacio.bsky.social - organised by @nedraggett.bsky.social and released by @darkoutside.co.uk. Only a fiver for 40 tunes!

thedarkoutside.bandcamp.com/album/ilx-an...

YouTube video by Pub - Topic Summer

25 years; the unimpeachable reference point for a particular sound that only gets better with age:

youtu.be/9fcwtFW4cy0?...

A message from Keith (JD Twitch) A message from Keith (JD Twitch)

Just devastating news from Keith @optimo-espacio.bsky.social; what he and Jonnie have done over the decades has been phenomenal. They introduced me and so many others to so much amazing music and proved that you can do your thing without concessions. Leave a message here if you can. www.jdtwitch.com

I still love this one.

Am totally amazed that that track plan (train nerds plz correct) looks EXACTLY like the one in the original Taking Of Pelham 123 from ‘74 and not the digital/cgi nonsense from the 2009 remake.

Absolutely though I do love that “I’ve been walking in the rain just to get wet on purpose” (from Electronic’s Getting Away With It) was a deliberately bad line as a diss to Morrissey.

There’s a 97 TOTP episode with Eternal & BeBe Winans at #1 and Winans so effortlessly outclasses them it’s actually embarrassing.

Mostly with you on All Saints but Jesus, that spoken word intro on Never Ever is proper excruciating. But they’re the closest Britain got to En Vogue. (Eternal would like to think so but they were not nearly as good.)

Oh and you can buy via an app or in person at the RER station at CDG.

Paris Navigo Decouverte Pass - What You Need to Know - Paris by Train Pass Navigo Découverte transit card for week or month pass valid on Paris Bus, Metro, RER, Trams, Transilien trains in Ile-de-France trains (Not TGV).

parisbytrain.com/paris-train-...

Was there last week; got a Navigo Decouverte pass - it covers all lines inc. RER B from CDG. Needs a passport photo but it’s less than 40 quid for a week’s travel on all trains and buses (and if I remember right a return from the airport is already 2/3 of that cost so worth it even for 2 or 3 days).

I mean, releasing Bringing It All Back Home in April ‘65 and then Highway 61 Revisited only *four months later* is some insane Imperial Phase stuff. Even by the standards of ‘60s churn-out-the-masterpieces work rate that’s staggering.

Haha I grew up in Kirrie, could have told you that was a bad idea …

Doesn’t look like Shwarma King so keen to see where the new hotness is.

Useless unless you tell us where.

Tape also included Sunspots by Julian Cope so I knew she was the one.