Season's greetings

For one Friday only...

Don’t call it a comeback.

It’s been quite a year. War in Ukraine, cost of living crisis, hilarity in the House of Commons, teacher shortages, a morally bereft World Cup, heatwaves, cold spells… RIP Godard and Angela Lansbury. Some music too, I guess.

I went to gigs for the first time since 2019. Grouper and Coby Sey, Claire Rousay and Fears, William Basinski and Ordnance Survey, Villagers, Lighght, Bright Eyes, Carmen Villain and Soria, Call Super… I’m probably forgetting someone.

Bandcamp passed a billion in sales. Well, I think that was this year.

I hung up my headphones, both in terms of this newsletter (wait, what?) and my radio show on ddr. I won’t lie, it’s been a relief in many ways but I’ve missed the constant hunt. Funnily enough, my musical searches have dropped off quite a bit. I’m still trying though, and a network of friends keep me as up to date as possible.

So what’s the point of this letter? Just checking in I suppose. I’ve never been big on lists but I gave one in to Boomkat. You can see it here.

If you ever miss these missives you can always check bandcloud.org and peruse the archives. More than eight years of mails. Many dead links, but that is the nature of online hosting and the whims of artists. Lately I’ve been listening to this Christmas album a lot, as well as the masterful Where Dancefloors Stand Still mix.

Anyway. Wishing you and yours all the best in whatever you do. Stay real.

Photo by DDP on Unsplash