Every year I mean to write an ‘album of the year’ post, and this year I’ve managed it. The hotly-contested (well, not really) award goes to ‘Grey Tickles, Black Pressure’ by John Grant. I never really got into John Grant’s earlier stuff, and the fact it was on Bella Union, a label I associate with … Read More
News! I’m handing over the Editor-in-Chief reins and becoming The Next Web’s first ever Editor-at-Large.
I don’t really ‘do’ music news but no-one seems to have spotted this, so here I go. Matthew Freidberger, one half of one of my favourite bands ever, The Fiery Furnaces, has quietly released seven new tracks on Bandcamp under the name MR. FRIED BURGER/NEUE FRIEDBERGER OPER/M. Friedberger. It’s a ‘mixtape’ (in the hip-hop sense … Read More
Yay! I’ve finally got around to releasing my new The Star Fighter Pilot EP. It’s free to stream and download. The ‘Dishonourable Indignation’ EP was recorded in February this year. For those who don’t know, I used to record and perform as The Star Fighter Pilot between about 2004 and 2009. I gave up when … Read More
Today I took part in a fun discussion about careers in journalism at the BBC Radio 1 Academy event in Norwich, alongside Newsbeat’s Anna Doble and the NME’s Greg Cochrane. Rick Edwards and Tina Daheley were asking the questions. I was booked on the last direct train back to Manchester and had to dash out of the … Read More
Today I visited 80 Hertz in Manchester to get four new songs mastered. Yes, I’ve finished a The Star Fighter Pilot new EP as the fruit of my month off.
From today, I’m starting a month-long experiment: can I ‘switch off’ from work entirely? The Next Web recently introduced a ‘one month off after three years with the company’ policy. As I’ve been with the company more than three years, I’m going to take them up on it for the duration of February.
I first got into synthesizers when I was 11 years old. I could’t afford a ‘proper’ synth at the time, but I had received one of these little babies for Christmas when I was 10…
I’ve been thinking about writing this for a while, and the start of a new year is as good a time as any to do it. While it might seem a bit of a pompous and self-absorbed piece, I get pitched a lot on different social media in addition to via email, and I often … Read More
Between 2004 and 2009 I used to make electronic pop under the name The Star Fighter Pilot. I used to play live regularly in Manchester and beyond and had a lot of fun doing it. Since then, I’ve just been too busy to focus on music, but maybe I just wasn’t trying hard enough. This … Read More