Music

Article — 8 January 2024 — 754 words

Meeting up with Pulp in the years 2023 and 2024

Music

I went to just two concerts in 2023, and they were both of Pulp’s performances in Scotland.

Article — 19 August 2023 — 1,733 words

Britpop, braindance and broken politics — How 1990s optimism became passé

Culture — Music — Politics

Britpop has been having a moment again this summer, prompting investigations into why the scene fizzled out. The conventional explanations are unconvincing. Electronic music tells us why.

Article — 26 June 2020 — 1,124 words

Lockdown projects — Month 3

Music — Personal — Running

As lockdown eased, small craft projects made way for some much larger home improvement projects.

Article — 28 September 2019 — 385 words

I’m getting rid of 18 years’ worth of plastic CD wrappers

Music — Personal

I’m not entirely sure why I started collecting them. Probably a mixture of liking some of them, and thinking that keeping them would make my CD collection more valuable.

Article — 26 August 2019 — 1,184 words

After the Belgian Grand Prix — Days out in Spa and Brussels

Music — Personal — Travel

After our weekend at the Belgian Grand Prix last year, Alex and I stayed on for a few more days to explore other parts of Belgium.

Article — 14 July 2019 — 2,535 words

33 adventures in The Designers Republic

Culture — Design — Music

“On July 14th 1986 The Designers Republic was declared.” Celebrating 33 years of Brain Aided Design.

Article — 30 October 2018 — 314 words

13 years too late, the BBC’s classical music back catalogue is being made available

Media — Music — Technology

Once in a while, when listening to music on shuffle, a Beethoven symphony plays. The MP3 files came from the BBC. It was an experiment never to be repeated.

Article — 8 October 2018 — 434 words

The danger of relying on natural talent

Design — Music — Science — Social science

Believing you are naturally talented at something may in fact be detrimental to your development.

Article — 4 March 2018 — 340 words

An inauthentic authenticity: the soulless side of vinyl

Music

The vinyl resurgence isn’t all good news — particularly for independent musicians.

Article — 27 December 2017 — 381 words

40 years of the Voyager golden record

Culture — Music

The 40th anniversary of the launch of Voyager has created renewed interest in the two gold-plated phonograph records that are on board.

Article — 16 December 2017 — 209 words

The George Street Sessions: A new CD featuring musicians from north east Fife

Music — Personal

A new CD has been recorded in Alex’s family’s front room — and it sounds great.

Article — 7 December 2017 — 975 words

Help! I’m becoming an audiophile

Music — Personal

After years of dilly-dallying, I have finally bought myself a new record player. But I’m still not convinced vinyl provides the superior sound quality.