XTC Anniversary: Skylarking (1986)
Back in late 2025 I had the idea to cover the album tracks of Swindon’s finest and I’ll be honest, I wasn’t sure how I’d get on. Would anyone be interested? Would I have enough to say about a track,…
XTC Anniversary: The Big Express (1984)
All aboard for the penultimate anniversary post! If you missed it, in the previous XTC anniversary post, we took a look at the tracks from 1978’s Go 2 album. But now the train has almost reached its destination. At the…
New (to me) Music – September 2026
We’re heading towards the end of the year already and, as with the last New (to me) Music post of 2025, this December’s will be a round-up of all the albums I’ve heard in 2026. But we’re not quite there…
XTC Anniversary: Go 2 (1978)
Previously in this XTC Anniversary series, I mused on the songs from the excellent 1980 album, Black Sea! Not only do we have three anniversary posts this month, they are also the last albums to cover in this series! So…
Story Musings: Vulnerable In Front of Fiction, Vol 1
With it being 5 years today since I published my collection of dark, speculative tales, Vulnerable In Front of Fiction, I wondered how I could best commemorate the anniversary. Well, why not give it the treatment I’ve been giving to…
XTC Anniversary: Black Sea (1980)
Last time in this series, we took a look at the tracks from 1983’s Mummer album. And if you have been following this series of XTC anniversary posts from the start, or even if this is your first visit, thank…
New (to me) Music – August 2026
Finally! We’re into the lovelier, hopefully COLDER, rainier, windier, multi-coloured-leaves-on-the-ground season of autumn! And so comes another batch of albums that delighted my ears for the first time last month. Although I do the majority of my initial listening via…
XTC Anniversary: Mummer (1983)
Previously, we mused about the tracks from the 1979 album, Drums and Wires as part of this year-long XTC album anniversary blog series. You can find that article here. Popping into the TARDIS, we now find ourselves four years on,…
XTC Anniversary: Drums and Wires (1979)
We’re over halfway through the XTC Anniversary posts, with six more albums to go by the end of the year. The last album we looked at was the band’s final album, Wasp Star, and we more recently took a sideways…
New (to me) Music – July 2026
A little bit later than planned, here are the albums I heard for the first time in July. Three returning artists and three new to the blog series! Where there’s an official site for each artist, I’ve linked to it…
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XTC Anniversary: Psonic Psunspot [The Dukes of Stratosphear]
In the next installment of the Anniversary posts, we once again go off the beaten track to visit The Dukes of Stratosphear, aka Sir John Johns, The Red Curtain, Lord Cornelius Plum, and E.I.E.I. Owens. If you missed it, here’s…
Gig Review: David Byrne at the Edinburgh Playhouse
When it was announced that Scots-born David Byrne would be performing at the Edinburgh Playhouse, I knew I wanted to go. Admittedly, I can’t say that I’ve been a fan of his or Talking Heads for decades – or even…
