Music

There's always been something about the band Eels and its eccentric frontman Mark Everett that I've loved.

I remember sitting in a car on the way to work when I first Whether it was the first time I heard the quirky hit Susan's House in 1996, and I realised I loved the mixed-up magic of their work.
But then I took them to my heart when I watched in delighted bafflement as they supported Pulp at Trentham Gardens dressed in karate gis.

So Robbie's new single is out, and he's gone all multimedia with a widget to get maximum exposure. I think it's all right, but what do you think?

Easter is always a good time for music I've found. I accept it's a big generalisation, but after suffering in the winter, you tend to find all the big releases start to come out for the summer release.

Today, I've picked up on three bands which I love that have recently put out new stuff for people to listen to.

First of all, there's Doves with Kingdom of Rust, then there's It's Blitz from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and then there's the superbly verbose Jackie Collins Existential Question Time from the Manic Street Preachers.

The advent of the clocks going forward always reminds me of Monday nights piling into Hanley for a night during the weeks away from university, and listening to a variety of indie classics. Here's just a few that I can remember.

More Human Than Human - White Zombie

The Sentinel has today posted a report that there will be a Love Music, Hate Racism gig at the Britannia Stadium in Stoke on May 30.

That's got to be a good thing for Stoke-on-Trent, and it's good that the council does recognise the power that such events can have. Not just in tackling racism, you understand, but also raising the profile of the city's music venues.

In this age where the internet has the capacity to keep us all young beyond our years, I've found that music still has the capacity to age you in an instant. How? The Brits.

I've always considered myself relatively open to all types of music, even hoping that I might retain a John Peel-like willingness to try things new.

Although I'm limited to any real knowledge of music to indie/pop - well I can name bands and songs in these genres - I think I can admit to having the likes of MGMT, Fleet Foxes and the Last of the Shadow Puppets on my iPod, and not think of myself as a fogey.

The closure of the Astoria in London for me is as sad although also highlights changing times in entertainment.
It was the first gig venue I visited after going to the capital to study at university back in October 1992.
I can remember getting off the tube at Tottenham Court Road and walking down Charing Cross Road to the box office to get tickets for the Frank & Walters - remember them?
In daylight, the box office frontage was battered, but suited to a venue at the time which hosted grunge gods like Nirvana.
At night, it was something else.

"P.C. caresses bigots and big brother, read Leviticus,
learnt censorship, pro-life equals anti-choice, to be scared of, of feathers"

- PCP, Manic Street Preachers.

It's 14 years since the Manic Street Preachers released the lines of this song about the crippling and often contradictory effects of political correctness upon society.