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So impressed by the long, ragged and tender set Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds played last night in Brighton. It was astonishing & v moving to witness the reverential response of a devoted crowd of 30k people: Cave ventriloquising as “a god, a man, a ghost, a guru”.

It’s a big thumbs up to Nick Cave and his Bad Seeds: a lovely homecoming gig less than a hundred metres from where I live. Had the crowd in the palm of his band! Plus Kylie!

Ok, I’ve cracked. We weren’t gonna go to Nick Cave but the weather is too good so we’ve wandered down!

Just remembered that my mum once candidly told my then-girlfriend that she was very nice but that I was “a bit iffy”. Early days of dementia I THINK

Lo! My favourite LP of the year so far is out! Congrats @lovejoy-official.bsky.social!

Lovely stuff, but you really can’t rank perfection. www.theguardian.com/music/2026/j...

Dedicated followers of passion: the Kinks’ 40 greatest songs – ranked!To coincide with a new exhibition in London about the Davies brothers, we rate the best of a band who brought a sociologist’s eye to hard rock, gentle pastoralia and so much in betweenwww.theguardian.com

A debut short film by my son, 6. It is called “Splat Man”. Worth having the sound on.

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Fast grows the greyish outer reaches of my person; cloud coloured temples, pale stubble. Even my jowls, the bags under my eyes, have a silvery quality, as if they have been shaded in by HB pencil. It is time for a haircut, which is a constraining of these monochrome aspects, revealing me underneath.

Determined to improve my off-by-heart memory of our shonky endearing little back catalogue; all the songs on This World Could Be So Much Fun have so many chords.

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Hungrily I fed these words into the machine, Feeding myself - and made your triend who you love objectively into a song. I had to leave the meaning wide - to better the chance of reaching her. Songs are not still lives or reportage Or boats with anchors

This new one by the saintly @powerfulpierre.bsky.social is absolutely fantastic. One of my fave songs of 2026. Pay what you like, so pick it up! harbour1.bandcamp.com/album/side-s...

Side sleeper (July 2026), by Harbour6 track albumharbour1.bandcamp.com

This article on zines by @msclairebiddles.bsky.social is a fantastically useful read and a treasure trove! Very happy to be featured along some wonderful zines. I sent the paper this pic but they didn’t have space to use it. www.theguardian.com/music/2026/j...

Our Certain Memories LP is a quiet & contradictory indiepop oyster, which combines melancholy songs about my mum’s dementia with ringing celebrations of other turned corners. I think it’s a pretty album & there are still 20 CDs available. They’re here: assistant.bandcamp.com/album/certai...

Certain Memories, by Assistant12 track albumassistant.bandcamp.com

Very happy to be featured on this lovely compilation LP by Brighton's @shorediverecords.bsky.social!. Our exclusive, previously unheard track is a collaboration with our pal @seaofdays.bsky.social, who has turned our 'Before And After Love' into a shoegaze soarer. All proceeds go to @mind.org.uk!

Before And After You (Sea Of Days remix), by Assistantfrom the album Mind Your Mindshorediverecords.bandcamp.com

Very happy to see that my zine IN THE APRIL SUN is mentioned in The Guardian today!

The Assistant Pop Group have been revisiting old songs of late; we've had a lot of fun rediscovering this one. A song that probably needed a radio edit, but it's a good one. I was in my Brett-Anderson-voice stage. "It's easy to sleep, it's easy to stay up & get so drunk you fall in a heap".

Easy to Leave, by Assistantfrom the album Ten Songs and Second LPassistant.bandcamp.com

Here’s Pete slip-sliding between Assistant’s Raking Leaves and Pulp’s Babies

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Philip Whalen

Glorious heat-wave evening in lovely sunny Brighton. (Actually, it’s Hove, but that’s off brand).

Not sure if anyone else finds this sort of stuff interesting but found some early videos I sent Pete and Anne-Sophie when we were co-writing the Assistant song ‘Count Up Your Heart’. This first one is me showing Pete the main bit of the riff: youtu.be/ku-uTkpwsBM?... [1/3]

Assistant - Count Up Your Heart (songwriting demo #1)YouTube video by Jonathan Shipleyyoutu.be