“I heard zips, I heard zips!” the immortal words my mother screamed one night back in 1984 as this misfit made the first mistake of her teenage life. Not the snog session under the coats piled up in my bedroom, there would be plenty of time to sort that mistaken sexual identity later, but throwing a teenage birthday party. End of. What was I thinking? … Continue reading 50 Tunes For 50 Years: Shannon
It’s wrapped in seen better days paper and is seriously battered, but like fish and chips on Brighton beach, it’s beautiful. And it’s all about Queenie. One of those slices of 7” joy she digs out every so often and proceeds to lose it to big time in our big f***ing room. The goosebumps it generates tell you all you need to know about the … Continue reading 50 Tunes For 50 Years: Gonzalez
Day 26 and I could cross the finish line of my #50tunesfor50years venture with nothing but Bowie. Sound & Vision, Low, Hunky Dory, Young Americans, Station To Station, The Next Day, Blackstar – each masterpieces that hourly rotate at the top of my favourite Bowie albums. Ask me to choose one track and I would be equally reticent to declare, feeling a sense of unfaithfulness as … Continue reading 50 Tunes For 50 Years: David Bowie Sweet Thing
It was 1977 and I had finally got my hands on my very own piece of vinyl. ABBA’s Arrival had, erm, arrived, its shiny-helicoptered pop stars starring out at me as I held a gatefold I would paw over for years. It would be a while before a Dare from Sheffield would supersede the Swedish superstars but until then I was devoted to Björn & … Continue reading 50 Tunes For 50 Years: ABBA
Alongside the Garrad deck and Wharfedale speakers in the lounge, our dining room also had its stereophonic installation. And what an installation. A sideboard come radio come record player piece of furniture, its valves took an age to “warm” up. But once it finally burst in radio static filled life it provided our dining room and kitchen (thanks to its hatch, an ever-present 70s addition to … Continue reading 50 Tunes For 50 Years: Minnie Riperton
So much glittering goodness coming your way this spring as we head towards the warmer days with a dazzling array of gigs and radio action. It’s all about feeling the love this winter as we get down with the glittering grooves and the sequined parties. But then with wonders including our shows on 1BTN,Club Barbra at The West Hill Tavern, 1BTN International Women’s Day Takeover 2019, Patterns with Honey … Continue reading A gaggle of gigs to make you giggle and wiggle
Like most people I know I grew up with the immortal words “turn that bleeding racket down”, my mum continuously shouting up the stairs as she failed miserably to end my addiction to the Cocteau Twins, the glorious “racket” that soundtracked my teenage years. On a mid-80s Binatone cassette player obviously. And yet regardless of the misery their effects-driven guitars appeared to infer, they were … Continue reading 50 Tunes For 50 Years: Cocteau Twins
Sometimes only Royksopp will do. Their warm melodies achingly cosy, wrapping you up as you face the world. Melody A.M. first came into my life in 2001 and since then has been sonically hugging me stronger with its plucked up strings, kooky keyboards and homely harmonies. And it’s always been there to remind me of a certain lady. A lady who will probably kill me … Continue reading 50 Tunes For 50 Years: Royksopp
Stick me in a room with a conversion therapist and I’d fight tooth and queer nail to kick that repressed hypocrite to kingdom come. Because every day, regardless of the bigotry I read of, occasionally experience and forever campaign against, I am so proud to be who I am. One butch dyke. With rainbows for blood. (As contradictory as my love for Streisand’s My Man … Continue reading 50 Tunes For 50 Years: Fire Island
I can still picture my mother’s net curtains dancing on the summer breeze as I returned home from school that hot afternoon in 1976. Stepping through our forever-open front door, the sound of a woman I would love all my life greeted me, singing her broken soul out as she remembers The Way We Were. What I learnt that day as the vinyl crackled through … Continue reading 50 Tunes For 50 Years: Barbra Streisand The Way We Were
Wildblood and Queenie 