3CR816

Same here. He's good at identifying records you might like ("I have some new Suicide vinyl in..." yoink) without being pushy about them and I don't think I've ever bought anything for its marked price. It's obviously not great for new releases, but I've got a lot of my collection from The Cavern.

That sounds awful, unless it's refering to the guy that crashed his van into toxic waste in RoboCop. If so, go ahead, lads! Sounds like something I might sign up for. I assume that you would have to have a niche or specialism to get the most out of it, though?

Celebration Rock by Japandroids really took me by surprise. It's awesome, knife's edge rock n' roll from start to finish (with a slightly wonky cover thrown in). Its sincerity works really well for it. No "rawk" irony, no posturing. Just dudes in ripped jeans singing about girls and highways and drinking. Attack on Memory by Cloud Nothings worked similarly, but was more bleak and post-hardcore-y. Drokk: Music From Mega-City One by Geoff Barrow and Ben Salisbury probably should have been something I listened to once while reading Judge Dredd, but I can't stop coming back to it. It's like John Carpenter broke out a bunch of vintage synths and went to town on them. It's also really great to listen to this while walking through a shopping centre and pretending you're in a bad future city and tanoys are all like "fat citizens must report for conversion to fuel at 1300. Failure to comply will be answered with forced disintegration" and there are cops in gas masks everywhere. The Money Store by Death Grips is like the music the rebels who wear military wear and bandanas would listen to in the bad future. They would have a secret base inside an old sewer or something. I think the amount of hype around Death Grips made 'No Love Deep Web' slightly disappointing in comparison, however. Kill for Love by Chromatics is brilliant too. It sounds like a haunted disco once the lights go up. Also good: Errors, Grimes, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Mind Spiders, Santigold, Symmetry*, Beak, Bob Mould Disappointing: Sleigh Bells clearly didn't have more than one album's worth of material in them. Prince Rama's 'Top Ten Hits for the End of the World' had a cool concept but was pretty poor. The new Crystal Castles is forgettable, but I'm one of those morons who like them more when they're shouty and silly. Stuff from 2011 I caught up on that I liked: Jay-Z and Kanye West, Justice, Veronica Falls, Office of Future Plans *came out late last year, but the vinyl I ordered didn't come out until June or something.

I've never really heard of promo comic stuff ever really being worth much (as any survivor of the SuperPro/ R.O.M. Spaceknight crash of 1987 will tell you), but yeah, it might be of interest to sports fans rather than comic fans. You should make them fight for it. Jocks v. nerds. The jocks can use their brawn and the nerds can craft ingenious tricks and traps. At the end, the comic is destroyed but the nerds and jocks have earned each others trust and respect and saved Beta House. Freeze frame as the head nerd and head jock custard pie each other's faces.

I want to find it hard to believe that more than one person picked up that game and thought "Oh, a budget title based on a half-forgotten TV show, probably only released to cash in on the quality movie starring Johnny Knoxville and Jessica Simpson! Aye, think I'll skip Ico and buy this instead!" But then again, I used to work in the exciting world of games retail and find it all too easy to believe.

"Min" sounds really unnatural coming from me. Anyway, if I remember correctly he's Texan and has some kind of military background. Black Ops. Navy SEALS. Not really Black Ops or Nave SEALS.

You're right that pirating was endemic on the Dreamcast, so I'm not actually sure! It could still read CDs, obviously. Good explanation here: http://www.atariage.com/forums/topic/110324-dreamcast-gd-roms-and-piracy/

That's not strictly true, they were released on GD-Roms which were larger than CDs. The console was kind of ropey, but it deserves its cult status. Sega used to be ace at slightly quirky arcade games. Also, if you don't like Shenmue 1 & 2 you don't like wearing an ace jacket and listening to the Afterburner soundtrack on the way to catch the bus, which Shenmue offered a perfect simulation of.

The bagpipe guy is married to my cousin. I've only met him a couple of times including the wedding, so I don't think he remembers me. Any time I've waved at him or given him the 'awright' nod, he just stares at me, but he was nice enough. I also can't remember his name and he's too old to get away with calling 'man' or 'dude' instead. I'm too old to be doing that anyway, but not old enough for 'son' yet.

Forced joviality in offices/supermarkets etc is far, far worse than just letting people be miserable in their own, private way.

Breaking consumer goods and then returning them - That's pretty 'Project Mahyem'. It's not blowing up banks, but it's a start.

He did but he just saw Brad Pitt.

Dave Mustaine needs some mouth control.

Yeah, it's pretty great, especially with the sun out and everything. I agree I can take or leave the cover version on there.

They seem to have forgone any hip-hop influence that was in the first one completely for tired, ironic 'rawk' posturing and it just all sounds a bit thin and hollow. The first album always felt really playful to me, but the formula is stretched too thin. A lot of people like the second album, but I certainly don't think it would change the mind of someone who didn't like the first one. I can totally believe they'd still be a good live act though!

This is great. I was talking the other day how wrestling used to be good because the wrestlers were hillbillies and soldiers and taxmen and undertakers and hairdressers and Voodoo guys and crazy stuff and now they're all sadly just musclemen in pants, but it's great to see it's still nuts.

Between Geoff Barrow and Ben Salisbury, Cloud Nothings, Neneh Cherry and The Thing, Death Grips and The Chromatics, this year has been ace and we're only half way though. Grimes' album was pretty good as was Errors', Mind Spiders' and Santigold's respective albums, but just solid albums rather than classics. Sleigh Bells really dropped the ball with their new one and should go to their rooms and seriously think about what they've done.

Jesus, did she get that guitar by doing a quest for a Daedric Prince? (High Five, Skyrim buddies. Aaaallllriiiight!)

The mixtapes were great, and the world needs more politically and socially aware bands that are funny and not didactic and preachy (Rage Against The Machine make me want to work for a bank, vote Conservative and read the Daily Mail), but the album was a bit disappointing. 'Michael Jackson' is a tune though, you feel me? Holler! I went all fancy yesterday and bought 'The Cherry Thing' by Nina Cherry and The Thing and 'Kill for Love' by The Chromatics. Both are excellent. I got them on CD because vinyl is a treat and if I'm good with my pennies I might pick up the Gatekeeper LP later this month. The Cherry Thing is great, squally jazz with Suicide and Stooges covers and it rules. I don't know much about Jazz in all honesty, but this has a bassy, post-punky quality to it that kind of reminds me of Pigbag in places. I'm one of those posers who got interested in The Chromatics through Drive, but I'm really liking 'Kill for Love'. It's a long album at 90 minutes, but it's good rainy day music. It's like the Blade Runner soundtrack and Disintegration by The Cure had a really melancholy baby.

He probably shouldn't have ordered the knuckle sandwich <dons shades, drives motorbike through plate glass in slow motion>

Recently I've picked up: Devo: Live in Seattle 1981 - I missed this on record store day, but got one off their website. It's really excellent, a reminder that they were a smart, mutated punk band recorded at a time they were becoming more poppy. Misfits: Walk Among US - Another one I missed on RSD (I like sleeping), but One-Up randomly had a couple of copies afterwards. What can I say, it's the Misfits? Santogold: Master of My Make Believe - I was lukewarm to this at first, but it's really solid. Death Grips: The Money Store - Really exciting stuff, it's great to hear something so agressive. Drokk: Music from Mega-City One - It's like a lost John Carpenter score. it gives me butterflies. I picked up the Plan B: Ill Manors single too, because I wanted to know what all the fuss was about. It's pretty good, but the dubstep remix b-sides are going to sound hilariously dated soon.

I understand Death Grips have cancelled their UK dates to concentrate on the next album, due in November http://www.billboard.com/news/death-grips-cancel-all-future-tour-dates-1006978552.story#/news/death-grips-cancel-all-future-tour-dates-1006978552.story

OK, that's cool. I just wondered if you maybe associated the album with a certain time of your life or something. Out of curiosity, what did they go through for that album? My understanding is that they scrapped an album beforehand or something? Still not convinced about the 'genius' thing at all, though, although it's clearly and album that means a lot to you.

The problem with this line of reasoning is that it makes speaking about pop-music a bit fruitless. Sure, taste is subjective, but changing the meanings of words like 'genius' and defending (argubly) bad albums by saying 'taste is subjective' shuts down conversation. It's totally fine that you like AI, but I wonder if your affection for it is based on how old you were when it was released. I don't like Dark Side of the Moon, for example, but I get why it's a big deal. It's hard to see anyone feeling the same way about American Idiot. As for 'genius' (or game changing) punk records, what about London Calling, or the Ramones S/T?

I'm not huge on Green Day, but I did quite like their side-project 'The Network'. It's like a Devo album for when you're not in the mood for Devo.