Alistair Fitchett

Agents of Change
Blue Orchids

Not Everyone Can Live Like Millionaires
The Mountain Goats' Tallahassee

Perfect Cheekbones
Miaow

Jewel Case Towers
Recent listening - January 2003

Finders Keepers
On finding photographs

Looking for The Phantom Lady
Recent listening - December 2002

I wonder why the other kids didn't like me
On comic books by Seth, Daniel Clowes and Chris Ware

Is This Uncool?
A couple of music books

J'Aime Lispector
Alistair explains why you should too

Striving For The Lazy Perfection
Remembering The Orchids

R Is For Razorcuts
On the Matinee retrospective

Preparing To Swoon
Recent listening

C86
On an old NME tape

Champions of the fucking world
Why Alistair can't stop listening to ballboy

Dancing On The Asylum Ceiling
Two Ludus reissues

Grey Skies Blue
Three Matinee releases

Love With A Passion Called Hate
On the Delgados Hate album

American Rock
Some recent listening - October 2002

Count Me In On This One!
On Richard Buckner's Impasse

Cop That, Col!
David Shrigley and the 2003 Redstone Diary

Now and Then and Now Again
Recent reading

These Things Matter
The Russian Futurists, Butterflies of Love and Chickfactor

Reinventing The Wheel
Books by Jessica Helfland and David Attwood

Waste of Paint?
Alistair listens to Bright Eyes

Made To Make Your Spine Tingle
St Etienne, Marc Carroll, Bilge Water, Parasol and Flotation Toy Warning

Singles Going Steady
Recent single offerings

Action Time Vision
Rolled Gold by The Action

Something To Believe
ASt Etienne, the Heavenly label and assorted early '90s oddities

The Difference
Alistair catches up with the novels of Charles Willeford

Garlands of Razor-Wire and Poppies
Cath Carroll, Ultramarine, Cody and Fosca

Close To Perfection
on some Sundazed releases

The Most Wonderfulest Thing
recent listening, July 2002

The Last Of The Steam Powered Trains
Alistair Fitchett on July Skies

Bill Drummond Said
Alistair buys 1/20,000th of a Richard Long artwork. Or does he?

As Important As It Is Irrelevant
The Shins, Kinks, Josef K, Ludus and Bob Mould

Quiet Suburban Dreams
July Skies, Golden Rough, Darren Hanlon and Simpatico

Collecting Obsessions
Books by Speck and LOT/EK

Shave Your Head
Remembering Stockholm Monsters and Happy Mondays

California Is Just Over The Horizon
The Millennium and their associated off-shoots

Seeing Sound
Alistair reviews Sonic Graphics

Get Your Kicks...
The Final Cut - Route 66, Stencil Graffiti and the Little Book of Design Classics

Crossing Off Names In Notebooks
recent reading

There For The Duration
Alistair listens to the Lucksmiths

Early
On the A Certain Ratio compilation on Soul Jazz

Don't Blink
7" singles reviewed

Travelling Without Motion
Books by Tomato

How Pop Is that?
Alistair remembers the Shop Assistants

Shopping Therapy
Alistair buys CDs by Colourbox, Teardrop Explodes, Terry Hall, Clinic and Slumber Party

Shot By Both Sides
Echo and the Bunnymen and Buzzkunst

Bored and Dumb?
At the Andy Warhol retrospective

The Story Of The Blues
A new Phaidon published retrospective of photographer Martin Parr.

Talk About The Past
The Wake

Your Past is at Your Shoulder
James Sallis and Jason Flores-Williams' Last Stand of Mr America

Making the Grade
Overflower and The Soft Set

Add Some Music To Your Day
Alistair discovers the world was right about the Beach Boys all along

Rabid Curiosity
Friends Again, Orchids, Mountain Goats and White Stripes

Sounds Pretty Good To Me
Freezepop, Lifestyle, Aerospace, Flare and Dreamy records

Like Nothing But Soul
re-discovering Jazz with Robin Tomens and Roy DeCarava

Truth or Consequences
recent collections of photographs by Robert Capa and Nick Waplington

Sunlight on the snow
Recent Matinee label recordings

I Can Only Give You Everything
Lester Bangs' Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung

Still Turning The Pages
Recent reading

Times are Tough, We Can Still Picnic
Alistair on his favourite music of 2001

Beached
Bryan Wynter, Patrick Heron, Michel Houellebecq and Raymond Pettibon

Laughing, Mostly
Alistair listens to Delta and remembers the Sea Urchins

Autumn Kaleidoscopes
Beachwood Sparks, satanstompingcaterpillars, Deloris and Braving The Seabed

I Love The Unknown
In praise of Clem Snide

Pocko Book Angel
New pocketable art books

movie-dream memoirs
Alistair reviews singles by Richard and DJ Ordeal, and remembers Househunters whilst he's at it

Thank you for the chocolates
watching the KLF burn a million quid

Over Bramble Bridge
obligatory summer compilation tape

Blue
Bicycle rides and Blue Aeroplanes

Sensational Summer Smash
Recent listening

Kitkats and Vinegar
The triumphant return of Animals That Swim, and despair at Belle and Sebastian's single

Blue Waves That Spill
Alistair remembers 14 Iced Bears and almost wishes for the return of the 1980s

Something Worth Celebrating
Tom Friedman and recent Art books

Just A Daft Moustache
or Why I hate Salvador Dali

Beyond the Stars
Life Without Buildings live.

Black and Blue
Johnny Dangerously and I Am Kloot

Sunset Studies
Discovering the delights of Augie March

Total Trash
Sonic Youth Memories

Just because it's obvious
Gram Parsons, John Phillips and The Lovin' Spoonful

55
Phaidon Books' new photography series

Street Graphics Cuba
Alistair Fitchett thinks things over

Ragamuffin Minstrel Boy
Rediscovering Bob Dylan

It's Only an Opinion, but Hey…
The Consumer as Critic and never wanting to read any books about Creation records.

Tricky Traverses
Climbing the mountain of music journalism with Alistair Fitchett

my empty-headed daydreams
Alistair comes back from London and talks about what he saw there.

'Facts' can take care of themselves
Andy Warhol and the myth of truth.

The Peacock Manifesto
On the new novel by Stuart David

Let's Get Out
Alistair goes from Limp Bizkit to Life Without Buildings and Low. Seamlessly...

Guided by Distraction
Jean Michel Basquiat and Kim Hiorthøy

The One You Really Love
The Magnetic Fields vs Belle & Sebastian

Match Of The Day Alistair makes a tape letter.

Old and Cranky Recent reading

Wonderful In Young Life Bluer, Higher, Wider: Simple Minds

Stuck In The Mud Alistair looks at the Stuckists and finds them lacking.

The Strength To Dream ZTT and the art of Propaganda and Frankie Goes To Holloywood

I Love It When You Blink Your Eyes Alistair loves Distortions


The Alphabet Is Useless
Alistair Fitchett on things he has been listening to:

A is for Aislers Set

B is for Baxendale
And D is for Daphne & Celeste

C is for the Clientele
With supporting cast of Arco, Sodastream and Herman Düne

Hyacinth Thistles
And a case of digressions

I destroy my heart to spite myself
Skipping right to Stars


The Smart and The Dumb The Magnetic Fields in London.

Don't drive. Can't drive. Won't drive On American Dream: 36 Drivetime Classics and why he's never learned to drive.

Forever and For Now The Visitors' Miss.

You Will Have Your Revenge Back-tracking on Baxendale and wittering on about Pop Moments again.

Looking At The Mist On The Hudson On, among other things, records by The Clientele, Stars, Aislers Set, Josef K, The Fan Modine, Departure Lounge, The Visitors, The Caribbean

We Can Meet On Christopher Street or why no-one ever writes good music novels. Sam Fussell, Lawrence Block and The Pictorial Jackson Review.

ch ch ch ch Changes On finally getting some Bowie records.

An Ode To The Travellers Some Friday Night ruminations.

cornflower blue skied picnics The Clientele, Arco, Tuesday Weld and Overflower.

Pablo Picasso was never called an asshole The books of Matthew Collings.

It Started With A Loop Some ruminations on lines and loops.

Fabulous Failure Remembering Plastic Toy Gun records, Kimberley and others from the faraway land of adolescence.

Gibberish Remembering the Teardrop Explodes.

Isolation A Tangents editorial and the nature of Arts Council funding

69 Cobras and Snowstorms 'Recent' listening

The Serpents' Kiss New literature

I Was Talking To The Trees New fiction.

there were punches that went to my head... Niki Lauda, Lance Armstrong and Kevin Rowland.

Spectacle of the Individual Grands Prix heroes.

Unfinshed Dreaming The Stars of Heaven

The Sweet Forever The new novel by George P Pelecanos.

En Vacances Some holiday musings on books and recordings.

PopNoir Blasts The Nick Stefanos books of George P Pelecanos

I Don't Love Anyone Not a review of the Belle & Sebastian record they titled Tigermilk

March Modern Classics Recorings by Velocette, Luna, Talk Talk and Peter Thomas.

February 14th 1999 Some new records by Bis, Whistler and Built To Spill reviewed.

Hindsight Recordings of 1998 reviewed.

Buy The Book (or don't) Some things sent to Tangents by the nice people at Virgin Books, including a dull encyclopedia, a picture book on the Rolling Stones, Robbie Williams and some things about sex.

Don't Believe the Hype... Views on the MoWax release Psyence Fiction by UNKLE.

Cock Fun A brief history of Belle & Sebastian, and a review of their LP The Boy With The Arab Strap.

June of 98 Review of the best records of the first half of '98.

Sensation Number One Listening to the Laugh LP from 1988.

Magnetic Fields The Holiday and House of Tomorrow re-issues.

Endless Soul Josef K.

Gene Clark's No Other

The Art of Noise The sleeve art of Andy Royston

Intimate Auto-Destruction Gustav Metzger at Spacex Gallery, Exeter, February and March 1999.

Cool Schmool A look at the nature of 'cool' and why the real hipsters couldn't care less.

Today A rant about fanzine writers from pop groups called Bis.

Fuck Dance, Let's Art (Clubbed To Death part 2) A glance at Club Culture.

Organised Sound The musical tapestry of the South West, from Aphex to Appliance, Brett Ashley to The Visitors

3, 6, 9 Seconds Of Light review of the new Belle & Sebastian EP, due out October 13th in the UK at least.

Some Sounds Tangents reviews tunes by Helen Love, Deborah Anderson, Arab Strap, The Sea & Cake, Photek, Matrix, Thunder, Laila France, East Of Suez, Port Friendly and To Rococo Rot.

Salaryman Review of Salaryman debut CD on City Slang. Plus Salaryman answer some Tangential questions.

Belle & Sebastian at the Union Chapel The B&S show.

In Your Bright Ray Former Go-Betweens singer/songwriter Grant McLennan's fourth solo album.

Lazy Line Painter Jane Review of the new Belle & Sebastian EP, due for release on July 28th.

Arabesque Meandering thoughts on the sounds of Arabesque and the brittle pop of Spain's 'Siesta' records.

7" Singles A Selection of those strange artefacts that seem to come from another age... Autocollants, Buddha On The Moon, Steinbecks, Ninotchka, Le Mans, Ohio, Poundsign# and Orange Cake Mix provide the platters.

Belle & Sebastian It's a review of their 'If You're Feeling Sinister' LP, honest.

Bis 'The New Transistor Heroes', debut LP by noisy Glasgow oiks.

Something Cool Cher Doll records' compilation under a fleeting microscope.

Spring Jungle, 1996 Tunes by Photek, Squarepusher and Source Direct amongst others. Includes a longer rant on the State of The Jungle at that time.

Post-Rock and Techno, the sounds of American post-rockers Trans Am, and European post-techno bods Kreidler and To Rococo Rot.

Swell The Swell LP, Too Many Days Without Thinking.

The Arab Strap Arab Strap's LP The Week Never Starts Round Here.

Do You Need Direction? The revenge of the Jasmine Minks.

(Not So)New Tunes. A few of the sounds released early in 1998.

Tangents end of Year review. The best sonic delights of 1997.

Angels In The Architecture. Belle and Sebastian at Manchester Town Hall.

Me. A personal account of Richey Edwards and Manic Street Preachers.

Breaking The Waves Views on a highly regarded piece of cinema.

Strawberry Switchblade New Pop and the art of polka dots; Glasgow's own scabby witch one-hit-wonders given a lengthy and in-depth retrospective.

Lara! Lara!Off the beaten track in Cyprus; the lowdown on mountain biking in the Akamas wilderness.

Felt. A retrospective.

Drag and Drop. Printed fanzines versus electronic ezines.

Snogs Shags and Fags. Cigarettes and alcohol: The Pleasures of New and not a mention of oasis. (well a slight one).

Clubbed To Death. Living room club culture and the spirit of eclecticism.

Rodan

Tracey Thorn



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