Thank God, we've got it...

It's easy to overpraise Yo La Tengo. They, and almost only they, hold a uniquely diametrical place in today's increasingly homogenised music world. Jarvis Cocker once said of John Peel that he, "..stood up for the 'sore thumbs' of the music scene." And no-one defines sore thumbdom as unequivocally as YLT. Their Glasgow show of last friday demonstrated once again their extraordinary ability to reduce even the most hardened observer to tears; the most cynical commentator to cheers. Real cheers. Real tears. In their 25th year of making music they continue to plough the most fertile of musical furrows, their collective imagination undimmed, the seemingly limitless depth of their music making talent undiminished.

'Mr Tough'

It was good and now it's better...

Jonathan Lethem very rarely disappoints and TB is pleased to report that his most recent novel,' Chronic City,' published this month, continues in a similarly propitious vein. This is undoubtedly Lethem's most ambitious novel to date - finding him lost and losing it in the seemingly unchartered territory of Manhattan, a million miles away from the melancholia, angst and harsher reality of mother Brooklyn. Lethem has created a uniquely subtle satire in this work - where images and ideas are there to be smashed; he smashes them. But his vitriol is very much contained - in this book redemption and salvation are only a page turn away. The book is available now from the usual sources...

Our ding-a-ling..

Belated birthday congratulations to one of the fathers of Rock and Roll, Charles Edward (Chuck) Berry, who was 83 yesterday. Berry's influence on popular music is immeasurable - without him the music may have been very different, certainly, and most importantly, in terms of songwriting development. Berry was also a virtuoso guitarist - a fact often forgotten when attempting to put his many accomplishments into fuller context. Here, Chuck is attempting to instruct a fellow, much younger and inexperienced performer, in the art of walking the duck...

'Oh Carol'