Blog: Too Much Apple Pie

Just in case you were in any doubt that I'm a big softie. Lavender Diamond - Open Your Heart mp3

This week's playlist sees us travelling all the way back to the first chart of the 1980s - or, if you're being finicky, the final chart of the 1970s; it's for the week ending 5th January 1980 anyway, so would actually have first appeared on 29th December 1979. Hang on, I'll start again... This week's playlist sees us travelling all the way back to the final chart of the 1970s. And what a week it was! But don't just take my word for it - cop a load of these. [...]

Annika Norlin covers fellow Swedes the Deportees' song The Doctor In Me . Nice.

Long-term readers of this blog will remember a series we ran a few years ago entitled Search Us , in which I'd catalogue some of the more unlikley and outlandish internet searches that somehow ended up landing the unwitting Googler (other search engines are available, albeit no one uses any of them) here. These searches ranged from the pornographic ( Keeley Hawes nude ) to the pornographic and disturbing ( Watch Paul Jewell Derby porn ); from the curious ( Is Wincey Willis dead? ) to the speculative ( Norwegian band's name, I [...]

Took this footage on my phone from this evening's Euro 2014 qualifier between Turkey and Croatia. In it, Turkish playmaker Hamit Altintop takes what I would have to declare to be the most outrageous dive I've ever seen perpetrated by a professional footballer (and I've seen Cristiano Ronaldo). There was no one within three feet of him! (Apologies for the rather shonky picture quality, by the way, but I literally filmed the video direct from my mobile phone while pointing it at the telly! Still, though, a couple of clicks later and it was uploaded to [...]

Inspired by STV's recent Scotland's Greatest Album series (you can read the final results from the viewers' vote here ), I've decided to cobble together my own list of favourites by artists from north of the border (Spotify availability permitting). Unlike the TV version, however, there'll be nae Rod Stewart or AC/DC here. But I have served up lashings of cheese. 1 Strawberry Switchblade - Since Yesterday 2 Orange Juice - I Can't Help Myself 3 God Help The Girl - God Help The Girl 4 Camera Obscura - [...]

The shocked visage you see above is that of an especially annoying, over-confident contestant on last night's Pointless, realising that he'd just given an incorrect answer and had thus been eliminated. It was much like the bit in a movie where the evil genius realises that his sinister plan has backfired and he's not going to gain control of the world after all. (Oh what's it called, you know the one I mean... Evil Genius Sinister Plan Man .) Anyway, this may not reflect especially well on me, but that has to one of my favourite [...]

Look who was back on Pointless last night... Guess how he got on? The Revelations - You're The Loser mp3

Bit late with this one but in the wake of the sad death of actress Betty Driver this week, here's John Shuttleworth's musical paean to the character she made her name with. Truly, the Rovers won't be the same without her. John Shuttleworth - Betty Turpin mp3

Because Marit Bergman's brilliant and so's this song. The lyrics are ace too. Marit Bergman - I Thought I Would Be Older By Now mp3 Actually, that song reminds me of the clip below, from my favourite sketch show for donkey's years, BBC Scotland's Limmy's Show . I really can't emphasise strongly enough how funny this programme is, and how you should definitely seek it out if you're not familiar with it already. There are loads more Limmy's Show clips on YouTube, [...]

Can you believe this is fifteen years old already? Still sounding as etherially beautiful as ever and all. Ahh Trish, we miss you. Broadcast - The Book Lovers mp3 (Currently reading I, Partridge: We Need To Talk About Alan. Always the highbrow stuff with me.)

We live in an age where it's possible to call up even the most risible, meaningless song lyrics in a matter of seconds, thanks to the plethora of websites serving that purpose cluttering up the internet; but is it possible to find the words to old Faith Brothers classics online? Is it bollocks. At least that's case as far as personal favourite A Stranger On Home Ground goes. Can't find it for looking. Unlike the albums the Faith Brothers later released - which included printed lyrics for all the songs - there was no sign [...]

Hey, national and local radio station playlist controllers - look! There are some day-appropriate songs you could give a spin on a Monday morning other than I Don't Like Mondays ! It's a crazy idea, I know, but it might just work. Some of the songs below aren't even about massacring blameless colleagues or school friends either, so possibly act as less of a subliminal advertising campaign to any of the more unhinged members of the populace. Just a thought. ( Tegan & Sara ) [...]

You won't thank me for posting this here, but I feel everyone should have the full horror of the new Littlewoods Christmas advert inflicted on them at least the once. Brace yerselves... Jarvis Cocker - Cunts Are Still Running The World mp3

A song to celebrate the end of the latest interminable international football break today. My goodness those things are annoying (international football breaks, I mean, rather than songs, which can often be quite agreeable). Just as the fitba season's getting going in the top two divisions, the whole thing's halted for a fortnight for the benefit of one, or possibly two, tiresome qualifiers (or even worse, friendlies) played by your national side. Which is all very well if you support Germany or Spain, or any other countries whose teams play an aesthetically-pleasing brand of football; [...]

There now follows a pair food-related jokes I made on Twitter this week, both of which, alas, died on their arse (as do most of my tweets). Vanity and a misplaced sense of pride dictates that I shall continue to repeat these gags until some bastard laughs at them. *clears throat* JOKE #1 [After Tiger Woods had had a hot dog thrown at him during a golf tournament at the weekend] "I asked for a sand wedge, not a hot dog" JOKE #2 [...]

Despite the fact that they've been around since the late nineties, I'd never heard of Californian duo Fonda until Lito posted recent single Better Days over on Lito Music last week. It immediately caught my ear anyway as it's one of the best slices of shoegazey dream pop I've heard this side of 1992. See what you make of it. Fonda - Better Days mp3 (right click) You can download Fonda's five-song Better Days EP for $5 at Bandcamp

• Fonda - Better Days

John Hegley - Greavsie mp3 (Just pretend it's 1988 or something)

Thee AHs are a bunch of Canadian teenagers who play a thoroughly agreeable brand of lo-fi pop. Just been listening to their 12-track album Nation and it is consistently very good indeed. In an age where we're constantly besieged with images of spoilt numpties warbling and emoting for all their worth on those ubiquitous yet completely unedifying TV talent contests, it's more refreshing than ever to hear a bunch of youngsters making music on their own terms and for the fun of it. Here they are with Nation lead track Onion in my Pocket . [...]

Dare you watch this video? Read more about the Can I Project at Annika Norlin's Säkert! blog The 11-track album Säkert! På engelska is out now on Razzia Records