The Daily Growl

Remember mash-ups? Quite the thing, back in 2002. Only they weren’t called mash-ups then - that came later when you couldn’t move around the Hype Machine for them. The good old-fashioned ‘bootleg’ was what they were called back then. And their very own ‘Now’ compilation was The Best Bootleg Album in the World Ever, which [...]

It’s been a while, so I’m having another glance at the rotting tower of CD singles in the corner of this room to see what’s next in line. Before I leave the H’s, I need to post this tune by David Holmes. I own nothing else by the Northern Irish DJ, producer and friend of [...]

Yesterday, the Guardian announced the death of the CD. They weren’t the first to do this, and they certainly won’t be the last. But a closer look at the article, it’s really about CD singles. Of course, this isn’t surprising. The CD single has always been a crappy format, and to hear that Florence and [...]

Although I’m well overdue another retrospective look at my singles collection, it seems timely this week to come to Richard Hawley. After all, the Sheffield balladeer has just announced the release of his sixth solo album, Truelove’s Gutter, which is due in September. Looking at the tracklisting, it seems a brief affair at only eight [...]

Here’s a question. Have you ever heard of Great Days of Sail? I’m guessing probably not. This is easily one of the most obscure bands that are going to feature on this trawl through my old CD singles. I would never have heard of them either, apart from some championing by John Kennedy on Xfm [...]

Music so often reflects the place it comes from, and this seems to be true about the next Singles Going Steady artist, Neil Halstead. Like most other early 90s indie kids, I originally knew Neil as the main man in archetypal shoegazers Slowdive. After his former band were dropped by the newly Oasis-endowed Creation records [...]

Here’s a little overlooked EP from a band now much better known for their other work, which is organising the ever-popular Truck festival, which takes place every July on a farm in Oxfordshire (now in its 12th year). When they’re not making Truck increasing more ace every year, Robin and Joe Bennett occasionally find time [...]

You may be surprised at this one. The song that launched a million crap chill-out compilations and soundracked a thousand adverts. What’s it doing here?
It’s pretty much just sentimental reasons, really. It’s actually quite a good song, at least I thought so back in ‘99, but over-familiarity and ad nauseum repetition have definitely bred contempt. [...]

Now this one takes me way back. The actual CD in my collection was acquired a few years back from a charity shop for literally pennies, but it was purchased on a silly wave of nostalgia with the heady days of the early 90s in mind.
Back in Glasgow in these days, my friend Andy and [...]

This post is mainly for linkage purposes. Last March, I started a series called Singles Going Steady, which is a trawl through my CD single collection, before I box it up and consign it (most of it anyway), to the back of some cupboard in my house. Everyone knows that CD singles is a format [...]