Michael Bonner

I interviewed T Bone Burnett as part of a piece on Inside Llewyn Davis, the new Coen Brothers film, which ran in the issue of Uncut on sale in December. What was originally meant to be a brisk 10 minute chat about working with the Coens and the film's soundtrack evolved into a much longer conversation, the bulk of which, inevitably, I couldn't work into the feature. So I thought I'd post it here for anyone interested in reading T Bone's thoughts on the evolution of folk music, the music he was listening to when he was growing up, and of course his experiences working with the Coens. Other topics under discussion included the American Civil War, George Clooney and Bob Dylan...

It's awards time of year, folks. And here's the nominations in the key categories of this year's Oscars. I'm very pleased to see a lot of films we've supported over the last 12 months have received nominations - especially American Hustle, Nebraska (our 2013 Film of The Year), The Wolf Of Wall Street and Gravity.

After Lou Reed died on October 27 last year we began discussing how best we could commemorate the man and his tremendous body of work. The natural solution presented itself in the form of an Ultimate Music Guide.

In the pre-Civil War United States, Solomon Northup, a free black man from upstate New York, is abducted and sold into slavery...

2014 has already got off to a good start, I think, with American Hustle and Inside Llewyn Davis.

Apologies - I've been a little late posting my Best Albums Of 2013 list. In mitigation, at least I managed to post my Best Films Of 2013 last week, which you can read here.

The bulk of the action takes place in retrospect, prominently soundtracked by music from that era. There’s a knowing narration from a central character who is attracted to an exhilarating lifestyle fuelled by crime, money and drugs. There is a terrible fall, and a redemption of sorts.

Early on in Lawrence Of Arabia, the head of the Arab bureau, Mr Dryden, calls Lawrence into his office and invites him to investigate the progress of the Arab Revolt against Constantinople and to appraise the strength of the Arab tribes.

Oddly, perhaps, I've just signed off my film pages for the first issue of 2014. January is traditionally a strong month for releases, as the studios hit heavy for the big awards season push, all the same it looks like next year is off to a strong start with new releases from the Coen brothers, Steve McQueen and Spike Jonze.

There have been plenty of surprises and revelations in music during the last twelve months. Admittedly, perhaps not all of them have had the same impact as the sudden arrival of records by David Bowie or My Bloody Valentine; nevertheless, a Tweet on June 3 from Edwyn Collins’ label AED carried its own quietly momentous piece of breaking news. “A new @RoddyFrame record in the wind, on AED, early 2014. It’s a lovely thing, just wait til you hear it. Watch this space, popsters.”