Blogs

When Sinéad O’Connor tore up a picture of Pope John Paul II on Saturday Night Live in 1992, she brought into focus her gifts for music, controversy and self-publicity in one fairly explosive package.

Among my post last week, I received a nice care package from Ace Records that included one quite weird Duke Ellington album ("My People"); Volume 3 of their "Where Country Meets Soul" series (I cannot recommend Ralph ''Soul'' Jackson's version of ''Jambalaya'' highly enough); and, maybe best of all, "Cracking The Cosimo Code", a collection of extraordinary music originating from Cosimo Matassa's New Orleans studio in the 1960s.

I received an email last week from an old college friend, with a link to the Souncloud page of Liam Hayes & Plush, and an amused/irate message along the lines of, "One of your two jobs in life was meant to be to flag me when he releases anything/makes any move out of his lair."

The last major works by one of Hollywood's greatest modern actors.

On Sunday, Kate Bush inadvertently staged a one-woman assault on the British charts. This week, 11 records in the Official UK Albums Chart are by Bush – not bad, really, for a woman who has only really released nine new studio albums in the past 36 years.

Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks at End Of The Road 2014 - review British Sea Power at End Of The Road 2014 - review Connan Mockasin & St Vincent at End Of The Road 2014 - review Cate Le Bon & Sam Lee at End Of The Road 2014 - review

Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks at End Of The Road 2014 - review British Sea Power at End Of The Road 2014 - review Connan Mockasin & St Vincent at End Of The Road 2014 - review Cate Le Bon & Sam Lee at End Of The Road 2014 - review

Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks at End Of The Road 2014 - review British Sea Power at End Of The Road 2014 - review Connan Mockasin & St Vincent at End Of The Road 2014 - review Cate Le Bon & Sam Lee at End Of The Road 2014 - review Gruff Rhys at End Of The Road 2014 - review Yo La Tengo at End Of The Road 2014 - review Richard Thompson & Tinariwen at End Of The Road 2014 - review As far as spectacles go, The Flaming Lips still go that extra mile. Their headline set on the Woods Stage at End Of The Road tonight (Saturday) is the most colourful and psychedelic I've ever seen at the festival, perhaps ever seen full-stop.

Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks at End Of The Road 2014 - review British Sea Power at End Of The Road 2014 - review Connan Mockasin & St Vincent at End Of The Road 2014 - review Cate Le Bon & Sam Lee at End Of The Road 2014 - review The Flaming Lips at End Of The Road 2014 - review Yo La Tengo at End Of The Road 2014 - review Richard Thompson & Tinariwen at End Of The Road 2014 - review Earlier this afternoon, Gruff Rhys introduced his American Interior film in the Cinema tent at End Of The Road - "I don't really know what I'm supposed to be doing," his speech began, endearingly.

Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks at End Of The Road 2014 - review British Sea Power at End Of The Road 2014 - review Connan Mockasin at End Of The Road 2014 - review Gruff Rhys at End Of The Road 2014 - review The Flaming Lips at End Of The Road 2014 - review Yo La Tengo at End Of The Road 2014 - review Richard Thompson & Tinariwen at End Of The Road 2014 - review One of the highlights of Saturday so far is Cate Le Bon, performing with her three-piece band on the Garden Stage. The vast majority of the set is taken from last year's excellent Mug Museum, and that album's brittle, angular cuts like "I Can't Help You" are the most exciting of the show.