Ache

The Courteeners are not, as regular readers could probably guess, the sort of band I like much, and I generally try not to let the existence of groups like them bug me. Occasionally, though, I’ll become passingly outraged by something – like, say, the constant and wildly optimistic comparison that keeps being drawn between the Courteeners and The Smiths.

Striking documentary finds the dark art at the heart of the Joy Division story

Judd Apatow stable mines comedy gold from guy getting dumped

Magnificent return, reinvention from the Bristol three + indepth Q&A w/Geoff Barrow

Mike Leigh discovers optimism in cheerful London tale

Third album and European tour reaches London

'Keep It Simple' marks Van Morrison’s best ever first week sales

This week's playlist, then. The Dennis Wilson record is a bootleg, incidentally - the expanded "Pacific Ocean Blue", with the first official release of those "Bambu" tracks, is due in the office any minute now. Tonight, I'm going to see Portishead, so I'll endeavour to report back first thing tomorrow morning.

Cover versions galore from Newman’s fledgling years

After the sad news of Charlton Heston's death yesterday morning, I had hoped that the rest of my Sunday would pan out in a more genteel manner -- The Archers omnibus, a mooch round Borders, maybe a pint, that kind of thing. That was until an email from our web queen, Farah, pinged into my inbox.