Lee Ward
@leewardmister.bsky.social
It's books and music all the way down.
Reposted by Lee Ward
Books read on one day in November in 2025, but not *that* day: On the Calculation of Volume, Solvej Balle. How can this slim novel in which nothing much keeps happening be so magical? First volume of *seven*! Can't wait to get back aboard the quotidian merry-go-round
November 28, 2025 at 8:59 PM
Books read on one day in November in 2025, but not *that* day: On the Calculation of Volume, Solvej Balle. How can this slim novel in which nothing much keeps happening be so magical? First volume of *seven*! Can't wait to get back aboard the quotidian merry-go-round
Which is one reason I'm nervous to read his Drake book – I'm sure the *facts* stand up, but he doesn't seem to actually *enjoy* music all that much
If you’ve ever longed for super-rare ££££ LPs I suggest you follow Galactic Ramble on Instagram where the writer Richard Morton Jack shows off his super-hard-to-find vinyl and gives the impression that none of it brings him any joy. A curious enterprise and all seemingly done without humour.
November 27, 2025 at 5:13 PM
Which is one reason I'm nervous to read his Drake book – I'm sure the *facts* stand up, but he doesn't seem to actually *enjoy* music all that much
I listen to Cranes again for the first time in 30-odd years, with increased admiration for their *sound*, and an utterly unshifted opinion about the outright unlistenability of the singing.
November 25, 2025 at 12:44 PM
I listen to Cranes again for the first time in 30-odd years, with increased admiration for their *sound*, and an utterly unshifted opinion about the outright unlistenability of the singing.
Better than I thought it'd be (I thought it would be tremendous)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIol...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIol...
Geese - Getting Killed | From The Basement
YouTube video by From The Basement
www.youtube.com
November 20, 2025 at 9:27 PM
Better than I thought it'd be (I thought it would be tremendous)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIol...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIol...
The Rosalia album really does deserve every hosanna
November 20, 2025 at 9:07 PM
The Rosalia album really does deserve every hosanna
Reposted by Lee Ward
Spotify has announced more in-depth song credits and a "SongDNA" feature powered by Whosampled, which they recently acquired
Spotify Announces Updated Song Credits Feature
It has not been the most flattering PR year for Spotify. Since last spring, popular bands like Deerhoof, Massive Attack, Sylvan Esso, King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard, Hotline TNT, and countless mor...
stereogum.com
November 19, 2025 at 9:13 PM
Spotify has announced more in-depth song credits and a "SongDNA" feature powered by Whosampled, which they recently acquired
That thing where, if you can't find the book you *want* to read (in this case, Human Voices by Penelope Fitzgerald) anywhere in the house, then all the other books just feel *wrong*
November 19, 2025 at 10:58 PM
That thing where, if you can't find the book you *want* to read (in this case, Human Voices by Penelope Fitzgerald) anywhere in the house, then all the other books just feel *wrong*
SNOW! A lot of it! OK, stop now.
November 19, 2025 at 9:03 AM
SNOW! A lot of it! OK, stop now.
I hope people realise AI isn't going away if the AI bubble bursts, any more than the internet went away when the dotcom bubble burst.
November 18, 2025 at 10:56 AM
I hope people realise AI isn't going away if the AI bubble bursts, any more than the internet went away when the dotcom bubble burst.
Been looking forward all year to Chris Thile at the London Jazz Festival at the Barbican! Can't wait!
Oh, it was last night.
Oh, it was last night.
November 16, 2025 at 11:51 PM
Been looking forward all year to Chris Thile at the London Jazz Festival at the Barbican! Can't wait!
Oh, it was last night.
Oh, it was last night.
Only now, some 40 years on, do I connect the writer of that short story with the author of Mythago Wood. Wow.
I could recommend "A Personal Anthology" every week but this week's, by @iancritchley.bsky.social , is a particular treat. How could you not love a selection that includes the short story that was printed in the manual of the 1984 space trading game "Elite"?
open.substack.com/pub/apersona...
open.substack.com/pub/apersona...
A Personal Anthology, by Ian Critchley
I recently stopped reviewing books.
open.substack.com
November 14, 2025 at 2:53 PM
Only now, some 40 years on, do I connect the writer of that short story with the author of Mythago Wood. Wow.
Reading a book that feels like it's set in the uncanny valley. It's meant to be contemporary, but a 20yo girl will keep lighting a silk cut and saying "Of course I'm not happy! I don't even exist! I made a bargain with God and I lost!"
November 12, 2025 at 9:58 AM
Reading a book that feels like it's set in the uncanny valley. It's meant to be contemporary, but a 20yo girl will keep lighting a silk cut and saying "Of course I'm not happy! I don't even exist! I made a bargain with God and I lost!"
Is the Prescott Report in the public domain yet? I.e. is there a way to read it without having to sign up to the Telegraph.
November 10, 2025 at 12:20 PM
Is the Prescott Report in the public domain yet? I.e. is there a way to read it without having to sign up to the Telegraph.
I realise audiobooks have made me a better reader: I now more clearly hear a voice when reading. And you can cast your own narrator in your minds ear: what would this sound like if Alex Jennings were reading it? Or Lydia Leonard. And so on
November 9, 2025 at 10:32 AM
I realise audiobooks have made me a better reader: I now more clearly hear a voice when reading. And you can cast your own narrator in your minds ear: what would this sound like if Alex Jennings were reading it? Or Lydia Leonard. And so on
Bluesky search, JFC. Won't be searching for BBC again in a hurry.
November 8, 2025 at 8:36 PM
Bluesky search, JFC. Won't be searching for BBC again in a hurry.
Reposted by Lee Ward
Someone might read this and say "Hey, Where is Guys Like Me? Where is It's Not, where is You Do? Where is Freeway? Where is Little Bombs" But I say, Hey, there are enough amazing Aimee Mann songs to go around because the woman can do no wrong.
www.theguardian.com/music/2025/n...
www.theguardian.com/music/2025/n...
A voice that still carries: Aimee Mann’s greatest songs – ranked!
Thirty years on from the release of her acclaimed album I’m With Stupid, we count down the sucker-punching best tracks by the US singer-songwriter
www.theguardian.com
November 6, 2025 at 8:26 PM
Someone might read this and say "Hey, Where is Guys Like Me? Where is It's Not, where is You Do? Where is Freeway? Where is Little Bombs" But I say, Hey, there are enough amazing Aimee Mann songs to go around because the woman can do no wrong.
www.theguardian.com/music/2025/n...
www.theguardian.com/music/2025/n...
If there were five better books than Helm this year…. Can’t wait to read them
The waiting is nearly over! Our judges - Mark Haddon, Megan Nolan, @simonokotie.bsky.social, and @asack.bsky.social - have read, deliberated and decided.
Winner announcement TONIGHT around 7.30pm🔥
Winner announcement TONIGHT around 7.30pm🔥
November 5, 2025 at 2:17 PM
If there were five better books than Helm this year…. Can’t wait to read them
Gah, seems from the H is for Hawk trailer they've binned all the T.H. White stuff. That's what made the book work! Cowards, etc
November 5, 2025 at 11:01 AM
Gah, seems from the H is for Hawk trailer they've binned all the T.H. White stuff. That's what made the book work! Cowards, etc
Getting turned away from a club and then accepting a lift "to some other club" from a pair of semi-professional drug-dealers.
What’s the stupidest thing you’ve ever done? I don’t mean “cheating on your partner” stupid, I mean stupid stupid. Like, once, I had this bubble bath which smelled absolutely delicious, so I took a big glug of it. That kind of stupid. (It did not taste delicious.)
October 31, 2025 at 11:10 PM
Getting turned away from a club and then accepting a lift "to some other club" from a pair of semi-professional drug-dealers.
The real problem here is of course: what to read next. I can see myself hurling a succession of slim autofictive novellas out the window til I find something that scratches the itch.
Books read in 2025: Lonesome Dove, Larry McMurtry. Sad to take leave of Call and Newt and Lorrie and Clara. But the chief lesson: never disturb a nest of water moccasin.
October 28, 2025 at 4:14 PM
The real problem here is of course: what to read next. I can see myself hurling a succession of slim autofictive novellas out the window til I find something that scratches the itch.
Reposted by Lee Ward
For the Shadow of the Colossus story, we interviewed 14 people including project leads Fumito Ueda and Kenji Kaido, hired Gravity Rush concept artist Takeshi Oga to illustrate the cover, and put together a 10,000-word story with help from @milkman.bsky.social @shmuplations.bsky.social and others.
Shadow of the Colossus: An oral history
Celebrate the 20th anniversary of Team Ico’s masterpiece by looking back with 11 people who worked on it (and three who didn’t).
www.designroom.site
October 14, 2025 at 2:03 PM
For the Shadow of the Colossus story, we interviewed 14 people including project leads Fumito Ueda and Kenji Kaido, hired Gravity Rush concept artist Takeshi Oga to illustrate the cover, and put together a 10,000-word story with help from @milkman.bsky.social @shmuplations.bsky.social and others.
My other opinion about books is that this poem by Fiona Benson is magnificent. 'Haunted little veterans'!
October 14, 2025 at 10:44 AM
My other opinion about books is that this poem by Fiona Benson is magnificent. 'Haunted little veterans'!
My principal opinion about books as objects is you should read this book about books as objects
October 14, 2025 at 10:19 AM
My principal opinion about books as objects is you should read this book about books as objects
annoyed about this all over again. you just hear them going 'Bill Nighy! Trebles all round!' and not 'is this actually going to work? Like, at all?'
Crazy idea, but for the cost of getting Bill Nighy to read the footnotes, could surely have taken the time to properly format Sian Clifford's script so there aren't moments where you can essentially *hear* the fact there was a pagebreak?
October 13, 2025 at 9:54 AM
annoyed about this all over again. you just hear them going 'Bill Nighy! Trebles all round!' and not 'is this actually going to work? Like, at all?'
Feel slightly bad for Maria Corina Machado. Every post about her win is really about someone else.
October 10, 2025 at 9:48 AM
Feel slightly bad for Maria Corina Machado. Every post about her win is really about someone else.