Today is the end of the 40th Glastonbury festival, and as the tour buses trundle out of the otherwise sleepy village of Pilton in Somerset and the massive clean-up gets underway in Worthy Farm I return to my yearly Glastonbury routine which I’m sure I share with many. This routine consists of me watching Glastonbury footage and becoming increasingly green-eyed with every guitar chord emanating from the Pyramid Stage and cursing myself for not being there. So in an effort of consolation I resolve to go the next year and religiously follow the Glastonbury updates throughout the year. But then the year passes and I miss the festival yet again. This routine is repeated yearly, and I will eventually get to Glastonbury even if...

John Lennon had a tormented childhood. At the age of 5 his parents made him decide who he wanted to live with - his father Alf who was moving to New Zealand, or his mother Julia who was to remain in Liverpool. John chose Alf, but as his mother was leaving he ran after her and ultimately chose her. His Aunt Mimi then reported his mother to Social Services, so he remained with Mimi instead. Aged 17 his mother was hit by a car and died near her home. It’s often been said that the absence of his father and the death of his mother at a young age contributed to Lennon’s seeming inability to deal with confrontation and responsibility in his personal life and caused him to undergo therapy in his later years. The BBC 4 film ‘Lennon Naked’ explores this side of Lennon. It begins with Lennon in his adulthood, continuing where Sam Taylor-Wood’s ‘Nowhere Boy’...

Ever wondered what happened to Fred Mascherino formerly of Taking Back Sunday? Well, if so, wonder no more! The last I heard of him was when he left the band and was focusing on his solo project The Colour Fred, but recently I found out about the current band he’s in called Terrible Things. While their track ‘Revolution’ sounds like it wouldn’t be out of place on Taking Back Sunday album it’s still an impressive track. ‘The Hills of Birmingham’ is an engaging track which begins acoustically but swiftly descends into electric guitars and a stronger sound. To have a listen yourself, which I highly recommend, their MySpace is here and is only a click away!...

Since my last blog post I’ve been acquainting myself with the music of Pearl and the Puppets. Her latest single ‘Because I Do’ is catchy but not too dissimilar to the sound of Feist. Still some quality songs to be heard on her MySpace here, and I'm in no doubt that she's definitely one to watch. And, as I’m sure you’ll be interested to know the most mundane (but in my case terrifying) eventuality of getting a tooth taken out caused me to ponder about what would be a good play list for while you’re in the dentist’s chair. Well, that and minimising my sugar intake. And, as your ever intrepid blogger, I compiled this list:

Nick Drake...

“You know that song from that ad? Oh come onnnn, you know, that song?!” are words which have been uttered by many of us. Perhaps an efficient and effective way for bands to get the mainstream success many may have hoped for is through allowing their songs to be used on ads, or are many one hit wonder ‘ad bands’ being produced instead?

A look at two bands who’ve announced dates in Dublin who are definitely worth seeing, and some musings about PJ Harvey.

A brief look at 2010's Record Store Day in Dublin, and lamenting the absence of Conor O'Brien better known as Villagers.

After the recent success of Pink Floyd’s court case against EMI because they had allowed the release of their songs as single tracks, a debate has arisen in the midst - should all songs be bundled, or is the album a dying art form?

Talk of Taking Back Sunday and Glasvegas, and perhaps one of the best albums of 2010.

With the release of Doves’ Best Of in April quickly approaching, it got me thinking about greatest hits albums. Are these albums to be loved or loathed?