If
you're a stranger here
And you need some action ...
http://www.demon.co.uk/momus ... though it's not my
first choice anymore.
http://www.aslan.demon.co.uk ... if I met Andrew Rilstone, I'd probably be bored stiff. Role-playing games, comic books, medieval studies, Wagner. Things whose very mention I normally dread. But there's such absorption here ... C.S. Lewis, John Lennon, Doctor Who, the flaws of Tony Blair, The Phantom Menace, and the guilt of a lapsed Methodist (something I share). Oh, and there's some pretty good fiction as well. I think I might be more stimulated by meeting Andrew after all ... just a pity that so much of the material is several years old and the lack of recent additions, which is down to his working on his first novel.
http://www.siesta.es ... the triumph of artifice over realism in pop, and all the more wonderful for it. But touch that fragility underneath ...
Freaky Trigger at http://www.freakytrigger.co.uk and Tangents at http://www.tangents.co.uk ... certainly two of the best webzines in Britain.
Simon Reynolds and Jonathan Selzer are the men who, to quote Momus on Howard Devoto, taught me how to hammer out a manly turn of phrase ... well, fairly manly. Their refuges are http://members.aol.com/blissout, http://blissout.blogspot.com and http://members.tripod.com/mozaque/comezero/zerohome.htm.
Discredited by the laziness of the TV show, but still a fantastic archive: http://www.tvgohome.com.
Momus started off here in 1985, and they are still the UK distributors of Analog Baroque. Just a pity they aren't releasing any other new music ... but anyway, http://www.cherryred.co.uk.
My inspiration in so many ways (on Blue Jam, simultaneous subversion and seduction, something which I also crave) is Chris Morris, celebrated at http://www.koekie.org.uk/funnel.
Tom Ewing wouldn't be too keen on this link, but ... http://www.ozemail.com.au/~xenophon for Alan Garner, one of the greatest English writers, full stop, of the last 50 years.
alt.fan.momus
alert (circa 2000, anyway, no idea what it's like now):
http://www.clodia.net is home to Vanessa Siegl,
an afm regular who is genuinely sweet, and I
mean that in a good sense.
http://pages.ripco.net/~dymaxia: Kerry Keane, a constant presence on the Momus newsgroup since its earliest days.
http://www.mp3.com/castlerobertson and http://castlerobertson.blogspot.com ... James Lucas, a fellow traveller for long enough now.
http://tv.cream.org - OK, so it has a faintly irritating "house" style which can often read as though those responsible have taken as silly, superficial and uncritical an approach to the past concerned as you can imagine - but there is some great stuff here. Especially the Moondial entry. Guess who wrote it? (unhealthy pattern developing here).
http://www.offthetelly.co.uk ... and no, I don't just link here because I wrote some of it:). Considering the domination of the net by lazy, unimaginative "remember Bagpuss?" kids' TV sites or dull corporate sites for Coronation Street, Brookside, etc. it's a pleasure to link to what I consider to be the most informed and well-written TV criticism online. Highpoints too numerous to mention, low points too few to moan about, but I must draw particular attention to David Savage's passionate desire to reclaim public access TV and dissection of the mentality behind the popularity of Little House on the Prairie in 70s middle America, David Sheldrick on Ace of Wands, Steve Williams on Top of the Pops... oh, and there's some stuff about The Day Today, Moondial, Radio and TV Times and, ahem, three of the "I Love" programmes, as well. Not up to much. Now who wrote it? Never heard of him ...
http://www.transdiffusion.org, http://www.meldrum.co.uk/mhp and http://www.mb21.co.uk - three sites which,
between them, tell you just about everything you need to know
about British TV presentational and technical history.
http://www.guardian.co.uk ... far be it from me to
recommend corporate newspaper sites, but this is undoubtedly the
best of them, as The Guardian and The Observer have their
impressive archive of the last few years available here. Just
remember to avoid anything written by Julie Burchill, especially
if it concerns Llandudno (don't even get me started on her view
of Torquay and Eastbourne).
New links! Added 22nd September 2000:
http://www.norfolkwindmills.com: this is Gareth Lee's excellent Surface vs Depth, and he's confirmed to me that the site is so-called because of his aesthetic affection for Norfolk windmills (something I also share; hell, I like flatness). Some brilliant writing here (see the 1471 blog section for almost-daily stimulation), and thanks for the link!
http://users.nac.net/fsolinger/blog.html, http://skykicking.tripod.com, http://www.ellipsis.cx/~kortbein/blog and http://www.epicharmus.com; four brilliant writers, all affliated to Freaky Trigger, all speak highly of me to a greater or lesser extent, all must be read.
Added 16th October 2000:
http://www.the-horse.net and http://www.dotcock.com: not quite my aesthetic, but good nonetheless.
Added 29th October 2000:
http://sink.pitas.com. This is Tim Hopkins, in many ways my nemesis ... but nevertheless a superb writer when he tries hard enough.
Added 6th December 2000:
http://www.bluejam20.freeserve.co.uk - why does such a good site have to be despoiled by certain contributors' tastes that are pure 1989 late-night Granada TV (The La's and The Charlatans, for two) and an unhealthy tendency to lurch towards TV Cream-land; parochial children's TV references abound (admittedly better-written and about better series than in your usual Creamish sites), and it's the sort of site where editor Tim Worthington feels forced when listing 20 tracks that take his fancy, after naming My Bloody Valentine's "Blown A Wish", Gainsbourg & Birkin's "69 Annee Erotique" and XTC's "Sacrificial Bonfire" (three awesomely brilliant songs) to name something by Derek Griffiths to complete the list. Yeah, right. Ha. Bloody. Ha. Go there, nonetheless.
http://website.lineone.net/~ssleightholm - Bungalow, the best XTC site on the web ...
and http://chalkhills.org - the first and the second best.
http://www.networkvideos.co.uk - have Catweazle and Black Beauty in your home overnight (oh shit, what was I saying about Paintbox ... ?).
http://www.football365.com - just because, eh? Ned Raggett, you only have this on loan.
Added 13th December 2000:
http://www.hyperdub.com - thanks to Simon R. and Tom E. for directing me here.
http://www.empty.org/review - thanks to Tom for this one.
http://www.bid.clara.net/swell - Scarlet's Well, doomed exoticism at its most enticingly out-of-time.
http://www.johnbetjeman.com - a nostalgist, certainly, but he deserves far better than his misappropriation by the Tories and the Telegraph.
Added 11th February 2001:
http://castlerobertson.blogspot.com - James Lucas, again. Already a superb blogger.
http://www.huntsman.clara.net - David Inglesfield, genuinely one of the most fascinating people I've ever encountered.
http://www.thewire.co.uk - why didn't I link here before? Not the force it once was, journalistically, but the archive is still awesome..
Added 12th April 2001:
http://www.bid.clara.net/mset - The Monochrome Set, as Bid has known it. What more recommendation do you need?
Added 18th May 2001:
http://www.deliaderbyshire.org - It needs a link from the main page as well as the Radiophonic piece, I think. One of the few people to whom I'd apply the monstrously overused word "genius". 1937-2001: RIP.
Added February 2003:
http://cookham.blogspot.com - The Church of Me, by Marcello Carlin.
http://tashlan.pitas.com - Radio Free Narnia, by Mark Sinker. Both the above essential.
http://www.commonground.org.uk and http://www.england-in-particular.info - modernist or hopelessly nostalgist? You decide.
http://www.colander.org - Darren Giddings, naturellement.
http://members.madasafish.com/~catweazle/newad.html - ever wondered what happened to Catweazle, Carrot and Cedric 30 years on? This did.
http://www.psychodelicates.com - David Savage and Paul Southern show their intellects and ambitions and glories.
http://www.britishtransportfilms.co.uk - three decades of British transport and social history.
http://www.livingstonemusic.net - sounds, ideas, conspiracies, evocations and a few articles by this writer.
http://www.labouranimalwelfaresociety.org - the non-metropolitan left at its finest; I am a minor contributor.
But if you still want to stay ...
http://www.elidor.freeserve.co.uk/index.htm
And tell me something ...