Leon McDermott
@leonmcdermott.bsky.social
Re no 1 you should watch this: m.imdb.com/title/tt0920...
Castells (2006) ⭐ 8.1 | Documentary
1h 28m
m.imdb.com
November 17, 2025 at 8:56 PM
Re no 1 you should watch this: m.imdb.com/title/tt0920...
He properly churns it out (in the best possible way) and is also one of the nicest people you ever could meet.
November 15, 2025 at 10:56 PM
He properly churns it out (in the best possible way) and is also one of the nicest people you ever could meet.
This one - heard him play some bits of it live in a barn in Fife, and then again a couple of months later in Glasgow and it’s ridiculously gorgeous. memotone.bandcamp.com/album/smalle...
smallest things, by memotone
12 track album
memotone.bandcamp.com
November 15, 2025 at 8:25 PM
This one - heard him play some bits of it live in a barn in Fife, and then again a couple of months later in Glasgow and it’s ridiculously gorgeous. memotone.bandcamp.com/album/smalle...
Getting more into shoegaze is good. Back then Swervedriver would have hated being called that. And right enough they were much more part of the Silverfish/Th’ Faith Healers/etc noise scene than Ride/early Boo Radleys/other Creation bands and so on.
November 14, 2025 at 10:20 PM
Getting more into shoegaze is good. Back then Swervedriver would have hated being called that. And right enough they were much more part of the Silverfish/Th’ Faith Healers/etc noise scene than Ride/early Boo Radleys/other Creation bands and so on.
That front cover is beautiful.
November 14, 2025 at 9:02 PM
That front cover is beautiful.
Me and [redacted, not on bsky] were talking about this the other day - the green/red indicator being part of the light housing is probably a money-saving measure. Even if it’s totally antithetical to what people are used to.
November 14, 2025 at 8:14 PM
Me and [redacted, not on bsky] were talking about this the other day - the green/red indicator being part of the light housing is probably a money-saving measure. Even if it’s totally antithetical to what people are used to.
Had tagged you because I’ve read enough of your writing to know that you would know this one. (Also you wrote one of my favourite things about the God Machine). (Also also we both knew Keith and I know he loved this too.)
November 14, 2025 at 4:55 PM
Had tagged you because I’ve read enough of your writing to know that you would know this one. (Also you wrote one of my favourite things about the God Machine). (Also also we both knew Keith and I know he loved this too.)
Oh they were so good. I’d tagged you because I thought you might be into it but had no idea whether you knew them or not.
November 14, 2025 at 4:48 PM
Oh they were so good. I’d tagged you because I thought you might be into it but had no idea whether you knew them or not.
And that’s before we even get to the racism!
November 14, 2025 at 11:36 AM
And that’s before we even get to the racism!
Obviously the environment cleaner (coal! Leaded petrol! factories dumping into rivers! etc)/ streets safer (Yorkshire Ripper and general disregard of sexual assault!)/ people happier (who did they survey? Only bin fetishists who were adults in 1975?) is all bollocks.
November 14, 2025 at 11:35 AM
Obviously the environment cleaner (coal! Leaded petrol! factories dumping into rivers! etc)/ streets safer (Yorkshire Ripper and general disregard of sexual assault!)/ people happier (who did they survey? Only bin fetishists who were adults in 1975?) is all bollocks.
It’s the Telegraph so it’s “who remembers proper binmen?” nonsense but interestingly in Andy Beckett’s When The Lights Went Out: Britain In The Seventies he cites ‘75/76 as the point where the UK was most equal, with the smallest gap between the most & least wealthy. 30 yrs of hard work led to that.
November 14, 2025 at 11:25 AM
It’s the Telegraph so it’s “who remembers proper binmen?” nonsense but interestingly in Andy Beckett’s When The Lights Went Out: Britain In The Seventies he cites ‘75/76 as the point where the UK was most equal, with the smallest gap between the most & least wealthy. 30 yrs of hard work led to that.
Can “I’m So Green” > Pentangle “Light Flight” > Labi Siffre “Rocking Chair” is a great sequence. Also, I see that on side on is Camille Yarborough’s Take Yo’ Praise and am wondering if Camden Market is where Norman Cook got his inspiration from.
November 7, 2025 at 10:56 PM
Can “I’m So Green” > Pentangle “Light Flight” > Labi Siffre “Rocking Chair” is a great sequence. Also, I see that on side on is Camille Yarborough’s Take Yo’ Praise and am wondering if Camden Market is where Norman Cook got his inspiration from.
We were both right - it’s part of the Western and it is indeed a tennis court! maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/...
November 7, 2025 at 2:08 PM
We were both right - it’s part of the Western and it is indeed a tennis court! maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/...
Pretty sure that’s part of the Western Infirmary (though not sure if that’s actually a tennis court).
November 7, 2025 at 12:26 PM
Pretty sure that’s part of the Western Infirmary (though not sure if that’s actually a tennis court).
Yeah LSR would be quite the jump! First one I got was Candy Apple Grey (Goldrush Records, Perth, Sept 92). I remember the green stapled-together mail order catalogue from Gema in Reading which had so many imports and was where I got Flip Your Wig and Zen Arcade.
October 30, 2025 at 11:34 PM
Yeah LSR would be quite the jump! First one I got was Candy Apple Grey (Goldrush Records, Perth, Sept 92). I remember the green stapled-together mail order catalogue from Gema in Reading which had so many imports and was where I got Flip Your Wig and Zen Arcade.
Oh, this is such a lovely piece. Copper Blue came out when I had just turned 15 and led me deep down the Hüskers rabbit hole (not easy or quick in 1992 rural Scotland). And props for the shoutout for You Can Live At Home!
October 28, 2025 at 9:10 PM
Oh, this is such a lovely piece. Copper Blue came out when I had just turned 15 and led me deep down the Hüskers rabbit hole (not easy or quick in 1992 rural Scotland). And props for the shoutout for You Can Live At Home!
Coming soon to an episode of In Our Time.
October 24, 2025 at 9:16 PM
Coming soon to an episode of In Our Time.
Totally feels like the kind of thing that, 30 years ago, would have had Tom Bell in a sinister behind the scenes role.
October 2, 2025 at 9:25 PM
Totally feels like the kind of thing that, 30 years ago, would have had Tom Bell in a sinister behind the scenes role.
Tony Blair, learning all the wrong lessons, as per.
September 19, 2025 at 8:28 PM
Tony Blair, learning all the wrong lessons, as per.
Think I need to read The Searchers. (I’ve liked Beckett’s previous stuff but missed this one.) Must say though (because I think of you in a film context) when you said “There’s a bit at the start of The Searchers when Blair goes to watch Benn” I thought “don’t remember THAT bit in the film.
September 19, 2025 at 8:26 PM
Think I need to read The Searchers. (I’ve liked Beckett’s previous stuff but missed this one.) Must say though (because I think of you in a film context) when you said “There’s a bit at the start of The Searchers when Blair goes to watch Benn” I thought “don’t remember THAT bit in the film.
Benn had his flaws, no doubt, but he was something else. I remember seeing him aged 15 in Dundee c. 1992 (in a wee room above a pub); his speech was great but it was the sheer charisma that got me. My dad, who had met him before many times, introduced me to him. It was like meeting History.
September 19, 2025 at 7:02 PM
Benn had his flaws, no doubt, but he was something else. I remember seeing him aged 15 in Dundee c. 1992 (in a wee room above a pub); his speech was great but it was the sheer charisma that got me. My dad, who had met him before many times, introduced me to him. It was like meeting History.
I’ve seen plenty of photos of shells in WW2 chalked with names, messages etc. And the same up to/including Israeli forces in Gaza. I think that this fits the same bill. (Don’t doubt that in this case cinematic influence might have been a factor but that’s supposition)
September 12, 2025 at 9:42 PM
I’ve seen plenty of photos of shells in WW2 chalked with names, messages etc. And the same up to/including Israeli forces in Gaza. I think that this fits the same bill. (Don’t doubt that in this case cinematic influence might have been a factor but that’s supposition)