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James Poole recommendations

A sack full of funk: Soul Santa

It’s Christmas. And, have I got a treat for you? Over the last few months, I have – like so many others – become mildly addicted to turntable.fm. For the uninitiated, it’s social networking brought to music. You enter a ‘room’, and five DJs take it in turns to play music. Play the wrong track, […]

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reflection

Please Mind The Gap

The Gap Band didn’t mean much to me until two months ago. This is unacceptable. Growing up in a Motown-for-breakfast household with an unhealthy helping of 80s ballads, I was unreasonably proud of my funk collection. Before the wretched early teens kicked in, dad would take me to car-boot sales to hunt for records. A […]

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James Poole recommendations

Paul Weller: The Changingman

I live in the US. I’m from the UK. I think that this gives me a bit of perspective when commenting on the attitude towards music in the two countries. A bit of perspective; that’s all. So here goes: I’m going out on a limb. Paul Weller should be bigger out here in the US. […]

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defining freethinking James Poole

Broadening horizons

1993. I scarcely believe that it was that long ago that I was dropped off by my parents at university. A naïve, fresher-faced, significantly slimmer (a ‘lanky streak of piss’ is one way of putting it) version of me. And I had bad jeans. I envy this streak of piss on a regular basis. Yes, […]