“London, the affordable years. Circa autumn/winter 1990-91. In the no man’s land between the arse end of Camden Town and the red light end of King’s Cross, sits St Pauls Crescent. Located in the shadow of the Maiden Lane estate, where the high walls of the whitewashed concrete housing units cast a menacing Clockwork Orange vibe over the area, the street is short and terminates in a dead end. Number 44 turns out to not be a Georgian townhouse, common to the area, but a small industrial yard set back from the road. At the rear is Playground Studios. Housed in a former car repair workshop, the building is a single storey, breezeblock construction. The rear borders a footpath overlooking the electrical umbilicals and parallel steel of the London Overground railway tracks, while at the front, the potholes and ruts of a short driveway are filled with dirty rainwater, that does nothing to brighten the reflection of the overcast skies.

Entry is via a set of battered double doors and finds you in a concrete corridor, flanked on both sides with wire mesh storage cages, where overhead strip lights cast their fluorescent wash over the stacked musical belongings of nascent and semi-successful bands, waiting patiently for the recall to action. At the end of the corridor is the studio office, small and functional with a couple of low desks, a stereo, shelves stacked with files and assorted paperwork and where the build up to Gulf War One plays out on a small black and white TV to an audience of empty chairs, grimy coffee cups and overflowing ashtrays. Take a right turn before the office, however, and you find yourself in an open area bordered by four heavy, soundproofed doors. Behind these are the rehearsal rooms, although the smallest – Studio 4 – was until fairly recently used merely as a storeroom. But, with the various boxes, bags, cases and other rubbish now cleared, the room contains detritus of a different kind – both human and electrical. Cables, chords and Converse High Tops. Marshall stacks and matted hair. Cymbals and symbols, vibrations, noise and blabber and smoke. With heads full of ideas and a new Ampeg bass rig and recently acquired vintage Jazzmaster, both of which need putting through their paces, Swervedriver have settled into Studio 4 to begin the writing sessions for their upcoming debut album.

It’s been a busy year so far. The band have signed to Creation Records, recorded a session for legendary DJ John Peel, shared stages with My Bloody Valentine, Jane’s Addiction, The Lemonheads, The House Of Love, Soundgarden, Buffalo Tom and many others, headlined their own UK tour, appeared live on national radio and the ‘Son Of Mustang Ford’ EP has broken into the Independent Top 10. With all that accomplished in a few short months, there is plenty to live up to and still much to do.

The first sessions take place between 25th of October and 7th of November. Whole songs, basic ideas, jams, riffs or sometimes just mere fragments are all filtered through the channels of an outdated mixing desk and onto the reels of a cassette based Portastudio, all four tracks with the meters in the red and the tape in glorious compression. ‘Sunset’ and ‘Sandblasted’ emerge fully formed in time to be included as part of the live set during the upcoming tour in support of the ‘Rave Down’ EP, which starts at Middlesborough Polytechnic on 8th of November and continues all the way through to Oxford Venue on 15th of December, after which the writing sessions reconvene.

Jimmy Hartridge’s home, a squatted basement flat on St Augustines Road, is only a couple of hundred yards away, as is The Murray Arms, a shabby local boozer located on the corner of Murray Street and Agar Grove and within sight of the back door to Playground Studios. A pattern soon develops – all day spent making noise in Studio 4 then into the Murray for refreshment and then a short walk to Jim’s for a smoke and to review the day’s recordings, cherry picking the best bits for retention or development. This circuit will become a familiar routine over the upcoming weeks, especially when heavy snowfall brings London to a standstill for a while and everyone is forced to crash on Jimmy’s floor for a few nights, until the weather situation improves.

January 1991 sees the band take a break for a day to play a sold out gig at the Camden Underworld. ‘Sci Flyer’ ‘Pile Up’ ‘Hands’ and ‘Flawed’ all make their live debuts. “Swervedriver hew their melodies from the hills themselves” reports Melody Maker magazine “There’s an extremely pure and raw feel to the way they wield their melodies – great slabs of noise lurching into each other in the most elemental manner”

As a reward for the success of the gig, the band move into the larger and slightly more secluded Studio 5 at the Playground and with the album recording scheduled to begin in March, the songs start to take their final shape, although new ideas continue to come. ‘Feel So Real’ appears in the last week in February, as does the beginnings of ‘Never Lose That Feeling’ (but that’s a story for a different time frame).

So, what you hold in your hands in the results of all those weeks’ work. The audio quality is not pristine but considering our rudimentary recording skills and the technology available at the time, it was never going to be. You may hear an occasional bum note, or a dropped beat here and there. You will definitely hear the hiss of amplifiers and the buzz of FX pedals but most importantly what you will also hear are the songs as they first emerged, fresh and to all intents and purposes, played live. Some would undergo further refinement as the album recording progressed but this particular release is a time capsule, a document of a crucial period in the band’s development and as such it deserves to be shared. It contains the best moments of those original Portastudio tapes expertly tidied up, restored and balanced by persons eminently more qualified than ourselves. However, the result is still raw and immediate and takes you straight into that grimey rehearsal room in Camden Town during the winter of 1990/91.

Apologies for the omission of ‘Rave Down’ by the way. That was written earlier in 1990 and recorded straight away, bypassing the demo stage altogether. No early recording of that song exists. You can also find the original demo of ‘Son Of Mustang Ford’ on the ‘Juggernaut Rides’ compilation, which you already own, of course.. right? So, as a bonus, also included here is a version recorded during the ‘Raise’ sessions but not used. Cleaner, more restrained but with a unique coda.

Thanks go out to everyone who helped make this project happen, especially the Tascam company of Japan, who invented and sold the Portastudio home recording device. Without them, this particular record wouldn’t exist at all and keeping track of ourselves during the writing of ‘Raise’ would have been considerably more difficult.”

Adi Vines 2026. 

credits

releases October 23, 2026

Adam Franklin – guitars left channel & vocals
Jimmy Hartridge – guitars right channel
Adi Vines – bass
Graham Bonnar – drums & percussion

Recorded at Playground Studios, Camden Town 1991

https://swervedriver.bandcamp.com/album/raise-demos

I’ve been wanting to upgrade my vinyl record storage for a while now. I recently moved and decided to see what was available. I had been using cheap Ikea Kallax shelves for a while now and wanted to find something nicer.

The USM Haller shelves appealed to me in many ways except for one important one, price. They are asking $3500 for the one I was interested in. They tend to go way up from there as you add on more storage. That just wasn’t realistic for me.

I decided to look for alternatives to see if I could find the same look, at a comparable build quality, but at a much more attractive price.

My search turned up a number of options but many turned me off for various reasons. Mostly construction & build seemed off or cheap, or they were sold on suspect websites.

I then came upon this option on Amazon, made by Arvora, which seemed to check all the boxes. It’s not cheap by any stretch, but compared to USM Haller, they are substantially more affordable.

While the price varies by size and style, the specific model I wanted was over 80% less expensive than a USM Haller.

I did some research before making the purchase. I did an image-match search and found what appears to be the same on eBay as well, such as here and here.

I felt better about my return options with Amazon if I ended up not being satisfied so I decided to take a chance with that one.

It arrived much sooner than the original expected delivery window. I received it 4 days after placing the order if my memory is correct. I caught the delivery driver laying putting it down rather hard. He didn’t know I was standing in the doorway. After it banged down a bit too hard for my comfort, he heard the front door open, glanced up and said, “my bad.” I took it inside and quickly dug into opening it up and seeing what I was about to get myself into.

Right from the start, I was pleasantly surprised with the quality of the parts. The poles are high quality, durable steel. Very attractive! Not cheap or remotely flimsy. The white panels were also on par with the original brand ones I’ve seen in my local DWR.

It came with decent instructions, albeit not perfect or overly explanatory, but they were adequate.

I was able to put it together without much frustration but there are times where you need to pay attention to photos and have an idea of the logic of how things need to assemble.

The only real confusion I had was with how the hinges attached. This is one area where the instructions lacked. It wasn’t hard or intricate but it wasn’t completely obvious. I was able to figure it out after a bit, and I’m sure I looked like a dog looking at its owner, with its head cocked at an angle, trying to understand the vague instructions. They simply slide into the appropriate side panel corner, with the screws loose, and then you tighten down the screws once they are fully seated as far as they’ll go into the corner. The metal rectangular piece serves as a little bracket that tightens down to hold the hinge in place. It’s a pretty simple in concept. The instructions say to loosen up the screws but they don’t really explain how much or what exactly that means. The screws were already loose and probably sufficiently so.

The one door wasn’t lining up as perfectly as the other so I reached out to customer support and they were very responsive, helpful, and genuinely concerned about my satisfaction. I realize this sounds exaggerated, or like a sales pitch, but it’s true. I felt like I was dealing with a local mom & pop shop who cared. They spoke decent English too, although I have no idea where they were located, but I assume not in the US.

The support rep also confirmed that each shelf can hold up to 66 pounds. Filling up each section with records would be heavier than that so I elected to not fill up the middle shelves all the way. I think having more weight on the bottom is pretty safe. The shelf construction feels strong enough to support it but I decided to not risk it on the middle shelves.

The naturally slick metal material makes the records want to slide around so I wanted to find a solution for that. I ended up buying large metal bookends and strong neodymium disc magnets to hold the bookends in place. I only used 2 bookends on each middle shelf but I put more on the lower ones to give all the records more support. I think I used 4 on each lower shelf, for 8 total on the entire bottom level.

Buying enough bookends and magnets wasn’t cheap, and added to the cost of the shelving solution, but I thought it was worth it. If you don’t have that many records then you may not need them.

One thing to note, and this wasn’t obvious from the description or photos, the locks do lock but they don’t give you a key. They told me that they are designed to be ‘locked’ by any thin metal item such as a coin. Their reasoning for this seemed like a cop out, “because customers easily lose keys”.

So they do lock if your only intention is to keep out toddlers or just someone being casually nosy, but if someone really wants to unlock it, it’s incredibly easy. You can buy locks that fit if you want to use a real key. There are sellers on eBay, such as this one, that sell locks and other parts, as well as nice quality felt that you can use.

In the end, I’m quite pleased with this purchase and will buy another piece from the same vendor, Arvora, again. (Edit: I’ve since ordered this mid-century modern coffee table and am also very pleased.)

Here are some other cabinet styles from the same vendor I used. They come in other colors too.

Catherine Wheel guitarist Brian Futter has released a new song featuring Belly singer Tanya Donelly. It’s available on Soundcloud now. Brian was kind enough to answer some questions about this new work, and a bit about Catherine Wheel.

Look for the EP release on February 10, 2026 on various music services. (Bandcamp, Spotify, Apple Music, etc)

How did Good Day Father come to fruition?

“Ever since Tanya sang on Judy Staring At The Sun, I’ve always wanted to work with her on something else. The last couple of years I’ve felt my musical imagination have a rebirth, song ideas everywhere. I needed a vehicle for it, so Good Day Father was born. The name comes from the phrase my son uses to get rid of me on the phone when he’s bored with me… Tanya was my first choice for singer. Very pleased she said yes!”

How many songs featuring Tanya are you planning to release?

“We’ve recorded a 3 track EP, which will be released through 2026, with plans for another EP in 2027.”

With modern home studio recording, cost and convenience are obvious advantages. But now that you’ve written, recorded, and released music in this era, have there been any unexpected benefits? Any unexpected drawbacks?

“The main benefit is for me is being able to create and build songs to completion, from garbled idea on a phone through to finished living song. That’s the personal joy of the whole thing and it’s how I got into being in a band in the first place. Now you don’t have to persuade a record company to loan you tens of thousands to get there. The downside is obviously everyone is doing it, the world is awash with new songs, human and AI derived, so in most cases music has no financial value to the songwriter anymore, other than performing live. I don’t think the present landscape for music is worse than it was, it’s just just different.”

How might having these tools have affected your past work with Catherine Wheel?

“Catherine Wheel always had its own little studio, we created demos/b-sides very quickly, I can’t see the benefits of today would have speeded anything up for us really, we were a lean machine!”

Alternapop related tangent – read my 2007 article here on what it was like to collect music in the 90s as a Catherine Wheel fan, trying to obtain the dozens of non-album b-sides

A related question for those interested in your past work, which is likely most everyone reading this, do you think some Catherine Wheel albums, such as Ferment or Chrome, would benefit from being remixed or remastered? If so, is there any chance that might happen? I know that Cherry Red supposedly “remastered” Ferment for the 2010 reissue but I’m not sure how that was done, or if the band had any say in it.

“Yeah, we gave Cherry Red permission for Ferment ‘remastered, but at that time none of us were interested in anything CW, we were all living other lives, so the whole thing went unpoliced by us. It would be different now. A proper remastered release would be closely governed.”

What else have you been working on, music-wise, over the last 25 years, and in what capacity? I think you did some composing for the British indie film ‘Home’ (2021).

“I’ve written the scores for a couple of films recently. Really interesting to start putting sounds over images and storylines, interpreting the film with sound sympathetically. An annoying aspect of that is you can’t help analysing and critiquing every sound or piece of music behind everything you see on tv or the big screen…hard to turn off.”

Home (2021) on IMDB

Good Day Father links:

• Instagram
• Facebook
• Soundcloud
• Bandcamp

Facebook Marketplace has become one of the most popular platforms for buying and selling goods locally and nationally. While it offers convenience and a vast user base, it has also become a hotspot for scammers. Both buyers and sellers are at risk of fraud. Understanding the most common scams, and how difficult they are to spot, can help users protect themselves from financial loss, identity theft, and emotional stress.

Scams Targeting Buyers (from easiest to hardest to detect)

1. Counterfeit or Fake Products

Overview: Sellers list branded items like sneakers, designer bags, electronics, or collectibles at attractive prices. In reality, the items are counterfeit, damaged, or completely different from what’s shown.

Red Flags:

• Prices significantly lower than retail.
• Poor grammar or vague product descriptions.
• No returns or refunds.

Detection Difficulty: Easy. Buyers should compare pricing, check the seller’s profile, and look for official authentication if buying luxury or branded items.

2. Bait-and-Switch Listings

Overview: A seller advertises a popular item (e.g., PS5, iPhone, or used car) at an enticing price. When the buyer messages them, the seller says it’s “just sold” but offers a “similar” item at a higher price or with worse condition.

Red Flags:

• Item disappears quickly after listing.
• Immediate redirection to a different product.

Detection Difficulty: Moderate. This relies on psychological urgency. Reputable sellers rarely do bait-and-switch tactics.

3. Payment Outside of Facebook

Overview: Some sellers ask buyers to use platforms like Zelle, Cash App, Venmo, or direct bank transfers. Once payment is sent, the seller vanishes with no delivery of the product.

Red Flags:

• Refusal to use Facebook Checkout or PayPal Goods & Services.
• Urging you to “secure” the item quickly.

Detection Difficulty: Moderate. Legitimate sellers should accept secure payment options. Never pay before seeing or receiving the item.

4. “Not at home” Urgency

Overview: A seller responds that they aren’t at home, and says they’ve received a lot of responses and asks you to send them a deposit to hold or secure the item. They may even try to seduce you with responses like, “someone is already on the way but I like you. If you send a down payment now, I’ll save it for you.”

Red Flags:

• Buyer asks for payment to secure the item, especially if the payment is via a non-secure payment method, like Paypal Friends & Family.

Detection Difficulty: Moderate. While there certainly could be a time where this could genuinely happen, you are much more likely to get scammed.

5. Fake Shipping and Delivery Scams

Overview: The seller offers to ship the item after payment. They may even send fake tracking numbers or bogus shipping links. Eventually, nothing arrives.

Red Flags:

• Unusual courier services or untraceable tracking numbers.
• Pressure to pay upfront for shipping fees.

Detection Difficulty: Hard. Fake shipping confirmations can look professional. Always verify the courier and tracking URL independently.

5. Rental Property Scams

Overview: Scammers post fake rental listings using photos copied from Zillow, Craigslist, or other websites. They ask for deposits or application fees before the “tour” or “approval.”

Red Flags:

• Too-good-to-be-true rent prices.
• Refusal to show the property in person.
• Requests for wire transfers or gift cards.

Detection Difficulty: Very Hard. Scammers often mimic real landlords and may even provide fake lease agreements. Always verify ownership through public records and never pay before a physical walkthrough.

Try out the new Amazon Haul! Discover unbelievable finds from $2.99. Amazon Haul has everyday staples, trending faves, and more-all for way less.

Scams Targeting Sellers (from easiest to hardest to detect)

1. Overpayment Scam (Fake Check or Digital Payment Fraud)

Overview: A buyer offers to pay more than the asking price and sends a check or payment via Zelle/Venmo. They then ask you to refund the “extra” amount. Later, the check bounces or the payment is reversed.

Red Flags:

• Buyer insists on overpaying.
• Pressure to return excess funds quickly.

Detection Difficulty: Easy. No real buyer has a reason to overpay and demand a refund. Decline all such offers.

2. Phishing Links or “Verification” Requests, or fake payments

Overview: The scammer asks the seller to verify their identity or phone number using a code or link. These links may install malware or lead to phishing sites that steal login credentials.

Also, if you share your phone number or email address, they could send you a fake payment text or email. This fake “deposit” is by a fake “e-transfer” and they want you to log in to a site to receive it. The log in page is a scam.

Red Flags:

• Requests to “verify” your account via third-party links.
• Asking for confirmation codes sent to your phone.

Detection Difficulty: Moderate. Legitimate buyers won’t ask for verification codes. Do not click external links or share codes.

3. Fake Buyer “Out of Town” Offers

Overview: The buyer claims they’re out of town but will have a “mover” or “shipping agent” pick up the item. They ask the seller to pay for shipping upfront and promise reimbursement.

Red Flags:

• Offers to “handle” pickup and logistics.
• Requests for your email or personal information for “shipping arrangements.”

Detection Difficulty: Moderate. Shipping scams often come with real-looking emails. Never pay shipping costs on the buyer’s behalf.

4. Stolen Credit Card or Reversed Payment Scam

Overview: A buyer pays with a stolen credit card via PayPal or Facebook Pay. Days later, the payment is reversed, and the seller is left without the item or the funds.

Red Flags:

• Buyer insists on immediate shipping or delivery.
• Payment appears legitimate but account is new or unverified.

Detection Difficulty: Hard. The transaction may initially appear valid. Always wait for full payment clearance before handing over high-value goods.

5. Fake Escrow or Payment Protection Services

Overview: Scammers pose as buyers and suggest using a third-party “escrow” service to ensure trust. These services are often fake websites designed to look real. Once the item is sent, the seller never receives payment.

Red Flags:

• Buyer proposes their own “secure” escrow service.
• Website URL doesn’t match reputable payment processors.

Detection Difficulty: Very Hard. These scams often feature convincing branding and fake customer support. Always use official payment methods endorsed by Facebook or recognized services like PayPal Goods & Services.

Conclusion

Facebook Marketplace can be a valuable tool for both buyers and sellers, but it’s also a fertile ground for fraud. Scams targeting buyers tend to prey on desire for low prices and urgency, while scams aimed at sellers often exploit trust and eagerness to complete a sale. Knowing how to recognize these patterns is key.

For buyers, avoid deals that require upfront payment, you should always use secure platforms, and insist on meeting in public or using Facebook’s built-in checkout. Try a reverse-image search of the items you’re interested to see if the same photo shows up elsewhere.

For sellers, don’t ship before receiving cleared payment, avoid over-payment offers, and never click suspicious links or share verification codes. Better yet, only sell to local buyers when you can meet in person. Maybe even meet at a local police station.

Within the Facebook Marketplace messaging interface, click on the buyer’s profile icon to view their real Facebook profile to help determine if it could be a fake profile. Also, if the name sounds made up, exercise extreme caution. You may even begin to see a pattern of the types of names of the people who respond, especially if they respond very quickly after you posted the item for sale.

This is more advanced but if a seller shares an address with you, search the web for that address and the name of the buyer to see if any matching results are found. It could still be a fake profile from someone who did the leg work to set up a matching profile (at least by name) that matches an existing address but that takes a bit of effort on the scammers part.

Ultimately, the best defense is a healthy skepticism and due diligence. If a deal feels off, it probably is. And when in doubt, report the user to Facebook and walk away.

Try Amazon Second Chance – Pass it on, trade it in, give it a second life. Also available are pre-owned items.

Slide Away 2025 will take place in New York City and Los Angeles this April and May.

Limited presale tickets are available for purchase now through the link below with the code SLIDE25

www.slideaway.co

A portion of proceeds from each event will be donated to The Trevor Project & Anti-Recidivism Coalition

New York City (4/24 at Brooklyn Paramount)

• Her New Knife
• Lucid Exprexx
• Nothing
• The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
• Swervedriver
• Whirr

Los Angeles (5/24 at Hollywood Palladium)

• Luster
• Nothing
• Swervedriver
• Swirlies
• Vyva Melinkolya
• Whirr

A genre that lends itself to loudness can still be overheard from its origins in the 1980s. Shoegaze, Dream Pop, Ambient, or whatever you may call it, has carried itself gracefully through decades while inspiring countless subgenres and infecting all walks of music along the way.

The audience reflects back the legacy and continued impact with a feeling of mutual admiration and respect is palpable across generations and identities – no matter the coast.

SLIDE AWAY is a celebration of the genre and all artists who shape sound in the most unique of ways, all the while bridging the gap between the diverse cast of boundary pushing mavericks of yesterday with the genre bending savants of now.

What the hell is shoegaze? A scene? A movement? A sound? Back in the Nineties, many would have said the so-called genre was entirely fabricated. The term itself, an offensive piss-take given by the notoriously catty and scene-obsessed British music press, was plainly rejected by the absurdly small collection of bands to which it supposedly applied.

Today Shoegaze is undeniable. As a descriptor and as a source of influence, it is used in more ways and by more bands than anyone could have dreamed of 30 years ago. Between those periods of invention and ubiquity, the term, along with the bands it first described, all but disappeared off the face of the earth.

In this ambitious oral history of a genre that has eluded definition for three decades, Ryan Pinkard, in his book Shoegaze, (Genre: A 33 1/3 Series) unearths the first wave of Shoegaze, following the core bands, their sounds, their influence, and their journeys in and out of obscurity. His analysis is woven through dozens of original interviews with artists, label heads, and critics. What he discovers is the unlikely odyssey of this esoteric, experimental music form, which nearly became a mainstream entity, only to be viciously killed off, forgotten, and rediscovered by a new generation that regards it as one of the most influential alternative music events since the Velvet Underground.

Buy on Amazon (kindle or paperback)

Ryan also wrote a book on The National’s great 2007 release, Boxer. (link)

If you’re looking for a Shoegaze playlist, here is one that has the majority of Shoegaze artists, both classics and newer ones. Over 175 songs, and primarily only one song per artist.

Apple has enabled a new feature that allows you to use your Airpods Pro 2, or later models, as hearing aids.

They’ve made some of the functions unnecessarily confusing. Below I’ve outlined steps for some various tasks that you may be struggling with.

Also, here are some Apple links that may help but I find that Apple instructions can be a little confusing at times.

If you don’t have Airpods Pro 2, they are cheaper from Amazon than from Apple direct. You can get them (currently for $189) here.

Links To Below Sections

• Update your Airpod firmware
• Take a hearing test
• Switch between test results
• Delete a test result
• Thoughts & feedback for Apple
• Alternatives to Airpods for hearing aids

Update Your AirPods Pro Firmware

You need to make sure your Airpods have the latest firmware to enable this feature.

1. Put your Airpods inside the case and close the lid.
2. Keep the lid closed for about 30 seconds, then take out the Airpods and insert them into your ears. Keep them in your ears for about 20 seconds.
3. Put the Airpods back in the case and close the lid.
4. Charge the case via cable or a MagSafe charger.
5. Keep your iPhone near the case for about 10-15 minutes.
6. After 10-15 minutes, open the Airpods case lid and on your iPhone, go to Settings > Bluetooth and tap the “i” to the right of your Airpods’ name. The Airpods should have been updated to the most recent version.

Take A Hearing Test With Your iPhone Or iPad

Before you begin, make sure you’re in a quiet room. One good place is in a bedroom closet. The clothes will provide some sound insulation and it’s probably the quietest place in the house. The test takes about 5 minutes.

Wear your AirPods Pro 2, and make sure they’re connected to your device.

Go to Settings on your iPhone or iPad, tap the name of your AirPods near the top of the screen, tap Take a Hearing Test, then follow the onscreen instructions.

Switch Between Hearing Test Results

If you have more than one test result saved in your phone, you can switch to a different one like this. It’s unnecessarily lengthy but pretty easy. Apple just makes you step through a bunch of pages that explains the feature as if you’re enabling it for the first time.

1. On you iPhone, open Settings
2. Toward the top, tap on your headphone name
3. Tap on Hearing Assistance
4. Tap on Update Hearing Test Results
5. You’ll see, “Chose a Hearing Test Result”. You’ll see your test results listed. Just tap on the test result that you’d like to apply.
6. Tap on Next
7. Tap on Set Up Hearing Aid
8. Tap on Get Started
9. Tap on Next
10. Tap Turn On Hearing Aid
11. Tap on Done

Delete An Audiogram / Test Result

1. Open Health App
2. tap Browse
3. tap Hearing
4. tap Hearing Test Results
5. Scroll to the bottom and tap Show All Data
6. tap Edit
7. Tap the delete icon for the Audiogram you want to delete.

Thoughts – Feedback For Apple

I would like a way to duplicate an existing hearing audiogram and then would like to easily make adjustments to it. The process to manually enter a new audiogram is quite time consuming, and I assume the logic is, “your hearing loss is your hearing loss”, and it’s not really subjective. I know that it’s not supposed to work like an stereo graphic equalizer but if I test for one tone at 38 db, I may want to tune it down a tad to 35, as an example.

Some higher tones can create some loud popping, for certain hearing abilities, and I may prefer to roll those off just a touch. There is a Tone slider to make the Airpods sound darker or brighter but I don’t know how this is changing the audiogram or equalization. More visuals explaining what this is doing would be nice too.

Alternatives to Airpods

Now that over-the-counter hearing aids are allowed, there are more coming out in the market. Dedicated hearing aids will work better than Airpods because they have dedicated circuitry, and have a much longer battery life.

Sony now makes hearing aids

• CRE-E10
• CRE-C10
• CRE-C20

Jabra also makes hearing aids

• 50R OTC
• 300 OTC
• 500 OTC

A conversation with Rob Dickinson – singer/songwriter with 90’s Brit Rock/Shoegaze band Catherine Wheel plus solo projects, and founder of Singer Vehicle Design a company that remodels and re-imagines Porsche 911’s.

Dickinson shares experiences on songwriting inspired by the ocean’s horizon to escape a small English town, literally walking away from a pop career at it’s peak, and creating act two of life turning the passion for cars from a hobby into a business on the boulevards of West Hollywood.

It’s a nice interview that’s worth a full listen but here are 2 interesting quotes:

“When the band split up in 2000, we owed Columbia Records $1.6 million.”

“I think I will come back to it eventually. I think we’ll make another record actually before we all die.”

• listen to the interview

Spotify recently announced that they are increasing the monthly price from $10.99 to $11.99, which equates to $143.88 per year. Because of this, many are considering changing plans or music streaming providers. But wait! You don’t have to do that though in order to save a substantial amount on your total annual subscription cost. How?

You can buy a Spotify Premium 12-month gift card for $99 which brings the price to $8.25 per month. You can buy this for yourself and use it if you already have a Spotify Premium subscription!

This will save you $44.88 for a 1-year subscription.

Follow this link to purchase a $99 Spotify Premium e-gift card from Amazon.

After purchasing and receiving the gift card, go to the Spotify redeem page to redeem the code. Make sure you cancel your current premium subscription before entering the code, or else you may get a “something went wrong” error. You won’t lose any playlists, settings, etc unless you close the account. Canceling, which is the same as reverting to a free account, will save your data.

Steps to get Spotify Premium for $8.25 per month.

1. Purchase $99 e-gift card from Amazon
2. Once you receive the card, go to Spotify’s “Manage Your Subscription” page and cancel your current subscription (Note that this requirement may change if Spotify makes changes)
3. Go to the Spotify Redeem page and enter in the code from your gift card

While it’s not ad-free Spotify Premium for free, saving nearly $45 is a pretty good deal.

If you really want a deal, get an Amazon Prime Visa credit card here. You’ll get a $50 Amazon gift card. Then use the Amazon Prime Visa to purchase the Spotify gift card, and select the Prime delivery day, and you’ll get an additional 6% back.

A year ago we posted a few lesser known shoegaze artists. It’s time for more.

 Salon Music – Who Just Can’t Be Happy? (1995)

Salon Music is a Japanese new wave/shoegaze/rock duo consisting of Hitomi Takenaka (竹中仁見) and Zin Yoshida (吉田仁). They have released twelve studio albums, between the years 1983 and 2011.

Two songs in particular stand out as being Shoegaze, Wanna Be Tied, and this one, Who Just Can’t Be Happy? Recommended if you like Panda Riot.

Majesty Crush – No. 1 Fan (1992)

Hailing from Detroit, Michigan, Majesty Crush formed in 1990 and broke up in 1995. The band’s lineup consisted of lead singer David Stroughter, bassist Hobey Echlin, guitarist Michael Segal and drummer Odell Nails III.

Majesty Crush served as the opening act at shows in the early 1990s for such bands as Jesus Jones, Mazzy Star, and The Verve. The song No. 1 Fan picked up significant radio airplay on Windsor, Ontario’s 89X, and led to Majesty Crush signing with Dali Records, a Warner/Elektra subsidiary. They released Love 15, the band’s lone studio album, in 1993. AllMusic’s Joshua Glazer described the album as “a testament to what might have been, if only the band’s four members lived in Manchester instead of Detroit.”

majestycrush.bandcamp.com (digital)

Numero Group vinyl reissue (2024)

Sway – Fall (2003)

Formerly a four-piece noisepop outfit from Ventura, California, Sway is/was an on-going one man dreampop project and alias for songwriter/producer Andrew Saks.

sphere – Topography of the White Sea (2011)

Formed in 2007 by guitarist Makoto Gomi, the group took a break after releasing its third album in 2011, but resumed its activities in 2022 with the release of its fourth album after 11 years, featuring Shoko Inoue as a new vocalist.