Sometimes it feels like it’s getting harder  to criticise Alex James from Blur, especially after his band’s recent, glorious, lap of honour.

Who could be cold hearted enough to poke fun at a quarter of a much-loved British institution?

In honesty, ANBAD isn’t even sure if it can find the snark to gently rib him every week any more.

Then ANBAD re-discovered this photo of our Cheesiest Hero casually strolling, Lord of the Manor style, around his estate, lazily observing the Tory Prime Minister chatting with Jeremy Clarkson… and everything fell back into place.

Alex, you’re wonderful/sad, brilliant/crazy, admirable/eye-rollable. Smell my cheese, you mother!

MIXTAPE:

FIRST: Mining Boom defy fashion and decided to make the kind of music they wanted to (which is buzzy, poppy garage rock) – and it’s impossible to deny that this is admirable in a new music world that values fashion and genre-hype as much as it does good tunes. Which, happily, PDA has in lethargic spades.

NEXT: Mr Ben Sir are a North-East Collective. I’m not sure why that’s important, but it seems so on first listen, and who am I to deny my subconscious judgement? Ports is just minimal enough not to be cloying, and just acoustic enough to be devastatingly gentle.

THEN: The Staves are even more gentle, and even more minimal, but their songs are feminine and carefully constructed in a way that a lot of similar songs aren’t that listening to their music transcends a mere song-experience, and pops us into a happy place instead.

FINALLY: I was 1000% (ONE THOUSAND PERCENT) positive I’d featured Yucky Slime before. I mean, duhhh: here’s a schizoid, buzzy punk band with the name Yuck Slime, who make shouty, fuzzy power-pop. How did I miss them before?