Whenever I see another of Lady Gaga‘s increasingly out-there stage shows or videos, two thoughts cut through the sick green fug in  my mind.

The first one is usually incredulity that the public at large have accepted a pop star who is just so determinedly outré; and secondly, I wonder just how hard Fischerspooner must be kicking themselves, having pioneered the same camp-electro/showtime/weirdness shtick about ten years ago.

Fischerspooner knew they were ahead of the game, and had the misfortune of watching paler imitations emerge (geddit!?!) and attain the kind of success they deserved as Electro became …

Peter Hook has opened a new club in Manchester, FAC251. The opening night on Friday was summed up by friends that went as a resounding ‘Yeah – it’s OK. Nice lighting.’

Not many people, apart from some frighteningly vitriolic bloggers, could really begrudge Peter Hook another go at getting a nightclub right this time. But by trading heavily on the Factory Records days of Madchester, a broad selection of noses have been put out of joint and knives have been sharpened.

“Why do we need another monument to Manchester’s past?” they cry, “The whole city needs to move …

Looking for new bands by wading through Myspace – which sometimes can resemble an endless, IKEA ball-pit playroom populated only by ADHT snot-nosed kids with Swine Flu and soundtracked by a million Coldplay-a-likes – can be a genuinely despairing experience, especially when one drab band after another is whelped into your lap.

Today, it took an uncommon amount of time before the abrasive buzz of Clumsy by Coyote Eyes served as a very welcome reminder that it was all worth it. Like a disproportionate number of sharp new things at the moment, Coyote Eyes summon from Brooklyn and make rugged, …