Ben Walker

if instead of a skater boi avril lavigne had sung about a skater bull, it would have opened up a whole range of new rhyming possibilities. "he was a skater bull / i said that's debatable" etc

this is the funniest thing i've seen in a looooong time. city passes new rule allowing prayer before city council meetings. satanist prays. city council then debates proper time to "undo the curse that was just put on our city" www.404media.co/it-is-done-h...

one thing you learn from making a lot of things is that the nitty gritty details, the millions of tiny invisible decisions, ARE the art. The "higher level ideas" are not nearly as important or interesting

I just signed up for an online course for over 40s to learn how to use AI to make internet memes. I lamented to my wife “As an over 40, I’ll never learn how to use AI to make memes.” But she said “Just do the online course.” So, if you like funny memes, check back here in 6 to 8 weeks time.

Trying to remember how this works.

[job interview] interviewer: so god killed all your kids? job: that's right

🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌

We contributed a Max Blansjaar track to this excellent special edition #cassetteweek tape. Save Ferric is an amazing name for a cassette fanzine. Props to @mflah.bsky.social for keeping the dream alive. ✨

i am begging people to go outside. it's good for you

Now in the future if someone wants to make art from a burnt out data center, that probably has potential. But for now, when people say “AI is just a tool”, it’s important to remember that tools are an enemy.

Technology in music is only interesting when it fails or is misused (overdriven amps, 303, feedback, etc), because this is a triumph for humanity and art over unnatural forces of order and predictability. AI is different. As long as it’s being used it can’t fail / be misused, as it’s in on the joke.

Great read. I never made it as far as private trackers, but now I wish I had. www.pigeonsandplanes.com/read/music-p...

Man, time flies. We just finished building batch 3 of Beat Friend (that’s 300 out in the world now!) and we’re going to spend some time working on the time stretch machine. Honestly very excited about both.

This looks very promising indeed! And it looks like they’re open to collaborating with others who are doing similar more manual things with notes/curation, which could be cool.

A new automatically-collated website aims to partially fill the large gap left by the demise of the indie music magazine Nightshift. oxfordgigs.co.uk pulls together information about gigs in Oxford on a map or a list, with plans for a calendar view. Promoters can also add their own gigs.

DPD is dead to me.

This

How your email finds me.

People sometimes ask me if anyone can start a tape label and the answer is no. You need to have at least a Degree in Music Business from one of the top schools such as my “alma mater” The Music Industry Business School For Gifted Children.

Sat down with some cheese and crackers in a dark room at 6pm to escape the heat, ended up watching Clockwatchers (1997) and forgot about the eclipse. Great film though.

was this written by an alien

Oh DPD, you’re so charmingly unpredictable!

Best guitarists of 2026: 1. Slash Guns (Guns & Roses) 2. David Mustang 3. the Oasis brothers (tie) 4. Geese 5. Avril Lavigne 6. Belle (Belle and Sebastian) 7. Ringo Star (Rolling Stones) 8. Eminem 9. Taylor Swift 10. the trapezoid one from Angine de Poitrine 11. Joe Satriani 12. Sting 13. Bucketman

Not surprising but the stealing is depressingly brazen.

OH IS THE REF AWAKE NOW, HAS HE AWOKEN FROM HIS 37 MINUTE NAP AT A CONVENIENT TIME FOR THE NATION OF ARGENTINA

Another day, another email from a small label jacking it in because no one buys music anymore. We really need to find a way to communicate to the masses that culture will only survive if they invest in it.

I have made a little gig guide for Oxford and the surrounding area, in lieu of the @nightshiftmag.bsky.social (RIP) one. it's very simple atm but I'd love for more people to get involved and for us to expand it and maybe have some print copies one day oxfordgigguide.com

i had so many songs left to trade

We had so many good times and nurtured a truly good corner of the internet, but what a shitty fizzling ending for the folks who got laid off today (and many more a couple of years ago).

I am absolutely gutted to learn that the Oxford music magazine Nightshift is shutting after all these years. It was my bible in the late 90s/early 00s, and I still checked in with it long after I moved away from the area. Here's a link to a PDF of the last issue: nightshiftmag.co.uk/2026/jun.pdf

A lot of “preppers” just stick weird shit between the strings in their piano to make them sound funny, and that’s important work too.

Good to see him actually stomping the Nazis, rather than only getting in on a split Nazi vote!

My friend took his family to see the Michael Jackson movie and his son claimed it was the greatest movie he’d ever seen but I’m a real MJ fan so I don’t believe the accounts of little boys

Today's Low Quality Ad is for this inspirational Horse Pin. I don't know about you guys, but I really needed to read this today. collabs.shop/oj6gks

Whichever of the purple dots you look at turns more purple.

For the 12 people on here and the three who might care, June's Nightshift is online now at nightshiftmag.co.uk/2026/jun.pdf Last one, may feature teary-eyed nostalgia.

Counterpoint: No I will not

This is all very grim.

Turn the speaker notes on and marvel at the harm being done to codebases the world over

Cool to see that integrated shipping has landed on Bandcamp. Maybe not full support outside US/Canada but what the hell I have a tape to ship and I’m going to try it anyway. 🤞 blog.bandcamp.com/2026/04/27/1...

social media was a wonderful brain toilet for every random half thought you didn't want to bother real people with before they decided to move all of society and infrastructure and government inside of the toilet

TRUMP, throwing insults at Pope Leo: “weak on crime” “terrible for foreign policy” “catering to the Radical Left” “owes his position to me” “sit down and mind your own business” POPE LEO, unbothered: “We are called to love.”

Cool to see another Oxford act get a Bandcamp shout out. @chollymusic.bsky.social is great!