Podcast #12: They can't tell us apart

The police over here have just released photos of 14 people who, they claim, contributed to the violence that occurred at last Thursday's student protests. And so the witch-hunt begins. Here, look, here are some more people to stare at. Aren't they beautiful?

The slowness and quietness with which this new movement has taken shape is wondrous. It took over a decade of reality TV. Oh, but it must drive the government and the right-wing media absolutely insane that they can't point the finger at any one individual. This is a movement borne out of a collective spirit. There isn't one face that represents it. Not one face, not one name they can demonise. They can't tell us apart. They'll hit people over the head, they'll put others in prison but they have no idea how deep this is and how widespread. How this has been happening for years in small ways they'll never understand or care about. And it's now hit the streets. Still anonymous but loud and fantastic.

These are incredible times. I can't see them as in any way separate to my idea of what indiepop is and should be about. I feel as much part of this as I feel part of Indietracks and popfest and every brilliant popshow in Nottingham, Glasgow and Sheffield. My comrades in indiepop are my comrades in the cold streets around the country. This is the real 'we are all in this together' and it's been ours all along. It's the principles we've been guarding with our late nights all this time that are at stake here.

This coming week I'll find out whether my colleagues and I will still have a job in a few months. I've been feeling sick with anxiety for days now. But then I remember it's also the week when I'll be sat in a warm pub in the arms of two of my favourite people in the universe putting the world to rights; and the week when I'll be drawing up giddy pop plans for July with a group of incredible friends. You see, for everything they throw at us, we have a handful of things that are brighter and truer and make us indestructible.

And now I've got all this off my chest, here is a podcast you can download from here (34 MB), if you like. Told ya it was all relevant. Please forgive the sloppiness of it. My computer is playing up.

Tracklisting (30 mins)

The Tomboys - I'd rather fight than switch
Heavenly - Cut off
The Flame - See how I smile #1
Second-Hand Furniture - Whom to choose
Red Sleeping Beauty - Rocketship
When Nalda Became Punk - Moderns you should stay home
Murder Mystery - I am (if you are)
Soda Shop - Farewell
The Blanche Hudson Weekend - Let me go
The Sugar Stems - I don't want to be around you
Evans the Death - I'm so unclean
The Cannanes - Frightening thing