What A Month That Was

March was a great, great month for content, such a wonderful variety. I'm so thrilled that so many great writers contribute to OUTSIDELEFT.com on a regular basis. There's no money here. Our writers do it because they believe in music, or art or writing. They want to share what they hear and feel and are fantastically generous with their time and skill. 

Unfortunately, the tail end of the month saw a copyright claim so unreasonable it gave us pause. Alan Rider and I discussed whether this is even fun anymore. Whether there can be independent media in the world anymore. We're unarmed but guess what, it doesn't matter anymore. Meanwhile, while we are happy enough with our page views bumping along in the reeds, we're pretty tired of the 800,000 unique visitors some hours recieve when its really some(!) bots giving our servers a heart attack. What's the point. All this has to be managed. All this means we're not writing. We can't. We know. There's real world shit that probably plenty of our readers live in, or hear about and it brings them down. And then there's this. I spoke to someone in California who said they went to every protest... All we can do is wherever you are, hang in there. Hope is waiting. We just have to hang one a bit longer. Oh and I was hanging up my winter coat that the artist Lorna Rose gave me and it caused my clothing rail to snap, the last straw I guess.

Top 30 in March 2026 

1. WAITING FOR THE MUSIC BUG TO BITE by Sofia Ribeiro Willcox Sofia Ribeiro Willcox talks to Solihull's Manor House Records owner Mitchel Parkin about his love of vinyl.
2. DO YOU BELIEVE IN MAGICK by Sofia Ribeiro Willcox Sofia considers 'The Trick' - a vanishing act of modern indifference
3. WITNESSING A GRINDING PUTREFACTIVE SPECTACULAR by Jonathan Thornton As Pathologist's pioneering live video 'Grinding Putrefactive Spectacular' emerges for the first time on DVD, Jonathan Thornton catches up with Cyklo to explore the legacy of the Czech Republic's goregrind greats
4. JEREMY GLUCK: THE OUTSIDELEFT SUNDAY INTERVIEW by Alan Rider Baffling and confusing, yet intriguing and compelling. That's Jeremy Gluck, discovers Alan Rider
5. THROUGH THE BILLBOARD PROMISED LAND WITHOUT EVER STOPPING by Alan Rider Is this Derek Jarman artefact an audio book or an album? Alan Rider really isn't sure.
6. ENCOUNTERS: SHADOW COLONIES by Alan Rider Bangkok electronica is on the up and up. Shadow Colonies are the latest band to feature in our Encounters series.
7. PROSTITUTE: A BODY BORN FROM WRECKAGE by Alan Rider Alan Rider reviews the stunning and confrontational debut album from the Mitchigan noise punks
8. AS LONG AS I CAN STAY THIN by Tim London Tim London reviews Kim Gordon's latest long player, 'Play Me'
9. SPACE AGE BATCHELOR PAD MUSIC: THE STORY OF STEREOLAB IN 20 SONGS by DJ Fuzzyfelt Ben Cardew got the Space-Age right
10. ADRIAN GOLDBERG MEETS MARK FREETH by Adrian Goldberg Ausgang frontman talks about his new autobiography
11. PENNY KILEY: THE OUTSIDELEFT SUNDAY INTERVIEW by LamontPaul Punk Rock, Liverpool and Trying to be Me... Penny Kiley talks to Outsideleft
12. SHORT STORY ORGY: ARMED AND DANGEROUS by OL House Writer A Short Story Orgy entry number 9 by Eli Cory
13. RODRIGO ALARCON: THE FACE OF ‘NOWADAYS MPB’ OVER THE LAST DECADE by Sofia Ribeiro Willcox Sofia reflects on the decade since Alarcon's seminal debut record, O Lado Vazio do Sofá
14. KING OF MELODY by Jonathan Thornton Jonathan Thornton catches up with power pop genius songwriter Michael Mazzarella of The Rooks
15. HARD HEARTED WOMAN by Jonathan Thornton Ahead of the release of her gorgeous and haunting new album, Ora Cogan speaks to Jonathan Thornton about her unique approach to music
16. ECO FOLK WITH A STING IN IT'S TAIL by John Robinson John Robinson listens to the new Corner Laughers new LP, Concerns of Wasp and Willow
17. BOOKS! BOOKS! BOOKS! by OL House Writer From the ever growing OL book mountain, a Penny Kiley memoir and other great titles to get into in March 2026
18. ALMOST TOTALLY WIRE by David O'Byrne The first new material from Wire since Mind Hive released January 2020
19. CLUB CLASS: FLY AMC TO CALIFORNIA by Jeremy Gluck The Jeremy Gluck Archive: American Music Club. Originally published in Sounds, 25 March 1989
20. TENDAYI: TURNING IMPS INTO CHAMPS by Richard John Walker Darikwa - the missing link in Lincoln City's gradual ascent
21. ALWAYS OPEN TO BEAUTY by Jonathan Thornton In the run up to a tour to celebrate 40 years of the Cowboy Junkies, Jonathan Thornton catches up with guitarist and songwriter Michael Timmins
22. ANGINE DE POITRINE: ASYMMETRIC MICROTONAL CARDBOARD by Alan Rider Alan Rider reviews the second album from the Quebec polka dot'd duo who almost broke the internet
23. BROKEN ENGLISH by Buzz Eardrum Buzz Eardrum attends a preview showing, with an added bonus....
24. MONOCHROME SET: LOTUS BRIDGE by David O'Byrne David O'Byrne listening and smiling with the Monochrome Set
25. SHEDDING YOUR SKIN by Alan Rider Alan Rider takes the transformational journey that is Lili Refrain's seventh album Nagalite
26. TRAINSPOTTING: WAITING FOR A TRAIN THAT STILL ISN'T COMING by Sofia Ribeiro Willcox 30 Years Later: The Aseptic Crossing
27. DIAL 999 FOR PUNK by Martin Devenney Martin Devenney catches punk survivors 999 live in Norwich
28. DAREN GARRATT: THE OUTSIDELEFT SUNDAY INTERVIEW by LamontPaul Acclaimed Black Country drummer Daren Garratt talks about a life in music with Pram, the Nightingales, the Fall and most recently David Lance Callahan
29. 3AM, A HEAD OF SNAKES RECORD RELEASE by Ancient Champion It's Sweetpool Week in Outsideleft
30. IT'S SWEETPOOL WEEK IN OUTSIDELEFT by LamontPaul It's Sweetpool Week in Outisdeleft - All This Week