When I heard about a band that had landed a festival appearance near Düsseldorf courtesy of a chance MySpace encounter, I started thinking the unthinkable: maybe social networking isn't a complete waste of time.

No Ripcord is looking to recruit new music writers with a particular expertise in the fields of hip hop and electronic music, in order to help us widen our coverage of these genres.

Simon Briercliffe is, apparently, still alive.

It's the 25th anniversary of the Big Chill.  What has it done to us?

A sleepy, isolated town on the West Cumbrian coast, Whitehaven is probably one of the last places – in England, and possibly the world – where you’d expect to find a thriving indie-pop record label like Letterbox Records. This is the story behind the label’s success.

As usual, there's good news and bad news.

No Ripcord editor David Coleman was in the audience at two of My Bloody Valentine's recent reunion shows. In fact, he's still excited about the experience a full month later.

I spent about 3 hours the other night watching and discussing selections from the filmography of Steven Seagal.  Here's why.

The latest collection of rants and raves.

so what was your glasto moment?

Dennis Wilson was never expected to produce anything of substance or artistic merit. With Pacific Ocean Blue, everyone was surprised.

In rural England, a dark indie gem is found.

The ninth No Ripcord podcast - our first since October 2007 - provides a showcase of some of the finest music of the last six months. Featuring Evangelicals, No Age and DeVotchKa.

In which we consider Madonna, Dennis Wilson and Speed Racer.

Two of the indie scene's foremost singer-songwriters bring their live act to UK shores for a very welcome tour. But will it be the established star or the hotly-tipped newcomer who steals the show?