Feed - Simon Collison | Journal

A week on the moors 🔗

I’ve just spent a week in a beautiful converted barn on the edge of Saddleworth. Nothing restores my positivity quite like being alone on the wild Pen [...]

Happy 15th, Beyond Tellerrand! 🔗

My favourite conference is celebrating its 15th year right now in Düsseldorf. I’ve attended several times, both on my own and with Geri, and it’s an e [...]

England 0-1 Japan 🔗

Arriving just as the sun aligned with the roofline. I’ve been to Wembley Arena many times for gigs, but I’d never been inside the iconic Wembley Stad [...]

Recent gigs and talks 🔗

Torn Sail at Squire PAC; L-R: Jim Baron, Henry Claude, Huw Costin, John Thompson and Jeff Davenport. John Newling at Beam, 19th February. I’ve known r [...]

Return to Tokyo, Part 3 🔗

Days 11 to 15. We celebrated a retirement, caught beans for good fortune, and spent three Perfect Days ticking off favourite places and stores. [...]

Return to Tokyo, Part 2 🔗

Days 6 to 10 brought several trip highlights, including an outstanding café, trippy outdoor bathing in Karuizawa, and a perfect few hours at Sakamoto [...]

Return to Tokyo, Part 1 🔗

I’ve split my summary across three posts, and this roundup details the first five days. Highlights included lots of sumo, a studio session, and gettin [...]

Weird switches 🔗

Another time-consuming but deeply rewarding home repair. I love my 43-year-old Technics SU-Z15 amplifier far too much to replace it, and I’ve no excus [...]

RSS-only: Sakamoto Library 🔗

This is a private post, made available via my RSS feed. There’s no public version and no permalink. Please don’t share anything that follows. The grea [...]

Tokyo music haul 🔗

I’ve just returned from my third trip to Japan — my first in almost eight years. I have some general notes and photos to post when time allows. In the [...]

2025 in music 🔗

Here’s my 22nd annual roundup: sixty short reviews across five categories, plus shows, stats and playlists. It gets more ridiculous every year, but I [...]

Small plates and beautiful bowls 🔗

For this year’s office party (the two of us going for a posh meal), we returned to London’s Session Arts Club, having loved our lunch there in spring. [...]

Akiko Yano & Kosuke Mine 🔗

My signed copy of Iroha Ni Kompeito. I never expected to see Akiko Yano play live, let alone meet her and get an album signed. In case you don’t know, [...]

Radiohead at the O2 🔗

From one of the best seats in the entire arena, I watched my favourite band for the fourth time. Within minutes, I knew this would be my all-time favo [...]

The line and the stream 🔗

...so many things I was taught to rely upon — jobs, industries, institutions, milestones, even seasons — feel like they’re being upended in front of m [...]

Stars of the Lid Forever 🔗

I love Jon Hicks’ new side project, Stars of the Lid Forever. It’s unofficial, but surviving member Adam Wiltzie gave Jon his blessing, and even provi [...]

Mani 🔗

It was a shock to learn that Mani had died suddenly. I’ll be forever grateful that my teens aligned with the rise of The Stone Roses in 1988–90, when [...]

The texture of the work 🔗

I’ve been drawing comfort from the way established artists will typically vanish for a while and suddenly re-appear with a fully-formed new body of wo [...]

Composing with field recordings 🔗

Musician Henry Claude asked me some questions for his field recording research project, and was kind enough to let me archive my detailed responses he [...]

Number 11 🔗

Clockwise from top left: Mam and Dad (and an imminent me) in 1973; posing on my rabbit pushbike; Mam and Dad on the patio in the 2000s; home for Chris [...]

How much would you risk? 🔗

Guillermo del Toro discussing AI’s “semi-compelling screensavers” and how prompt-based output may never truly move us: The value of art is not how muc [...]

Grand Sumo at the Royal Albert Hall 🔗

Our view of the closing ceremony. After a decade as a sumo fan and a year of anticipation for the London event I was almost tearful watching the openi [...]

Eno on AI 🔗

All my misgivings about AI really are to do with the fact that it’s owned by a group of people that I don’t trust at all. I don’t trust their taste, I [...]

Reflecting on a summer of sound 🔗

A funding award enabled me to dedicate three months solely to developing my artistic practice — something I’ve been reflecting on these past few weeks [...]

The hunt 🔗

A potent reminder from Naz that friction has a purpose; to grow, we must hunt. We lost something along the way in pursuit of efficiency and this idea [...]

Jenny Saville: The Anatomy of Painting 🔗

Realising this exhibition was closing soon, I popped down to London’s National Portrait Gallery to see the work of a painter whose technical ability I [...]

Rob’s expanded edition 🔗

I knew Rob Weychert’s v7 redesign was torturing him but didn’t know why; I now realise it was all about the rebuild. If, like me, you’re obsessively c [...]

This Is What You Get 🔗

Radiohead’s music and art are inseparable, and a constant source of inspiration for me. I couldn’t miss this exhibition at The Ashmolean in Oxford. [...]

Andy Goldsworthy: Fifty Years 🔗

Ways of seeing and feeling that I first learned from land artists have remained invaluable. This extensive show offered a chance to reconnect with one [...]

Eighty years 🔗

Today marks eighty years since the devastating atomic bombing of Hiroshima. My song Paper Cranes documents an emotional visit to the peace museum and [...]