Sign in

Gareth

@justplayed.bsky.social
1.1K followers 346 following 710 posts

Music obsessive. Record shop frequenter. Occasional self-elected gatekeeper. Clash Magazine’s vinyl nerd. @justplayed on Twitter, @justplayedvinyl on Threads & IG.

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by Gareth
We Buy Records Podcast @webuyrecords.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Ep 79. A new 30 quid club entrant, the 1000 club, more AI nonsense, Gareth @justplayed.bsky.social with a full run down of new vinyl. National Album Day. Letters, vinyl stupidity, quiz and your usual crate digging shenanigans Episode link pod.link/1456163688 Support the show ko-fi.com/webuyrecords
3267
Gareth @justplayed.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
This sounds incredible.
Mobile Fidelity’s 2x45rpm of The National’s ‘Boxer’ (review copy)
260
Gareth @justplayed.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
The Steven Wilson remix of ‘Coming Up’ feels pretty good to these ears.
030
Gareth @justplayed.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
@octopus.energy 6 weeks of the dire scratchcard and nothing but Greggs vouchers. If Caffè Nero pulled out or just massively reduced their commitment to the programme, why not just say? This used to be an appreciated perk.
020
Reposted by Gareth
We Buy Records Podcast @webuyrecords.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Ep 78. We share listener's pre streaming discovery tales, a bumper letter bag, meta glasses get renamed, a quiz, lady pop and all your usual crate digging larks. Our cloud recording for @justplayed.bsky.social failed halfway, so he's half cooked until we recover it. Episode pod.link/1456163688
7268
Gareth @justplayed.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
One of the rare occasions where the unnecessary apostrophe isn’t the most annoying thing in an advert
Advert for an event listed as follows:

Album Wine Tasting

To celebrate 25 years since it's release, Tapps Wine Bar will be paring wines with Björk's acclaimed album Vespertine.

The Listening Bar will be open after the wine tasting and we'll be playing vinyl into the evening to continue your wine tasting experience.
050
Gareth @justplayed.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
A chipolatte, I presume?
A sign in Sainsbury’s on their covered fridges saying

“I'm keeping cool in this extreme weather

SAUSAGE DRINKS

My blinds are down to help keep our food
cool.

Please lift the blind or ask a colleague for help.”
141
Gareth @justplayed.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Thank you for the kind words about the latest column. Listening underway for the next one:
‘The Rest Of’ New Order - 3LP - remastered 2026
170
Reposted by Gareth
Gareth @justplayed.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
The latest edition of my @clashmusic.com vinyl review column is now live. Fling it before the eyes of the record lovers in your lives. Including you, of course: www.clashmusic.com/features/jus...
clashmusic.com
Just Played: A Column About Vinyl Records #72 | Features | Clash Magazine Music News, Reviews & Interviews
There’s quite the selection for you this time around, with a number of huge artists returning, some newbies doing very fine work and a few deluxe
2234
Reposted by Gareth
Unspun Heroes® @unspunheroes.com · 11/08/2026
A fantastic round up, as ever. Worth reading the Gish review for the final paragraph alone.
162
Gareth @justplayed.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
The latest edition of my @clashmusic.com vinyl review column is now live. Fling it before the eyes of the record lovers in your lives. Including you, of course: www.clashmusic.com/features/jus...
clashmusic.com
Just Played: A Column About Vinyl Records #72 | Features | Clash Magazine Music News, Reviews & Interviews
There’s quite the selection for you this time around, with a number of huge artists returning, some newbies doing very fine work and a few deluxe
2234
Reposted by Gareth
Pete Paphides @petepaphides.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
John Douglas 1963-2026. Sending all my love to Eddi, Frank, Stephen, Paul, Davy and all of John's co-travellers in life.
patreon.com
“Robert Burns said, ‘You’ve got to rivet words together just to hear them clang.’ That always stuck with me.” John Douglas (1963-2026) | Pete Paphides
Oh God. Not John? Surely not John? To the best of my knowledge John had never done anything as shocking, anything as dramatic as this. Low-k
310425
Gareth @justplayed.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
@faberbooks.bsky.social Is the whole John McGahern catalogue getting re-done in the style of the four titles released last week?
000
Reposted by Gareth
John Self @john-self.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
This mimsy, excuses-filled piece on loudcasting fails to point out even once that if we vaporise all offenders, their poor genetic material will not be passed on to future genersations.
bbc.co.uk
Why phones on loudspeaker may become just another noise
Playing music or videos out loud on your phone is bemoaned by many - but in the future, it might not seem so outlandish
7527
Gareth @justplayed.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Suggests that somebody has been listening to the final few Low albums: www.theguardian.com/music/2026/a...
theguardian.com
Phoebe Bridgers: Lost Weekend review – long-awaited return is a thrilling, daring study in dislocation
After sweeping the Grammys and being scrutinised by the press, Bridgers deploys electronics and unsettling sound design to brilliantly evoke emotional turmoil
040
Gareth @justplayed.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
Whatever we might suspect, if Modella are keen to build a successful, streamlined version of TG Jones as they say, why visibly sell off all the stock at a discount when it could be redistributed to other, still operational, shops?
The Bath branch of TG Jones where, presumably, incredibly, the landlords aren’t falling for the 3 years of free rent nonsense.
130
Gareth @justplayed.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
That makes two of us!
010
Gareth @justplayed.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
Who comes up with this shit? Another exciting way to do variants
Some new bollocks from Rough Trade. Four black and white photos as a sort of OBI being added to a record to make it artificially collectible
382
Reposted by Gareth
Mark Watson @watsoncomedian.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
Will there ever be a day of our lives where we're not called upon to think about Farage? I'd got all the way to noon. It's like that thing with 'Last Christmas'.
2139945
Reposted by Gareth
WHAT A FUCKING RECORD @whatafuckingrecord.bsky.social · 05/07/2026
16 UK
0406
Gareth @justplayed.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
£50 for a new Madonna 2LP pressed at GZ? I’ll pass.
170
Reposted by Gareth
We Buy Records Podcast @webuyrecords.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
Ep 77. Rolling Stones merch, a listener's fever dream, more Flip Vinyl shenanigans, @justplayed.bsky.social new vinyl reviews, The Flaming Lips (again), news, features, vinyl stupidity and of course a quiz. pod.link/1456163688 Support the show. ko-fi.com/webuyrecords
41810
Gareth @justplayed.bsky.social · 27/06/2026
Oh, Qobuz. We had been getting on so well
A recommended playlist featuring the ‘music’ of Muse.
090
Reposted by Gareth
Pete Paphides @petepaphides.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
The worst thing about James Blake's "Can't trust a review" claim is that it's unleashed a swarm of agreement from conspiracy theorists & musicians who (for whatever reason) never made it. FWIW, neither I or any journalist I know has ever been offered money by a label in exchange for a review.
3303
Reposted by Gareth
Matt Jones @maffrj.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
A nice quiet first hour in the office before the hoards descend, perfectly soundtracked by the new Coral album. It really is as good as you all said isn't it?
2102
Reposted by Gareth
Gareth @justplayed.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
Are you in need of a helpful vinyl review column to give you purchasing tips for the weekend ahead? If so, my new one for @clashmusic.com is live now: www.clashmusic.com/features/jus...
clashmusic.com
Just Played: A Column About Vinyl Records #71 | Features | Clash Magazine Music News, Reviews & Interviews
It has been a bumper month and a bit since all of the fuss around RSD and there is much to please your ears in what follows. Some big hitters are back,
1178
Reposted by Gareth
Music Saves (Worthing) @musicsavesuk.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
whether you’re throwing money away on an average or sub standard pressing and package. So it is with such major relief to get such a glowing review of the album for the musical content, the vinyl pressing and the package we’ve put together! Review at www.clashmusic.com/features/jus...
clashmusic.com
Just Played: A Column About Vinyl Records #71 | Features | Clash Magazine Music News, Reviews & Interviews
It has been a bumper month and a bit since all of the fuss around RSD and there is much to please your ears in what follows. Some big hitters are back,
141
Reposted by Gareth
Music Saves (Worthing) @musicsavesuk.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
Out of all the reviews for the Late Transmissions album the one I was most nervous for and anticipating was from Clash magazine’s vinyl specific column. Gareth quite rightly doesn’t take any prisoners, knowing full well for music fans the cost of investing in a record in this age, and
111
Reposted by Gareth
Cheap Indie Vinyl @cheapindievinyl.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
I tell you what’s cheap - but Gareth tells you what’s *good*
031
Gareth @justplayed.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
Are you in need of a helpful vinyl review column to give you purchasing tips for the weekend ahead? If so, my new one for @clashmusic.com is live now: www.clashmusic.com/features/jus...
clashmusic.com
Just Played: A Column About Vinyl Records #71 | Features | Clash Magazine Music News, Reviews & Interviews
It has been a bumper month and a bit since all of the fuss around RSD and there is much to please your ears in what follows. Some big hitters are back,
1178
Gareth @justplayed.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
@octopus.energy Has the number of Caffè Nero codes been reduced? Not up yet at 5am and gone by 5:20!
000
Reposted by Gareth
UK Prime Minister, Some Say Sinister @joemuggs.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
“I wanted this to be as fun, colourful, funny, exciting and stupid as Smash Hits, as on-the-ball as the NME but not as up its own bum, and as well-written as Q” I love you @nndroid.bsky.social I am very, very proud to have had Andrew as an editor at a crucial juncture and been taught, therefore
podcasts.apple.com
Select Magazine – How the ’90s greatest music mag launched Britpop and reinvented Glastonbury
Podcast Episode · Talk ’90s to me · 15 June · 1hr 1min
1142
Reposted by Gareth
We Buy Records Podcast @webuyrecords.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
No doubt many of you have been following the Lego drama over on YouTube (if you haven't you should)..made us think... anyone had a bad experience when selling used records..shop owners tried to rip you off? Even steal some of your records? Shady business to webuyrecordspod@gmail.com
264
Gareth @justplayed.bsky.social · 31/05/2026
Still a total joy to listen to Gilles on 6. As ever, now have a ‘to investigate/purchase’ list.
070
Gareth @justplayed.bsky.social · 30/05/2026
Couldn’t agree more. Found my first listen to DL a bit of a slog. Some flickers, but so many predictable approaches that have been very present in relatively recent work. Not shifted from my position that this treads much of the same ground as ‘New’, lyrically and musically.
010
Gareth @justplayed.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
He’s made ‘New’ again, hasn’t he? Even pressed it at GZ to be consistent.
030
Gareth @justplayed.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
This also feels fitting for today
The new album by The Coral, ‘388’
081
Gareth @justplayed.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
Hiding from the sun and deploying a cherished album
‘Hollow Ponds’ from Damon Albarn’s 2014 masterpiece, ‘Everyday Robots’
160
Gareth @justplayed.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
Jumping around various hi-res Beck tracks thanks to him absolutely owning the second 1999 #TOTP tonight.
010
Gareth @justplayed.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
30 today. Still love it. So important in my early teenage years.
Manic Street Preachers - ‘Everything Must Go’
2120
Reposted by Gareth
Dorian Lynskey @dorianlynskey.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
This satirical irony is too blunt. Please try again
414141
Reposted by Gareth
We Buy Records Podcast @webuyrecords.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
Ep 76. We're joined by Pat Lydon who's been to the world's biggest record fair. @justplayed.bsky.social is back with new releases. There's records 'filled with stuff' chat, news, letters and the quiz. pod.link/1456163688 Support the show ko-fi.com/webuyrecords
22110
Reposted by Gareth
Jeff Billington @facesofjeff.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
Yeah mate, I’ve had that, when you are carrying a big stack and the middle ones fall out, massive pain.
NEWS
Drake Drops Three Albums at Once
By Alex Suskind and Hattie Lindert
May 15, 2026
614336
Gareth @justplayed.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
An interesting run of records as part of column listening
Miles Davis ‘Birth Of The Cool’ Tone PoetEdgar Varése - Decca Pure Analogue release McCoy Tyner ‘Asante’ Tone PoetJill Scott ‘To Whom This May Concern’
160
Reposted by Gareth
Ian Wade @wadeywade.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
A masterpiece Here's what I had to say about it five years ago medium.com/@iamwadey/ol...
medium.com
Older at 25
Here are 25 points about the magnificence of George Michael’s Older:
1135
Reposted by Gareth
Brighter Day Record Shop @brighterdayvinyl.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
I got some records back from cleaning. This unfortunately has a large warp, it plays still, but not good for me to sell. Let's rehome it! If you want it comment, "oh, Sandy" and a random wheel thingy will find it a home later. Feel free to RePost 🌞
391717
Gareth @justplayed.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
Well now…
050
Gareth @justplayed.bsky.social · 26/04/2026
A proper Sunday afternoon listen
Weller’s ‘Sonik Kicks’ LP
040
Gareth @justplayed.bsky.social · 26/04/2026
Sunday morning listening
Graham Coxon ‘The Spinning Top’
110
Gareth @justplayed.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
Always interesting to see how just how much RSD pricing varied. Seen Blur at a variety of prices from £30 to £43!
350