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Sharon O'Connell

@messyectomorph.bsky.social
215 followers 147 following 794 posts

Music writer (dCS Audio, Electronic Sound, Metro, Uncut). Ex staffer at Melody Maker and Time Out. Coastal dweller. Art, film, books etc.

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Sharon O'Connell @messyectomorph.bsky.social · 3h
Ah, James Blunt has a new album out November 6. Now it makes sense. #CelebrityTraitors
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Sharon O'Connell @messyectomorph.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Still warming my hands by the fire of Eric Schmitt’s epic gaffe. Though it won’t make a blind bit of difference to his profile, power or future behaviour: shame & mortification are strangers to these cretins. Along with expectations of professional conduct.
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Sharon O'Connell @messyectomorph.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
The levels of dedication, inventiveness & furious creativity at work here are extraordinary. And the embedded video is a joy to watch (even if neither cats nor Lego appeal). www.theguardian.com/culture/2026...
theguardian.com
‘It’s frustrating to see immoral videos do so well’: how YouTube sensation Half-Asleep Chris sent a rollercoaster to space and made Bella the cat a star
His videos of cats, loopy contraptions and theme park rides round the heavens (and his back garden) have notched up a billion views. We meet Chris Burton in the suburban home where it all happens
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Sharon O'Connell @messyectomorph.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
All over great work from the entrants in this year’s Abbey Road music photography awards but I adore this pic of Warren Ellis (with Larry & Piglet) by Manuel Vazquez, a finalist in the portrait category. Those boots. With running shorts. #majordude
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Sharon O'Connell @messyectomorph.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Horrifying, malevolent, thrilling, repellant & full of dark wonder: Much of Anish Kapoor’s show at the Hayward Gallery delivers a mighty visceral rush. (One room def warrants its warning.) These three pieces especially confounded me. If you’re in the mood for awe - go.
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Reposted by Sharon O'Connell
Des @desdelboy.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Painting by Lucien Freud. ‘Factory in North London’ Oil on canvas, 1972. Size 71 x 71 cm.
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Sharon O'Connell @messyectomorph.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
John Coltrane AND Springsteen? September 23, you spoil us.
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Reposted by Sharon O'Connell
The Cartoonists' Friend @thecartoonistsfrnd.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Gerald Scarfe (born 1936) who was published in Eagle at the age of 11, unleashed his aggressively grotesque caricatures in Private Eye from 1961. #GeraldScarfe
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Sharon O'Connell @messyectomorph.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
A practical & convincing piece on the wisdom of knowing when to throw in the towel. Also refreshingly un-woowoo. www.theguardian.com/wellness/202...
theguardian.com
Why you should quit and not look back: ‘Saying yes to everything is saying no to what matters’
In her new book, The Case For Quitting: The Surprising Benefits of Opting Out, Lindsay Crouse discusses the costs and traps of never giving up – and how she set herself free
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Reposted by Sharon O'Connell
Luke Turner @luketurner.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Re last post, that's exactly who this moustache / mullet trend is reminding me of, couldn't quite place it before but yes, Har Mar Superstar and probably staff at Beyond Retro / Dream Bags Jaguar Shoes circa 2002
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Sharon O'Connell @messyectomorph.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
The al fresco seafront coffee stop is blasting out polka. It’s 9am.
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Sharon O'Connell @messyectomorph.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
More armchair travel courtesy of Lidl. This weekend, Thailand…
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Reposted by Sharon O'Connell
Michael Lobel @mlobelart.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Happy birthday to Sylvia Plimack Mangold, one of the great artists of "looking at the overlooked," who turns 88 today (thread). First up: "Floor with Laundry #1," 1970
Painting of a wooden parquet floor with a small stack of laundry at center
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Sharon O'Connell @messyectomorph.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Hard relate. Experience = age = bad. Couple of months ago I got to quasi-interview Zoom-chat stage re a (part-time, remote) job for which I was well qualified. Look of shock on person’s face when I appeared was palpable. No less than if I’d had an extra eye where my nose should be. #shitisreal
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Sharon O'Connell @messyectomorph.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Need to cool your agitated jets? I recommend this gorgeous, languid exploration from Butterss/Raymonde/Lumsdaine (on bass/trumpet/drums), the title track from their album 'Beginningless', out Nov 13. youtu.be/V9V6JWp662I?...
youtu.be
Anna Butterss, John Raymond, and Ben Lumsdaine - "Beginningless" [Official Audio]
YouTube video by Northern Spy Records
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Sharon O'Connell @messyectomorph.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Not the kind of clean sweep Ed Sheeran’s used to, it’s fair to say.
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Sharon O'Connell @messyectomorph.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Mood like the sky behind - instantly lifted.
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Sharon O'Connell @messyectomorph.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Electrician has just completed the installation of a new fire alarm system in our building. I made him coffee & during chitchat about our respective work he said, “oh, my daughter wants to be a music journalist”. I may have startled him with the vehemence of my warning. #ALLCAPS
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Sharon O'Connell @messyectomorph.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Punchy & highly entertaining piece on Donny's frenzied self-memorialising via his exceptionally vulgar taste. The triumphal arch especially is... #naziaf
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Sharon O'Connell @messyectomorph.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Both astonishing & enraging. This woman shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near a senior management role in the social housing sector. The decision defiles the memory of all those who died & scorns those living through the trauma of survival.
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Sharon O'Connell @messyectomorph.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Sweden, today we need you to do the right thing. Not the right-wing thing.
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Sharon O'Connell @messyectomorph.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
This is an excellent (long) read, clear-eyed & thoroughly researched but also deeply personal (& as such, poignant), especially re the pathology of what is a very particular addiction. www.newstatesman.com/special-repo...
newstatesman.com
Vinted Brain
How Britain lost its mind to online shopping addiction
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Sharon O'Connell @messyectomorph.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
This is unconscionable. Yes, it’s a highly emotive issue but we need a considered & wider conversation about what’s at stake. At the vote’s core sits the misguided belief that living, no matter how unendurable a life may be, is necessarily better than death. It’s a terrible condemnation to misery.
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Sharon O'Connell @messyectomorph.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Jesus wept. This fawning, fluffy, social-pages nonsense from CNN is a disgrace to the very word ‘news’ & the neutral reporting of same. Not to mention LACKING A SHRED OF DIGNITY.
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Sharon O'Connell @messyectomorph.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Here's a shift from Sam Gendel I did not see coming – into R&B haze, rap, glitch & degraded hyperpop, with heavily processed vocals. Not a saxophone in sight. First single from the album, out in November, is "Pattern Dance" and I am on board with it. youtu.be/JzZTPGPrkc4?...
youtu.be
Pattern Dance
YouTube video by Sam Gendel - Topic
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Sharon O'Connell @messyectomorph.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Insanely enjoyable show from Kurt Vile & his fine Violators last night. Generous, too, at 90 mins, pretty much non-stop. Aside from the guitar switching for both set list & busted string reasons - his was one busy tech. Checkout that rack (phwoar, etc).
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Sharon O'Connell @messyectomorph.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
It’s a particularly shit Monday morning, for some reason. Well, for myriad reasons, but life ambience feels even heavier than usual - not yet 11am & my mood is Vantablack. By now I should know better than to plough into the news first thing…
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Sharon O'Connell @messyectomorph.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Holy fuq. She’s Queen, of course, but £272.40 for a ticket to see Erykah Badu at the new Blue Note? And that doesn’t guarantee a seat - everyone will have to join the scrum when doors open. Put your hands together for dynamic pricing…
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Sharon O'Connell @messyectomorph.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Great to catch hardy perennials Pram last night. After… 30 years? Wonky chamber jazz, kosmische grooves & generally unsettling beauty, as expected, but either I’d forgotten the pastoral folk or it’s newly to the fore. Either way, a terrific set. Also: Stylophone! Trombone! Theremin!
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Sharon O'Connell @messyectomorph.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Rest in power, the extraordinary Gloria Steinem.
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Sharon O'Connell @messyectomorph.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
A world I had zero interest in until I started reading this: a fascinating piece on the history & development from early blogging days, relationships betw restaurant industry & content creators, ££ to be made or (mostly) not & some of the players happy to rate everything “the best” for free food.
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Sharon O'Connell @messyectomorph.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Everything about Susan TKK’s life & work is extraordinary. And superbly expounded on here.
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Sharon O'Connell @messyectomorph.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
The landscape & outlook are every bit as depressing & demoralising as we feared. And freelancers feel the sharpened edge of the exploitation stick most. As always. www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
theguardian.com
Freelancers are getting buried with ‘soulless’ AI slop cleanup: ‘It’s a shame we need to do it’
As more companies turn to AI, they’re hiring freelancers to cleanup its mistakes rather than create original work
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Sharon O'Connell @messyectomorph.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Fascinated by these fast-food grotesques: from whose twisted imaginations do they spring? If you saw this (strikingly repulsive) one in an ‘altered state’ you’d run a mile, screaming.
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Sharon O'Connell @messyectomorph.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
On this day 10 years ago, apparently. An irresistible display of baked treats: Castlemaine, Victoria, Australia
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Sharon O'Connell @messyectomorph.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
A good read on (dispiriting) new developments & shifts in the slop discourse, with a historical recap. Also, I learned who first used the term ‘canned music’, & when. www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
newyorker.com
Who’s Afraid of A.I. Music?
When the rapper Fenix Flexin débuted a new accent on his single “Rubberz,” he stumbled into a century-old fight over musical fraudulence.
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Sharon O'Connell @messyectomorph.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
Hopelessly inadequate pic to convey the might of Osaka’s Hibushibire: awesome, thrillingly heavy & EXTREMELY LOUD psychedelic rock in a set that included a truly epic interpretation of “Tomorrow Never Knows”. Playing like their lives depended on it. Man.
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Sharon O'Connell @messyectomorph.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
Fascinatingly deep & wide profile of a remarkable artist…
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Sharon O'Connell @messyectomorph.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
This is a wonderful story & the warmth & fraternal love beaming out of that photo has brightened up my Sunday morning 100%. ‘That’s what saved me’: Darren Raymond and Mark Rylance on the prison drama workshop that brought them together www.theguardian.com/stage/2026/a...
theguardian.com
‘That’s what saved me’: Darren Raymond and Mark Rylance on the prison drama workshop that brought them together
A masterclass led by the actor helped set Raymond on a new path. Now the head of a theatre company, he has coaxed his friend back to the stage for a show to encourage young people to fall in love with...
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Sharon O'Connell @messyectomorph.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Genuinely nauseous reading this. Just… [shudders] www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
theguardian.com
Volunteers rescue man stuck on 10,000ft-high ledge in Sierra Nevada
Climber, stuck on 6in ridge, had veered off treacherous path and ‘any fall would almost certainly be fatal’
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Sharon O'Connell @messyectomorph.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Australia is really nailing it atm in terms of the smart, funny, thoughtful tv series: Colin From Accounts, Sunny Nights & now, Dog Park. Two eps in & it’s a winner. Especially - though not only - if you’re a Dog Person. Unforced charm on a (chewed) stick…
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Sharon O'Connell @messyectomorph.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Oh, Dolly. This feels like a major loss. Such a larger-than-life spirit, it seemed as if she’d go on forever. A remarkable career & a monumental talent - how lucky we were to have her. Vale, m’am.
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Sharon O'Connell @messyectomorph.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Props to these brave souls for sharing. Aged 14, I took a pic of Mia Farrow w her perky elfin cut to local hairdressers, overlooking fact that I did not have MF’s face. “You look like a skinned rabbit,” said my mother when I got home. The memory will never die. www.theguardian.com/fashion/2026...
theguardian.com
‘It looked stunning on Joanna Lumley!’ 10 writers on their biggest hair disaster
From bowl cuts to extreme mullets, punk dos to bad dye jobs, a terrible hairstyle can never be forgotten – even decades after it has grown out
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Sharon O'Connell @messyectomorph.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Major dame.
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Sharon O'Connell @messyectomorph.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
Totally entranced by “Uneasy”, new lift off the debut EP from duo Curbside Lambsear, out Sep 11. Def echoes of Caroline (Magdalena McLean serves), but also late-‘70s art punk, drone folk & abstract electronics. The good shit, iow. curbsidelambsear.bandcamp.com/album/put-ri...
curbsidelambsear.bandcamp.com
Put Rings On All My Fingers To Weigh Down My Hands, by Curbside Lambsear
5 track album
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Sharon O'Connell @messyectomorph.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
Excellent news: let’s hear it for beavers! #freeliving
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Sharon O'Connell @messyectomorph.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Whenever the reincarnated Veronica Lake stays the night, she insists on sleeping here…
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Sharon O'Connell @messyectomorph.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
I loved every head-spinning page of “The Amazing Adventures…” & this is a joy.
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Sharon O'Connell @messyectomorph.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
Fascinating & quite brilliant. We’ll be needing much more of this far sooner than we realise. Then we’ll be moving underground ourselves (if you’ve read Tim Winton’s epic “Juice”, well…)
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Sharon O'Connell @messyectomorph.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Today, a sweatshirt. Which feels bulky and… weird. #below20
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