Mark J Wray

@markjwray.com

207 Followers 166 Following

Writes about music and sometimes other stuff at markjwray.com He/him

A WhatsApp screenshot reading “I strongly feel that all major tournaments should have 2^n teams, where n is a positive integer”
A chess.com screenshot of a user with the username ‘notrasicst’
A record player, amp and speakers in front of a Kallax full of records and music books
A poster, on a bin, saying “Why you should be a socialist in the 21st Century”
A screenshot from the Guardian ‘Blind Dates’ column, reading as follows. If you could change one thing about the evening what would it be? Nothing. It was perfect Marks out of 10? 9
The cover of the book ‘The Secret Public’ by Jon Savage
A picture of the Lewis chess pieces, with a Polish caption reading ‘Szachy Lewis’
A screenshot showing an album review from Pitchfork, with a Pitchfork score of 7.4, and a reader score also of 7.4, underlining the pointlessness of the exercise and, indeed, life.
A screenshot from Pitchfork of an album with a Pitchfork score of 7.4, and a reader score also of 7.4, underlining the futility of the exercise, and indeed life.
My 12 track ballot for the People's Pop Poll 2025 as follows: 15 POINTS: PINKPANTHERESS - "Illegal" 12 Points: WATER FROM YOUR EYES - "Playing Classics" 10 Points: CMAT - "The Jamie Oliver Petrol Station" 9 Points: NINAJIRACHI - "Fuck My Computer" 8 Points: LILY ALLEN - "Pussy Palace" 7 Points: BADGER &c - "Canva (How?)" 6 Points: ALE HOP & TITI BAKORA - "Una Cumbia En Kinshasa" 5 Points: KATE NASH - "GERM" 4 Points: CAIN CULTO ft XIUHTEXCATL - "Basta Ya!" 3 Points: ROSALIA - "Divinize" 2 Points: TSHEGUE - "Plus De Place Nulle Part" 1 Points: EMMA NOLDE - "Independente"
Badge saying “Sometimes if you want something to exist you have to make it yourself” from the charity Arts Emergency
A Tweet from Nicki Minaj stating "Your favourite artist has been practicing rituals in a satanic cult where they take babies from other countries & mutilate & kill them as a form of blood sacrifice to their God. You see, when your master is satan, you must constantly shed blood. However the jig is up" alongside a pictire of chucky drinking what looks like an olive martini
A Santa hat on the pavement, trampled and covered in dirt and wet leaves
A poster for Alex James’ Britpop Classical concert at Halifax Piece Hall
Screenshot from the Guardian website of an article with the headline ‘Senior Labour figures tell Keir Starmer to stop making mistakes’
Two headlines from the Guardian, one from Wes Streeting threatening to go to war with doctors, the other from Adrian Chiles, complaining about umbrellas
Poster for the 1998 Ozzfest at Milton Keynes, featuring Black Sabbath, Ozzy Osbourne, Foo Fighters, Korn, Pantera and more
Statue ‘The Dreamer’ of a levitating woman, in a courtyard at the University of Leeds, covered in snow
The cover of a book entitled “It’s Easy To Play Blur” illustrated with an unconvincing and slightly disturbing drawing of that band.
A screenshot of The Guardian with the headline “Woman wins £30,000 compensation for being compared to Darth Vader”, accompanied by a photograph of Darth Vader
A rainbow coloured slinky shimmering under disco lights to the tune of ‘I Feel Love’ by Donna Summer
A small train station, tracks and platform covered in snow and ice, with a spectacular sunrise behind the trees in the background
Extended Morrissey quote from 1986 in which he states amongst other thing that Reggae is the most racist music in the world, and to get on Top of the Pops you have to be black
The album cover of Low’s Things We Lost In The Fire. The image is a map of the moon I think