Safe As Milk has been one of my favourite albums for about 30 years. It's raw, anarchic, experimental, bluesy and fun. It's the first album from Captain Beefheart, released in 1967 on the Buddah label.

My December began with two Frank Zappa tribute concerts. First, the Zappadan Zappajam, wherein various West London Zappa fans perform in a community hall in Acton, and then this - Hot Rats performed by

Introducing Shifty Chicken Shed, the originators of 'Charity Shop Pop'. Utterly unglamorous and yet excitingly eclectic, their sound is a tawdry-£5-rail-second-hand-selection of frayed funk, ragged rock,

Don’t you just love Captain Beefheart? A Dutchman who sounds like Howling Wolf channelling Frank Zappa. This is one of my favourites He was also responsible for one of the greatest (and weirdest) album

my 2015 cover of a blues classic by the captain himself. follow me: @heymattsokol