Home on Truly Madly Riley

The Listening Guide

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

How to use this guide

Work top to bottom, one era at a time, and tick things off as you go. The boxes remember your progress, so you can disappear for a month and pick up where you left off.

The only rule

No skipping to the hits. The album tracks are where the real ones live.

Era one: the duo years

Start where the mixtapes started. Two albums, an unreasonable number of singles, and the b-sides that started this whole site.

Concert Prep Runbook

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

The week before

Checklist 0/4 done

The day of

Checklist 0/4 done

The one forgotten ticket incident

It was 2019. The box office was kind. The lesson is item one, and it is not optional.

FanCon panel: two decades of Affirmation

Sat, 19 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

An hour on Affirmation: the writing, the b-sides, and why it still soundtracks every road trip I plan. Bring your hot takes; I’m bringing slides.

This one shows how a personal site can use the events section for an influencer’s calendar: future gigs appear under Upcoming appearances and move to Past appearances automatically.

Ranked: every era, definitively, again

Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Once a year I rank every era of the discography, and once a year the ranking changes, which either undermines the word “definitively” or proves the catalogue keeps growing on me. I choose the second reading.

This year’s controversial move: the self-titled era climbs two spots on the strength of the deep cuts alone. The comments section of my inbox is open.

If you’re new here and want to catch up before disagreeing with me, the listening guide will walk you through every era in order, with checkboxes.

Concert diary: front row, lost voice

Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Queue at dawn, barrier by noon, glorious by nine.

I have attended twenty-seven of these and I still cried during the acoustic bridge. The person next to me, a first-timer, cried harder, which felt like passing a torch.

Voice status: gone. Worth it: entirely. The setlist is transcribed in my notes and will be argued about in a future essay.

New vinyl day: purple wax edition

Sat, 18 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

It arrived. It is purple. It is perfect.

First spin, phone on airplane mode, door locked. Some rituals are non-negotiable.

The shelf is now officially at capacity, which past me said three shelves ago. Full collection notes are in the listening guide, and yes, the guide’s checklist now has a new box to tick.

Podcast guest: The B-Sides Show

Fri, 10 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Ninety minutes on the songs that never made the singles chart and deserved better. The host and I agreed on almost nothing, which made for excellent radio.

Site news: welcome to the new place

Mon, 02 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

After a decade of scattered posts across three platforms and one abandoned forum signature, everything now lives here.

The plan: news updates when something happens, concert diaries when I travel, and essays when the mood strikes. The listening guide has its own page, with checkboxes, because I know how you people are.

Subscribe by RSS if you want the news the moment a purple vinyl arrives.

About Riley

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Hi. I’m Riley Moon: writer, vinyl collector, karaoke over-preparer, and a Darren Hayes superfan since a friend’s older sister taped Affirmation for me in 1997. By day I have a perfectly normal job; by night I maintain a spreadsheet of b-sides with a tab called “feelings”.

This site is where the fandom lives: news updates when something arrives in the mail, concert diaries when I travel, essays when the annual re-ranking urge strikes, and a listening guide for anyone who wants in.

Riley Moon

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Say hi

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Invite me to speak

Panels, podcasts, meetups, classrooms: if it involves a microphone and permission to talk about pop history, I’m interested. See past appearances for the sort of thing I do.

Invite me

Trade vinyl

I keep a list of doubles and a longer list of wants. Serious inquiries and dangerous enablers only.

Start a trade

Just say hi

Favourite b-side, track-sequencing grievance, or a photo of your own shelf. All excellent reasons to write.