Will Katie Waissel judge X Factor 2015?

Long-time Popsiculture favourite Katie Waissel made her return to The X Factor this weekend to perform in what was dubbed The X Factor Medley - basically a cover of The Time (Dirty Bit) by the Black Eyed Peas.

You can watch the full performance below - Katie arrives near the end and frankly does an impressive job of rescuing what is otherwise several minutes of absolute car-crash television.


As usual it seems set out to humiliate the performers, rather than to bring them back as heroes of series gone by, and Katie once again brings an undeserved amount of grace and elegance to the X Factor stage which pretty much sums up how she's always been treated by the show.

But none of that matters - what matters is her tweet just before 11pm on December 13th (just a few minutes ago, as I write this) which has really set the Katie-cat among the pigeons for her Twitter followers.

Katie's tweet said:

Bye Bye London!! See y'all on the other side.... #seeyounextyear #confirmed #chair

— katie waissel (@katiewaissel24) December 13, 2014

And just in case she deletes it or it won't load for any reason, that is "Bye bye London!! See y'all on the other side.... #seeyounextyear #confirmed #chair".

Does this mean we can expect to see Katie Waissel judge X Factor 2015? Is the 'chair' she refers to one of the coveted X Factor mentors' chairs?

This IS Katie after all, so nothing is impossible... watch this space for official confirmation, if that really is what La Waissel was hinting at.

Either way it was a cathartic return to the show for Katie, who also posted on her Instagram account, where a picture paints a thousand words (or 65 words, in Katie's case...) and allowed her to send a message too long to tweet.

#amen #thexfactor @thexfactoruk #closure #farewells #newchapter Be Inspired.....

A photo posted by Red Velvet (@redvelvetband) on Dec 12, 2014 at 10:34pm PST

Again, will this 'new chapter' see Katie Waissel mentor for X Factor 2015? Or are the ever-hopeful Waissel Warriors jumping to conclusions?

It's too early to be certain, but you can bet her fans will have their fingers crossed - Katie has written X Factor columns for magazines and websites over the past couple of years, so her association with the show has never faded (and frankly, never will).

With strong opinions and no fear of expressing them, personally I think Katie would be a fantastic X Factor mentor for 2015; she might even be enough to convince me to watch it again.

If she is confirmed for one of the mentors' chairs in 2015, I'll just be hoping the media are a little kinder in their coverage of her than they were when she was a contestant on the show.

UPDATE: What if she meant The Voice?

Just a quick addition to this - what if when Katie said 'see you on the other side', she meant it more literally than anyone has realised?

People don't tend to talk about The X Factor judges/mentors in terms of the chairs they sit in, but there is of course a similar show where the mentors' chairs are a much more significant part of the production - The Voice.

It's on 'the other side' in the sense that it's on the BBC rather than ITV, and the mentors change much more regularly than they do on The X Factor.

What if... maybe, just maybe... Katie's 'confirmed chair' for next year is over at the Beeb? Personally I think she'd be a great fit for the show.

Twin Peaks to return in 2016...?

Amazingly, it looks like a third series of Twin Peaks is on the way.

This is amazing news whether you like the show or not, when you consider that the pilot episode was first broadcast in 1990 - that's a terrifying 24 years ago for those of us who were around then to see it.

A second series followed in 1991, and the movie, Fire Walk With Me, came in 1992.

Since then it's all been quiet, and fans have had to make do with re-runs, DVD box sets and the genuinely awesome soundtrack CD.

That is, until David Lynch tweeted the following:

Dear Twitter Friends… it is happening again. http://t.co/r0l9rhK4eB #damngoodcoffee
— David Lynch (@DAVID_LYNCH) October 6, 2014

Just in case you can't view the YouTube video in that, we've embedded it here below:


OK it's not much to go on, but fans already seem convinced it's more than just a full re-run of the original series.

Will we see the return of Agent Dale Cooper and all of the other characters who made the show one of the strangest things to ever hit TV screens? Let's hope so.

And in the meantime, there's just enough time to watch the original series and remind yourself of what to expect... if they get it right, it could be a hell of a nostalgia trip for some of us.

Ex Hex - Rips

 If you're the kind of person who likes to say "They don't make music like that any more," then Ex Hex are the girls for you.

The Washington DC trio are rock'n'roll in its truest sense, all cymbal crashes and clanging guitars, and it's really, really good to hear some new-old 'proper music' still being made, well into the 21st century.

Drums come courtesy of Laura Harris; Betsy Wright is billed as an 'ace piano player' and all-round performer; and Mary Timony is the driving force behind the songwriting.

The result of the collaboration is a slick performance across a dozen tracks with killer hooks and enough rock'n'roll heritage to leave you wondering if this really is a debut album, or a group who have been around for years.

Preorder Ex Hex - Rips on audio CD
Preorder Ex Hex - Rips on vinyl
(Released on October 13th 2014)

To Rococo Rot - Many Descriptions (feat. Arto Lindsay)

To Rococo Rot's distinctive blend of ambient and electronic sounds has been a hallmark of their sound over the past 18 years, and long-term fans will be pleased to hear of the upcoming full-length album release of Instrument.

It will be To Rococo Rot's eighth album in all, and their first since 2010, and is due for a July 21st launch date, accompanied by a launch show at Cafe Oto in London.

Until then, fans will have to be satisfied with preview tracks, and the first of those is Many Descriptions, featuring vocals by Arto Lindsay.



It's an elegant reintroduction to the musical world of To Rococo Rot - I could happily listen to four minutes of the intro before any vocals were introduced - but it also marks an evolution in their sound.

"We wanted to make clear that something is different," says Robert Lippok, and while that is true, the signatures of Robert and his brother Ronald, as well as collaborator Stefan Schneider, are written all over the track.

The launch of Instrument may be some way off, but you can already preorder it via iTunes - click the button below if you don't want to miss the launch date.