As he releases new Magnetic Fields album 50 Song Memoir, Stephin Merritt doesn't delve into the past for his Baker's Dozen list but instead gives tQ an A-Z of some contemporary favourites, from Japan to Marc Almond, bawdy cockney songs and the BBC Radiophonic Workship. Pic by Marcelo Krasilcic
With his hand on the tiller of _Realism_ – the most caustically satisfying Magnetic Fields album since _69 Love Songs_ – New York’s least excitable raconteur has a few (not exclusively self-chosen) words squeezed out of him by Charlie Ivens