Two CDs arrived, separately, in the mail today:

* A copy of New Waver's retrospective covers compilation, Neuters (sent to me by Greg Wadley; thanks!). Includes the likes of Middle Class Man, Monday Morning's Alright For Working and Prozac (to the tune of Heroin), intercut with samples of wildlife documentaries about ruthless Darwinian competition. The press release, describing how New Waver formed when their members met in th Claims department of the Australian Tax Office in Canberra in the early 1980s, is also interesting.

* A copy of Jack Blanchard & Misty Morgan's Life and Death…

I'm listening to some MP3s I found of The Little Red Songbook (which, apparently, was deleted because of a libel suit by Wendy Carlos).

The musical arrangements range from good to sublime (when Momus is in full synthpop-music-hall-classicist mode, he knocks the Pet Shop Boys into a cocked hat). The lyrics are quite witty, if often eccentric and sex-obsessed (though that's Momus for you).

The material is let down somewhat by the production, however, which is thin and weak. In my opinion, Momus could do with a good producer to work with, who can give his recordings sound quality to…

Apparently, I have now played 3070 tracks since I set up AudioScrobbler (in late December/early January).

Track 3068 (which is the postcode for North Fitzroy/Clifton Hill, in the indie heartland of Melbourne, where I lived until moving to London) was Who's Never Seen The Sun? (The track immediately preceeding it was probably more apt; The Beautiful Look City Today, which mentions streets in North Fitzroy ("I ride for free from Scotchmer to Queens") in the lyrics.)

Track 3070 (the postcode for neighbouring Northcote, and where I lived before) was Two Tone.

Track 3065 (Fitzroy, encompassing Brunswick St.) was…

This weekend, I found a "for promotional use only" copy of the upcoming Stereolab album, Fab Four Suture. The album, according to Amazon, is not out until March, so presumably this means that some journalist/radio presenter got bored of it and flogged it. Unlike most prereleases, this looks much like a proper album: it has a jewel case, pressed CD, printed artwork and all (something which I'm told is unusual for Beggars Group prereleases).

The album, on the first few listens, is good, though it probably won't surprise anyone who has already heard Stereolab's earlier works. A few tracks…

Last night (well, Friday night), I saw Belle & Sebastian play at the Dome in Brighton. It was a brilliant show; as good as the one I saw in Melbourne in 2004, and perhaps better than the Barbican gig.

Blog review here; some photos I took are here.

I'm now listening to the Slowdive "Live Vol. 1" bootleg compilation, for the first time in a long time.

I listened to a lot of Slowdive in around 1999 or so; I had discovered it via a coworker, who ran a UK-indie night. He brought some in and played it to me, and I was won over; the intensity and lushness, at once forceful and understated, appealed to me and the music often resonated with how I felt. I ended up buying all their releases I could find, and of what I couldn't find, acquiring CD-R bootlegs. This included the…

Some interesting upcoming gigs in London:

* Jens Lekman, at Bush Hall, 1f February Tickets
* Stereolab, at Koko, 14th of April. tickets

My records of 2005, in no particular order (lifted from my blog:

* Machine Translations, Wolf on a String*. Six tracks, subtle and impeccably produced, layering guitars, electronics and understated vocals, and with a great deal of thought in the arrangements and compositions. The title track is hauntingly lovely, and Miss China and Paris Road are low-key pop gems. The other three tracks are good too.
* Broadcast, Tender Buttons. Their last album was a bit bland compared to The Noise Made By People; this one is a return to form. It's like early Stereolab playing on…