a summary of the month of january would run as follows ( Read more... )

italian flash cards, job applications, a cute puppy, pints of ale, creative writing, taking the morning run, a crazy grandma, dream-pop, pesto sauce on toast, updating lj.

it's been a year of mega proporitions i am going to leeds now to celebrate this year i won & lost chloe had the best ever semester in miami saw new york city had a dark summer but recovered in time to meet up with my love in london for two weeks have a year abroad reunion in brighton moved into my new house that really is a house on fire people ( Read more... )

http://www.myspace.com/thenational
Do you ever feel alone? Suffer from urban alienation? Seek solace in melodies, words, art to see you through? Answer yes to any of these and seek The National to warm your cockles. Comparable to a great novel by Fitzgerald, 'Boxer' is set in twilight ( Read more... )

http://www.myspace.com/mia
Caught her live at Norwich Waterfront a few nights back and it  just reinforced what a superstar  this woman is. She's vital in that she rides such sharp production, supplying her raps with edge and vigour that make ears prick up to remind us how fucked up the world ( Read more... )

http://www.myspace.com/thefieldsthlm
Electronica has been downsized. Frenchies like Justice and Digitalism may wave the flag for mash-up for the mad dogs and Simian Mobile Disco and the Bumblebeez be tearing it up all over the cut  - "wut?" - but this is where it's fucking at in terms of consistency and briliance. Not since Daft Punk did their  ( Read more... )

http://www.myspace.com/eluviumtaken  
Last LP 'Talk Amongst The Trees' was concerned with being beamed into outer space or going up to heaven, basically it was an out of body experience whichever way you interpreted it. 'Copia' then is a lot more rooted, organic and it's a beaut! On first listen these instrumentals sound  so familiar but that's pure ( Read more... )

http://www.myspace.com/ironandwine
A gorgeous development from last LP 'Our Endless Numbered Days' , Sam Beam's third full offering sees him working in full bloom as ideas are packed into fruitful solo ideas and colaborations alike. Whether coasting along like 'Innocent Bones' or cryptic as in 'White Tooth Man' this is such a rich and self-realizing ( Read more... )

http://www.myspace.com/radiohead
Radiohead's warmest record this decade. Aside from all the talk about revolutionary release methods, the most important thing to discuss of course is the music -  it's beautiful. The band sound free from creative constraint. Listen to 'Nude, 'Reckoner, 'Bodysnatchers' and 'Videotape' and you're simply onto yet ( Read more... )

http://www.myspace.com/okkervilriver
Will Sheff and his Texas folk contingent have released a truly great album here full of humble songs with plays on words, big self-deprecation and the true clincher for a folk record - great stories told. "I'm not the lady killing sort" states Sheff on 'Girl In Port'  and with a heart as big as his, on this ( Read more... )