Ted1

Agreed on the Big Top. The weather was so decent you didn't really want to venture in there. I suppose the opposite is the case if it was raining but it seemed stifling and lacking character. Not sure what you do with a big top like that though. Drape some fairy lights about the place or something.

I caught a bit of that Jeremy Warmsley. Good lord he was terrible.

I'm quite pleased I went to see Steven Adams over Sun Kil Moon. I just thought it'd be more entertaining despite really like the new Sun Kil Moon. He's a morbid so and so is Kozelek and I wasn't having my mood brought down.

Highlights for me were: Kurt Wagner, Dirty Three, Liz Green and Seabear.

I'll also be checking out more of Sons of Noel and Adrian.

I was intrigued to see what Woodpigeon, Noah and the Whale and The Wave Pictures were all about but none of them really grabbed me.

I quite like The Spinto Band but I do sense a millstone around their neck in 'Oh Mandy'. They'll just never top that song. And because they're unlikely to branch out musically you feel it's a sense of diminishing returns heronin.

I fuckin' love the Chop. Kurt is a legend. His unreleased solo record is blummin' beautiful. I'd be interested to see if any of the songs on that make it to this album. I hope not because I'll feel cheated. Always brilliant live with the string sections.

So £70-90 isn't quite right. Mind you that is face value, I've not added on any service charges etc. Whatever it was brilliant. It'd cost about £20 to see Babyshambles now I expect and Cohen is more than two and a half times better than Babyshambles.

Agreed. They sounded like The Eagles or Crowded House on the last album. MOR pap. It's begging for a classic 'return to form'. Still great live every time though.

I didn't notice the wink! Ahhh...you were joking weren't you you cheeky young scamp.

...about that fella? I think I'm just showing my age (if you're alluding to the C90 thing)?

I like the Wild Beasts and Fleet Foxes albums a lot. They're both pop records (although different) and don't attest to make any bold statements but are packed with great songs. Especially the former. They feel like kind of classic 10 or 11 tracks albums that fit on one side of a C90 type records.

I'm in love with the Wild Beasts album. Beautiful Smithsy guitar in places. Especially 'The Old Dog'. Definitely an album which rewards with repeated listens. Beautiful, melodious stuff. I've given up on The Ruby Suns after 4 plays. Nothing clicking at all. Just seems, well, a bit rubbish.

...must be the hardest working journo in rock. Not in a Ron Jeremy sense. Hats off to the fella. 'Turn that bloody laptop off and come to bed!', his wife must say on a regular basis.

...instead of biscuit, I might have laughed.

Inaugural spin of the Wild Beasts album tonight. I'm sure you're all waiting for my opinion with baited breath!

Has barely put a foot wrong with his previous two albums. You just sort of know this'll be more of the same but equally great.

I've only just heard the Ruby Suns album after the hype. I'm stunned by its mediocrity frankly. Just really airy fairy and limp. Comparisons in the review with Panda Bear and The Shins are way off the mark.

I love this man. His show at the Union Chapel was beyond flawless. He's barely done a bad song to date.

This lot are playing End of the Road. I'll have a gander there provided they don't clash with anyone (likely).

Tindersticks - Hungry Saw
Nick Cave - Dig Lazarus Dig
Fleet Foxes - S/T
Wild Beasts - Limbo, Panto
3epkano - At Land

This sounds pretty interesting. From description they sound like Phantom Buffalo. Do they?

I've got to take issue with this though:

"Typically, this attentiveness even extends to the album’s running time – 40 minutes exactly, a nod to the 40th anniversary of Sgt Pepper’s"

Says who!? Audacious stuff Mr Gavin.

I didn't much like the debut. I found it ambitious and distinctive enough - although the guy who mentions Snow Patrol has a point - there's a fine line between that kind of layered guitar bombast sounding epic and powerful and achingly dull. And I felt it fell on both sides almost equally.

And the vocals are very much an acquired taste. Not just for the strong Scottish accent, there seemed an over-keeness to sound profound. It all left me cold ultimately.

"but in terms of range and depth of ambition there’s no new band in the UK can hold a candle to Wild Beasts right now"

While I haven't heard every new band in Britain I'm going to agree with this anyway. When I saw Wild Beasts at the Windmill a while back on the back of 'Brave Bulging...' I witnessed something what I felt was pretty unique. And that doesn't happen too often. It's very hard to pin down what records they have in their collection but there's a love of music hall in there or something else nostalgic yet it feels thrillingly fresh. I can't wait to hear this album.

I don't think an 'alternative' site DiS should interview Paul Weller or if they do they put it to him that's he's a smug has-been who hasn't brought anything new to the table for twenty-five years. Reading this interview he clearly has nothing to say. Leave this kind of thing to MOJO.

I didn't like the album at first but it's really grown on me. Fair play to him for branching out and trying some new styles. I'm not sure boogy-woogy works and there's even a bit of ska creeping in there somewhere which is ill-judged in my opinion. But there's no doubt he's really come in to his own as a songwriter on this album. It's not just wistful, acoustic strumming. Having said all that my favourite song, 'Resurrection Fern' is very much like the old Sam.

I'm not too sure what you're getting at in this article but it would appear your justifying your fondness for 'pop', which is inverse snobbery essentially. Ooh look I like Deerhoof AND Girls Aloud.

I think that review and score is spot-on. I feel exactly the same about them. Decent sporadically and you don't get a sense of identity with them. I'd have probably given it a 6 myself actually.

Interested to hear this. Yeah I liked the debut record. I might as well have said nothing there really.

Can't say I'm terribly arsed about Berninger the poet to be honest. Only played it twice but there's only a couple of tunes leaping out at me and not with the same immediacy as 'Secret Meeting', 'Karen' or '...Soho Riots' for example. Seemed patchy to me with some very overbearing drumming.

...in my opinion. There are quite a few contradictions in that review, ie. stating the violin dominates preceedings followed by 'not one instrument is battling another for the limelight, so yeah make your mind up dude! Nevertheless, I don't quite agree with that anyway as I found the electric guitar much more prominent than on '...eggs'. In essence it's just a better, more focused and more rounded album than 'Eggs'. It relies more on great songs rather than the semi-quirky idiosyncracies which marked '...Eggs'. Not that there wasn't great songs on '...Eggs' but that album is more, ya know, 'sketchy'. There's not as much whistling on the new one either which although I enjoy I think it's a wise decision and shows he has courage in his songwriting ability. Superb record. I'd give it an 8/10.

I think he has the blandest voice I've ever heard and there's precious little imagination in his arrangements to compensate. An album that receives an 8/10 is an album that not only excites initially but stands the test of time also. Such hyperbole for a dull, tepid singer-songwriter.