Cool, thanks. I'm a relatively new fan so I've never seen them live, but it looks like it's not to be missed.

Fairy stories in the penny arcade.
You bought my love and I paid.

I just found a live "My Girls" on skreemr.com - love it! Two weeks till tribal mayhem.

Fairy stories in the penny arcade.
You bought my love and I paid.

definitely looking forward to the new tim hecker record, which has leaked, last i heard. will give it a preemptive spin, if i can track it down proper.

hands up, WHO WANTS TO DIE!

There is a new Patrick Wolf album - Battle - due out some time in 2009, which promises to be rather good.

Project cancelled
Tumbling central
Red Money

I'm listening to a leak of Dan Auerbach's (The Black Keys) solo debut Keep It Hid and it's damn sloppy good.

Fairy stories in the penny arcade.
You bought my love and I paid.

The new Madlib joint - Beat Konducta vol. 5-6, a tribute to J.Dilla - is immediately one of my very favorites. A guy as prolific (and prolifically stoned) as 'lib is bound to have plenty of misses among the hits - I once had to walk out of a show of his during the 8th minute of his drum solo - but here he's able to focus on tracks that bear the strong influence of his late friend and mentor. It's not quite as flawless as Dilla's Donuts, but it's definitely fantastic.

On the catch-up tip, I have to say that I was so severely disappointed in Graduation that I didn't bother checking out 808s and Heartbreak until recently, but I absolutely love it. Cheesy, corny, ridiculous, and yet strangely moving.

I don't walk it like I talk it cause I run it

Just heard the new U2 single Get On Your Boots, and I say that I like the sound a lot. It's retro hard rock with a postpunk, Joy Division-like beat. Also, Bono's vocals seem a little better with some new words mixed with his usual post-Achtung Baby lyric writing (and the word "beautiful" is his mantra in many a song these days). Actually, the song sounds a lot like Queens of the Stone Age in both its chorus and bass heavy guitar sound.

I was expecting a Morrocan record that was kind of being hyped last year but I do really like this. It's got qualities from bands that I love, like The Secret Machines and QotSA, and grooves a little faster than the previous 2 albums of theirs. I guess I'll buy this one if the other songs are just as good.

I'm currently working my way through the soundtrack to Palermo Shoots, the upcoming Wim Wenders film.

Have a listen here

Includes Portishead, 2 newies by Grinderman, Calexico and others. So far, great.

my face is finished, my body's gone and i can't help but think,
standin' up here in all this applause and gazin' down at all the young and the beautiful with their questioning eyes,
that i must above all things love myself

Not too bad. Will it be the first U2 album of the decade that doesn't have 50% or more crap songs?

When Bowie Meets Satie

I'm gonna go against the general consensus and say that sounds absolutely awful. Just you wait until they play it with all the frequency of "Vertigo".