First thing today: the arrival of our new issue means I can finally mention the Uncut Music Award business we’ve been plotting for the past few months. Please have a look at our new dedicated blog, and let us know what you like the look of on the longlist.
Not sure if there are any contenders for next year’s award amidst this lot, on our weekly playlist. Some interesting new things for you to have a listen to, though: the Myspace of Sharon Van Etten, a really intriguing new American folksinger; and Amazing Baby. You can download their debut EP for free here. A lot of hype gathering on this lot in the wake of the moderately overrated MGMT, though they strike me as substantially better at this point, rather like a psychedelic Brooklyn Super Furry Animals, possibly.
The validation of MGMT pales somewhat, though, compared with a recommendation from Mark Twain. “I think that Polk Miller, and his wonderful four, is about the only thing the country can furnish that is originally and utterly American,” reckons Twain on the cover of Tompkins Square’s Miller CD. Nostalgic revisits to the Old Weird America were happening over a century ago, it transpires.
1 Times New Viking – Stay Awake EP (Matador)
2 Jóhann Jóhannsson – Fordlandia (4AD)
3 Greg Weeks – The Hive (Wichita)
4 Nancy – Keep Cooler (Born Ruffians Remix) (rcrdlbl.com)
5 Prince Rama Of Ayodha – Threshold Dances (Cosmos)
6 Sharon Van Etten – Various Tracks (Myspace)
7 Polk Miller & His Old South Quartette – Polk Miller & His Old South Quartette (Tompkins Square)
8 Rosebud – Discoball: A Tribute To Pink Floyd (Collector’s Choice)
9 Oasis – Dig Out Your Soul (Big Brother)
10 Bohren & Der Club Of Gore – Dolores (PIAS)
11 Violens – Already Over (Static Recital/Cantora)
12 Blood Ceremony – Blood Ceremony (Rise Above)
13 Fotheringay – Fotheringay 2 (Fledg’ling)
14 Miles Davis – Deluxe Kind Of Blue (SonyBMG)
15 Amazing Baby – Infinite Fucking Cross EP (www.theamazingbaby.com)
16 Marnie Stern – This Is It And I Am It And You Are It And So Is That And He Is It And She Is It And It Is It And That Is That (Kill Rock Stars)
17 Antony & The Johnsons – Another World EP (Rough Trade)