Callahan bill

As promised, today we're starting to publish the judges' deliberations on each of this year's eight shortlisted albums for the Uncut Music Award. Beginning today with Bill Callahan's "Apocalypse".

As some of you have probably deduced, I’ve had a copy of Bill Callahan’s excellent “Apocalypse” for a couple of months or so now. It’s a lovely perk of the job, getting an album like this so early, compromised a little by Drag City insisting I didn’t mention its existence on the blog for what seemed like an age.

Mean, whimsical, portentous, playful… It’s complicated...

Strange beast, this, since I don’t have details about when and where this new Bill Callahan live album was recorded. Weirdly, the 11 tracks on “Rough Travel For A Rare Thing” don’t include anything from last year’s “Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle”, which would suggest that the performances date from between “Woke On A Whaleheart” (“Diamond Dancer” is here) and that exceptional album. But then again, Callahan has long proved he’s much too capricious a performer to make any such obvious assumptions.

Lucky 13th from The Artist Formerly Known As Smog

First off, in case you missed it, I posted a second blog on Friday afternoon: the long-promised round-up of links to other blogs. Thanks again for everyone who posted their recommendations – keep them coming.

I’ve just finished a longish review of this new Bill Callahan album, “Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle”, for the next issue of Uncut, so I’ll try not to repeat myself too much here; save some adjectives, maybe, for the magazine. It is, though, one of the best records Callahan has made in what’s now a reasonably long, generally underestimated career.

Mr Joanna Newsom reveals himself – kind of

Perfectly pitched charmer with a concerned core; Louisville locals assist

Wondrous, wide-ranging second from Norfolk six-piece, forged on the road