Biggish news this week, with the arrival of Neil Young’s new album, “Fork In The Road”, Neil’s collaboration with Booker T and The Drive-By Truckers, and the second solo joint by ex-Trucker Jason Isbell, which makes me feel like I’ve been moving in ever decreasing circles for the past couple of days.

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Not convinced what I think of any of these thus far, but I can unequivocally recommend the new Wooden Shjips and Raphael Saadiq albums. I also feel the need to listen to Friendly Fires properly, after dismissing them pretty hastily sometime last year. They were an unexpected highlight of the NME Awards last night, with a lot of samba school drumming, carnival dancers (a day late for Fat Tuesday of course, but whatever) and glitter cannons.

In comparison, the Blur reunion – or more accurately the Damon Albarn and Graham Coxon acoustic jam – was shaky and understated, considering the blousy potential of “This Is A Low”, and probably all the more affecting for being that way.

I’m now rinsing out the office with the new Boredoms EP. My God, the Lindstrom remix is levitational.

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1 Peter Walker – Spanish Guitar (Birdman)

2 The Beastie Boys – Paul’s Boutique: 20th Anniversary Edition (Capitol)

3 Sleepy Sun – Embrace (ATP Recordings)

4 Alasdair Roberts – Spoils (Drag City)

5 Nathan Fake – Hard Islands (Border Community)

6 Heartless Bastards – The Mountain (Fat Possum)

7 Jason Isbell And The 400 Unit – Jason Isbell And The 400 Unit (Lightning Rod)

8 Neil Young – Fork In The Road (Reprise)

9 Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson – Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson (Transgressive)

10 Booker T With Drive-By Truckers And Neil Young – Potato Hole (Anti-)

11 Sinead O’Connor – I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got (Special Edition) (EMI)

12 The Lonely Island – Incredibad (Universal Republic)

13 The Rockingbirds – The Rockingbirds (Heavenly)

14 Wooden Shjips – DoS (Holy Mountain)

15 Richard Swift – The Atlantic Ocean (Secretly Canadian)

16 Faust – C’est Com. . . Com. . . Compliqué (BB 21)

17 The Dukes Of Stratosphear – Psonic Psunspot (Ape House)

18 Art Brut – Art Brut Vs Satan (Cooking Vinyl)

19 Raphael Saadiq – The Way I See It (Columbia)

20 Bob Mould – Life And Times (Anti-)

21 Smoke Fairies – Living With Ghosts (Music For Heroes)

22 Boredoms – Super Roots 10 (Avex Trax)