In the world of modern garage rock, Greg Cartwright seems to be a figure on a par with Mick Collins: multiple bands of fluid personnel; labyrinthine career history; general fiery habit of cranking it out and moving on.

After writing yesterday’s blog on Sufjan Stevens and “The BQE” pretty soon after receiving the CD, further listens suggest it might be even better than I made out: a lot of Gershwin in there (and Danny Elfman, someone just said). “Movement II: Sleeping Invader” is sounding, this morning, like one of the best things Stevens has ever done.

Since Sufjan Stevens became the poster boy for a certain kind of American indie fan, there’s been no little speculation about what grand project he’s going to embark on next: which State might be worked over so fastidiously; whether the album about birds might ever come to fruition.

The reunion of Os Mutantes – minus Rita Lee, of course – a couple of years ago was one of the more unexpected in recent years, not least because, as legend has it, Arnaldo Baptista hasn’t been in the best of psychic health since the band originally split in the mid-‘70s.

A quick heads-up today; you can stream Richard Hell’s “Destiny Street Repaired” for the next few days, and it’s well worth a listen.

A bit late posting this today, as deadlines have meant that my ongoing fascination with the Big Star box set finally had to be transformed into a review for the next issue of Uncut.

For a good few people in the UK, maybe the last time they came across Andrew WK was in 2001, when he appeared on the front of NME covered in blood and was proclaimed as something akin to the future of rock, thanks to some oddly bombastic, super-dumb party tunes.

Apologies for not coming up with the annual skree of indignation when the Mercury shortlist was announced a couple of weeks ago. To be honest, I couldn’t be bothered to get worked up about it this year, not least because it would’ve been quite a struggle to come up with a dozen British albums I could genuinely enthuse about that have come out in the last 12 months.

As ever, a bit of a backlog here, but I’ll try and file some previews of The XX, the surprisingly fine Os Mutantes comeback, Andrew WK’s solo piano improvisations and, especially, the Unthanks album in the next few days.

One of the best shows I think we’ve hosted at Club Uncut last night, thanks to Baltimore’s regal Arbouretum. I raved about their third album, “Song Of The Pearl”, back at the start of the year, and from the grand start of “Another Hiding Place” onwards, it’s clear they’re an unassumingly wonderful band.