Weird list, I think. Two terrific albums from Preservation’s Circa offshoot, though. The mystery record that’s been intriguing so many of you , by the way, is going to be announced in about ten days. So I guess maybe one more week of prickteasing after this…

A revealing piece from Duluth, February 2011

Not much time to blog at the moment, since our normal routine has been savaged by, among other things, all those bank holidays. Number One still dominating business here, though, and check out a pleasing late arrival at Number 14.

One or two auspicious things amidst this lot, though check out Weyes Blood and Robert Stillman, too. Very conscious of cryptic hyperbole here, but Record 14 is as good as anything I’ve heard this year, this morning at least.

Ashley Wales’ remix of “You’re No Good”… the second movement of Fucked Up’s rock opera… “I Had A Dream” by The Long Ryders still sounding levitational, right up to the last second when someone observes, correctly, “That was tight!”… Robert Stillman… The People’s Temple ramalam I blogged about yesterday… “The Only Way I Know To Love You” by Joe Tex… Andre Adams… “Supercollider”… and Sun Araw covering Teenage Fanclub, downloaded from the always on-point Raven Sings The Blues… All good…

The new Black Lips album – produced by Mark Ronson, weirdly – arrived yesterday, and reminded me of a couple of things. First, that I always feel unaccountably guilty for not liking Black Lips records as much as I think I should. And second, I actually have a bunch of good garage records that need writing about.

An extra-long list this week, since we seem to have worked our way through more stuff than usual. A lot of good stuff, too, I’d say, with one or two exceptions, and a tremendous new mystery record that’s coming out in the summer and which hasn’t, I think, been announced as yet – hence the necessary evasiveness.

As with Metronomy on Monday, I’m going to have to confess general ignorance of the Danish band WhoMadeWho. Along with “The English Riviera”, though, I’ve been playing this one a lot for the past week or so. Not least because, in a world without LCD Soundsystem, “Knee Deep” works as a pretty useful substitute.

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.

I believe this new album by Metronomy, “The English Riviera”, may well be out today, which means I’m pretty late at getting round to it. Truth be told, I didn’t pick it up for a while; not having hugely positive, or even particularly clear, memories of their previous records.