First up, thanks for the fantastic response to the Best Of 2010: Halftime Report. Please keep your own charts coming, and I’ll try and collate them into some kind of masterlist in the next few days.
As I maybe mentioned the other week, I’ll put some stuff up here soon about the whole ongoing Great Lost Albums thing. It also occurred this morning, though, that I should have a crack at a 2010 halftime Top 20 or 30, as I managed last year.
A good week for new arrivals, actually, though there is one record here that, somewhat unexpectedly, I never want to hear again. Hopefully you’ve got your hands on the new issue and the “Transition Transmission” CD; pretty nice one, I think.
Only had half an ear on new records these past couple of days, since Mark and I have been sifting through your many, many nominations for Great Lost Albums, following our special the other month. Pretty amazing discoveries there, that are going to keep us busy for a while.
Post-electoral shenanigans notwithstanding, quite a day in prospect; another run at the six and a half hours of the Jack Rose tribute album (I’m writing next month’s Wild Mercury Sound magazine column about it, in theory), then Joanna Newsom at the Festival Hall tonight.
One of those weeks where the distractions of putting a magazine together and, right now, England vs Pakistan, have conspired to limit blogging activity. Michael Yardy: I am dumbstruck.
Slightly shorter playlist than usual this week, since I finally downloaded and began investigating the six and a half hours of astounding music that make up the “Honest Strings” Jack Rose tribute. Can’t recommend that one enough: I have a vague plan to write much more about it for my next column in the mag version of Uncut.
Big name week here, as you’ll see from some of the new arrivals on the playlist below. A couple of things worth flagging, though: the second Diskjokke album, which should work for those of you enamoured with Lindstrom and Prins Thomas; and one last Jack Rose EP, a rowdy electric session with a No Neck Blues Band spin-off. I’ll do the business on these soon.
Slightly depressing as it is to plug a designated day on which people should buy music in a shop, a probably unnecessary reminder that Record Store Day is this coming Saturday. Quickly flicking through the listings, one highlight: Rough Trade East have Michael Rother signing copies of a new Neu! 12-inch, which is presumably from the “Neu! ‘86” part of the forthcoming boxset.