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.

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.

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.

A reminder, first off, that the excellent Arbouretum will finally be playing Club Uncut, next Monday, July 27, at the Lexington on Pentonville Road. Full details here, if you’re interested.

As you can see, plenty of interesting new things have turned up since I last posted a playlist, not least new albums from Jim O’Rourke and, amazingly, Os Mutantes. This week’s problem, though, is the immense distraction of two wonderful-sounding new boxsets from Rhino; one dedicated to Big Star, the other a four-CD set called “LA Nuggets”.

A fair few interesting things in this week’s haul, not least a rare record from Plush, now billed as Liam Hayes & Plush, the complete Sly & The Family Stone set from Woodstock, a pretty wild mixtape from White Denim and, maybe best of all, the new album from Justin Vernon aka Bon Iver, this time operating with a bunch of other musicians under the name of Volcano Choir.

Apologies for the service interruption last week. I returned to the office yesterday to find a bunch of new things, not least the immense new Sun Araw, which on first listen sounded more or less one of the best things I’ve heard this year – though it might’ve been because it’s music so perfectly suited to this serious heat.

Thanks for all your responses to the Favourites Of 2009 flam I posted last Friday; I’ve posted some further thoughts there, which’ll doubtless inflame the Decemberists and Felice Brothers fans (more or less on my own here in my apathy to the latter, incidentally; check this for Allan’s eloquent alternate take).

A slightly weird list today, in that I was out of the office yesterday and didn’t actually hear the last few records here; I just cribbed them from the office playlist on our Twitter page that John Robinson posts.

A bit of a Wilco binge in the last couple of days, since I’ve been trying to write a review of “Wilco (the album)” for the next issue of Uncut. Auspicious arrivals, too, from Wild Beasts and from Ben Reynolds, who’s the guitarist of Trembling Bells and who seems to have slotted rather gracefully into the space left by James Blackshaw on the Tompkins Square roster.