A lot of records on the playlist this week, I think, probably due to the fact that I’ve kept a note of what we’ve been playing for three full days. I guess the big one here is “Veckatimest”, the new Grizzly Bear album, which we now have a copy of. Incredible record, which I’ll be writing about soon, possibly tomorrow.

Quite busy here with, as you can see, a bunch of new stuff again this week: right now the new Jason Lytle album has just started up and doesn't appear to be a huge departure from what he was up to in Grandaddy.

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.

It’s beginning to look as if, in certain online circles, there’s going to be quite a fuss around the new Grizzly Bear album, “Veckatimest” – comparable perhaps to the heat around the Animal Collective record at the end of last year. Security’s comparably tight around “Veckatimest” – ironic considering it was Grizzly Bear themselves who benignly leaked a couple of “Merriweather Post Pavilion” tracks – but we did manage to sneak one listen yesterday.

A combination of deadlines and a vile cold served to shut down Wild Mercury Sound these past few days, but thanks for all your blog recommendations last week. When I get a chance, I’ll follow all your links and put together a decent blogroll. In the interim, please keep your suggestions coming.

The other day, it occurred to me that, after nearly two years of doing Wild Mercury Sound, I should put together some kind of list of other blogs I like. To that end, it’d be great if you could post your recommendations at the bottom of today’s playlist; that’d be really helpful (plug your own if you like, too).

Reeling slightly from the bad news about John Martyn, here are the records played in the Uncut office over the last couple of days. Mildly weird mix this week: the glut of Smog is due to me trying to review the new Bill Callahan album, which I'll try and blog about in the next few days.

OK, so some weird technical business over the past few days has meant a very spotty service here of late. Hopefully it’s fixed now, and I can get back into the blogging swing. A big batch of new arrivals in this week’s mixed bag, including PJ Harvey, Pete Doherty, The Decemberists, Marianne Faithfull (covering Espers!) and The Rakes.

The Neil Young/”Fork In The Road” business I wrote about yesterday seems to be moving on apace, as things suddenly seem to do in Young’s world. Thrasher’s Wheat now have a video and lyrics of the song.

Three days into a new working year, and I've put together the first office playlist of 2009. Usual rules apply, in that what we play isn't necessarily what we like - though that said, I can't spot any total stinkers among this 16.