It may not be the most wholly misunderstood album since Bob Dylan's Planet Waves, but as John pointed out in his Wild Mercury Sound blog yesterday, Wilco's new Sky Blue Sky has split their traditionally loyal critical fanbase.

The iTunes chart topper plays the Regent St Apple store

First, a couple of housekeeping things. Thanks for all your comments on the Smashing Pumpkins review from last week. In response to TROY, yes, I have definitely heard the album and, yes, I guess I have bad taste according to your criteria. Sorry! If I can just point out again, though, that if I leaked my copy of "Zeitgeist", the iron fist of Warner Brothers would crush this blog instantly. So no go, guys.

Keef, comedy monkeys and Keira’s chin.

And you don't need to attend the show to see it!

There have been a couple of comments on my last post, written in response to Jeff Tweedy’s comments about Babyshambles in the current issue of Uncut.

All the info you need for this year's 'not just a music bash'

Vote for your favourite artist, and grab a chance to win a Zune MP3 player!

The Cardinals are in tow to showcase new Easy Tiger LP

A small bit of history, last night, that I was honoured to witness. Wilco played at the Shepherd's Bush Empire in West London, the scene of some pretty fractious shows by Jeff Tweedy - a fact which made him both self-conscious and extremely funny when he found the courage to open his mouth.