Quite a good one, this week: I think I can be more or less positive about everything here, actually, with the vague exception of the Yellow Swans live comp, which is a bit too industrial for me (John Cale, as it happens, described them thus: “The Swans’ sound grates on your nerves - like you’ve put your head in a jet engine.” Thumbs up!).
A startling amount of responsible journalism behind this week’s playlist: we’ve had a bit of a session getting up to speed on a bunch of mainstream 2010 tips; discovered Lil Wayne should’ve probably stuck to hip hop; tried again to stay awake through the Midlake album and generally done our jobs more or less properly, I suppose.
A few bits and pieces to mop up today, beginning with one last thankyou to everyone who has posted on the end of year blogs – or, come to that, who's commented on any of the things I’ve written in the past 12 months. It’s been a genuine pleasure to hear from almost all of you; and of course heartening to discover other people interested in the same music.