50 quid bloke

These days most things sound, well, good enough. And I think we’ve all done the deal that allows us to have all our music with us wherever and whenever we want it, in exchange for shall we say less than optimal reproduction (not that I can ever notice, to be honest).
However, I have been completely blown away by Octiv’s Volume Logic plug in for iTunes (initially found on the pages of Word). Basically it remasters your audio live, and the difference is remarkable. You should really try it for yourself.
The tragedy is that you can’t put it into your iPod, you might want to suggest that Apple allow them to do this…

…(see here) I sense I’m going to be completely won over by Band Aid 20. I think this is at least partially out of guilt that I didn’t buy the original single out of adolescent grumpiness. Order your copies now!

Blogalive: an mp3 blog by Jason from Rhode Island, which is all live MP3s. Been going since August, currently includes some Jamiroquai (from 97); Pete Townshend doing Won’t Get Fooled Again (from ‘96) and some XTC (from 81)

Orchard Lounge mixes: Haven’t actually listened to these yet…but look very promising. Will be sampling later. One of the Orchard Lounge DJs now keeps his own MP3 blog, Silver’s Boogaloo
which is well worth checking out, for gems such as this I Love Acid video.

Keep the Coffee Coming: Less for the music itself, but I like the idea of using Audioblogs.com for audioblogging. Think it stops people downloading, though..

(Not me, of course) May I recommend downloading Tacumshinmix from B00mb0x. From John Barry to Funkadelic, via Bryan Ferry and Frank Zappa. More mixes here.

At last, a plug in for Firefox that’s some real use. Foxytunes which lets you control your music player from the status bar on the browser…and lets you see what’s playing. Oh, we like…we like a lot.. [via Gizmodo] Now, if only they could introduce an iTunes toolbar into MS Office and we’d be laughing.
Also from Gizmodo: anyone tempted to spend $50 for a cartoon skin for their iPod?

I’m having real difficulty finding a new album to love at  the moment. Kasabian was good, but that was like, decades ago. And Interpol’s Antics, was all right - if not the life altering experience that was promised. The Dears frankly didn’t do it for me, and scouring my normal places for recommendations hasn’t lead me to anything I’ll get into. At this stage in the month, I normally have a mile long list of ‘must buys’ on the go, but it’s all dried up. (admittedly, I’m yet to scour Word’s reviews this month…but it’s not looking good).
So, Nick Watt kindly suggested I bought Goodbye from The Czars which - I now find -  the Guardian gave a whopping 5 stars to.. (”Consistently inventive, profoundly moving, and never less than gorgeous’ no less) .
I like any album who’s open track is called ‘Goodbye’ -  it’s quite pleasantly disorientating - and the album on the whole is rather lovely and intense. Perhaps a little too lovely and a little too intense for my current mood. It doesn’t start cheery, and gets bleaker when you read the lyrics (which are written out in the little booklet in prose form). This is ‘Trash’

Save that bullshit for the bedroom, that’s where all your best  Work gets done, You’re all by your self, you’re your only lover. What do you think you’ll do to me, that you have not already done? Why don’t you try sticking your dick into all the things you’ve bought With your hard earned cash.

I think we can safely assume that relationship has reached the point of irreconcilible breakdown.
Anyway, if you want to dance around the living room, this isn’t for you. And if you play it during a dinner party, I suspect couples will start to break up between courses and people will embark on acts of self harm with the cuttlery. But it’s well, well worth a listen.
It’s not the big album I’m looking for, but it’ll do for now.

Uncut has gone for Brian Wilson’s Smile: which is just contrary retro nonsense. I suspect everyone is going to go for Franz Ferdinand, which while a) it’s obvious and b) they’re quite annoying,  is also pretty fair. I’m undecided, and will not be declaring for a few weeks yet. That said,  my long list includes (off the top of my head): The Bees, Kasabian, M Craft (if that was 2004), Sons and Daughters, Pheonix, The Album Leaf, Iron and Wine, The Zutons, Grand National, Tom Middleton’s The Trip, Elvis Costello (Delivery Man), Beta Band, The Shins, Lucky Jim, Nouvelle Vague (for novelty factor). And yes, Franz Ferdinand. I’m sure there’s something there I’ve missed. More to follow.

‘The Other mobiles‘ Broadcast on Radio 4 on Saturday morning (while I was doing the decorating). Apparently, Lips Inc ‘Funky Town’ is a guaranteed floor filler;  you’re best starting a wedding disco with a few Frank Sinatra numbers; and you should only use ‘Hi Ho Silver Lining’ if all else fails.

The camera on my lovely shiny Treo 600 is frankly rubbish. However, it can give you some quite neat effects at night. At these photos taken around or about Tate Modern the other night show (required Flash, or else, go here.

Uncut  has done that really annoying thing of issuing two different  covermount CDs this month: one is a collection of tracks from this year’s best new albums, the other from the best re-releases. If you’re a subscriber like me, you get what you’re given (re-releases in my case…which I didn’t want).
Of course, it’s a cunning trick to get you to buy two magazines instead of one (which I’ve done in the past, I have to admit), but it leaves me  feeling most exploited..