Bag

First off, in case you missed it, I posted a second blog on Friday afternoon: the long-promised round-up of links to other blogs. Thanks again for everyone who posted their recommendations – keep them coming.

If this is to be Clint's final role, it's a powerful, cussed farewell

Read the full transcript from the Uncut cover feature here

I suppose, after all these years, I should be able to spot when PJ Harvey is taking the piss. But sometimes, as on the new PJ Harvey & John Parish album, “A Woman A Man Walked By”, the line between bravura self-parody and slightly daft self-indulgence can be hard to identify.

A busy night at Club Uncut, with Banjo Or Freakout, The Delta Spirit and Crystal Antlers, though annoyingly I managed to miss the first band (I was held up at a screening of Armando Iannucci’s Thick Of It movie, In The Loop, if that’s a good enough excuse). If anyone caught Banjo Or Freakout and fancies filing us a quick review at the bottom of this blog, that’d be great.

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.

Driving home from the Leonard Cohen show on Friday night, I looked in my bag for something suitable to put on the car stereo, and settled fairly quickly on the new Fennesz album, “Black Sea”.

Malian Afro-pop troubadours team up with Damon Albarn and others for this assault on the Western pop market

Melodic punks' first three LPs reissued in 2CD editions

A few weeks ago now, I blogged about the third Brightblack Morning Light, “Motion To Rejoin”. In the interim, I’ve played it to death, decided it’s one of my favourite albums of 2008, and written about it at length for the new issue of Uncut.