Cucumber sandwiches all round

I'm supposed to be working. That's why I'm here. If you like, you can imagine the traditional apology for a delay in posting. Feel free to inset it about here. Done? Splendid.

If you like buying records from people then you will soon be officially 'odd'. It's not possible, apparently. Even the odd record shop still going - yes, HMV, I'm talking about you - doesn't appear to actually want to sell music anymore. Branded 'listen' or 'hear' or something equally patronising, music is gradually being shunted into the small section previously reserved for 'special interest' DVDs and magazines. In the last couple of months, we've had the demise of Woolies, Zavvi and, more personally, the news that Nottingham's Selectadisc is shutting up shop at the end of this month. I've written about this topic many times on here, so I'll try not to witter on about the same-old, same-old, but I'm genuinely pissed off at the fact that my record shopping will soon be done almost exclusively online. Where's the fun in that? Anyway, Selectadisc has always been a shining beacon of how to run a record shop - I've said as much here and Nottingham's Left Lion folk have a tribute here too.

The other thing I felt compelled to mention - admittedly, once again, fuelled by work avoidance - is the new project from Neil Hannon and that fat beardy bloke from Pugwash, called Thomas Pugwash. While his voice is largely unremarkable, the splendidly, well, splendid voice of Mr Hannon delivers the goods aplenty on the Myspace page for this new venture, charmingly called, The Duckworth Lewis Method, as in cricket. The album'll be out around the time of The Ashes for prime cash-in factor. They appear to have forgotten that neither of them sell many records, but it's quite sweet logic, nonetheless. Anyway, whatever the sales figures, the track they uploaded yesterday, 'Gentlemen and Players' is sublime. I've not been able to stop playing it since I first heard it. I'm playing it now, actually. Go listen yourself. Click here.

Should probably do some work now.

Oooh, it's lunch time.

I'm still working on factual AND funny...

Thanks to those who've been in touch about indie stores of note. Will be doing some researching over the next few days and will start to add names soon. One that pops up quite a lot, and one which I have experience of and there I'm able to write about with relative ease, is Selectadisc in Nottingham.

In the last couple of weeks, things have changed in store and everything's been bunched up a bit. I've just tried describing this in words, but it didn't work especially well, so here's a visual aid.

Right then, the bit you can see some of on the left used to be the 'specialist' CD section but they've now put that up for rent and squidged the whole stock into the main bit you can see and the upstairs of said main shop. Confused? Good. Anyway, it's now even more bonkers and cluttered than it was before, but I think I might actually like it better like this. For a start, it feels much more like your traditional indie store, with things shoved everywhere and quality stock piled high. Secondly, if this ensures the store a long and prosperous future then that can't be a bad thing. 

Why's it worthy of your time and money? Well, the internet is full of people bitching about arsey staff and the like but from my personal experience this is utter cobblers. Sure, they're not the most talkative bunch but they're some way from the snobbery of 'High Fidelity'. In addition, as a result of Fopp opening in the city about over six years ago, prices altered. When Fopp's popularity was at a peak in the city, Selectadisc figured that they could be a little bit more competitive and, from that moment on, they regained the title of 'Best Record Shop in Nottingham'. Back catalogue is regularly no more than 8.99 on CD, with a lot of mid-price titles at 4.99 or less. New releases are very competitively priced and their vinyl stocks cannot be rivaled for many miles around. Where they stand out from many indie stores is their refusal to treat vinyl buyers as mugs and use scarcity as a reason to hike prices. They are regularly a couple of quid cheaper than any other sources on new vinyl and bloody quick at getting hold of import copies of select, splendid titles.

The main plus point for this lot is their excellent stock. Great prices, sensible organisation and atmosphere are added bonuses. Music fans who have lived in Nottingham at some point in their lives always seem to remember Selectadisc, and always seem to rave about it. You can count me in that group.

On the breeze, like

I'm fairly certain that the ever-growing bunch of regular readers of this blog aren't especially bothered about the person who writes it, more the shared interest in music and the surrounding areas. Thus, I don't feel obliged to sparkle any magical words about this lot onto the interweb. One of the staff in Selectadisc recommended this - perhaps not entirely without bias - and it turns out that they knew exactly what they were talking about. 'This' is the debut 7" by The Soundcarriers, 'I Had A Girl' and you can get it from top notch indie outlets, including the aforementioned Selectadisc.
Feel free to do your own exploring via their website and their myspace. Enjoy.