I just can't deal with all of the success

Musical Revelations Of The Week:

M.I.A. - 'Kala' - See yesterday's post for the rapturous response to this record. I still can't quite think how to describe this sufficiently. That said, it's an enormous mish-mash of music and noise and it'll hold your attention right through the eventual whirring of the CD player grinding to a halt.

Richard Hawley - 'Lady's Bridge' - There are those who would have you believe that this record is Hawley treading water. Such nonsense. To me it seems the logical follow on from 'Coles Corner', and by that I don't mean he's simply remade his previous album, I mean that he has continued the lush orchestrations, developed the styles and honed his voice to its finest sound to date. Treat yourself to this one; you'll not be disappointed with it.

Wilco - 'Sky Blue Sky' - So, it turns out it was the album of the summer after all. Finally got a chance to test it during some lovely weather on Wednesday.

*MROTW is somewhat concise this week due to it being a bank holiday and us having guests. Sorry about that. Likewise for the NMROTW, although I suspect I'd have gone with this whatever the situation.

Non-musical Revelations Of The Week:

Gareth Jenkins is a clown - No further explanation required.

The Welsh rugby team has not bulked up like virtually every other team in advance of the World Cup - We get bullied. A lot. If we can't be a constant force, we can't win.

Realising that all the effort I went to track down my World Cup tickets was probably a waste of time - *cries a little bit - in a manly way, like*

We have to look at the positives

Musical Revelations Of The Week:
Edgar 'Jones' Jones - 'Gettin' A Little Help From The Joneses' - I'm not quite sure what I expected from this album, but I do feel like it has not only met, but exceeded my expectations. As I said earlier in the week, it sounds like one of those utterly brilliant compilation CDs that come out on labels like Honest Jon's and Soul Jazz comprising long lost classics. The sound is quite deliberately murky at times, and it's no secret that Jones is rather fond of mono recordings. Ska, rock'n'roll, soul and out and out pop all nestle together along with a bit of funk and easy listening just to confuse matters. A great, fun, summer record that you should get hold of before the sun fucks off again.
The Northern Soul Story - A set of four CDs designed to offer a thorough insight into the Northern Soul phenomenon. Now, I'm quite happy to admit that I know a big bag of bugger all about this particular genre, other than that I like good soul music, and I know that Northern was essentially about importing the best, obscure American soul to play in certain clubs in the top half of the UK. The four CDs are based around four of the key venues for Northern Soul nights. Volume 1 focuses on 'The Twisted Wheel' in Manchester, while volume 2 looks at Stoke-On-Trent's 'The Golden Torch.' I have to confess that I've not got as far as Volume 4's look at the legendary 'Wigan Casino', but of the three I've listened to, it's the third volume, looking at 'Blackpool Mecca', that's really grabbed my attention. In particular, the quite brilliant, 'Soul Improvisations Pt 2' by Van McCoy. As a means of attempting to convince you to buy these tremendous CDs, you can listen to that track here.
Ryan Adams - Tough call for the third spot this week. The Loungs deserve another mention for their excellent psych-pop album, 'We Are The Champ,' but ultimately Ryan must sneak through as a result of the BBC Four Sessions show. I picked up 'Love Is Hell' on Thursday and couldn't quite believe that I hadn't been persuaded to do so much earlier. It's a great record, and as I was saying previously about 'Cold Roses', once you give it the time it deserves, you start to realise that it isn't overlong, it's just a long album, full of great tunes. Quite what all the record company politics about it at the time were about, I've no idea. It's not like it's the sound of one man pissing in a bucket for an hour whilst tapping a spoon on a wheelbarrow. Why a record company would be annoyed with sixteen beautiful, heartfelt songs, I'll never know. This renewed focus on Ryan has also sent me back to his most recent effort, 'Easy Tiger' which I'm starting to realise is one of the year's best. Either dig him out yourself, or get buying if you've none of his in the house.

Non-musical Revelations Of The Week:
House - As the third series draws to a close on Five, it's worth reflecting on just how good this programme really is. The character of House, so wonderfully portrayed by Hugh Laurie, is written to perfection and his team are a meticulously thought out balance of jobsworths, deviants and geniuses. I could quite happily sit and watch 40 minutes of House talking with Wilson, his colleague, confidant and best friend. I believe the DVD boxsets of seasons one and two are now ridiculously cheap. If you've not partaken of this particular joy just yet, then it's time to change that. You won't regret it.
Gareth Jenkins - A brilliant rugby mind. Honest. Oh, and chin up, eh Gav?
BBC iPlayer - Despite the fact that it makes my aging computer slow to the speed of an asthmatic ant with heavy shopping (ta, Slacky), I'm quite enjoying this latest development from the Beeb. With access to a chunk of the previous week's televisual output you can download whatever you want to watch, and then have 28 days to watch the files before they cause your monitor to explode and your hair to go green. Or no. Presumably they just stop working via the usual DRM methods. Anyhoo, it's good fun, and I believe you can still sign up for the Beta trial somewhere on the BBC website.

My Bones Hurt?

Musical Revelations Of The Week:

Super Furry Animals - Absolutely everything they've ever done - Listening to 'Hey Venus!' this week has once again convinced me that this band have NEVER done anything less than excellent. I've spent the last couple of days working through all of their albums, and even 'Guerilla', the record I tend to put at the bottom of the SFA pecking order, sounded fantastic. Every time Gruff et al release a newie I think the same thing; 'God, SFA are great. They're really underrated, I should listen to them more.' Which I duly do, absolutely love all of their records and then move on again. The Super Furries seem to be condemned to being one of those bands that everyone says they love but never quite achieve legendary status. With 'Hey Venus!' they really should.

Daniel Pemberton - Tvpopmusik - Loads of bits and bobs that Mr Pemberton has composed for TV shows, in longer versions along with other assorted instrumental bits. Shame there's no League of Gents theme, but the music from That'll Teach 'Em sounds superb, freed from the irritating connotations of that tittish headmaster.

Maps - We Can Create - Bollocks to the fact that I've talked about this before. It got a Mercury nomination this week, and I can only hope that that leads to a number of people checking it out that might otherwise not have done so. T'is a tremendous record, and if you're a vinyl nut there's a quite beautifully pressed 2x10" edition available while stocks last.



Non-musical Revelations Of The Week:
Jekyll - Another brilliantly written episode. Laugh-out-loud funny and full of suspense almost simultaneously, this series has been a joy. Final episode next week. I don't imagine it'll make much sense, but then who cares when it's this entertaining?
Scrubs - Back to that start via the DVDs for me. Season Six is currently being shown on E4, and is meeting the high standards one has come to expect from it and as a result I thought I'd nip back to the start and remember why I fell in love with it. It's the nature of the ensemble performance that does it. The plots ensure that virtually everybody is used in every episode, and the throwaway gags that are peppered through the not-especially-complex plots range from genius wordplay to the most vintage slapstiok imaginable. Word is, Season Six will be Zach Braff's last, so this could be the final run of greatness. E4, Thursdays, 9pm. Or the first five seasons on DVD from all good retailers and lots of shit ones too.
101 Great Welsh Tries - Ok, something of niche item here, but I enjoyed it. I say I enjoyed it, but I speak mainly about the tries themselves. The talking head bits with Robert Jones and Clive Rowlands are at best funereal and at worst bloody pointless. I tried watching it at double speed and suddenly Rowlands was almost talking at the speed the rest of us use normally. Still, some great footage.