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.

When rock stars grow old

One of the many splendours of Sky + is the way in which it invites you to record even the most minimal and insignificant fluff, just because it's no effort at all. For me, the clearest example of this is the Channel 4 tendency to show exclusive first plays of new music videos at some time around midnight. Can I be arsed making sure I'm watching the telly for that precise five minute window? No. But give me the chance to press a button, forget all about it and then come back to it another time, and I'm in!

Last night, Channel 4 played out the new video from Morrissey, for ''I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris'. This morning, feeling a bit fluey and equipped with a strong cup of tea and some Nurofen, I settled down to flick through the telly. As I watched this particular video, I could only think of one thing. Doesn't Morrissey look old? Let's be absolutely fair to the chap - he is actually getting on a bit. It's not like he looked 25 last week and now he looks like he's smoked Amy Winehouse, but he just seems to actually be looking his age or even a little older.

It's no great surprise, people get older after all, but my first proper exposure to Moz was his Nineties Britpop incarnation and he was still rather spritely then. Even his most recent albums were supported by performances that suggested a man full of energy, passion and natural charm.

Watch this and see if any of that is still there now:

See? I'm not imagining it, am I? Now, I should confess that the reason why I'm so struck by his aging appearance is entirely selfish. I can't help thinking that time must have seriously moved along if 'my' generation of indie legends are starting to look a little rough around the edges. Noel's greying, Supergrass have the sideburns of a randy farmer who, in times of loneliness, has been eyeing up the goats and Moz looks like he's been cryogenically frozen and is now being operated by strings. I'm getting ever nearer to dropping out of the traditional 'new music' demographic and it feels odd. Of course, there are self-imposed boundaries that don't exist in the real world, but it still feels a bit strange to look at the figureheads of my youth and find them appearing more than a little lived in. Still, doing an impression of a Weeble trying to seduce a small dog is nothing compared to this silly old tart.

As for the song, it's quite good actually. It's Morrissey-by-numbers, but after 'Ringleader Of The Tormentors', which was about as much fun as an aneurysm, I'll happily take that. After all, that's what made us all like 'You Are The Quarry' so much, wasn't it?

***

As this blog is actually called Vinyl Junkies, I should take this moment to point you in the direction of your nearest Zavvi. They're currently flogging all of their vinyl at half price. Provided your local shop had a reasonable range prior to their administration issues, they should have plenty for you to pick up at rather splendid prices. Ok, they're not exactly giving them away, but anyone used to buying plenty of vinyl is used to fairly robust pricing, so getting it at half price is quite a big deal. I'm quite happy to tell you this as I've already cleared out the two stores nearest to me! Get there while you can.

This is, of course, the precursor to a potential repeat of the recent insanity found in Woolworths stores, as stock was cleared prior to closure. Nobody's saying anything about how secure Zavvi's future is right now, but it's hard to imagine any single buyer coming in and keeping the chain as it is now. While I picked up a fair old number of CDs and DVDs in the Woolies clearout, it was a rather depressing affair. Plenty has been said in the media about the demise of this much-loved chain, but anyone who loves music has their own precise memories of the Woolworths music section and it still seems odd that it's not there now. I was in one store a few hours before it closed and it was very odd. Imagine that Britain is at war, everything - even pick'n'mix and large plastic replicas of minor characters from Doctor Who - has been rationed. Sprinkle in some paranoia and desperation and that's a little bit like how it felt. Still, cheap CDs, eh?

***

And finally, it's been such a long time since I posted here that I never did anything about albums of the year for 2008, so I'm just going to re-post the list that I submitted to the end-of-year lists on the various music sites I frequent.

1. Elbow - 'The Seldom Seen Kid'
2. Laura Marling - 'Alas I Cannot Swim'
3. Tindersticks - 'The Hungry Saw'
4. Joan As Police Woman - 'To Survive'
5. Pete Molinari - 'A Virtual Landslide'
6. Bon Iver - 'For Emma, Forever Ago'
7. Portishead - 'Third'
8. Malcolm Middleton - 'Sleight Of Heart'
9. She & Him - 'Volume 1'
10. Paul Weller - '22 Dreams'
11. Our Broken Garden - 'When Your Blackening Shows'
12. Helios - 'Caesura'
13. James Yorkston - 'When The Haar Rolls In'
14. The Last Shadow Puppets - 'The Age Of Understatement'
15. Jamie Lidell - 'Jim'
16. Fleet Foxes - 'Fleet Foxes'
17. Elvis Costello & The Imposters - 'Momofuku'
18. Calexico - 'Carried To Dust'
19. Glow - 'I, Yeah!'
20. Ladyhawke - 'Ladyhawke'

Honourable mentions to: Beck, Nick Cave, Jenny Lewis, The Dears, R.E.M., Max Richter, and Ray LaMontagne

Even looking at it now, I'm fairly certain I'd shuffle a few of them round, but it's a moment in time and nobody really cares anyway, so that'll do. Feel free to post your own via the comments section, should you be that way inclined.

What do you mean, 'how predictable'?

I thought I'd use this Bank Holiday for some record shopping. Not an especially innovative idea for me, I know, but that doesn't stop it being thoroughly enjoyable. I spent a rather splendid few hours mooching around Birmingham's (open) record shops and have picked up some nice little bits and bobs. The new Weller single came out today and I've added both 7"s to my collection. One of them has been advertised on pre-orders as 'dinked'. I was curious to find out what this means and, it would seem, I'm going to have to remain curious. I'm buggered if I know in what way either of the pieces of vinyl I purchased are 'dinked'. Still, both sides of this double a-side are brilliant and I'm genuinely quite excited about the release of the new album, '22 Dreams', next Monday.

Also picked up the 7" of The Young Knives' 'Turn Tail'. I already own the album, but this version is from a lathe recording. A quite magical version recorded with the band standing round one mic and cut straight onto vinyl. Wonderful stuff and to be encouraged.

I appear to have been duped. Back in my reviewing-occasionally-for-a-national-magazine days, I was less than polite about Green Day's 'American Idiot' album. It's shite, by the way. I wasn't wrong. However, today I was merrily browsing through the racks in HMV to decide what to go and buy for a quid less in Zavvi (they're a big independent now, you know) when I happened across Foxboro Hot Tubs' new album, 'Stop, Drop and Roll'. It's packaged like an old 60s garage band, and while I knew it was a new recording, I figured it would be the sort of thing I might well enjoy. So, I added it to the pile and it was duly purchased a little while later. My suspicions were first aroused when, stopping on the way back home for bread, milk and a lemon meringue pie, I noticed it was in Asda's album chart. Surely not? Anyhoo, got home, bunged it on and was tapping my foot along to the rather pleasant opening numbers when Google hit me for six and left me wondering if the world is really as I took it to be. It's fucking Green Day using a pseudonym! Plus, and this is the bit that's really fucking with my mind, it's actually pretty good. Really. A couple of songs have normal vocal style  of the twattish lead singer (he has a name? Oh, well I've always called him that) coming through, but overall it's a bit of loving pastiche. So, all was not lost there.

Also picked up the new album by The Shortwave Set, which has been on my mental list for a little while now. It's playing as I type and it sounds bloody good. Different to the delightful debut, but nevertheless it's a cracking set of songs. Apparently it's produced by Danger Mouse, but then isn't everything these days?

The new Futureheads is in the pile to play, as is Richard Swift's 'As Onassis', on which he comes on all 'sixties garage rock'. As long as he doesn't come on all 'Green Day' I'm sure it'll be excellent. Plus, it's one of the splendid recent vinyl releases that gives you a free digital download to allow it to become a portable listen. Great idea.

Will comment on The Shortwave Set, The Futureheads and Swift in due time, as well as the new 2DVD 'Later...The First 15 Years' set, which Zavvi are knocking out for a very reasonable £14 off the shelf. Not the cheapest online price, but bloody good for high street prices. I've only watched the sublime performance of 'Electrolite' (one of my all-time favourite songs) by R.E.M. so far, but with over sixty songs I'm sure it'll keep me amused.

As you were.

Did you find e̶v̶e̶r̶y ANYthing you were after?

I've ranted about this before, so stick with me on this, but the lack of decent music shops is alarming. Obviously it's not alarming to many people otherwise we wouldn't be in this situation in the first place, but for those of us who enjoy picking through obscure new releases and well-chosen back catalogue stock, the end is increasingly nigh. Last summer I found out about the demise of Derby's last remaining indie store, Reveal Records, which closed its doors for a final time at the end of last year. The reports of record shops in London closing keep coming thick and fast and Left Legged Pineapple has shut up shop in Loughborough, Track has departed from York and Selectadisc has downsized its operation in Nottingham.

I had the misfortune to be in Northampton yesterday and I haven't had such a poor record buying experience in a long time. I couldn't find a traditional indie store to speak of, and judging by a search of the net that is indeed the case, and the one second hand store, Pied Piper, that has something of a reputation is some way into a depressing 'closing down' sale that consists of utter toss that you couldn't pay me to take away. They will continue trading in a different manner, so I can only hope they've kept the decent stuff back for that venture. There's Sidewinder, a very specialist dance shop but beyond that I could find nothing. What's even worse is that HMV and Zavvi haven't opted to capitalise on this. HMV appeared to have no vinyl whatsoever, while Zavvi - currently doing a wonderful job of filling their stores with vinyl nationwide - had a limited stock that appeared not to have been updated in months. The Last Shadow Puppets single, 'The Age Of The Understatement' was released yesterday on CD and 2x7". I could not find either 7" anywhere, which is a major surprise. Why, when they happily pile it up in other stores, aren't Zavvi and HMV catering for music fans? Saying, "did you find everything you were after?" at the till counts for fuck all if it's a token gesture and the answer is of no consequence. I was amazed that people living somewhere as big as Northampton have so little access to music. Now that HMV find music a dirty word, favouring DVDs, the stock is growing ever more conservative and the range is diminishing rapidly.

Now, there's no point me issuing a rallying cry for people to go dashing off to their local indie store and purchase a record or three, as I suspect the game is already over and we've lost. In addition, if you're reading this, the chances are you already frequent indie stores wherever possible. The thought that in the not too distant future I won't be able to have a proper browse in an independent record store upsets me more than it probably should, but I won't pretend otherwise.

Thankfully, a stop off at Leicester to visit Rockaboom restored my confidence in the indie store. Well-run, competitively-priced and sensibly-stocked, this small indie store is a flashback to the glory days. There's a second-hand rack, a great back-catalogue with most essentials in stock at less than a fiver and new releases are shoved wherever possible, ensuring you get exposure to as much great music as possible. There's a good selection of vinyl, local bands are covered and the traditional rail of metal T-shirts is there by the till. Both Last Shadow Puppets 7"s were duly purchased, along with the Jim Noir album which, to dispel one of the rumours about independent stores, was actually a quid cheaper than HMV or Zavvi. I don't imagine you'll go out of your way to visit, and they don't have an online presence, but if you happen to be in the area, treat yourself.

All of this neatly links in with this weekend's 'big' event, Record Store Day. We'll just have to allow the Americans the word 'store' on this occasion, as it's for a good cause. You'll have noticed the logo for this in the top right of the blog for the last few days and by clicking on it you can read the philosophy behind the event. Worthy of your support, I would argue. Rough Trade East is having a whole day orgy of live music including the sublime Jason Molina (Magnolia Electric Co / Songs:Ohia), up and coming Glasgow band of note, Make Model and Billy Bragg. Full info here. Action Records in Preston will have live performances from 4pm - info here. Spillers in Cardiff are in the middle of organising something. Avalanche, in Glasgow and Edinburgh, are listed on the Record Store Day site, although I can't find out what they're doing. By visiting the RSD site you can access a list of all stores participating. It's mainly US, but worth a look. If your local indie store's not on there, ask them why not.

If you've got info on particularly lovely indie stores you know of, please let me know and I'll bung it up on the site - the more promotion the better. If you have any Record Store Day news, then likewise, bung it in the comments.