Curmudgeons of the Grassiest Knolls,

Why would I have a "blog"? My reply would be "I could use it for political activism if nothing else.", however, I won't launch the umpteenth corner of the axis of evil from here just yet.

It's the start of another week and for musicologists like myself, it represents another batch of new gear that can be acquired from the record stores. This week, I don't intend purchasing anything, I have an unfortunate addiction to comma-packed discs, I find it nearly impossible to emerge from a decent record store (of the commercial chains, I can only recommend Fopp) without a purchase. Last week, I went along to Cockburn Street in Edinburgh armed with cash looking to buy "Der Dang Der Dang" by the Archie Bronson Outfit but the release date given on the website I had sought advice from was wrong and so I should have continued on my way however I was sorely tempted to put the money towards about 4 different albums, however I wrestled with my mind and only came away with "Choose a Bright Morning" by Jeniferever from that store.

I heard the song, "From Across the Sea" on 6music's MINT programme and immediately sought the single however I then decided to wait upon the album. I can't describe music in technical terms, I've never lifted an instrument. I like the term "soundscape" - a word defined as "An atmosphere or environment created by or with sound". I feel this word is designed for artists like Sigur Ros. It's odd how my musical tastes change and develop, a year ago, I would never have given any attention to massively instrumental sounds with an Icelandic lad singing occasionally in a made-up language called "Horselandish", that changed when I noticed a Sigur Ros video on MTV2 and the music seemed to fit the beautiful scenery and poignant moments that unfolded perfectly. Now, this type of sound makes up a large proportion of my listening, although these artists aren't overly similar, just recently I've been listening to 65daysofstatic, Mogwai, Stereolab, Sebastian Tellier, William Orbit and Mew. Anyway, Jeniferever seem to be another group who can create sweeping soundscapes, that I like at least.

I almost bought the Ghostigital album on the strength of Mark E Smith's brilliant appearance on the song "Not Clean" about the North Sea cod crisis; "we can be quite reasonable about this, just give us the f*$ck(*g cod" and "We don't want haddock, we don't want haddock and chips, we want cod", I hope to get that song in some way or another but I decided against the album for my bank balance and I also vaguely remember MINT's Rob Hughes saying the rest of the album isn't so great.

I also bought Guillemots imported mini-album "Up on the Cliff" when I went hunting for that Archie Bronson thing in the independent record shop next door, I can't really comment on it as a whole because "Trains to Brazil" just gets repeated over and over again by me. It's a fantastic tune, so uplifting even though its subject matter is so grave.

I did intend to use this blog to review some music and radio at times, but it looks like I've told a "cat story", in short, I went and bought a couple of CDs last Monday. As I said before, I won't be buying any this week, I've been furnished with the new Delays and Buzzcocks albums courtesy of my triumph in the "So Who's on my T-shirt Today, Then?" competition on 6music's Rocket Science, I look forward to listening to these this week to make up for my lack of spending and deciding if they're worth owt, that's the fun of musicology. The accompanying picture is that of a Concorde wing.