Now We Are Ten

This week's Freak Zone had an interview with Julian Cope, a couple of tunes from his new LP, and a few songs from Japanese bands as featured in his new book Japrocksampler. JC is one of those people who I dabble around; I like the idea of him more than his actual records, although stuff like The Great Dominions, Passionate Friend, Reynard The Fox etc are great songs by anyone's standards. He's a very genial cove; he once came to do a signing when I was at Virgin (I forget what for) and he insisted on brushing his teeth before going to meet his public...

Anyway, the tracks played from his new LP sounded OK, though not necessarily enough to make me dash out and by it. I have bought a few cds over the last week though: Cruel Sister by Rachel Unthank and the Winterset, and Now We Are Ten, which is a Trunk Records sampler (and a bargain at £4). Both are good, the latter is full of unexpected treats from Brit jazz and acid folk to cheesey ad music and weird library and soundtrack pieces. Best listened to late at night with a glass in hand, and definitely the most unexpectedly delightful compilation I've bought since the Late Junction cd a few years ago - they really need to get around to putting out a sequel to that.

Other tunes rattling around my head at the moment range from some excellent stuff on the Fujiyami & Miyagi myspace site, looking forward to them at Summer Sundae, and the Modest Mouse LP, which has taken a while to grow on me but now feels like one of my favourite albums of the year, and not just because it has provided gainful employment for Johnny Marr.

I'm still waiting for delivery of a mad old classic psych folk LP which I ordered on eBay the other week - 'First Utterance' by Comus. Demented stuff. There's a streaming version of Song To Comus on the Wire website at the moment...they would go down an absolute storm at the Green Man festival which is now only a couple of weeks away.