Recently acquired

Spiritualized, Let It Come Down. British 90s druggy space-rock with gospel choirs singing backup.




Spiritualized, Live at Royal Albert Hall, 10 October 1997. A two-disc sprawler of a live set. It occurs to me that this band's like a proto-Sigur Ros: grittier, bluesier, less likely to stargaze and sob. It's dense, difficult, soaring, and yet somehow religious. It's not easy to take in all at once. And just imagine if you'd been there.





Built To Spill, Perfect From Now On. Ten songs at six-minutes apiece. Apparently each one's an epic of guitar fretwork. Haven't heard this one yet. But this band? They're dependable. "Going Against Your Mind," first track from their new disc You In Reverse, is just stellar.





Brother of Julian "Cannonball" Adderley, who played on Miles Davis's Kind of Blue, Nat Adderley's big song is the title cut. Let's hear it for brothers getting time in the spotlight.





Fiona Apple, Extraordinary Machine. There's little I can say to expand on the critical praise this disc has rightfully garnered. I will however say that these melodies will snake into your subconscious with a quickness. Fans of Rufus Wainwright and Tori Amos, be on notice (and vice versa, too). "Be kind to me, or treat me mean / I'll make the most of it, I'm an extraordinary machine" - and the way the melody jumps through the "exTRAORD" syllables will make your shoulders just shudder with delight.




The Bad Plus, These Are The Vistas. Hot goddamn is this disc fine. Piano, bass, drums: your standard jazz trio. Piano, bass, drums as played by these guys? Crazy good. It's innovative without studio magic or synths or anything else: just crack musicianship all the way through. I don't know enough about jazz to explain everything that I suspect they're doing, but I do know that there's a whole lot more to love here than the almost-famous covers of Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and Blondie's "Heart of Glass" - which are also fine.