Acoustic Ladyland, Jenny Lewis and snow

OK, guys. So this is how this thing is going to work now that that damned list is up. As and when I buy a CD or two - or more, I will write about it, and in doing so, perhaps make one or two comments about me and my life and the other stuff that surrounds it. In essence, the dumb list of CDs will provide a context and the soundtrack to stuff that happens here. Kinda the way it should be.

It is Saturday morning and, as is not entirely unusual, I sneakily bought a couple of CDs last night. I didn't mean to - I usually buy CDs (officially) on Saturdays. But I had a little cash in my pocket, they were cheap, figured it would make the dent today look a little less. So, you know, I did it. £10 - two CDs - one less than a month out (and critically acclaimed at that). Am I so bad? Probably not. Sad, though, maybe.

Anyhow here are the two CDs:

Acoustic Ladyland - Last Chance Disco - - 2005 - - Babel Records (£5)
Jenny Lewis with The Watson Twins - Rabbit Fur Coat - - 2006 - - Rough Trade (£6)

Can I just add that it is Saturday and it is snowing like a motherfucker out there. All week I have been hoping and praying (no less) for serious snow that might afford us in the midlands a little equality with our more-Northern colleagues and get us some time off school. No. We wait until the weekend, when the only inconvenience is to ourselves and then it snows. And it snows.

The CDs.

I have only listened to these once, so neither review (if you could call them that) will be very comprehensive.

The Acoustic Ladyland is way too uptempo for me really. The best description would be punk-jazz, but all in all, it involves too much jumping around for tunes with no words. There are a few tunes that I can see making it onto the Radio Show, and perhaps on odd moments, it might get played from time to time. Is it any good? Erm, yes, I think so. There are a few standout tracks, the openers 'Iggy' and 'OM KONZ' are both brain-jarring, and later a track called 'Thing' leaps out nicely (in a bumpy kind of way). 'Of You' and 'Nico' - the last two tracks - push the jazzy thing up a little, which is nice after the barrage of sound that has hit for the previous half hour. All in all, it probably needs a few more listens. Just not certain that it'll get many of them.

Jenny Lewis has kind of passed me by a little. Her band, prior to this release, Rilo Kiley, has resided just a little too squarely in the indie-darling set to catch my attention. As such, I cannot make any great comments about how this is a grand leap forward or any bullshit like that. It's a nice LP. It has a pleasing country-esque vibe to it, while not over-powering in that way. Some of the songs seem very satisfying, and somehow I find it in the same territory as a few other quite satisfying CDs - 'The Greatest' by Cat Power, 'I am Shelby Lynn' by ermm... I forget (Shelby Lynn). Although I am not sure that it is quite as good as either of them. This will definitely get some further listens, though, since there are some tunes that are already shouting to be heard again 'The Big Guns', 'Rabbit Fur Coat', 'Born Secular'. I also suspect that it will grow a little with successive listens, so watch this space. Hopefully I will remember to update you.

It is Saturday, so a few more CDs are likely to arrive in the next few hours, including the new not-yet-released, My Latest Novel CD, 'Wolves'. So you might hear back from me quite soon.

Cheers