The Decemberists: The King is Dead (Rough Trade)

Their last album was quite widely slagged for being 'prog-folk' and overblown, but i thought it was a really brave, and rather bold, step forward and i always like it when musicians take risks. Unfortunately, they all too often follow this risk taking with a return to 'the norm' or even an attempt to bury the experiment by going all out for commercial success. This album is a bit of both, and will probably be the one that really puts them on the World map, which is good for them commercially but is often followed by a negative sliding scale of artistic quality. Don't get me wrong - this is a very good, occasionally great ('This is why we fight' particularly) album but a little obvious, a little clichéd (check the photo on the back - "we are serious folk musicians") and a little too much REM at times. And having Peter Buck on the album just adds weight to the accusations. Enjoyable though, in a comfy familiar kinda fashion.

OFF!: The first four EP's (Vice)

Keith Morris (Black Flag, Circle Jerks), Steven Mcdonald (Redd Kross), Mario Rubalcaba (Earthless) & Dimitri Coats (Mark Lanegan) have certainly been round the block a few times and these 16 tracks/17 minutes/4 7"s/nice box/artwork by Raymond Pettibon pull together their collective talents to produce a sound like a much better produced/recorded/played version of early Black Flag. Every track reminds me of the 'Nervous Breakdown' EP and this is so much not a bad thing. It's refreshing to hear short angry blasts of discontent when i spend most of the rest of my life listening to long drawn out whispers of apathy. A breath of fresh air? No - more like a biled scream in the face. I feel like jumping up and down and breaking something but fear that i, tho' not as old as Keith Morris, would succeed in breaking only a brittle hip or two. Shame it's on a label aligned to smug richboy hipster mag Vice.

Sufjan Stevens: The Age of Adz (Asthmatic Kitty)

Near the end of side 3 he sings "I'm not fucking around" ad infinitum whilst all manner of electronic stylings and backing vocal inflections go on around him and........i'm not so sure - i think he may well be fucking around. After the almost classic  majesty of 'Illinois' (and i'm still pissed off at him for reneging on his '50 states' project) and numerous bizarre interludes, he comes up with this - his first proper album in 6 years. And it's all over the place. I can honestly say that this is the first record i own that utilises auto tune and he really really REALLY doesn't fucking need to. Albeit that he only uses it on one track (the 20+ minute 'Impossible soul' - which starts off like a Neil Young track dragged into the post hip hop generation and ends up as a bizarre harmonic hymn to loss) but it comes over as merely a stylistic addition as opposed to an artistic one. I really don't know what i think about this album - it's brave and it's very interesting and it's occasionally outstanding ('Versuvious' for example) but is all too often confounding and, well, all over the fucking place. I think that it is probably great and that i'll add to this piece in the coming days/weeks but for the minute i'm gonna say that it's singular lack of          
musical coherence from one that normally has his eye firmly on the ball is distracting at best and negatively challenging at worst.

Steve Moore - The Henge (Static Caravan)

After the last dose of Steve Moore  - and after revisiting some more Zombi - by way of having to seek out and buy their whole back catalogue for a friend, i decided that i really wanted Mr Moore's debut solo album. Trouble started when i tried to buy it at a decent price and found that it normally goes for £40-£50 for the vinyl. Might have had a problem getting a purchase of that expense past Helen so i put a few 'wants' out there and managed to secure a copy for £16 with the warning that the cover was "a bit fucked". Took the punt and was jolly happy to find that said "fucked" cover would actually grade at VG+ in the anal world of record collecting (my god......how high must the standards of the seller have been???? I'd hate to sell him anything.....) and that the music contained in the vinyl is as ace as i'd hoped. Closer to mid 70s Tangerine Dream than the Jan Hammer-esq synth sounds of the 2nd album, this one trundles on nicely with hypnotic grooves rising and falling at a repetitive level that would irritate even Philip Glass. Good stuff Mr Moore - surely a career in soundtracks await.

Winter's Day: Winter's Day (Morc)

What a delicate little 7". Cello (by Aaron Martin - check out his lovely solo albums boys & girls) and ethereal vocals (by Dawn Smithson - ex of Jessamine) and not much else. Often it's all so slight that it's barely there and the subtlety is so pure that it makes you feel bloody hopeful for whatever they do next.

Seavault: The Mercy Seat (Morr music)

Ex shoegazers cover Ultra Vivid Scene's most famous tune and it sounds.........very much the same. But i liked the original so this reminds me of how good the first UVS album was - so not a bad thing. The other side has a feedback drenched version of Altered Image's 'I could be happy', which didn't exactly make me want to dig out 'Pinky Blue'. Although it brought back memories of how much i fancied Clare Grogan. So thanks for that, Seavault-ers.

Nagamatzu: Sacred Islands Of The Mad (dark entries)

Heard a bit of this on some other blog and it reminded me of the heady days of the early 80's when all manner of blokes with cheap synths, cassette decks and a William Burroughs book or two would release a tape and get it reviewed by Tibet in Sounds. Which is pretty much what this is - a vinyl reissue of an early 80's tape of pop-industrial synth music. It sounds thin, cold and the drum machine taps along in the background - and is really great. The product of young minds with a particular fondness for the first New Order album and early Cure. Mostly instrumental, save for a few predictable samples and containing a fanzine with cuttings a moody photos. Makes me want to dig out my old raincoat. And lose 4 stone.