What I’ve been listening to, and why you should be listening to the same thing:

• Mogwai – Mr Beast
  Not to put too fine a point on it, but if I had my way, all music (except that which is played by earnest heavy metal Japanese guys in their bedroom) would sound like this: epic, glorious post-rock soundscapes. My only complain is that the album is too short: look guy, clearly there’s no singles on here so there’s no reason at all to stick to the radio-friendly 4 minute pop song – go the whole hog and do a single 60 minute track. Please.
• Muse – Black holes and Revelations
  Muse don’t do subtle. Nothing on this album is anything short of a full-on classical-influenced synth-rock extravanganza (well, except the two tracks that aren’t, but they’re only short so they don’t count). This time they’ve broadened their influences from what was previously essentially Chopin-with-electric-guitars, adding Queen (circa Night At The Opera), Depeche Mode and, um, disco to the list. No, they’re never really going to win any fashionable music awards because this really isn’t fashionable music – this is, dare I say it, proper 21st Century pop music, but it’s brilliant with it, and if there’s a better single than Supermassive Black Hole this year, I don’t want to hear it.
• The Head Club
  In the interests of full disclosure, I should point out that this band are on a record label run by my boss, but that I’m not in line for any kind of promotion or anything by publicising them. The thing is, much as it pains me to admit that my boss has decent taste in music, they’re actually really rather good: imagine if the Flaming Lips did a Beach Boys influenced pop record and you’re getting close to the sound – pop-rock with an unusual experimental edge to it. The album is a bit rough around the edges and, if I’m honest, there’s a few songs it could live without – the more straightforward numbers that sort of feel like they’re there to pad out the space between the psychadelic rock-outs of the standout tracks. But there’s still enough here for me to think they’re worth paying attention to.
• The Raconteurs – Broken Boy Soldiers
  I’ll come clean: I think the White Stripes are overrated. I really don’t get what all the fuss is about. Okay, they can come up with a decent hook (Seven Nation Army, My Doorbell, etc) but… that seems to be about it; I’ve never been terribly excited by what happens afterwards. On the other hand, Brendan Benson produces some nice enough sounding but not incredibly exciting indie-pop-rock sort of tunes. So, the idea of bringing a pop sensibility to the Jack White and/or bringing a more stripped back indie-cred sound to Brendan Benson seemed like a good thing to me – and, to be fair, for the most part it is. The trouble is, this still sounds like two half-albums. There are songs that are clearly Jack White with a full band and there are songs that are clearly Brendan Benson being less poppy than usual, but it never really feels a completely comfortable compromise. That said, Steady As She Goes is still catchy as hell and that’s gotta be worth something.
• Seth Lakeman – Freedom Fields
  Seth has a formula, and he sticks to it. 3-3-2 rhythms led by frantic fiddle or tenor guitar parts interspersed with haunting violin-and-vocal ballads are very much the flavour of the day here. Fortunately, he’s really very, very good at what he does, and this is a shining example of modern English folk. It’s also far closer to his live sound than Kitty Jay was, dispensing entirely with the full band arrangements on the previous album and stripping things right back to the live band of fiddle, guitar, double bass and bodhran for the most part. If this isn’t in the running for the Mercury Music Prize, I’ll eat my hat.

Right, that’s (almost) your lot, but only because I’m going to bed now. You should also dig out “Recording a tape the colour of light” by Bell Orchestre (a sort of Arcade Fire side project – orchestral post-rock noodlings that put me slightly in mind of what Mogwai might sound like if they composed for an orchestra) and “Apologies to the Queen Mary” by Wolf Parade (which is a perfect example of why Canada is the greatest place in the world for indie music right now).

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