Check out the Spizzazzz blog for a live running commentary on tonight’s Tim Westwood’s Radio One program including myself, Suds, and the folks who run the blog.

Thanks to a tip off from Tom Ewing, I decided to check out “House of Jealous Lovers” by The Rapture. I am very, very impressed with this song – finally, someone manages to do that ‘contemporary Gang Of 4’ thing and gets it right. It blows !!! and Radio 4 out of the water, that’s for sure. The song has an incredibly urgency to it, and the vocals have a very believable (as opposed to affected) sound of panic; but the sampled disco beat is what puts it over the top for me. Top notch stuff – I’ll have to check out more by this band sometime soon. I don’t remember these guys being anywhere near this good when I saw them open for Stephen Malkmus last year. I hope that this is more than just ‘studio magic’…

Also, I should add that I’ve come around to really enjoying El-P’s Fantastic Damage record. It’s just one of those times when I overcome a prejudice for an artist, and I begin to wonder what my problem was in the first place. It’s probably one of the best records I’ve heard this year, very likely the most musically progressive too. It ‘rocks’ very hard, in a dizzy cut-up beats sort of way. It also reminds me of the RZA’s best production work, without being a pale imitation. Those who file share should try out “Deep Space 9mm”, “Tuned Mass Damper”, and “Stepfather Factory”.

It has been two and a half weeks since I bought a comic, about four since I bought one that I enjoyed. I feel like I am in withdrawl, I just haven’t been anywhere near a comics shop. The good news is that a new issue of New X-Men and the first issue of X-Statix will be out on Wednesday, and that my copy of La Perdida #2 by Jessica Abel that I ordered from Fantagraphics should be here any day now…