No more heroes anymore

The problem with having heroes is that someday, somehow, they'll let you down. I'm not sure Sonic Youth ever have - A Thousand Leaves was a bit underwhelming, sure, and with hindsight Kim Gordon wrestling squawks and parps out of a trumpet during the encore of their headlining set at the Mogwai-curated ATP in April 2000 (and that after they'd played a set of wholly new material kicked off with a 30-minute-long song) was definitely trespassing on the realms of pointless self-indulgence, but there haven't been any heinous crimes as far as I'm concerned. Until now, that is.

You see, my absolute favouritest band in the whole wide world have only gone and released a greatest hits album through Starbucks.

Never mind that the tracklisting for Hits Are For Squares - with songs selected by everyone from The Flaming Lips ('Expressway To Yr Skull'), Radiohead ('Kool Thing') and Flea ('Rain On Tin') to Dave Eggers ('Tuff Gnarl'), Gus Van Sant ('Tom Violence') and Chloe Sevigny ('World Looks Red'), as well as an exclusive new track, 'Slow Revolution' - is very good indeed, because IT'S BEEN RELEASED THROUGH STARBUCKS.

Never mind, either, that Geffen/Universal aren't exactly an indie label, because THEY'RE NOT AN ANODYNE HIGH STREET CAPITALIST CLUSTER BOMB THAT SERVES REALLY BAD COFFEE.

Yes, colour me not impressed.

(I do like the comments on the Drowned In Sound story, particularly tohereknowswhen wondering "The only way to be punk rock these days is to do the least punk rock thing you can think of?", and Alex-in-Ciderland offering the exclusive revelation that "Little Chef are releasing a Campag Velocet retrospective"...)

How's about I slip in a few more bits of music news here? OK, thanks...

No sooner has he been left in peace than Michael Eavis is looking forward to next year's Glastonbury, announcing that on 5th October 100,000 tickets will be available to reserve for a deposit of £50. So, the solution to slow ticket sales is to effectively make them available for longer - presumably the registration process will still apply, though. If Eavis really wants to arrest the slump, and prove that "people are coming back", he needs to ensure the line-up's better. Those of us who were there this year know it was brilliant, as ever, but more in spite of than because of the musical entertainment on offer.

Rather unusually for an avid music fan, I suspect, I've got very little to worry about when it comes to today's news that six ISPs have signed up to the BPI's efforts to combat music piracy online - even if all it might amount to (at present) is receiving a strongly worded letter. Filesharing networks are perhaps a bit of a different case, but sharing between individuals is surely the same as lending someone a CD, and where would your record collection and tastes be without that? I only hope that MP3 blogs aren't affected - it would be extremely short-sighted of the music industry to declare all-out war on sites which offer samples to spread the word and essentially do their marketing work for them. Either way, rest assured the SWSL Best Of 2008 mixtape will definitely be happening.

Full marks to Mogwai, whose new album The Hawk Is Howling features such marvellous songtitles as 'I'm Jim Morrison, I'm Dead', 'The Sun Smells Too Loud' and 'I Love You, I'm Going To Blow Up Your School'. Still, even they're outshone by one of the tracks on the Batcat EP whose release precedes that of the album by a couple of weeks: 'Stupid Prick Gets Chased By The Police And Loses His Slut Girlfriend'...

And finally, back to coffee. Ever drunk a cup wondering whether Megadeth main man Dave Mustaine would approve of your choice of blend? I know I have. Which is why I'm delighted to discover, via the excellent Stool Pigeon, Dave Mustaine's Monthly Coffee Crew, where he reveals what he drinks "to prepare for another day of shredding". Nice to see him keeping up the heavy metal credentials by having his coffee "bubbling in the cauldron" - none of that soft-rock cafetiere shit for Dave...