Jazz club, with Thurston Moore... nice

During the course of the recent debate about the merits of Britpop and grunge that spilled over onto other social media, one friend accused Thurston Moore of being a self-appointed taste-maker. I'm not sure the charge of being self-appointed sticks - after all, he's often just responding to questions or requests rather than actively proferring recommendations. Even when he isn't, is it such a bad thing for a musician to be passionate about music? I think not.

Anyway, following on from the thoroughly enjoyable list of his favourite 38 songs of all time comes his Top Ten Tunes from the Free Jazz Underground. It's a useful cut-out-and-keep guide, one in which Moore's enthusiasm for the subject is readily apparent and in which he uses the word "cat" a lot. Incidentally, I came across the link to the list via this Quietus interview in which Sean Kitching talks to Moore, MC5 manager John Sinclair and Blast First founder Paul Smith about Sun Ra.

Moore, meanwhile, recently debuted a new line-up featuring Nought guitarist James Sedwards and My Bloody Valentine bassist Deb Goodge at Field Day in his adopted hometown of London - here's the proof. A new solo album called The Best Day is apparently due to drop in September on Matador, featuring material recorded with Goodge and Steve Shelley as well as with the Chelsea Light Moving line-up - so the latter project isn't necessarily dead in the water after just one (superb) album.

While I'm on the subject of New York guitar wizards, taste-makers and fans of Sun Ra, here's Yo La Tengo's Ira Kaplan revealing his favourite albums, including releases by Television, The Clean, The Monkees, Isaac Hayes, Captain Beefheart, Grateful Dead and Sly And The Family Stone.