Right, after several years on hiatus, it's about time this regular feature was resurrected - not least because it's a helpful way for me to keep a record of what I've been listening to...
The portentous first track from last year's superb album Skylarks, which, while broadly in a folk lexicon, draws in some fascinating influences from further afield (Slint, desert blues), and which took its inspiration from Benjamin Myers' novel The Gallows Pole (and Shane Meadows' TV adaptation). Gutted to have missed their matinee show at the Cab in Newport on Sunday.
2. 'Who Do You Love' - Our Girl
Stand-out song from the trio's second LP The Good Kind. It kicks up a notch very nicely just after two minutes and then slips into blissful Deerhunter territory 40 seconds later. As one of the YouTube commenters suggests, it "could've easily been four minutes longer".
3. 'Bend Down And Kiss The Ground' - Bloody Head
A second song from this FGH batch to have been released on Wrong Speed, after Haress' 'Blood Moon'. This is the title track of the Nottingham bruisers' follow-up to the superb Perpetual Eden. You know exactly what's coming from the off, but it's no less impactful when it finally arrives.
4. 'In The Same Room' - Julia Holter
A timely recent reminder that, while my inclination is always to reach for Have You In My Wilderness, she did put out the odd pop-adjacent song earlier in her career (in this case, on Ektasis).
5. 'Respect' - Aretha Franklin
As is the way with these things, the Guardian's recent list of the 30 best live albums stoked plenty of disagreement (the lack of space for Nirvana's MTV Unplugged In New York and MC5's Kick Out The Jams particularly irked me) - but it did at least turn me on to Aretha Franklin's astonishing Live At Fillmore West, from which this is taken.
Having been seriously underwhelmed by Valentine (title track aside), I'm hoping that this - unapologetically uncomplicated indie rock, with just the right amount of slacker and saccharine - signifies that forthcoming album Ricochet will be a return to the form of Lindsey Jordan's debut Lush.
It's fair to say that while decades may have passed, Bob Mould, David Barbe and Malcolm Travis haven't forgotten how to sound like Sugar. 'Long Live Love' follows 'House Of Dead Memories', released in October, and both have been received like the prime Copper Blue tracks they're not. Damn the fact that I can't make either the London or Bristol legs of their May tour.
8. 'Might See You There' - Weird Nightmare
Short and sweet, 'Might See You There' is pitch-perfect chunky power pop (think Ex Hex and Cheap Trick) from Alex Edkins of on-indefinite-hiatus Canadians Metz. There were signs on last LP Up On Gravity Hill that the noise-rockers did in fact have a melodic bone in their body, so this easy-on-the-ears bop doesn't come as a total surprise.
9. 'Cloud Core' - Lightning Bolt
I'm still not sure that listening to Lightning Bolt in the comfort of your own home, rather than in a dank basement or a Butlins venue, is a wise move. This is a taster from their forthcoming split LP with OOIOO, The Horizontal Spirals/The Horizontal Viral, which is out on Thrill Jockey in late April.
10. 'Square One' - Tinned Meats
I'll be honest: I don't really have a clue what the hell's going on here (an increasingly common scenario, to be truthful). But the bass and drums in the verses are great.
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