Don’t call it comeback. I know, I know, this is slack even by my standards. This post has been in draft for for just over two three months.

Apparently September is the new January and I’m all for it. I mean: I’ve even been Spring cleaning. It makes more sense to get everything squared up and tidy, ready to batten down the hatches against the oncoming Winter. I think it’s instinctive: Most of us have no harvest to gather but we still have that desire to nest and prepare for the darker months (at least I think so, my judgement may be impaired by watching the whole series of Mud, Sweat and Tractors in one rainy afternoon).

It’s a about time I got something done around here. It’s not just this blog that has been neglected. Still, as you can see we have a new layout (that’s thanks to Paul’s ingenuity, not mine). I also have an auxiliary (I hesitate to say ‘daily’) blog called Field Notes.

My renovations have stretched further than the virtual world: My hard drive is now spick and span and patrolled by a Snow Leopard. My room is so clean and tidy that I even paired my socks the other night (stop sniggering, it was dark, raining and I live in the sticks). I have finally ordered a frame for my ‘Silver Lining‘ print (it’s been rolled up in a tube for at least a year now). Unfortunately (definitely the wrong word) in looking up that last link, I stumbled across this lovely print. Now where am I going to put that…

I mowed the grass for the first time in about six weeks (sadly I am not exaggerating). The term ‘washout Summer’ doesn’t even begin to cover it). I am apparently about to acquire a couple of apple trees and a large poppy (?). We’ve let a large part of the garden grow wild. It’s mostly grasses and clover so far with a smattering of Vetch and the plan is to stick the apple trees in there and try and seed some meadow flowers.

The long term goal is to provide a feeding ground for bees and butterflies and in turn increase the food source for small birds. Not seen many blue tits this year? That’s because the caterpillar population was so small last year.

This flurry of activity is following a very fallow period. The only notable events of the last season were that I bought an iPhone and a ton of new music. Haven’t been anywhere, seen anyone or done anything except work, sleep and stare at a screen (at least, that’s what it feels like).

First up we have: Space by Emanative. You can get a flavour of what he’s about by listening to the interview he recorded for Gilles Peterson Worldwide and the tracks that are floating around the Soundcloud.

Stumbling into Soundcloud transpired to be a good move as I also found an interview of Simon.S. of Futuristica Music by Dom Servini (of Wah Wah 45s, has a regular Monday night show on London’s Colourful Radio). I can’t say that I have a use for Soundcloud myself but I love the way the site works and looks and there are some real gems dotted about on the site such as the beautifully subtle remix of Scrimshire’s Warm Sound by Aaron Jerome.

On that note, Adam Scrimshire’s debut album is a definite must buy. You don’t need to be into your jazz to like it, you just need to be a fan of great music. It’s available from Wah Wah 45s directly and whilst you’re there you might wish to consider their compilation series: Underground Hits and Exclusive Bits. There are lots of lovely bits and pieces spread throughout the series though I think it’s the Coleman Brothers and Rosie Brown tracks that really stand out for me.

Still lots to cram in here so it’s time for a few short cuts:

Alice Russell’s latest offering is a stormer, I think, perhaps our finest (contemporary) soul songstress?

The Jamie Woon interview on Colourful a few weeks ago was ace, Wayfaring Stranger is such a good track (I am expecting big things, talent like that deserves it).

I know I’m a bit late to party here but I love Bat For Lashes. There’s one track on Fur and Gold that sounds like that bit towards the end of Stig of the Dump where the children seem to travel back in time to the Neolithic age and witness a festival at Stonehenge. That’s what it sounds like to me at any rate.

The newest addition to my iTunes is Twisting The Frame which you can download for free from Myuzyk.

Jonny Greenwood talks a lot of sense.

I’ve seen some really inspiring audio/visual presentation type stuff lately (that’s a rubbish way of describing them but I can’t think of a suitable label). The BBC put some excellent programmes together for their poetry season. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and the Cerys Matthews episode of my Life In Verse were the real soundouts for me. To see my favourite finds we have to look beyond television.

The Guardian have been running a series called Barton’s Britain since April.The written pieces for G2 are great but it is the audio slide shows that really bring the locations to life. I did some poking around the corners of the web and turned up a similar sort of piece by Laura Barton called Recycled/Reborn.

On a straight up video tip, the Xynthetic Northern Exposure retrospective deserves a special mention purely for the post production: The colours have a lovely film-like cross processed sort of feel to them. I can’t really mention the Xyn video without also mentioning BÖIKZMÖIND. If you like the look of that then you should pop over to Breaks Of 10 where they’ve got the low down from the man himself.

Nigel Peake has given his website a makeover and the content is better than ever. You have to check out the zines viewer thingy. Speaking of zines, I’ve had a few fresh bits and bobs through my letterbox over the past few months. Peakey has outdone himself with Birds. Honestly, I was waiting for this as his on quirky illustrative style lends itself perfectly to this subject.

Paul over at Quiet Corners recently produced a lovely little book covering his last trip to San Francisco as well as contibuting a hefty chunk of the photography in the latest (monster) issue of Tweaker Zine.

Thom has given the Hand & Face blog a thorough reworking, produced an entirely new website for his Scarfboy moniker and added yet another band to the H&F label. It’s only in in the early stages but I can tell you that they are called 70ft Fall and their Last.fm page is here. Perhaps, now that the season, is over we may soon see more activity from the Kaimana camp?

I’m going back a while now but the Ride Journal have followed up their sparkling début with another storming issue. If this is the sort of quality we can expect from independent publishers then I don’t think the future of the magazine industry is quite as bleak as I’d feared. Issue number three is currently in the works.

It’s Nice That have made their first foray into the printed world. It’s basically the physical embodiment of the website (which is no bad thing) except of course, that it can’t update itself so it reads sort of like a “best of…”. I think the first issue is now out of stock but you can pre-order the second instalment from their shop.

I’ve been nuturing this entry for so long now that I can’t quite tell if it’s worth reading anymore, I hope you found something that you like at any rate. If all this was not enough to slake your thirst for nonsense, then you can subscribe to my subconscious here.

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