Clint Eastwood's curry

Bryter Later - Nick Drake
Buffalo Skinners: The Asch Recordings, Vol. 4 - Woody Guthrie
Bummed - Happy Mondays
Canadian Amp - Neko Case
Carboot Soul - Nightmares on Wax
Chairs Missing - Wire
Chicken Skin Music - Ry Cooder
Civilian - Boy Kill Boy

If variety be the spice of life then today has been a veritable vindaloo - a mixture of the good, the bad, and the utterly shite. Might as well get the rant out the way first - Boy Kill Boy, what is the point of your existence? Maybe it was just unfortunate that you followed Wire on my iPod because it was difficult to avoid making comparisons between them and you. The biggest one is that Wire were original, visionary, and genuinely fresh; you on the other hand sound like every other guitar band out there at the moment. You know a band are in trouble when the most noticeable thing about them is the fact that their singer has the most irritating voice out of the current crop (quite an accomplishment given the competition), and the highlight of the album is when you can remember what song it is they're ripping off. Everything on here sounds like something from the late 70's/early 80's but is naggingly difficult to pinpoint - however if Paul Weller doesn't sue and win a case for plagiarism (listen to the first track, Back Again and tell me they haven't lifted the riff from Eton Rifles wholesale), then Wire ought to return the money they got from Elastica.

I'm listening to the last track of this album as I write this. It said ten minutes and I shat myself. Then I thought they might partly redeem themselves by turning out an epic change of direction to close, i.e a krautrock tinged cosmic jam. My initial, scatalogical reaction was the correct one though - it was that old chestnut, the hidden track. All I can say was I wish this whole fucking album had been hidden. Another indication of the dangers of drunken downloading, although I think this one was because someone recommended them to me. Bastards.

The good? Bummed. Hadn't heard it for a while but it brought a smile to my face, a swagger to my walk, and a desire to neck loads of pills and go out and cause some carnage. It was so good in fact that I'm listening to it again right now in the hope that it'll wipe out the memory of Boy Kill Boy. Fool's Gold is usually held up to be the ultimate 'Madchester' song, or the finest example of what could be achieved when you mixed indie/guitar rock with dance music, but I'd disagree. Go back a year to 1988 and listen to Wrote For Luck, surely the Ur-track for a whole swathe of the next decade's music. It's the musical expression of Liam Gallagher's swagger, the forerunner of all those Chemical Brothers/Noel Gallagher/Bernard Sumner collaborations, and the best thing you've ever heard in a sweaty club at three in the morning after an hour of faceless indie pap.

The ugly? The inside cover of Bummed.