all this waiting until the weekend before I let myself buy any more CDs is...I dunno. I guess it's working for the time being...

• Elvis Costello - when i was cruel : I had a listen while in transit - seems pretty good, although I didn't get all the way to the end, where I hear it kinda tapers off a bit. Certainly the title track (such as it is) is an odd one - just when I thought I'd heard enough Portishead-like film noirish-inspired backbeat-and-bass, I have to admit this one kinda works.

• Autechre - confield : there was a queue for listening to stuff at Raoul, so I Just Bought It Anyway^TM. Hmm. Quick inspection doesn't give me much to go on. It sounds a bit less like them than usual, but I'd already heard such.

• Pulp - We Love Life : going second hand, I'd been Getting Around to buying it one of these days. Nothing to say about it yet.

• Josh Rouse - Under Cold Blue Stars : Something else I was eyeing in Raoul. I certainly didn't expect to find it second hand over in Dixons Recycled. I'm listening to it while I write this, and it's extremely pleasant, poppy stuff. I think I kept getting recommended this on the net, by various sites...Apparently he's done an EP with Lambchop's Kurt Wagner, too.

• Ivy - Long Distance : something else I'd been meaning to get around to buying, and also didn't expect to find second hand. While nothing really stuck in my head on the first listen (I wasn't always paying close attention), it certainly sounded nice.

• DJ Shadow - Entroducing... : going cheap in that weird shop Disc on Chapel St, and it'd been on my list for years.

• Sime Nugent and the Forefathers - More on the benefits of hindsight : Eugenie had been saying she was curious about them after hearing them on 3RRR in the mornings. Then I discovered they're playing at the Builders Arms tomorrow evening at 7pm (according to Beat), so I went back to Greville Records where I'd seen the album the other day, had a quick listen, and figured it sounded worth trying.