I got the newsletter from Synaesthesia saying that, among other things, they had Ground Zero's "plays Standards" in, at a reasonable (such as it is for Australia) price, so I hopped into town after work to pick up a copy. The guy in the shop told me Otomo Yoshihide is gonna be in town for the What Is Music? festival - 18th of July at Revolver, according to the website. ooh. I oughta get along. Like with John Zorn, I'd really appreciate any advice on where to go next with Otomo Yoshihide's rather large catalogue.

I also picked up a second-hand (already) copy of the new Belle and Sebastian CD, on the off-chance that it's any good, along with The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's Will the Circle be Unbroken double-CD extravaganza.

Also, I picked up two other CDs tragically languishing in second hand bins, with the intention of sending them to a Better Place^TM :

• The Thin Man Bordello, my favourite compilation from last year, from Richard Andrew's Pharmacy Records. It's a great cross-section of post-relationship sadness, featuring Rob Snarski's so-called friends, Grand Salvo, Kirsty Stegwazi, as well as possibly the best track on the album - Army Letters - that's by Richard Andrew himself. here's what i said about it last year.

• Golden Rough's new album, Provenance. Great urban country stuff. If you like, say, The Pernice Brothers, it might be the kind of thing you'd like. here's what i said about it last year.

If you want either of these, let me know. Given that they're both local bands (or close enough - Golden Rough's from Sydney), I'd prefer they went overseas (and to different people), so the rest of the world gets to know what they're missing out on. But if nobody overseas wants 'em, then you local folk are welcome to them. Either way, they'll be completely free, including postage. Think of it as my (possibly foolish) way of trying to make myself useful.

Actually, Ann, if you're about, you wanna tell us what you thought of both of these albums ? I figure you're in a better position to explain them, or something, being on the other side of the world and all.