I've been good and haven't bought any CDs this weekend (in an e-mail a little earlier, I claimed I hadn't bought anything since last weekend, but I forgot about the 2 I got Thursday lunchtime. oops.), so instead I've been catching up on some recent reviews around the place, and there's a pile of them :

• Splendid take on Buffalo Tom's new b-sides compilation, besides. The reviewer didn't know anybody who owned any of their albums ? Hrm. I never felt they were all that obscure during their early-to-mid-90's heyday, and as he admits at the end, starting with a b-sides compilation isn't really the best way to get a handle on a band - Buffalo Tom is no exception. I've got good memories from times spent with their various albums, and the time I caught their gig at Melbourne Uni, with the fabulous (and sorely missed) Welcome Mat doing support.

• Pitchfork's lukewarm about CBGB's and the Birth of U.S. Punk, which I happen to have picked up a little while ago. There's a lot of (original) punk compilations out there, though, it's hard to know what's really good. This one...yeah...is ok but not fantastic. Also, relatedly, PopMatters has a piece on The New York Dolls.

• ...they also seem pretty indifferent about that new David Sylvian instrumental thing, camphor, which Angry Robot also touched upon just recently.

• ...but they're very keen on that new Pere Ubu album, St Arkansas (Splendid reviewed it a little while ago, as already mentioned here). I'll hafta try and get hold of this.

• ...even moreso about Sonic Youth's Murray Street, which I've yet to give a great deal of time to (even though we got it before the Americans did, for some odd reason), although I might have to leave it to fanboy (and ultra-wordhead) Darren to say something useful about it.

• PopMatters mentions Cousteau's hopefully not too difficult second album, Sirena, which I've yet to spot down this end of the planet, but look forward to doing so.

• Also (for Bruce/David), PopMatters interview the long-forgotten Nik Kershaw, who put two releases out recently (you should be able to get 15 minutes going for about $5 in JB Hi Fi, f'rinstance - I picked one up for my sister around the start of the year).

• Beth Orton's new album Daybreaker is just around the corner - I caught some of a new song on 3RRR this morning, although having gotten over the initial "ooh, isn't she wonderful ?" thing a while back it just sounded...well...exactly like a Beth Orton song. Still, I wasn't paying that much attention, and I'll be interested to hear the rest of the album.

• oh, and PopMatters on that new tribute album, This Is Where I Belong: Songs of Ray Davies & The Kinks, which certainly has an interesting lineup - I must admit I'm completely unfamiliar with any of his/their non-hit songs, but I've been hearing very good things about this compilation.