Something was in the air which ever week it was I picked up these cus, with a few exceptions, there's no end of great B-sides - and so, in headfirst we go with...

Vashti Bunyan - Some Things Just Stick in Your Mind & I Want To Be Alone form the two sides of this FATCAT records release (great label!) and I suppose its a double A side release but both tracks are great. I haven't heard much of Vashti except for her collaboration with Animal Collective and that one off of the advert so I suspect that these recordings were from the popular section of the pop/folk bag - some things... was written by Jagger/Richards so its a different sound to Diamond Day era recordings. Vashti's voice isnae that strong on these but its not detrimental to the songs which wash over you in 60s pastoral shades. Its all good.

Duffy - Mercy - there's a renaissance in 60s girl motown rock and roll, Amy Winehouse, Candie Payne and now Duffy, who you should know by now seeing as she's had a number one single with this track and a number one album with Rockport too. And its a great track which will have your mum and dad up on the dance floor alongside your younger sister.
Brilliant too is the b-side Save It For Your Prayers which is a slow ballad backed by piano and sounds like a classic Carole King track. Its completely at odds to the A side and shows that Duffy can work wonders on the bombastic and the intimate scale with equal brilliance.

Vampire Weekend seem to a be flavour of the month for a lot of people. Mansard Roof is a strange beast being full of quirks, ideas and interest. Quite how it is the VW have all this and still mange to annoy and disappoint me with its dullness is a real weird feat. Is this a bad representation of the band or are all their songs cut from the same rubbish cloth?

actually you can apply the same review to Death to Los Campesinos! which is jolly and bouncy and twee and eminently punchable. Bah!

Quick! Save us
Band of Horses with your No One's Gonna Love You single. Argh! Nooo! More extreme dullness.

So then, its up to I'm A Realist by The Cribs to save me from a plague of boredom and of course they can. Phew. Keeping it real are the Cribs. Downbeat, world weary, cynical but ready to pick 'emselves up and properly dust off, then storm back with defiance and grit and indie rock. Best of all is Bastards of Young, a The Replacements cover which fucking rocks and suits the Cribs as much as sticky club floors, cuts and bruises and being great do. Nice one. I am saved.

Vincent Vincent and the Villains are fast becoming one of the most bankable bands for providing quality singles. Pretty Girl is the latest and picking girls up in Tesco's has never been soundtracked as wonderfully as this Rock n Roll stormer.
B side Radio City is a slow, almost like Chris Isaak, american desertscape with plenty of menace and cool. All good nasty fun.

Quick round up of the rest; Kid Harpoon has been listening to The Waterboys I'd wager, and to good effect cus The Second E.P. is fab. Its big sounding folk rock music for small indie kids. Excellant 6 tracks here - check him/them out cus its all good.
The Raveonettes are always ace although B side Forever In Your Arms wins out over You Want The Candy because of its dead eye cool and desperate back room rock n roll guitar work. Rocking good news.
Les Savy Fav do not really hit the mark with either Patty Lee or The Sweat Descends although the guitar work is as catchy as a common cold, sounding like the Rapture and The Stone Roses - I would welcome hearing any news of remixes if you know of em...