I went to see Malkmus the other day - essentially, his new band sound just like Pavement, but the songs are in general not as good. It's as if he sacked them because he didn't like them criticising his songs, and now his new lot have no quality control. This one however is really, really, really good - really nice hawaiian guitar, with Malkmus considering 'how small we humans are' in a song - really - about Greek Gods.

Forget everything I wrote about Trojan Curfew - I have now decided that a) his new band can be pretty brilliant, and b) I slightly overrated TC - the music is astonishingly beautiful, but the lyrics are all downhill from the second verse.

Now - Church on white is the real deal. Yet more of Malkmus' beautiful, aching music (how _does_ he do it?), with his voice giving more meaning to lines such as 'carry on/ it's a marathon' than they probably deserve. The chorus of 'All you ever wanted/ was everything/ plus everything/ and the truth/ I only bought you/ half a lie' is one of his best, as is the instrumental break. His best solo effort, is my opinion for this evening at least.

It seems that I'm the only person to recommend Clinic (if I'm using this site properly). Anyway, Clinic are a band from Liverpool with 2 (I think) fantastic albums so far. I chose this song from their first album, Internal Wrangler, for no other reason than it's the first one that sprung to mind. Hard to describe what they sound like, but they remind me of the Velvet Underground, Beach Boys, Dick Dale. That's probably not a very good or accurate description. People in the UK might recognise another song from this album (The Second Line) from a Levi's ad a few years ago. Anyway, if you like Radiohead, Flaming Lips, Mercury Rev, Grandaddy, that kind of thing, find this album, you might like it.

Very mellow, beautifully played song. The lyrics suggest a lost love, and a longing for the past that anyone can connect to.