These days, it is very rare that I listen to 'new' music.  One of the good things about the BBC's annual coverage of Glastonbury is that it can bring to your attention bands that you have not yet heard of.  During Friday's coverage I heard a song called Wreckin' Bar (ra ra ra) by The Vaccines.  I cannot recall being as excited by a song, or a band, for quite sometime.  This led to me to download the album and I was equally impressed by many of the other songs on the album.

The latest episode of 25 aired last night on Xfm.  This episode focused on the R.E.M album Lifes Rich Pageant.  After an early panic, as we were unable to locate primary contributors, we managed to locate Don Gehman and Sam was granted permission to conduct a phone interview with R.E.M bassist Mike Mills.  I conducted my first interview for this episode, interviewing R.E.M author Tim Abbott.  Considering that the interview was conducted using Skype, the quality is very good indeed.

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I would give anything to go to Woodstock, New York and see a live Levon Helm Ramble. Helm is a true icon of popular music. Formerly of The Band, one of the most talented and greatest musical bands of all time, Helm is a survivor of heroin addiction and, most recently, throat cancer. He was told that he would never be able to sing again. Fortunately, he recovered and is currently in good health. His voice returned, slightly weaker than what it once was but still nevertheless his instantly recognisable voice, and he recorded the album Dirt Farmer. He followed this up with another great slice of Americana Electric Dirt. Helm is probably most well known for his Rambles. These are live performances at his home in Woodstock where he performs with family and a range of musical guests. Unfortunately, he has not brought his Ramble to the UK but this new DVD release captures a performance that was filmed for American television. It has a good setlist and has Helm in good voice and spirit. May 20 is recognised as Levon Helm Day in America. Long live this true musical legend.

Apologies for the lack of posts but I have been catching up with things after my holiday in Italy.  The latest episode of 25 was broadcast a couple of weeks ago, this time focusing on Prince's album Parade.  I was not involved in this episode, instead my buddy Simon and S-Endz, from the band Swami, helped Sam out with this one as I am not a knowledgeable on Prince than I am with the other artists/bands discussed on 25.  This could be Sam's best documentary yet.  It features Prince keyboardist Dr Fink, Prince uber fan Bill Oddie (yes, the Bill Oddie), Suede's Brett Anderson and many other worthy contributors.  The highlight is probably S-Endz talking about how the track Kiss evolved from being a track for the band Mazarati to a Prince song.  You can listen to it below.

I am already involved in locating material for next months 25 which will look at the R.E.M album Life's Rich Pageant.

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I had not heard of Josh T Pearson until I caught him performing this track on Later with Jools Holland the other night.  I have not been able to get it out of my head since and I am not quite sure why.  Perhaps it is the haunting lyrics and stripped down sound of his performance?  The album version is even better.

The latest in Xfm 25 documentaries is now available to listen to on MixCloud and features, amongst others, yours truly talking about the Depeche Mode album Black Celebration.  I usually shy away from being interviewed for things but was happy to be involved in this.  I had no idea how difficult it is to be interviewed, I am very glad that I prepared before Sam stuck the microphone in my face for 30 minutes.  As most people say, listening to your own voice is never a pleasurable thing and I still haven't listed to it all the way through.  That is mainly down to me not having time yet, think I will save that delight for tomorrow when I am writing up my latest PhD chapter.  The next 25 episode will focus on the Prince album Parade.

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Bored to Death has just started airing on Sky Atlantic; it looks like it will be a lot of fun.  Ted Danson is absolutely hilarious as the pot smoking womanizer George Christopher.  I am look forward to seeing how the show develops.  One particularly pleasing aspect of the show was its use of indie music.  The song Favourite Song by Folk-Pop duo KaiserCartel has been stuck in my head all day.

It has been a while since I last saw a live music performance.  On Wednesday we went to see Idlewild front man Roddy Woomble perform at The Glee Club in Birmingham.  Though Kiss in 1995 was the first gig I ever saw, I still view Idlewild as being my first actual gig, mainly because it was at a more intimate venue than the NEC.  I have seen Idlewild three times now and whilst I don't enjoy their new music as much as their earlier material I do still keep an eye (or ear?) out for their latest efforts.  Woomble, however, is an interesting character.  Through his two solo albums, the excellent My Secret is My Silence (2006) and this year's slightly disappointing The Impossible Song and Other Song, allow him to explore his love of Scottish folk music; they are a marked difference to the majority of Idlewild material.  Aside from The Glee Club's policy of making you sit and wait an age for the main artist to come on stage it really was a great gig.  Woomble, in full long-haired folky mode, performed with three immensely talented musicians and played a good set list that did contain a couple of Idlewild songs.  The stand-out tracks were Waverley Steps, My Secret is My Silence and a stripped down version of You Held the World in your Arms Tonight that was part of the encore.  Songs from his new album were much more enjoyable live than on the album.  Perhaps the best thing about Woomble is that he comes across as a really nice chap with a good sense of humour.  He is well worth seeing on his current UK tour.