Splendid news from Setanta: "Richard Hawley has this week finished recording his new album which sounds great, it will be released in Jan and looks like it will be called 'Low Edges' named after a part of Sheffield." The dead of winter will be an excellent time to release more of the boy Hawley's sonorous, croonsome delights (always assuming he's still in that mood). If not the Fisherman's Friend of rock then certainly a steaming cup of Bovril...

Also from the Setanta stable, Hem are now touring the UK. reallyrather hits the road to catch their show in Leicester on Friday night which means..

..missing the repeat ('due to popular demand') of the Be Good Tanyas session on Andy Kershaw's BBC Radio3 show. The group have finally drawn a line under touring to support Blue horse and are now back in the studio for the follow-up. Asked in Triste magazine about the next album, Samantha Parton said, "I think it's gonna be in the same vein as Blue Horse, but it might have a bit of piano on it... maybe some musical saw," an instrument which is all over..

..The blackened air by another act in town this week, Nina Nastasia. reallyrather has commented before about how there's a distinct kinship between this pair of albums and, in idle moments, has been given to speculating on the prospect of Nina maybe becoming a fourth Tanya at some point, a la CSN&Y. If Richard Hawley's a winter warmer, Ms Nastasia's sound is the perfect soundtrack to the gathering gloom, as rightly identified in the handy checklist appended to Grim Reapers & Haunted Melancholy: Music of Autumn' a new essay just up at Fast 'n' bulbous. Luckily for you, there are still tickets to be had for her show at The Spitz on Tuesday...

And neatly tying all these sounds and seasons together, reallyrather is currently chasing down Here comes winter, out last week from NewYork combo Parker and Lily...

"Joanna McGregor's was the most rock'n'roll performance of the night. Additionally, it is worth noting that she embodies the DIY ethic of punk better than any other nominee - she put out the album Play on her own label, Sound Circus. Even to a classical ignoramus, this sounds more interesting than, say, the Electric Soft Parade's mild-mannered indie rock and eventual winner Ms Dynamite aping Lauryn Hill's "conscious" hip-hop/soul." Today's Guardian pores over the entrails of the Mercury Music Prize. Hey Joanna, better get yourself a beatbox, girl...

Rosie Thomas plays a solo date at London Dingwalls October 28....

In a shock move, St.Louis' rather great Nadine update their website. Only slightly you understand, but since it only seems to happen about once a year, reallyrather feels it should be noted. Whether their news is entirely good remains to be seen however:
"We've finally settled on a permanent line-up:
Jimmy Griffin - guitar
Steve Rauner - keys, vocals
Adam Reichmann - vocals, guitar
Merv Schrock - drums, vocals
Anne Tkach - bass, vocals"
The sharp-eyed among you will notice that the words 'Rauner' and 'guitar' are no longer adjacent. This is not good. One of the very best thing's about this band has been Rauner's deft, economical playing, never flashy but invariably satisfying and sometimes quite affecting (anyone else feel the need to keep turning the volume up as Leona fades?) Now it seems six-string duties have been handed to one Jimmy Griffin. If this is the 'Jimmy Griffin' of dodgily-monickered fellow St.Louis outfit Neptune Crush then the omens aren't great. "Jimmy’s pounding guitar bespeaks primal rage," trembled one band profile, worryingly. Please Jimmy, if you have 'chops', won't you leave them in a neat pile at the door along with any leftover primal rage...

And they're still looking for a home for their new album Strange seasons which seems to have been in the can for ages...

'His music is Cat Stevens' poetic imagery fused with the hot sound of alt-country superstar Ryan Adams,' says a recent gig review of LA troubadour Gary Jules. More interestingly, the piece goes on: "Following Jules, Gingersol, a two piece New York based band took the stage. The band was the night's biggest surprise. They have a wholly unique sound formed from country, rock and pop influences. With members of Minibar helping to round out the band, Gingersol commanded the Derby with their infectious songs." Sadly, reallyrather has never seen the 'sol live but is nevertheless completely unsurprised by this 'revelation'...

This blog has also yet to see Jackpot live but an opportunity presents itself on Nov 19 when they call in at The Borderline. Friendly reviews of new album Shiny things continue to stack up:
'Jackpot’s best set of skewed country-pop yet'
'Musically, the album bridges the rustic pine groves of Placerville, where the band was formed, with sunny grooves ripe for beach bumming'
'The entire CD has a classic rock feel with a modern twist'
And their London show is made doubly attractive by the listing as support act of Kingston's finest..

..The Vessels. (For international readers, that's Kingston south-west of London, not the interesting one in the Caribbean.) Emerging apparently fully-formed from these rather unlikely environs, a chimey feelgood glow abounds on their eponymous debut. Thumbnail impression: a synthesis of, say, Horse Stories and the Cosmic Rough Riders (but better than both) filtered through the mainstream Brit-pop of Travis, Stereophonics, etc. But twangy as well. And a bit Beatle-y; Innocence is what Blackbird might've sounded like had an Allman Brother-or-two sat in on the session. A particularly welcome surprise is the unmistakable influence of the great Martha Reeves & the Vandellas on 31st floor. Tracks like Autumn sounds, Don't waste your time, Is my heart are all impressively rounded and Delight is a beautifully weighted closer complete with swelling anthemic climax. Buy it, and one for your friend who seems to buy all his or her music down at the supermarket along with the semi-skimmed...

Meanwhile, back at the Mercury Music Prize betting...
Having previously dismissed the chances of David Bowie, Gemma Hayes, Electric Soft Parade, Doves and Beverley Knight, Guy Barker and The Bees, who's left? Ms Dynamite would be the industry's ideal winner, an excellently marketable vehicle for sales, but take out the slivers of Brit attitude and the spray-on urban R'n'B is hardly anything we haven't heard before. Roots Manuva's fairly unremarkable clubby dub doesn't offer much breakout potential, can't see it doing a Roni Size, and can't quite see The Coral's precocious hand-me-down eclecticism being this year's Gomez either. Which leaves us with the two fiestiest contenders, poles apart in the betting and every other respect. Could rank outsider Joanna Macgregor be the first of the ritual token classical nominations to triumph? It would be the biggest-ever turn-up but reallyrather is slightly tempted to ignore precedent. In the same way that P J Harvey's win last year, decent tho' Stories..was, smacked of "solid body of work", Macgregor is at a v. similar point in the cycle. Play is bravura stuff, resolutely contemporary (even when playing Bach) but not trendy, and apparently a particular favourite of the judging panel chairman.
The Streets also has plenty of life about it, albeit of the low variety. Set against a slate of fairly snappy Garage-y beats are Mike Skinner's depressingly accurate snapshots of days & nights in the life of your average urban geezer - getting hammered on Kronenbourg, scoffing KFC, flaunting your Nikes, dodging your dealer coz your skint, scoffing KFC, getting smashed, pulling birds and hoping your girlfriend doesn't find out, getting stoned, etc etc. "There's no choice," says Mike at one point, but there is: Don't buy it.
The continued nomination of a 'serious music' disc with the unspoken proviso that "Of course, it can't win" is surely an unsustainable farce. Unless, unless...
So, with a weather eye on Ms Dynamite, it's The Streets at 7/4 (and Joanna Macgregor at 33/1 if you're feeling bold/reckless...)

The Streets are part of nascent UK label 679 Recordings's select roster which has just been substantially swollen by the signing of The Polyphonic Spree in a deal rumoured to be worth around £400,000...

Another upstart label, LA's Trampoline Records, seems intent on hoovering up all the under-appreciated melodic rootsy-rockers in Tinseltown. The debut compilation features the likes of Pete Droge, Jukebox Junkies, Gingersol, Evan Frankfort (Melodine), etc. 'The plan is to continue releasing compilations,' reports Billboard, 'but the label would also like to put out full-length releases from the Junkies, Minibar, and Gingersol. [Co-founder Marc Dauer] notes, "They all have records ready to go."' The last pair are on the road together right now. See Gingersol's Steve & Seth joined by Wallflowers' Rami and a Minibar bloke at the recent inaugural Trampoline bash...

Josh Rouse comes back to the UK for a few dates next month. This is good enough news in itself but with the addition of Hayden the shows surely become autumn essentials:
Oct 15 London, Borderline
Oct 16 Sheffield, Pheasant
Oct 17 Bristol, Bonaventure
Oct 18 Birmingham, Glee Club

reallyrather is also mildly excited about upcoming new releases from:
Fizzle Like A Flood - the Ernest Jennings Recording Co. puts out Flash paper queen, Doug Kabourek's "latest conceptual opus...if you were lucky enough to hear Fizzle's critically acclaimed 2000 release Golden Sand And The Grandstand you'll know why we are so excited about this". reallyrather was, and understands...
Denison Witmer - hasn't put a foot wrong so far, can the boy wonder keep it up with Philadelphia songs? Find out Sept 24...
Rilo Kiley - The execution of all things on Saddle Creek drops Oct 1, a week before..
Tahiti 80 - Wallpaper For The Soul appears on MintyFresh. Actually, based on the taster track, rr isn't in that much of a hurry to hear the frothy French anglophiles overdue follow-up to the nifty Puzzle. One curiosity is the involvment of Richard Hewson: "We were big fans of the first James Taylor [it's that man again!] record, which was released on Apple, and always wanted to work with him," Xavier Boyer says. "It was only after we contacted him that we found out he also worked on The Beatles' Let It Be..."

Finally, to Sweden: "It feels great and it's gonna be a killer!" Unrestrained optimism - and why not? - from Swedish pop marvels Holiday With Maggie as they pull together tracks for a new album due Oct/Nov. All we've had from them to date are the six slabs of excellent bouncy/slack Wilson-meets-Weezer pop on Librarian types - as someone accurately summed, "This is just one of those things you get, put on, and instantly know you love!" | hear

"If Church was like this every Sunday, we would be the most religious nation on the planet."
The Standard pretty much loved The Polyphonic Spree at the Union Chapel; the Guardian likewise scored it 4-out-of-5 stars. But oh - here starteth ye backlash? - how The Observer hated it, hated it I tell you! "Novelty act..blah blah blah..Oasis B-sides..blah blah blah..emperor's new clothes..blah blah blah." Seated bang centre, three pews from the front, reallyrather & co. had a high old time. No idea what going on behind, but from our vantage point it felt at times like we were all The Polyphonic Spree. Yes, the venue's (vaunted) acoustics didn't do this particular act any favours, at least vocally. Yes, a certain rather simplisitic formula appears to be at work in the composition of many of the Spree's best numbers ('we've got a big chorus and we're gonna use it'). And yes, they're relentlessly enthusiastic, almost improbably so. But for now at least this is one instinctively cynical blog happy to toss aside it's backpack of sceptisism and say "Who sodding well cares, let's choir!" Tho' Tim is obviously Mr Spree, the whole thing still has a pleasingly egalitarian feel with members able to 'spontane' in whatever way takes them. Sure, this can become a bit cacophanous and it's doesn't take much imagination to see how some stricter arrangements might leaven the exhausting bombast. But for the moment riotous assembly will do just fine, "mass grinning off the rictus scale" notwithstanding. And surely the latter can be excused when you think what's happened to this part-time outfit over here, selling out 1000-seater venues from more or less a standing start over the course of a few months (and still no album release 'til late Sept). The snowball rolls on - next stop Shepherd's Bush Empire...

'[Each song] is about the light and the day and the sun, and how we should all celebrate the same endlessly,' Sean O'Hagan - for it was he - Observed. You want earthbound, Sean? How about this: "Last night I recorded a song called 'Footsteps'. It's about a British Junior Minister of State," Colin MacIntyre aka Mull Historical Society tells InMusicWeTrust this month. "He is crumbling under the strain of low profile, long hours, and lower ranking office mediocrity." We're excited already, Colin...

"An alluring blend of vintage pop, rustic folk and down-home lyricism," says the SanFran Examiner of Shiny things, new from Californian band Jackpot. ''These simple rockers shuffle along like a country-fried Matthew Sweet...a really great album that deserves attention,' reckons Allmusic. "The recording is better because there's more people and money behind it," the band said in an interview last week. "It was the first time we'd ever recorded in a real studio. I don't think [the new record] is really that poppy or slick." But it is quite though, isn't it guys. Soundclips suggest they've smoothed away some of the weary twanginess of last year's European release, Weightless. Psycho ballerina sounds a bit like Wheat, say, setting out - for a bet or something - to write a sure-fire airplay winner...

...and in the continued absence of anything from that particular quarter, it's probably worth a go. "We haven't been hounds and whores to self-promotion," said Scott Wheat understatedly in a recent Boston radio interview. Somewhat amazingly for an act with microscopic US sales, no albums since '99 and hardly any gigs in 18 months, the band say they've been able to be full-time for the past few years. Nice work, etc etc...