Interviewed recently for Swizzle-stick, Trampoline Records' co-founder (and Jukebox Junkie) Marc Dauer surveys the nascent label's horizon: "We'll probably start by re-issuing a few Gingersol records, and the Jukebox Junkies record, with new records by all around the beginning of next year." Hmm...maybe not actually, Marc, as Steve & Seth report that 'Gingersol is happy to have signed with Rubric Records, who will officially release Trainwreck on Feb 18. A CD release party/tour kick off to follow on Feb 21 at CBGBs (w/ the Silos and Richard Lloyd). Gingersol is planning to start recording again for it's next Rubric release.'

And, while we wait for that, what to tide us over? Maybe this: "[The album] fuses a dusty Americana sound with elements of the indie-pop that charged American college rock in the nineties. Intentionally retaining the lo-fi aesthetic that made their earliest demos so successful, it's a stunning debut." Though it easily could be, that's not snatched from a review of Gingersol's Nothing stops moving but actually Splendid's view on Kansas band The Belles upcoming release, Omerta. Label Lakeshore offers a full track taster, with more samples to be had here - hardly fair to judge on a 30-second snatch, admittedly, but Estranged particularly sounds like a Tagliere cast-off...

'I saw a spaceship fly by your window'
Aah, but did you, Damien, did you really? No, of course not, it's just a lyrical conceit grasping for some kind of unworldly romantic redolence, and it's also more or less the stepping-off point for reallyrather's ride with O, the solo debut from Damien Rice. Wildly lauded in certain quarters, this blog's reaction was similar to that when confronted with a generous helping of Christmas pudding - the first few morsels are lovely but it all starts to get a bit rich by halfway. The line above is taken from track 6, Amie, though there are warning signs in the one before (Older chests) where we're told that 'Papa went to other lands' and boy entreats girl, 'read me your favourite lines,' as the cello swells. The cumulative preciousness, and Rice's relentlessly earnest emoting - he means it Truly, Madly, Deeply - gradually overwhelms this listener . The front end of the album is loaded with lovely tunes given room to breathe by sparing production. A warm acoustic band sound sets off Rice's strong, sometimes breathy, vocal. The 'strings' at this point consist of just the resonant woody scrape of a single cello; later it all gets a bit sweepingly cinematic and tumultuous, sadly out of scale with what went before. Treat it, as this blog does, as a really strong 5-track EP...

And talking of things sadly out of scale, what are we to make of news that The Be Good Tanyas return to London in March to play, er, the Royal Festival Hall?! Don't know about them, but reallyrather is nervous already...