'It's gonna be a good year, don't you think so?'



But, persuasive as they are, don't just take The School's word for it. According to the latest edition of Mojo, this one month alone sees the release of 42 albums worthy of 4 stars out of five, ie 'brilliant'. By their reckoning that's 42 records just one star shy of equaling the most enduring, era-defining albums ever made. Aah, those crude ratings systems, you gotta love 'em.

But the more nuanced ones can be can also be faintly meaningless. In the latest of it's now ritual kickings of matt pond PA albums, Pitchfork awards The dark leaves a bafflingly precise 4.8 out of 10. Still, its an all-time high for Pond on that site...

..and, blimey, you can't turn round at the moment without running into another 5-star rating for the new Paul Weller effort, Wake up the nation (Guardian, Q, Indy, FT, Telegraph..). Mercury Prize for the lad? But whatever this record is like it ain't never gonna top his solo debut, a very strong candidate for this blog's Desert Island album. And to think he was struggling to get a deal back then (must've been the dodgy barnet):



Thanks to The Boy Least Likely To for that video up top from The School. And The Boy's own fiver-years old debut album, well, it just keeps on giving:



The prevalent aesthetic of The Delicious Ms Dahl, just so Amanda Applewood, don't you think? Anyway, what with this prog, the ING ad from a while back and now the current iPhone commercial featuring A fairytale ending off of The Boy's second album, who needs record sales?

But The Boy are mere amateurs at this game compared to the likes of US west coast duo The Weepies. Seems no US drama serial in the past 2 or 3 years has been complete without one of Deb & Steve's finely turned tunes - and two from new album Be my thrill have already aired on shows before the record's even out!

Dananananaykroyd reworking Linus' theme from the Peanuts cartoon? Hear here!

Neil Young-flecked indie-popsters Unbunny whose last Snow tires got a European distribution (more liked elsewhere than here) surface again: new album, Moon food and London date, even, at The Enterprise 18 May...