Meanwhile, in the doldrums...

Over three weeks since my last post and I'm rather lacking in inspiration. Do you have spells when music loses its flavour somehow? It's been a while since I've been knocked out by something new on record and the only gig I had booked this month - John Smith at the Unitarian Church in Brighton last Saturday - struck me as good rather than astonishing...

The first records I've bought in over a month are a new EP from Kurt Vile, It's A Big World Out There (And I am Scared), and Yo La Tengo's new 7", 'Super Kiwi', both ordered on automatic pilot, because I'll be seeing them both in December. They're both sounding pretty good, chugging along nicely. But, as you'd expect from out-takes from their respective latest albums, there's nothing groundbreaking about them.

My jaundiced mood is hardly helped by the news of Roy Harper's criminal charges. One shouldn't prejudge, of course, but it's hard not to feel let down - and disappointed to realise that his wistful concluding remarks at the Festival Hall last month were probably less to do with intimations of mortality than an expectation of being banged up.

Gloom, doom and more gloom - and that's before we get on to Lou Reed checking out way too soon since we last spoke...

I'll be back soon - and promise to cheer up before tackling the best of 2013 lists.