So where did February go?

I've had a splendid couple of (non-music-related) weeks away in Australia and Korea, which is part of an excuse for some thin pickings here.

Since coming back I've been ploughing through the 33 1/3 series' exacting submission requirements. It can sometimes be helpful to wake up jet-lagged at four in the morning – you can get a lot of writing done undisturbed. Anyway, the pitch is in now. If they have any sense, they'll soon be snapping up my proposal for a book about Bob Dylan's John Wesley Harding. And if they haven't, you'll be seeing more about it here...

I'm stilling waiting to hear my first killer record of 2014, though I have reasonable hopes for both Del Barber's Prairieography and Beck's Morning Phase, once I can get my hands on the full albums.

And I still haven't been to a gig yet this year. A celebration of Nick Pynn's music at the Dome on 23 March should make a fine start. I then have tickets for Dan Stuart, Michael Chapman and Emmylou Harris in the next couple of months.

In other (and excellent) news, I gather Wussy's Attica is now due to be released in May. Which is a good reason for posting a nice picture of Lisa Walker.

Onward and upward.

New from Two Wings

I'm delighted to hear that Two Wings are swinging back into action, having laid somewhat low after releasing the excellent Love's Spring and playing one of my gigs of the year in 2012.

You can hear a new song 'Peace-Fear' here, accompanied by an endearingly odd video. It's a powerful group performance with some lovely guitar and vocals, and subtly effective keyboards dropping in. Bodes well for their second album A Wake, which is due in April.

How about a gig in Brighton this time?

It has been a slightly slow start to my musical 2014, with no gigs so far and not much in the way of new record purchases. Bruce Springsteen's High Hopes is, of course worthy of your attention, but don't go in with them too high... There are some lovely songs, notably 'Harry's Place' and '41 Shots', but also some stuff that (by The Boss's standards) is more like filler. Plus I still don't really get Tom Morello, much as he seems to energise his compadre.

Anyway, nice to have some more releases to look forward to. Now, if Wussy could get round to finishing the album they said they were recording last summer, things would really be looking up.

Peter and Jenny Lee

Del Barber's beautifully-pitched song of true love amongst motel staff was a real highlight of his live performances last year - and accompanied by a hilarious story of how he came to write it...

It's nice to see that 'Peter And Jenny Lee' is included on his new album, all of which is currently streaming here. A great song, in what appears to be strong company. Give it a go.