British Sea Power Valhalla Dance Hall

This album is out on 10th January 2011 but I was lucky enough to catch a webcast on New Year's eve (I say this as many people had technical problems and the Band had to apologise to fans).

British Sea power are a pretty unique and eccentric, but still accessible,band whom I find thought provoking. In trying to find the correct set of adjectives to describe my first listen to Valhalla Dancehall, I came across an early review by the BBC, who put it far more eloquently than I could:

BSP 'warp the music to match the words; stormy, elastic squalls of incandescent sound that lack the hooky polish of the band’s early material, yet seethe and churn with greater force.'

I'd agree it's pretty powerful stuff, and since they are known for 'interesting' antics on stage, I'd like to seek them out live.

Those in the UK who are quick can order a download of this album, and incidentally The Decemberists' latest, at 7Digital for a pre-order price of £4.99.

Michael Celedon EP

Here's an album I would have completely overlooked if it wasn't for 'over hearing' a conversation on Twitter. It was released on iTunes five years ago way before I was interested in anything but classical music.

I'd say it's of wide appeal, being intelligent, tuneful, very well executed and engaging to the emotions. My favourite of the 8 tracks on the EP is Lauren, a love song, but none of them are superfluous.

The good news is that I hear he's working on new material, so I'd advise http://twitter.com/michaelceledonon Twitter and keeping your eyes to the ground.

There's some information here too.