In case you like indie guitar pop you should head for Douglas Wolk's lacunae immediately. A couple of days ago he offered an mp3 of Another Sunny Day's You Should All Be Murdered (November 1989), an infectious blasting tune by Harvey Williams from the heyday of Sarah Records. This is what I call beauty. Sunny and sad. Energetic and innocent. A song which can compete with everything from the gorgeous but almost forgotten Field Mice, a band Williams played in at the same time. His vocals sound a lot like Morrissey's on this guitar gem. You can call it twee if you like. Or power pop. Names are not important.

P.S. This song seems to have been influenced a lot by The Field Mice's Sensitive (February 1989), one of the most addictive songs of all time.

From Fennesz last album Venice: Laguna. Christian Fennesz and Burkhard Stangl on guitar beat all that pompous glitchy brooding electronic stuff by light years. It's simple, it's airy, it's wistful and it has got that soothing effect on me I am more and more looking for in music. Timeless beauty.

Paul Auster has written a song on the man who looks like a monkey, who talks like a robot emulating a monkey, who doesn't seem to have the brains of a monkey, and who is in charge of an insignificant country Columbus took for a part of India when he arrived close to it a while ago. It's a sad song of course: lyrics and mp3 of King George Blues (sorry for not linking to the main page but you are asking too much there).

Everything is Everything by the French band Phoenix (videos and radio). I had heard the song before but had to google it to find out by whom it was. There is no better way to start the day than with this kind of refreshing infectious pop song. Especially when you do not expect anything from the radio.

Somehow this really makes me think of Michelle Shocked's first (almost accidental) album Texas Campfire Tapes. Put through the shredder or something. Coco Rosie is a name to keep in mind. La Maison de Mon Rêve is an album title easy to retain.

You Only Tell Me That You Love Me When You're Drunk

Dripping Dream, another song from Sonic Nurse over at stereogum. Somehow I like this though/because it sounds like I have heard it before. Quite polished and very hummable. It has got a dreamy wistful quality to it without dispensing with the noisy guitars. I have listened to six of the eleven songs now and I am convinced that Sonic Youth's newest album is definitely not bad but I am still not sure at all if it is great. Of course I will buy it when it comes out.

There is something truly amazing about the new Morrissey video of Irish Blood, English Heart (via stereogum). This man is a diva. Is he playing a British version of Scissors, Rock, Paper with his left hand at the end? Or is it the sign language sentence of deaf and dumb speak for "I am the one and only"? The stilted way he creates his own halo with his left hand before really seems to impress the audience made up of young hipsters. He is doing what he has always done and it still feels alright despite/because of his advanced age of 44 years.

I don't remember from where I downloaded PJ Harvey's new single on Friday. It is PJ grand cru. I'll try to upload it tomorrow but right now I can't get my ftp program to work. She is on fire on this one like on her first album. I don't think there has been a woman as powerful as her in the rock music business after Patti Smith. A couple of years ago I went to Munich (350 km from here) to see my favourite band Giant Sand open for her. Howe and his sidemen were great but PJ was the real thing. Live she is even better than on record whereas Howe live is a mixed affair.

In the meantime there is this slow fragile rendition of the classic Moon River where she duets with Vincent Gallo. Jim O'Rourke, John Frusciante and Steve Shelley are providing the extras. Original post at said the monkey.