October was an excellent month for new album releases, the pick of the bunch being Bad As Me by Tom Waits. Unfortunately this isn’t on Spotify as yet, so the playlist only includes the second single, ‘Back In The Crowd’ - probably the weakest track on the record. Anyway, you should all be buying it, as it is an absolute belter of an album. Another record notable by it’s absence from Spotify is the new Richmond Fontaine release, The High Country. I’ve been listening to it a lot, a fine example of storytelling via music.

The new Ryan Adams record Ashes & Fire is also a fine return to form, in the vein of the excellent Heartbreaker album, his debut from 2000. Ryan appeared on one of the BBC Four Songwriters Circle shows with Neil Finn from Crowded House - a nice reminder (as if I needed one) of how good a lyricist he is too. I was particularly pleased to see Paul Brady on another episode of said show, an extremely under-rated musician.

As is almost always the way, I eventually got into the new Wilco record, The Whole Love. These always take a few listens to sink in, they’re not noticeable for their immediacy. But great songs and outstanding musicianship yet again.

The playlist is completed by a couple of funk tracks by Gil Scott-Heron and Rick James, one of my favourite songs by the late great Bert Jansch, some Judie Tzuke (who I’ve been listening to a fair bit since hearing her on the John Martyn tribute record), and The Tragically Hip - a band I never tire of.

The playlist is here.

1. Nobody Wants To - Crowded House
2. The Exact Feeling - The Tragically Hip
3. Lucky Now - Ryan Adams
4. Black Moon - Wilco
5. Living For The Corporation - Paul Brady
6. Stay With Me Till Dawn - Judie Tzuke
7. Back In The Crowd - Tom Waits
8. Waiting For The Axe To Fall - Gil Scott-Heron
9. Mary Jane - Rick James
10. Born Alone - Wilco
11. The Black Swan - Bert Jansch
12. Kindness - Ryan Adams
13. Freak Turbulence - The Tragically Hip

I’ve been unable to think of a word to describe the sort of music I’ve been listening to recently. It’s been more laid-back, less rocky and with little of the country/blues roots that I normally have on the go. I stumbled across live releases by Lloyd Cole and Counting Crows, both of which are excellent. The latter is a live version of their debut record, August And Everything After, one of my favourite records. This month’s new find was the Boston-based bluegrass band, Crooked Still, whose 2010 release, Some Strange Country includes a nice version of The Rolling Stones’ ‘You Got The Silver’. I’ve been re-listening to the back catalogue of The Blue Nile, totally in love with Paul Buchanan’s vocals right now.

I still can’t get enough of John Martyn. A tribute record to the big man, Johnny Boy Would Love This, was released this year, and there are some absolute crackers on it (even the inclusion of Phil Collins isn’t enough to put me off!), but the best by far is the version of ‘Hurt In Your Heart’ by Judie Tzuke. A very tough song to cover, but she really nails it here.

My own band Fake Gods are now on Spotify, so have cheekily added one of our tracks to the set too. :)

The Spotify playlist is over here, enjoy!

1. Perfect Skin - Lloyd Cole & The Commotions
2. Prospect Street - The Big Dish
3. Because Of Toledo - The Blue Nile
4. Sentimental Man - The Blue Nile
5. Couldn’t Love You More - John Martyn
6. Hurt In Your Heart - Judie Tzuke
7. Anna - Brendan Campbell
8. You Got The Silver - Crooked Still
9. Turning Away - Crooked Still
10. Wanderlust - Love & Money
11. Rain King/Thunder Road - Counting Crows
12. What’s The Frequency Kenneth? - REM
13. On A Sea Of Fleur-De-Lis - Fake Gods

So Amazon announced their new Kindle range this week, which included the new Android-based tablet, the Kindle Fire. I really like the current Kindle device, but I’m not sure how I feel about the new products yet. It seems a touch half-baked to me, and there are some design decisions I really don’t understand.

iPad Competitor

In the non-techie media there has been much talk of how the Fire is a competitor to the iPad. I believe this thinking is all wrong. The Fire is purely a media consumption device. Whereas the iPad can be used as a device to create content as well as consume it. The two are not the same, although they are broadly marketing to the same people. I do think the Fire could impact iPad sales, but not to the extent that some so-called experts believe. The Fire to me is more like a portable media platform rather than a mobile computer.

Pricing

A lot has been made of the $199 price tag for the Fire. No doubt it’s an excellent pricing point. Likewise, the entry model being £89/$79 puts that into the “disposable” device category. But as Dave Caolo of 52 Tiger points out, the cost price is a touch disingenuous, due to the fact that the device does not even ship with a charger.

Design

The new Kindles have done away with the hardware keyboard, a great move in my opinion. It’s one of the worst things about the current Kindle, making it look rather dated. The base Kindle model is now 30% lighter, and is a touch smaller. However, this change has impacted the battery life, which is halved to one month, storage space (also halved to 2GB) and means the device no longer has any audio capability. It’s an interesting trade-off, given that the current Kindles are extremely light anyway, did they really need to make it any less heavy? I always thought the two month battery life was a huge selling point for a dedicated book reader.

I’ve not mentioned the Touch yet - the new $99 ($149 for 3G) touch screen Kindle. I’m not entirely sure where this model fits in to the scene. It’s a middle ground that I don’t really get. The Touch and the Fire both introduce a design change that makes zero sense to me - the buttons on the sides to turn the pages have been removed, so page navigation is done purely by the touch screen. The easy-to-access hardware buttons gave the Kindle a usability that reading apps on the iPad, for example, could not compete with. I really don’t understand the thinking behind this move.

Amazon have done some really good and exciting things this week with these announcements, I reckon they’ll sell a shed load of the base and Fire models in the run up to the holiday season. I’m more tempted now for the base Kindle myself - as a dedicated “one thing well” reading device, it’s at a compelling price for a very good product. I’ll be interested to see the Fire close up and get a feel for it, although it’s not something I’d personally be interested in (as an iPad owner). When the new devices start shipping next month, we’ll start to see how consumers feel about the design changes, and whether Amazon is onto another winner with the Fire.

It’s been a while since I’ve blogged about beer, probably because I haven’t been drinking as much recently. But since I picked up a couple of new beers at Craigie Farm today, I thought I’d post my thoughts on them here.

Both beers are brewed by Stewarts Brewing in Edinburgh, who make some cracking beers. I had a pint of their Pentland IPA in my local the other day, and I highly recommend it.

The first I had tonight was their Pilsen. I’m not a huge fan of lager styles, but I do like a good German Pilsner. This had a classic lager aroma, and poured a large and frothy head. The palate delivered a clean, tangy zing from the Saaz hops. Nicely bitter, this is quite a refreshing beer, and a good indication of the Pils style.

Next up was their Hefeweizen, a Bavarian style wheat beer. Pouring this produced a very cloudy and vibrant orange body with a huge head. Initially the taste was a bit disappointing, but after a few mouthfuls, the delicate banana flavours came through on top of orange and clove. A very lively and effervescent beer, one I enjoyed the more I drank.

Both very enjoyable beers, I’d certainly buy them again. One slight complaint though would be the price; at £2.49 each for 330ml bottles, they’re not the cheapest. But, given that they are rarely brewed, being the special beers, I can’t criticise the pricing too much.

Meanwhile, in my own little brewery, I’ve got 21 litres of oatmeal stout fermenting away nicely. This is my first attempt at an all-grain stout, it smells great at the moment and I can’t wait to try it in a few weeks time. My summer ale is being drunk at a decent pace, it’s a fairly good session beer at just 3.5% ABV.

Now time to find some more beers to drink and write about during next weeks NFL games…