These Records Are A Bit Nice

The xx: Blood Red Moon (Demo) (XL, 2009)
Young people making wonderfully listenable (and actually whistleable) pop records? Nah, it'll never catch on. How could it? Who in their right mind would want to sit in their own home and let their ears be set upon by teen tyke terror-titans? You'd have to be crazy. Unless, of course, it was Ver x who are very much in The Goods. This is the B-Side (I say, B-Side, it's from a CD, so how is that possible?) to their single Basic Space which came out in August, but I've only just levered out of a pile. Top pop-picking there! I should do this for a livi... Oh :(


Ustad Vilayat Khan: Khoka (Jalsaghar OMPST, 1958)
Jalsaghar - it's OK, let's call it The Music Room - is a Satyajit Ray film from 1958 with a fantastic soundtrack by Ustad Vilayat Kahn. A tiny piece of it is here and there's a great piece about it here. The original print was lost in a fire, but the music has been saved and recently appeared on a brilliant collection of Indian film music, called, with admirable clarity, Film India, a title which is available to purchase at this location. Literally, hooray.