Faber & Faber

sad to hear of the passing of Al Green producer and Hi Records founder Willie Mitchell on January 5th. Here's some classic Soul Train footage of Al in memory...

so i'll finish '09 with one of my favourite tunes of the year. Everyone says that The Gaslight Anthem sound like Bruce (good) or the Killers (very bad) but for me this particular song sounds like The Replacements, and frankly you don't get much better than that. See you in '10.

Here's the first of ace young writer Richard Milward's music pieces for the Guardian, which by the looks of it are going to be well worth following. It also reminded me of a few years ago, when my better half did the publicity for Richard's first novel, Apples, and to say thanks he got her a goodie bag that consisted of a miniature bottle of bubbles, a ten pack of Marlboro Lights, a packet of crisps and a chocolate bar!

i walked home through the swirling snow late last night (after our xmas party) listening to this. It was totally lovely.(and watching Vashti Bunyan here reminded me of the recent passing of, the genius, Robert Kirby. RIP.)

if you're looking for a xmas book to buy, then look no further, Auggie Wren's Christmas Story by Paul Auster has just come out with lovely illustrations by ISOL. There's a great extract/sample online at the Guardian.And, as you may remember, this was the same story that featured at the end of the Auster/Wayne Wang movie, Smoke, memorably soundtracked by Tom Waits' glorious 'Innocent When You Dream'

have run Peter Patnaik's excellent pre-war female murder ballads list from the pages of Hang the DJ, check it out here, Lost Magazine, it's a nice site.

- I wasn't sure that When the Devil's Loose was quite as good as his debut American Hearts, but now i think it might be- My friend saw him play last week in Toronto and said he was great, and that he and the whole audience, pretty much, got drunk together - I really wish i went to see him and The Felice Bros in Shepherd's Bush in November- I might have to track down the Verbena records (his old ...

i've never quite got into The Black Keys, but you have to check out frontman Dan Auerbach's solo record, a warm mix of blues, folk, soul and Creedence-style rock. I only got it at the w'end - thanks Graeme! - so it didn't make my 10 for 09 list, but it would have. Here's not one but two tracks. Now go buy it.

I love this song, and have recently been followed around by it. First it popped up in monday night's One Tree Hill and then there it was this morning in the pages of my current novel Nick's Trip by George Pelecanos.

Lots of records I thought might, haven’t made this list (Richard Hawley, The Gaslight Anthem, Steve Earle, Monsters of Folk, Dylan, The Lemonheads, Drive-by Truckers, Iron & Wine, The XX, Wilco, Lisa Hannigan), so although the industry’s f***ed, by all accounts, it’s been a good year for music in my book… 1. Richmond Fontaine - We Used to think the Freeway Sounded Like a RiverThey just get better, and the songs here sounded phenomenal live, at the Garage in September ...