The fucking pope is in town. Look for the ex-Nazi with the $5000 hat.

J Frank’s ghost writer has shaved his head, a requirement for baby #2’s imminence. Feels like the tucked sleeve of a one-armed-boy, to quote a poet from Union, NJ.

The new release roundup, possibly my last, for a while:

Cut Copy –In Ghost Colours
I don’t hate Pitchfreak, I just like correcting them, but they’re spot-on with their endorsement of this album’s guilty pleasures. Do not confuse my enjoyment of In Ghost Colours turn for fandom, though. All Cut Copy has done is make the first decent Duran Duran album since Seven and the Ragged Tiger(was that even decent? or sort of … indecent?) for a whole bunch of kids too young to hate Duran Duran for stealing their girlfriends’ and boyfriends’ first nocturnal emissions.

Ellen Allien – Sool
Or, Music for Sex with Stoned Germans. I’m no expert on microhouse, and this may not even be microhouse, but I’ve enjoyed Fraulein Allien’s earlier efforts with less effort, possibly because Sool‘s tracks take their damn time to reach that rhythmic density vs. melody frisson I require to when digging the bloopy bleepy.

The French Kicks – Swimming
I think I might like this one just because these guys are still at it while their doppleganging Walkmen continue to get all the press for albums not nearly as pleasure-able as this one. It’s the drums, just fyi.

Peter Moren – The Last Tycoon
As unfinished as it’s literary namesake, this proves Moren still needs B&J to make anything more than a solid EP. Quiz: Name all the reviewers who also wrote the previous sentence.

Futureheads – This is Not the World
Filled with cringeworthy lyrical cliches (“someone had too much to think last night”[Beefheart, but still] and “turn that frown upside down”), which usually signals an exhausted band. Nothing on here as inspired as their last two albums.

Subtle – ExitingArm
Sometimes I feel like I’m hearing their efforts to make complex music rather than just hearing music, although Subtle’s mish-mash of cosmic hip-hop and electro-pop remains bracing 63% of the time.

Spiritualized – Songs in A and E
With a title like that, I put on a Hank Williams record instead.

Sian Alice Group – 59.59
Lovely ghost music, altogether unintelligible and overlong by a million years.

The Notwist – The Devil, You + Me
I count myself their fan back to the nineties, but this feels kind of limp. “Gravity” samples some Congotronics-type stuff, but leaves it for the intro only. Overall? Muzak for Mac users.

Future of the Left –Curses
Sorry to say I slept on this one, but I was busy in Sept of 2007. Sorry to say, also, because it’s frikkin’ good. But we knew there had to be plenty left to flog from McLusky’s corpse.

Frightened Rabbit – Midnight Organ Fight
Scots frequently make better indie pop records than anyone in the world, so it had to happen again soon. Just wish their singer could sing.

Langhorne Slim – Diamonds and Gold
Something about LS’s voice works for me, and he’s especially effective at songs of heartbreak and small-town debauchery, but his overall songwriting still hasn’t gone over the top of some Pennyslvania mountain it needs to scale. That doesn’t mean I’m not tuning in for his next episode.

Robert Forster – The Evangelist
A fan of neither Forster’s nor the late Grant Mclennan’s projects outside of the Go-betweens, despite owning many on vinyl, I was wary of this, but about as wrong as child abuse. With little more than his acoustic guitar, Forster drops some of his best work, solo or not, since 16 Lovers Lane. Try not thinking about McLennan, in a hammock, sadly passing away in his sleep.
** Editor’s note: and now I know why – McLennan co-wrote a handful of these songs. One can safely assume this was going to be the new Go-betweens album. Not a huge fan of their second act as a band, I can’t help admitting this stands up well against anything they did in act one.

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – Dig Lazarus Dig
As Mr. Cave’s productivity increases with age, so does the disproportion between quality and forgettable songs on each new album. And as the number of quality songs dwindles per album, those quality songs get better and better in comparison to the rest of his career’s best. There’s a math equation in there somewhere. The best new Nick Cave album was made in 2006, and it was called Gala Mill and it was by the Drones.