Pat's the way I like it

I'd been listening a lot to the Very Most of late, and thinking how fab they were, when I finally remembered to check the TMAP email account (it'd been a while) - and what should I find in the inbox, but an email from Mr Very Most himself, Jeremy Jensen, telling us all about the band's latest five-track EP, Patricia. And, true to form, it's an absolute gem. Here's the promo vid for the title track.



Other songs on the EP include the brief-but-brill Gleaming The Gleam, a sweet Jonathan Richman tribute called, unsurprisingly, Jonathan Richman, and two fantastic female-sung versions of the Pixies' classic Here Comes Your Man. And all this can be yours - yes, yours! - for a mere $1.50 from here (for the mp3 version) or for $5 from here (for the vinyl version). Can't be bad.

Song of the Day

Wonderful.



Buy Paulusma stuff

Thank god he left Goldie at home...

A truly astonishing clip for you today. In 1982, Blue Peter sent presenter Simon Groom to visit the Shambala Preserve, a big cat sanctuary run by actress and star of Hitchcock's The Birds and Marnie, Tippi Hedren, in California. So Simon met Tippi, her partner and several fully-grown male lions, a tiger, a leopard and a 'tigon' - and somehow lived to tell the tale!

(embedding's been "disabled by request" but please do click on the link below to view)

****Polite notice: Soundtrack contains elements of Tight Fit. Do not listen if easily offended****

Simon Groom somehow avoids being eaten by various big cats

Shill loves you yeah yeah yeah

Hilarious piece of advertising dressed up as an interview with the Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero in the Guardian today. In the picture accompanying the article Aguero is decked out in Puma sportswear (with logo to the fore) whilst kissing a conspicuously (some would say hideously) bright green pair of Puma football boots. There follows an interview ostensibly about his team's debut appearance in the Champions League against Napoli on Wednesday night - but with the following hideously unsubtle piece of corporate shilling crowbarred in:

The only time Agüero sets his ball aside comes when he reaches for his new Puma boots – which he will wear for the first time against Napoli. Draping them around his neck, and clutching them happily, Agüero says: "If I could score a goal with these boots against Napoli it would be a great debut for me and City in the Champions League."

Pffffft! I wonder what the stipulations of that interview were? I realise that it's the way of the world nowadays that big stars will only agree to be interviewed if they (or their people) are allowed to dictate terms beforehand, but really, I'd expect better from the Grauniad.

Bobby Conn - Never Get Ahead mp3

Katz and dog

Tip-top Norwegian girl band Katzenjammer perform ace new single I Will Dance (When I Walk Away) live on German breakfast TV - but there's a friendly dog loose in the studio! What could possibly go wrong?



And here's another live, acoustic version of the song sans comedy interruptions!



Katzenjammer's official website

The Sweptaways Video Show

Longer-term readers may recall me raving (on & on) about The Sweptaways Show a couple of years ago. Well, did you know that ver Sweptaways made videos for all twelve tracks on the album (which featured guest appearances from the likes of Jens Lekman, Robyn & Pelle Almqvist from The Hives)? Because they did. And you can watch all twelve right here. Go on, treat yerself! It is Sunday, after all.



Download The Sweptaways Show

A life less ordinary

This is lovely. Day One are a really underrated band.



If you've got 40p spare, why not buy the album? It also features the gobsmackingly brilliant In Your Life, which you can hear below.

Pocket genius

Irish singer-songwriter (or in this instance, singer-songcoverer) Andy White's version of Alanis Morissette's Hand In My Pocket has been a favourite of mine for some years, but I'd never managed to find an excuse to stick it up on here before - until the realization struck that I don't actually need an excuse!

So yes, Andy's version is utterly charming and guaranteed to warm the cockles of the heart of anyone who hears it - even the most hardened of Morissette haters. If you've not heard it before have a listen now, and I'm at least 97.28% certain that it will put a smile on your face.

Andy White - Hand In My Pocket mp3

Get to the Side Show

If you like the idea of an eclectic, truly democratic supergroup featuring Emma Pollock, Karine Polwart, King Creosote et al, who embrace a variety of musical styles from folk and indie to hip-hop, but you haven't yet heard of the Burns Unit in the year or so since the release of their debut album Side Show - well, cop a load of these!

Side Show's lead track is Since We've Fallen Out, featuring King Creosote and Karine Polwart. Here they are performing it on Later... With Jools Holland, whilst simultaneously providing conclusive proof that you do get the odd interesting act on that programme from time to time. (Who knew?)



And MC Soom T (or is that McSoom T?) takes the lead on my personal favourite, Send Them Kids To War. A great song but most definitely not coming to a karaoke bar near you any time soon!



Buy Side Show here

Song of the Day

As luck (or coincidence) would have it, the previous two posts on here featured songs from 1990; so we'll go for the hat-trick, I think. Why not. It was a terribly good year for music, after all (despite the presence on the scene of the self-aggrandising yet ultimately rubbish self-styled "Guru" Josh. Wazzock).

Pre-dating the band's 1991-95 heyday by a matter of months, here are Teenage Fanclub with their fourth single, the frankly awesome - and as good as any of their later, more famous songs - God Knows It's True. (Not so sure about the leather gloves though, Mr Raymond McGinley. All a bit Alvin Stardust.)

Let's rock!