Paperjam

You know that bit near the start of Taxi Driver, where Travis bemoans having to sometimes wipe the blood and cum off the seats of his cab? That is a bit like the daily experience of deleting all the spam comments that get left on this web site. Now and again someone leaves something interesting, angry or at least not mentioning cock size, free prescription drugs or crazy hardcore milf action.

The other day the best comment ever appeared and made my day, if not my week. Hank Starrs, of the legendary Animals That Swim (easily the most underrated band of all time) left a message that provided probably the only exclusive bit of music news that we will ever get our hands on. At the invitation of Eddie Argos he has done a bit of singing on the new Art Brut album, not only that but the experience just might be the catlyst for an ATS gig of some sort. This is big news in my world and if you've got an ounce of humanity, style or taste it should be big news in your world too.

More on the completely ace Animals That Swim on this very site: Firstly, why they are so great and secondly the greatest hits album that came out a few years back.

Plus there is an interview with Eddie Argos about the forthcoming Art Brut album It's A Bit Complicated on Pitchfork. They are touring supporting Maximo Park fairly shortly, but we here are already looking to get tickets for when they return to the Birmingham Academy on their own in June.

"Cousin D’Alsace"

"The Lazy Turkish Bathers"

"Our Franc"

"Polish Friend On The Payroll"

"Irish Blood, English Heart, Italian Boyfriend"

"The French National Front Discotheque"

Jim received a CD from Julius. As he "just likes punk and occasionally Tindersticks" he thought it might be more my sort of music. He was mistaken:

"Are you taking the piss Jim? With a musical piece like that; lyrics that begin 'Have you come lady to dance for me' sung in the style of a jester from the court of Henry VIII, and a cover note written by a bloke who's never escaped his aloof-no-one understands me-I am so alone-stage, the only fair comment I can make is that he perhaps should have been shot at birth. My ears are offended that you thought they might like it. Jim, it's not even bad...it's BAD!!!!"

Julius was born from the ashes of many a thing long forgotten. I know this because he said so himself.

You can check Julius out for yourself on his MySpace page. Despite my comments I recommend you do......

It's not often that a track makes me want to vomit with joy, but the usual Belgians have put a disco-rocket up the arse of Gossip's new single Standing in the way of control, and made me very excited indeed. All over the kitchen floor.

Le Tigre make a pig's ear of their remix, draining the soul and passion from it, but Soulwax have absolutely nailed their version. I love the fact that it's not actually all that different from the original - it's as if they've taken it and slung it through their patented UltraStompyDiscoSex FX box and turned out an absolute throbbing monster. Beth Ditto sounds incredibly impassioned, even more than on the original.

Don't know if the 12" comes with a bottle of poppers, but then it doesn't really need to, it's a rush enough by itself. There's an MP3 floating around Hypemachine, but you'll need to own the twelve - it was out last week, and dammit they've sold out.