today i bought....

...two new cds. Somewhat indulgent I know, but I thought I would.

I bought the new Damien Rice album, '9'. Which is good. I've only listened to it once through so far. But I'm liking it so far.

I absolutely adored his first album, 'O'. And second albums are always so much harder to write, but I do like it, and I'm sure it will grow on me in due course.

I saw Damien a few years back at Brixton Academy. He was utterly fantastic. I remember one of the support acts being particularly odd - a Scandinavian (poss. Norwegian) dance group. But Damien was brilliant, he help the audience wonderfully.

The second album I bought was Ray Lamontagne's 'Trouble'. I'm liking this a lot.

I first heard this album a few months back at a friend's BBQ. It rained that day. We attmepted to shelter from the rain whilst cooking, to varying degrees of success.

As some wise bod at the Guardian said, "Trouble sounds like a long lost masterpiece". It kind of does. I'm listening to my copy right through for the first time as I type, but it does have a kind of familiar feel to it. Not in the sense that it is just copying what someone else has done, but in the sense that it is almost comforting. Does that sound odd? Not sure. The vocals and the music are just sumptuous. I think I'm going to enjoy owning this album.