If it's really between me and him, I don't fancy my chances much.

I've just discovered an awesome website going under the moniker of Zamzar, and it converts files to mp3 online for free! This is fantastic and shiny, as many many tracks on my PC have been metaphorically segregated by their WMA status. Now I can convert them, without downloading numerous programs that will ultimately just cause great grief to my intolerable little mind, and put them up for your listening pleasure! Today I'm gonna treat you to the band who I've most wanted to post up here thus far.

And so it is with great joy and much hoo-hah that I present to you... The Audreys! Never heard of them? Well, that doesn't surprise me in the least, because other than via their own website I myself have not heard a single whisper about them since I saw them supporting the awesome Pipettes at The Great Escape Festival in Brighton almost a year ago.

The Audreys are a four-piece Aussie band who make some of the most summery alt-country pop this side of Alabama. Maybe if Sufjan met Albert Hammond and had a bit of a jam session the end result might just reach the sound of The Audreys. Two songs on offer here: The first, 'You & Steve McQueen', is the opening track on debut album 'Between Last Night And Us' and flirts with the broken country pop that the rest of the album lays down so flawlessly. The second, 'Long Ride' is a slow-burning beauty, and my favourite song of last year by some way. It sounds as if the band sung it in their sleep, or at least when in a druken stupor somewhere between tipsy and tripping over the furniture. Certainly far before that stage where you start vomiting in your cupboard. Eurgh. But this isn't selling the track to you, is it? Long Ride is beautiful, building from a gentle sweetness to heartbreaking harmonies. This is the sort of track you'd play at the end of a long road trip, just about to pull into some dodgy motel where three of the neon letters on the sign are not working, and another one has fallen down, smashed beside the ice cube dispenser. Enjoy, you don't find a song like this everyday.

mp3: 'You & Steve McQueen' - The Audreys
mp3: 'Long Ride' - The Audreys

Buy The Audreys

You Make Me Want To Drink...

"Bleach" by Easyworld
From 'This Is Where I Stand' (2002)

A forgotten peak in British music of the earliest 21st century, Easyworld will have already sunk beyond the reach of most ears. Though my favourite tracks are most certainly found on their final album, the frankly flawless 'Kill The Last Romantic', 'Bleach' is a perfect example of their earlier, rawer sound. An opening reminiscent of Travis' angrier beginnings, and an unlikely upbeat tempo not unlike The Lightning Seeds (only far, far more bitter), 'Bleach' doesn't want to make a big deal out of anything apart from itself. It isn't often that such an angry song gets a chance to be so fun, so Easyworld run with it. R.I.P. Easyworld, R.I.P.

Buy Easyworld

Guilty Pleasures #1

"Girlfriend" by Avril Lavigne
from 'The Best Damn Thing' (2007)

I wonder what Avril Lavigne would think were she to see the UK Amazon site offering a discount on her new album if you buy it with Hilary Duff's latest offering? Somehow I think she'd be less upset than she would have been in the past. For her first two albums, Avril was the typical punkass rebel teen girl, being so unconventional that she couldn't have been any more conventional if she tried. My sister loved her. But then, my sister loved Kelly Clarkson too.

See, traditionally I don't have 'guilty pleasures', per se. I have no shame about the music I like. Guilty pleasures suggests that you are wrong to like the track or artist in question, and I'm just about stubborn enough to believe I could never be wrong about musical tastes. So when I refer to guilty pleasures, take it purely under the understanding that the tracks involved are ones others would consider as a guilty pleasure. I don't. I have no shame. I hated the first two albums from Ms. Lavigne. I'll probably hate this one too. But God help me, I can't resist a good chorus.

Buy Lavigne

Late Night Radio #1

"Teardrop" by Massive Attack
from "Mezzanine" (1998)

I think it's about midnight when I have my little Jekyll and Hyde moment each day. During the day I'm bouncy, optimistic and, in all honesty, a right annoying little so-and-so. After twelve though, assuming I'm awake and alone, I become all peaceful, reflective and, dare I say it, poetic. No poetry tonight, mind you. Still, I tend to listen to my very much relaxed music at night - most of my favourite albums are those to which I can fall alseep (Billy Joel, Sufjan Stevens, The Cardigans). At the moment I'm in the process of putting together a late-night playlist, for times like these - sleepy, but not able to sleep, in front of the computer with my face lit only by a small desk lamp and the glow from my screen. I'll post them in order of track listing, so maybe if you actually read this thing you can collect them together. Maybe.

Buy Massive Attack

The Chance To Start Again...

"Chances" by Athlete

From 'Tourist' (2005)

A few years back I was on holiday with my family in Cornwall. It was towards the end of the holiday and we'd had a hugely busy day, despite the fact Cornwall genuinely contains nothing but rocks, thatched roofs and the occasional livestock. We were driving over to St. Ives for dinner, and en route was the Minack theatre, a relatively small ampitheatre carved into the rock of the Cornish coastline. My parents asked my sister and I, then both whingy and tired young teens, whether or not we wanted to visit. We both said, with no hesitation whatsoever, that we didn't want to go. We continued driving, until we were approaching the turning for the theatre. I saw a sign for it - nothing glamourous, just the usual brown sign for a tourist attraction in Britain (apparently that's the colour best representing our tourist industry). Suddenly something inside me clicked into place and I said, just in time to turn the corner without a three-point turn (impossible with the Cornish shrubbery, I swear), that actually, I would rather like to go. I think my parents loved me more than ever then, they'd clearly wanted to go, but didn't want to risk a huge argument with a tired teen later that day. My sister, on the other hand, scowled at me so hard her eyes burnt all the way through my head and left a permanent mark on the car window. Anyway, the point of this story is this: We got there, and to this day it remains the most beautiful I have ever seen England. It wasn't a big chance, but it was a chance nonetheless, and I am so glad I took it.

Buy Athlete

What I'd Be Without You

"God Only Knows" by Mandy Moore and Michael Stipe
from 'Saved! Original Soundtrack' (2004)

I rather like Mandy Moore. To the extent where if I were placed in a room alone with her I would hide away in the furthest away corner and giggle shyly to myself whilst watching her stare at me, disturbed. It started ever so innocently, when she appeared as a love interest for Zach Braff (hero, mentor, fantastic hair) on Scrubs, and was possibly the most likeable special guest ever to grace the show. Then I heard the above song, from the (sub-par) film Saved! Whilst not a collaboration one might ever concoct even in the deepest depths of their subconcious, Michael Stipe and Ms. Moore work well together. Stipe's unmistakable voice is, as always, perfect in its imperfections. Moore's voice is perfect to a flaw, pushing herself almost into the unnecessary wails of Pop Idol and X-Factor contestants. Somehow, it works. Somehow. Not that that somehow matters - it's Mandy Moore, and she's lovely.

Buy Mandy Moore, in all her perfections

The Humpday 5 V1.0

"Sharks" by Cadence Weapon feat. Final Fantasy
Buy Cadence Weapon / Final Fantasy

I've never been one for rap of any variety. I'm far to middle class. I think in my entire musically-aware lifetime I've only ever liked a few songs by The Streets and one Kanye West. And even they were iffy. So when my regular hangout GvB put up this track, featuring one of my favourite bands, Final Fantasy, I was weary, to say the least. Rap doesn't work for me when it's just rap. Rap with strings seems even more questionable. Turns out that the song is awesome though (and I wouldn't use the word awesome lightly, were it not for the fact I've been writing a theology essay about God's power all afternoon). So, this Humpday, enjoy some rap. I did.

"Running Up That Hill" by Placebo
Buy Placebo

Again a song to break the mould of me here. Not only does Brian Molko's voice almost always drive me to insanity, but Kate Bush is, at least for me, the worst musician ever to play music that a vast amount of the population inexplicably enjoy. I know it's controversial, but Bush's voice ruins everything good about music. And this is from a Joanna Newsom fan! Still, by some miracle Placebo hit it right on here, and without Bush's wail the lyrics are, needless to say really, fantastic.

"(I Wanna Have Your) Babies" by Natasha Bedingfield
Buy Natasha

I secretly would rather like Natasha Bedingfield to marry me. She's rather pretty, is a lovely Christian and despite being a bit older than me, isn't at all near needing a colostomy bag. That - that's good to know. So, if you're reading Natasha, you can have my babies. They're thirty quid a pop.

"Our Velocity" by Maximo Park
Buy Maximo

A slowly-building mini epic, is 'Our Velocity', and a competitor for track of the year, I tell thee. By the time the lyrics come: 'Love is lie which means I've been lied to/Love is a lie which means I've been lying too/Love is a lie which means I've been lied to/Love is a lie' you will be so close to jumping up and down on your bed you'll wonder if you're actually turning into a fourteen year old girl in a chick flick.

"Indian Summer" by Manic Street Preachers
Buy Manics

I'm off to Glastonbury this year, something to which I am getting increasingly excited about. Knowing these guys and this song woll be there, well, it warms my heart it does. I've been listening a lot to this due to its prominence in a new CD I've made. It's a grower...