The Lightning Bug Situation - "Hitting's Not Very Effective When You Don't Have Much of a Punch"

One half of The Speakers has made a very personal album formed around the event of having a child. There are about 9 straight-ahead songs, and about 6 of these audio interludes, that sound more like little radio documentaries, and in that genre, they are very effective. This feels a little like an Errol Morris-type moment; an extremely vulnerable revelation, which the music staring back at the subject, so both you and them can think about what they've just said. Some days there is no dancefloor. [Buy]

Radiohead - "Kid A"

Arguably the amount of times you see someone before they die can always be more. Maybe not reasonably, maybe you live far apart, but theoretically it can always be more. A friend of mine died suddenly this weekend, and I find myself imagining all the times we were apart. I just imagine him going places, no expression to speak of, just regular movements, glances, touches, purchases, short phone calls, preparing a snack, standing in a doorway, taking off or putting on shoes. It's this graceful kind of motion, the automatic and unexamined, that I'm mourning right now. Because his smile, his humour, his perfect quietude, his undeniable genius, is just too much to talk about. [Buy]