8:15 From Manchester

I’m sure I’ve used this title before. But hey, it’s a great title, even if I’ve never been on such a train. I came close one Monday, on an 8:14 (I make it a point to leave at insane times. To make things worse, I was up all night watching the Oscars, so didn’t get any sleep until later that night).

As I mentioned before, updates for the rest of the week will probably be sporadic, so I'll leave you with the return of Ian's Dodgy MP3 Discoveries!

• Hangedup - New Blue Monday
  Included because it's funny. Hangedup are labelmates of Godspeed You! Black Emperor, so you would expect lots of post-apocalyptic instrumentals. What you don't expect is a cover of Blue Monday where the drum track is played by a viola. See? Even post-rockers can have a sense of humour.
• Life Without Buildings - The Leanover
  At first I thought this was a band from the early 1980s, but further research on the Interweb told me that they're much more recent than that (they split up a year ago). A punkier Altered Images. No! Come back! Altered Images were cool! Bah.
• ESG - You're No Good
  Remember all those stories about how only forty people turned up to a Sex Pistols gig, but all those present went off and formed bands of their own (last seen on 24 Hour Party People, where we discover that John Lydon is responsible for Simply Red)? Well, ESG are a similar case; about ten people bought their original single (released on Factory Records, fact fans!), but these people were members of The Clash, Public Enemy, New Order, the Beastie Boys, and Public Image Ltd. They seem to have been written out of music history somewhat (heck, I didn't even know they existed until last Sunday!), so have a listen to this, the A-side from their debut single.
• Panjabi MC - Mundian To Bach Ke
  Ah, the UNC memories…
• Boo Radleys - It's Lulu
  Okay, so not a recent discovery by any means, but it's one of my favourite records from the Britpop era, and you should all listen to it.