I love the epic nature of the opening opus of the most recent Destroyer disc. Stuart was rather concerned about the over abundance of synthesized sounds on this track, "Notorious Lightning" and others on "Your Blues" but I've never let the presence of various Rolands and Kurtzweils deter me from wholeheartedly embracing a record. So Brian you've been warned.

The album really kicks in for me on track 3, "An Actor's Revenge", a melancholy piece laden with a plethora of sing-a-long "ba da ba da ba das". Dan Bejar's biggest strength for me is that he writes songs that deal almost entirely in metaphor. I now own three Destroyer discs and the lyrics to almost every song fall in to the oblique category. Compare this to the latest Elliott Smith record where he leaves one in no doubt whereof he sings. I admire practitioners of both styles but its so easy for straightforward lyricism to become trite in the hands of a less than proficient songsmith.

So perhaps Bejar is singing nothing but nonsense but I was a kid raised on Ogden Nash and the short-lived television show "Tomfoolery" which delighted in nonsensical verse. So please never give it to me straight. Don't bore me to tears with the facts. Give me Robin Hitchcock, the Jazz Butcher and Destroyer. The depressingly factual times that we always seem to live in cry out for the poets, the slanted viewpoint. God knows we wont find them in a blog.

Suffice to say a lovely piece of work and looking forward to the next crazy turn in direction he takes in 2005.

On to album number six of the year, although none of this is in any sort of hierarchal order. John Vanderslice's album "Cellar Door" took it's sweet time working it's way into my subconsciousness. And I am thankful that it did. Nothing worse than a record that grabs you by the balls on the first listen and dumps you without fanfare a week later. Think most of Franz Ferdinand or the Real Tuesday Weld.

Vanderslice is working in the same dark unnoticed corner of the music world as Dan Bejar. Neither one of these gents is likely to make much more than your average CFL lineman off their artistic endeavours. Unlike Bejar I think Vanderslice's music is much more personal. Still not in a straightforward manner but I get the sense that he's relating tales here of an intimate nature.

"Wild Strawberries" comes in at under 2 minutes, and it's no power pop song. It almost has a Ben Folds Five feel to it as it tells in consummate succinctness the tale of a man who has his own self-interest at heart: "still light follows, the same rules that I do, reflecting off the water, never making it down to the bottom."

Track 5, "Heated Pool and Bar" relates the stories of what can only be various internationally far flung enlisted men of the United States army tracking down such "villains" as members of the Sendero Luminoso. Its a political song with no political message at least not one that beats you senseless with its lack of subtlety.

"White Plains" is probably the most conventional guitar-drum song on the album until about the halfway mark where the strings and piano come in once again and lend more melancholy to an already world-weary track. Vanderslice can hardly be accused of having a fine singing voice but it's all the more resonant for it.

And lets give credit where credit is due. If not for the wonder of downloading music gratis I would never have heard of (or heard I suppose) this fine musician. The few tracks I downloaded about 3 years ago enticed me to seek out this latest disc. I read in the Guardian lately an author's thanks to our Scottish grannies for indoctrinating in us a disdain for authority. So on that note let me say fuck the RIAA and their petty lawsuits.

And in the spirit of the season should I not see you gentlemen this week have a wonderful Christmas and may Santa bring you all the wonderful music you so sadly overlooked in the last 12 months.