I'm not sure that I loved either of these discs but they were fairly solid and in a year that left me vastly underwhelmed where popular music was concerned that was far more than enough. The first disc is "Bows and Arrows" by the Walkmen. Not as strong as "Everyone Who Pretended to Like Me is Gone" they're still a band who's next record I will look forward to with some degree of anticipation unlike say Franz Ferdinand, Clinic, Interpol etc who I think may have reached the limit of their creative powers.

There's no doubt that Track 2, "The Rat" was one of the best songs of the last 12 months. Visceral (love that fucking drummer!) and plaintive and schizo all in one song. One minute he's pissed off at someone re-entering his life, next minute he's lamenting his sad and lonely existence. Ah the tightrope of life that we all tread summed up in a beauty of a 4 minute pop song.

There's a bit too much shimmering guitar shit going on and not enough pedal to the metal which is where I might find the album a bit weak but tracks like "Little House of Savages" (kick-ass circa "Crocodiles" Echo and the Bunnymen vibe), "The North Pole" and their homage to the Pogues "Hang On, Siobhan" make it all worthwhile.

I think what holds it all together for me where the Walkmen are concerned is Hamilton Leithauser's "yet to have that first coffee after a hard night of drinking" vocals. The 21st century's answer to Rod Stewart and I mean that with the utmost respect.

My second pick for this week is "Blueberryboat" by the Fiery Furnaces. According to the album liner and my Denon CD player there are only 13 tracks on this 76 minute opus but I the first time I listened to this on the Walkman I swore there were at least 3 times that many. This can produce two reactions. Initially, extreme annoyance at the constant mid-song readjustments, then over time and with a bit of patience the pleasure of discovering something new within each 60 second segment of music. The album starts off with a 10 minute track so its obvious from the getgo that this brother and sister combo aren't out to conquer commercial radio.

I found it rather hilarious (especially since I wasn't there) to read in Now's live review of their September concert that they played for almost an hour without a break and the crowd were getting pissed off because they had no opportunity to go "whoo" or "whaa" which lets every true fan know they've been part of a history making gig.

I really haven't got a clue how to describe this record and I suppose for me that's its major strength. It's got very little to do with lyrics or even the bizzare array of instruments on display. Its all about the flux of emotions that the music induces. I'd be tempted to call it a concept album but I couldn't begin to say what the concept is.

Suffice to say that some of my favourite songs of 2004 come some 5 maybe 7 minutes in to these songs. I've got an inkling that if Guided by Voices and Fiery Furnaces hooked up not only would we have one helluva cool band name but the music that the necessary compromise, between focus and blur, would produce would be life-altering.