In the middle of the wet, wet festival season it's good to have some home entertainment. A Place in Spain on UK Channel 4 every Friday at 8 pm follows Rocco Barker of Flesh for Lulu fame and his partner Dawn as they try their best (or worst) to buy a property in Spain. It's much more fun than it sounds, in fact it is total chaos. You will also catch a few glimpses of Flesh for Lulu rehearsing, so check it out.  
 
On the new album front I've been too busy coding to keep up, but off the top of my head, here are a few recommendations. The new album by Prince was given away for free with the Mail on Sunday (UK) on 15 July. Yes, the full album. If you missed it then I'm sure it's all over eBay by now and of course it's available in the shops. Reviews suggest that the funk meister is back with a vengeance, but then again they seem to say that every time he releases something - just like Bob Dylan. This time I would tend to agree though, but need to listen to it a few more times.  
 
Minnie Driver's new album Seastories is out today (17 July). Don't write her off, her first effort from 2004 was not bad at all. In fact the first two tracks, which were also released as singles, "Everything I've Got in my Pocket" and "Invisible Girl" were brilliant indie pop songs. The rest of the album was more run of the mill folky stuff crying out for more exciting arrangements. Hopefully playing live has inspired Ms. Driver to boldly go where no Driver has gone before on Seastories.  
 
On the more alternative side of things we're still waiting for the new album from Dunwich to come out. It has apparently been stuck in some kind of production nightmare for ages, but hopefully it won't be too long now. Dunwich is a traditional/mediaeval/goth/metal project headed by Italian composer Claudio Nigris. I came across them on Internet radio, listening to tracks from their last album Eternal Eclipse of Frost. If you like traditional/synth/alt rock cross-over at all then you need to listen to this band.  
 
Finally back to the festivals. I hear that Glastonbury was very muddy. I was on an early flight from Stansted the morning after the first night of the festival and in the queue next to me were Mumm-Ra checking in fresh from Glastonbury with plenty of mud on their jeans. In Denmark the Roskilde Festival absolutely drowned in mud, so much that many visitors went home. It is rumoured that more than 3000 pairs of wellies were left behind! At the one day Rise Festival at Finsbury Park just the other day the rain was pouring down on us, especially during Jamelia's set. The rain started while Saint Etienne were on. Musically they were the slightly odd one out at Rise, but they're an old favourite of mine and it was great to finally see them live.  
 
A quick note about my pick of releases: I try to mix some of my all time favourites (which I may rotate from time to time) with interesting new releases. The newer ones may disappear later depending on whether they obtain classic status or not in my twisted musical mind!  
 
Over and out for now...