Ben Wilkinson

Single from late 90s/00s alt-rock band Seafood 's second album, When Do We Start Fighting .

South London-based band the XX have won this year’s Mercury Prize, and deservedly so. Their self-titled debut beat other shortlisted albums from Mumford and Sons , Biffy Clyro , Dizzee Rascal , Foals , and bookie’s favourite (?!) washed-up has-been Paul Weller – all, I think, would have made deserving winners with the obvious exception of the latter. But the XX are unusually and subtly original in a way none of these artists are: their moody, electronic, skeletal songs are unlike anything else going on in the British pop-music mainstream at the moment. Like all great bands, they manage to sound wholly contemporary while also retaining a timeless feel; atmospheric and haunting, their stuff isn’t showy but it sticks and, I think, will stand up for years to come. I fully recommend buying a copy of their album if you haven’t already. Along with Klaxons , PJ Harvey , Pulp and Elbow , I’d go so far as to say they are perhaps the most deserving winners in the Mercury Prize’s history . Bu...

from Massive Attack 's 2003 album, 100th Window .

Drive-By Truckers perform "Birthday Boy", taken from their new album The Big To-Do , on Jools Holland's Later .

Radiohead performing the brilliant "Electioneering", shortly after the release of their album, OK Computer .

For my money, one of the best pop songs of recent years. Brilliant.

Well, it's that time of year again... When those festival goers with exceptional taste head out to the Suffolk countryside to enjoy three days of great music, poetry, literature, cabaret, film and comedy at the wonderful, indefatigable Latitude festival . Sadly though, I won't be attending this year, and am particularly gutted as the line-up for the Poetry Arena looks at least as strong - if not stronger - than when I was reviewing and blogging on the festival last year and the year before. Tim Turnbull , Tim Wells , Jackie Kay , Simon Armitage , Kathyrn Simmonds , Helen Mort , Caroline Bird , Emily Berry , Andrew Motion , Paul Farley - Latitude attracts some serious poetic talent, and unsurprisingly the tent's audience often spills into the sunshine outside: Armitage was particularly popular on both the Poetry and Literary stages last year, and Daljit Nagra drew a big, midday crowd. This year, there's also music from the likes of The Pet Shop Boys , Nick Cave and t...

Above (left): Lily Allen pictured with guitarist and bassist at this year's Glastonbury Festival Above (right): Lazy Town star Stephanie sporting her trademark garish hair

I sometimes think that there isn't much worth discovering where new music's concerned: the wave of schmindie, bland acoustic wielders and post-Britpop guitar music that remains so popular little more than dull variances on old sounds. But then I realise that it's usually because I'm not looking hard enough, and beyond the blander end of the most heavily advertised and marketed music released each year (which, admittedly, isn't all bad), there's still some great stuff being made. Two bands I'd recommend at the moment are Bat for Lashes and Battles . I've mentioned the former here before, the work of singer-songwriter and visual artist, Natasha Khan, and whose first album, Fur and Gold , narrowly missed out on winning the 2007 Mercury Prize. That album was a glittering, brooding and dreamlike-voyage into the unknown; a slice of glittering and gorgeous art-rock that bears partial comparison to Bjork , Kate Bush , and to Khan's talented contemporary, ...

Was round a friend's place the other night, enjoying a few beers and some albums I haven't heard in a good while, when we ended up listening to Danish alt-rock indie band Mew 's album, Frengers . So many good songs on that record, I can't believe I haven't listened to it properly in so long. And such a refreshing, unusual sound - soaring but subtle vocals, beautiful guitar and electronic arrangements, and a pop sensibility that at the same time is totally atmospheric and cerebral - I can't recommend it enough. In fact, I've just checked their wiki page after typing that, and found that a review of the album described it as 'a work of quiet brilliance, aiming for the epic without straying into the bombastic, offering cerebral arrangements while keeping things accessible'. Spot on. Above, then, is the promo video for 'Am I Wry? No', the opening track of the album, and as good an introduction to the record as any.

A brilliant feature I spotted this morning on the BBC Radio 2 website: English alt-rock band Elbow perform the whole of their Mercury-prize winning album, The Seldom Seen Kid , augmented by the BBC Concert Orchestra (originally recorded and broadcast last Saturday). For those who know the album, the songs are played in tracklist order, but for those who don't and aren't particularly familiar with the band, I'd suggest checking out 'The Fix', performed with local Sheffield singer-songwriter Richard Hawley (around the 36min mark) and the anthemic 'Day Like This' (around the 47min mark). An absolutely brilliant performance, it can be found here . And as a sampler, since it won't let me embed the video of the whole performance, above is the recording of thumping single, 'Grounds for Divorce'.

I meant to review British math-rockers Foals ’ first album a few months back, but what with one thing and another, haven’t had chance to get round to it. Having seen them live when I spent three excellent and largely rain-free days reviewing Latitude Festival this summer , however, I wanted to say at least something about them. And that’s pretty much that, with only a couple of months left before 2008 draws to a close, the 11 tracks on Antidotes will almost certainly make up the best debut British music release of the year. I first came across Foals with the initially inauspicious release of their debut single, ‘Hummer’, which went on to gather a bit of attention when it was later used to promote the second series of Channel 4’s Skins . Since then they’ve played numerous festivals this summer, the pulsating bass and spiky guitars of tunes like ‘Cassius’ have become unlikely club dancefloor hits, and the band have had a fight with tame anarchist and Sex Pistols frontman Johnny Rotten ...

I've been a fan of London-based alt-rock band Seafood since I first saw them performing at Wolverhampton's Wulfrun Hall about seven years ago, shortly after the release of their second album When Do We Start Fighting . Flavour of the month for a whole, uh, month back in 1998 (around the time of their first release, EP Messenger in the Camp) , they've since had four albums, the latest being Paper Crown King , never quite breaking into the mainstream despite considerable radio airplay and praise from the likes of Steve Lamacq. When you consider much of the empty-headed chart schmindie that sells by the bucketload, then, this seems a shame, but as long as they keep making music for their small, dedicated fanbase, it suits me fine. The track above is 'Led By Bison', perhaps the best from their first album, and well worth a listen.

For those who're interested, included below are links to the reviews, articles and interviews I wrote whilst at the Latitude Festival this year, held in the beautiful grounds of Henham Park, Suffolk. I may edit this post at some point to give a blog-style insight into the goings on at the festival, including the bands, comedians, writers and artists I saw outside of reviewing commitments. As one happy and half-cut festival goer put it: Pimms me up to the power of two! Thursday ~ Poetry and Literary Arenas Rosie and the Goldbug ~ Sunrise Arena Friday ~ Poetry Arena The Go! Team ~ Obelisk Arena Friday ~ Literary Arena Saturday ~ Poetry Arena Rich Hall ~ Comedy Arena Daljit Nagra ~ Interview Tim Turnbull ~ Interview Saturday ~ Literary Arena Sunday ~ Poetry Arena

OK, OK... I know there are easier targets to pick on in the world of hackneyed, cliché-ridden song lyric writing than the otherwise talented Dizzee Rascal . I'm actually a pretty big fan of some of his work, particularly 'Fix Up, Look Sharp' from his precociously impressive first album, Boy in da Corner , and the unfortunately titled but belting Brit-hop Grime single 'Pussy'Ole (Old Skool)' from his third release, Maths + English . But this little snippet of comedy gold is just too good to ignore, revealing as it does the way in which music artists half-disguise such lyrical junk with their vocalisations - which in Dizzee's case, is through rapid-fire, often double dutch style rapping. Get a well-spoken, middle-class radio presenter called Carrie to 'rap' along to the song's tune, however, and what makes for highly danceable Brit-hop descends into the complete farce it lyrically is, and not just because the girl can't rap or sing. I'd rec...

Yup, it's that time of year again... When those festival goers amongst us with exceptional taste head out to the Suffolk countryside, ready to enjoy three days of the best music, poetry, literature, film, cabaret and comedy this country - and beyond - has to offer. And this year's Latitude Festival , due to take place from Thursday 17 th to Sunday 2 oth July - as impossible a feat as it may sound - promises to be even better than last time around. Regular Wasteland readers (Hello? Hello ...?) will recall that I reviewed the festival for the organisers last year, as part of a team writing reviews, round-ups, features and interviews that were posted on the festival's website throughout the weekend. Back then we were treated to the likes of CSS , Rodrigo Y Gabriela , Patrick Wolf , Bat for Lashes and Canadian alt-rock giants Arcade Fire on the music bill, as well as top comedians including Bill Bailey , Russell Howard and Michael McIntyre , not to mention excellent write...

Last night at Opus's weekly spoken word and live music, Listen , held at the Green Room, a Norwegian-cum-Scouser folk-pop outfit by the name of The Kambourines (pictured above) played a pretty good acoustic set. I checked their MySpace earlier this morning and the songs are damn catchy on recording, too. Well worth a listen. Find them at the web address below: http://www.myspace.com/thekambourines

The title track from Radiohead's second album, and the first that proved them to be a band of serious ambition and original talent. Performed live on Jools Holland's Later ... there's also an excellent performance of 'High and Dry' that YouTube offers up afterwards.

I've posted a couple of contemporary American alt-rock band Smashing Pumpkins ' videos on the Wasteland before: 'Quiet' and 'Cherub Rock' as I recall, both excellent songs from the band's breakthrough (and in my opinion, best) album, Siamese Dream , released in 1993. The video above is a live version of 'Silverfuck', an epic near-9 minuter taken from the same album. Though a strong recorded track in itself, this live version demonstrates why the Pumpkins are perhaps one of the most important and influential rock bands of the 90s, alongside the likes of Nirvana, R.E.M and Radiohead. For one, the song has a punk aesthetic - the ear-ripping speed of the opening sustained riff combined with the heavily distorted, wailing guitar pieces further in - but at the same time it is sparing and deftly composed. Where punk was about aggressive excess and a certain haphazardness, 'Silverfuck' achieves this feeling whilst also revealing a taut concision, p...