My grandfather said many, many wonderful things over the years. He was an expect with a turn of phrase, and knew exactly how to get people on side.

Which means I’m not entirely sure if I should tell you all that he once described the difference between my musical tastes and my brother’s thus

Your tastes in music are very eclectic. Steven’s are… random.

Anyway, my latest Amazon order arrived today – some from Amazon UK, some from Amazon Jersey and some via a company in Austria. Oh yes…!

Susanna and the Magical Orchestra – Melody Mountain I bought this album for one track really, and that was because of how uncomfortable it made me feel. Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah. Her singing style is so slow and mournful that it almost hurts. GB and I came to the conclusion that it’s almost like listening to a slightly tearful and slightly drunk widow singing to herself as she tidies away after a wake. It’s that singing that you do when you don’t really know that you’re singing. A beautiful album that I’ll probably only play half a dozen times a year…

Semisonic – Feeling Strangely Fine It’s odd to think that this album came out 10 years ago and yet I only ‘discovered’ it on the radio last week. I’d heard Secret Smile and Closing Time before, but never really connected them to a band. Interestingly, asking Last.FM to build a station round them gets you Blues Traveller, They Might Be Giants, Letters to Cleo and Barenaked Ladies. Looks like I’m actually an American teenager from the 80s…

Tom Lehrer – In Concert There’s nothing to be said about Tom Lehrer that hasn’t already been said. So I’ll just link to the Masochism Tango.

Novika – Tricks of Life This will be the one from Austria, despite the fact that she’s actually Polish. I bought this one after hearing her version of California Dreaming and it has the distinction of being the only album I bought that Gb actively dislikes. How could I not like a re-imagining of an old track with female vocals, a piano and gentle bass rumbling in the background?