So where did February go?

I've had a splendid couple of (non-music-related) weeks away in Australia and Korea, which is part of an excuse for some thin pickings here.

Since coming back I've been ploughing through the 33 1/3 series' exacting submission requirements. It can sometimes be helpful to wake up jet-lagged at four in the morning – you can get a lot of writing done undisturbed. Anyway, the pitch is in now. If they have any sense, they'll soon be snapping up my proposal for a book about Bob Dylan's John Wesley Harding. And if they haven't, you'll be seeing more about it here...

I'm stilling waiting to hear my first killer record of 2014, though I have reasonable hopes for both Del Barber's Prairieography and Beck's Morning Phase, once I can get my hands on the full albums.

And I still haven't been to a gig yet this year. A celebration of Nick Pynn's music at the Dome on 23 March should make a fine start. I then have tickets for Dan Stuart, Michael Chapman and Emmylou Harris in the next couple of months.

In other (and excellent) news, I gather Wussy's Attica is now due to be released in May. Which is a good reason for posting a nice picture of Lisa Walker.

Onward and upward.