Todd is God

In one of those (why not) moments I went to see ex Sugababe Mutya Beuna last night at the Borderline. Dragged Pete along. Not exactly a long set - around 45 mins including encore, but tickets were only £7, so still not too bad. The girl can sing. They did always say she was the Sugababe with the best voice. Musically she's not really my bag, kind of soul by numbers for the most part, but there were a couple of stand out tracks: The current single (which borrows Lenny Kravitz's - It ain't over til it's over') Real Girl ; the upbeat and (live at least) rocky 'Strung Out' ; and 'Just a little Bit' . On last night's evidence she should be set for a successful solo career.

You can tell I am not at work with too much time on my hands. New Avril Lavigne song/video - girlfriend. Is is me or does this remind you of Hey Mickey by Toni Basil at times? Chessy (yes); Crap? (quite possibly) am I already humming the bloody thing? (oh yeah). And I only thought of this today, but she kind of reminds me of Kristen Bell (Veronica Mars)

Steve Jobs was in town today (London) and the rumour mill had it that he was here to announce the availability of the Beatles back catalogue online. It wasn't that, however it was more importantly news that EMI (as suspected to be fair) is going to be the first of the Majors to take the DRM off their music they sell through iTunes (or at least for 'premium' material). What does that mean? as far as the UK goes: 79p/$0.99/€0.99/ single track- with drm and at 128kbps quality 99p/$1.29/€1.29 single track- no drm and 256kbps quality Album prices unchanged with no drm and all at 256kbps quality Well done EMI. Great news for album buyers (as no price increase) and even for those single track buyers, the quality will be doubled. Of course, the true way to go is the way of our russian friends as far as choice in format/quality goes, but this is a welcome start. At least they have decided not to take the blanket approach that all their customers and potential customers are music pi...

The very lovely Marion Raven, who is currently on tour with Meatloaf, Kaz and Co has an album on its way and the first single off the album 'Heads Gonna Roll' is already appearing with a video that is a 14 year old male rock fans dream - yes we have nudity. This song was co-written by Nikki Sixx

Ever wanted to be in Placebo Video? Here's your chance. Head over to motionbox, download the lyrics and the instrumental version of the track from the site, and simply film yourself singing along to their new single RUNNING UP THAT HILL. Brian Molko says, "This is a great opportunity to get the fans involved in one of our videos. "Knowing our fans, as visually diverse as they are, we expect some very creative feedback. (It) could make very interesting viewing and we look forward to it."

Another new bit for this blog. Each month a list of new things physically bought/downloaded the previous month. Modest Mouse - We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank Grinderman - Grinderman Paramore - All We Know is Falling Mary Chapin Carpenter - The Calling The Arcade Fire - The Neon Bible Lucinda Williams - West David Bowie - Outside Besnard Lakes - The Besnard Lakes are the Dark Horse Dean Martin - Live at the Sands Hotel Emma Burgess - Swim 20 Minute Loop - Yawn + House = Explosion Jesse Malin - Glitter in the Gutter Mandi Perkins - Broken Window