On GPS. Why do I keep buying GPS records? Sure, there have been some good ones, a few great ones (I think that Melodie du Kronk lp is still my favourite), but what I really love about them is the care and love that goes into each record. This one is pretty typical, on white vinyl, in a lovely textured sleeve, hand numbered, with a creepy. woodsy front cover that fits the music perfectly. Inside is a beguiling short story that I enjoyed more than the music. Great package showing, once again, it most definitely is NOT “all about the music”. GPS understands what makes collecting records such a joy, and long may it prosper.

Another GPS, this time clear green vinyl with no middle (singles with no middle are so much easier on the Acutus - no clamp or mat required). Alas no short story, but there’s a lovely cross-section of a snail, and the sleeve shows runner beans, a vegetable of which I am fond. (So long as the wind hasn’t been at them and made them stringy. Here we get a girl with a sweetly melancholic voice singing, accompanied by a very English folky band. I’m sorry, all my powers of description have deserted me today, but it’s all quite enchanting. On the flip side, that same girl and a man with a beard sing a nice song about unrequited love. Aaah.

This is on the Sexbeat label, which sounds terribly thrilling. A side is a pretty good garagey/surfy kind of affair with the typical cavernous reverb, twangy guitars, werewolfy type riff, and a singer who sounds a bit like that twat from the Kaiser Chiefs. No idea what the words are about. The front cover shows a boy brushing his teeth, and it reminds me of that fantastic cover Frank Kozik did for that Ed Hall LP. Gloryhole, I think. Google it if you want. I’m trying not to Google stuff. I’d rather remember it myself, even if I’m wrong.

Confession - I only bought this to tip my order over the limit where postage is free. It’s on Slumberland, I thought, so how bad can it be? It’s a rotten sleeve, but the vinyl is the colour of chip shop mushy peas. Let’s go.

I don’t know if something’s happened to my stylus, but everything I’ve played today sounds awful. Distorted and distant, like it’s happening at the far end of a tunnel, with far too much treble. This doesn’t half remind me of something, but my sleep-deprived brain can’t place it. It’s great though, and kind of Christmassy. The b-side sounds almost exactly the same, just slower.

An absolute fuzzed-up racket. I imagine that live, they sound exactly like this, but a million times better. It’s pretty good, a bit like if The Fresh and Onlys really meant it. The third, instrumental track is the best, even if it does sound as if the diamond’s completely dropped off the cantilever.