The Wave Pictures- Now You Are Pregnant

No more art.

I owe the staff of Artrocker an apology. Assuming it was the deranged product of a misguided music journalist, I've been automatically deleting the publication's artless email bulletins for a couple years.

So I was shocked to spot the magazine on a newstand on my recent trip to London. And it's great. Better yet, the free CD packaged with the March issue is loaded with spectacular music from the Moshi Moshi label. My favorite is this sentimental song by The Wave Pictures.

The trio somehow balances the epic emotional sweep of the Smiths with the sweet naivete of Jonathan Richman. "Now You Are Pregnant" is a worthy successor to Squeeze's "Up the Junction" and Billy Bragg's "Greetings To the New Brunette."

Here's a video for their current single. I haven't been so utterly gobsmacked by a European pop act since I discovered Aberfeldy and Camera Obscura a couple years ago. I'm swooning.

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I attended a painfully awkward in-store by Five Times August earlier this week. The guy's getting 30,000-plus plays a day at MySpace but drew only a dozen people to a local Borders store on a Monday night. One of the singer-songwriter's fans took some representative footage.

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Rifftides pointed me to this obituary of jazz musician Patti Bown. It sounds like she was quite a character.

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Please don't misconstrue this link as an endorsement, but reggae star Coco Tea has released a credible song endorsing Barack Obama.

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Kansas City Click: Mike Doughty will undoubtedly provide a sufficient soundtrack for a memorable party tonight at the Beaumont.