And there truly is no province finer.

Two months ago I decided to treat myself and buy some Lake Heartbeat and Ikons vinyl from the wonderful Service Records in Sweden.

I’m not a vinyl purist by any stretch of the imagination but I’ve developed the expensive habit of trying to buy my favourite singles / EPs / albums on vinyl – more as souvenirs you understand.

Anyway, several weeks ago I noticed that the records hadn’t arrived. The World Cup had distracted me. I emailed Ola at Service and we decided to give the postal system a chance just in case the records were held up (by the World Cup), but no joy.

Somewhere in the world is a freight handler with an epic record collection. F*cking c*nt.

Last week I emailed Ola, kicking myself that I hadn’t paid insurance, but Ola was a true gentleman and sent me a replacement package when he could easily have told me to shove off (I imagine that record companies get scammed all the time for freebies).

Lo and behold my package arrived a few days ago.

Lake Heartbeat (the “Trust in Numbers” LP is on white vinyl!!!) is Janne Kask and Kalla Kaks produced by Dan Lissvik (of Studio). Imagine Prefab Sprout’s Paddy McAloon hanging out in Gothenburg during a long hot summer and then hooks up with Johnny Marr for some quiet akvavits and oysters. It’s not to everyone’s taste but I love it. Its sweetness makes my heart melt.

Ikons are from Gothenburg, Sweden and are a trippy, psychedelic, wall of sound. You could forgiven for thinking that “Slow Light” is the highlight but the whole album pins you to the wall wanting more. Like the perfect loud gig that you never want to end.

Shut it! You slag.

Following on from our brainstorming session right at the end of today’s show, we present the cast list so far for Guy Ritchie’s Oliver! 2010:

Ah… good old New Zealand Music Month is here.

Now, I’m not saying that there’s a backlash in the offing (if so it seems to have been spread out over 10 years as a very mild simmering cynicism) but it’s interesting how there’s more differing opinions being voiced more freely than before. Or maybe I’ve paid more attention this time round?

I’ve never bought into the saying “If you can’t say something nice then don’t say anything at all”. I quite like well argued contrarian viewpoints and opinions and the last week has seen some quite interesting views about NZ on Air and NZMM.

Here goes…

Sounds like us – Vicki Anderson of The Press looks at the bullseye on her New Zealand Music Month T-shirt and wonders just who or what the target should be.

Music month hits sour note – Do government organisations designed to help artists really hit the mark? Vicki Anderson of The Press argues they don’t… oh, and how come the South Island misses out? (The article is from NZMM 2008 and is an interesting flashback).

Flashback: World Series, St James theatre, 2002 – Peter McLennan questions the effectiveness of NZ on Air funding and reminisces about the 2002 World Series showcase of New Zealand music (jeez – forgot all about that).

Changing Times – Russell Brown (Hard News/Public Address) analyses Duncan Greive’s article (which features in the latest issue of Real Groove magazine) about the current state of NZ on Air. An interesting discussion follows »

The worst NZ albums I have reviewed – Tee hee. Simon Sweetman is never afraid to voice his opinion. I don’t always agree with him but he sure pushes people’s buttons. And that’s good and refreshing.

It was only last month that we were getting all nostalgic and teary-eyed over Alec Empire as we sat around the Joint mansion in our Digital Hardcore dressing gowns and Bomb 20 slippers.

Little did we know that, as we taking a stroll down memory lane, Atari Teenage Riot were re-convening in a studio to record their first new material in a decade and planning some comeback shows.

The single can be downloaded from RCRDLBL for free.

If you’re in the mood for something a little more mellow try the Digital Hardcore 2010 dubstep remix streaming right now over at Soundcloud.

Here’s something we wanted to play on last week’s show but ran out of time.

No chance to play it this week as we’re taking an Easter break.

No chance of playing it the week after either – it will be almost a month since the release date which places it firmly in the internet equivalent of the sale bin.

These are fast and shallow times we live in.

It’s a split 7″ single out on Transparent Records. You can responsibly download both sides using the links below.

YUCK – Georgia

HERZOG – Paul Blart And The Death Of Art

Which neatly ties in with a portion of this weeks Daily Show.

Lärrydavhead t-shirt at Shirts & Destroy. Designed by Aye Jay.

Found via Bill Nothingelseon (the fella who runs the legendary Atomic night in Wellington).

UPDATE: Aye Jay is class – he has also done a Neil Hamburger poster.

It’s been almost a year since Plan B magazine folded but there is now an  free online archive available, comprising all 46 back issues in PDF format. You can download the torrent here.

And if you’re after something to fill the gap left by Plan B, The Joint recommends a combination of Yeti and Stool Pigeon.

During the course of last week’s show Fraserhead failed to recall anybody releasing anything on 4AD records in the last 20 years. Worse still, The Herb Whisperer failed to recall the name of the band who had released something on 4AD records just last year (The Big Pink was the name he was stretching for).

To help out, Greg Dodds sent an e-mail to us with a link to a free 2009 sampler from 4AD, featuring The Big Pink and 11 other artists, including Joint favourites Camera Obscura and tUnE-YarDs.