If you care about me, stop introducing me to music I like. I’m rapidly running out of time and hard drive space. The other day, a friend sent me a link to some British band’s web site, asking me what I thought. I think my remark at the time was something like “it’s a good thing their web site’s so pretty, ’cause they’re a fugly bunch of fellows”. After giving their music obsessively repeated listens, I now officially retract anything unkind I’ve ever said about Elbow. Their newest release, The Seldom Seen Kid, is one of the solidest recordings I’ve heard in a while. Elbow somehow manages to maintain a fairly consistent “downtempo” vibe without actually sounding gloomy. Singer Guy Garvey’s voice is often compared (legitimately) to Peter Gabriel, but their style on this recording meanders from prog-rockish to jazzy to almost Brechtian, and the lyrics are simply brilliant. The video at left, for the song One Day Like This, captures one of my favorite feelings – staying alive and enthused in the face of the mindnumbingly mundane – with brilliant simplicity.