Superficial

You may not have noticed, but I've been trying to increase the volume of original writing on the site over the past month. The idea is to create a flurry of opinion, criticism and erudite discussion, rather than just a bunch of links.

So far, it's been going rather well - that Nelly Furtado review from last week has tripled the number of visitors to the site. But sometimes there just isn't anything to get me fired up.

Perhaps that's because I've been listening to the Go! Team album on repeat. Its so relentlessly upbeat and bouncy that I can't help but walk around with an uncharacteristically sunny disposition. Even the rumour of Mariah Carey duetting with Janet Jackson isn't enough to wipe the smile off my face, even though the resulting song is sure to make dogs claw out their own eardrums in an attempt to make the high-pitched whining stop. Not to mention the video, which will be like witnessing a slow train crash.

Anyway, even if Jermaine Dupri manages to finally put an end to Janet's career there's plenty of other good music on the horizon. Radio One have been putting their Live Lounge to good use once again, getting those Arctic Monkeys in to perform their number one single and (taste-makers look away now) a cover of Girls Aloud's Love Machine.

This is good news. If Arctic Monkeys are to claim Oasis' crown as the biggest rock band in the UK, it can only be a positive development that they love pop music and don't throw a big girly tantrum every time someone else comes up with a good tune. Yes, Liam, we're talking to you. You twat.

Meanwhile Radio One's less hip uncle, Six Music (or "BBC we only allow songs by white men with guitars plus the occasional bit of Stevie Wonder if you're very lucky" as internal memos probably don't refer to it) has put Belle and Sebastian into the studio to go wild - albeit politely and within tolerable noise levels. They perform an acoustic version of their new single, which is fantastic and should be bought in actual bucketloads.

You can hear both the Arctic Monkeys and B&S on the ever-fantastic Mr Red Penguin's MP3 Heaven.

Finally, something I never thought I'd see, or be interested in seeing: One-hit-wonder Lisa Loeb prannying around in a thong. She looks surprisingly young and pert for someone who had a hit single 12 years ago... But knowing that fact makes me feel ridiculously old, which has put the dampener on my rosy disposition.

I must head off and listen to the Go! Team again...

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