I meant to meet a friend for a coffee yesterday, but it turned into a fully fledged evening, involving sake, beer, white wine, and lots of good music. I enjoyed hearing the Spiritualized album again, and I think it will grow on me, even though the whole thing is rather polished, in the vein of Verve’s ‘Urban Hymns’. We also listened to Cat Power, the new Scott Walker-produced Pulp album, and some New Order. In fact, the New Order dominated the evening for me. I’ve been a huge fan of the band since I was 15 or 16 years old, and it was great to hear classics like ‘Procession’, ‘Love Vigilantes’ and ‘Murder’. I had most of my New Order stuff on vinyl, and that vinyl is currently several thousand miles away from where I am, so it was great to hear it.