…somewhere. But where? First posts are tricky so lets start at the end. The end of the alphabet – with Z. Or the two Z’s I’m stuck on at the moment.

The first is Z by My Morning Jacket.

This is one of those albums that sits up high in my list of bests. It wasn’t the first MMJ album I owned (that was It Still Moves) but it’s arguably a highpoint in their catalog. It’s one of those rare albums where tracks don’t get skipped – with the possible exception of Into The Woods depending on mood – and has everything that makes them great distilled into a little over three quarters of an hour. It’s got some scorching guitar-driven rock tracks (while there’s no One Big Holiday there is Anytime), the jam outs and nods to funk and even delicacy (and while It Beats 4 U isn’t quite as delicate as the later Librarian or earlier Golden it’s still tender) all soaked in just the right amount of reverb and remaining the right side of countrified.

There’s also a very strong likelihood that I’ll be seeing them this summer so it’s going to be playing a lot more.

It’s out there on the Mediafire’s of the world but it’s just as readily available at stupidly low prices as it’s already close to 7 years old.

The other Z is for Zdob şi Zdub. They’re a Moldovan band who I’d never heard of before I saw a short, 20 minute Romanian film with my wife and this happened to play over the credits. Since then I can’t get it out of my head but why would I, it’s fun, upbeat and beats the arse off any of the cack on The Voice etc and I love a bit of forgein music