Find it on the new Wilco iTunes Sessions album. Out now, pop pickers.

Lest we forget, here’s Nick with Billy, Dave and Terry the first time around.

So we were fortunate to have an early 2012 visit from one of the finest guitar pop bands stalking the planet in the Dum Dum Girls, who summarily delivered a concise set of jangling sonic gems at the Kings Arms on Friday, and kickstarted my new year listening. Now, my love for the Girls has previously been documented in these pages, so I’m not going to ramble on again. Suffice to say they looked fantastic, and despite early PA problems, they sounded great.

And we definitely got two for the price of one on the night. Before Friday, Transistors were merely a name I’d spotted in the upcoming Laneway festival line-up. Now I know they’re a fiery punk trio I’d go see again without a second thought.. commitment, drive, mob-handed vocals, some set-ending string shredding, tons of feedback and .. yup.. some great songs.

Expect a new album sometime soon following the Laneway appearance. And if you want to hear what the feck I’m talking about, pop over to Bandcamp and get their first album, plus the lead single from the new one, absolutely free.

Cheers, guys. Nice to know you.

There are videos of the actual evening on YouTube, but this is one from the same tour – it’s the best and has a properly reverential audience (take note, hipsters).

Lashings of Hallertau‘s excellent beer and the sprightly indie pop of all-girl octet St. Rupertsberg made for a delightful Saturday afternoon at The Golden Dawn. Sunny tunes in a C86 style, close harmonies,  instrument swapping shenanigans, handclaps, bursts of brass.. just right. The girls captured the mood of the day perfectly, despite operating in a space slightly smaller than your average linen cupboard, and I’ll be watching out for future releases.

Their debut EP is called Seasonal Glimpse – check it out at Bandcamp.

Dave King dropped me a line to tell me about the title track from his upcoming album Under The Golden Sun. Dave’s nom de musique is The Heavy Dream and the album drops in October, with stellar contributions over the past twelve months from folks like Wilco‘s Pat Sansone. A slice of beautifully controlled power pop with hook-y, squiggly guitar lines.

And you can grab it in exhange for your email address, alongside Rachel’s Garden, over at Bandcamp. Matthew Sweet and Jon Brion fans, go there right now.

Here’s David, Hamish and Robert:

Well, you must be prepared to dream, mustn’t you?

Ian McNabb, out-Neil-ing Neil.

I’m a fan, right? So, obviously, I’m going to enjoy it, but I don’t think I was quite ready for such an energetic, committed and engaging show. No sign of end of tour ennui, this was a proper performance, and one of the best I’ve seen in a good long while.

A killer opening of Moonshine, 22 Dreams and From The Floorboards Up got us bouncing, and the more forceful stuff from Wake Up The Nation kept us going. I became the person in the crowd you don’t want me to be, singing along to Strange Town. Yes, I know.. one song, that’s all I ask.

Other highlights from yesteryear were Shout To The Top and Butterfly Collector, Pretty Green and Start! from the 30 year old Sound Affects and encores featuring Art School and the final payoff of A Town Called Malice. OK, I had another little sing. Try stopping me.

The more succinct stuff from 22 Dreams and Wake Up.. works well live and there’s plenty of light and shade – the pace did slightly drop around the time of Invisible but the old boy probably needed a breather. Just kidding, I needed it more than he did.

The music Weller plays these days is invigorating and the approach he takes when making it is more adventurous than of old. If he carries on in this rich vein of form, it’s fine by me.

Here’s Moonshine (not, as it says, Wake Up The Nation).

** Dear whiners: you’re always there, aren’t you, lurking in the shadows? Listen, if you want a greatest hits set, go see a Jam covers band. Weller plays what he wants to play.

Great playing all round from the Pumpkins though. The young fella Byrne did stuff up the intro to Cherub Rock, for which Mr Corgan pulled him up abruptly in a sort of “I’m joking now but you’re banished to the back of the airplane tomorrow” kind of way. I thought we were in for quite an early night, since at one point I could see from the set list that there was only Gossamer to be played. 22 minutes of sonic mayhem later..

Big ups to Bronson and Jeff Schroeder.