The Magnetic Fields: Love At The Bottom Of The Sea

You can hear an album stream thingy on the Guardian Music Blog.
Woop woop!

Exciting Newsflash! Hunx And His Punx

You can pre-order Hunx And His Punx debut studio album, Too Young To Be In Love, here - if you're in the UK together with post and packaging it works out at less than a tenner.*
A bona bargain if you haven't got plenty handbag, I'm sure you'll agree.
That link also has an MP3 of the title track - on this basis alone Fagburn is convinced this will be the greatest album of 2011, if not all-time.
Hunx & His Punx were New [sic] Band Of The Day on Guardian Music last Friday.
Unbelievably Fagburn thinks this was Hunx first real coverage in the UK press proper.
It was quite an enthusiastic piece in a "Girl Group Garage band gay Ramones as directed by John Waters blah blah blah" kinda way.
It is a pretty handy shorthand description, admittedly, and hopefully the new album will see Hunx And His Punx getting the coverage they deserve and Fagburn will get sick to his skinny bones of reading variations on it.

* Unfortunately you can only pay by PayPal - who've just frozen the account for Courage To Resist who are raising money for the Bradley Manning Defense Fund...
Update: After much protest, Paypal reversed their decision hours later.

• This is not advertorial. Hell no!
Although if Hunx would like to thank Fagburn for this great kindness with sexual favours involving his "top 10 penis", then so be it.

Update: Hunx And His Punx are interviewed in the new GT - and they get a shout on the front cover. Great stuff!!

Ricky Martin: Father Figure

On Monday Ricky Martin releases his first album since he came out, Music + Alma + Sexo.*
Nope, can't say I'm that bothered either.
Pop - like Cilla Black's life - is full of surprises, but coming out was almost certainly the last thing Mr Martin does that anyone will take much notice of.
The career's as good as over, has been for a decade - which may have played a big part in Ricky Martin deciding that the time was now right to come out.
Rosie Swash writes about his comeback on Guardian Music Online (Edit: It also appeared in Saturday's print edition).
Swash says "those hoping that Martin's new album will offer a deep reflection of gay life may be disappointed."
But was anyone seriously expecting this from Ricky?
He's not been too big on deep reflection in the past.
"This is an interesting time for homosexuality in pop music," Swash declares - citing the barely literate "I love the gays, me!" lyrics of Born This Way by Lady Gaga by way of example.
There are some - actually quite insightful - quotes from Paul Gambaccini in the piece.
"His decision to come out was not just made possible by his decision to become a father," he argues, "but it was made necessary by it, as it immediately restarted the conversation about his sexuality..."
Paul Gambaccini senses that fatherhood is being used to negate Ricky Martin's sexuality.
"He has positioned himself as a doting father and that in itself is a focus changer, because he's not saying 'I'm in love and live with a male partner, with whom I have two children' – he's saying 'I have two children who I love and am crazy about' ".
Gambo also posits an interesting paradox of the celebrity closet;
"I know many gay musicians who say they still don't want to come out. More than anything, they don't want their fans to feel they've been lied to."

* Edit: It's not actually getting a UK release (see comments). Which says a lot...