I start the day off with the new Arctic Monkeys, Humbug – finally available on Spotify. I know it's been getting lukewarm reviews but I really like it. The Josh Homme production gives it a completely different feel from the other albums and both Alex and Matt are on top form. Seeing them at Reading makes me think that their finally getting over their inherent shyness which always masqueraded as typical 'rock n roll arsey-ness'. Their 6th album will be amazing. Arctic Monkeys – Pretty Visitors

Managed to get through most of the La Roux album on the way to work as well which sounded surprisingly listenable. As much as I like the singles, her voice has a tendancy to jump up and down on one's nerves. It seems to work well as an album though, maybe a few too many 'oooooo oooo oooooo ooo oooo' bits but on the whole, a deserved Mercury nominated piece of work. La Roux – I'm Not Your Toy

This is a great time for music at the moment, having just listened to the new Noah and the Whale album. Who would have thought it? A lush, heartbreaking, epic of a record with only a tiny amount of the tweeness that ran throughout their last record... check out the first song on Spotify Noah And The Whale – The First Days Of Spring

So another year, another Mercury Prize – it just seems like yesterday that I was there with Maps but two years have passed and a new winner has been announced. To be honest, it was a really poor lineup on the whole - and fair play to Speech Debelle, I'm sure she'll make the most of the exposure. I'm just happy that Florence didn't win...

Ok, so we all love Spotify but it seems not everyone is that happy about the fact that the new iPhone app only works with the Premium membership (£9.99 per month). Well I thought about it for a bit and then decided to take the plunge yesterday and trial it for a month.

The first thing I noticed was how easy it was to download tracks for offline use - as I spend about 2 hours a day on the M1, listening to it in the car was one of the main reasons for getting it.

So the first thing I listen to is the Golden Silvers album - surely one of the albums of the year! Amazing stuff - Golden Silvers – Another Universe

I'm already addicted...