The in-house gag about this show was that we were ready to work at the BRT (a fictional state owned radio station from Brasil that resembles our TRT) simply because it never wanders off brasileira & exotica, albeit a few breathers of downtempo jazz from Cecil Taylor and Marc Copland. Play this on sunny afternoons.

There’s one man in the world that I’d like to meet in person. It’s Our Man From Odessa, OMFO: “It all started in a chaikhana somewhere in Central Asia. As I was enjoying a bowl of tea, suddenly the east of my brain started to send strange signals to my body. And then my vision of the world turned into the abstract motif of a Turkmen rug…”

The tried and tested desert blues formula of twanging guitars, complex beats and chanting still seems fresh; and the guitars would inspire a whole new generation of afropop, or fit in with the lo-fi stuff that’s coming out of US these days. Just listen to the closer Era Tasfata Adounia, where the last four minutes go into an amazing drone.

On his latest output The Freak of Araby, Sun City Girls guitar hero Sir Richard Bishop pays homage to the Middle East.

Last time I listened to Victoria Bergsman aka Taken by Trees, she was making acoustic indie folk pop in her native Sweden, sounding not unlike her compatriot El Perro del Mar. East of Eden on the contrary sees a popified breed of Eastern music replacing generic indie folk, So what changed in two years?

The one artist that I want to steal his name, Gothenburg’s Henrik Jonsson aka Porn Sword Tobacco has relocated to Berlin, before releasing his 4th album on City Centre Offices. It’s the beauty of being a member of the EU, you can relocate as much as you want, add flavours to your life, or why not start a completely new life?

This week’s mixes found on the net. London dubsteppa Untold, Monday Jazz Session from Ichiro, Radio Aperitivo, Cazeaux Oslo, Raphael Saadiq tribute mix by Stimulus & Boards of Canada mix by Skywave Systems.

The year 2009 will be written in music history as the year of lo-fi garage/noise rock. There are countless things that can be said on how this noise is a gimmick and why it’s revivalist bullshit, but I don’t want to be a buzzkiller, as the countless no talent hacks have already started to bore people. So I just have to sneak two bands before the doors are closed and summer’s over.