Record: Porcupine Tree 'The Incident' (2009)

[I broke my wrist. This makes typing a serious nuisance, particularly capital letters, but it also makes me so bored - I can't do very much of anything useful - that one-handed typing seems like a worthwhile diversion. Excessive reviews may be forthcoming... For now, on to the record of the hour.]

Warning: this record may eat your soul.

Well, okay, maybe not yours - I don't know how susceptible you may be. It did eat mine though; I couldn't listen to anything else for a month after first hearing. It's such a perfectly complete self-contained sonic universe that no other music sounded right until I'd burned this into my consciousness solidly enough that I didn't need to hear it all of the time. The music is incredible, exquisitely beautiful melodies woven through bitter harmony and harshly distorted, brutally melancholic riffs. The band has never played better; Colin Edwin's tastefully (and sometimes deceptively) simple basslines really shine through the achingly beautiful haze of the stupendous Richard Barbieri's wall-of-synth. The mix is unusually clean, achieving that rare beast, perfect balance. This just might be the best headphones album ever made. I'm not sure I could name the other 4, but this is definitely one of my top 5 records.