Fans of the effervescent and ever-wonderful Saville will be thrilled to pop-picking heaven to hear that their sophomore album and follow-up to the fabulous Is Anybody Happier Today? is currently in production. The deliciously dreamy working title alone – Somnambular Ballads – is enough to whet anybody’s expectations nicely.

Other albums nearing completion include the debut offering from Good Time John, whose Dragged Four Ways Out of Town opus should see a Spring release on Volta Sounds. The album will be preceded by a magically seductive ballad on 7” entitled ‘For the Girls Back Home’. Volta’s sister label Volta Beats will also open its 2002 account with the second 12” from Creative Controle called ‘Check the Vision’, backed with ‘The Overdose’ and ‘Right Arm’.

On the EP front, Mango Music currently have two releases in circulation well worth cocking an ear or two at. The first is a lovely country-tinged four tracker affair from Settler recorded in The Cauldron Studios by Conal Markey. Settler intend to play dates in Limerick, Donegal and Galway in the coming months with a trip to Chicago mooted in March. Another eponymous Mango release comes from Somadrone aka Neil O’Connor of the Connect 4 Orchestra – a magnificent and moody instrumental offering pressed onto ten inches of vinyl that conveniently comes with a free enhanced CD.

The Limerick based Aspersion Music Collective present some fine engagements to shake up the New Year. Zu, Guapo, Mrs. Pilgrim, Check Engine (featuring former members of Sweep the Leg Johnny) and The Icarus Line are all Limerick bound in the immediate future. The latter are playing an Irish tour with further dates in Galway, Dublin, Cork and Belfast and likened as a live experience by Artistdirect.com as “seeing Satan having a temper tantrum, but knowing he’s not mad at you, thus enabling you to enjoy the carnage.”

A fantastic new online resource containing possibly the best listings around can be found at www.thingsyouremissing.com. One can subscribe to a newsletter by mailing things – [email protected]

Conor Coakley has amicably left Roscommon punk rockers Nerdlinger. This shouldn’t hold up operations for too long as a split 10” with Sir Killalot will be out soon on Rise Above with imminent gigs with a new guitarist. Finally, hats off to forever brilliant Redneck Manifesto who have scored a remarkable New Year’s coup with fifteen European dates pencilled in for March.