Browsing through the Guardian's Film & Music section last Friday, I came across this unheralded little article:

"In the month when the BBC's website began carrying adverts to bring in revenue from its non-UK readership, the Beeb's American equivalent, NPR (National Public Radio), has just bestowed a fantastic free gift upon music fans worldwide. The station's All Songs Considered programme recently posted 52 podcasts featuring their recordings of full concerts from some of today's best live acts (go to npr.org/allsongsconsidered or search "npr live songs" at iTunes). You can download a thrilling Arctic Monkeys gig from the beginning of last year, a weird and wonderful recent set from artpop mavericks Animal Collective, and almost two hours of bouncing Gypsy-punk madness from Gogol Bordello. The archive also includes complete shows from Arcade Fire, Björk, Mogwai, Low, Femi Kuti and Cat Power. And because the podcasts are in MP3 format, you can even burn them on to CD. You won't get many better presents than this at Christmas."

http://arts.guardian.co.uk/filmandmusic/story/0,,2215262,00.html

Go and give it a try! It's an amazing resource. So far I have downloaded and listened to complete gigs by Arctic Monkeys, Arcade Fire, Bjork, Konono No.1 & Mogwai and, incredibly, they're all completely free. Others are waiting on the iPod for another spare hour or so: Low, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Broken Social Scene... The list goes on.

Thank you Chris Salmon and the Guardian.