Spotify is finally here. The leading global music streaming service launched in Australia today.

The most interesting moment of Music By Steve Reich: A Conversation and Concert at Melbourne’s Metropolis New Music festival, came late in the evening. Surprisingly, for a night of music and conversation, it was neither spoken nor played.

Four new release albums reviewed.

How do new offerings from Bruce Springsteen, The Shins, The Wedding Present and Deep Sea Arcade all fare?

Hear a compilation of songs from these albums on a Crikey earworm playlist via the RDIO music streaming service here.

Tindersticks: The Something Rain [Lucky Dog]

Some bands arrive fully formed. Their debut albums are such a perfect distillation of their aesthetic they quickly suffer the curse of diminishing returns on subsequent releases. Such is Tindersticks’ fate.

The Nottingham troubadours’ 1993 first set, Tindersticks (aka Tindersticks I), so beautifully captured their late-night smokey tales of whisky soaked loves and regrets that subsequent efforts were effectively rendered redundant.

As earworm sister (brother?) Crikey blog The Stump noted, US President Barack Obama released his re-election campaign musical playlist via music streaming service Spotify.

Playlists are often used to try to get someone to love the compiler so what does Obama’s playlist reveal about his need for voters to at least like him? Really, really like him.

Was anyone really shocked when they heard Whitney Houston had died? Sadly, news organisations all over the world already had her obituary written and duly published screeds of ‘we will always love you’ tributes. All they had to do was fill in the blanks. Even the details of those blanks were predictable.

While everyone was waiting for global market giant Spotify to finally arrive in Australia, Rdio has quietly sneaked into the local marketplace with a fully-featured music streaming service of its own. Is it a case of ‘you snooze, you lose’ for Spotify?

Lana Del Rey: Born To Die [Universal]

The critical backlash against Lana Del Rey began even before her debut album Born To Die arrived.

Hipsters initially bewitched by the immediately beguiling Video Games felt betrayed when it became clear her puffy-lipped persona and – no! – even her name were invented. Much internet scorn was poured on the artist formerly known as Lizzie Grant.

Leonard Cohen: Old Ideas [Sony]

Sometimes, crime pays. Old Ideas, Leonard Cohen’s first album in eight years, would never have existed if his accountant hadn’t pilfered money from him, forcing Cohen out of self-imposed exile and retirement in a Zen monastery.

Leonard’s loss is our gain.

Cloud Nothings: Attack On Memory [Carpark Records]

Attack On Memory is a thumping addition to cult producer Steve Albini’s CV. Nobody’s better at capturing raw drum and guitar sounds.

Such is Albini’s dedication to not sugarcoating production, he prefers the moniker ‘recording engineer’. He’s the man (but not The Man) for bands wanting to capture their live sound in the studio.