Like most people, I have a shopping list of things I would like to buy if I had some spare cash; this consists mainly of electronic consumables [the iPod, the G4 Powerbook, the Digital IXUS etc], but there’s also non-digital items in there as well, the latest being this: The Big Briar Etherwave Theremin. Why? Well, after listening to ‘Theremin Noir’ by Rob Schwimmer, Uri Caine and Mark Feldman, you’d want one as well. Many of the tracks are rearrangements of Bernard Herrman’s score for Vertigo, with piano and violin accompaniment. I think the Theremin is widely considered to be a silly device which made eerie noises for early horror films, but this album demonstrates that it is actually a beautiful sounding instrument to be taken more seriously.