I'm listening to an album I bought. It's by an artist called Duke Special. Heard of him? No? Me neither. Well, obvious I have heard of him at some point, but how? Well, I was in a shop and I heard a track that sounded a bit like a Divine Comedy track - I was sure I could hear vocals by Neil Hannon. I'd never heard the track before and I didn't know what it was.

Shazam. That's the answer to that question - you point your mobile phone at the shop's speaker and capture a clip of the song. Then it's submitted to the internet and you get the title and artist of the track on your screen. This is almost a miracle. I've got theories about how you make a computer program like that. Only theories, mind. It's a brilliant tool to have. As a result, I've discovered a new artist. I bought the album which had that track on - it's actually a collection of B-sides and rarities. Subsequently, I bought the album I'm listening to, and I'm now able to enjoy something a bit different from the average music I find.

Strangely, in a world where I listen to my iPod more than the radio, I think the music played in shops, coupled with Shazam, may be more influential on the bands I discover than the charts. I don't even know what's in the charts. In fact, let's have a look:

As of 27th June - the official uk chart:

1. Katy Perry - California Girls - I've heard of this Russell Brand-infected buffoon, but not of the track
2. K'naan - Wavin' Flag - Football song? curry tribute act?
3. Shout - Shout (with James Corden) - I've not heard the track, I'm guessing it's a football song, with the ubiquitous-as-chlamydia Corden
4. Example - Kickstarts - huh?
5. Eminem - Not Afraid - used to enjoy some of Eminem's stuff, not heard this
6. Kylie Minogue - All The Lovers - so she's still making music then? Oh.
7. Eminem - Love The Way You Like (feat. Rihanna) - Not heard this. Heard of Rihanna, whose name annoys me. I think it's the spelling
8. Lady Gaga - Alejandro - sounds pretentious. I don't think I could sing or even name a Lady Gaga track I'd heard. Is she a man? Does anyone care?
9. Tinie Tempah - Frisky (feat. Labrinth) - there's a lot of people featuring other people, have all artists decided to form ad-hoc combination acts to sell more records these days? No idea who or what any of this is!
10. David Guetta - Gattin' Over You (feat. Chris Willis) - nope... you've lost me

I realise it makes me sound like someone's fuddy duddy dad. Actually, I'm quite happy with there being new music, but I'm clearly not being exposed to it. By the looks of it, I'm not missing out.