RSSMix.com Mix ID 7131

Washed Out - Feel It All Around

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 00:31:15 -0400

in post Feel It All Around Washed Out(Words/music: Ernest Greene,... from Some Songs Considered.

Tomoko Sugawara - Qawl

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 00:31:00 -0400

in post Tomoko Sugawara - Qawl from Doklands.

The Psychedelic Furs - Dumb Waiters

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 00:30:36 -0400

in post on the road again with the psychedelic furs from the boy with the thorn in his side.

Broken Bells - The Mall & Misery

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 00:30:30 -0400

in post band of the week: Broken Bells from Music Induced Euphoria.

The Concretes - Seems Fine

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 22:39:01 -0400

in post Twice As Nice from The Indie Music Database.

Architecture In Helsinki - THE CEMETARY (Cemetery Sass Emerary Mix)

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 22:38:51 -0400

in post Twice As Nice from The Indie Music Database.

Sokind

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 22:38:38 -0400

in post Twice As Nice from The Indie Music Database.

The Concretes - Seems Fine Shuffle

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 22:38:34 -0400

in post Twice As Nice from The Indie Music Database.

Feist - Mushaboom (Postal Service Mix)

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 22:38:20 -0400

in post Twice As Nice from The Indie Music Database.

Ra Ra Riot - Too Too Too Fast

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 22:38:09 -0400

in post Twice As Nice from The Indie Music Database.

Architecture In Helsinki - The Cemetery

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 22:37:58 -0400

in post Twice As Nice from The Indie Music Database.

Feist - Mushaboom

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 22:37:52 -0400

in post Twice As Nice from The Indie Music Database.

Art Brut - Bang Bang Rock and Roll

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 22:37:42 -0400

in post Twice As Nice from The Indie Music Database.

Shout Out Louds - Fall Hard Pt. 2

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 22:37:34 -0400

in post Twice As Nice from The Indie Music Database.

GPN - Tiny Light

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 22:37:22 -0400

in post Grace Potter - White Rabbit from Ryan's Smashing Life.

Broken Bells - The High Road

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 22:37:00 -0400

in post THAT NEW INDIE POP from Golden Bloggen.

The Avett Brothers - Slight Figure Of Speech

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 22:36:38 -0400

in post trying really really hard to stay sane from candy for your ears.

Vampire Weekend - Diplomats Son

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 22:36:26 -0400

in post trying really really hard to stay sane from candy for your ears.

God - The Day They Buried Hemensley

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 22:35:55 -0400

in post GOD from The Band Next Door.

God - Rockin' Marky

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 22:35:42 -0400

in post GOD from The Band Next Door.

Delta Spirit - People C'mon

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 22:35:32 -0400

in post Day Two at SXSW: Shearwater, The Low Anthem, The Middle East, Peter Wolf Crier, Rogue Wave, Beach Fossils, Delta Spirit from Indie Rock Cafe.

Shearwater - Castaways (192k MP3)

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 22:35:19 -0400

in post Day Two at SXSW: Shearwater, The Low Anthem, The Middle East, Peter Wolf Crier, Rogue Wave, Beach Fossils, Delta Spirit from Indie Rock Cafe.

Beach Fossils - Daydream

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 22:35:12 -0400

in post Day Two at SXSW: Shearwater, The Low Anthem, The Middle East, Peter Wolf Crier, Rogue Wave, Beach Fossils, Delta Spirit from Indie Rock Cafe.

The Low Anthem - Cage the Songbird

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 22:35:06 -0400

in post Day Two at SXSW: Shearwater, The Low Anthem, The Middle East, Peter Wolf Crier, Rogue Wave, Beach Fossils, Delta Spirit from Indie Rock Cafe.

Ghost Shirt - Single 11 - Homeiswhereyouare

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 22:34:51 -0400

in post Ghost Shirt: Single #11 from donewaiting.com.

Air Waves - Kingdom

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 22:34:29 -0400

in post Air Waves from 5 Acts.

The Middle East - Blood

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 22:34:26 -0400

in post two songs for the madness from Songs to Save.

Young Jesus - Up All Night With Stereotypes

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 22:34:09 -0400

in post two songs for the madness from Songs to Save.

Quiet Riot - Thunderbird

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 22:34:04 -0400

in post Thunderbird by Quiet Riot from Shelter From the Norm.

ArpLine - acidjack, Weekend in the Colonies

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 22:30:55 -0400

in post ArpLine: March 11, 2010 Music Hall of Williamsburg - FLAC and MP3 Downloads from nyctaper.

Former Child Stars Vs Alexander Holland - Control

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 22:30:29 -0400

in post Former Child Stars from Electrorash.

K.C. & The Sunshine Band - I Get Lifted

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 20:36:54 -0400

in post Feeling Kinda Groovy from Musicphile|osophy.

Nu Shooz - I Can't Wait

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 20:36:43 -0400

in post Feeling Kinda Groovy from Musicphile|osophy.

Breakage - Breakage - Over

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 20:36:39 -0400

in post FOUNDATION from SO NICE RIGHT NOW.

Breakage - Breakage - Old Skool Ting

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 20:36:25 -0400

in post FOUNDATION from SO NICE RIGHT NOW.

Crash Kings - War Pigs (ft. Chris Cornell) (Live Black Sabbath cover)

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 20:35:40 -0400

in post Friday is for Covers | Crash Kings from Bridging The Verse.

Crash Kings - It's Only Wednesday

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 20:35:13 -0400

in post Friday is for Covers | Crash Kings from Bridging The Verse.

Experimental Aircraft - Sit Still

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 20:34:44 -0400

in post Experimental Aircraft - Sit Still (Third Transmission) from songs that are good.

TLOBF Albums of 2009 | The Line Of Best Fit

TLOBF Albums of 2009 | The Line Of Best Fit - Grizzly Bear paw off Animal Collective to claim number 1

Gagliarchives Top 100 Discs of 2009

Gagliarchives Top 100 Discs of 2009

co-ordinated by Gagliarchives Radio Show -a Progressive Rock & Related poll.

[results via progressive Ears message board]

100 Ed Palermo Big Band - Eddy Loves Frank
99 Peter Hammill - Thin Air
98 Nosound - A Sense of Loss
97 Hourglass - Oblivious to the Obvious
96 Karda Estra - Weird Tales
95 Frost - Experiments in Mass Appeal
94 Eureka - Shackletons Voyage
93 Runaway Totem - Manu Menes
92 Forgotten Suns - Innergy
91 Maudlin Of The Well - Part The Second
90 Subsignal - Beautiful & Monstrous
89 Mike Keneally - Scambot 1
88 Trank Zappa Grappa In Varese? - Live In Waremme
87 Pain Of Salvation - Ending Themes
86 Pure Reason Revolution - Amor Vincit Omnia
85 Sylvan - Force Of Gravity
84 The Season Standard - Squeeze Me Ahead Of Line
83 Nathan Mahl - Exodus
82 Makajodama - Makajodama
81 Ars Nova - Seventh Hell
80 Simak Dialog - Demi Masa
79 IZZ - The Darkened Room
78 Upsilon Acrux - Radian Futura
77 Transatlantic - The Whirlwind
76 Steve Hillage Band - Live At The Uncon
75 The Tangent - Down And Out In Paris And London
74 Filoritmia - Passaggi
73 Magma - Emehntehtt-Re
72 Agah Bahiri - The Second Sight Of A Mind
71 The Aurora Project - Shadow Border
70 Sebkha Chott - De La Persistance De La Mythologie Chottienne En ??? Vlos
69 Jeff Beck - Live At Ronnie Scotts
68 Zevious - After The Air Raid
67 Steven Wilson - Insurgentes
66 Steve Vai - Where The Other Wild Things Are
65 Ageness - Songs From The Liar's Lair
64 Satellite - Nostalgia
63 Slivovitz - Hubris
62 Native Window - Native Window
61 Persona Non Grata - Shade In The Light
60 Octafish - Doctor Fleish
59 RPWL - The RPWL Live Experience
58 Moraine - Manifest Density
57 The Gathering - The West Pole
56 Fractal - Sequitur
55 Jono El Grande - Neo Dada
54 Gungfly - Please Be Quiet
53 Blackfield - NYC
52 Counter-World Experience - Metronomicon
51 5 Peace Band - Live
50 Alamaailman Vasarat - Hurro Kolkko
49 KTU - Quiver
48 OSI - Blood
47 The Mars Volta - Octahedron
46 Circa - HQ
45 Wobbler - Afterglow
44 Minimum Vital - Capitaines
43 Patrick Moraz - Change Of Space
42 Crimson Jazz Trio - Volume II
41 Redemption - Snowfall On Judgement Day
40 Black Bonzo - Guillotine Drama
39 Phideaux - Number 7
38 Abigails Ghost - D_letion
37 Simon Steensland - Fat Again
36 Ozric Tentacles - The Yum Yum Tree
35 Delain - April Rain
34 Quantum Fantay - Kaleidothrope
33 Cynic - Traced In Air
32 Derek Sherinian - Molecular Heinosity
31 Zombi - Spirit Animal
30 Enochian Theory - Evolution: Creatio Ex Nihilio
29 Kotebel - Ouroboros
28 Litmus - Aurora
27 Airbag - Identity
26 Mirthkon - Vehicle
25 Knight Area - Realm Of Shadows
24 Tuppu Orrenmaa - Make My Day
23 Morglbl - Jazz For The Deaf
22 Exivious - Exivious
21 Deluge Grander - The Form Of The Good
20 Led Bib - Sensible Shoes
19 Holdsworth/Pasqua/Haslip/Wackerman - Blues For Tony
18 Indukti - Idmen
17 Miriodor - Avanti!
16 Agents of Mercy - The Fading Ghosts of Twilight
15 Keith Emerson Band Featuring Marc Bonilla - S/T
14 Forgas Band Phenomena - Axis Of Madness
13 Ohmphrey - Ohmphrey
12 Leprous - Tall Poppy Syndrome
11 UKZ - Radiation
10 The Future Kings Of England - The Viewing Point
9 Beardfish - Destined Solitaire
8 Dream Theater - Black Clouds And Siver Linings
7 The Strawbs - Dancing To The Devil's Beat
6 IQ - Frequency
5 Diablo Swing Orchestra - Sing Along Songs For The Damned And Delerious
4 Umphrey's McGee - Mantis
3 Astra - The Weirding
2 Riverside - Anno Domini High Definition
1 Porcupine Tree - The Incident

Updated: Pitchfork: Staff Lists: The Top 100 Tracks of 2009

part 1: Pitchfork: Staff Lists: The Top 100 Tracks of 2009

Pitchfork 2009 Schedule this week:

Today: Top 100 Tracks, #100-#51
Tuesday: Top 100 Tracks, #50-#1
Wednesday: Albums, Honorable Mention - 25 excellent records that didn't make our Top 50
Thursday: Top 50 Albums of 2009, #50-#26
Friday: Top 50 Albums of 2009, #25-#1

Summary: via Pitchfork's Top 100 Songs Of 2009 - List - Stereogum

100 Darkstar - "Aidy's Girl's a Computer"
99 Julianna Barwick - "Bode"
98 Future of the Left - "Arming Eritrea"
97 The Smith Westerns - "Be My Girl"
96 Gucci Mane [Feat. Plies] - "Wasted"
95 The Thermals - "Now We Can See"
94 Best Coast - "Sun Was High (So Was I)"
93 Morrissey - "Something is Squeezing My Skull"
92 Cam'ron - "I Hate My Job"
91 HEALTH - "Die Slow"
90 The-Dream - "Rockin' That Shit"
89 No Age - "You're a Target"
88 Passion Pit - "Moth's Wings"
87 Here We Go Magic - "Fangela"
86 Drake - "Best I Ever Had"
85 Wavves - "No Hope Kids"
84 Junior Boys - "Parallel Lines"
83 Lady Gaga - "Paparazzi"
82 DJ Kaos - "Love the Nite Away (Tiedye remix)"
81 Bowerbirds - "Northern Lights"
80 YACHT - "Psychic City (Voodoo City)"
79 Pictureplane - "Goth Star"
78 Charlotte Gainsbourg - "IRM"
77 Frida Hyvnen - "Jesus Was a Cross Maker"
76 The Rural Alberta Advantage - "Don't Haunt This Place"
75 Gold Panda - "Quitter's Raga"
74 Neon Indian - "Should Have Taken Acid With You"
73 Woods - "Rain On"
72 Matt & Kim - "Daylight"
71 A Sunny Day in Glasgow - "Close Chorus"
70 Discovery - "Orange Shirt"
69 Taylor Swift - "You Belong With Me"
68 Ryksopp [Feat. Robyn] - "The Girl and the Robot"
67 Arctic Monkeys - "Cornerstone"
66 Julian Casablancas - "11th Dimension"
65 The Tough Alliance - "A New Chance (The Juan MacLean Remix)"
64 Annie - "Songs Remind Me of You"
63 Real Estate - "Fake Blues"
62 Volcano Choir - "Island, IS"
61 Atlas Sound [Feat. Ltitia Sadier] - "Quick Canal"
60 Kurt Vile - "Freeway"
59 tUnE-yArDs - "Sunlight"
58 Fever Ray - "If I Had a Heart"
57 Sleigh Bells - "Crown on the Ground"
56 John Talabot - "Sunshine"
55 Bat For Lashes - "Glass"
54 Joker & Ginz - "Purple City"
53 The xx - "Islands"
52 St. Vincent - "Actor Out of Work"
51 Antony and the Johnsons - "Aeon"
50 Matias Aguayo - "Rollerskate"
49 Yo La Tengo - "Here to Fall"
48 Destroyer - "Bay of Pigs"
47 Yeah Yeah Yeahs -"Heads Will Roll"
46 Memory Tapes - "Bicycle"
45 The Flaming Lips [Feat. Karen O] - "Watching the Planets"
44 Jay-Z [Feat. Alicia Keys] - "Empire State of Mind"
43 Camera Obscura - "French Navy"
42 The Big Pink - "Velvet"
41 Major Lazer [Feat. Nina Sky and Ricky Blaze] - "Keep It Goin' Louder"
40 Bear in Heaven - "Lovesick Teenagers"
39 Lady Gaga - "Bad Romance"
38 Dirty Projectors and David Byrne -"Knotty Pine"
37 Surfer Blood - "Swim"
36 Fever Ray - "When I Grow Up"
35 Micachu and the Shapes - "Golden Phone"
34 Atlas Sound [Feat. Noah Lennox] - "Walkabout"
33 DJ Quik and Kurupt - "9x's Outta 10"
32 The Very Best [Feat. Ezra Koenig] - "Warm Heart of Africa"
31 Lily Allen - "The Fear"
30 The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - "Young Adult Friction"
29 jj - "Ecstasy"
28 Neko Case - "This Tornado Loves You"
27 Four Tet - "Love Cry"
26 Bon Iver - "Blood Bank"
25 Cass McCombs - "You Saved My Life"
24 Basement Jaxx - "Raindrops"
23 Animal Collective - "Brother Sport"
22 Delorean - "Seasun"
21 Raekwon [Feat. Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck, & Method Man] - "House of Flying Daggers"
20 Japandroids - "Young Hearts Spark Fire"
19 Joker - "Digidesgin"
18 The Big Pink - "Dominos"
17 Fuck Buttons - "Surf Solar"
16 The xx - "Crystalised"
15 Girls - "Hellhole Ratrace"
14 Joy Orbison - "Hyph Mngo"
13 Neon Indian - "Deadbeat Summer"
12 Grizzly Bear - "While You Wait for the Others"
11 Animal Collective - "What Would I Want? Sky"
10 Washed Out - "Feel It All Around"
09 Girls - "Lust for Life"
08 Phoenix - "Lisztomania"
07 Big Boi [Feat. Gucci Mane] - "Shine Blockas"
06 Yeah Yeah Yeahs - "Zero"
05 Grizzly Bear - "Two Weeks"
04 Bat For Lashes - "Daniel"
03 Phoenix - "1901"
02 Dirty Projectors - "Stillness Is the Move"
01 Animal Collective - "My Girls"

Updated: Drowned in Sound's Top 50 Albums of 2009

NME 50 Best Albums of 2009

Announced NME 50 Best Albums of 2009 : 50 Best Albums of 2009 | NME.COM

including Album of the Year: The Horrors - Primary Colours

Summary via Mitchell Stirling, on ILM: The 2009 Magazine Albums Of The Year Thread For Posting Lists and Discussion

NME top 50 albums

50 Bombay Bicycle Club - I Had the Blues But I Shook Them Loose
49 Neko Case & Her Boyfriends - Middle Cyclone
48 Atlas Sound - Logos
47 Telepathe - Dance Mother
46 Gallows - Grey Britain
45 Richard Hawley - Truelove's Gutter
44 Oneida - Rated O
43 Franz Ferdinand - Tonight: Franz Ferdinand
42 Empire Of The Sun - Walking On a Dream
41 Biffy Clyro - Only Revolutions
40 Crystal Stilts - Alight Of Night
39 Japandroids - Post Nothing
38 Pissed Jeans - King of Jeans
37 Passion Pit - Manners
36 The Drums - Summertime!
35 Sonic Youth - The Eternal
34 Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
33 Jay-Z - The Blueprint III
32 Noah And The Whale - The First Days Of Spring
31 Micachu & The Shapes - Jewellry
30 The Cribs - Ignore The Ignorant
29 Julian Casablancas - Phrazes For The Young
28 Camera Obscura - My Maudlin Career
27 PJ Harvey And John Parish - A Woman A Man Walked By
26 Florence And The Machine - Lungs
25 Lily Allen - It's Not Me, It's You
24 Cold Cave - Love Comes Close
23 Doves - Kingdom Of Rust
22 Bat For Lashes - Two Suns
21 Health - Get Color
20 Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca
19 The Maccabees - Wall Of Arms
18 Future Of The Left - Travels With Myself And Another
17 Girls - Album
16 Mumford And Sons - Sigh No More
15 The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart
14 Manic Street Preachers - Journal for Plague Lovers
13 La Roux - La Roux
12 Arctic Monkeys - Humbug
11 Kasabian - West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum
10 Jamie T Kings and Queens
09 Fever Ray Fever Ray
08 Fuck Buttons Tarot Sport
07 The Big Pink A Brief History of Love
06 Grizzly Bear Veckatimest
05 Animal Collective Merriweather Post Pavilion
04 Wild Beasts Two Dancers
03 Yeah Yeah Yeahs Its Blitz
02 The XX The XX
01 The Horrors Primary Colours

musicOMH's Top 50 Best Albums Of 2009

musicOMH blog: musicOMH's Top 50 Albums Of 2009 is now completed: musicOMH's Top 50 Best Albums Of 2009: The Top Three | musicOMH

summary via: Acclaimed Music Forum

50: Sonic Youth - The Eternal
49: Girls - Album
48: Shakira - She Wolf
47: Kasabian - West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum
46: Super Furry Animals - Dark Days/Light Years
45: Julian Casablancas - Phrazes For The Young
44: Bill Callahan - Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle
43: Miike Snow - Miike Snow
42: Gus Gus - 24/7
41: Noisettes - Wild Young Hearts
40: Shirley Bassey - The Performance
39: Antony And The Johnsons - The Crying Light
38: Soap&Skin - Lovetune For Vacuum
37: lafur Arnalds - Found Songs
36: Sunn O))) - Monoliths & Dimensions
35: Pet Shop Boys - Yes
34: Micachu And The Shapes - Jewellery
33: La Roux - La Roux
32: Major Lazer - Guns Don't Kill People... Lazers Do
31: Tinariwen - Imidiwan: Companions
30: The Low Anthem - Oh My God, Charlie Darwin
29: Annie - Don't Stop
28: Andrew Bird - Noble Beast
27: St Vincent - Actor
26: The Prodigy - Invaders Must Die
25: Neko Case - Middle Cyclone
24: School Of Seven Bells - Alpinisms
23: The Duckworth Lewis Method - The Duckworth Lewis Method
22: The Flaming Lips - Embryonic
21: Wilco - Wilco (The Album)
20: tUnE-yArDs - BiRd-BrAiNs
19: Bat For Lashes - Two Suns
18: The Decemberists - The Hazards Of Love
17: Muse - The Resistance
16: Portico Quartet - Isla
15: Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca
14: Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
13: The Big Pink - A Brief History Of Love
12: Lady Gaga - The Fame Monster
11: Arctic Monkeys - Humbug
10: Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest
9: Florence And The Machine - Lungs
8: The Horrors - Primary Colours
7: The Hidden Cameras - Origin: Orphan
6: Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz!
5: Fever Ray - Fever Ray
4: Wild Beasts - Two Dancers
3: The xx - xx
2: Fuck Buttons - Tarot Sport
1: Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion

Caesar Tjalbo

Ike Turner & His Kings Of Rhythm - A Black Man's Soul

Instrumental funk tracks cut by Ike and his band in between touring (recorded in various sessions and cities). Released in 1969, I can't determine if the recordings are from the same year too.
Most songs are really great (Funky Mule!), some sound a bit too tame to my taste. The original 1969 album comes here with 4 bonustracks, the last 3 with Tina. It's not just her voice that was missing, the whole band sounds more mean-muthafucka like.
It's great how the band makes it appear so seemingly easy to create a good funk tune and the three Tina tracks are more proof of what a great duo they were (musically).

Caesar Tjalbo

Soul: The Dial Records Southern Soul Story

White country music publisher Buddy Killen met talented but unsuccessful black singer Joe Tex in 1961 in Nashville. The idea to merge the best of R&B and country into "country soul" required a new record label: Dial (not the jazz label). No success until 1964 but then they hit pay dirt with 'Hold What You've Got'.
The Dial records story is largely the story of Joe Tex but this CD features other great artists aswell: Bobby Marchan, Clarence Reid, Len Wade and Clarence "Frogman" Henry (tracklist).
Joe Tex died in 1982 and the label was sold in 1989 and that was the end of Dial.
The music's from 1962 to 1974, quite diverse with all the different artists. Booklet and sleeve excellent with info on the label and each artist and many pictures.

Caesar Tjalbo

Paint It Black

"From Jazz to Soul 'n' Funk to Blaxploitation", the Manifesto Of Groove vol. 5. Tracklist.
Blaxploitation, soul-jazz and jazz-funk: searching for the origins of hip hop on this volume.
Superb serie: musical selection, booklet and package.

Back On The Road

Back On The Road

EDDIE COCHRAN - Greatest Hits

01. C'mon Everybody
02. Something Else
03. Cut Across Shorty
04. Summertime Blues
05. Twenty Flight Rock
06. Completely Sweet
07. Three Steps To Heaven
08. Skinny Jim
09. Teenage Heaven
10. Jeanie, Jeanie, Jeanie
11. Pretty Girl
12. Boll Weevil Song
13. Do You Wanna Dance
14. Nervous Breakdown
15. Lonely
16. Sweetie Pie
17. Thinkin' About You (with Bob Denton)
18. Pink-Peg Slacks
19. Teres
20. Money Honey

Msica do Bem: VA. Ultimate Diva Collection

Msica do Bem: VA. Ultimate Diva Collection

VA. Ultimate Diva Collection: The Diva Series

01 Ella Fitzgerald - How High The Moon
02 Sarah Vaughan - Lulaby Of Birdland
03 Dinah Washington - Teach Me Tonight
04 Billie Holiday - Body And Soul
05 Carmen McRae - You Took Advantage Of Me
06 Anita ODay - Peel Me A Grape
07 Blossom Dearie - Someone To Watch Over Me
08 Nina Simone - Love Me Or Leave Me
09 Shirley Horn - Come Dance With Me
10 Gloria Lynne - Im Gonna Laugh You Right Out Of My Life
11 Astrud Gilberto - Fly Me To The Moon
12 Peggy Lee - I Dont Know Enough About You
13 Etta James - A Sunday Kind Of Love
14 Natalie Cole - Its Crazy
15 Helen Merrill - Youd Be So Nice To Come Home To
16 Ernestine Anderson - It Dont Mean A Thing
+
17 Abbey Lincoln - Dont Explain
18 Betty Carter - Open The Door
19 Deborah Brown - Just Friends
20 Diana Krall - The Look Of Love
21 Lizz Wright - Walk With Me Lord

El Tango y sus invitados: Brownie McGhee - The Folkways Years (1945-1959)

El Tango y sus invitados: Chet Baker - In Tokyo

Blues: A Msica do Diabo (...devil's music...): A lendria sesso de gravaes do Delta!!!

Blues: A Msica do Diabo (...devil's music...): A lendria sesso de gravaes do Delta!!!: "A lendria sesso de gravaes do Delta!!!
SON HOUSE, CHARLIE PATTON, WILLIE BROWN & LOUISE JOHNSON
(2003) The Legendary Delt Blues Session
Recording date: 1930
Label: P-Vine Japan
Covers: No
Format: OGG VORBIS (128kbps)
Ripped: Jet Audio Plus"

El Tango y sus invitados: Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass - What Now My Love

El Tango y sus invitados: Diana Krall Studio 104(Live)

A Flag Of Blood And Lipstick: Dusty In Memphis - DUSTY SPRINGFIELD

A Flag Of Blood And Lipstick: Dusty In Memphis - DUSTY SPRINGFIELD

Despite its status as a classic record, Dusty in Memphis had less than auspicious beginnings. By 1968 La Springfield had scored a string of chart successes with what she called 'big ballady things' and her decision to make an album in Memphis, home of hard edged R 'n' B grooves, was viewed with puzzlement by many.

Caesar Tjalbo

Soul: You Better Believe It!

"Rare & modern soul gems from the vaults of Atlantic, Atco Cotillion, Reprise and Warner Bros. 1967 - 1978".
Seventies soul is a little slicker than it's 60's variety (all tracks but 3 from 1970 or later, Aretha, Archie and Dynells added for better sales?). See the tracklist as ultimate inspiration to get this CD. Atlantic et al sit on an incredible mountain of soul recordings so the quality of their output doesn't have to be bad and isn't with this CD (or it's volume 2, perhaps tomorrow). Good bunch of songs, compilation (and notes) by Richard Searling.
Booklet has short info on each track and release notes, the whole text is more 'EMI like' than of 'Ace quality', if you catch my drift.

El Tango y sus invitados: Benny Goodman - Beny Goodman Sextet

Informacion del CD

Msica do Bem: Ella Fitzgerald - Misty Blue

Msica do Bem: Ella Fitzgerald - Misty Blue

Ella Fitzgerald - Misty Blue

01-Misty Blue---02:33
02-Walking In The Sunshine---02:34
03-It's Only Love---03:08
04-Evil On Your Mind---02:22
05-I Taught Him Everything He Knows---02:49
06-Don't Let That Doorknob Hit You---02:29
07-Turn The World Around (The Other Way)---02:49
08-The Chokin' Kind---02:05
09-Born To Lose---03:21
10-This Gun Don't Care---02:49
11-Don't Touch Me---02:55

Caesar Tjalbo

The Shadows - Complete Singles As & Bs 1959 - 1980

The Shadows started out as the backing band of Cliff Richard, once a good rocker and popular teen-idol. Having gained recognition and fame on their own, the Shadows were on the frontier of British popular music and scored an impressive string of hits. Their influence on music in general and guitarplaying in particular is immense, Eric Clapton is good but Hank B. Marvin is god!
You'd probably expect only instrumentals and the majority is but Hank Marvin and Bruce Welsh could sing too and display it on a number of songs. Next to vocal experiments you can hear many guitar effects and studio dubs, all done tastefully though.
They continued to a breakup in 1968 and had some reunions in the 1970's, with sometimes a more contemporary sound, disco-like. A few songs later they split up with label EMI in 1980 and that's the end of this box set.
The booklet describes the Shadows career briefly and contains a lengthy section with descriptions of each song and it's context. A few pictures.

Caesar Tjalbo

Fontella Bass - The Very Best Of

"The very best of" is arguable but it's good stuff for sure. This album is one of those cute 'Chess' digipacks with good linernotes, pictures and great selection of music all for a decent price. It's also 'just' the Chess music, so you won't find colaborations with the Turners or her later work with hubby Lester Bowie with The Art Ensemble Of Chicago.
We all know Fontella Bass for her smash hit Rescue Me, the Chess attempt to break Motown's monopoly on hit parade success. Rescue Me also became a source of trouble as Bass didn't get credits for co-authoring the song and ultimately left the label, without ever parallelling that success.
What this compilation proves is that Fontella Bass is a lot greater and more versatile than I thought, knowing only 2, maybe 3 songs, the same ones you always find on cheap soul/60's compilations. She knows her way with jazz, soul and blues and turns all this into something to her own advantage.
You'll get 25 tracks of which the last 3 are duets with Bobby McClure.
Universal / Island 2006

BLUES TOWN (The City Of Blues)

BLUES TOWN (The City Of Blues)

OTIS CLAY
Live
Label: Movie Play
Covers: Yes
Format: mp3 (192kbps)
Ripped: EAC
Size: 102 MB
Born: Feb 11, 1942 in Waxhaw, MS

El Tango y sus invitados: Duke Ellington, Charles Mingus, Max Roach - Money Jungle [Expanded Edition]

Caesar Tjalbo

Bettye LaVette - Take Another Piece Of My Heart

More Bettye, the grande dame with the golden throat. Recordings from 1969 and 1970 for SSS International and Silver Fox records, made with the Dixie Flyers.
Most of the tracks (tracklist on Amazon) were released on single, contrary to the Atlantic sessions of Child of the Seventies, the chronological follow up on this set. A few unreleased songs and 2 duets with Hank Ballard. Great stuff but that goes for all her stuff, check the archives all the way back to January for more Bettye.

360Grauss -Free MP3 - Blues

360Grauss -Free MP3 - Blues

Nina Simone - Ultimate

El Tango y sus invitados: Lee Ritenour - Alive in L.A.

El Tango y sus invitados: Red Garland - The Nearness of You

El Tango y sus invitados: Dinah Washington - For Those In Love

dreams less sweet: Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers

dreams less sweet: Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers

Live in Stockholm 1959

Mojo Magazine - New Issue

New issue of Mojo magazine features another disappointing front cover Foo Fighters

also featured:

THE BEST OF 2009 / THE TOP 50 ALBUMS OF THE YEAR:
As another year slips by, we reflect on the best music of 2009, featuring Animal Collective, Dizzee Rascal, Richard Hawley, Johnny Marr, Florence & The Machine and many, many more. PLUS! The stars reveal the best thing theyve heard all year!

[apparently on sale this Friday according to the Mojo blog: Dave Grohl Unveils Roots of...Vultures - News - Mojo]

Updated: Pitchfork: Staff Lists: The Top 50 Albums of 2009

Completed: Pitchfork: Staff Lists: The Top 50 Albums of 2009

[Summary via ILM: The 2009 Magazine Albums Of The Year Thread For Posting Lists and Discussion.]

here's the Pitchfork list, with the original scores in parentheses:

50. Woods - Songs of Shame (8.3)
49. Cass McCombs - Catacombs (8.2)
48. DOOM - Born Like This (8.0)
47. Zomby - Where Were U in '92? (8.3)
46. Dan Deacon - Bromst (8.5)
45. The Mountain Goats - The Life of the World to Come (8.4)
44. tUnE-yArDs - BiRd-BrAiNs (6.8)
43. Cymbals Eat Guitars - Why There Are Mountains (8.3)
42. A Sunny Day in Glasgow - Ashes Grammar (8.3)
41. Baroness - Blue Record (8.5)
40. Mos Def - The Ecstatic (8.0)
39. Jim O'Rourke - The Visitor (8.3)
38. Major Lazer - Guns Don't Kill People--Lazers Do (8.1)
37. The Antlers - Hospice (8.5)
36. Dinosaur Jr. - Farm (8.5)
35. jj - jj no 2 (8.6)
34. Passion Pit - Manners (8.1)
33. Bibio - Ambivalence Avenue (8.3)
32. Bear in Heaven - Beast Rest Forth Mouth (8.4)
31. Sunn O))) - Monoliths & Dimensions (8.5)
30. Royksopp - Junior (7.9)
29. Yo La Tengo - Popular Songs (7.9)
28. Micachu and the Shapes - Jewellery (7.9)
27. Various Artists - Five Years of Hyperdub (8.2)
26. Bon Iver - Blood Bank EP (7.9)
25. DJ Quik and Kurupt - BlaQKout (8.2)
24. Bill Callahan - Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle (8.1)
23. Memory Tapes - Seek Magic (8.3)
22. Wild Beasts - Two Dancers (8.4)
21. Neko Case - Middle Cyclone (7.9)
20. Real Estate - Real Estate (8.5)
19. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - S/T (8.4)
18. Atlas Sound - Logos (8.2)
17. The Very Best - Warm Heart of Africa (8.6)
16. Antony and the Johnsons - The Crying Light (8.6)
15. Japandroids - Post-Nothing (8.3)
14. Neon Indian - Psychic Chasms (8.6)
13. St. Vincent - Actor (8.5)
12. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz! (8.1)
11. Fuck Buttons - Tarot Sport (9.0)
10. Girls - Album (9.1)
9. Fever Ray - Fever Ray (8.1)
8. Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix (8.5)
7. Bat For Lashes - Two Suns (8.5)
6. Grizzly Bear Veckatimest (9.0)
5. Raekwon - Only Built for Cuban Linx...Pt. II (8.8)
4. The Flaming Lips - Embryonic (9.0)
3. The xx - The xx (8.7)
2. Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca (9.2)
1. Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavillion (9.6)

THE 2009 REVIEW | themilkfactory

THE 2009 REVIEW | themilkfactory including album of the year: - VLADISLAV DELAY - Tummaa

Mixmag Top 50 Albums of 2009

it's a jpeg image, so click to magnify: Mixmag Top 50 Albums of 2009 themixmagtop50albums.jpg (JPEG Image, 745x986 pixels) - Scaled (50%)

New issue of Mixmag on sale today in the UK

Free CD

Free with this months issue is Diplo's 2009 Rewind CD looking back at all the biggest tracks of the year including those by Major Lazer, La Roux vs Skream, Boys Noize, The Prodigy, Chase & Status, Fake Blood, Erol Alkan, Laidback Luke, Felix Da Housecat and many more.

Also

in our features section we give you the rundown of the year with all our charts, naming the top 100 tunes of 2009, the top 50 albums, our clubs of the year, our top 10 DJs, and more charts, graphs and stats than you can shake a glowstick at. We speak to the biggest artists of the year including Major Lazer, La Roux, Skream, Friendly Fires, Aeroplane, Armand Van Helden, Roska, Fake Blood and Showtek. We also investigate how drum 'n' bass thrived, how dubstep developed in '09. We also look back at 18 years of Basics and we round up a decade of dance by kissing goodbye to the naughties.

Terrorizer Top 40 Albums of 2009

Terrorizer Top 40 Albums of 2009

so another Terrorizer album of the year award goes to Converge

1: Converge - Axe To Fall
2: Cobalt - Gin
3: Kylesa - Static Tensions
4: Blut aus Nord - Memoria Vetusta II: Dialogue With the Stars
5: Napalm Death - Time Waits No Slave
6: Mastodon - Crack The Skye
7: Megadeth Endgame
8: Agoraphobic Nosebleed - Agorapocalypse
9: Funeral Mist - Maranatha
10: Immortal - All Shall Fall
11: Drudkh - Microcosmos
12: Beherit - Engram
13: Portal - Swarth
14: Sunn o))) - Monoliths & Dimensions
15: Marduk - Wormwood
16: Absu - Absu
17: Tombs - Winter Hours
18: Burnt By The Sun - Heart Of Darkness
19: Heaven & Hell - The Devil You Know
20: Anaal Nathrakh - In The Constellation Of The Black Widow
21: Arckanum -
22: Baroness - Blue Record
23: Madder Mortem - Eight Ways
24: The Devil's Blood - The Time of No Time Evermore
25: Archgoat - the Light Devouring Darkness
26: Shining - VI - Klagopsalmer
27: Candlemass - Death Magic Doom
28: Hacride - Lazarus
29: Fuckpig - Spewings from A Selfish Nation
30: Amorphis - Skyforger
31: Brutal Truth - Evolution Through Revolution
32: Grey Machine - Disconnected
33: Behemoth - Evangelion
34: Unanimated - In the Light of Darkness
35: Obscura - Cosmogenesis
36: Gnaw Their Tongues - All the Dread Magnificence of Perversity
37: Shrinebuilder - S/T
38: Teitanblood - Seven Chalices
39: Gorgoroth - Quantos Possunt ad Satanitatem Trahunt
40: Evile - Infected Nations

Mojo Magazine's Top 50 Albums of 2009

via: Swear I'm not Paul: List: Mojo Magazine's Top 50 Albums of the Year

Mojo Magazine - Top 50 Albums of 2009

50. Max Richter - Waltz With Bashir OST
49. Raekwon - Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... Pt II
48. Dan Auerbach - Keep It Hid
47. Bruce Springsteen - Working On a Dream
46. The Black Crowes - Before the Frost...

45. Cate Le Bon - Me Oh My
44. Mulatu Astatke & The Heliocentrics - Inspiration Informaton
43. Dead Man's Bones - Dead Man's Bones
42. Doug Paisley - Doug Paisley
41. Mos Def - The Ecstatic

40. Antony and the Johnsons - The Crying Light
39. Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band - Between My Head and the Sky
38. Sonic Youth - The Eternal
37. BLK JKS - After Robots
36. White Denim - Fits

35. Portico Quartet - Isla
34. Wilco - Wilco (The Album)
33. Leonard Cohen - Live in London
32. Wild Beasts - Two Dancers
31. Naomi Shelton and the Gospel Queens - What Have You Done, My Brother?

30. Staff Benda Bilili - Tres Tres Fort
29. Mastodon - Crack the Skye
28. Vetiver - Tight Knit
27. Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba - I Speak Fula
26. Neko Case - Middle Cyclone

25. Alasdair Roberts - Spoils
24. Vieux Farka Toure - Fondo
23. Arctic Monkeys - Humbug
22. The XX - XX
21. Bat for Lashes - Two Suns

20. Manic Street Preachers - Journal for Plague Lovers
19. Sunn O))) - Monoliths & Diamonds
18. Fever Ray - Fever Ray
17. The Phantom Band - Checkmate Savage
16. Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca

15. Kasabian - The West Rider Pauper Lunatic Asylum
14. Mayer Hawthorne - A Strange Arrangement
13. Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest
12. The Low Anthem - Oh My God, Charlie Darwin
11. The Cribs - Ignore the Ignorant

10. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz
09. Madness - The Liberty of Nolton Folgate
08. Fuck Buttons - Tarot Sport
07. Florence & the Machine - Lungs
06. Bob Dylan - Together Through Time

05. Tinariwen - Imidiwan: Companions
04. The Horrors - Primary Colours
03. Richard Hawley - Truelove's Gutter
02. Bill Calahan - Sometimes I Wish I Were An Eagle
01. Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion

Rock-A-Rolla New Issue and Rock-A-Rolla Magazine Top 30 Albums of 2009

New issue of Rock-A-Rolla magazine features Pelican on the front cover: rock-a-rolla.com - Blog Archive - Issue 23 out now!

Featuring:

Pelican Instru-metal heroes return with their brand new album, What We All Come To Need, and gasp! vocals!
Krallice Mick Barr talks black metal
Goatsnake Greg Anderson resurrects another classic band!
Todd Everyones favourite Anglo-American noiserockmongers unleash Big Ripper
Supersilent Norwegian avant supergroup talk Hammond organs and supersilence
Top 30 Albums of 2009 We select our favourite records of the year

Plus: Part Chimp, Subarachnoid Space, Kodiak, Beak>, Junius, Majeure, Conspiracy Records, 2010 preview, over 100 album reviews, live action: Magma, Kayo Dot, Electric Wizard, Mudhoney, Isis and much, much more!

update: Rock-A-Rolla Magazine Top 30 Albums of 2009

via ILM: The 2009 Magazine Albums Of The Year Thread For Posting Lists and Discussion.

1 Zu - Carboniferous (Ipecac)
2 Sunn o))) - Monoliths & Dimensions (Southern Lord)
3 Richard Youngs - Under Stellar Stream (Jagjaguwar)
4 Khanate - Clean Hands Go Foul (Hydra Head)
5 Celan - Halo (Exile On Mainstream)
6 Converge - Axe To Fall (Epitaph)
7 Cobalt - Gin (Profound Lore)
8 Jello Biafra & The Guantanamo School Of Medicine (Alternative Tentacles)
9 El Grupo De Omar Rodriguez Lopez - Cryptomnesia (RLP)
10 Part Chimp - Thriller (Rok Action)
11 Sonic Youth - The Eternal (Matador)
12 Secret Chiefs 3 - Le Mani Destre Recise... (Web Of Mimicry)
13 Pissed Jeans - King Of Jeans (Sub Pop)
14 Kong - Snake Magnet (Brew)
15 Slayer - World Painted Blood (American)
16 Eagle Twin - The Unkindness Of Crows (Southern Lord)
17 Gnaw - This Face (Conspiracy)
18 Baroness - Blue Record (Relapse)
19 The Flaming Lips - Embryonic (Warner)
20 Dlek - Gutter Tactics (Ipecac)
21 The Mars Volta - Octahedron (Mercury)
22 Pelican - What We All Come To Need (Southern Lord)
23 MadLove - White With Foam (Ipecac)
24 Shrinebuilder - S/T (Neurot)
25 Portal - Swarth (Profound Lore)
26 Them Crooked Vultures - S/T (Sony)
27 Bushman's Revenge - You Lost Me At Hello (Rune Grammofon)
28 Mountains - Choral (Thrill Jockey)
29 Minsk - With Echoes In The Movement Of Stone (Relapse)
30 Keelhaul - Triumphant Return To Obscurity (Hydra Head)

Piccadilly Records - Albums Of The Year 2009

Manchester's Piccadilly Records - 100 Albums of the Year: Piccadilly Albums Of The Year 2009 from Piccadilly Records

The Top 50 Albums of 2009 | The Rock Blogger - Highly Recommended Read

one of the best rock / metal end of year lists i have seen this year, a highly recommended read: The Top 50 Albums of 2009 | The Rock Blogger

PopMatters - The Best 60 Albums of 2009

The Best 60 Albums of 2009 - Features | PopMatters including:

40 Passion Pit - Manners
39 Warsaw Village Band - Infinity
38 Yo La Tengo - Popular Songs
37 Baroness - Blue Record
36 Jarvis Cocker - Further Complications
35 Japandroids - Post-Nothing
34 Dinosaur Jr. - Farm
33 Khaled - Libert
32 Akron/Family - Set Em Wild, Set Em Free
31 Pearl Jam - Backspacer
30 Real Estate - Real Estate
29 Dan Deacon - Bromst
28 Brother Ali - Us
27 Buddy and Julie Miller - Written in Chalk
26 St. Vincent - Actor
25 The Decemberists - The Hazards of Love
24 Wilco - Wilco (The Album)
23 The Antlers - Hospice
22 Maxwell - BLACKsummersnight
21 Fuck Buttons - Tarot Sport
20 The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
19 Ryan Bingham & the Dead Horses - Roadhouse Sun
18 The Mountain Goats - The Life of the World to Come
17 Camera Obscura - My Maudlin Career
16 Fever Ray - Fever Ray
15 Mos Def - The Ecstatic
14 Goran Bregovi - Alkohol
13 The Flaming Lips - Embryonic
12 The xx - xx
11 Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Its Blitz!
10 Miranda Lambert - Revolution
9 Girls - Album
8 Mastodon - Crack the Skye
7 Raekwon - Only Built 4 Cuban Linx Part II
6 Neko Case - Middle Cyclone
5 Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
4 Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca
3 The Avett Brothers - I and Love and You
2 Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest
1 Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion

The Wire Records of the Year

The Wire Records of the Year

1 Broadcast & The Focus Group - Investigate Witch Cults of the Radio Age
2 Oneohtrix Point Never - Rifts
3 Bill Orcutt - A New Way To Pay Old Debts
4 Alasdair Roberts - Spoils
5 Sunn 0))) - Monoliths & Dimensions
6 David Sylvian - Manafon
7 Group Doueh - Treeg Salaam
8 Jim O'Rourke - The Visitor
9 Ben Frost - By The Throat
10 King Midas Sound - Waiting For You
11 Harappian Night Recordings - Glorious Gongs of Hainuwele
12 Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca
13 Shackleton - 3EPs
14 Sa-Ra Creative Partners - Nuclear Evolution: The Age of Love
15 AtomTM - Liedgut
16 Mordant Music - SyMpToMs
17 Masayuki Takayanagi - Archive 1
18 Matias Aguayo - Ay Ay Ay
19 Hecker - Acid In The Style Of David Tudor
20 William Basinski - 92982
21 The xx - xx
22 Flower-Corsano Duo - The Four Aims
23 Gary War - Horribles Parade
24 Courtis/Moore - Brokebox Juke
25 Leyland Kirby - Sadly The Future Is No Longer What It Was
26 Group Bombino - Guitars From Agadez Vol 2
27 Peter Evans - Nature/Culture
28 Kevin Drumm - Imperial Horizon
29 Dam Funk - Toeachizown
30 Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion
31 Pan SOnic & Keiji Haino - Shall I Download A Blackhole And Offer It To You?
32 Moritz Von Oswald Trio - Vertical Ascent
33 MEV - MEV 40
34 Black Dice - Repo
35 Emeralds - What Happened
36 Position Normal - Position Normal
37 Belbury Poly - From An Ancient Star
38 Julie Tippetts & Martin Archer - Ghosts of Gold
39 Billy Bao - ay 08
40 Sun Araw - Heavy Deeds
41 Richard Youngs - Under Stellar Stream
42 Subway - Subway II
43 Lionel Marchetti & Oliver Capparos - Equus
44 The Stooges - You Don't Want My Name You Want My Action
45 Eliane Radigue - Triptych
46 Fuck Buffoons - Tarot Sport
47 Glenn Jones - Barbecue Bob In Fishtown
48 Black To Comm - Alphabet 1968
49 Cold Cave - Love Comes Close
50 Hildur Gudnadottir - Without Sinking

Also: Updated: Additional Lists

The Wire - Avant Rock

Billy Bao - May 08
Brainbombs - Fucking Mess
Evangelista - Prince of Truth
Jandek - Portland Thursday
The One Ensemble - Other Thunders
Julian Lynch - Orange You Glad
The Mantles - The Mantles
Bill Orcutt - A New Way To Pay Old Debts
Yasushi Ozawa - Some Fragments Of Bass Performance
Trembling Bells - Carbeth
Kurt Vile - Constant Hitmaker
Gary War - Horribles Parade
Wolf Eyes - Always Wrong
Richard Youngs - Beneath The Valley Of The Ultrahits
Zola Jesus - New Amsterdam

The Wire - Electronica

Alva Noto & Ryuichi Sakamoto - Utp
Cindytalk - The Crackle Of My Soul
Clark - 6 Tracks
Nathan Fake - Hard Islands
Fennesz & Sparklehorse - In The Fishtank
Lawrence English - It's Up To Us To Live
Tim Hecker - An Imaginary Country
Hell - Teufelswerk
Klimek - Movies Is Magic
Stephan Mathieu & Taylor Dupree - Transcriptions
Mountains - Choral
Redshape - The Dance Paradox
Silkie - City Limits
Telefon Tel Aviv - Immolate Yourself
Tu m' - Monochromes Volume One

The Wire - Outer Limits

Astral Social Club - Octuplex
Blood Stereo - Your Snakelike King
Lucio Capece & Mika Vainio - Trahnie
Raymond Dijkstra - L'Opus Ch
Emeralds - What Happened
Richard Garet & Brendan Murray - Of Distance
Grasslung/Pulse Emitter - Grasslung/Pulse Emitter
Russell Haswell - Wild Tracks
Kommissar Hjueler & Mama Baer - Asylum Lunaticum
Lee Patterson - Seven Vignettes
Keith Rowe - Untitled
Ghedalia Tazartes - Repas Froid
Aluk Tolodo - Finistirnis
Mika Vainio - Black Telephone
John Wiese - Circle Snare

via: ILM thanks to NickB for the info: The 2009 Magazine Albums Of The Year Thread For Posting Lists and Discussion

FACT magazine: 100 best: Albums of the Decade

Now completed: FACT magazine: - 100 best: Albums of the Decade

summary via Acclaimed Music Forum

100: PARALLAX CORPORATION- COCADISCO
99: LATE OF THE PIER- FANTASY BLACK CHANNEL
98: SHED- SHEDDING THE PAST
97: ANNIE- ANNIEMAL
96: KARL LINDH- BORTOM E4'S HORRISONT
95: PREFUSE 73- ONE WORD EXTINGUISHER
94: SENKING- LIST
93: CAMERA OBSCURA- LET'S GET OUT OF THIS COUNTRY
92: MISS KITTIN AND THE HACKER- FIRST ALBUM
91: WILCO- YANKEE HOTEL FOXTROT
90: BJRN TORSKE- FEIL KNAPP
89: ZOMBY- WHERE WERE U IN 92?
88: MICHAEL MAYER- IMMER
87: NO AGE- NOUNS
86: COCOROSIE- LA MAISON DE MON REVE
85: REKID- MADE IN MENORCA
84: ANTONY AND THE JOHNSONS- I AM A BIRD NOW
83: GHOSTFACE KILLAH- SUPREME CLIENTELE
82: BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE- YOU FORGOT IT IN PEOPLE
81: NEIL LANDSTRUMM- SHE TOOK A BULLET MEANT FOR ME

80: KODE9 & SPACEAPE- MEMORIES OF THE FUTURE
79: DJ HARVEY- SARCASTIC DISCO VOL. 2
78: THE BUG- LONDON ZOO
77: LIL WAYNE- THE CARTER II
76: THE KNIFE- SILENT SHOUT
75: QUIET VILLAGE- SILENT MOVIE
74: MANITOBA- START BREAKING MY HEART
73: TRUSME- WORKING NIGHT$
72: MONOLAKE- POLYGON CITIES
71: THE SOFT PINK TRUTH- DO YOU WANT NEW WAVE OR DO YOU WANT THE SOFT PINK TRUTH?
70: LUOMO- VOCALCITY
69: VARIOUS ARTISTS- RUN THE ROAD
68: SUNNO))) & BORIS- ALTAR
67: QUASIMOTO- THE UNSEEN
66: RICARDO VILLALOBOS- THE AU HAREM D'ARCHIMEDE
65: THE BOOKS- THE LEMON OF PINK
64: THEO PARRISH- SOUND SCULPTURES
63: FIERY FURNACES- BLUEBERRY BOAT
62: LAWRENCE- THE ABSENCE OF BLIGHT
61: ARCTIC MONKEYS- WHATEVER PEOPLE SAY I AM, THATS WHAT IM NOT

60: MATIAS AGUAYO- ARE YOU REALLY LOST
59: WHITE STRIPES- WHITE BLOOD CELLS
58: HORSEPOWER PRODUCTIONS- IN FINE STYLE
57: STUDIO- WEST COAST
56: RHYTHM & SOUND- W/ THE ARTISTS
55: MATTHEW DEAR- ASA BREED
54: BOREDOMS- VISION CREATION NEWSUN
53: THE XX- THE XX
52: JAN JELINEK- LOOP-FINDING-JAZZ-RECORDS
51: J DILLA- DONUTS
50: DJ SLIMZEE- SIDEWINDER TAPE
49: DAFT PUNK- DISCOVERY
48: OUTKAST- STANKONIA
47: THE STREETS- ORIGINAL PIRATE MATERIAL
46: THE CARETAKER- A STAIRWAY TO THE STARS
45: ELLEN ALLIEN & APPARAT- ORCHESTRA OF BUBBLES
44: NEWWORLDAQUARIUM- THE DEAD BEARS
43: CLIPSE- WE GOT IT 4 CHEAP VOL. 2
42: GODSPEED YOU BLACK EMPEROR- LIFT YR. SKINNY FISTS LIKE ANTENNAS TO HEAVEN
41: BELBURY POLY- THE WILLOWS

40: BEIRUT- THE FLYING CLUB CUP
39: HERBERT- BODILY FUNCTIONS
38: BLACK DICE- BEACHES AND CANYONS
37: CANNIBAL OX- THE COLD VEIN
36: M.I.A.- ARULAR
35: ISOLEE- WE ARE MONSTER
34: 2 MANY DJS- AS HEARD ON RADIO SOULWAX PT. 2
33: JOANNA NEWSOM- YS
32: GAS- POP
31: PINCH- UNDERWATER DANCEHALL
30: WILLIAM BASINSKI- THE DISINTEGRATION LOOPS
29: ACTRESS- HAZYVILLE
28: PORTISHEAD- THIRD
27: ARCADE FIRE- FUNERAL
26: CHROMATICS- NIGHT DRIVE
25: HOT CHIP- THE WARNING
24: KELLEY POLAR- LOVE SONGS OF THE HANGING GARDENS
23: FENNESZ- ENDLESS SUMMER
22: BURIAL- BURIAL
21: CONVEXTION- CONVEXTION

20: KANYE WEST- THE COLLEGE DROPOUT
19: METRO AREA- METRO AREA
18: VAMPIRE WEEKEND- VAMPIRE WEEKEND
17: ARIEL PINKS HAUNTED GRAFFITI- THE DOLDRUMS
16: MAX RICHTER- THE BLUE NOTEBOOKS
15: ROBYN- ROBYN
14: MADVILLAIN- MADVILLAINY
13: BJORK- VESPERTINE
12: PANDA BEAR- PERSON PITCH
11: THE OTHER PEOPLE PLACE- LIFESTYLES OF THE LAPTOP CAF
10: GANG GANG DANCE- SAINT DYMPHNA
09: LCD SOUNDSYSTEM- SOUND OF SILVER
08: PANTHA DU PRINCE- THIS BLISS
07: RADIOHEAD- KID A
06: M.I.A.- KALA
05: JAY-Z- THE BLUEPRINT
04: VILLALOBOS- ALCACHOFA
03: DIZZEE RASCAL- BOY IN DA CORNER
02: THE STROKES- IS THIS IT
01: BURIAL- UNTRUE

Terrorizer Magazine - #191 December 2009

New issue of Terrorizer magazine features Skeletonwitch on the front cover: Terrorizer #191 December 2009 | Terrorizer.com [on sale in the UK on Thursday December 3rd]

Feature Highlights:
SKELETONWITCH CONVERGE DARK FUNERAL WEAPON GAMA BOMB URGEHAL OM DOOMRIDERS RUSSIAN CIRCLES MERRIMACK FU MANCHU SWALLOW THE SUN TOUR REPORT: Insect Warfare SCENE REPORT: Qubcois black metal HENRY ROLLINS DARK RECOLLECTIONS: Overkill's 'Feel The Fire'

FACT magazine: 40 best: Albums of 2009

2009 list from London's FACT magazine: FACT magazine: 40 best: Albums of 2009

40.The Horrors Primary Colours
39.Subway Subway II
38.Black Meteoric Star S/T
37.Girls Album
36.Major Lazer Guns Dont Kill PeopleLazers Do
35.William Basinski - 92982
34.Paul White The Strange Dreams of Paul White
33.Jason Fine Future Thought
32.Hildur Gudnadottier Withour Sinking
31.The Village Orchestra I Can Hear The Sirens Singing Again
30.Hudson Mohawke Butter
29.Legowelt Amiga Railroad Adventures
28.Silk Flowers S/T
27.2562 Unbalance
26.City Center S/T
25.SND Atavism
24.Atlas Sound Logos
23.RSD Good Energy
22.Dam-Funk Toeachizown
21.Moritz Von Oswald Trio Vertical Ascent
20.Ducktails - S/T
19.10-20 - S/T
18.Dirty Projectors Bitte Orca
17.DJ Sprinkles Midtown 120 Blues
16.Shackleton Three EPs
15.Black Dogs Under and Under
14.Desire II
13.Animal Collective Merriweather Post Pavilion
12.Martyn Great Lenghts
11.Leyland Kirby Sadly The Future Is No Longer What It Was
10.Michachu Jewellery
09.Jim ORourke The Visitor
08.Bat For Lashes Two Suns
07.Zomby One Foot Ahead Of The Other
06.Circlesquare Songs About Dancing and Drugs
05.Discovery LP
04.Cold Cave Love Comes Close
03.Omar-S Fabric 45
02.Telepathe Dance Mother
01.The XX XX

RA Poll: Top 20 albums of 2009

RA Poll: Top 20 albums of 2009

Resident Advisor Poll: Top 20 albums of 2009

20. Moderat - Moderat
19. Peverelist - Jarvik Mindstate
18. Black Jazz Consortium - Structure
17. Brock Van Wey - White Clouds Drift On And On
16. Ben Frost - By the Throat
15. Dinky - Anemik
14. Lawrence - Until Then, Goodbye
13. Black Meteoric Star - Black Meteoric Star
12. The Field - Yesterday And Today
11. Fuck Buttons - Tarot Sport
10. 2562 - Unbalance
09. Redshape - The Dance Paradox
08. Ben Klock - One
07. Matias Aguayo - Ay Ay Ay
06. Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion
05. Shackleton - Three EPs
04. Moritz Von Oswald Trio - Vertical Ascent
03. Martyn - Great Lengths
02. Fever Ray - Fever Ray
01. DJ Sprinkles - Midtown 120 Blues

Elizabeth Fraser Interview

Elizabeth Fraser talks about why she finds it too difficult to even think about her old Cocteau Twins bandmates | Music | The Guardian

For 18 years, she was the 'voice of God' in the Cocteau Twins. Now Elizabeth Fraser finds it too difficult even to think about her old bandmates

Moses is out on 7in and download on Rough Trade on 30 November.

A Darker Shade of Pagan: Top Ten of 2009 - Highly Recommended Read

Highly Recommended Read: The Wild Hunt - A Darker Shade of Pagan: Top Ten of 2009 including album of the year: Fever Ray Fever Ray

Decibel mag's Greatest 100 albums of the Decade

Decibel mag's Greatest 100 albums of the Decade | Terrorizer.com

1. Converge - Jane Doe
2. Cave In - Jupiter
3. Opeth - Blackwater Park
4. Isis - Oceanic
5. Mastodon - Remission
6. Katatonia - Last Fair Deal Gone Down
7. Queens of the Stone Age - Songs for the Deaf
8. Iron Maiden - Brave New World
9. Pig Destroyer - Phantom Limb
10. Electric Wizard - Dopethrone
11. Torche - Meanderthal
12. Discordance Axis - The Inalienable Dreamless
13. Baroness - Blue Record
14. Napalm Death - Enemy of the Music Business
15. Pelican - The Fire in Our Throats Will Beckon the Thaw
16. The Red Chord - Clients
17. Converge - Axe to Fall
18. Neurosis - A Sun That Never Sets
19. Melt-Banana - CellScape
20. Agalloch - Ashes Against the Grain
21. Enslaved - Isa
22. Tragedy - Tragedy
23. Fugazi - The Argument
24. Mare - Mare
25. Celtic Frost - Monotheist
26. Jesu - Silver
27. High on Fire - Surrounded By Thieves
28. Dimmu Borgir - Death Cult Armageddon
29. The Dillinger Escape Plan - Miss Machine
30. Andrew W.K. - I Get Wet
31. Mastodon - Leviathan
32. Craft - Fuck the Universe
33. Isis - Panopticon
34. Anaal Nathrakh - The Codex Necro
35. Shellac - 1000 Hurts
36. Witchcraft - Witchcraft
37. Killswitch Engage - Alive or Just Breathing
38. Pig Destroyer - Prowler in the Yard
39. Converge - You Fail Me
40. Deathspell Omega - Fas - Ite, Maledicti, in Ignem Aeternum
41. Primordial - The Gathering Wilderness
42. Opeth - Ghost Reveries
43. Nile - Annihilation of the Wicked
44. Watain - Sworn to the Dark
45. Between the Buried and Me - Alaska
46. Evoken - Quietus
47. Electric Wizard - Witchcult Today
48. Mastodon - Blood Mountain
49. Arsis - A Celebration of Guilt
50. The Dillinger Escape Plan - Ire Works
51. Ludicra - Fex Urbis, Lex Orbis
52. At the Drive-In - Relationship of Command
53. Isis - Celestial
54. Jesu - Jesu
55. Enslaved - Below the Lights
56. Cult of Luna - Somewhere Along the Highway
57. High on Fire - Death Is This Communion
58. Disfear - Live the Storm
59. Dying Fetus - Destroy the Opposition
60. Napalm Death - Time Waits for No Slave
61. Deftones - White Pony
62. Botch - An Anthology of Dead Ends
63. Converge - No Heroes
64. Hatebreed - Perseverance
65. Withered - Memento Mori
66. Leviathan - Tentacles of Whorror
67. Meshuggah - Catch 33
68. Thorns - Thorns
69. Rotten Sound - Murderworks
70. Trap Them - Seizures in Barren Praise
71. Deathevokation - The Chalice of Ages
72. Nachtmystium - Assassins: Black Meddle, Part I
73. Immortal - Sons of Northern Darkness
74. Nasum - Human 2.0
75. Fucked Up - Hidden World
76. Neurosis - Given to the Rising
77. Taint - The Ruin of Nova Roma
78. System of a Down - Toxicity
79. Akercocke - Words That Go Unspoken, Deeds That Go Undone
80. Warhorse - As Heaven Turns to Ash
81. Mayhem - Chimera
82. Gojira - From Mars to Sirius
83. Drowningman - How They Light Cigarettes in Prison
84. Pig Destroyer - Terrifyer
85. Watain - Casus Luciferi
86. Killswitch Engage - The End of Heartache
87. Psyopus - Ideas of Reference
88. The Haunted- The Haunted Made Me Do It
89. Cryptopsy - ...And Then You'll Beg
90. Asunder - Works Will Come Undone
91. Godflesh - Hymns
92. Cathedral - Endtyme
93. The Paper Chase - Now You Are One Of Us
94. Decapitated - Nihility
95. Coalesce - Ox
96. In Flames - Clayman
97. Battle of Mice - A Day of Nights
98. Cobalt - Gin
99. My Dying Bride - The Dreadful Hours
100. Slayer - World Painted Blood

As published in a special themed issue of Decibel magazine: The Decibel Store | Top 100 Albums of the Decade Special Issue

The Wire - #311 | Rewind 2009 | January 2010

New issue of The Wire is a 2009 Rewind special

On The Cover: The Wire's essential review of the year's best music, including Top 50 Records of the Year, writers' and musicians' reflections, and discussions of the state of the art in sound. Plus: Monolake, Janek Schaefer, Josephine Foster's Invisible Jukebox, Position Normal, The Village Orchestra, Yan Jun, Paul Rooney in Cross Platform, Jad Fair, Kodwo Eshun on sonic warfare, Cathi Unsworth on Gallon Drunk and more...

Blues: A Msica do Diabo (...devil's music...)

Blues: A Msica do Diabo (...devil's music...): "JOSH WHITE
Nascimento: 11 de Fevereiro de 1914, em Greenville, South Carolina
Morte: 05 de Setembro de 1969, em Manhaset, New York."

The Broken West...

I may be hopping on the band wagon here (I haven't really checked to see how many other "alternative media outlets" have talked about these guys) but damn this new record from The Broken West is good. It's called I Can't Go On I'll Go On and is as fine an example of power pop sweetness as I've heard in awhile. I've gotta go all the way back to The California Oranges Souvenirs to remember a record with such a consistent ability to make my cynical ass grin.

Here's a Broken West video:

Have a good weekend. Hey look, it's raining in San Francisco. "bout time.

Track A Tiger...

Ok, I think I'm more or less recovered from my bout with the plague. Appetite returning, strength back up, feeling human again. Very nice.

Today's catchy diddy comes via Track A Tiger which doesn't win point for best band name but does charm with a jangly indie rock sound that's sweetened up nicely with boy/girl harmonies. The band sounds very tight, very together, well rehearsed and in possession of some really good melodies. The songs make me think of Trembling Blue Stars and Slow Dazzle. This particular track, notable for the reverb laden guitar line, sounds like a touch of summer to me. Something we're all in need of at this mid-winter juncture.

Track A Tiger - All These Accidents

The Basement...

The Basement makes some straight up toe tapping music. They're from Ireland so inevitably will garner comparisons to Hothouse Flowers and Van Morrison as well as requisite mentions that point towards early U2 and Dylan Thomas. But really they just play a fun brand of blue eyed soul that leans just a little towards pickin' and grinnin' Americana. They're pushing a 5 song EP called The Basement EP on Zealous Records with a full length due in the "spring" (that's nebulous label talk for "we're not sure").

Here's the video for their very catchy song Do You Think You're Moving On

As well as one for I Just Caught A Face

OH MY GOD...

The best part is that the narrator gets as fired up to yell, "UFO Porno!!!", as the Spanish language announcers for soccer games are about yelling, "GOAL!!"

It's Been a while...

hasn't it. Let's see April 3rd was my last post and today is June 27th that means the last time I posted, in internet years, was 2,569 years ago. A good friend convinced me that people actually read this thing and that, perhaps, they deserve some degree of explication. So here I am. I don't think that this means the posts will start flowing again, it just means that maybe I need to get this off my chest.

I'm having a tough time right now. I've been having a tough time for quite a few months. I'm struggling. My job/business is fine. I have a wonderful daughter. But at some point over the last 4 years I really lost touch with someone who is really important to me. It's been a challenging stare into the mirror of late. I've learned a lot and I'm not happy with much of it. At the same time I'm quite aware that what's happened in my life is a 50/50 proposition. Nothing gets as fucked up as it is now without two people willingly jogging down the sweet sweet path of self destruction.

You can probably hear me editing myself as you read this. I have no interest right now in washing my dirty laundry public. Trust me, there are all sorts of folks in all manner of corners of the internet (also known as the www and "the web") who would love to sink their teeth into my story. They can't have it. At least not right now. At least not until I've reached the other side of all this. Until then I will be intentionally vague and you'll just have to deal.

So what's this horse shit got to do with music? Well, it does and it doesn't. One thing I discovered about myself is that I'm really good at hiding from things. I hid from my deep inner heart, that place of maximum vulnerability where you're really alive, by pretending that it didn't exist. I used drugs, sex, and, yes, rock n' roll to assist my delusion. The first two should be obvious, the third not so much. I got to a point where my obsessive blog reading, downloading, unmanageable levels of consumption (I swear I've downloaded stuff like, a year and a half ago from emusic that I haven't even listened to yet, ), self imposed guilt about posting, mental gymnastics regarding my supposed self-importance in this self-important obsessed Music World 2.0 game we're all playing, that you're playing right now. It all just got to a point where it seemed like I was obsessing on something because it was a distraction from what was really going on in my head and my heart. I was ignoring things that were orders of magnitude more important than whatever my next post was going to be and how many hits I was getting.

Maybe it's just me. Maybe I'm the kind of guy that gets carried away. Maybe everyone else out there reading Pitchfork and Stylus and Brooklyn Vegan and trying to find obscure Arcade Fire tracks is normal and I'm not. I'm happy to take that criticism because ultimately the finger I'm pointing only points at me and at my life. For now I'm desperately trying to find perspective. I'm trying hard to get through what has been and will continue to be the most difficult time of my life. It all will pass one way or another and then I'll wake up one day hear a song and think "that's just plain and simple a great tune, other people need to hear it". I'll post something on that day. Otherwise, thanks for your thoughts (if you're thinking about some random guy you don't know with some very unspecified life issues) and for reading. And thanks for asking about me. That's really meant a lot.

Peace,

Pete

Shipwreck...

Shipwreck, which is a fairly straight forward rock outfit that turns it up and shakes some ass at ya should not be confused with this band called Shipwreck who are, I'm sure, very nice young men and women but are Jesus obsessed and for a variety of reasons I just can't go there. I don't like the policies and couldn't work for that company. Anyway Shipwreck the secular. Now this band I can get behind: muscular guitar work, palpable passion, a little new wave kitsch, those mysterious elements that make rock and roll, it's all there. They're also keen on releasing lots of EPS, I like that, fits my attention span.

Lots of music from Shipwreck:

point yourself here for the complete list

A couple of highlights:

A Walk In The Woods

Orpan

Assorted Musicoloy & Pernicious Apologizing...

The old up keep of the blog has been lacking lately, but I've been feeling a bit beaten down. Work is busy as a beaver in the redwoods which is a blessing and a curse, the personal life is mangled at best and is naturally draining emotionally, physically. Everything (= life) makes the management of a music blog rather low on the priority scale. I did manage to catch a show last week at The Hotel Utah. It was the wonderous Our Lady of the Highway with the much blogged about (I'm guilty here because I think he's great) Adam Arcuragi and a Washington Dc area band called These United States. A really great bill. All the bands produced some really stunning music. The highlight was during Arcuragi's set when he was backed by the other bands on his final song. It was clear there was a real affection between all the players. This heartfelt camaraderie produced such an effusive outbreak of music that as the whole gang leaned into Arcuragi's chorus of "oh lord, come and take me home" I swear the room was filled with a light the color of rose. An excellent night of music. Catch Arcuragi if you're able he puts on an excellent show and is touring all over the place at the moment.

I was unfamiliar with These United States but was suitably impressed with their country inflected take on 70's AM rock. Oft times gentle and melancholy, other times more forceful and insistent in their melodies. They're like a hoedown held at on AA meeting or a barn dance in a decrepit urban warehouse or a shindig with slide guitars on a sinking boat.

some songs from These United States:

The Business

Kings And Aces

Today, some reading...

Everybody and their Uncle Hank has something to say about file sharing and its link to the demise or resurgence of music today. Personally, I usually ignore all articles because I'm just sick of hearing about it. But today I read a piece on file sharing by Okkervil River's Will Sheff. I've interviewed Sheff and like him. It goes without saying that I think Okkervil is one of the finest bands playing today. So this one I read. It's well thought out and touches many of the points, concerning both the state of music and the necessary evil of file sharing, that I find myself pondering to some degree. I've included the link and the text.

The Link

The Text:

Over the nine-odd years that we in Okkervil River have been trying to
make a living playing music, I've developed a kind of love/hate
relationship with the world of file-sharing. The first good job I ever
had was at the website Audiogalaxy.com, where I drew a respectable
salary for writing music reviews and editorials as a kind of
not-very-convincing camouflage for what was at the time one of the
world's largest file-sharing networks. At the time, my attitude about
file-sharing was that it didn't particularly hurt artists most of
whom were being ripped off by their labels anyway (it's a little known
fact that very few musicians actually make any money off of record
sales) rather, it helped spread the word about their music to people
who, if they liked it enough, would buy the CD. I felt that the party
who genuinely had cause to be frightened of file-sharing weren't the
tiny little indie bands but the colossal major labels; if you put out
a Britney Spears CD with only one good song on it, I figured, people
would just steal the one song and no one would buy the CD. When
feeling grand usually after one or two of the free 20 oz. Mountain
Dews available in our office kitchen fridge and a few rounds at the
Nerf hoop I'd imagine a new and digitally reinvigorated world in
which sales of major-label behemoths like Britney and Creed would
plummet, in which major labels would topple, in which culture would be
reinvented as a kind of meritocracy where anyone with artistic
ambitions could draw a decent living by setting up a PayPal tip-jar on
their little corner of the internet. Don't laugh you thought that, too.

About a year later, the RIAA finally came gunning for Audiogalaxy and
shut us down. The dot-com crash hit, and everyone started wondering
where the money was. I was taken into the special room at my offices
the one with the big, soft leatherette couches, the one reserved for
hiring and firing and fired. I loaded a box with my belongings and a
pair of stolen Sony headphones and drove home from the gutted
Audiogalaxy offices. A couple of weeks later I cast my lot with
Okkervil River, and I headed out on my first major tour. I've spent
more than half of the intervening five years on the road. After tour
upon tour of paying more for gas than we were making at the shows, of
skipping meals, of asking people in the sparse crowds we drew if any
of them had available floor space where we could spend the night, I've
finally managed to make it pay enough so that I draw roughly the same
salary as a clerk at a 7-11. I use that comparison solely
descriptively, as I couldn't be possibly be happier to be making a
living doing what I love. At the same time, with no health insurance
and no house and no idea how long my "music career" will last, it's
kind of become everything I have. I try to use that fact as reason to
throw all of my energy and my care into every single thing that I do;
as a result, my attitude about file-sharing has become more
complicated now that it has a direct impact on my life.

I'm not sure if file-sharing impacts our sales enough for it to hurt
us. Sometimes I suspect that it does other times I'm glad people get
a chance to be exposed to our music. I do know that there's a
subscription-based service called Sound Scan that all industry
professionals labels, booking agents, promoters, publicists look
at regularly. Sound Scan estimates how many records you've sold in
stores and over the internet, and it is used to determine how "big"
you are. If you're angling to have the opening slot on a lucrative
tour or trying to get signed to a new label and someone takes a look
at your Sound Scan numbers and doesn't like them, it's over. That's an
aspect of file-sharing that I'm not sure people take into account. In
any case, I honestly don't care quite as much about the commercial
implications of file-sharing because they're basically out of my
control and I guess that inside I still do take the view that
file-sharing can be radically empowering to fans and that I can trust
those same fans to buy the records.

My real concerns with file-sharing are primarily aesthetic.

There's a story by Jorge Lus Borges called "The Library of Babel." It
describes a fantastical library composed of an apparently infinite
number of identical rooms. Each room contains 1,050 books. Printed on
the pages are words whose lettering and order are apparently random.
Because the library is complete, among the gibberish it also contains
every book that is possible, every book that could ever be written. It
also contains every imaginable variation of every book possible,
whether that variation is off by thousands of letters or by a single
comma. Borges adds that it must contain, somewhere, a book that
explains the meaning and origin of the library itself just as it
contains thousands of variations of that book, true and false. He
writes, "When it was proclaimed that the Library contained all books,
the first impression was one of extravagant happiness. All men felt
themselves to be the masters of an intact and secret treasureAs was
natural, this inordinate hope was followed by an excessive depression."

The internet with its glut not only of information but of
misinformation, and of information that is only slightly correct, or
only slightly incorrect fills me with this same weird mixture of
happiness and depression. I sometimes feel drowned in information,
deadened by it. How many hundreds of bored hours have you spent
mechanically poring through web pages not knowing what you're looking
for, or knowing what you're looking for but not feeling satisfied when
you find it? You hunger but you're not filled. Everything is freely
available on the internet, and is accordingly made inestimably
valuable and utterly value-less.

When I was a kid, I'd listen to the same records over and over and
over again, as if I was under a spell. The record would end and I'd
flip it over again, doing absolutely nothing, letting the music wash
over me. My favorite record albums become like a totem for me, their
big fat beautiful gatefolds worked as a shield against the loud,
crashing, crushing world. I would have laid down my life and died in
defense of a record like Tonight's the Night or Astral Weeks. I felt
that those records had, in some ways, saved my life. These days, with
all the choice in the world, it's hard for me find the attention span
for a single album. I put my iPod on shuffle and skip impatiently to
the next song before each one's over. I don't even know what I'm
looking for.

Because my work is the most important thing in the world to me, I
sometimes feel uncomfortable about it existing freely in the digital
Library of Babel, these songs that I worked so hard writing and
revising and rehearsing and recording and mixing (and re-mixing) and
mastering (and re-mastering) shucked off the album and thrown up on
the internet in hissy and brittle low-resolution versions with no kind
of sequence or order, mixed in with odd leaked tracks and some sub-par
live versions. In a world overstuffed with stimuli and choking on
information, I feel like a musical album should have a kind of purity
and a kind of wholeness, that every aspect of an album from the
sequencing to the artwork even down to the typesetting should feels
labored over and loved, and that the finished product should feel like
a gift.

At the same time, I am a very ardent supporter of the way in which the
internet empowers fans. I truly believe that the internet allows fans
to connect with and participate in art in a way that's far more
meaningful than it's been for decades, in a way that's more akin to
the way folk music worked in the 1920's and for hundreds of years
beforehand. Anyone who has ever been to a perfect rock show by their
favorite band in a small venue can testify to the circuit of energy
that is created at those shows between the audience and the band, to
the way that energy washes up onstage from the crowd and is radiated
back out again from the performers, to the way that it becomes less
about an artist and an audience and it becomes entirely about a
singular unrepeatable shared moment between a group of people. That's
why I go to shows, and that's why I play music myself.

By the same token, those same great shows don't always sound the same
when you run a line out from the soundboard into a minidisk player and
put it up online. For one thing, soundboard tapes are notoriously bad;
everything that's supposed to resonate through the air like drums
and amps gets lost, while everything that's miked or going direct
sounds dry and ten times louder. Similarly, all those other ineffable
things that resonate through the air those things that are the
reason we go to rock shows in the first place simply can't be
captured through a line-out on a soundboard. I've heard a lot of the
Okkervil bootlegs out there; some of them sound great and some of them
make me wince. I don't mind that they're out there and I encourage
bootlegging, but sometimes it's painful for me to contemplate how
there are hours and hours of terrible-sounding Okkervil River music
readily available on the internet.

We're going on tour again in the fall and we'll probably be playing
some new songs. I love sharing new songs and refining them live in
front of people. However, I'm going to save some of the new songs for
our next recording session in spite of the fact that we could use
the rehearsal for the simple reason that I don't want them to be
heard first in versions that are inferior because we're still working
through them and they're poorly from soundboards. I'm not at all
asking that you don't record and share shows; rather, I myself am
going to try to choose some songs that I'm okay having shared in early
versions.

Just as long as when the album comes out you don't do that thing on
the message board where you go, "hrumph, I much prefer the earlier
version better, by the way. I find so much more pure the version from
Madison where Will's guitar is out of tune and he's so wasted that he
forgets half the words and then apologizes and starts the song over.
And then he forgets them again." --

Pink Nasty...

Sorry but I've beens skiing. Now I'm back all limbs in tact. Have you heard any of the new Pink Nasty Mold The Gold? Very good record. You'll be surprised. Here's something to watch and listen to:

Oh My but it's just getting silly...

No tunes today. But some interesting things to think about.

Thing #1. Ok, so does anyone else think that perhaps the Boston Police Department has gone just a little bit over the top on the whole guerilla marketing campaign mistaken for a bomb thing? I suppose I understand on some level why it might cause a panic, but the official reaction to this whole thing is totally absurd. Some choice words: the stunt was "outrageous" (The Mayor), "unconscionable" (Police commissioner), "a product of corporate greed" (The Mayor again). But here's my personal favorite: from US Assistant Attorney General John Grossman, "Assistant Attorney General John Grossman called the light boards "bomblike" devices and said that if they had been explosive they could have damaged infrastructure and transportation in the city." Hey guess what John? My car could be a "bomb like" device except that it's not. So, John, what's a "bomblike" device? Maybe something with a battery and wires and lights? Uh oh, don't set down your PSP on the subway. And those blinky lights on bicycles? Fuck me you terrorist bikers, your evil reign must end right now.

Of course all this simply means that the guerilla marketing campaign was a huge fucking smashing success. Now everyone know what a Mooninite is and at least some of them will watch the show.

So the guys who put up the lighted Mooninites are being cited for "placing a hoax device that causes panic". Well, it wasn't a hoax and the people who caused the panic were our valued officials. It just goes to show you what a little creativity and imagination will get you these days. In other interesting news a Super Bowl advertiser has pulled their ad from the game broadcast due to the fact that they feared it might cause panic. The ad involved a simulated alien invasion. I'm just kidding.

In order to keep this thing music related you guys need to check out iConcertCal. It's an add on to iTunes that searches your music library, compares it to a concert touring schedule and then gives you a calendar of when bands in your iTunes will be playing in your town. Pretty cool.

iConcertCal

New Pernice Video...

Super low budget for a great song.

WOW!!!....

Have you seen this? Brilliant and odd.

Stories...

I like to write. I'm not particularly adept at it and spend too little time editing (especially here) but I get an emotional satisfaction from simply trying to move an idea from my head to the page. I'm not good at opening myself up emotionally, I could go on and on about why I think that is but at the end of the day, that's simply who am I. Some people are very good at living as an open wound, vulnerable and giving of their emotional selves. This is good, I think. It certainly takes a lot of the difficulty out of managing personal relationships. It's easier to deal with an open book then a brick wall.

Ok where am I going with this. While this is obviously a completely non-music related post it is about the only other thing as engaging as music. That thing, for me, is stories. The act of telling others about parts of our lives, bits and pieces that are funny, sad, scary, unsettling, uncomfortable, is such a basic human connection that I think we forget that it is incredibly freeing and empowering.

Now for the part with the link. If you live in NYC maybe you're already familiar with The Moth, a not-for-profit storytelling organization, I just recently got wind of it and think that's pretty fucking cool.

If you have time during your day listen to some of the stories on the site. When you're done write something down, or better tell it to someone else.

Stories told at The Moth

Berg Sans Nipple...

More weird and good from our friends at Team Love. I don't know squat about Berg Sans Nipple aside from what my ears have told me. And they've told me that Berg Sans Nipple projects an odd confluence of electronica, percussion, rock and pop that ends up soundinng like Apostle of Hustle on mushrooms playing in a vineyard of Pinot Noir grapes. I think they're french. They've got an EP called Along The Quai that came out on Jan. 23rd and seems to possess the ability to light a fire of buzz on par with Funeral if given the chance. Good odd stuff, takes a few listens to digest but then blossoms into a full fledged jaw dropper.

1 from Along The Quai:

Mystic Song

Malajube...

Malajube got some critical love last year for their album Trompe-L'Oeil but never reached the buzzy heights of, say, Arcade Fire or Broken Social Scene to name just two of the many Canadian bands that have been owning the indie scene during the last three years. It's too bad that Malajube hasn't gotten the same attention because they're easily as good if not better than many of the buzziest or the buzzy buzz buzz bands. Maybe it's because they sing in French. I know that probably puts off must indie rock kids like subtitles in movies put off 12 year olds. But give Malajube a listen and a chance and they'll blow your socks off. You'll find yourself thinking why didn't I hear about these guys last year? Oh wait they're not singing in English. That puts me off. It all makes sense now. But it's so good. I must continue to listen, put aside petty intellectual arguments about the need to understand the lyrics to get the full effect. Must get French to English dictionary.

Some videos from Malajube:

Montreal -40

Pate Filo

Fille a Plumes

Le Metronome

The Rosebuds...

The Rosebuds got my attention with Birds Make Good Neighbors which was a pretty compelling mix of reverb drenched pop songs that mixed bittersweet lyrics with boy/girl harmonies. It was damn good.

On April 10 Merge Records will release The Rosebuds' Night Of The Furies, an album inspired by the mythological creatures. In fact to a large degree the lyrical content of Night of the Furies is a recounting of the "furies" myth. Now if you recall from your freshman Greek 101 class the Furies were three monsterous women charged with keeping everyone in line. The punished all those that violated sensible societal codes like, you dont' kill your mom or dad, be nice to strangers, keep your word, etc. The Rosebuds inject this myth with a classic love story that acts as a structure for the bands' exploration of romantic tension, love and betrayal. According to the band there is a narrative arc through the album's nine songs. I can't recount the story as yet, but a few more listens...

The most arresting thing about Night of the Furies is the Rosebuds new attachment to beat and bass. In many aspects this a dance record begging for additional remixing by James Murphy or Diplo. The beats run deep in a way the Birds Make Good Neighbors only hinted at. A song like "Get Up Get Out" is straight up disco, and that's not a bad thing. There's still pleny of hook and melody, particularly in keyboard runs and synth licks. The guitar is just a layer this time around, supporting the songs, usually buried below the surface of the mix, popping up now and again with ringing chime, but the muscle of the melody is left to the vocals and the keyboards.

It's an excellent effort that separates itself from the band's earlier work not in the interest of simply being different or contrarian, but in a logical exploration of where they can push their talents.

from Night of the Furies:

Cemetery Lawns

The Broken Family Band...

The Broken Family Band are a group of cheeky brits doing their damnedest to tackle to uniquely American idiom of countrified rock. They do a pretty good job. Of course it's far from authentic, but the very notion of authentic in today's musically global world gets progressively more and more laughable with each passing day that I wonder why I even mentioned it. The Broken Family Band plays a brand of country rock very similar to what The Dying Californian does. It's a slight twang generously coated with indie rock guitars and a grand melody. There's nothing terribly ground breaking here, but when it's done well it's very satisfying. The video for the song "It's All Over" is an example of "done well". It's got the slow build to crashing crescendo, a slow tightening of tensions that's as good as a well executed hand job. The video itself is a pretty entertaining construct. The visuals are taken from a silent movie in which two complete strangers were asked to sit in a room and stare at each other without speaking for an hour.

Enjoy.

Racing Paper Planes...

If Tract Records isn't on your radar you should really make it a habit to check the site regularly or to get on their email list. They've got a quality roster and do some pretty cool things with their 4 way split EPs that I mentioned a week or so ago. Much like Turn Records, another small label favorite, Tract Records is clearly in it to fight the good fight. By that I mean to champion music they believe in, create community, and hopefully break even.

Here's the latest singles from the folks at Tract:

Racing Paper Planes - In Company of Ghosts.

Have Fun, I'm not...

Junior Senior. It helps sometimes.

Manchester Orchestra...

I'm blown away. At last a record that grabs my attention and holds it. I've listened to Manchester Orchestra's I'm Like A Virgin Losing A Child incessantly for the last week.

First things first: Manchester Orchestra is from Atlanta, GA. And their kids. By kids I mean they're all around 19 or so, kids to a man of my advanced age. That youthful energy is palpable on I'm Like A Virgin Losing A Child, it infuses the record with purpose in a way. It's most certainly a musical statement produced by the passions of youth. There are odes to broken hearts and weightier issues of deceased parents, real heart on the sleeve stuff that might make you want to hurl accusations like "emo" at the band, but don't be too hasty. There's something far more imaginitive and inventive going on than your garden variety cookie cutter emo rock schlock here. Does it not rock? Why yes it does rock. Does it not get quiet and emotional? Why yes it does get quiet and introspective. But the album does both these things in unexpected ways, or at least in ways as unexpected as you can get within the confines of rock and pop songs. It's emo with imagination, emo that resents the tag and wants you to show you why. It's The Weakerthans without the politics. The Shins with no shine and more guts.

I'll admit that at times it's totally overblown. But that's what youth does, youth makes big weighty pronoucements and acts like it knows everything. When you get older you realize that you didn't know everything at 20 or 21 or even 25, and there's a hell of a lot more subtlety and hair splitting in the world than you realized. But that kind of stuff comes later in life, right now for Manchester Orchestra life is an open wound that bleeds music. It sounds pretty killer.

1 from I'm Like A Virgin Losing A Child:

The Neighborhood Is Bleeding

Bill Callahan...

In April Drag City will release the first solo album by Bill Callahan entitled Woke On A Whaleheart. You may only know Mr. Callahan from his day job which is being the primary mover and songwriter for Smog. This of course begs the question, why a "solo" record and not another Smog record. This is splitting hairs which need not be split, especially when Woke On A Whaleheart is no less then some of Callahan's most dramatic and wonderful work yet.

Callahan, no matter what guise he's playing under, has always been brave enough to follow his muse no matter where it might lead him. Fortunately, he's always had the artistic freedom to explore genre, to find a voice, and to develop artistically. This is a rarity in today's music world. If Woke On A Whaleheart is where all the experimentation has lead, then there should be an insistence that musicians once again be allowed to fully engage in their craft unhindered by the petty demands of the market.

Callahan's body of work should be should be an American treasure in the same way that Raymond Carver's short stories should be lauded as one of finest cultural jewels, uniquely American and powerfully aware of its environment. It is in this sense, one of cultural value, that Woke On A Whaleheart takes on an aura of an artistic high water mark for Callahan.

As on all of Callahan's projects his deep baritone and it's languorous delivery anchor each song. The songs feel expansive musically, touching on gospel, country, rock, each song filled with subtle changes and slowly building layers. The album is near impossible to pigeonhole as a genre. It simply seems stamped as American, a look both backward and forward at our cultural tectonics and the slowly evolving chasms and collisions that make it fascinating.

Lyrically, again much like Ray Carver, Callahan understands the power of simply placing a word within a sentence, a lyric, a line. He's a master of brevity and the power that it can wield when used correctly. So much is said in small moments, carefully crafted. Unlike Carver Callahan doesn't have a particular affection for the suburban relationships that Carver seemed near obsessed with chronicling in their various states of disrepair and disintegration. The world of Woke On A Whaleheart is more pastoral, as if he's embodying a small town's pace and attitude.

It's an excellent album that only gets better with each listen.

1 song from Woke On A Whaleheart:

Sycamore

A written word...

Watching Young Couples with an Old Girlfriend On Sunday Morning

How mild these young men seem to me now
with their baggy shorts and clouds of musk, as if younger brothers of the
women they escort in tight black leather, bangs and tattoos, cute little
toughies, so Louise Brooks annealed

in MTV, headed off for huevos rancheros
and the Sunday Times at some chic, crowded dive. I don't recall it at all this
way, do you ? How sweetly complected and confident they look, their faces
unclouded by the rages

and abandoned, tearful couplings of the night before, the drunkenness, beast savor and
remorse. Or do I recoil from their youthfulness and health ? Oh, not recoil, just fail to see
ourselves. And yet, this tenderness between us that remains

was mortared first with something dark, something feral, we still refuse, we still refuse to name.

-by August Kleinzahler

Fountains of Wayne on Pitchfork...

This 3.0 review of Fountains of Wayne's Traffic And Weather is thoroughly misguided that it provoked me to write. I'd like to ask pitchfork to please stop intellectualizing music until there's nothing left but bland ideas that the band, in all likelihood, didn't even intend. It's just this attitude that leads indie rock shows to be hands jammed in pockets nerd fests. God forbid you shake your ass or yell something stupid like, "it's time to rock, motherfucker!!" That would break that aura of uber cool that so many spend so much time cultivating.

Traffic And Weather isn't high art. It is a collection of great pop songs full of hook and wry lyricism. Sit back, enjoy, roll the windows down and stop thinking to fucking much.

Man, thank God that Christgau got it right

Death has become me...

not really it just feels like it. I've been felled by some terrible bird/porcupine flu combo. Trust me it sucks. I don't ever get sick. I think the last time was like six years ago, which means I should amend my prior statement to "I only get sick every six years". But I do it right. Fever, chills, the whole nine yards. I think I'm getting better.

Now it's been both a blessing and a curse that my 7 year old daughter has been sick at the same time as me. I now have seen every episode of Spongebob Squarepants (that could construed as either a blessing or a curse), I actually like a show called Avatar, and may stick my foot in a garbage disposable in order to get out of ever watching another episode of Jimmy Neutron. One cool thing I did discover was a show called Jack's Big Music Show. It's a kids music show hosted by a couple of puppets (I think they're dogs) who sing catchy songs about their various predicaments and plans. Very entertaining. But the really cool thing are the short videos and guest stars the creators have throughout the show. Very catchy pop songs that make sick kids and dads happy. And then, get this, I find that Andrew Bird guested on the show as Dr. Stringz and performed one of the catchiest songs ever. Here it is:

Just fantastic. Makes me even hungrier for the new Bird record. Ok. That's about all I can manage.

basically Modest Mouse...

I like Modest Mouse OK, my wife really likes them a lot. I enjoyed the last record even when "Float On" became as prevalent as Salvation Army bells around Christmas. I must say the new single from the upcoming We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank is kinda killer. In order for you to enjoy the clever and witty video that accompanies the song I'm linking to MTV's Subterranean Blog because they got it. I don't endorse MTV in general but I totally geeked on Subterranean when it was called 120 Minutes. In fact I think I'd have to cite 120 Minutes as a major influence in my youthful move away from Bruce Springsteen and Men At Work and towards Madness, The Specials, and Squirell Bait. OK, I've assuaged my misguided guilt to some degree. Now follow the link because the video has a maritime theme and I love the sea.