i just happened to have 13 remaining downloads, the total number of 'The Thrill of the Hunt' disc, so i picked it up, figuring it to be a sign of some kind. going through the first listen right now. lyrically and vocally closer to neutral milk but the quieter guitar strumming is reminiscent of earlier elliot smith and heatmiser. i'm doing a lot updating of spreadsheets and other somewhat tedious work today so i'm enjoying listening to some interesting music in the background.

also occasionally looking around for any albums that would qualify for 'worse' covers and realize that there are far more good covers than bad. for example, if you troll through the list of albums released in 2006 at metacritic.com, you'll see what i mean.

found a more interesting set of 'best of' lists at popmatters.com. most of the hip-hop is what i'm seeing in most places but the indie list contains many unfamiliar artists, and there are plenty of free mp3 links and youtube clips for each entry. just realized that if i ever decide to pursue a music career, it will be in electronic music, where the competition isn't as fierce; if herbert and the latest basement jaxx (a truly godawful album) can make a best of list, pretty much anybody can. enjoy.