A favourable review of the new Arcade Fire in The Guardian raises a good point, much discussed here, about the effect of time on the perceived importance or greatness of any rock album. Looking back to say, the year 2000, are there any albums that you once pronounced as 'genius' or 'the greatest' but would in retrospect, you'd like to take back, or at least maybe withdraw some of the hyperbole? And yes, I'm looking first at you, Mr. Watson.

A decade on, I'm probably a lot less bullish now about Lauryn Hill's debut solo disc or Moby's Play or Fatboy Slim or Buena Vista Social Club or even the second Oasis album, Morning Glory, which I listened to a lot in 95 and 96 and now don't really have any interest in hearing. In 2000, they probably would have been on my top 100 list, if not of all time, then at least of the previous twenty years.

Though a fan of music, I've been there.

Cool bands covering cool bands.


Superchunk covers The Cure

Ah, for anything that could be described as 'languid'. Alas, my lack of posting is not due to any long and peaceful sojourns at a cottage but for the fact that my work schedule has not slowed down one lick. I'm eyeing the second week of August for a few days of needed downtime but until then, the pace should continue. And while internet access is available wherever I roam, often the last thing I want to do at the end of the day is type more words into the laptop. Okay, enough with the pity party....

One of the actual perks of business travel is having the time to actually listen to music that I've purchased or, like yesterday, listen to some interesting stuff on satellite radio's Sirius XMU while driving between Austin and Dallas. Back in the office today and with those tunes and the tunes I listened to on the three hour plane ride home, some good finds for me of late, most emusicable:

Tame Impala - Inner Speaker - seems a little too derivative at first--Beatles-esque is an understatement at times--but repeated listens reward with interesting forays into summery psychelia; tracks to check out: It is Not Meant to Be, Why Won't You Make Up Your Mind

Zeus - Say Us - Beatles, Strokes, others but quite good; tracks to check out: Fever of the Time, Kindergarten

Wild Nothing - Gemini - sweet summery pop; tracks to check out: Summer Holiday, Chinatown

The Whitefield Brothers - Earthology - ostensibly a Hip-Hop album, there's very little hip hop and lots of afro-jazz flourishes; tracks to check out: Safari Strut, Sad Nile

Also finally sucumbed to the new LCD Soundsystem, which worked its way into my wheelhouse with repeated listens and cranked up volume, its mix synth pop and distortion creating a kind of nice summery happy groove. Previous releases featured some hit and misses for me but this album pretty much works in its entirety.

Some others but that's a good start for now. Back to the grind....

The blog has a distinctly languid summery feel to it.

By which I mean, nobody is contributing anything. Have we all stopped listening to music? Have we begun cheating on the blogsters - joining other blogs with way cooler, younger guys (I'll rule out girls for this crowd)? Or is it deeper....is music no longer providing you with the outlet for angst, euphoria, and melancholy that it did when you wre younger? Are you depressed? Do you find yourself drinking alone, in the afternoon a lot?

So what has everyone been purchasing of late? Some potentially good new releases out there - new Stars, new Teenage Fanclub, Band of Horses, New Pornographers, LCD Soundsystem, Pernice Bros, countless more.

Had a great time in NYC, managed to find a day to go record shopping, and found my favourite shop yet, up on the 8th floor of an old building on 26th street in Chelsea. Ended up buying about 15 releases, a mix of vinyl and CD, 50-70's jazz, all for $140. Awesome.

Noticed this new mag reviewed in the Globe on the weekend and thought the concept was intriguing: Music We Hate, wherein writers wax angry on cherished indie and not so indie-bands. Also figured that someone harshing on Pavement (Brian, me) Belle and Seb (Derek, Stuart) would prompt some cries of outrage. After you all get back from vacay, that is.

Update: Having read the first few, I'm not necessarily compelled to go and grab the magazine, though I would like to check Carl Wilson's take on Radiohead.