New Deerhunter disc is getting a lot of positive reviews. Deservedly so, imo. Builds on Microcastles but adds a tighter poppier style without sounding too overproduced or polished. Only two listens in, mind, but catchy stuff.

Interesting list but I'd probably only cry at half of these and then only if there were no way for me to turn them off.

Figured one of you would be on here making a case for early Max Webster...at which point, your posting priviledges would have been indefinitely suspended. Also applies if you vote for Mr. Ford.

You had to ask didn't you. So enjoy

Thanks, Stu. I figured if I couldn't be at the show and enjoy a meaningful exchange with a set of talented musicians then I could at least crap on you for having had the chance to do so. I'm wondering, though, when HH became the placeholder for middle age-itude? Trying to think of another a tv show that screams 'middle age' but can't think of one; the first thought that came to mind was 'Matlock', but that's really more closely associated with the blue-haired set (and Grandpa Simpson).

Btw...was trolling through Toronto election thoughts last night on twitter and came across a tweet that used a musical analogy to describe the paucity of choices facing the electorate next month: "It's like being asked to pick your favourite Kim Mitchell song". Shudder. Indeed.

This really is nifty, golly its such a good show..

well ummm thanks Kyle........that has to be the most professionally delivered insult I have had in some time....I have to admire the style...well done...I will go back to my uninspired middle aged life watching reruns of Hogans Hero's now...

I believe your story, Stu, but I'm wondering what it says about rock and roll these days. Not the part about the music and the change of style but the lack of grand debauchery and distant hero worship of concerts past. At last month's Lou Barlow show, the former Sebadoh/Folk Implosion frontman was selling t-shirts and cds during the opening act. Now a band like Midlake, who at one time may have dreamed of post-concert coke and groupie romps, instead face half-empty venues and questions about their musical influences from Stuart. Hope I don't become a rock star when I grow up.

Went to see Midlake and Rogue Wave last Friday night at the opera house with some friends ...and no Derek was not with us as some members of the book club suspected...

Midlake was fantastic, thoroughly enjoyed the show...Rogue wave was not very exciting,
kind of mid tempo indie rock without a interesting sound or decent hooks, perhaps they are better on disc..

After the show we went to a bar nearby and met the lead members of Midlake..I realise that most of you will not believe me due to my earlier Don henley prank, but I have witnesses to prove it and lets face it Midlake is not exactly at the superstar level)..

It was great because I find the change of songwriting from the Fleetwood Mac-escque 2nd album, to the fairport convention-esque 3rd album quite abrupt and not exactly a great comercially driven decision because aside from myself and a few other deluded fellow lovers of british folk rock , this is unlikely to light a fire with todays youth. This was evident in the only half full house in attendance.

So I put it as politley as I could to the lead songwriter; as to why the abrupt change is sound between the albums.. I was expecting that he would say someone introduced him to the sounds of fairport cionvention or the solo carrers of denny or thompson, or steeleye span / pentangle etc....hoping to get into a great discussion on the severly neglected merits of this era.

His response was that they toured with Espers last year.... Espers is a band I also logically love and have many discs of because they too are heavily indebted to this era of music,( well worth checking out if you dont know them) but they are a very youing band too...
I got the sense that the Midlake dude has still not really checked out these old masters...
perhaps this is best as the Midlake take is less a clone of this sound due to its subsequent filtering through Espers ...

interesting never the less...

For those of you who are hoping for Pandora and similiar streaming services to come to Canada, keep holding your breath. Apparently, "Canadians have no appetite for a legal marketplace" when it comes to music. Certainly news to me, considering the hundreds I spend yearly on legal music, concerts, etc.

Yeah that's me. I am one of those types that get's excited by new "tools"... but soon after, the novelty wears off. This excitement seems particularly fleeting, after about 4 days I am done.

I'm on the Ping network in Itunes but haven't found it to be all that useful or engaging, at least at this point. The only person I'm 'following' (ironic how much social media nomenclature is creepy, sinister and downright anti-social) is an LA-based dj that was suggested when I first created my profile. Though I buy the odd song or album from Itunes, I don't really look to it as a tool to connect to other people, at least not in its current form. I'm not sure what the maximum of 10 songs that I'm allowed to identify in my profile as examples of what I like actually do for me in terms of trying to make those connections. Of the 100 odd (in both senses of the word) artists that I can follow, I've specified a handful but again, not much has come from it, at least yet. Early days, perhaps or maybe completely useless. Time will tell. Also, are you the Adam from Mississauga, ON that appeared when I did a search in Ping? Should I follow you? Or am I level-jumping our blog relationship?

Btw...for those wondering what the hell we're talking about, you'll need to d/l the latest version of Itunes (version 10).

Afraid I am with you Kyle, to me they are less Superchunk and more MediocreIota. Sorry to pile on Brian.

Any of you tried Ping on Itunes? I have joined although I seem to be lurking on that just as well as I have done on this blog. Clearly I need to expand my personal bubble. Oh goodness, I've said too much. Back to lurking.

It's not you, baby. It's Superchunk. And band's like them. Honest.

Kyle, I've feel like we've been drifting apart these last few months. You come home late, we never find time to talk or even watch our favourite TV shows any more, and when I come downstairs in the morning I find phrases like "What does it mean when a band doesn't grow or evolve?" on crumpled bits of paper.

Can't get excited about it, Bri. Sounds like pretty much all their other records, which I liked but...I dunno. What does it mean when a band doesn't grow or evolve? If Radiohead had kept releasing 'The Bends', would we even be talking about them 15 years later.

Hurrah hurray, the new record by The Chunk is here, and it sounds bloody good.

I'm digging the Wild Nothing as well...love the name Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.....I'm guessing they're all about deep house?

Btw....though I've only seen one film so far this film fest (will see five over the next two days), I did see get to see This Movie is Broken on an air canada flight this week. As someone who has been less than thrilled with BSS' last two releases, I'm now more inclined to go back to them after seeing this film. Weaving together footage from their free concert at Harbourfront last summer with a love story that loosely follows three characters before, during, and after the show, it does a wonderful job of expressing the energy of the music and the city. Highly recommend.

Yeah well it's only four for me: Best Coast (gotta be the most well known of the bunch, but a bit overrated imo), Dale Earnhardt Jr Jr (quite like it), Wild Nothing (sounds like a melange of 80's UK bands, very pleasant), and Perfume Genius, which I like, thought it might be even more precious than my man Sufjan.

I got 4 bands of the 40 Kyle so you're one up on me you hipster. I wonder if my 4 are a subset of your 5. Like Brian I know of Best Coast and Perfume Genius and also know and own some Glasser and Tame Impala.

Talk to me about any of these bands 5 years from now and we'll see how well they've chosen.

40 best new bands of 2010, according to music blog stereogum. i own or recognize 5. so much for being with it.

ok this may be the dumbest question ever asked on this blogsite, but sinse you all think I am an idiot anyways, I have nothing to lose.
At our office we just switched to playing our music through itunes so we can access my entire 120gb library, rather then through my 80gb ipod.
However I am a novice at itunes since I tend to use my ipod at home as my interface.
How do you select just 1 album..?

I dont want to hit albums first and then select the album, because usually I search 1st fior the artist and then after that i pick the record...

I also cant highlite the entire album and then select play selection as that option does not come up...

If i go to artist it will play that persons entire catalogue rather then stopping at the end of the single album

I googled and It seems I am not alone in this...

Even though I love 'Illinoise', I've always been of the opinion that it could use some editing. I've only heard the new EP and the track mentioned once, and with that one listen, would tend to agree that the prettier, far more interesting part of the song begins at about the 13 minute mark. Repeated listens will always tell the full story, though. I wasn't sure what to make of "Kid A" after first listen, for example, and so I'll give Sufjan another half dozen listens before rendering a verdict.

As for the new Interpol and Clientele, I may be past my 'need to buy their new record' with these two bands. "Antics" and "Strange Geometry" were the high water marks for both these bands, respectively, and anything since then has just sounded like material that couldn't quite make those previous albums. Always willing to consider a change of heart if one of you makes a case for either of these discs. Thermals will be d/led shortly, along with Les Savvy Fav, an example of where i'm trying to be open to suggestions of their greatness from others here, so i'll give this new one a whirl.

On another, not Kim Carnes or Juice Newton like note, this is a pretty sweet day on e-music. The new Interpol, Thermals and Clientele disc all up for grabs.

On the other hand about 2 weeks ago I rather peremptorily purchased for a whopping $5 the new Sufjan Stevens "EP" possibly 10 minutes before it became available on e-music. I know many of you are fans but I haven't heard anyone chiming in on this one. I haven't given it enough listens to comment yet but I completely agree with this review of the closing track:

And all this before we even get to the 17-minute 'Djohariah', a tribute to Sufjan’s oddly-named sister. Hidden in its endless dirge, somewhere, is a song. But listeners must endure no less than ten minutes of truly awful 'challenging' guitar solos before they get there. That a musician capable of such artistry should submit such a risible piece of fret-wank nonsense to tape is a baffling thing indeed.

I suppose my thought process was, 'really, i'm contemplating/actually downloading a kim carnes song? how did i get to this place? what's going on in my life? what meaning does it hold?' but i like what you've laid out as well, bri.

"And she'll tease you...she'll unease you..."

OK Kylie let me make sure I've got this straight. From an existential perspective, would I download BDE if I had one d/l left? To be clear, not a rhetorical question (cause who needs those), and not a practical question (where the answer would clearly be a negatory), but an in-the-big-scheme-of things-ummmm-what-is-the-value-of-pop-music-in-life question?? (I'm thinking big here....)!!!!!!


No.


Not a bad little song though.

Riddle me this fellow metabeaters(beatians?)/emusic enthusiasts: If you only had one download remaining in your monthly allotment, would you d/l this? It's less of a practical and more of an existential question. But it's not rhetorical so pipe in.

No better example of the contrarian hipster impulse I mentioned in Wednesday's comment and link than the top 20 songs of the 90s, as chosen by PF. "'Smells Like Teen Spirit'"? Yeah, that was good and all, but it's no 'Are You that Somebody' by Aliyah or Aphex Twin's 'Windowlicker'".

Also, though we've covered this ground ad naseum, I'm always a sucker for lists like these. This being Pitchfork, there's a painful striving for uberhipness by selecting obscure tracks when a popular and far better song will more than suffice (see: superchunk and stereolab representations) but for the most part, it's just fun to see and hear some of these again.

There's a long convoluted answer to that Brian but the short answer is: I'm awesome.

Even more awesome is this handy compendium of ridiculous rap lyrics..