I also recommend the new Josh Ritter. I have a couple of his older discs - The Golden Age of Radio, which is not bad, and Hello Starling, which I think is excellent. The new one hasn't struck me as positively as Hello Starling yet, but it is very good. I'll have to give this Damian Jurado a listen as well. I have a couple of his songs from old issues of Paste, but I don't know much about him. I see that emusic has lots of his stuff - any recommendations of where to start?

Ditto that Damien Jurado. Too often I've overlooked his work over the years having first encountered him with 1999's Rehearsals for Departure but not the new one. Like Richard Buckner he's so damn consistent that it's easy for them to fall off the radar in search of the new.

Kylie, belatedly, I would say "yeah" to the Josh Ritter (got 'er a coupla weeks ago in fact), though I would probably pick up the new Damien Jurado first.

was it the pubic-like facial hair or the piercing otherworldly eyes that so scarred you adam? for me, it was the words, "miley cyrus" (again, just dry-heaved). goddamn.

wow...I finally returned to the blog... and whamo, I was struck with this. I literally had a "holy moly" moment. His freaky look has driven me under the couch to hide. I'll be back again once my therapist talks me out.

Ever visited emusic and thought, "There seems to be some good stuff here but I wonder if there were any songs that combined the worst excesses of z-list celebrity-reality television with the satanic spawn of z-list early 90s one-hit new county wonders in the musical equivalent of a cockroach crawling across my open mouth while sleeping"? Wonder no more.

only tangentially related to the topic of music, but an amusing quick read nonetheless. happy victoria day weekend.

hey stuart (and anyone who is not brian or derek), new National disc is out and available on emusic. have heard a few tracks on satellite and npr stateside and while not a big departure from the last disc, nonetheless great songwriting.

Downloads refreshed today so I'm considering how to spend them. Anyone want to make a case for Josh Ritter? I see his latest disc staring up at me every morning as i queue for coffee at Starbucks but the samples at emusic suggest a poor man's Archer Prewitt. General critical consensus is good but wondering if any of you lot have heard it and have any strong opinions either way.

Btw...soul-less update...BSS is better on fourth and fifth listens but I'll stick with my original comments to Stefan (sarah's brother) that the only track that really resonates on this one is the female vocal 'All in All'. Latest Spoon has moments that work but only after a third drink which, btw, raises the question:

How big of an impact does alcohol have on your appreciation of music? Are there certain songs that only work when your drunk or certain bands or songs that really only come alive for you after a few pints?

I'm guessing Mike, you'll say that it's the only explanation for Brian's embrace of Ornette Coleman. No doubt it's fueled this whole country music compilation discussion.

Country disk? I thought you were making a punk disk?? Or wait, was it going to be a "Best of Double Live Albums" disk?

Thanks for the offer - I'd like to hear your country disc, Stuart, but you don't have to go to the bother of mailing me a copy. If you give an extra copy to Brian, I'll pick it up from him next time I'm in Toronto. Alternatively, you could post the song list, and I can try to put together a playlist on grooveshark - unless some of the tunes are too obscure to appear there.

I am creating a country mix cd for Derek and Brian , who requested this a few weeks back when they were under the influence of good beer and good music, (and now no doubt regret I have remembered) It started out being a George Jones disc, but as i have gotten into it the project ,it has segued into a more wide ranging survey of country music in general, from iconic to less know artists , from iconic to less well known songs , from 50's to 90's.....in short I hope to persuade people of the worth of the genre in general... Should any others of you want a copy of this disc please let me know....If all I get is a resounding wall of silence I wont be offended....hell ...your loss.....

Actually The Wall was/is a double album. I believe Brian was referring to the George Harrison disc which was indeed a triple album.

Didn't realize The Wall was a triple. Mea culpa. Go back to...okay, enough. Hope you and the boys come up with some other good 'riddle me this'es for the blog tonight over cuervasas/single malt.

I just assumed, KP, since your most inspired choice was also a triple album, that they were allowed. All of this alone time might be throwing me off though.

Agree with Mike that we have lost something with the switch to digital--a really long playlist isn't quite the same as a two-disc 50 hours of conceptually related songs. While I won't comment on your onanistic proclivities, Bri, I am compelled to point out that 69 Love Songs is a triple disc and so doesn't qualify. Go back to what you were doing. Or don't.

I agree with many that have already been mentioned - The Wall, London Calling, The White Album, Physical Graffiti, Quadrophenia and The River, certainly. And I’d add Out of the Blue by ELO to the list. One double album that I listened to as much as any of those during my formative years was Jesus Christ Superstar - the original recording with Ian Gillan as Jesus. I really loved that album.

There were some notable double live albums in my collection as well - Fleetwood Mac Live is, in my opinion, much better than any of their studio efforts, and Neil Diamond's Hot August Night is a similarly strong effort (I've taken a lot of flak for liking that album over the years, and I'm not afraid to take more)! Also Queen Live Killers, The Kinks’ One for the Road, Live Rust and The Last Waltz.

If my brother were in on this discussion, he’d definitely include “The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway”, but personally, I never really loved Genesis.

To me, the double album is a distinctly vinyl concept. I don’t think of double CDs in the same way somehow, and now that I’m entirely digital, the whole concept is somewhat meaningless. It’s a shame.

Another great one (although I'm beginning to think I'm playing with myself, so to speak, given the overall silence on this question) is Songs in the Key of Life by Stevie W. And ANOTHER great one is 69 Love Songs by Magnetic Fields.

AND ANOOOOTHER GREAT ONE......Ok, I got nothing.

All Things is a great choice, one I hadn't though of, though I might say that the jam sides are pretty lame. If you're prepared to ignore that, then it's right up there with the best ever.

I still tend to think that the White Album is the one for me (and I like Piggies), for all of the reasons you suggest Kyle. London Calling is outstanding too, but just because Stuart couldn't contain his enthusiasm for it last week I'm going to relegate it to second. Other great choices are (as KP pointed out) Exile on Main Street (maybe a sober Stuart's number one?), and definitely The River, and perhaps Physical Graffiti, and Tommy and/or Quadrophenia.

Another great album that's a bit off the radar these days is Derek and the Dominoes only record - Layla and other assorted. And speaking of Clapton, some would say that Cream's Wheels of Fire is an all-time great. And moving onto other great guitar double records, Electric Ladyland might get some votes. For some non-prehistoric ones, how about Sonic Youth's Daydream Nation, or Liz Phair's Exile in Guyville?

Do collection albums count? (cowering in response to the collective howls of 'NO!'). Okay then:

• The White Album - yes, 'Piggies' and 'Number 9' are easy targets but there's just so much beautiful music, not a lot of which gets played very often and therefore somehow more special ('Julia', 'I Will', 'Dear Prudence') plus some great rocking numbers ('...USSR', 'Helter...') plus fun songs that tell a story ('Rocky Raccoon', 'Bungalow Bill')...
• The Wall - not to be confused with MJ's single album Off the Wall, same release date
• Being There-Wilco - for 'Misunderstood' alone though other gems/cries for help
• All Things Must Pass - George Harrison - at least the recently re-issued disc I bought a few years back

Will let someone else make the case for the Stones, Springsteen, Dylan.

Bear would be wise to refrain from posting after being awake for close to 20 hours and having downed several gallons of red wine.

I certainly don't come here expecting to revise how any of you feel about particular bands. God knows none of us is fifteen anymore and as we get older and more curmudgeonly (I speak only for myself) the possibility of being swayed by the likes and dislikes of those we know and love becomes ever smaller. All one can do is throw out there the music. books, movies, wine etc that moves us in some way and if you should latch on to it and feel remotely likewise then the blog has served some purpose.

It will, however, in no way replace the drunken disjointed ramblings that occur when we get together face to face. There's nothing like the 1am slurring over a band you love to bits to set me on a mission to find out just what I've been missing. "SF Sorrow", "Odessey and Oracle" and "Everybody Knows This is Nowhere" being a few prime examples. Sadly I don't think I'm ever going to warm up as much of the rest of you crew where Bob Dylan applies. Still enjoyed the thread.

And just in case your spring of 2011 calendar is getting a bit crowded you might just want to leave a bit of space for this.

And as a follow-up to one of those aforementioned bevvy-laden nights out while Stuart, Brian and I were having a few pints prior to the Frightened Rabbit show last week they were playing "London Calling" in its entirety over the stereo. Which led to a discussion of the best double albums all-time. Two I failed to mention that are favourites of mine are Husker Du's "Warehouse Songs and Stories" and "Sign O the Times" by Prince. Anyone have a particular sprawling favourite that comes to mind? And no pointing out that "it would have made a better single disc...". We know.

I should add, existentially:

I do sometimes feel a bit guilty for criticizing Canadian bands who: a) have talent b) are willing to take risks and explore interesting forms of musical expression c) are not Nickelback d) have put out some truly great music. And I'm quite aware of the fact that I personally haven't been able to accomplish any of these things (with the exception of c). Given the magnitude of godawful music pumped out of every radio and television every second of every day, on some level it seems...I don't know...insular?decadent? insane? to be picking through faults of those who actually care about creating art.

But--here's where I justify it, and you knew this was coming--this is kind of the point of this blog: to comb through the minutiae and share frustrations and reactions and recommendations, etc. A lot of times I read it and post while I'm listening to music, which shapes what I think about and post here as well. So I well understand Derek's passion for the songs and tracks that he mentions and I don't take offense at his swipes at bands I might like. And I believe that he, and the rest of you as well, feel likewise. Thought it was worth pointing this out, at least for the benefit of any new invitees, who may wonder what this is all about.

Bear was quiet. Bear was poked. Bear howled. Job done.

A little simplistic. I'll elaborate.

Yes, I partly agreed with Brian's 'souless' statement to provoke the response, but I also find some of the more recent BSS and NPs emotionally flat. Yes, Bejar's jarring voice can pack an emotional wallop and Neko, as you have rightly noted in the past, is a goddess but...I don't know, as polished and poppy as the Newman-penned stuff is, that beyond the adrenaline rush, is there much there there? You mention 'The Jessica Numbers' as a track from 'Twin Cinema' as a standout track but for me, it's a track that is reminiscent of some of the stuff I enjoyed more on 'The Electric Version'; beyond quick staccato drumming, not much else stands out for me on that one. Another track on TC, like 'Jackie, Dressed in Cobras', could just have easily been plucked from a previous album, which doesn't make it bad track in and of itself, but the similarity to previous output begins to dull its potential impact. By the time Challengers comes out, even the Behar-dominant stuff like 'Myriad Harbour' seems like more rehash. Willing to concede that 'souless' is an adjective too far but for me, it's lurching along a continuum towards that with each new release.

As for BSS, well you and I have agreed to disagree on their eponymous 2005 disc, which I think spirals off into unstructured and at times irritable noodling (that song where you hear the word freedom kind of half-assedly tossed out at the eighth minute of what seems like a 20 minute long jamboree being the biggest offender and prime example of what I dislike about it). Yes, 'Major Label Debut', which is a quite pretty track but the rest....again, we'll disagree on the rest.

In the span of the past two days, both you and Sarah's brother have urged me to give their latest disc more chances, so I will dutifully give it another few spins, though I fear I will never come around to even casually tolerating 'Texico Bitches'. I will also check out the '09 Bejar release, and report back.

I found the rant quite refreshing, what disturbed me is the mea culpa.... god knows we dont want the Scott turning polite on us... i mean for christ sakes what is the world coming to ??????more polite tame friends, who the fuck needs that.....on sorry bout that vulgar use of profanity, I hope I didnt offend anyone...

Glad to have the ol' piss and vinegar back, big fella. Not that you'll win any concessions from me on this one. Feel free, though, to disparage some more of my favourite bands. It can be strangely cathartic.

The Flying Lotus sounds interesting - hugely multifarious in influences, really moody. Perhaps a bit too focused on synthetic beat for me (no surprise there) but definitely reaching for something new.

Please excuse the tone of my late-night alcohol fuelled over the top rant. Needless to say I'm a very big fan of the New Pornographers and felt they had been done a great disservice in having their music labeled as soulless. Obviously we all have different musical tastes, which keeps this blog interesting, but you need to give me more than a one line slapdown if you're going to dimiss a very good band's output as lacking in soul.

And speaking of the hard to quantify "soul" let me recommend, as I have already to Kyle, the new Flying Lotus album Cosmogramma. Give it a listen.

The New Pornographers! No Soul?

Complete and absolute bollocks. Are you taking the mickey?

Try the following you zombie-like mofos.

Album: Twin Cinema - The Bleeding Heart Show or The Jessica Numbers

Album: Challengers - Adventures in Solitude or Myriad Harbour

Album: Together - Crash Years or If You Can't See My Mirrors

Quite obviously there are numerous other tracks that would tug at all but the most hardened, life burdened heart strings keeping all you cynical blog fuckers at bay.

Try taking a breath of new, moist-ladened, spring-time air and when you exhale talk to me once again and in the mean time listen to your Nationals, Matt Ponds, Midlakes and all the other half-assed bands that blandly repeat all that has come afore and yet you think actually have something new to say.

Goodnight, out.

Oh btw, two of the most soulful musicians out there Neko Case and Dan Bejar just happen to be large parts of the New Pornographers. If you are an e-music participant and you have not downloaded Destroyer's (aka Dan Bejar) 2009 "Bay of Pigs" (2 tracks chiming in at 21 minutes) then you're just not paying attention.

Brian, I'm sorry but you're....right? I find I now agree with you in your assessment of these three bands. I clearly haven't been drinking enough with Derek lately.

For my two cents, I say it's time to move on from the New Pornos.

If this were a break up you'd say "I don't want to live like this anymore". The music, and I would put other critical darlings like BSS and Spoon squarely in this camp, is highly skilled and therefore an interesting listen initially, but it has no soul. Leaves me cold.

As I wallow in self-pity and scrounge around for music in the usual places, I notice that the New Pornographers have a new disc. Tempted to buy but I'm wondering, "Do I really need it? Haven't I heard it all before?" I never bought and didn't hear much from, 'Challengers' and listening to the samples for the latest, it seems to be la même chose que ses musiques precedent. Thinking I may pass but am willing to entertain arguments for getting it, reinforcement of my decision not to, and/or corrections to my high school french.

How is it that I miss the fantastic shows but make it out for all the mediocre shows, attended, in the majority, by males under the age of 30 with ironic facial hair and fedoras? Dang. Will give the album a listen, though, in part because of your reviews and in part, because i bought it last week and it would be a waste not to do so.

yes Brian, I agree with all ... Fantastic show, best for me since Band of Horses a few years ago...
Much better then I was expecting... I may pick up the new album after all...
Kind of like Band of horses actuallly, esp w his sharp pronounced vocals standing front and center...great venue, forgot how much I love that place.... good site lines, good sound and decent size so you feel like you are at a much more happinen event then say at the small horseshoe...

Fwightened Wabbit were vewy good! Kind of a downbeat-meets-inspirational mix of a deeply Scottish U2 crossed with Arcade Fire. Works very well live. I didn't know the music well but was carried along by the emotion of the crowd.

Couple of cool moments - one in particular when the singer came out for the first encore without the band to do a solo acoustic number (Derek can add in song names) and in a fit of artistic angst (after a couple of lines, followed by a "fuck this") stepped in front of the mike to perform the song without amplification. The sound was not surprisingly very muted until a point in the song where the vocals drop out and there is a melodic "ooh" over top of a couple of chord changes, and the entire crowd (sans me because I knew not) spontaneously sang the ooh, and beautifully I might add. Probably as many girls as guys, incidentally, in the crowd, despite the miserably Scottish nature of the music (so it's not just Derek who loves this stuff). Anyway, it was pretty powerful at the time in a hushed ampitheatre.

Also (highlight number 2) a great brawl among drunken 19-year old boys on the way out. First fight I've seen in a few years (I have to get out more).

so? how was frightened rabbit?

Another one - Pink Floyd - Piper at the Gates of Dawn. Some would no doubt argue that there are better PF records but this is actually my fave.

Kyle - BDB is your all time fave? That is indeed idiosyncratcic. Good on ya.

Badly Drawn Boy and The Doors are nice additions there, Bri, and possible nominees for top 5. On a personal level, the Badly Drawn Boy is probably the best debut of all and also the most disappointing in terms of subsequent releases. For a less idiosyncratic nomination, I'd go with Hendrix.

Here a bunch of others, some of which might be top ten for me:

- Crosby Stills and Nash

- Joe Jackson - Look Sharp

- Buffalo Springfield

- Chicago Transit Authority

- Led Zeppelin (although two, three, and four were all better)

- Hendrix (though Ladyland was equal or better)

- Lloyd Cole - Rattlesnakes

- Moby Grape

- The Pretenders

- Traffic - Mr. Fantasy

- Nico - Chelsea Girl

- Big Dipper - Heavens (I'll play some of this when we get together)

- Badly Drawn Boy

- Santana

- The Police

- Teenage Fanclub - Bandwagonesque (though it's not their debut, apparently...who knew?)

Good choices all - I like the Rickie Lee Jones one Mike, I wouldn't have thought it, and it's a great record.

I've got about 50 that I jotted down - the list is at home though. I either like or love all of the records already proposed, and a number of them would make my (in particular Costello, Smiths, Strokes), so for now I'll put a quick list of ones I either (a) absolutely love to death that have been mentioned but I've got to echo or (b) great openers that haven't been. Also with an eye towards some representation per decade, despite the obvious tilt toward the sixties. The other thing I tend to exclude just instinctively (though not fairly) is an artist whose first record while great was signficantly bettered (in my opinion) by later records.


The Byrds - Tambourine Man (maybe my number one). Simply sublime, created a genre of music that's still going strong (anyone like a little jangle and harmony in their pop?)

The Doors - unbelievable record that still sounds completely unique.

Velvet Undergound and Nico - ditto comments for the Doors, though this record I love with a white (though appropriately nihilistic and cynical) hot passion. Maybe the most influential "indy" record of all time.

Sex Pistols - Never Mind the Bollocks. It brought punk to the masses. Plus it's filled with great songs.

The Cars - Wow. Never had a band sounded anything like this. New wave hits the big time.

REM - Murmur - among all of their great records of the eighties this is the best. Defined the college scene.

Pearl Jam - 10. Hasn't necessarily aged well for me, but was so crucial at the time.

Weezer - note the connection to Rik Ocasek (yes, this one sounds unbelievable too). I knew the 90's was for real when the music on the charts sounded this good. So much crunch, wit, and angst all blended together.

And in terms of artists that looked great and then (more or less) fizzled, Oasis is a great chioce. The Strokes is another one. Tracey Chapman comes to mind, as do the Cars. There are many others which I will add tonight.

Two more questions:

(1) Anyone have the balls to say "here is the greatest debut"? (2) as a flip side question, which bands do you think reached the highest heights despite middling or just plain bad starts? (3) Finally, where is Derek? Still out at Betty's maybe.

In the category of debut albums, I do have to nominate Boston, though I'm no longer into that music as I once was. Not only was their first album and enormous commercial success, the story goes that it was essentially a meticulous home recording that required very little in the way of post-production for its commercial release. If that is true, it is an astonishing feat, especially in the days before inexpensive digital quality home recording systems.

The other album that leaps to mind (and is also a strong candidate for the false hopes category) is Rickie Lee Jones' first album. I listened to that one just the other day, and I still think it's great. According to AMG, she did releaese some impressive stuff later in her career, but I think she's flitted between genres to the extent that she has been lost in the mix.

And while I'm at it, two more debut albums that I really loved were Crowded House and the Bodeans' Love and Hope and Sex and Dreams. But I don't expect that either of those albums garnered enough critical acclaim to appear on any definitive lists.



Mike

good picks in nick drake and oasis, stu. two that i haven't listened to in awhile, esp. the gallagher bros.

in fact, i would nominate them for contenders in the second question that you posed, bri, about bands who showed great promise on the first couple of releases and then faded rather quickly. by their third album, the 'hey jude'-like na na na nas moved to the beginning of almost every song and their on-stage antics quickly became tiresome, and there may have been the odd song here and there afterwards that i'd listen to for more than a minute but nothing close to the near greatness of the first two releases.

will try to come up with some others. in the meantime, more embedded video, this time a related cover:

all good choices , great debuts....a few more that worked especially for me
the band-music at big pink
oasis-definately maybe
costello-my aim is true
nick drake-5 leaves
kate bush-the kick inside
jeff buckley-grace
jackson brown-self titled
next i will try and list some new purchases that the artist has yet to build on...
to try to predict who will make it...this is obviously more difficult

Two very good questions, Bri and well worth pondering. A third could be, "Drinks on a Monday night?"

As to the first ?, how about:

"Slanted and Enchanted" - Pavement
"Funeral" - Arcade Fire
"The Stone Roses" - The Stone Roses
"The Smiths" - The Smiths
"Is This It?" - The Strokes
"The Velvet Underground and Nico (banana) - Velvet Underground
"Unknown Pleasures" - Joy Division
"Surfer Rosa/Come On, Pilgrim" - The Pixies
"Murmur" - R.E.M.
"Debut" - Bjork

Wow, that's pretty wacked. Really odd but cool. I've got to spend more time on youtube. Doesn't hurt that it's got one of my favourite VU songs as its backing (more on them in a moment), and with some pretty cool visuals in there.

Re the Dylan, I'll confess my multi tasking was somewhat limited - I think I managed to read four of Wallace Stevens' shorter poems in two hours. Just to end the suspense that's been killign you all for the past week, the album I was listening to was Bringing it all Back Home, which I've always thought of as a transitional album (ie from folky Bob to blues rocky Bob) but actually the blend that's on that record is fantastic. Some of his best (or my favourite anyway) material - Tambo Man, It's All Over Now, Subterranean Homesick, It's Alright Ma - and then some songs that fly below the radar that are amazing - like She Belongs to Me, Love Minus Zero. What a great record.

Up until last Tuesday I would have said, fairly reflexively, that this was my favourite Dylan record. It probably still is. For me Blonde on Blonde doesn't quite compare song for song, though it has a some great tracks, and perhaps as importantly, it is a little bit "more of the same", stylistically, whereas 61 was Dylan as a rocker, full bore, for the first time. Both are great records. I do really like Blood on the Tracks, but it's the sixties Dylan that really works for me, and Blood is more of a return to form than him at his peeak, in my opinion.

The other record that I would put forward is The Freewheelin' Bob, which is one of the great folk records of all time, wouldn't you say? Mr. Mercer, enough silence from you on this.

And speaking of VU and Derek, we had beers at Betty's last night (always a fruitful combination for blog topics) and discussed the following two (related) topics:

- what is the greatest debut album of all time? Tough one I know....More manageably, which ten make it into the pantheon?
- and secondly (could be the same bands), which bands are the best examples of having enormous promise based on the first (or first few) releases only to end up as relatively minor contributors to music history? Which current bands are in danger of joining that group?

A Monday morning mashup:




Kinda cool. Love it when positive happy songs are rendered psychedelically creepy.

Blonde on Blonde.
And yeah, I'm a bit of a mutlitasker myself, listening to music while reading quite a bit of time, but I find it difficult to read and listen to anything with lyrics, let alone Dylan. What were you thinking, Herr Doyle? I suspect you were also smoking a gauloise and wearing a beret.

.........like having sex while ......ok Ill stop there Mike....
I would have to say the dylan question, thats a tough choice....but for me it would have to be blood on the tracks...because it is flawless, and I seem to need to listen to it regularly
.having recently listened to hwy 61 all the way through on a car trip , it would be very close...
that album while almost reaching perfection, still has a few weak moments, (though you may disagree)...... blond on blond maybe tied with it for second...
6 others would tie for 3rd...
Nashville skyline would be in there as a heavily under rated album...along with desire, john wesley harding , another side of , oh mercy, and bringing it all back home....
something like that anyways...

I'll give the Dylan album question some thought, Brian, but in the meantime, I have to ask how you can enjoy listening to Dylan's music while reading poetry, presumably by some other writer. Isn't that like reading a book while watching a different movie? Like tasting a fine wine while chewing on a fresh stick of gum? Driving a car while playing a video game? You get my point...

Hello men. I've just spent a couple of hours at a splendid new cafe on Broadview overlooking the park and the cityscape, listening to music and reading poetry. I am a freaking cliche. Nevertheless, at the risk of (over)stating the obvious, I had the revelation that I don't do this sort of thing often enough. A glorious morning out there. But wait, it gets better. I listened to two albums in their entirety - imagine! Whole albums with undivided attention! Amazing.

(This harkens back to your editorial (borderline polemic) of last week Stu, which I won't reply to for the moment, though I will say that I sympathize with your point but tend to agree with Kyle).

And not to give my hand away, but one of them was a Dylan record. So the question of the day for this somewhat muted gang is - which is your favourite Dylan record and why?

Don't let your babies grow up to be musicians, I guess.

Stuart, great question, you should really drink more wine (is this humanly possible?). Your postprandial insights, and, paradoxically, improved grammar and spelling, are testaments to the gentle powers of the fermented grape.

I am very much struggling to absorb the amount of music I purchase on a monthly basis, which, as you astutely surmise, includes not just the 90 emusic downloads (say, 6 albums conservatively), but two or three other albums either purchased through itunes or on disc. Add to the fact that I have music on both my home and work computers, that the hard drive on the former, which houses my music collection in its entirety, is quickly exceeding capacity, that my 60gb ipod can't contain all the songs so it contains an ever-shifting variety of new and old music, none of which ever seems to contain either the older song I want to hear at a given time or a newer album I've recently downloaded and haven't yet transferred (often due to lack of space on the ipod), and that my iphone, which is even smaller in size and syncs only with my work laptop, which holds only a fraction of the music I download, is usually the only player I carry with me on the road, which is where I get most of my listening time in, and well, you get a sense of the difficulties I'm having in, as you put it, reconcilling the vast quantities of music at my disposal with my limited amount of time to appreciate it.

Having said that, I'm loathe to give up my grandfathered-in, extremely generous 90 d/ls for $24 per month or 1,080 tracks per year or 72+ albums (at a conservative 15 tracks per album average, more if you consider that many of the discs are closer to 12 tracks per) for $288 or just under $4/album. And as you also noted, there are many artists who aren't available on emusic in Canada, which forces me elsewhere if I want to purchase that music.

So, while I'm unwilling to get off the 'grab as much music as I can' merry-go-round, I also don't have time to get in those minimum 3-5 listens per album that Mike suggests, and with which I'll wholeheartedly agree, are required to really understand an album.

The way I see it, my options at this point are:

• reduce my downloads and/or quit emusic and limit my consumption to that which I can actually consume [chance of short term adoption: 5%]
• come up with a better system for evaluating new music that ensures I devote enough time to the new stuff to properly grasp/understand/love/loathe it [chance of short term adoption: 5%]
• resign myself to the fact that i may not get around to listening to all the new stuff and that it may sit on my hard drive untouched and unloved, like so many plastic wrapped discs sitting on a shelf in Derek's apartment, where, like a fine wine (bringing the post full circle now to your original vino-themed opening), it will age gracefully, waiting for that perfect day to be opened and either savoured with gusto or spat out like the oxidized, trichloroanisole-tainted plonk it has revealed itself to be [chance of short term adoption: 90%]

I'm open to other suggestions, and, as always, to wine recommendations.

Yes - that is exactly my problem, Stuart! I currently have a 50 song subscription to emusic. I'm not buying much additional music these days - I completely agree that emusic's catalog is too limited to be my sole source of music, but I'm currently operating on a constrained budget while I wait for some company to recognize the obvious benefits of adding me to their staff. Corporate hiring managers have proven to be remarkably dim-witted about that. Nonetheless, even at 50 new songs per month, I am not able to fully digest everything. I generally need to hear a new album 3-5 times before I can fully form my opinion of it. But between listening to the new music and revisiting old favorites, it can take a very long time for me to get those listens in. Consequently, I have a large and growing amount of music that I don't even know if I really like or not. I've taken to loading up my ipod with the latest 3-4 months of additions plus a selection of older music, and then listening to the albums in alphabetical order, which intersperses the new and the old. My other problem is that I have so many albums now that I find it daunting to select them, either for loading onto the ipod or for playing on my home system.

a few passably related topics here...
i am closing in on the end of a bottle of 2005 Maleatis red wine from greece that i bought a year or 2 ago and I am quite loving it... not knowing anything (at all really) about greek wine , I bought it (like a good little tourist) because it has a silver medal sticker , was almost sold out, and was only 20 bucks.... I checked online after enjotying it so much to find nothing much on it. This made me think that maybe wines are similar to music (or art in general) that there is much good stuff out there that generally goes un-noticed (except locally w the greek wine medal), so the real game is to find this good stuff at very reasonable prices...I wonder how much sucsess you lot have at this game??? It is certainly hit and miss for me, but tonight I got lucky...My segue (sp??) to topic two may be weak but the happily arrived at state of bliss from the wine , and listening to a wonderfull (if self laudatory) playlist of old and new music which I am made a while ago made me think of a topic I discussed w Derek last week regarding (of course) music....
Currently I have only a 30 song a month emusic subscription...pardon me while I refil my glass...........................................................................................................................................................................
but i also buy about 3 cds a month because a lot of good music is a little larger than emusic can get the rights to....Really if all you are buying is emusic you dont get out enough...
So I am trying to process at the very least 1.5 cds a week of new music... Now I listen to pretty well everything I have ever purchased, so as I age the math becomes problematic...ie at a certain age I can no longer listen to some music because I have too dammn much of it... Also, the stuff I really love ( say belle and sebastian for egample) I listen too almost bi-weekly, and there are a bunch of bands like them that I listen to so much its ...well...absurd... Bob Dylan, DEcemberists to name 2......so this brings me to my first point..
-Sorry kyle but you are in my line of sight here.... you have ( last we spoke ) a 90 song selection, add that to what you buy on cd, ( since you must do that) ....there must be tons of music that gets lost to you, or else you dont repeat listen much ( I really doubt that) or else you dont go back and listen to stuff you liked in the past but now find dated, ( I doubt that too because you like 80's stuff so much..( a fault I am ready to overlook)..
so my question is ( unfortunately using Kyle as the bait) ..
How does a music lover reconcille the vast quantities of music at our dispersal... How do we decipher what is good form average because a lot of stuff we all agree is great we only teally understand after repeated listenings....
In short I propose that a better stategy may be to buy less... be more disciminate... and listen more to the fewer purchases...perhaps play it safe and listen more to those dreaded biases unoriginal music critics...
damn I dont know the answer, but it is worth pondering

Two good examples in Holly and Baker, of record companies going to the well too many times with the same music. And here I thought that Tupac Shakur was the only one who released more albums after he died than when he was alive. I assume there's money in constantly reissuing and repackaging the same music year after year. I just wonder why, with all the new music out there to explore and review, sites like pitchfork choose to review the same old same old again and again. Increased page views? Also, why didn't Buddy Holly ever release an album with N.I.G.G.A.Z. in the title?

It's even more pronounced in the jazz world. FOr illustrative purposes I give you the "compilation" section of the Chet Baker discography on allmusic.com. Keep in mind that Chet died (a mysteriosu fall from a window in Amsterdam, no less) in 1988. Ridiculous! I am as big a CB fan as you're likely going to come across, and I would recommend "must haves" at about 3 records. I don't really understand how multiple labels are able to access / issue the same music time and time again.

Yes, the relentless re-issuing of existing music is annoying, but it is by no means limited to indie bands. Look at Buddly Holly, for example. He released 5 albums before his untimely death, and that music has been re-packaged dozens and dozens of times. In fact, according to AMG, since his final studio album in 1964, the only years that have NOT seen at least one Buddy Holly compilation album are 1973 and 1976. The Doors and Jimi Hendrix catalogs have been similarly abused. I wonder what business case drives this behaviour. I can readily understand that there is still a market for Buddy Holly among younger people who are hearing some of his songs for the first time. But how can it make sense to continually create new packages containing those same songs? Why not keep selling the existing catalog plus one or two well-crafted compilations for the casual listener?

You know, I've always enjoyed Galaxie 500, with their dreamy ethereal, drony guitar pop fondly evoking uni days for me, bonus points bestowed for being progenitor of even more enjoyable Luna but when I came across this review in Pitchfork the other day I kind of had to scream a bit.
My issue, in the form of a rhetorical question: How many motherfucking times does a motherfucking obscure indie band from the late 80s/early 90s have to motherfucking reissue their motherfucking music? Given they reissued their sum total 3 studio albums a decade ago, as well as a box set of music in mid-1997, then a rarities disc from the box set separately a few years after that, plus the requisite Peel Sessions disc, doesn't a third decade on reissue of all three albums seem a tad motherfucking excessive?

Any other 'too many trips to the well' examples you can conjure up/muster enough outrage to curse about?

A pre-long weekend chuckle. Anybody still play their cassettes?

Languidity is awesome Stu, absolutely. Sometime Sun Ra gets marginalized unfairly for being "weird" though I have (almost) always found him to be very musical and, damn it, joyous.

losing data like that ...ouch... i felt a cool shadow pass over me....
Kyle, I forgot to include Basia Bulat's first album on my best of lists... I loved it much,, a great summer cottage cd....I just picked up the new one a few weeks back and I dont think its quite as good, though it has a more produced fleshed out sound... If you like it definately get the first one two, as some of songs are real gems..
I think I also have you to thank, (but maybe I have the yearend lists wrong) for the Panics.... love them, kind of like a less ironic Luna to my ears....
Also Brian the perfect 70s jazz-spring driving with rooftop open on a beautiful sunny day- I have found.... Sun Ra Langudity, avail at emusic, absolute late 70's gem...the first track is the only weak track so first time out start the album from track 2 on with the windows down...music LOUD, all the way up to "leven" (said with cockney accent)
s

Adam - deepest sympathies. I lost my hard drive last year (almost exactly the same amount of music, gonzo...) and about 9 months later I'm still only about 2/3 of where I was. It's just bloody boring downloading stuff 24/7.

The Mountain Goats record from last year somewhat escaped my notice - like other very prolific bands, they end up being overlooked by yours truly on an individual-release basis (think Bob Pollard) - though I do enjoy the music. I recall a song - Genesis I believe, with it's catchy refrain "I used to live here" so I guess I (or one of you lot) picked up a song or two, but I'll go back to it; given, after all, that it's the first record of the rest of your life.

110 gb of music lost? a tear came to my own eye when i read that, reaching for my backup drive. not fun. hoping that, through the magic of torrents and download sites, you're able to reconstruct most of the collection.

thanks for the overview of recent listens, bri, and glad you're enjoying ola p. recent pickups for me include the new basia bulat, she and him, and besnard likes, none of which i've heard yet, as well as pantha du prince, one of my requisite 10 or so electronica picks per year, which is starting to grow on me, two or three listens in. also digging surfer blood, a mix of sunny beach boys-like 60s pop with jesus and mary chain-like distortion, which seems to be big with the indie kids these days (see: real estate, gauntlet hair, pearl harbor, cults - pressed for time, i'll add links later, for now, use the google).

Hey there, Adam here. Thanks for the inclusion into this blog. I have been lurking in the background reading through the archives. Though my active contribution has been stunted by the fact that I had the not so good fortune of losing a hard drive which led to the loss of my entire music library. 110 GBs worth. My seven year old bore witness to a less than polite introduction to some rather strong language. After crying in my beer for days I am ready to re-build and this site will help me start over. My first album to re-populate my collection is "The Life of the World to Come" by The Mountain Goats. Step 1.

Boys - we haven't got together to play new music for a while (what with the Clash of the Decades as our last get together, and the next one now scheduled to be a follow-on "Unheralded Below-The-Radar Nugget-Gems of the 80's and 90's".......I tried to think of more metaphors to mix in there but ran out of inspiration), so I feel I've lost the thread of what everyone's listening to and liking in the past few months.

Before I list out a few recent faves of mine, I wanted to mention that I believe we may have a couple of new posters out there, sitting on the sidelines - Adam and Dave. If so, don't be shy - just put it out there, and let the group tear your favourite music to pieces.

So, carrying on then, nothing earth shattering in my corner, though I've enjoyed the follow up releases from Headlights - which is more of the same but with a bit more complexity in the songs (slower, more arranged); Midlake - a big shift toward finding inspiration in the late 60's English folk movement, dirge-like at times but melodic and complex; and Laura Veirs - more great moody singing/song-writing. Another I'm enjoying (from the "Lit Rock" category) is Throw Me the Statue's latest. Odd, difficult-to-get-a-handle-on-songs, but man can that guy can write a lyric.

Bands that are new (or new to me), because there are older releases in here....Rosebuds, this record from 2008 is interesting, it gets under my skin a bit, a couple of songs like Life Like and Another Way In are immediately appealing, while others feel a bit slick and empty. The new Quasi seems pretty strong - more "Rock" than their previous records , and Broken Bells (the new "band" with the Shins singer) is great - not quite as peppy or indy-band-focused as a Shins release, but with great songs and interesting sometimes-synthy arrangements. Sold at Starbucks which is insulting. Ola Podrida's record (merci Kyle) has a great collection of alt-folk-indy-not-quite-country songs which I really enjoy. Also really enjoyable the quirky edgy pop of Pomegranates from their record from last year.

Haven't spend much time with the new Besnard Lakes but I didn't fasten onto it too much on the first listen. Anyone else listen and like it?

Don't think there's any need for me to pile on the praise for Pavement (ooh alliteration), as everyone knows how much I love 'em. I do like your point Derek that they are perhaps the quintessential nineties band. They are certainly the first band I think of when I am asked to describe why I thought the 90's were so great. And you really brought that home at the big Clash of the Decades when you showcased what is arguably their greatest song.....oh wait....

Anyway, moving away from bad memories for my favourite Scotsman, I would say (also not a surprise I'm sure) that I'm more warm and less luke about Big Star. If you ignore the hyperbole and just listen to the first two records (and only those two) you'll find some very appealing, melodic guitar pop. It's not groundbreaking, but they sure had their influence on the power pop movement that much came later in the decade. And they were sure swimming in a blue ocean at the time. If you know what I mean. Though not too dissimilar from Badfinger (whom I also love) just a little less poppy. Three good songs to start with are September Gurls, Thirteen, and the Ballad of El Goodo.

I'm not sure I buy the main premise of the Slate article that the boomers and all their cultural baggage are about to sail off in to the sunset, unfortunately. I'm also not sure how he makes his tenuous connection with this premise and Pavement. Anything for an article I suppose.

Still nice to be reminded, with the appearance of their greatest hits (oxymoron of course), of how much the 90's and Pavement went hand in hand. There aren't too many great bands whose artistic output spans almost exactly a 10 year period we like to call a decade, and get out while they still sound fresh and before new musical trends pass them by. Other than the obvious are there any other significant bands that would fit nicely into a 10 year frame.

As for Alex Chilton I fall in to the indifferent category. He first came to my attention when I picked up the Replacement's "Pleased to Meet Me" on vinyl almost a quarter of a century ago. Track 2 is "Alex Chilton" and is a terrific track and until I heard the song I hadn't the foggiest who this referred to. I did delve very lightly into some Big Star music but it never really made a mark with me. Early 1970's pop/rock isn't exactly in my wheelhouse so perhaps I should make an effort to dig deeper. Any recommendations from some of you older farts?

More Pavement. Plus, I'm a snot-nosed philistine so tell me more about this Alex Chilton fellow. Were you fans? Indifferent? Slavish devotees?

Gotta love the score given the Pavement compilation by Pitchfork. No Texas Never Whispers? Seems an oversight, imo, though I think they nail the track selections from Slanted & Enchanted. Probably a good compilation for those who inexplicably may not own all of their albums.

I tend to agree Mike, and made the point to Stuart and Kyle last night. Let the record show I was peremptorily shouted down by Mr. Watson, who wouldn't believe (a) that PF - whoever that may be at this stage - was capable of anything so crass, or (b) that it was a good economic strategy on their part. I think we need someone in the media to track this in a year and see whether PF won or lost the game.

Did you notice the followup article on the page? It appears that Pink Floyd won the case. I suspect that this suit may have been prompted by commercial reasons, rather than artistic ones. If you allow listeners to download individual tracks, you might sell only a couple from a given album, generating only a couple of dollars revenue. If you force them to buy the whole album, you can charge ten bucks or so. Sure there are some who will choose to buy nothing rather than buy the whole thing, but in the case of a well-established group like Pink Floyd, it may be that they would make more money by insisting on a larger packaging.

Interesting issue Kyle, though I'm surprised the Floyd'ers seem to be in as good a spot, legally speaking, as they are. I say that only because traditionally artists have tended to lose power over the distribution and selling of their music in dealing with record companies. Sounds like they had a savvy lawyer throwing in that clause to protect them, even if this circumstance per se was unforeseen - ie ipods and their evil power to commoditize music.

Not to play both sides of the fence, but I do feel like PF (or their lawyer) is being a little holier than thou in trying to stop the selling / downloading of individual songs. I love the band but there are certainly numerous songs that are not part of a bigger whole, that stand alone perfectly well, and are no less brilliant because of it. Arguably there greatest records are made up of great songs - Piper, Dark Side, Wish You Were Here. And it's not like they were the only band making concept music in the late sixties, seventies / eighties - I mean, the Who, Led Zeppelin, in fact almost every self-respecting rock band and most embarrassing imitations were doing the same thing at that time - I think of the Sweet, for example (who for the record I actually kind of dig). And, final point now, if you can download individual tracks from a Mahler symphony, or a Mozart opera, than surely Us and Them can't be sacred?

Interesting court case intiated by Pink Floyd against EMI, to prevent the label from selling their songs as individual downloads instead of as an entire album. Apart from the legal merits of either side (though it seems to me that EMI's on shaky ground when it contends that an album is something physical so downloads don't count) there's a broader question of whether you believe the artist or the music fan who gets to decide how a work is experienced. Do you think it's reasonable for a band to stipulate that its fans have to buy the whole work, because each song is part of that greater whole and can't really be understood or appreciated on its own? Or do fans have a legitimate right to pick and choose from the works of an artist they admire?

Perhaps I'm not framing the questions correctly but I think you get the gist of what I'm asking. Interested in getting your thoughts.

My take is that technology and file sharing renders the question academic anyway, given that I can easily download any individual Floyd tracks I want within seconds, and actually did so back in January in order to have a digital copy of "Fearless" to share during one of my better rounds in the Clash of the Decades. But I can appreciate where Pink Floyd is coming from; if any band is an 'album' band, it's them. Just wondering if it's reasonable, given that people are able to access pieces of the whole, that they insist on only selling the whole. Not sure.

Second the shoutout on Willis, Bri. A great use of 6 of my 9 remaining emusic credits this month. And a bonus badass mofo cover ; Samuel L. has nothing on this guy.

Update: Actually, the more I look at the cover, the more I'm reminded of a certain member of TV on the Radio.

well you guys have blunted what I had hoped to be a really funny self deprecating blog about Newsome... Notwithstanding my comments last week I actually bought the dam thing that same day... It was at soundscapes and I loved it on first listen, totally different from the last one, not to mention the racy photos inside...dam it really is worth the 2 1 bucks just for that...
Very accessible, she tones down the warble considerable, even has some good uptempo songs and its still growing on me as an album....
thanks for the larry willis tip Bri

No classical recs but I did locate another site where you can download new interesting music legally at http://www.rcrdlbl.com/.

As for Newsom, I'm one listen in and I tend to agree with Mike. It's much better than the previous album, both in terms of what she's doing, and maybe not doing, with her voice, and the strength of the songs, which stand on their own, as well as being part of the bigger whole. The songs on her previous disc tended to frustratingly meander all over the place. For those who really dig/dug Kate Bush, I'm thinking this is a home run. Not sure that I fall into this category. I appreciate what she's doing but I'm not sure if I'm terribly into it. Will give it a few more spins. Have closed my office door with the hopes of getting some work done on an important RFP and will try this as background music, which sometimes helps me focus on writing, not sure if others find this to be the case.

Ah the power of critics....it's got us all chasing and really working hard to understand an artist whom none of us (Derek = possible exception) really like.

Still looking for some classical recommendations...or have you all been too busy listening to Joanna Newsom.

"Have One on Me" is also available on Grooveshark, where you can listen to it as many times as you want. I've listened to some of it, but I'm still sorting out my opinion of it. I like it better than her previous material (which I've only sampled briefly) - both the voice and the lyrics are more mature here.

You don't have to resist. You can listen to the whole album here.

I gave it a listen in its entirety, as the Slate article suggests you do, on Friday evening and on first listen thought it was at the very least a good disc. Will obviously need to listen to it more often to really sink my teeth into it and that will require a purchase of the CD I suppose as they won't stream it for free indefinitely. So go ahead and give it a spin.

The new Gorillaz disc which I listened to on the Guardian's website (but is also available at the NPR site) also has some pretty good moments. Stick with it as I found the first 2 or 3 tracks the weaker ones on this album.

Continued praise for Newsom. Can you resist?

Yes indeed, the combo of 'pics and my annoyingly over-full life is keeping me from enjoying many of the finer things in life - like new music. On that note, in the eternal balance between pop, jazz, and classical music, I have definitely skewed towards the first in the past six months, and expect the pendulum to swing back over the next little while, likely first towards some good old-fashioned symphony music. Any recommendations (doesn't just have to be orchestral) of faves - recent recordings to throw at me? Failing that, jazz (old or new)?

Stu I recall you looking for some good electro fusion last year or so ago - I recently came across a great recording from 1972 or so by Larry Willis called "Inner Crisis". Give it a listen (it's on emusic) if you're still in the market for some nice energized e-jazz.

Re sports themes, the one that springs to mind for me (credit to Oliver as he loves this song) is We Are the Champions. Bit of a lighter-waver but still, not bad. Another one, "Hey Hey Hey - Kiss Him Goodbye" by Steam. I hope to be singing one or both of those at about 5:45 tomorrow.

eerily quiet here. it's as if there were an international sporting event spanning 17 days were somehow preoccupying your thoughts. hmmmn.

well then, gearing up for tonight's big match up against swede.....what's that...slovakia...no! really? (okay, but i'm still gonna be nervous), i can't help but wish the games were over, if only so i don't have to hear various versions ctv-themed 'i believe' song weaving its way through the background of every broadcasted competition like a lingering case of flatuence. which brings me to my question for the week (music- and not fart-themed):

what pop songs do you most associate with sporting events?

my personal fave of the past 15 years or so is blur's "song 2", which packs a nice big carthartic punch with its simple, 'woo hoo' chorus but there must be others. the gary glitter song still gets played quite a bit in the US, though his nasty personal predilections and arrests have mostly dampened enthusiasm for 'rock and roll pt. 1 and 2'.

least favourite: that damn ole ole ole song they sing at habs games. grrr.

fun times last night at the Wild Beasts show, even though they were neither wild nor beastly (discuss).

for those of you wondering how it is that joanna newsom continues to get glowing reviews, i invite you to continue to bang your head against the wall.

marc and mike, sorry you both couldn't make the show last night but thought you'd be interested in sampling some of the music from the opening band we saw last night, Still Life, Still, which I think we all kind of dug.

Hey Mike, belatedly, I love that Beatles link. I don't know about the rest of you but I can obsess at that level. Looks really well researched. And can you think of another band where you know every song so well, so that reading the detailed analysis doesn't leave you mystified? Other than the Smiths, Derek? Other than Bob Dylan, Stu? Other than John Denver, Mike?

Congrats, Bri! And welcome to late 2004. The good news: The Argos have just won the Grey Cup. The bad news: 4 more years of W.

I downloaded a podcast! I downloaded a podcast!

You actually have a very good memory Marc. As Kyle pointed out to me last night the 5 of us did indeed go to the Rex several years ago but we didn't stay too long as the band was quite bad and we headed off to the Rivoli.

No worries Stuart re Sunny Day in Glasgow. I hadn't realized that the Japandroids and the Sunny Day concerts were on consecutive evenings. Having picked up Japandroids tickets for Kyle and I this past weekend I might have had to bail on the other show regardless so I'm relieved to see you haven't purchased those tickets.

As for the Wild Beasts I picked up 5 tickets on the weekend $16/per and that show is 2 weeks from tonight at the Horseshoe.

the april 2 show ( sunny day glasgow) is the friday of the easter weekend, alas I can no longer make it...same w the japandroids, so its just the beasts for me.... Can someone else organise the tickets for glasgow show (if anyone is still interested.).. otherwize derek if you can still grab me a ticket just for the W. beasts Ill pay you the night of the show...
tks
s

Derek, where did we all go the evening we went out to Midi before a gig? ...was it just the Rex or was it something at the shoe? ...atrocious memory for such details ...and yes, i'd like to check out both shows, thanks for making arrangements guys.

Actually, fuck it. Put me down for the Japandroids show as well. Album is starting to grow on me, especially the drums that kick off the first track.

If I've read correctly does this mean that we have all 5 long-term members of the CD club looking to attend the Wild Beasts concert on February 22nd. If that is the case has this ever happened before?

Monday might actually be better for me than the Saturday. Put me down for some Wild Beasties and I'll have to get back to you on the Japandroids.

I'm game for what ever is on the go ...always up for something that i have absolutely no acquaintance with! ...besides, i might have my head out of the dust by then and looking for some release.

I'm up for the Wild Beasts. Unusual sounding band. A bit of the Smiths meets Antony and the Johnson perhaps?

The Wild Beasts are a band from the UK and are playing the Horseshoe on Monday February 22 for $15. The Japandroids are also playing at the shoe on a more family friendly Saturday night April 3 for the princely sum of $12.

a pox on your spurious, nay, supercilious statements stu (4 pts. for alliteration). is wild beasts that montreal band with the one good song? when are japandroids playing? am in for the glaswegian gig. let me know dates/deets for the other two.

I neglected to say that I am tiring of Kyles use of multi syllabic words such as "pulchritudinous".
To me they merely reinforce his epicene nature .....

Ok , maybe you get the wild beasts tickets Derek since you are more into beasteality then i... is the show Mon feb 22 at the shoe?

I will buy sunny day tickets in a week or so for all interested so anyone joining Derek and I please let me know before then...

of course I will take your cash at the show...

As one show is only 3 weeks away (Wild Beasts) and the the other 2 months away (Sunny Day) why don't we do both for those who are interested. April seems like a long time to wait to see some live music.

the garrison is in manhatten, thats why i suggested it...
actually it is 1197 dundas st west..... see link here
I just neeed to get out so I am open to seeing the wild beasts too

The pulchritudinous goddesses. Is that a metal band?

I'm of the same mind as Kyle. All 3 bands I like but don't really need to see in a live setting. Would be more interested in seeing Sunny Day in Glasgow or even Japandroids or Wild Beasts. The Sunny Day concert appears to be only $10. Where and what exactly is the Garrison?

much as i like the clientele and beach house (and field music, for that matter), i'm not dying to see any of these bands live. the word, 'soporific' comes to mind. will there be couches? good pot? lithe, pulchritudinous goddesses feeding me grapes while i recline and the music washes over me? if yes to any of these questions, i'm in. if no, i'll have to be cajoled. as for a sunny day in glascow, maybe. how much for the tix?

also, 30 days in, a nominee for worst album cover of the year.

Clientelle w Field music @ shoe march 19
Beach House @ opera house march 30
a sunny day in glasgow @ garrison april 2

anyone interested in any of these or spotted something better...i feel the need
s