Current iTunes Library

So every New Year I take a few moments to back up my musical purchases for the year onto my external hard drive (boy if that baby ever crashes... I'll cry.), then clean them off of my local disk, ready to start anew with a clean slate for the year. The process of backing up is a fun way to look over everything I enjoyed musically in the past year, and an easy way to take stock in the great new finds you come across over 12 months of searching and stumbling. This year so far, I am extremely happy with my "client list"...

[as of 12 Mar 2010]

2009 Enjoyed Part 2: Music

For some reason I disliked 2008's musical selection, and I have no idea why. The only album I can think of that I really liked was The Walkmen's You & Me. There were undoubtedly other albums that year, but when I try and think back as to which albums really hit me, that's the only one that really did. Right from the start of 2009, however, I felt like good things were afloat, and now, a year later, as I look back I believe that said good things continuously washed over me again and again over the course of the past 365 days.

There are so many good albums to name, Grizzly Bear and Phoenix were among the best, and they both came out on my birthday, which really meant something to me even if just coincidental. It made for one of the best days of aural pleasure in recent memory. It was a great year for Austin-based acts as well, with White Denim continually climbing the UK's hype ladder and newly birthed from the ashes of Sound Team's TV Torso made an immediate impact on my senses. The best new band with the capabilities of sticking around [Brazos] finally put out their first full length album and I haven't been able to take it out of my car long enough to rip it onto my computer.

Now, as is customary for year ends, there are lists that circulate, compromised of bests and filled to the brim with commentary. I myself normally put together lists throughout the year [when I'm of right mind/brain] and so combining the two seemed the perfect way to get across a section of what I really enjoyed about 2009. On top of this, I pooled together the remaining wherewith all I had from my college radio days and produced a little podcast [be gentle, it's the first ever] in order to showcase the aforementioned best of list.

What fun!

Indeed. So, here's the thing. The podcast has about 11 tracks in it and is just a little over 45 minutes long. It has 4 or 5 of my absolute favorite songs of the year and then a handful of others remaining on there to fill it out. I've left out the obvious tracks [I'm looking at you Phoenix] and regrettably so, because Wolfgang Amadeus was start to end a pretty perfect album. So this podcast is full of some of the others that you maybe didn't hear over the course of the year but should have, and those that I couldn't stop singing these past 12 months. The good news here is that if you don't like a song, theoretically you should be able to skip to the next song or "chapter" as defined by podcast law. Hopefully this feature works, if not, I apologize. Let me know. Thank you and Happy New Year!

PLEASE ENJOY!!!

[click the artwork for podcast]

[click the artwork for podcast]

Tracklist

Intro [over Steve Reich's "The Desert Music: III. Part One - Slow"]
Brazos - "The Observer" live @ WOXY.com
Foreign Born - "Vacationing People"
Local Natives - "Airplanes"
Commentary [over Thrillington's "Monkberry Moon Delight"]
The Streets - "Trust Me"
Bad Veins - "Crosseyed"
White Denim - "Paint Yourself"
Commentary [over AIR's "Night Hunter"]
Dappled Cities - "The Price"

The Soft Pack - "Extinction"
Thom Yorke - "All For The Best"
Commentary [over Django Reinhardt's "Django's Castle" and "Nuages"]
TV Torso - "The Days Of Being Wild"

Music: Halloween

Lo how the wind did howl and mist lay, about the forested hillside where Fall found itself as night sprung from day. The tones of the season rang eerily around the space, as Halloween crept up along at an alarming rate. Dark and dreary the season had become, no turning back now for Fall would soon be done.

MWAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA

And so from this amateur poet comes another playlist, a list of some of the eeriest songs I know, older tunes and newer tracks, too. All here for you, before Halloween thankfully. Hope it doesn't frighten you... too much, mwaaahahahahaha.

[where's Vincent Price when you need him?]

Music: Eerie Halloweenie

1. Jonny Greenwood - There Will Be Blood -- off the soundtrack to There Will Be Blood. The man was robbed of an Oscar nomination because of PTA's use of a track off a previous solo work of Greenwood's, and thus that year's best original score never received an award. This thing is haunting and taut, with a touch of humor to its suspense. Just what you want in your horror. Oh yes, there will be blood.

2. Dead Man's Bones - Dead Man's Bones -- off the reduntantly titled debut album, Dead Man's Bones. This album [from actor Ryan Gosling] is half full of immediately catchy tunes, with the other half merely needing a few listens to hit the same mark. It's perfectly timed for the season, it is dark and moody, but the best thing about this track [as well as most of the rest of it] is the fact that it is rumored to have been heavily influenced by Disney's Haunted Mansion experience, which is just amazing. You can hear it here, with the backing vocals, there's a little bit of campiness to it, a lighthearted look at the undead. It makes for a really charming and wonderful tone to the album. It must be all the dancing ghosts and hands popping out of graves.

3. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Red Right Hand -- off of Let Love In. The man is a genius. Screenwriter/Composer/Rock Icon, whatever you want to refer to him as, Nick Cave is pretty much the most badass person you'll find alive today. He always seemed a taboo to me growing up, like I shouldn't be allowed to listen to him. He looked kinda like a vampire, moved about strangely, sang about provocative subjects, and that voice. His voice is probably why I felt like I shouldn't be listening. It sounds dangerous. This track is pretty much the definition of Cave's danger for me. The album on the whole is one of his seminal works, and if you're interested after that, there's a massive catalog to sift through [also check out "Fifteen Feet Of Pure White Snow"]. Arctic Monkeys are currently covering this song live and have a recorded version of it on itunes, it's pretty good, but ain't nowhere near as scary as this one. Nick Cave scares me.

4. Jennifer Gentle - The Ferryman -- off of The Midnight Room. I once put this up for an old New Ears section. The album at first listen is a little strange, but I saw them perform it live perfectly and it put a whole new spin on it for me. They're an Italian band spearheaded by Marco Fassolo, and one of their main influences is Nino Rota, the Italian maestro behind Fellini's biggest hits [La Dolce Vita anyone? 8 1/2?] You can catch the sound a little bit here, it's whimsical, but at the same time very dark. It reminds me of the ending of Ingrid Bergman's The Seventh Seal when they're all doing the dance of death along the ridge. Great stuff when a song you're listening to in the 2000's reminds you of a Swedish avant garde film from the 50's.

5. Joy Division - Dead Souls -- off of The Best of Joy Division. This is just a pleasure, not quite eerie on the surface except for the title, but when you start to think of the saga of Ian Curtis the song takes on a different vibe. The dead souls that keep calling and eventually get through, ending in suicide. For the longest time I just couldn't get into Joy Division, didn't care for New Order, but about a year and a half ago I saw a doc on the start and end of the band at the AFI Dallas fest and all of a sudden a switch just flipped. I bought Unknown Pleasures the next morning on my drive back to Austin and a new fascination began. God I love music, and I love how different sections of your life change and allow old music to be heard again anew.

6. M83 - Car Chase Terror! -- off of Before The Dawn Heals Us. Probably the scariest song I've ever heard... which is perfect for Halloween. I first heard this about a week before the album was released, I was working for KTCU as a Senior at TCU. As the Modern Rock director for the station it was my duty to check out all the new music that was coming in, sift through all the shit and make playlists for the shifts. So one night I'm home alone, it's cold outside so i cuddle up in bed, put on the ear-muff-style headphones, throw this album on and [light up a joint]... Let's just go over the things not to do when listening to this song:

- Don't listen alone
- Don't listen at night
- Don't listen while under the influence of drugs

This song scared the living daylights out of me. I had to turn the album off as soon as it was over, sitting up in bed and saying outloud, "shit that was terrifying." Literally the scariest song I've ever heard. So enjoy!

Happy Halloween!

ACL Fest

Went to day one and saw:

The Walkmen: wish I was in this band
Phoenix: currently taking over the world
Thievery Corporation: relaxing electro-fusion
Them Crooked Vultures: meh
The Yeah Yeah Yeahs: better at a club
Kings of Leon: need to stop making songs like "Use Somebody"

Can't make it there the rest of the weekend, but that's cool thanks to Hulu:

Looks Like There's A Storm A-Brewin'

Hey everone, my good friend Quinn has a blog now... I never thought I'd see the day.

I've known Quinn since my Sophomore year in High School, the guy is a whirling ball of crazy. And if you don't watch out, he'll Batman yer ass for sure!

Quinn works for C3 Presents, they are probably the best concert promotions/artist management/all around music afficianados in the biz, winning concert promoter of the year awards left and right. That said, he's got some awesome access to bands and locales and has decided to use that to give us all random interviews with some pretty cool people (he's already sat down with Mason Jennings and What Made Milwaukee Famous @ SXSW, as well as a little snippet of The Black Keys live).

Here's a little intro into what and who Quinnstorm is all about ... then head on over to Quinnstorm yourself.

I am trying my best to get everything together to give you all a little recap of SXSW from myself. A lot was seen and a lot was taken care of and a lot was photographed. Gimme A Break.