My bad with the ampersand ignorance, then. Did they used to be against the wall? and If not why did I think they were?

Happily Spotify is good at correcting my mistakes, but it still gave me a hard time when I was searching for Florence + the machine but was foolish enough to type and. I was tempted to try to find Florence (she supposed only lives about a mile from me) and give her a piece of my mind about silly punctuation, but I'm lazy, so I didn't.

hope you enjoy the blog, Aural, like I say in the sig I try to make it interesting but don't always succeed.

I've also been very into Neko Case lately. The Middle Cyclone is possibly one of my all time favorite albums. This Tornado Loves you is a perfect song.

Oh, I dunno if it's an & or an and, I just always use the & cos I'm lazy! And nope, I don't think they were ever against anything, so I dunno where ya got that. The mind pulls some crazy hijinks on ya sometimes!

And isn't that Neko Case record just fantastic!

Mariachi El Bronx. Oh my good god, it's fabulous.

Zoya They are so great!!! I saw them live last May after seeing the regular Bronx earlier in the day and figured it would be lame and gimmicky as i didn't really care for their non-mariachi songs and then they got onstage and blew everyone away. A friend sent me a video of them in light up suits which made me love them even more.

Plus Kim and Kelly Deal sang a couple songs with them and that made them even more awesome in my eyes

pants - they're playing a headlining show this coming monday at Islington Academy. Go see them!!!

oh i totally would but I am actually going to be interviewed on the radio on Monday (resonance FM should you care to listen at 10:30 pm as a guest of The Voice of Americans where I will be asked about my views on living in London, specifically scenic Nunhead)

I keep finding about shows after they happen or on days when I can't go. UNFAIR.

ETA see how i was sneaky and worked in a brag there? I am so freaking sly

OH my happy goodness I think I might be going to this in May.

The Pixies!!

Pavement!!

Wilco!!

New Pornographers!!

And they haven't even finished booking it.

And it's in Barcelona. My head may just explode.

I'm not sure how I feel about the Pavement reunite. I'm really not. It feels too soon. Part of it me loves it like the Pixies reunion, but I feel like there was an appropriate time between the demise of the Pixies & the reboot.

I saw Pavement at their infamous Coachella show & saw them a few days later at home. I actually had, like, five minute conversation with Stephen Malkmus from the floor of the venue that night as I was the only person in the crowd from Coachella & I called him on his shit. He was apologized for his voice being scratchy & I loudly commented on the fact that he'd mentioned that he'd been smoking some sweet Humboldt county shit a few days earlier. We talked weed & festival shit for a few minutes.

Yes, I am an asshole.

At least they waited 10 years

I'm okay with the reunite as I never managed to see them before but I get what you mean. I'd be totally fine if they never toured again, but I will definitely enjoy this show.

Of course I said the same thing after seeing the Pixies on their reunion tour in 2004 and here I am planning to see them again so take all that with a grain of salt.

The fact that this fest is in Barcelona does color my thinking a fair bit as well

Now I just need to pray to all available saints and deities that Neko Case will be playing with New Pornographers, not that Kathryn Calder isn't great (she totally is) but I've never seen Neko perform live with them and I would really like to

Pants that festival looks amazing. I am surprised to see the Pixies will still be touring, but then again you can't see too much Pixies. I saw them this autumn and they were awesome: played another whole set as a second encore once all the people looking for Doolittle tracks had gone home.

I would love to see Hope Sandoval and the XX in particular. Despite being squarely in the middle of their demographic (if they'd admit to having one) I could never chime in with the Pavement love.

what are XX like? I've never heard them

They are unexpectedly gorgeous. Very low-key, quite melancholic and moody. I was introduced to them by a Young Person so I feared excessive angst, but they skirt free of that whilst remaining atmospheric. I like. Crystalised is the single but I'm fond of the songs I've heard from the album too.

What's the deal with the Pavement reunion? Will they be touring?

MH They're definitely doing some shows in the UK and Europe, I can't imagine they would skip over the US

Anyone heard of blip.fm? It's this awesome online playlist-building site where you register as a "DJ" and add songs to your own personal "radio station." You just look up songs and add them, and they're streamed off the site. They've got a great selection, and you find a ton of new music because you can find other DJs with similar taste and listen to their stations. I haven't been able to add as much new music to mine as I'd like since I moved back to my internet-less apartment, but here's my station.

God, I'd kill to see the Pixies...I would have gone to their show in Seattle this month, but I couldn't get my passport in time. I hope to god I have another chance someday. I saw Dinosaur Jr. a few weeks back and, while the music was great and Lou Barlow's guitar playing was amazing, the show itself was pretty boring. They didn't engage the audience at all, just stood there, played their set and left. They looked exhausted.

Parov Stelar.

thank goodness for itunes genius! it was a recommendation for me, and I am now addicted. I got the discography from a torrent and it.is.AMAZING!!

i've been listening to the the xx on imeem.com (yay full streaming albums!) and i really like the mellow vibe... it's like a less lame rilo kiley meets portishead.

(side note, i love getting new music rec's off the boards here...)

epi -- thank for posting about blip.fm, I've been looking for something like that that works where I am (in Asia), sadly the copyright bozos do not allow pandora, last.fm (or hulu for that matter) to work outside of the U.S., and it's hard to keep hip to non-mainstream music here.

As for what I'm listening to? The new(ish) Air and Raveonettes are both worth rocking out to no matter what side of the world you're on.

epi- over in the bust mixtape thread we've got playlists building on playlist.com, but it has some issues. is blip.fm better?

Oh, I've never actually been to that thread! I'll have to check it out! And I've never tried playlist.com, either, but I used to look for music on radioblog and it was useless - the songs hardly ever streamed properly.

I'm not telling any certain band, just the kinds of music.
1.- Thrash Metal (Beyond the embrace, Anthrax, Megadeth, ...)
2.- Nu-Metal (Machine Head, Mnemic, ...) (Thrash/Progresive Metal)
3.- Death Metal (Kataklysm, ...)
4.- Heavy Metal (Children of Bodom, ...)

Listen to some of their songs, and start from there.

Likeanyother - can you use Spotify where you are?

I can't, as far as I know it only works in the U.K.? Bummertown, as I read about it and it sounds freakin awesome.

I've actually tried to get on some of those sites like hulu with a proxy IP and it didn't work. I think I'm about 8 months or so behind on the technology. It's so damn annoying, cuz I would actually pay to have access to some good online video streaming. The only thing I've found that works here is iTunes, and I use it even with their expensive prices and crappy, limited selection. It's like, somebody invent online movie/TV rentals and please, take my money damnit! Anyway, sorry for the derail.

likeanyother - I present to you: tv shack!!

ok because links are disabled you can figure this out, but-------http://tvshack.net/


to the best of my knowledge, it works everywhere. i watch most of my TV on it...

rudderless, have you ever listened to Trailer Bride? They do a sort of goth country version of an Emily Dickinson poem! Very good stuff.

Ah-ha, brilliant Zoya, thank you!

Right now I'm listening to the Slumber Party. Damn good.

Ten Years of ATP this weekend for me and I cannot wait. I'm most looking forward to seeing Deerhoof right now but am also excited about Stephen Malkmus, Devendra Banhart, Modest Mouse and a bunch of others. AND just getting away from the city to sit around drinking cider with friends and listening to lots of music.

At the moment, I am digging Amerie's new album, the metal band Mastadon, the jazz musician Christian Scott, and Herbie Hancock's album of Joni Mitchell covers. Just some seriously good music in different genres.

Jeezly crow, is that last Mastodon record the fucking shit or what? Crack the Skye, indeed. It makes me glad I live in a house & not an apartment anymore because my neighbors would HATE me.

I keep forgetting to mention Blakroc. Its a collab with the Black Keys & various hip hop/R&B stars. I am loving it. Fer reals.

Based on what's below, I now want to be rich and spend all of my time jetting to music festivals around the world.

*Goes to check out Mastodon and Blakroc*

Also many thanks to zoya for the tvshack ref...


Post has been edited as syb can't spell for s**t today, apparently...

new Tori Amos holiday album! here she is live on on my local NPR.

This was the first of many Blakroc mentions I've heard in the last week. Must check them out soon.

ATP was really good. Battles and mum were my favorites of the whole weeknd and The Melvins and SunnO))) tried to make me deaf despite my earplugs. They did not win.

I'm currently jiving out to Calvin Harris. I love this man. He's amazing.

wye oak - perfect amount of folk for my current mood.

I agree, Calvin Harris is awesome.

I've been listening to White Rabbits - Percussion Gun all day, can't get enough of it.

I third the Calvin Harris love & second the White Rabbits. Lately I've been listening to a lot of albums that I've bought this year, but didn't really sit down with properly.

Girls - Album and Phoenix Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix are my current favs. And of course one of my fav things about Phoenix is they are <3FRENCH<3

Y'know, I'm glad that Phoenix is finally getting some credit. I've loved them since Alphabetical & Wolfgang is great!

For some reason I just can't get into Girls. Girls & Fuck Buttons & St Vincent have gotten tons of "best of" ink as of late, I know everybody loves them, but I just don't.

Bibio is quite fun, Future of the Left reminds me that I really miss Mclusky, I'm looking forward to the new Massive Attack LP. I have a couple tracks from their last EP & Pray For Rain is slinky & sexy & features the inimitable Tunde Adebimpe (AKA Hewhoshouldbemybabydaddy) on vox.

I just discovered Mumford and Sons last night. They're fantastic. This song is their first single from their new album and I love it. I wish I could play the banjo. I'm not even kidding.

And I'm also grooving to Ke$ha's album. I know a lot of people are like, "Good lawd!" when it comes to her, but I love any really good dance album. I'm giving it it's test run on my iPhone right now and I'm really liking it. Too bad I can't get up and dance around my office without getting funny looks.

Its stupid, but I cannot get Russell Brand's Inside of You out of my head. I've been singing it all day at work.

Currently rediscovering the Brian Jonestown Massacre, and holy goddamn. I'd forgotten how fucking good they are. It's like sex for my ears. I can't even do homework with them on because they're so good it's distracting. I can't wait till they hit up my city again!

Oh, man. I've been going kinda nuts lately. Carolina Chocolate Drops, Slum Village, Bill Callahan, old Jesus Lizard, Mayer Hawthorne, Cold Cave, Gil Scott-Heron, VV Brown, Bionik Brown, John Cale, Dragonette, old Damned, Ensemble Caprice, the Whitefield Brothers, Surfer Blood, etc. Japanese garage rock/girl pop, a bunch of 60s/70s Brazilian funk, etc.

hey all, if you're interested at all in electronic music, you might want to check out my new radio show. the overall theme is queer/gender-bending artists as well as women artists who have their own creative vision and aren't purely sexualized. there are many different styles including techno/house, ambient, synth-pop and "indietronics"... here is the link to listen online:

Expatriarch Radio #1

i hope you enjoy it!

oops, i should have mentioned it doesn't go live til friday 1:00pm NYC time...

Just listened to Solex vs The Hitmeister again for the first time in AGES yesterday and loved it just as much as the first time I heard it back in 1998. Such a good album that sounds current even after 10+ years.

BlackRoc is amazing, as is N.A.S.A., a duo who did this album with all these hip-hop and rock collaborators, it's really badass and weird and cool.

I've been getting into Roisin Murphy more, and hearing old stuff from Duane Allman and Al Green.

AP, you have some of the best taste in music ever.

I'm doing some OT today (big archiving project, who's jealous? come on, don't deny the envy, just accept it and grow from it) and am finding a combo of VV Brown and Cheap Trick to very helpful at making time move more quickly. I could probably listen to Surrender on repeat for an hour.

I love Surrender.

I really like Goldfrapp's new single, even though it's entirely airlifted from the synthtastic 80s.

Why thank you, Anna. You're no musical slouch yourself! You turned me on to . . .

Syb, have you heard Marina & the Diamonds? It's not Goldfrapp-y, but it's quite good. They keep pushing back the US release of the new disc, I am champing at the bit.

Cheap Trick is pure genius except for anything produced after 1979. I just don't like that stuff.