natasha thirsk (left) is hott and an awesome singer/musicianfor some reason or another, some bands/singers/babez do not get the attention they deserve (even in the selfishly obscured indie prick circles). i am going to try to correct that every now and then.

natasha thirsk
not only is natasha a super hott canadian babe but she is also the singer of two incredibly underrated bands (both of which she lends her deliciously sexy voice to). thirsk’s first band, the dirtmitts, has released just two albums: 2001’s the dirtmitts (from which came the omfgically brilliant “fix & destroy”), and 2002’s slightly more introspective get on (see the stunning melodic energy of “bank card” or the artsy minimalism of “get the minus gone”). her most recent project is catlow, which takes some of the dirtmitts’ mild abstractions and adds some neo-discotheque moodswings and soundscapes to create a vibe as unpredictable as it is succulent. <3

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basically no other acoustic musician can hold a candle to the brilliance of sexton blake. his album plays the hits is loaded with

80s covers done all acoustic style and omfg they are SOGOOD. seriously straight up double style OMFG @ milli vanilli’s “girl you know it’s true”. for realz though, this whole album is like sufjan, sam beam, sean lennon, elliott smith and sebadoh all rolled up into one FUCKING AWESOME TASTING CAKE THAT HAS A FEW CANDLES ON IT AND YOU ARE BLOWING THEM OUT AFTER YOU JUST GOT BACK FROM ROLLERSKATING AT YOUR BIRTHDAY PARTY AND NOW FOR SOME REASON YOUR BIRTHDAY IS NOW TURNING INTO A MONTAGE. are you kidding me with that cover??? so awesome.

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i don’t care what any of you bitches say. if i went to a bar/club and this song: kanye west – “stronger”, was playing on repeat the entire night, i would not even care. why? because i am listening to this song on repeat for like the last six hours as i drink coors light and dance to myself. omfg this song is a slice of heaven. i dont even know how to describe it. i would probalby describe it as basically pure awesomeness yep, that is how i would describe it.

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zomg hello my lovelies. here are some recent happenings that you should know about:

• the new against me! album (new wave) is leaked. it is pretty good.. so far i don’t think i like it as well as the eternal cowboy but it is still good nonetheless. also, it is produced by butch vig. also, there is (OMFG!@!@!!) a track featuring tegan quin (“borne on the fm waves of the heart”).

• eagle vs. shark is completely hilarious. don’t listen to the reviews saying it ripped napoleon dynamite (it didn’t). the only similarities they share are awkward characters and lots of neo-retro products. watch this movie.

• the blogz0r is celebrating its 1-year anniversary this week!!! hoorah~! honestly i am somewhat surprised i managed to keep posting for an entire year. but you, the reader(s?), have provided the support i needed to continue writing. yes, it’s been sporadic at times (like a nice case of herpes, with breakouts and dormancies, i know). BUT, i have found my stride, and the blogz0r will continue to roll on. the blogz0r’s very first article (on how much pitchfork sucks) can be found right here.

• walking six blocks to work in 115-degree heat really, really sucks :’(

• my fantasy baseball team is destroying so far this season. which rules, since yahoo! screwed me over in the first round by autopicking jimmy rollins as the #3 overall pick (wtf).

• i hate 4th of July

• superbad apparently still exists. awesome.

• kanye west’s new song “stronger” is so effing good omfg. kanye + daft punk ftw!!

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thurston moore is like 180 years old but he is still a million times cooler than every single nyc hipster combined.for srsly, thurston moore is like, the greatest dude to ever come out of rock ‘n’ roll. thurston: plz have my babies? i am totally listening to his brand new album, trees outside the academy right now. and omfg@how awesome this album is. how can one dude make so much awesomely awesome music?? there is no way thurston is a real human. he has to be some kind of crazy alien musical robot embryo created from the 11th dimension or something, because that is the only possibly conceivable way that he is able to transcend all other mortal earthly musicians. also, he does not age like a normal human. he is like a thousand years old but is still cooler than cool. if someone ever wanted to describe new york city, all they need to do is show someone a picture of thurston moore and let them listen to one of his songs.

anyway, this album is tttly rad, and there are some songs that are actually really sad. like “american coffin”, which is like all piano-y and instrumental and basically makes tears go down my manly cheeks :’( … “wonderful witches” sounds like what would happen if “1979″ was written by sonic youth. and remember that shitty orchestral album that silverchair tried to write like ten years ago?? (neon ballroom i think is what it was called??)… well “off work” is what that album wished it sounded like. i am serious about marrying thurston moore, btw. f u bob dylan and neil young, thurston moore is better than you.

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john vanderslice’s new album (emerald city)
has leaked and it is this: awesome. i have listened to it many, many times in the past week and it gets better each time for realz. the record’s standout, “time to go” reminds me of what would happen if you mated that one awesome nelly furtado song (“say it right”) with lou barlow. srsly. the album is kind of sad but there are some glimmers of hope and it makes me wish i was friends with good old john and we could toss back a bunch of hipster lagers and talk about the state of the world with eachother.

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so i went to see the dandy’s last night at ed’s in edmonton. (a) the show was awesome. they played for like almost two hours.. including genius(!) and tons of stuff off thirteen tales. also they played I LOVE YOU!!!! totally sounded so ridiculously awesome. everything off odditorium was way rad. (b) after the show we went backstage and hung out with them until they had to leave. brent was a huge stud. i love that dude. zia was super super super nice, <3. i didn’t really talk to peter at all. and courtney and this groupie-i-agree-with-everything-courtney-says i-know-everything-about-their-history super annoying girl were trying to tell me that basquiat rode warhol to famedom. i was like efff that basquiat was way famous before he ever even met warhol. but they would not believe me!!! tiny bit of respect lost :( also brent’s girlfriend sara(h?) was super cool and nice too. i showed brent the updates i just had done to my tattoo yesterday and he called me the craziest mofo he has ever seen. lol! i will post pics when my roommate gets back with his camera. i luvs you dandy’s!!!!!

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lately i have had not a lot to do. that is because one week ago i came to edmonton for

neal pollack is funny.no real reason at all except to stay for awhile. and also to hang out with a friend whom i have not seen for about four years (is that the correct usage of ‘whom’? i never know). what amazed me besides how awesome i am, is that there is an inordinate amount of people who have no clue where edmonton is. dudes, wtf? do you know NO world geography, at all?? that you do not even know the location of one of canada’s larger cities baffles me? srsly, like ten people said: where is that?

anyway i have switched from my usual rum & coke/pepsi to gin & tonics, and i have been enjoying them. however, i only have one glass left for the night, which is mildly annoying, but nevertheless. my friend-slash-new-roommate is gone to victoria for the weekend (also in canada, retards) and i am left at home to write things and drink, and also to read and watch tv. today i finished neal pollack’s ‘anthology’ which is a hilarious satire of all those pompous ‘thought pieces’ you can find in prominent magazines such as the new yorker, or time, or newsweek, or whatever. pollack’s articles for slate.com are quite funny as well. his over-the-top style and mastery of witty anecdotes pander deliciously to my personality. i highly recommend it. and i am probably in love with you, the reader(s?).

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i have been sidelined with an ear infection and can hear absolutely nothing out of my right ear :’(

so… i took the time to finally go through ALL of my music and limit my albums down to just the essentials—getting rid of all duplicates i have acquired over the years, all irrelevant and otherwise shitty records, redownloading bad rips, and deleting just about any live album that isn’t necessary. this leaves 2,184 albums by 993 artists.. which is going up as i discover more essential stuff that has gone MIA or for some reason i don’t have. i also finally went through every single album and fixed the ones that have no ‘year’ or ‘track number’ info in the id3 tags.

what this means for you, the reader(s?) is that i have been listening to and remembering tons of old records and forgotten favorites. i was reading sebastian’s blog and he threw out an idea of listing his favorite album for each of the past 30 years—an idea i have totally had before also. and i think it is probably time to bring that idea to fruition.

some awesome favorites i have either neglected or forgotten about:

richard hell & the voidoids
black heart procession
the delgados
bonnie “prince” billy and other will oldham related projects
the mountain goats
colour revolt

and many more.

so stay tuned for some forgotten and/or underappreciated and/or just plain awesome albums, coming soon.

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• Okay, so I must confess I hardly ever update this blog anymore and probably no one even reads it.

• BUT, here is some new content for you, the loyal reader(s?).

• The first order of business is that Blonde Redhead’s new album, 23 is STUNNING. Holy freaking crap this album is good. It’s possibly better than Misery is a Butterfly, even. Some of it reminds me of Kevin Shields a bit. But just get it. Trust me.

• Oh, also, I just ordered 13 vinyl LPs. Teh hottness.

• The second order of business is about life + the internet. The internet is weird. This week one of my old, old, old friends that I went to high school with and hung out with added me to Myspace. I haven’t talked to her in probably, 8 years!!? So strange. Not only that but I find out her brother who was in my grade is now an indie stud with a song on the Bridge to Terabithia soundtrack and the tv show Brothers & Sisters. And I dig his music, too. (tylerjames.com)

• It snowed here like 13 inches yesterday. That is both good and bad. Also I got my car stuck this morning and last night.

• The Black Angels‘ album Passover keeps getting better, every single time I listen to it.

• I’m assuming all of you dudes & dudettes have heard the new Modest Mouse album!?@??@ HOLY CRAP I LOVE ISAAC BROCK WITH EVERY OUNCE OF MY SOUL. I think in the end I will probably end up saying I like Good News For People Who Like Bad News better, but this album is HOTTT. My personal favorites are Dashboard, Parting of the Sensory and Spitting Venom. This is another must have.

• Ever heard of The Good, The Bad, & The Queen ??? It’s Damon Albarn’s (Blur, Gorillaz) new project. And it is really good. I like it far better than anything else I’ve ever heard him do. It was produced by Danger Mouse.

• HEROES is quite possibly the best show ever. Now that Lost sucks and 24 keeps writing the same season over and over and even Prison Break seems to have a pretty obvious ending coming up… trust me and watch HEROES.

• Idiocracy is pretty hilarious.

• The Arcade Fire’s Neon Bible is probably the best album I’ve heard so far this year and that includes Blonde Redhead and Modest Mouse. This album is just otherworldly it’s so good. In my opinion much better than Funeral, which was also (obviously) unbelievably good.

• The Donkeys. This band is rad. Kind of reminds of me Brian Jonestown Massacre a little bit. Check them out.

• Ken Andrews (Failure, On, Year of the Rabbit) has released a new solo album. It’s his best work since he was with Failure, in my opinion. Why does Ken get no love??? Dear everyone: please love Ken.

• The new Kings of Leon album is REALLY GOOD. I have never really dug this band, but damn if I have to admit that this album has been completely kicking my ass the past few weeks.

• THERE’S A NEW DINOSAUR JR!!!!!!!!!!!!! AND IT’S AS GOOD AS ALL THEIR OTHER ALBUMS!!!!$!$!$!$!$

• Additionally, Mice Parade have a new self-titled record out. As can be expected it is mellow and great and makes me want to shake my ass and light candles.

• If all this wasn’t enough for you, there’s more thunderous, crushing post-rock from Pelican. If you like wicked drums and loud loud loud melodies, then the new Pelican album will not disappoint you. At all. I am still not all the way through it, but I am digging it so far.

• My trusty Austin-based eFriend Justin told me about Apes and Androids. They are so good. Listen to them. Now.

• I don’t think I’ve mentioned yet on here how awesome The Ponys‘ new record is, either. Well now I did.

• Seriously, at this rate, my best of 2007 list is going to have to be like, 100 albums at least.

• There’s a new Portugal. The Man EP out, called It’s Complicated Being A Wizard. It’s ridiculously good and it even starts with a 23 minute opening track.

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