I’m stronger, faster, and younger than Dusty. I don’t swing at that outside pitch that would have been ball four.

I come bearing gifts. This is one of my favorite songs of the year, even if it is a very old song. It’s Abner Jay. RIYL the Anthology of American Folk Music.

The Reason Young People Take Drugs

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Here’s what’s up:

In the past few months I left my job and moved to Hollywood, lots of craziness has happened and I haven’t had much time to update this puppy.

BUT, good news! my twin brother Alan will now be posting on this blog, AND, i moved ‘er over to a brand spankin’ new domain: music is my wife.com

YES! this is a new year, people! i may bring in a few more authors as well so we can try to keep the posts rollin out and avoid the death-months of the past.

coming soon, more posts!

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mstrkrft’s latest album, fist of god is this: just okay. there’s some pukish radio garbage and also some pretty catchy dancelines with ballbusting beats, but overall nothing too enticing.
anyway who cares about that because look at this horrible album cover. possibly the worst ever and definitely the worst of this young year.

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i was listening to this while driving through the mountains during the sunset on my way to san diego, and realized how much i had forgotten that grandaddy ruled. the outro of this song is so amazing and intense and perfect

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if it is drizzling icy pellets of rain and you are walking in a town where no one is around but there are a few lights on in a few of the houses, and the few cars that are driving through the town are in fast motion, and there is a streetlamp flickering on the highway, and you are not sure what is happening is this real are you dead, then this song is probably on

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this song randomly came on my ipod today and either for some insane reason i have never heard it before, or i completely didn’t appreciate its awesomeness until now.

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2008 kind of sucked for music. there were just a few utterly amazing records, and really only 20-25 good ones. i didn’t feel too terrible about any of those that didn’t make it on the list. BUT, here are my favorites anyway.

	025	Portugal. The Man Censored Colors [Equal Vision/Sept 16]
	Portugal. The Man’s brief history is already quite inconsistent. Their brilliant debut was followed by an amazing EP, which was followed by a starkly disappointing full-length just a few months later. Which was followed by this—possibly their most consisent record ( whether that’s good or bad i’m still not sure). Still, Censored Colors more or less flows from beginning to end, albeit without the highs of their first album or the lows of their second. High point: Colors Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

	024	Beck Modern Guilt [Interscope/Jul 8]
	Possibly Beck’s most cohesive record to date, Modern Guilt is drenched in sublime melodies and sunny rhythms and sing-along choruses. Beck doesn’t rely on his chameleon-like musical ability as much as he has in the past, and as a result the album flows seamlessly from beginning to end. High point: Walls Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

	023	The Faint Fasciinatiion [blank.wav/Aug 5]
	Fasciinatiion moves away from the orchestral direction of Wet From Birth and back to the machinistic vitality of The Faint’s earlier records. Unfortunately it falls short in its attempts to revisit the deceptively simple melodies and hooks of those efforts. A solid album, but we have come to expect much more from them at this point. High point: Mirror Error Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

	022	The Black Angels Directions to See a Ghost [Light in the Attic/Apr 15]
	The Black Angels’ second full-length harkens back to the 60s even moreso than their first, resulting in an undeniably amazing trip through a dreamed-up-decade of faux Vietnams and LSD and Woodstocks. Yet, as much flower-power decade nostalgia The Black Angels possess, they still manage to sound simultaneously modern, which gives them resonance and reason to look back on the past and recreate it on their terms. High point: Never/Ever Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

	021	No Age Nouns [Sub Pop/May 8]
	Nouns picks up where the highly acclaimed Weirdo Rippers left of — bursting with fuzzed-out guitars, abrasive melodies and barely audible vocals. Yet, buried underneath the layers and layers of noise and dissonance are sugar-coated hooks on par with some of the best indie pop bands around, which gives this record a disarming warmth. High point: Teen Creeps Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

	020	MGMT Oracular Spectacular [Sony/Jan 22]
	MGMT’s first full-length is a sort of savvy melangé of vintage Bowie and late Flaming Lips — juxtaposing sunny psychedelia with dancey anthems that compliment eachother beautifully by turning keyboards into acid flashbacks and acid flashbacks into dancefloor epidemics. High point: Weekend Wars Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

	019	Tall Firs Too Old to Die Young [Ecstatic Peace!/Mar 18]
	Too Old To Die Young meanders and stumbles through muddy melodies and half-drunk confessionals that are equally intrinsic and calming and sad and accepting of themselves. Dave Mies’ fatalistic vocals seem both at peace and self aware — melding perfectly with the band’s intricate guitar arrangements; brooding softly and peacefully, like a moon, setting in the sun’s sky. High point: Hairdo Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

	018	Colour Revolt Plunder, Beg, and Curse [Fat Possum/Apr 1]
	Colour Revolt’s first full-length tones down the raw, abrasive attitude found on their EP in favor of a muddier, introspective tone — lending the record a mature, slow-paced drawl that snakes around like a dirty southern creek littered with weeds and leeches. Yet, this subtle shift in songwriting enhances the band’s strengths even moreso, resulting in a strong record that reveals more of its secrets with each successive listen. High point: A Siren Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

	017	The Dandy Warhols …Earth to the Dandy Warhols… [Beat the World/Aug 18]
	The Dandies’ tongues are firmly in cheek and their middle fingers raised high on their latest record — their trademark sarcasm and wit as good as ever. Such snide megalomania is what makes this band successful and they’ve come close to perfecting it here, with an album that brilliantly blends the hooks and neo-psychedelia of their early work with the fuck-you-i’m-better-than-you attitude they’ve spent so many years cultivating. High point: Now You Love Me Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

	016	The Brian Jonestown Massacre My Bloody Underground [A Records/Apr 15]
	Eccentric madman Anton Newcombe’s first album in four years is a hallucinogenic journey through the mind of the mentally insane. Most of the tracks found here are much less songs than strange, meandering collections of ambience: brain synapses, otherwordly anthems, mistake-ridden solecisms and druggy psychedelia. My Bloody Underground is neurotic and restless and moody and brilliant. High point: Golden – Frost Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

	015	The Magnetic Fields Distortion [Nonesuch/Jan 15]
	Stephin Merritt’s latest thematic undertaking is drenched in reverb — brilliantly accentuating Shirley Simms’ sugary vocals, which in turn act as delicious adversaries to Merritt’s deep, miserablist delivery. Merritt’s arrangements are melodic and sunny as ever, lending Distortion a sort of strange happy-but-sad temper that feeds off its own simplistic beauty. High point: I’ll Dream Alone Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

	014	Health Disco [Lovepump United/May 27]
	Disco brilliantly blends Health’s noise-rock melodies with tumultuous beats and grinding synths that cycle in and out of focus while simultaneously stomping heads and making love. Each mix is unique and interesting, never boring, giving the record a linear feel that darkly (and murderously) straddles the line between man and machine. High point: Triceratops (Cfcf Rmx) Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

	013	The Dodos Visiter [Frenchkiss/Mar 18]
	Essentially The Dodos’ third album, Visiter furthers the delicate guitarplay of Meric Long, dueling splendidly harmonic vocal melodies, slightly dissonant interludes and Long’s penchant for driving (almost tribal) rhythms that appear and disappear and reappear throughout the record’s (grimy? possibly) entirety. High point: Joe’s Waltz Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

	012	Foals Antidotes [Sub Pop/Apr 8]
	Foals utilize myriad influences (everything from the madchester sounds of The Stone Roses to the current neo no-wave of New Young Pony Club), creating a dichotomy of cool — a mature, multicultural sound that staccatos along at a deliberately slow pace and still feels fevered and energetic; kind of like the assured international shitstorm of a U.S. oil spill near the Russian border. High point: Olympic Airways Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

	011	Murder By Death Red of Tooth and Claw [Vagrant/Mar 4]
	Murder By Death’s fourth full-length is a soulful deathride through tumbleweeds and deserts and ghost towns, characterized by cryptic string arrangements and haunting passages that brilliantly accentuate Adam Turla’s deep, guttural vocals. High point: Ash Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

	010	Kings of Leon Only By the Night [RCA/Sep 23]
	Only By the Night takes Kings of Leon’s despondent southern rock to new, anthemic heights that are draped in a polished sheen not found on their previous work. Still, it works — providing the songs a glisten and shimmer that brings to the forefront the melodies that were often dirtied and muddied in the past. High point: Closer Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

	009	Local H 12 Angry Months [Shout! Factory/May 13]
	A concept album about breakups, this record perfectly encapsulates the withered energy required to sustain a useless and fruitless relationship. Musically, the band moves forward where P.J. Soles left off — at times willing to bare some vulnerability while still maintaining the thunderous power of past releases. As usual, Scott Lucas’s lyrics are witty and on point and smothered in a backdrop of pummeling, skullcrushing rhythmic passages. High point: The One With ‘Kid’ Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

	008	Black Francis Svn Fngrs [Cooking Vinyl/Apr 1]
	This mini-album from Frank Black is easily his best work since Teenager of the Year. Svn Fngrs is loaded with explosive riffs and supercharged dynamics — topped off with delicious, dripping melodies reminiscent of his prolific early-90s work. High point: When They Come to Murder Me Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

	007	Islands Arm’s Way [Anti-/May 20]
	Islands’ second full-length finds the band coming into their own as a band with an actual voice instead of just a post-Unicorns project. Arm’s Way is significantly darker than its predecessors, but it’s dark in that sort of way that makes you kind of want to just solitarily confine yourself while you listen to your own insanity and dance happily and think about murdering past lovers and then dance some more. High point: Creeper Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

	007	The Kills Midnight Boom [Domino/Mar 10]
	The Kills’ latest is as raw and catchy as ever. VV’s vocals are spot on, with a heavy reliance on melodic PJ Harvey-styled causticity. Conversely, the mellow moments add a delicate, complimentary flavor to the edgy mood that surrounds. High point: Last Day of Magic Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

	005	Auxes Sunshine [Lovitt/Sep 3]
	Former Milemarker Dave Laney’s new project is a stunning amalgam of corrosive melodies and spastic dynamics that come together like the offspring of some kind of Tom Waits-meets-At the Drive in mutation. Abrasive and beguiling and raw, and ultimately brilliant. High point: Long Way From Home Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

	004	Thinking Machines A Complete Record of Urban Archaeology [Catapult/Jan 1]
	This Philadelphia trio’s third full-length is an exclamatory blend of post-punk dynamism and melodic discord that seamlessly connects to its roots but never denies its willingness to explore new sonic territory. High point: Fire Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

	003	Pidgeon Might as Well Go Eat Worms [Absolutely Kosher/Sep 23]
	Criminally underrated Pidgeon’s sophomore album takes more chances than its predecessor — consistently bait-and-switching the tempo; switching songs in the middle of songs; filling melodic passages with delightfully ear-splitting screams while simultaneously adding even more melody. Might As Well Go Eat Worms is a Pixies album on crack — taking extremes to the extreme all while brilliantly coalescing into one amazingly beautiful godlike sound. High point: California (is 4 Fuckers) Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

	002	Witch Hats Cellulite Soul [In-Fidelity/Mar 1]
	Witch Hats first full-length continues the no-holds-barred, thunderous direction hinted at on their EP. Kris Buscombe’s rasping vocals perfectly match the band’s grungy, Nirvana-influenced palate, while the surrounding noise gives the record a fevered, frantic tone, creating a sort of catastrophic sounding cacophony of beautiful noise. High point: Before I Weigh Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

	001	Crystal Castles Crystal Castles [Last Gang/Mar 18]
	Crystal Castles’ long awaited full-length is smothered in 8-bit terror and synthy aural candy and out-of-this-world vocal manipulation and otherwise pure insanity. The new tracks stay true to the band’s renowned nightmare-freakscapes while adding an even more dancable vibe, creating a blistering fusion of intensity and melody. High point: Black Panther Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

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as you are i am sure aware, i ttly love making lists. after reading sebastian’s list of albums for each year since he has been alive, i decided to traverse back in time and point out my favorite albums of the past few decades-worth of years.

here is the 2000s addition:

2002

The Sounds
Living in America
(New Line)

2002 featured Spoon’s Kill the Moonlight, Wilco’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, and great albums from the likes of The Movies, No Knife, Thievery Corporation, Pretty Girls Make Graves, Engine Down, Flaming Lips, Broken Social Scene and Liars. And also Trail of Dead’s best (Source Tags & Codes) as well as an amazing Against Me! record.

BUT, Interpol’s Turn on the Bright Lights and The Sounds’ Living in America were the best records of ‘02. I probably unfairly downplay Interpol’s debut because of the shit they have released since, but at one time it was one of my favorite albums in history. It doesn’t really matter though because The Sounds’ debut is just so amazing and catchy and always flashbacks so many memories of boozing it up for days at a time and getting insane and being insane and plus the band is just so damn good looking. No way is any other album beating this baby out.

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hey duders i have beeen AWOL lately befcause i have been so insanely busy gathering the album art for every one of my albums. it took weeks but it was worth it:

amazing, right?> omg i know. keep an eye out for posts with the best and worst of those covers. anyway, on to business:

what a dick.• fantasy football, omfg i hate you so bad :( romo out for 4 weeks and my backup is kitna. the best available option on the waivers is griese. i am fucked season over. that said, thank you jason elam, tampa bay defense, thomas jones, and matt schaub, for helping me win in a few leagues this week with a bunch of my top playres on byes. ilu

• i really havent had that much time to scope out new albums as i have been so busy with my album art project, but there have been a few: margot & the nuclear so & so’s released two new ones, animal and not animal, (one chosen by their new label, epic, and the other chosen by the band). both are
good though. so get them. also, dungen has a new one (4). i havent had a chance to listen to much of it, but it’s more or less what you’d expect from them at this point. pretty good so far. and i just discovered that you should go ahead (who made an appearance in my top 25 albums of 2006 list) has released a new album, which i am downloading now. also, the dodos new album visiter (with its hilarious cover art that alan hates but i thinks is awesome) is A-FUCKING-MAZING. please get it now. omg so good. and, the main event:

• possibly my favorite band on the planet, pidgeon finally (FINALLY AFTER FOUR LONG LONG LONG YEARS) have released a new album, which is titled might as well go eat worms. and it is everything i was hoping for and more. please if there is any album you download this year and you like the pixies and early sonic youth, DOWNLOAD THIS ALBUM RIGHT FUCKING NOW OR I WILL KILL YOU. i have no idea why pidgeon isn’t huge, because both of their albums are ridiculously amazing. i love you pidgeon i love you i love you i love you i love you <33333333

• just recently watched the devil and daniel johnston, omg that movie is awesome. i never really got into johnston before, mostly bcuz i always thought he was some freak weirdo like devendra banhart, but seeing who he really is actually made me like his music and genius like, 898700000 times more.

• if you havent been watching this season of it’s always sunny in philadelphia, ummm wtf is wrong with you? stop reading my blog. the poop episode is the greatest episode of anything ever in the history of ever. seriously, i am not even kidding.

• also why does firefox suck so much balls to use wordpress on?? ugh lame. oh, and NEW MACBOOK PROS TOMORROW!!!! i will be getting one.

• bbq soon with more awesome things to tell you.

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j/k.

okay so it’s been awhile, so here are some random pieces of poop and shit:

• new chad van gaalen is quite excellent. it is called soft airplane.. and so far i like it more than any of his other stuff. but i have never really listened to his other stuff all that much, so you be the judge on that call.

• i am addicted to pinball. my favorite games are addams family and the twilight zone. i also quite like terminator 2, batman, jurassic park and tales of the arabian nights. but, can someone please teach me how to do an effing bangback??? omg i can’t get them to work :(

• the new kings of muh-fuxxin leon is soooooo amazingly exceptional i don’t even know how to describe it. the opener, “closer” and final song, “cold desert” are like the greatest songs of the year i swear. by the way the album is called only by the night. and if you steal buy less than 10 albums this year, this should be one of them.

boring.• tv on the radio still bores me. aside from their amazing first ep and “wolf like me” they have always just bored the shit out of me and every album lets me down. the new one is the same. i listened to it twice in a row and still barely remember a thing about it except there was a weird rapping song and another song that was kind of good.

RIP :(• MITCH HEDBERG‘S NEW ALBUM HAS LEAKED!!@!@!! omg it is hilarious as usual. listen to it asap whilst drinking delicious booze. it is called do you believe in gosh RIP

• tonight i will be listening to the new: mogwai, damien jurado and mount eerie (with julie doiron and fred squire, omg!). i am hoping they are all amazing. read this blog for updates !!!! :)

• me and alan have started an all-defense fantasy football league. week 1 was a success, i do believe. the point system rewards big plays and all-around awesome defensive dudes. check it out:

Tackle Solo (1)
Sack (10)
Interception (15)
Fumble Force (11.5)
Fumble Recovery (11.5)
Touchdown (20)
Safety (17.5)
Pass Defended (1.25)
Block Kick (10)

we are starting 4 DBs, 5 DLs and 1 DB/DL flex. this is like my favorite fantasy football league ever so far. week 1 saw kyle vanden bosch (who grew up less than 30 minutes from me, btw!) and demarcus ware, and lance briggs and james harrison (48 points!!!!) load up on the destruction. i lost my inaugural game thanks to benching all the players that played well (including vanden bosch, dammit).

• lol @ tom brady

• ummm new dexter, it’s always sunny in philadelphia AND entourage, mtherfuckers. are you ready? omfg.

• macgyver: still the greatest show in the history of man. i have been spending like every night drinking and watching macgyver until 6am lately. the best episodes are these, btw, if you are a macgyver n00b:

NUMBER FUCKING ONE aka the most amazing macgyver episode ever ever ever is:
“Two Times Trouble”
MacGyver’s rock singer friend Roxie (Audrey Landers)

macgyver is cooler than you could ever possibly dream of being, even if you dreamt you were macgyver.thinks her twin sister Carla is trying to kill her. Terry David Mulligan as Frank Rogan, Babs Chula as Eve, Dana Still as Dr. Farrell, Max Reimer as The Devil, Kymberly Sheppard as The Victim.

number two (a very close second) is the amazing baseball card episode:
“Squeeze Play”
A baseball counterfeit memorabilia ring attempts to blackmail the daughter of a former baseball player. Kent McCord as Novus Riley, Malcolm Stewart as Bill Marsh, Tim Rossovich as Willard, Catherine Zak as Wendy Riley, Reggie Jackson as Himself, Della Reese as Mama Colton, William Samples as Eli, Brock Johnson as Store Manager.

number three is a tie between the one where macgyver is led on a scavenger hunt to track down a diamond that macgyver can only find using clues from his memories of harry when macgyver was a kid (hahaha)
“Harry’s Will”
A kooky bunch of crooks and an elderly ex-con pursue MacGyver’s inherited station wagon thought to hold treasure. Lyle Alzado as Tiny, John Anderson as Harry Jackson, Dick Butkus as Earl Dent, James Doohan as Speedy, Henry Gibson as Chicken Habit Customer, Sandra Gould as Woman at the Soup Kitchen, Rich Little as Biff Arnold, Marion Ramsey as Police Officer, Marion Ross as Sister Robin, Jesse White as Mel, Wendy O. Williams as Big Mama, Abe Vigoda as Bill Cody, Shane Meier as Young MacGyver, Henry Winkler as Wilton Newberry.

AND the amazing one where the crazy kid freaks out after a physics competition
“Hell Week”
MacGyver is picked to judge a contest at his old college, but an upset student makes a bomb which MacGyver must defuse.

also blossom was on a bunch of episodes of macgyver lol

• best album of 2002 coming soon!!!

<3

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