Weekly Top Albums (forgot to do this last week; my bad)

1. Leftfield - Leftism
2. Boards of Canada - Geogaddi
3. Texas Pandaa - Days
4. Starscream - Future, Towards the Edge of Forever
5. The Church - Priest=Aura
6. MF DOOM - Operation: Doomsday
7. Metro Area - Metro Area
8. Clams Casino - Instrumental Mixtape
9. Javelin - Canyon Candy

New-to-Me Media of 2012

Albums/EPs:

    152. Daniel Land & The Modern Painters
            - Love Songs for the Chemical Generation (2009)
    153. El Perro del Mar - Love is Not Pop (2009)
    154. Seven Weapons - Even the Sparrow has Found a Home! (2010)
    155. nervous_testpilot - Frozen Synapse Original Soundtrack (2011)
    156. Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers - Moanin’ (1958)
    157. Angel Haze - Voice EP (2012)
    158. Metro Area - Metro Area (2002)
    159. Leftfield - Leftism (1995)
    160. Starscream -  Future, Towards the Edge of Forever (2011)
    161. Texas Pandaa - Days (2007)
    162. Panda Bear - Person Pitch (2007)
    163. Javelin - Canyon Candy (2011)
    164. Kitty Pryde - the lizzy mcguire experience (2006, but I doubt that)
    165. Thomas Köner - Teimo (1992)
    166. The Church - Priest=Aura (1992)
    167. Pasteboard - Glitter (2005)

I just want to state that the fact that I listened to albums by two panda-named artists in a row was just a coincidence.

Film:

    16. Alien (1979)

knocking off all those “i can’t believe you haven’t seen ____” movies one by one. it was good.

TV:

• *Cowboy Bebop (1998-1999)
          l. E12
          m. E13
• *Game of Thrones (2011-2012)
          o. S2E8

Weekly Top Albums

1. Coma Cinema - Blue Suicide
2. Hüsker Dü - Zen Arcade
3. The Microphones - The Glow, Pt. 2
4. Coma Cinema - Stoned Alone
5. Nive Nielsen & The Deer Children - Nive Sings!
6. Bohren & der Club of Gore - Sunset Mission
7. Hum - You’d Prefer an Astronaut
8. Delaney - Delaney
9. Vangelis - Blade Runner

New-to-Me Media of 2012

Asterisks indicate things I’ve seen or heard previously, but inadequately.

Albums/EPs:

    134. Nive Nielsen & The Deer Children - Nive Sings! (2011)
    135. Bohren & der Club of Gore - Sunset Mission (2000)
    136. Hum - You’d Prefer an Astronaut (1995)
    137. Modest Mouse - Baron Von Bullshit Rides Again (2004)
    138. Gold Panda - Lucky Shiner (2010)
    139. Radiohead - I Might Be Wrong: Live Recordings (2001)
    140. Art of Time Ensemble with Steven Page - A Singer Must Die (2010)
    141. Delaney - Delaney (2004)
    142. Box Story - Straight as the Rain (2011)
    143. Mount Eerie - Clear Moon (2012)

A really interesting mix of stuff here. Some great live performances, some alternative rock, a singer from Greenland, dark atmospheric jazz, the new album from Phil Elvrum/Elverum, etc. All of it worth checking out.

Other People’s Playlists:

    9. Maybe I Like You (by likeapairofbottlerockets)

This Valentine’s Day mix and a few of Sophie’s other mixes seem to have been taken off her blog since they were posted. But I enjoyed it nonetheless, even if I took a while to get around to listening.

TV:

• *Cowboy Bebop (1998-1999)
          k. E11
• *Game of Thrones (2011-2012)
          a. S1E4
          b. S1E5
          c. S1E6
          d. S1E7
          e. S1E8
          f. S1E9
          g. S1E10
          h. S2E1
          i. S2E2
          j. S2E3
          k. S2E4
          l. S2E5

I watched the first three episodes of Game of Thrones late last year with a few friends, but never watched the rest. I watched the entire series (including the episodes I had already seen) in the two days after I got home from school.

a little late with this post. only new albums this week (I blame finals) plus a bunch of SNES games I started in the car coming home yesterday.

Weekly Top Albums

1. Alise Joste - Alise Joste
2. Vangelis - Blade Runner
3. Grouper - Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill
4. Geotic - Mend
5. The Flaming Lips - The Flaming Lips and Heady Fwends
6. Modest Mouse -  The Lonesome Crowded West
7. Michael Gira 
   - The Milk of M. Gira: Selected Solo Home Recordings 2001-2010
8. Kip Boardman - The Long Weight
9. Arn Rhys - Chapel of the Fool

New-to-Me Media of 2012

Asterisks indicate things I’ve seen or heard previously, but inadequately.

Albums/EPs:

    126. Ross Henry - In Fields EP (2011)
    127. Kip Boardman - The Long Weight (2011)
    128. Alise Joste - Alise Joste (2011)
    129. Cabinet of Natural Curiosities - Blue Highways (2011)
    130. Arn Rhys - Chapel of the Fool (2011)
    131. Michael Gira - The Milk of M. Gira: 
            Selected Solo Home Recordings 2001-2010 (2011)
    132. Vangelis - Blade Runner (1994)
    133. James Blackshaw - Love is the Plan, the Plan is Death (2012)

Video Games:

    8. Radiation’s Earthbound Halloween Hack (2008, I think?) - started
    9. Mega Man X (1993/1994) - started
    10. Super Mario World (1990) - started
    11. Secret of Mana (1993) - started
    12. Donkey Kong Country (1994) - started  

i’ve got an 8 am final tomorrow and i should be asleep already so just really quick:

Weekly Top Albums

1. The Rapture - In the Grace of Your Love
2. Jackson Browne - Solo Acoustic Vol. 1
3. Lay Low - Brostinn Strengur
4. Kevin Devine - Circle Gets the Square
5. WHY? - Elephant Eyelash
6. WHY? - Alopecia
7. Jackson Browne - Running on Empty
8. Dinosaur Jr. - Bug
9. Modest Mouse - The Lonesome Crowded West

New-to-Me Media of 2012

Asterisks indicate things I’ve seen or heard previously, but inadequately.

Albums/EPs:

    116. Jackson Browne - Running on Empty (1977)
    117. The Rapture - In the Grace of Your Love (2011)
    118. Jackson Browne - Solo Acoustic, Vol. 1 (2005)
    119. Dinosaur Jr. - Bug (2012)
    120. xxxy - Everything EP (2012)
    121. Ben and the Sea - A Life Outside (2011)
    122. Lay Low - Brostinn Strengur (2011)
    123. GlowStone - Todo está Bien, Todo va a estar Bien. (2011)
    124. Shana Cleveland and the Sandcastles
           - Oh man, cover the ground (2011)
    125. The Flaming Lips - The Flaming Lips and Heady Fwends (2012)

Books:

    8. Sean Tan - Lost and Found (2011)

Films:

    12. Akira (1988)
    13. *Ghostbusters (1984)

Other People’s Playlists:

    8. Acoustamatique (from Kenneth)

TV, etc.:

• *Cowboy Bebop (1998-1999)
          c. E3
          d. E4
          e. E5
          f. E6
          g. E7
          h. E8
          i. E9
          j. E10

forgot to do one of these posts last week, whoops.

Weekly Top Albums

1. Low - Drums and Guns
2. Grouper - Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill
3. Fleetwood Mac - Rumours
4. Boards of Canada - Geogaddi
5. The Flaming Lips - Clouds Taste Metallic
6. the pillows - FLCL: Original Sound Track No. 3
7. Ghibli - 2011
8. JEFF The Brotherhood - We Are the Champions
9. JEFF The Brotherhood - Live at Third Man Records
10. Spain - The Blue Moods of Spain
11. Warren G - Regulate…G Funk Era
12. Tom Milsom - Explorers 4

Interestingly enough, three of my top 9 albums didn’t have their album art in the last.fm database this week, resulting in a pretty odd collage (I didn’t actually listen to even a single Warren G song; that just showed up because of a scrobbling error with Google Music on my phone)

New-to-Me Media of 2012

No playlists these past two weeks. Reminder: an asterisk means I’ve seen/read/heard it before, but inadequately.

Albums/EPs:

    72. Funkadelic - America Eats Its Young (1972)
    73. Meysell Quintana - Miracle of the Sun (2012)
    74. Electric Wizard - Dopethrone (2000)
    75. Pandercakes - Paint by Numbers EP (2012)
    76. MONO & World’s End Girlfriend
          - Palmless Prayer / Mass Murder Refrain (2006)
    77. Brian Eno - Ambient 1: Music for Airports (1978)
    78. Ratatat - Ratatat Remixes Vol. 1 (2004)
    79. Grouper - Violet Replacement (2012)
    80. Low - Drums and Guns (2007)
    81. Ghibli - 2011 (2012)
    82. Mirrorring - Foreign Body (2012)
    83. Fleetwood Mac - Rumours (1977)
    84. *the pillows - FLCL: Original Sound Track No. 3 (2005)
    85. Boards of Canada - Geogaddi (2002)
    86. The Flaming Lips - Clouds Taste Metallic (1995)

I really enjoyed Rumours. I wasn’t sure what to expect but I enjoyed what I got. Drums and Guns had some outstanding highlights although a number of the songs didn’t make a powerful impression on me immediately. In other words, a Low album. Violet Replacement and Geogaddi were as great as I expected from Grouper and Boards of Canada. Speaking of Grouper, Foreign Body, Liz Harris’s collaboration with Jesy Fortino of Tiny Vipers, was predictably wonderful (I need to listen to more of the latter’s music, but I’ve enjoyed what I heard).

Aside from that, not much else made a huge impact on me. I’d already heard all of the songs on the FLCL soundtrack in the context of the series, I just hadn’t listened to all of them on their own. Ghibli made some nice housey beats on 2011, which are free on Bandcamp for interested parties.

Books:

    5. Suzanne Collins - The Hunger Games (2008) - started
    6. Cormac McCarthy - Blood Meridian
          or The Evening Redness in the West (1985) - started

Films:

    6. *When Harry Met Sally… (1989)

I thought I’d never seen the entire film but nearly every scene was familiar so I dunno maybe I had watched it all once before and just forgot or something. I dunno.

TV, etc:

• *Arrested Development (2003-2006)
          a. S1E10
          b. S1E11
          c. S1E12
          d. S2E16
          e. S2E17
• Gossip Girl (2007-2012)
          a. S3E4

Though I’ve never “watched the series” I’ve seen lots of bits and pieces of Arrested Development back when it was on TV (my parents watched it, and often I’d join them for all or part of an episode) and I’ve accrued so much knowledge of it through internet culture that I don’t really know what I’d seen before and what I hadn’t. But anyway yeah it’s funny. Also funny? CHUCK BASS. most entertaining character award goes to him woo Gossip Girl

Video Games:

   2. EarthBound (1994/1995) - finished
   5. Mother 3 (2006/2008) - started

they’re both like really good and stuff

(gonna go light on the commentary this week because I’ve got to catch a train shortly)

Weekly Top Albums

1. Massive Attack - Mezzanine
2. Swans - Soundtracks for the Blind
3. Logan Whitehurst & The Junior Science Club - Goodbye, My 4-Track
4. Massive Attack - Blue Lines
5. The Mountain Goats - All Hail West Texas
6. Frank Sinatra - In the Wee Small Hours
7. The Beatles - Revolver
8. Beastie Boys - Paul’s Boutique
9. The Flaming Lips - The Soft Bulletin

New-to-Me Media of 2012

No new books or video games this week.

Albums/EPs:

    68. Massive Attack - Blue Lines (1991)
    69. Logan Whitehurst & The Junior Science Club - Goodbye, My
          4-Track (2003)
    70. The Beatles - Revolver (1966)
    71. Muddy Waters - Folk Singer (1964)

funnily enough, the week in which I have nothing but free time is the week in which I listen to many fewer new albums than usual. go figure.

Other People’s Playlists:

    6. The Lucksmiths for Beginners (by Sophie)

great

Films:

    4. Fallen Angels (1995)
    5. The Artist (2011)

both terrific

TV, etc:

• Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (2007-2012)
          a. E1
          b. E2
          c. E3
          d. E4
          e. E5
          f. E6
          g. E7
          h. E8
          i. E9
          j. E10
          k. E11

there’s a lot to like here and my only gripes are relatively minor and unsurprising

i’ll talk more about it here soon most likely

Weekly Top Albums

1. The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses
2. Elvis Costello - My Aim is True
3. Nick Drake - Pink Moon
4. The Magnetic Fields - 69 Love Songs
5. Modest Mouse - Tube-Fruit, All Smiles and Chocolate
6. Modest Mouse - This is a Long Drive for Someone with Nothing to Think About
7. Carissa’s Wierd - Songs About Leaving
8. Good Luck - Into Lake Griffy
9. Coma Cinema - Stoned Alone

New-to-Me Media of 2012

No new films or mix CDs/playlists this week.

Albums/EPs:

    60. Nick Drake - Pink Moon (1972)
    61. Elvis Costello - My Aim is True (1977)
    62. Bedhead - WhatFunLifeWas (1994)
    63. The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses (1989)
    64. The Rolling Stones - Beggars Banquet (1968)
    65. Modest Mouse - This is a Long Drive for Someone with Nothing to
          Think About (1996)
    66. Tau Tau - A Stopgap EP (2012)
    67. Casiotone for the Painfully Alone - Etiquette (2006)

Another stellar week. Sorry, I’ve not much to say about most of these yet aside from that a number of them are ones I’ve been meaning to listen to for a while since they have some of my favorite songs on them, but, uh… go download Conrad’s EP!

Books:

    3. Best Music Writing 2011 (2011) - finished!
    4. Kurt Vonnegut - Welcome to the Monkey House (1968) - started

It had been a few weeks since I’d picked up Best Music Writing but I finally read the last few selections on the train yesterday. Absolutely wonderful. As for Welcome to the Monkey House, I forgot to take note of that until now, but I’ve been reading it intermittently for a few weeks during slow spots at the place where I tutor before students have shown up; I’m almost done with it.

Video Games:

    3. Final Fantasy IV Advance (2006/2007) - started
    4. Pokémon Emerald (2004/2005) - started

stupid videogame industry’s gotta make things complicated for me by releasing the Japanese version of their games months before the English version, making me write down two different years….grumble grumble

TV, etc:

• Mad Men (2007-2012)
          a. S1E1
          b. S1E2
          c. S1E3
          d. S1E4
          e. S1E5
          f. S1E6
          g. S1E8
          h. S1E9

yes, episode seven was purposefully omitted. Watched the first six one night with some folks, the other two another. It’s, unsurprisingly, a pretty good show!

Weekly Top Albums

1. Jorge Ben - África Brasil
2. The Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
3. The Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream
4. Good Luck - Into Lake Griffy
5. DJ Sprinkles - Midtown 120 Blues
6. Blair Crimmins and the Hookers - The Musical Stylings Of
7. Gareth Dickson - Quite a Way Away
8. Orcas - Orcas
9. Red House Painters - Songs for a Blue Guitar

New-to-Me Media of 2012

No new books and no mix CDs/playlists this week. Items preceded by an asterisk are ones I’d listened/read/seen/etc before, but inadequately to call myself familiar with them.

Albums:

    51. Inga Liljeström - Quiet Music for Quiet People (2006)
    52. Blair Crimmins and the Hookers - The Musical Stylings Of (2010)
    53. The Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream (1993)
    54. *The Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
          (1995)
    55. Gareth Dickson - Quite a Way Away (2012)
    56. Orcas - Orcas (2012)
    57. Jorge Ben - África Brasil (1976)
    58. Good Luck - Into Lake Griffy (2008)
    59. Red House Painters - Down Colorful Hill (1992)

I mainly chose to listen to Quiet Music for Quiet People based on the name, and it wasn’t really for me. Not that I’m not a quiet person, but it’s not my sort of quiet music. On the other hand, Quite a Way Away is a quiet but gorgeous album that I listened to on a whim; intricate and beautiful acoustic guitar compositions with soft vocals. A very wintry album. The other album I knew next to nothing about before listening was Orcas; I saw it described as “ambient pop” and that one of the members of Orcas was Benoît Pioulard, whose song “Lasted” I’m fond of. Ambient pop indeed would be a pretty good way to describe it. Another quiet and pretty album.

But not everything I listened to was quiet and beautiful. Into Lake Griffy is lovely pop-punk (although I think my favorite song off the album is the one I already knew, “Stars Were Exploding”, though it was interesting to hear a different rendition of the same song (sung by their male vocalist instead) towards the end of the album under the title “Bringing Them Back to Life”. Saw Blair Crimmins recommended a few times as high-quality cheerful music, and indeed his musical stylings (drawing upon styles such as ragtime and New Orleans funeral marches) are pretty enjoyable. Although it’s probably not the most joyous album I heard this week: that’d have to be África Brasil. God, such a great album.

Films:

    3. *Ratatouille (2007)

Been watching a lot of animated movies this year. I blame Wendy.

Video Games:

    1. Dweller (2003-2012)
    2. EarthBound (1994/1995)

(note: I started playing both of these before this week, but didn’t think to add this category until recently.)

Dweller is a mediocre roguelike RPG I’ve played on my phone for the past month or so. I’ve beaten it twice (as a wizard and a warrior; not yet as a ranger) but despite the fact that it’s really easy to mindlessly waste time on, it’s not very good, somewhat buggy (despite the fact that it’s apparently existed for years and years, it’s still listed as a beta version, although there have been a number of bugfix updates recently), and I wouldn’t recommend it.

I haven’t yet finished EarthBound (hopefully this freezing thing doesn’t continue to be a problem, or I may never), but I think it’s safe to say at this point that I’ll speak pretty highly of it.

TV, etc:

• Yu-gi-oh: The Abridged Series (2006-2012)
          f. E6
          g. E7
          h. E8
          i. E9
          j. E10
• Sherlock (2010-2012)
          a. S2E1
          b. S1E1
          c. S2E2
• Avatar: The Last Airbender (2005-2008)
          a. S1E1
          b. S1E2
          c. S1E3
• Flight of the Conchords (2007-2009)
          a. S1E8
          b. S2E3

yeah I’m still watching yugioh abridged JUDGE ME why don’t you

Sherlock’s good! Mostly. I just wish it’s flaws weren’t such glaring.

Started Avatar after hearing so much praise for it but I wasn’t wowed by it. Asked Wendy when it gets good and was told “after the first or second season” and dang I don’t want to wait that long

Finally back on schedule with these. Minor overlap with last week’s, but RGC is the only one with a repeat appearance.

Weekly Top Albums

1. Big Black - Songs About Fucking
2. Math the Band - Don’t Worry
3. Spain - The Blue Moods of Spain
4. Retribution Gospel Choir - Retribution Gospel Choir
5. Grouper - Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill
6. Snowing - I Could Do Whatever I Wanted If I Wanted
7. Stomacher - Sentimental Education
8. Low - Long Division
9. Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam

New-to-Me Media

No films, no new books, and no TV this week.

Albums:

    43. Spain - The Blue Moods of Spain (1995)
    44. The Antlers (via nyctaper) - 2009.12.15 Bowery Ballroom
    45. Snowing - Fuck Your Emotional Bullshit (2009)
    46. Snowing - I Could Do Whatever I Wanted If I Wanted (2010)
    47. Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam (2007)
    48. Math the Band - Don’t Worry (2009)
    49. Big Black - Songs About Fucking (1987)
    50. Kill My Bleeding Smile - Kill My Bleeding Smile (2008)

I hit the 50-album mark after listening to Kill My Bleeding Smile earlier today! And today’s the 50th day of the year! I didn’t even plan that but it’s really cool that it worked out that way! Perhaps I’ll listen to 366 by the end of the year.

Anyway, a decent bunch here; the aforementioned Kill My Bleeding Smile, which I listened to on a whim, isn’t really my style (I guess it was post-metal or sludge? I honestly don’t know what ‘sludge’ really is but I think this was that) and I don’t ever plan on coming back to it, but it was decent nonetheless. Strawberry Jam was a bit of a disappointment on first listen because “Fireworks” and “For Reverend Green” are probably the two best Animal Collective songs I’ve heard and the rest of the album wasn’t as memorable. But perhaps repeat listens will cause it to grow on me. My favorite new listen of the week, by far, was the magnificent The Blue Moods of Spain.

ps: I have a confession. I always knew that Steve Albini was in Big Black, but until a week or two ago, I had thought for some reason that he was also in Sonic Youth? I don’t know why. I guess just because they both do the noise-rock thing. Enjoyed Songs About Fucking, although just like Daydream Nation, it really needs to be listened to loud for full effect.

Other People’s Playlists:

Two of these; a stellar Valentine’s mix CD from my girlfriend and Sam’s Let’s Be Happy playlist (exactly what it says on the tin). Interestingly enough, since that’s the second playlist of his I’ve listened to this year (the first being SUGOI), he has the dubious honor of being the first ‘internet person’ to get his own subfolder within my “Other People’s Playlists” folder. That said, there are a few other people who have made multiple playlists which I’ve downloaded but have yet to listen to more than one of.

a little bit of overlap with the last post, since it was late (this one is too, but not as late)

Weekly Top Albums

1. Sharon Van Etten - Tramp
2. Lil B - White Flame
3. Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Everybody Knows This is Nowhere
4. Codeine - The White Birch
5. Jeff Buckley - Grace
6. Retribution Gospel Choir - Retribution Gospel Choir
7. Sharon Van Etten - Epic
8. Sharon Van Etten - Daytrotter Session - 3/18/2010
9. Low - C’mon

New-to-Me Media

No films, no new books, and no mix CDs/playlists from other people this week.

Albums:

    40. Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Everybody Knows This is Nowhere (1969)
    41. Various Artists (GTB Records) - Foreword (2012)
    42. Retribution Gospel Choir - Retribution Gospel Choir (2008)

Not many new albums here; mainly because for a bit I was listening to nothing but Lil B in anticipation of writing a White Flame review before deciding that I wouldn’t really be able to write the review I wanted to write about it, mainly because I wanted to write a positive Lil B review to make people understand why he’s good, and I realized that because of its inconsistency (which isn’t as bad as some of his output, but it’s still a Lil B mixtape) that I would mainly be talking about why I like Lil B as a person and why I think he’s important rather than why his music is actually good (which it is! I just am not good at articulating why, at least not yet).

Anyway so then I switched gears and decided to review the new Sharon Van Etten album so I only listened to her music for three days straight as I struggled through talking about her music (it’s been a shitty week for my writing. well, a shitty week for a lot of things, but my writing’s been one of them.) before finding out that somebody had just submitted a review of Tramp. One of the pitfalls of a magazine that doesn’t assign topics/albums to its writers, I suppose. but it’s actually good because I’m glad my trainwreck of a review will never see the light of day because it was so bad I wouldn’t even have linked it here.

Anyway yeah I liked all three of the albums; Neil Young is yeah really good, the GTB records comp had some good stuff on it and it was interesting to hear stuff from the people I follow on here whose music/comedy I hadn’t listened to before, and Retribution Gospel Choir was good but not fantastic; the only song I really enjoyed was “Breaker” and I prefer the version Alan did with Low on Drums & Guns anyway. That’s the only song I’ve heard from Drums & Guns, though, so perhaps that will show up in these lists sometime soon.

TV, etc:

•     The Tatami Galaxy (2010): E2-E11 (finished the series)

Tatami Galaxy is really good! Brief description: a short anime about a guy who goes to college hoping to make friends and meet a lovely girl but believes himself to be confounded in these efforts by his mischievous ‘friend’ Ozu whom he blames for all of his problems. Different episodes follow different timelines as the protagonist chooses to join different clubs at the start of his college career. Somewhat distinctive art style, which is what made it catch my eye in the first place.