"iTunes store shutdown feared"

how stupid is apple? do they really think that anyone is going to believe that they will close itunes down because of a six cent increase in the copyright tax? and the argument? "we don't want to change our pricing from 99 cents per song and then it's not profitable anymore... so we'll quit." apple is going to walk away from a market that they pretty much own and hand it to its competitors! right! what a pathetic move. now, i'm sure the copyright royalty board is almost perfectly evil and the cost will eventually get passed on to the consumer but i do hope they raise it by seven cent, just to give apple the finger.

4ad

future of the left are 2/3 (?) of the defunct mclusky and sound about 2/3 alike - the poppier 2/3s perhaps. i'm not sure i like them that much but there is something i like about them.

future of the left - manchasm (from last night I saved her from vampires)

the department of eagles are finally back after a long while - 2003? - and i suspect one of half of the band joining grizzly bear might have something to do with it. whitey on the moon was one of these albums that came out of the blue and i didn't really know what to make of it. it couldn't easily be classified - it was kinda like the avalanches but there were 'real' songs there too. so i just gave up and i decided i liked the album quite a bit. so the new one... well, all the 'fun' stuff has been stripped away and the album sounds pretty 'conventional'. good? bad? I'm sort of leaning towards wrong side of the mid point but perhaps I was just expecting something different? let's say its nice...

department of eagles - in ear park (from in ear park)
department of eagles - no one does it like you (from in ear park)

collectors

dungen - satt att se

from dungen's new album "4": satt att se

benoit pioulard - brown bess

benoit pioulard has a new album, temper, out and unlike so many much awaited albums (tv on the radio anyone?), it doesn't suck. temper doesn't stray to far away from precis in terms of sound - i'll make no attempt to describe it - but his singing is a bit more audible than before, which makes his songs, well, more song-like.

brown bess

max tundra - will get fooled again

Max Tundra - Will Get Fooled Again

benoit pioulard and praveen sharma

embers

rndm

deerhoof - offend maggie
horse feathers - curs in weeds
crooked fingers - phony revolution
black taj - fresh air traverse (one half of the legendary polvo)
black taj - cold comfort
paramount styles - come to new york (one of the guys from girls against boys)
mother mother - body of years
brightblack morning light - oppressions each
chad vangaalen - willow tree
calexico - two silver trees
jay reatard - see/saw
walkmen - in the new year
the dutchess and the duke - reservoir park
earlimart - song for
31 knots - compass commands
love is all - big bangs, black holes meteorites

some icelandic stuff:
benni hemm hemm - snjor ljos snjor
seabear - i sing i swim
borko - dingdong kingdom

Prefuse 73 w. School of Seven Bells - The Class of 73 Bells

of montreal

of montreal - id engager

the faint

The Geeks Were Right from Fasciinatiion

ten kens

your kids will know

rndm trx frm lfm

Jason Forrest - 2006: Good Riddance
pg.lost - yes i am
Castanets - As You Do
Ester Drang - Come Back Alive
Archers of Loaf - Audiowhore
Thee More Shallows - At the Knight School
Frog Eyes - Bushels
Bracken - Heathens
Seabear - Sindri Mix

zach hill

from zach hill's (hella) forthcoming solo album, astrological straits. i don't know about the video but i kinda like the (relative) poppiness of the song. not so sure about the video.

jaguar love

subsets of the blood brothers and pretty girls make graves join hands

jaguar love - highway of love

feral children

Spy/Glass House
Jaundice Giraffe

boat

(I'm a) donkey for your love
last cans of paint

wolf parade live

i had kinda mixed feelings about seeing wolf parade but it didn't have much to do with the band. with the show being at the house of blues (chicago) it was, in my mind, at the upper limit of the size of venue that offers any possibility of being fun. plus i resented having to buy tickets through ticketmaster. but it being a nice day and all (albeit kinda long since for some reason i woke up at 4am) i was still a bit excited about going to the show. in short, it was ok. nothing more than that really. it could have been a lot louder for one thing and a lot of the songs come of a little bruce springsteen-y. or maybe it was just the checkered shirts? at any rate, i wasn't a big of fan. the only song that i really got into was the, to quote the pitchfork, 'stubbornly unmelodic finale marked by a mush of throbbing guitars and histrionic vocals' (i.e., kissing the beehive). but again, i don't think it was wolf parade's problem - i do like their albums a lot and their performance was just fine. it was just the wrong surroundings. or just me. at any rate, i don't think i'll go to another show at a venue where i can't get i chance to kick a bandmember in the pants if i should feel like it.

call it a ritual

since posts here have become increasingly rarer i might as well mention alaska in summer that i also so live but in the right circumstances - and on paper alaska in winter wouldn't really seem to have a lot going for them when it comes to live performances. what are your expectations for a 'band' that consists of guy singing along to tracks on his laptop? right? but the show was damn close to brilliant - at least i left with a smile on my face and saw no reason to celebrate the evening by getting royally drunk. the brilliance of the show was in the video projections which consisted of the guy in the role of his own backing band complete with costume changes. it doesn't sound like much and it probably has been done before but it was done cleverly and worked beautifully. so, i guess, 2-0 for my kick in the pants theory.

close your eyes

mogwai

The Sun Smells Too Loud

Mriando

duke spirit