Stuff I Listened To Last Week – 14 June 2010

Every time I listen to a record, I leave it next to the stereo. On Monday, before I go back to work, I re-file them all. Below are the contents of this week's pile.

Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star

DJ Shadow – Endtroducing...
Yeah, it's a little long and there's some filler, but the strong stuff holds up really well. Impressive for a genre that tends to date poorly.

Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion
The wife like "Summertime Clothes". She says it's the first track she's heard by them that sounds like more than just a bunch of hype. She doesn't even let herself get sentimental about "My Girls", an angle I've tried to push more than once. Shameless, I know.

The Beatles – Let It Be

The Bee Gees – Idea
Title track opens with the sickest piano riff, I can't believe it hasn't been sampled yet. Has it? Anyone?

Daryl Hall and John Oates – Bigger Than Both Of Us
Philly massive. It's the one with "Rich Girl" on it.

Jesu – Heart Ache

Mogwai – Come On Die Young

Van Morrison – St. Dominic's Preview

Pixies – Doolittle
M— and D— gave us this wretched CD of Pixies songs played as lullabyes. Ugh. The wife loves it. I'll stick with the originals, thanks. Hopefully the girls will follow suit. I can't imagine ever liking children's music. So pandering.

Psychic Ills – Mirror Eye
Not as good as Dins. I just got it, maybe a few more listens.

Saviors – Into Abbadon
This album rocks. Super stripped down no-frills riffage, old-school heaviness start to finish. Saw these guys open for High On Fire a couple years back. No idea if they're still around.

Sonic Youth – Bad Moon Rising
Picked this one up for around $12 in Tokyo last year. Possibly the highlight of the trip. That or the beer girls with kegs strapped to their backs at the baseball game.

Spiritualized – Ladies and gentlemen we are floating in space
Just got tickets for this show at Radio City this summer, taking the wife, got Mom lined up to babysit. What more could you ask?

Trans Am – Surrender To the Night

Stuff I Listened To Last Week – 7 June 2010

Every time I listen to a record, I leave it next to the stereo. On Monday, before I go back to work, I re-file them all. Below are the contents of this week's pile.

The Bee Gees – Odessa
Yes, plenty of other bands have released two-LP concept albums. But how many have had red velvet sleeves?

Brian Eno – Here Come the Warm Jets
Just started reading a new Eno bio, so I'll be hitting a bunch of these in the next couple of weeks.

The Flaming Lips – Embryonic
The Lips are one of my favourite acts of all time, but I'm still trying to figure this one out. The songs are slippery, tough to grasp, tough to remember after they end. They seem to be built from riffs and sounds rather than vocal hooks, which is a big shift for this band. I think this is their Kid A.

I've just started noticing themes repeating from one song to another, so I know there's a grand plan at work here, I just haven't fully sussed it out yet. Hard work, but fun work.

Gang Gang Dance – Saint Dymphna

Jay-Z – The Black Album

King Crimson – In the Court Of the Crimson King
M— picked this one out the other night when he come over to hang out and see the girls. Nice choice. I had just grabbed Warm Jets. M— didn't even realise that Fripp and Eno had collaborated, so it was just a coincidence. That could probably happen with Eno and about half the records I own. OK, a third, but still.

Krallice
Finally saw these guys live last week and they were awesome. Too short, but great while it lasted. It's weird how trancey black metal can be when it's really loud.

By the way, Profound Lore, hurry up and put their new one out on vinyl. And the last YOB album. And everything by Cobalt. Get on that shit. Who the hell still buys CDs anyway?

M.I.A. – Arular, Kala
Honestly, I really don't think the Lynn Hirschberg piece was that harsh. There's a few digs here and there, but really, who among us didn't already know that M.I.A.'s revolutionary schtick is bullshit? And when you get down to it, what popular artist's schtick, from midwestern Jewish nerd Robert Zimmerman to posh English business student Michael Jagger, isn't bullshit? The music holds up, and whether or not she's the one doing the creative heavy lifting, she's clearly the one whose vision is in charge.

And another thing: I pronounce it "MY-uh" and no one's telling me otherwise. It's her first name, for sobbing out loud.

Saint Etienne – Foxbase Alpha, So Tough
The Tiger Bay reissue's finally out, but I don't know whether they're doing the vinyl or not. I'm not sure that one ever came out in the first place.

Uncle Tupelo – Still Feel Gone/March 16-20, 1992