Clowns = yipes

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I knew it!! I've always known it!!!

The Obligatory Year End List, Part 2

I was going through my music catalog and realized my last post I missed some gems from last year. Iron & Wine - The Shepard's Dog is another disc I found myself playing over and over this year. If you don't know them, check it out. I can't find a song I don't like on it. Eddie Vedder released the soundtrack to Into The Wild, and if you like the melodic side of Pearljam, you'll like this disk. The radio hit Hard Sun is the best, but it's solid throughout.

I learned about Spoon this year with Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, and I'm hooked. My favorites are The Underdog, You Got Yr Cherry Bomb and Don't Make Me a Target.

Best album-I've-heard-multiple-great-songs-from-and-yet-for-no-good-reason-I-have-not-yet-bought: The White Stripes - Icky Thump, with the loud and raucous title track and the typically cool You Don't Know What Love Is (You Just Do As You're Told). It's on my shopping list.

Best album-I-don't-know-much-about-yet-but-will-probably-buy-on-principle: Robert Plant and Alison Krauss - Raising Sand.

The Obligatory Year End List

This year we spent New Year’s Eve with good friends, and we spent time playing around with my friend Dan’s new stereo, which is maybe the most amazing setup I’ve ever seen. It got me thinking about music, and some of the new music I’ve stumbled upon in 2007. My favorite album of 2007: Bright Eyes – Cassadaga. I’ve been following Bright Eyes for several albums now, ever since Lifted or the Story Is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground and it seems like it all comes together with this latest release. The more I listen to it, the more I like it. The main single from it is Four Winds, but I Must Belong Somewhere is just as accessible, and somehow I can’t stop listening to Make A Plan To Love Me.

Another find I came across this year was Regina Spektor – Begin To Hope. A few radio-friendly songs (Fidelity and On the Radio) caught my attention, but once I listened to the whole album I was hooked. Some other highlights are the haunting Sampson and the quirky That Time which somehow seems to stick in my head.

The Shins’ Wincing the Night Away has really grown on me lately. The radio hit is Phantom Limb, but after I listened several times I found I like Black Wave and A Comet Appears every bit as much.

I have to go now, but I’ll be back soon with more tunes. I promise. Really!

And note to certain people who just last week did not believe I would really post a new blog message within a week. I did it with one day to spare! Maybe this means I can get past this writer’s block and start posting again? We’ll see!