Sorry for the absence. So out of it and tired.

I love it when slowed-down covers of really fast awesome songs sound almost better than the original.

Let me sing you a waltz; out of nowhere, out of my thoughts

So so busy but my list of albums to write about is getting wayyyy to long and I need a distraction. Here's what I've been enjoying lately (besides Julie Delpy, who I can't seem to get enough of):

Stars in Coma's Moonshine Heights EP and Transformation single. Andre was nice enough to ship these to me all the way from Sweden. I'm so impressed by him and his songwriting capabilities, but mostly by the production quality of everything he does (all by himself no less).


The Ghost Mice/Andrew Jackson Jihad split, which I mentioned back in April, doesn't really sound like a split. Andrew Jackson Jihad really Ghost Mices it up, and even covers "Lightening Bolt" '04's Debt of the Dead. Buy the split from Plan-It-X.


Explosions in the Sky's All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone. Definitely in the heavy work rotation, as good as usual, but maybe too familiar. I listen to it a lot but even the first time, I felt like these were songs I'd listened to for years. Still not sure if that is a good or bad thing. On a related note, I watched a few episodes of that TV show, Friday Night Lights, based on the movie by the same name, and hearing the movie soundtrack (which was done by Explosions in the Sky) on TV kind of freaked me out because it conjured up memories of hours of work while listening to it. So I stopped watching it.


Junior Senior's Hey Hey My My Yo Yo totally warrants an "omg." It isn't nearly as unintentionally funny as D-D-Don't Stop the Beat but still totally rocks in a way that only people like me, who refuse to dance to anything that isn't utterly hilarious, can understand. It also makes me yearn for another Har Mar Superstar album.



Not at all funny, but totally beautiful in every way is Nina Nastasia (who graces the tops of my last.fm charts) and Jim White (who I really know nothing about)'s You Follow Me. It is not as mysterious as NN's earlier albums and definitely has more souther folk rock influence, though the sort of complicated classic guitar riffs contrast nicely with the percussion. And her voice is as pristine as ever.


I had a few more to do but they'll have to wait for now.

2 Days in Paris + The Stage Names

I’m short on time these days so I’ll be quick.

First things first: I’m calling it now. The Stage Names is going to be at the very top of my top 20 of ’07 list. Yes, I realize that’s a pretty bold statement to be making only halfway through the year, but I have nothing but good things to say about the album. In fact, every time I listen to it, I end up telling about 20 people how good it is and asking if they’ve listened to it.

On the first few listens, Black Sheep Boy was still in the back of my mind, and my initial comparison was that The Stage Names didn’t even compare to its predecessor. Like most albums I’m initially crabby about, however, it has grown on me and outshined everything else I’ve heard this year. Admittedly, there is not a new Stephin Merritt album this year and everything I heard in the first 6 months was beyond mediocre.

Also, I finally saw 2 Days in Paris, which was the funniest movie I’ve seen in 5-6 years at least. The casting of real parents + real ex-boyfriend made it so raw, and Delpy did a great job of avoiding typecasting herself in the Before Sunrise/Before Sunset roles she’s most known for. Amazing.