Catching up

I've been getting life-things like seminar papers done, but not much other writing. But perhaps Friday afternoons should be for incoherent blogging that doesn't do justice to what I'm writing about.

Some things I think you should listen to:

There's a Kevin Dunn anthology available over at No Great Lost. Everybody needs a little new wave. This dude manages to do it without making you feel out of place in time. My local music history knowledge is pretty incomplete, so I didn't have any idea who he was, but he made it into the rotation last week and I was quite pleased with what I heard.

Similarly, Who Are? Who We Think We Are! from Jews and Catholics, is sort of a louder, darker version of kind of the new wave thing. I'm over the generation that did not really appreciate this kind of music til we watched Donnie Darko and matched nostalgic sounds from childhood with Echo and the Bunnymen. I'm glad someone people are still doing this, reinventing it, making it faster without crossing the line too far over into punk. It's a sign of their well-craftedness that both of these albums not only do not feel dated but keep me wanting to go back for more.

See Jews and Catholics at Duke tonight if you are in the Durham area.