Two late year oddities

A) A bizarre and growing obsession with Australian Rules Football


B) This Song
04 Carries On-Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros by nigelharsch

A Hypocrite Winter Mix

A quick mix for the after the holidays winter sucks blues...
Hypocrite Winter Playlist by nigelharsch


Kurt Vile-The Hunchback 
Kanye West-Love Lockdown
Dismemberment Plan-Spider in the Snow
Belle and Sebastian-Seeing Other People 
Flying Lotus-Robo Tussin 
Atlas Sound-Shelia 
Spoon- I Summon You 
The Walkmen-Red Moon 
The Chills-Pink Frost 
Tortoise-Charteroak Foundation 
Wire-Outdoor Miner 
Destroyer-Goddess of Drought 
Animal Collective-Winters Love

A Quick Top Ten of 2009

    Was 2009 an off year for music? Well, I have to admit that I struggled a little bit to actually fill all ten slots without dipping into less than stellar material. You could say there was a stagnation, or a dry spell for much of the year. But, you could just as easily point to what are, for me, the big three: Merriweather Post Pavilion, Veckatimest, and Bitte Orca. Say what you will about the rest of this year's output, these albums are massive leaps forward. Merriweather may not be the single best album AC has put out, but it solidifies them as masters. Veckatimest is long and often spare, but lush and heartbreaking. And Bitte Orca is a nonstop revelation of joy.
    There's also a lot of records I haven't given an honest chance. I would love to write brilliant take downs of say, XX or Fever Ray, but I felt more ambivalence than anything. Even my least favorite band this year, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart weren't even much to hate. And there are just as many albums I thought were good or even great, but haven't yet fell in love with, like The Woods' Songs of Shame, Doom's Born Like This, Atlas Sound's Logos, No Age's Losing Feeling, Neon Indians Psychic Chasm, and of course number eleven on my list, Embryonic. And like any good year, I spent some time getting into older shit, like Dilla's Donuts, FlyLo's Los Angeles, T-Rex's The Slider, Extra Golden, Station to Station.  But for the hell of it, here we go, my top 10 favorites of 2009:


Diamond District-In The Ruff
No one I've actually met knows anything about this album, which is quite sad. With all the questions of Hip Hop's life or death this year, there were certainly some major milestones including Raekwon's return, Doom's return, Dilla's eternal presence over both hip hop and avant music, online mixtapes looking to eclipse albums in importance, Kanye Going robo-soul, Jay trying to kill robo-soul on one song while cashing in on it in others on the same album. But my favorite hip hop album I've heard this year seems blithely removed from the fray. Sure, there's Dilla's influence, Oddisee mixing shimmering hazed beauty with 90's boom-bap, and it is kinda like a mixtape, really more just a standard album released for free. Otherwise, this albums is in a world of it's own. It's a deft examination of the unshocking and unglamorous world we spend most of our time in. There's Bush era paranoia and distress mixed with Obama era optimism and anxiety, elegant but unshowy MC'ing over some fantastic beats, and a deep love for the genre. It may just be my rockist tendencies, but I couldn't help but fall hard for this one.

Wavves-Wavvves
You have to go back before this summer, before Nathan William's 'meltdown,' before the bloodshed to understand why this sounded so exciting when it came out. Better than the lofi-for-lofi-sake artists and their summery nostalgia, this album actually nails the bitter nihilism of idle youth. It sounds like something taking form, which is to say, not perfect. It's frequently antisocial and solipsistic, doesn't offer much in the way of good vibes. As bizarre as his trajectory has been this year, Nathan Williams has remained the real snot nosed nothing-to-lose punk this year. And despite all the setbacks, he's now in better position than ever touring with a tight backing band than can actually do his work the fierce live performance it deserves. I still have high hopes for this guy.

The Clientele-Bonfires on the Heath
I know I'm getting old and boring, but these gents are masters.

Tortoise-Beacons of Ancestorship
You know what can be a bummer? Having an album you love by one of your favorite hometown artists get a total pass of a review. You know what's the best revenge? Having said album sell all of its copies in one week. The dumbass who said this album is hermetically sealed is mistaking the bands demeanor for it's musical output. Aside from the one obligatory Doug McCombs helmed Ennio Morricone tribute, the album is the band's most focused and unrelenting release, and one that is quite aware of what's going on right now. Let's talk about those synth sounds, how unlike the icy and alienating synth wash presets everyone else's keyboards are stuck on this year, these are slice your brain open, pound you into submission, loud as fuck. And the beats. Herndon and McEntire push pull and stretch them, internalizing the chopped up sampler style into live playing and then, you know, fucking with them some more. So yeah, what I'm saying is, unless your not really into music, you probably don't want to miss this one.

Destroyer-Bay of Pigs EP
I wasn't sure I liked this when I first heard it. I wondered if Dan had really gone off the deep end this time, and whether or not I was really down with that. But it won me over in the end, and it may be one of my favorite things he's ever done. There's something free and easy in his delivery here, like he's actually having a good time out there at the pier or at the park. And goddamn if 10 minutes of Ambient Disco didn't just make me want even more out of him.

Kurt Vile-Childish Prodigy
Really, this pick stands in for several records the man has released in the last several months. From Constant Hitmaker's bedroom pop, to The Hunchback EP and it's swampy bombast, to this stellar muscular classic. I could easily pick apart his mix of am rock and Neil Young worship if the man wasn't so clever, so charming, and so dedicated to what he does. Seeing him live was a highlight of my year.

The Clams-Mindbanging
I'm not just being nice to my friends.  This isn't even technically a 2009 release, I don't care.  The Clams dominate.

Grizzly Bear-Veckatimest
Beautiful.

Animal Collective-Merriweather Post Pavillion
Beautiful and you can dance to it. I actually haven't listened to this as much as I thought I would, because it feels so much like a special event. When it came out last winter, I felt essential, like I needed this album to exist to get through to May, and I may have just overplayed it. I may be returning to it for sanity sake pretty soon here. We can quibble where this album ranks in their discography, but choosing one of their albums over another other would be pretty pointless. But this year, there's only one other album that I've let slip under my skin as much as this one.

The Dirty Projectors-Bitte Orca
Oh my fucking god. It's over. When that guitar comes down on "Another Chamber" and shit hits the fan and every sound goes into spasmodic fits, it's one of those pure essential musical moments for me. This is where I check out from objective debate, or even from subjective analysis. The feeling this album gives me is something I wish I could telepathically transmit to everyone I know. I don't care if there's basically a Nico cover song on it, I don't care if the last track is a buzzkill ending. More albums should be made at this level of creativity and musicianship, more albums should work as hard and risk failing and turn out sounding as bat shit insane as this one. Fuck the haters, I believe in this band.

All in all, not the worst year for music. Despite having a kind of eneven year, I still feel like we're living in the middle of a solid period for music making. That may not feel as exciting as being at the beginning of a new era, but it's not as depressing as feeling your at the logical end of something. And as far as the aughties, it may not have been the best decade, but it was nothing of not interesting.

Merry Christmas everyone.

Hypocrite Listener vs Daftpop Mix Showdown part II-I'm turning this into a summmit

First, since Anna made such a fantastic list with a far superior defense attached to it, I'll give it a track by track response. My unfocused rant will follow. So let's dive in...

Beyonce-Single Ladies
This song never really did it for me, but I'll admit to the power of this song. I actually like the verse's melody more than the chorus. I've seen people just lose their shit dancing to this, so I'll back down from criticism.

Big Boi and Gucci-Shine Blockas
I love this song so much. Oh man yes, yes yes.... It reminds me of the first time I heard Hey Yeah or Ghettomusick, like getting my mind kicked in. I just feel like Big Boi tries a little harder than most to deliver, like he doesn't phone it in. This year's Int'l Players Anthem.

Fabolous and The Dream-Throw It In The Bag
Not feeling this one. Seems like paint by numbers to me.

Ghostface-Do Over
Fantastic. Maybe it's unfair to give props to straight up samples over synth beats that sound like samples, but the production gives the song a life blood, a warm throbbing thing to ground it. Maybe I'm too much a product of the 90's. I will never fuck with Wu Tang anything.

Beyonce-Halo
I've never appreciated this song until now. Beyonce is a great performer, her timing and delivery are perfect here. This is something I don't think Rihanna (I'm sorry) could pull off. One qualm, the production is pretty schlocky. Like, they could have had some real strings here, it would done her voice justice. Maybe it would have broken the aesthetic of the album as a whole, but it would have elevated the song. And if the Dirty Projectors can afford real strings, than Ryan Tedder can put down his fucking synths for one second.

Pet Shop Boys-All Around The World
Ok, I like this song. There are a number of indie acts working within these tropes, but none I've heard do them justice like this. I don't like his voice but fuck it. Maybe I just got spoiled by Beyonce on the last track.

Basement Jaxx-Scars
This is sweet, great dubstep vibe. This got me out of my seat on first listen to dance around alone in my apartment. Ace pick.

Elektrik Red-Freaky Freaky
Not doin' it for me. When “My Love” came out it seemed revelatory, like the future of music. But those synth stabs now just take me right back to 2006.  Although this is a decent track, it's using some well worn tricks.

MSTRKRFT-Heartbreaker
This is close to cheating Anna, dude was in DFA1979. I do really like this track though. Some straight up dance material, but done exceedingly well. Love those oh's.

Kanye West-Knock You Down
This sounds like Kanye phoning it in. I feel like I've heard this song before.

Raekwon-Cold Outside
YES. Right here, I like that the bass is kinda low in the mix, and that sample is tinny and a bit harsh. It allows the tension to build up to a desperate fever pitch. And those chorus vocals are the best argument against the current trend of robo-pop singing I've heard this year (close second is DOA). This is so fucking good, nothing I picked even touches this Anna. Again, Wu Tang=probs gonna love it.

Lady Gaga-Bad Romance
This right here is Rococo. So, Lady Gaga is channeling some interesting source material, and she has an impressively wide range of vocal stylings. Her lyrics sway between cheesy and clever, and there's something liberating and weird and subversive about her. She is still suffering from some of that robo-future shock that's all over the radio right now. Granted, she was a progenitor of that sound. Still sounds expensive and hollow, so perfect for clubbing.

The Dream and Kanye West-Walking on The Moon
The Dream wins me over on this one. It's hard to say why exactly. Seems a little more restrained, more relaxed than the other tracks he's done.  This get's close that  80's late era Motown hit sound.

Cam'ron-My Job
Thank you for introducing me to this song. We need more mundane-shit songs like this. Did you ever listen to that Diamond District album? It's not as funny as this, but has the same M.O. I guess the lesson here for me is that I do love Hip Hop after all.

Clipse-Kinda a Big Deal
This has a good Madlib/Dilla style stutter beat to it. I actually like this better on the second listen. Still think the rhymes are a little flat here, some retread Kanye shit.

Basement Jaxx-Raindrops
Another winner. I don't listen to enough dance music. Don't have a single criticism, just love.

Oh my god Anna, you've written quite a response to my mix. I've missed a lot of these songs, which is admittedly pretty sad. So we'll wait until later to say which mix is better (if that's necessary or even possible) but you certainly have won in the war of words/blog posts. Your post actually had me excited to hear these songs, which is something that countless Slate articles and NY times pieces could not do. So I'll concede defeat as far as that goes. Beers are on me.
Also, I've realized something that has been staring me in the face for a while but didn't want to admit. I've turned my head away from top 40 music for so long, I don't even think of it as a choice. Like, I stopped listening or caring at around 13 (a nadir for radio if you remember) so now I'm actually just lost anytime I think about pop music actually being, you know "popular." I can't read the signposts anymore. Whereas the very popular but still secondary world of "indie" or just sorta-pop, or critically acclaimed pop (or whatever) is a territory I feel more comfortable in. And when things happen there, in that world of music obsessives and innovators/trendspotters, they matter to me more than what ever happens in the top strata of cultural exchange. I mean really, pop radio could fucking burn to the ground for all I care. And yeah, that's a pretty childish thing to say. I'm know not everyone feels that way, nor should they, but I guess I should own up as to where I'm at.
But, allow some last bitter defenses for the independent world:
   As much my auto-tune beef sounds geriatric, I still stand by my assessment that pop music suffers from a serious case of dumbed down production values. Now maybe the production contains some quality compositional merits or even stylistic innovation, but as far as sound design/engineering (sense of space, dynamics, harmonic richness, timbre), it sounds depressingly flat and similar. I think this is one of the overlooked aspects of say Dilla or FlyLo, that the music actually takes up physical space in a very different way. Some of that has to do with source material and composition, but a lot of it is production values, straight up.
   This is a complaint of someone who loves records as discreet art objects, who doesn't mind turning up the volume for a quiet section of a song, that will actually sit in front of a stereo and do nothing but listen to a record. So, yes, it's unfair to criticize pop music for being super compressed (within an inch of it's dynamic life) when that is a technical concern for radio play and ipod listening (shit needs to be loud to be heard on the train, in the club, or let's be honest, as your ringtone). BUT, I think it's plenty fair to say there's more than one way to skin a cat, and that record producers have been shy when it comes to fucking with anyone's expectations as far as what a top 40 record should sound like. If you've ever heard the early leaked versions of 808's and Heartbreaks, you'll see what I'm saying. The leaked version of “Robocop” is far superior. Sounds jumping out at you, the vocals even a little low in the mix, the over all effect actually less robotic sounding than the overcooked album version. And what about the independent world? Well, recording aesthetics abound, lofi, midfi, glowfi, expansive and spare (Grizzly Bear), expansive and dense (Animal Collective), intentionally shitty (Wavves), and many that will mix it all up (Bon Iver's haunting and genius use of autotune). This seems like a small bone to pick, except that this shit is literally in my head for hours a day, so I like timbral variety. This rant could go on forever, this is obviously a Nigel centric issue.
    Here's a more hasty defense: Independent music, as codified as it is, is actually more of a free for all. You'll have to allow in the definition of “independent music” to include bands and albums not on Pitchfork's Best New Music List, or even on p4k at large. Independent labels release more records by more bands. Maybe majors move more units, but the indie world has a larger roster. And it may seem like small stakes to some people, but there's a lot of squabbling and debate between the different camps of bands who often have to share the same stage on the same night. As much as Jay Z listening to Grizzly Bear is undeniably cool, it's also just the biggest name of one world giving props to one of the biggest names of another. There are weirder and wilder bands informing each other, playing the same festival, and sometimes those conversations can get interesting. Hipsters may look the same, but there are battles going between these kids (over some stupid shit at times. Ok, maybe most of the time). That is to say, no one totally dominates and it's hard to win everyone over (even for AC). Now, who's actually gonna take potshots at Jay Z?
But, I will admit there are some real virtuosos and innovators on your list. And, I do like a lot of it at first listen. In fact, overall, it's made me a bit more poptimistic.  So thanks for the mix.  I didn't expect this to turn into a summit (yes I did), but I'm glad to have done this.  Means a lot to me, Anna.

Stay critical or die,

Nigel

Snap Judgements

So I took a sick day and decided to vegetate around the house while the -10 windchill made everyone else miserable. To pass the time I decided to listen to some of the Pfork Best New Music picks I haven't yet heard and write some initial thoughts. The rule was one or two sentences a song. Here's what I found:

Real Estate-S/T
1. Like this a lot, not too overdone
2. A little plodding by second track
3. So the first track is uptempo for this band. Still like the tone and aesthetic, 'cept for the drums. This is somewhere between slow Pavement and early Shins.
4. But still pretty winning. Damn guys.
5. Oh, I get it, they don't have a drummer. I Like Springsteen's Atlantic City better.
6. Oooh. They do wrangle maximum emotion out of minimal technical skill. Not a slight.
7. Meh.
8. This has a cool blossoming Jim O'rourke style beginning. Yeah, this one's good. Little long though.
9. Ok guys, where's your jam switch? It's time to find it and turn it off. Also, this does not sound like a beach being rocked.
10. Like the song, still hate that drum sound though, and the voice is getting to me. Feel a little underwhelmed.

Alright, the album does have a cohesive sound, and is pretty well sequenced. And there is something romantic about coming back to your hometown and making an album with your old friends. Creating romance for a place you once thought was miserable, I can get behind that. But there's a way better album that does the same thing, and it's Spoon's Girls Can Tell. And as far as hazy pop albums, do we really need another one this year?

Bear in Heaven-Beast Rest Fourth Mouth
1. Bongos, why did it have to be bongos? Dude's voice has that thing that makes it sound thin with reverb, like the guy from Band of Horses or Getty Lee.
2. Pheonix + Isaac Brock's guitar. You didn't work for that chorus. Who mixed this?
3. This could be a lot better.
4. Wait, is this Rush?
5. Ok, so it's like Wire without the tension or restraint. Truly bored.
6. Favorite song so far, much simpler and economical. Ok, you earned that crescendo.
7. Bored.
8. Ok, so this album has an admittedly impressive sound. Good sound design that is, meticulous textures, and a dedication to being weird.
9. But even that awesome drum track is falling flat. Not enough room to breath.  Sounds like a dull headache, in space.
10. This album makes me itchy.

Ok, so amazing chops, very adventurous band. But man that sound is dense, too much future shock. Maybe exactly the opposite of Real Estate. I prefer Real Estate.

Skipping the Hyperdum comp cuz reviewing comps aint fun.  Ah yes...

Fuck Buttons-Tarot Sport
1. Sweet.
2. Sweet.
3. Awesome. Oh yeah.
4. Still really awesome.
5. These guys can do whatever they want with sound. My only complaint about Fuck Buttons is that normal life doesn't allow nearly enough proper contexts for their music. It takes a lot out of you.
6. Little too close to My Girls in the intro. My ears are a little fatigued.
7. The Fuck Buttons make me wish I was at a rave.

More dense than the first album, which I might actually like a bit more. More holy-shit moments on this one though. Listening casually while writing sentence length reviews is not how you should listen to this album.

Skipping Atlas Sound becuase I've already heard it and like it. Skipping Mountain Goats because I truly dislike them.  Oh what's this, a new Beck single?  Oh chillwave, this is gonna be quick...

Neon Indian-Psychic Chasms
1. Alright, cool intro
2. Ok, I'm on board.
3. Quirkier and more fun than the other so called "chillwave" or whatever, stuff like Memory Tapes or Washed Out.
4. Tape phasing, glad hipsters decided to save you.
5. Ah, this is the low budget Daft Punk part.
6. Thumbs up.  High fives all around.
7. This is a great long lost GBV song title, I'm sure. Oh yeah, nice. Good job dude.
8. An arpeggiater and drum machine on tape, some vocals.
9. RIYL: Listening to Chromeo without the icky feeling of actually listening to Chromeo
10. Still on your side man.
11. But will I buy your album?

A surprise. Very fun listen, not sure of the staying power. It does have a good sense of humor and fun while not diving headlong into novelty, it remains both warm and wry. I might actually buy this.

Hypocrite Listener vs Daftpop Mix Showdown

Ok so Anna, I think I may have overreacted a little bit.  Maybe it's my increasing boredom and annoyance with blanket hipster hatred.  This has a lot to do with working downtown with people who live on the north side who always bitch about these "stupid hipsters" who live in Logan Square and Pilsen and well, you fill in the blank.  I know, it's easy to hate them/us/the other ones that aren't us/people who live in Brooklyn/the dude from Wavves and I've had more than my share of grievances aired on this here internet.  But at the same time, this is sorta my generation, and as far as vaguely defined cultural aggregates go, I fall into that camp whether I like it or not.  And even if I don't aspire to the shifting ideals of indieness (cuz I'm already living it motherfuckas), I still love the a lot of the music these laughably dressed rich kids make.  So here it is, a brief smattering of my favorite white guys (some white girls too) with guitars (ooh, and samplers sometimes) from year 2009.

Cannibal Resource-Dirty Projectors

As far as annoying hipster baggage goes, these guys have it all.  East Coast, Ivy League, classically trained, quirky vocal strangulations, afropop guitar, Brooklyn.  But as much as the DP's are omnivorous and scattered in their influences, they're obsessively coherent in their sound.  You want your auteur, I've got him right here.  Dave Longstreth is crazy obsessed with his music, clocking in twelve hour rehearsals and touring like crazy.  It pays off, nothing they've done sounds lazy or phoned in.  Like it or not, you have to respect what they've pulled off.

Skin and Bones-Flashy Python

This is Alec Ounsworth of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah fame, playing here with some dudes from Man Man and the Walkmen in a one-- off balls to the wall rock album.  Even amongst all the "lofi/shitgaze" albums this year, nothing has sounded as raw and loose as this album. If you thought CYHSY was too twee, here's an antidote.

Laura-Girls

Oh Girls, it's so hard to love you.  This is pretty straight up nostalgia right here, but done incredibly well.  It's the bassline that finally won me over.  Also, I like this dude's voice, hiccups and all.

Walkabout-Atlas Sound feat Noah Lennox

Bradford Cox of Deerhunter + Panda Bear = Indiebro love in awesomeness.  Also, this song could just be that one sample and I'd still love it.  Did you ever listen to Deerhunter?  Cryptograms is one of my favorite albums of the decade, as is Person Pitch by Mr. Lenox.  Both of those albums restored my faith in music when they came out.  Both of these guys are pretty fascinating people as well.  I would probably most like to be friends with these guys.

Amplifier-Kurt Vile

My hero for the year, and by far my favorite new artist.  KV is refreshingly free of shtick or pretense.  He can hang with the lofi acts, but is too subtle to really be tagged as a one of those faux punx.  He played a fantastic set at the Empty Bottle, and I think he played every request, and there we quite a few, dude has three albums and an ep out, just in the last 18 months or so.

Useful Chamber-Dirty Projectors

Oh my god I love this song.  This is what I wanted the Fiery Furnaces to sound like when I heard about them, and hyperactive mixture of musical heroics except in this case, with a trajectory.  Favorite nonsensical refrain of the year, every time it comes on my body goes into spams of unadulterated joy.

While You Wait for the Others-Grizzly Bear

The other great pop hit from Veckatemist.  Like the last track, not afraid to lean heavily on the vocalese for a great build up.  Admittedly some of the album is on the boring side.  But it's neither lazy nor unoriginal.  I guess this is my argument for most of these bands, that they're hard working people who make engaging and interesting work.  And that still stands in contrast to the bulk of pop radio these days (as exciting as it can be, especially compared to say, the late 90s), specifically the set-it-and-forget-it trend of auto-tuned to death vocals over recycled beats and increasingly boring sampled material.  On a side note, "Two Weeks" features Victoria LeGrand as well (she's ooing in the background) so maybe your love of Beach House is the real culprit here.

Imagine, Pt. 3-Smith Westerns

These guys are like 19 years old or something, and they're from Chicago.  It's like Girls without all the melodrama and like any halfway decent Chicago band, I'd like them to blow the fuck up and get all the attention.  We'll see.

Silver Trembling Hands-The Flaming Lips

Ok, so as far as indie as fuck goes, this is a stretch.  But the rock press is all a tizzy about The Flaming Lips not sucking.  And, this song makes a strong point for that.

Brother Sport-Animal Collective

It's a fucking party!  No seriously.  If you take nothing else away from this, I hope you appreciate the sheer and total joy of this song.  Play it on the loudest sound system you can find.

Alright Piontek, I tried my best, it's your move.

No Respect: Flashy Python

Flashy Python-Skin and Bones

    Ok, this is a new one, so it remains to be seen if this album picks up any steam.  But as of right now, one of the best releases of the year has garnered almost no real praise from anyone outside my apartment (or so it seems).  Perhaps because Clap Your Hands Say Yeah got too much attention and backlash for Ounsworth's side project to be considered as new act worthy of new fans.  I suspect that this fuzzy in your face album further distances Mr. Ounsworth from reclaiming his once large appeal, and I also suspect he could give a fuck.  And that is exactly why this album sounds to fresh to my ears. 
    As underrated as Some Loud Thunder was, it still is largely a bridge burning, intentionally notching up the weirdness and sacrificing the hooks.  It's easy to respect but at times hard to actually enjoy.  Skin and Bones basically puts the hooks back into the equation, and thanks to his new bandmates (including members of the Walkmen and Man Man), he's also added some, er um, balls to his sound.  It reminds me a lot of Destroyer's Rubies in the way Ounsworth seems free and easy to fly his freak flag.  Though not as sprawling or epic as Rubies, it's thrilling to hear someone so brash and confident and totally unconcerned with current trends while still being concerned with making a fantastic album on his own terms.
    The production is at times gratingly distorted, but it at least maintains a dynamic range if only because of the performers.  And, unlike the generic lofi sound being abused right now (often by bands who really don't need it) it actually suits the music incredibly well.  Unfortunately, the production plus Ounsworth's unhinged vocals render his lyrics all but unintelligible. Overall, I'd describe the sound as drunk and sweaty, and if that sounds disgusting to you, I guarantee this isn't for you.  But for me, this sounds like a show I'd really like to go to.
    Without a doubt, this is Ounsworth working at his best, and as albums go, it may be my favorite of his so far.  It may not be as anthemic as his original band's debut, but it's much less self-conscious, much more off the cuff.  And through the whole album, he sounds completely ON.  I'm not completely sure why so many of his former fans have completely jumped ship.  Perhaps it's the singer not the song, and well, it could just be plain ol' fickle trendspotting.  And to be fair, Alec should maybe sober up spend more than 30 seconds before naming his next band.  But I hope that the albums creators don't feel as ambivalent about it as most of their reviewers do, because they're certainly off to a great start.

Hypocrite Listener vs Daftpop mix challenge

Ok so, I got a little hot headed and said some things and now I have to throw down tomorrow against my good friend Anna P in a battle of musical tastes and mix-making.  Backstory here.

I'm making a mix of songs that I love that Anna may or may not have ignored in her indie malaise.  I am not so much trying to beat her, as win her over, but not in the romantic sense, making this a tricky mix indeed.  In the spirit of friendly competition, loser buys drinks.  Probably we'll both buy drinks and then buy some more because we haven't hung out in a while and drinking is a thing I like to do with people.

Um so, dear readers, any suggestions?  Any white hot 2009 hits from the indiesphere that I shouldn't leave off?  Also, if you find yourself on the other side of the fence in this debate, send your submissions or moral support to Daftpop.

Ok, tomorrow I'll be ready with a mediafire link and a lot of explaining.