Monday, January 28, 2008

best music of '07

So as many of you know one of my favorite ways to waste time is by trying to keep up with the intricacies of the contemporary music scene. This mostly involves reading online publications and other blogs, but also sometimes actually listening to the radio and occasionally checking out a show. At the end of the year I have a bunch of albums and songs on my laptop and some I like to single out as the best efforts of the year.

I suppose the list this year looks pretty similar to e.g. the pitchfork best of list, and (despite my age) it's mostly indie rock of some sort or another, but in any case, here they are: the top forty something songs of 2007. in no particular order (aside from alphabetical by band name).

Beach Party - Air France
Keep the Car Running - Arcade Fire
(This Is for The) Better Days - A Band of Bees
Atlas - Battle
Elephant Gun - Beirut
Katrina - Black Lips
Sun Lips - Black Moth Super Rainbow
23 - Blonde Redhead
In Our Talons - The Bowerbirds
Truth Is - Brother Ali
Archangel - Burial
Gutterfly - Camp Lo/Lifesavas
Melody Day - Caribou
Believe E.S.P. - Deerhoof
Heatherwood - Deerhunter
Radio Ballet - Eluvium
My Moon My Man - Feist
A Paw In My Face - The Field
Your Rocky Spine - Great Lake Swimmers
(I Don't Need You To) Set Me Free - Grinderman
Colleen - The Heavy
House by the Sea - Iron & Wine
A Postcard To Nina - Jens Lekman
Someone Great - LCD Soundsystem
The Demise of Madame Butterfly - Madeline
Deserter - Matthew Dear
Paper Planes - M.I.A.
Dying Breed - Marissa Nadler
Wet & Rusty - Menomena
Summersend - Misha
Grolandic Edit - Of Montreal
Fake Empire - The National
Comfy in Nautica - Panda Bear
Dear Employee - Papercuts
Jigsaw Falling Into Place - Radiohead
Umbrella - Rihanna
I Sing I Swim - Seabear
100 Days - Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings
Australia - The Shins
Animal House - Simian Mobile Disco
Jade Like Wine - Six Organs of Admittance
Winged-Wicked Things - Sunset Rubdown
Lost and Found - Taken by Trees
Lolita - Throw Me a Statue
Sky Blue Sky - Wilco
2080 - Yeasayer

P.S. I might add more to this list in case i realize i forgot something - any suggestions?

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

current resolution

Happy 2008 everyone! (anyone?)
It's been a while since the last post and that's partly due to the computer problems I experienced over the holidays. We spent xmas in England and while I was over there the charger for my computer stopped delivering voltage from the wall into my laptop (its primary function). I figured it had something to do with the high voltages streaming from the outlets but according to the numbers on the back of the charger it should have been able to handle it. So anyway, I had to wait until we got back to Berlin to order one through german ebay. It arrived in the mail the other day and now I'm back on the laptop.

In related news, one of the keys on my casiotone broke in our initial move to berlin and I've been waiting for months to find a philip's head screwdriver small enough to reach the dozens of screws in the back. Part of the traditional English Christmas dinner (apparently) involves everyone shooting off explosive poppers with small prizes inside - coincidentally my prize was a pack of mini screwdrivers (with a carrying case)! As soon as we got back to Berlin (and after placing the ebay order) I went to work on the casiotone. After an hour of carpal-tunnel-defying effort I managed to get the thing open. I was able to access the broken/stuck key and after moving some things around I put it all back together again (minus one or two screws). Needless to say I had limited expectations of the results, but I plugged it in and it was working, good as new (but you know still in a vintage way). Working for a while, that is - after a few rounds of pre-programmed beat assisted chord progressions, there was a spark and the thing went dead. But this time it was surely the power adapter, I could tell by the smell.



Casualties