The Daily Sabbatical

No comment on the song…but very cool video!

I love it. Reminds me of Jon Spencer Blues Explosion. Ok. Back to grading.

Another excellent blog with another excellent tops list.  John over at s1t1 has mp3s up for his top 50 (!) songs and for his top 10 albums.  His taste is generally spot on–he has a penchant for a sort of blues infused pop, but he ranges beyond that.  Just direct songbird to his site and you’ll get a kick ass mixtape, learning something in the bargain.  Good stuff.

The end of the year is a great time for music lovers, not only because of the plethora of fall releases still sinking in, but also because of the appearance of thousands of “best of the year” lists.  One of my favorite music blogs, gorilla vs. bear, just released their 2008 list and I highly recommend it.  Great picks on there, and great sample tracks.  If you don’t follow these guys, you should.  (Oh, and they’re from Dallas to boot.)

Great video from Pioulard’s excellent new(ish) album, Temper. A really excellent followup to his 2006 precis.

Lanie and I bought and lit our tree today.  If only we’d had this 7″ by Low to decorate by.  One of my favorite bands puts the oh-shit back in Christmas.

The new album by the Finnish group Paavoharju is my clear choice for an album to drive snow covered roads to.  Listening to this is like listening to a radio tuned between three stations, where one is playing the most beautiful melodies you have ever heard, another is playing organ music recorded in a gothic cathedral, and yet another is playing nordic-techno.  The music is of a crystal fragility, and it is layered beneath dissonant statics and hisses.  It is also utterly entrancing.  I haven’t heard their first album, but I will.  A lovely find.
Italialaisella Laivalla.mp3

I hope there is such a thing as a Marnie Stern wall-poster, and I hope that many of them are hanging on the bedroom doors of rock-aspiring young women everywhere.  This chick is completely kick ass.  Her new album “This Is It And I Am It And You Are It And So Is That And He Is It And She Is It And It Is It And That Is That” is one of the strongest records of the year.  Stern’s Deerhoof-ish guitar leads the way in this uncompromising album, but her voice–more rhythm than melody–and the spasmodic drums push this album to the top.  Comparisons are not easy to come by–Deerhoof is one, and there are Pixies-ish moments, but Stern is really doing her own thing.  And I fucking love it.
steely.mp3

Marnie Stern, who’s just a little bit awesome, riffs on Rocky.

I know next to nothing about Yussuf Jerusalem. Their myspace page says they are from Paris, but I’m not sure I believe it. They certainly don’t sound like it. They sound a bit like a garage band version of Joy Division, with female vocals thrown in on a track or two. Sound good? I’m excited as hell about them, in any case. You can purchase their wares at Floridas Dying records.  Nine bucks for nine kick ass songs.  Can’t go wrong.
We Ain’t Coming Back.mp3