10.3.11
R.E.M. took the longest break of their career between Around the Sun and their penultimate release, Accelerate, and most people wouldn't have been surprised if they just kind of faded away after Around the Sun, because that album felt like exactly that. But it was clearly a much needed break, because they came back reinvigorated and refocused, returning to the pure rock sound of Lifes Rich Pageant (and maybe Monster, although again, I don't really know that record), updated with slicker production. I'm not really sure the production style added anything, but it was nice hear them return to being a rock band instead of wandering aimlessly among bleeps and bloops and fawning Beach Boys fandom (although the Brian Wilson inspired tracks were some of the best of the post-Berry era, along with the ones that were obviously meant to mimic the classic R.E.M. sound).

I saw them on the tour for Accelerate, which turned out to be their last. I was really more interested in the two opening acts, the National and Modest Mouse, but R.E.M. put on a spirited show, and Stipe seemed to be relaxed and in a good mood, bantering with the crowd in between songs. Sure, there were a lot of songs from Accelerate, but there were also plenty of songs from their back catalogue, and overall I was much happier with the show than I'd expected.

Even though Accelerate was a nice return to form with some really good songs, it lacked any truly great songs. That wasn't true of their unexpected swan song and Accelerate's succesor, Collapse Into Now. Both "Discoverer" and "It Happened Today" are classic R.E.M. tracks that could stand shoulder to shoulder with anything from the post-Document era.

In a way, it's a disappointment to see a band that recently rediscovered their footing and clearly has some great work left in them call it quits, but I'd rather see them go out on a high note than linger for another 10 years and leave us with another Around the Sun as the last thing they leave their fans. If they hadn't made these last two records, I'm not sure I would miss them as much as I'm going to now, because before these albums it felt like the band I had known was already gone anyway. But I'm grateful for everything they've given me over the years, especially that last performance three years ago and a couple of songs I really love from Collapse Into Now.

10.4.11
Okay, that's it for the R.E.M. stuff, at least for a little while (although I've been revisiting their records, and I'm sure I'll write more about them at some point).

Since I finished off the 1988 mixtape and spent a week plus on R.E.M., I got the following releases: Stephin Merritt's Obscurities (I'm pretty sure I've been spelling his name with an "e" at the end instead of an "i" for years), Jens Lekman's An Argument With Myself EP, Wilco's The Whole Love, and the Drums' Portamento.

The quick rundown on each of these: exactly what I expected from a b-sides collection from Merritt (meaning I like it); I love Jens as much as ever and can't wait for his new full-length now; I like the latest Wilco more than I thought I would——it's probably their best since A Ghost Is Born, their last truly great album; and I'm not sure how to tell the difference between Portamento and the Drums' self-titled first album, which is probably a bad thing——I liked the first album, but I wanted to see some growth and depth that I'm just not hearing.

More on some of these later, but those are my first impressions after a few listens to each one.

10.5.11
When I saw a live version on YouTube of Jens Lekman's "Waiting for Kirsten", which is about stalking Kirsten Dunst as she was filming a movie in his then-residence of Gothenberg, Sweden, I thought it was cute, buy maybe a little too cute, even for Jens. But now I think it might be turning into one of my favorite songs of his, mostly because of the way he sings these lines:

In Gothenberg, we don't have VIP lines
In Gothenberg, we don't make a fuss about who you are

Although when I hear those lines in my head, I always hear that second one as "In Gothenberg, we don't don't give a fuck about who you are."

10.6.11
Public Image Ltd.'s "generic" record was originally released under the names Album, Cassette, or CD, depending on the format it was released in. I figured it must have made its way to iTunes by now, so I wanted to see what they had come up with for the downloadable version of this release. Download? Digital? Something more clever that I couldn't think of?

As it turns out, they just released it under the name Album. I guess this kind of makes sense, because in today's music marketing parlance, album has come to refer to a full-length release even though most people buying (or stealing) them have never owned a vinyl record. But I was really hoping they had come up with something a little more interesting than that.

10.7.11
God helps me, I'm considering buying the new Ryan Adams. I resisted the last time; let's hope I can keep this typically bad habit broken.

10.10.11
I haven't been to a live show in a while, and it's not for lack of opportunity. In September and October alone, here are the acts that have played or are playing within easy driving distance: the National, Death Cab for Cutie, Wilco, Marnie Stern, the Tune-Yards, Jens Lekman, Janelle Monae, Bonnie Prince Billy, Wild Flag, M83, and Throwing Muses. All of these are artists I'd like to see live, but I didn't buy tickets for any of them (I'm especially disappointed in myself for missing Jens, Marnie, and the Tune-Yards).

In fact, the only show I have plans to attend the rest of this year is the Los Campesinos (even though they are currently my favorite obsession, I refuse to put that exclamation point on their name, and I don't think I'll ever come around like I did when I eventually decided to leave the first "o" in of Montreal's name lowercase as Kevin Barnes intended), who are playing the Black Cat in November. It's a shame to miss so much great live music, but the time just isn't there right now (and even though these are within driving distance, they're all at least an hour and half from where I live, which means a pretty significant overall time investment that's even harder to pull off if I have work the next day).

10.11.11
Tbe new Wilco album, The Whole Love, starts off as promisingly as anything since A Ghost Is Born with the sprawling, fragmented 7 minute plus "The Art of Almost", a song that I was prepared to fall head over heels in love with for the first several minutes. But at around the 4:30 mark, the song transitions from the ramshackle assemblage of lots of weird, interesting little pieces (a la "I Am Trying to Break Your Heart" or "Misunderstood") into a completely different song, a driving, searing instrumental that doesn't seem to connect to the first half of the song in any way.

I might still grow to love this song——the first half gets better with every listen——but it probably would help to see it performed live. I had similar issues with "Spiders (Kidsmoke)" from A Ghost Is Born, but after seeing the band perform in live (even in a setting where the sound wasn't all that great), I finally got what the song was about and understood why it had to be exactly what it was.

Unfortunately, I just missed my chance to see them on the tour supporting this record, so it will likely be at least next summer before I get another chance. Until then, "The Art of Almost" might just remain almost great.

10.12.11
The sophomore Cymbals Eat Guitars record, Lenses Alien, arrived on Tuesday, and while it's probably as good as their debut, I'm not sure there's a whole lot of growth. That doesn't mean I'm not going to end up loving it (there's something about their sound that reminds me of early Modest Mouse enough to keep me excited), but it's going to be the same kind of love I had for their first record——after a few listens, I don't expect that I'm going to get any startling revelations. But sometimes records like this are growers, so I haven't totally given up on it yet.

10.13.11
Eleanor Friedberger's solo album, Last Summer, is no better and no worse than the last couple of Fiery Furnaces records, but it closes with two of the best things I've heard from her in a while: "Owl's Head Park" and "Early Earthquake".

I've kind of accepted that I'm not going to get the sublime pop weirdness that made up the first three Fiery Furnaces releases, and that when Eleanor and her brother Matthew (the other half of Fiery Furnaces) produce something great from now on, either separately or together, it's going to be along the lines of songs like "Benton Harbor Blues" or "Lost at Sea", and not "Chief Inspector Blancheflower" or "Blueberry Boat".

"Owl's Head Park" definitely falls into this category of wistful but grounded tracks that are timeless but feel real and present because they evoke those complicated sets of emotions from when we were coalescing into the people we would become as adults, when even the smallest things seemed to be filled with life-altering meaning. "Early Earthquake" is more unexpected, adn although it isn't filled with the random full-stops and strange twists of the Furnaces' most compelling work, part of the reason I might like it better than anything I've heard from either sibling in years is because it's got enough little touches of weirdness to remind me of their earliest songs together.

10.14.11
Some pretty good stuff this month in Amazon's monthly selection of 100 MP3 albums priced at $5 each. Here are the must-haves if you don't already: Radiohead's OK Computer, the Postal Service's Give Up (a record that seemed like maybe it would be a trendy fad but which actually holds up really well), and Neutral Milk Hotel's masterpiece In the Aeroplane Over the Sea. Also recommended: PJ Harvey's most recent, Let England Shake, Ryan Adams' debut solo album, Heartbreaker (which remains his best work outside of Whiskeytown), Superchunk's Majesty Shredding, and the Walkmen's Lisbon.

As for me, I'm considering Wu Lyf's Go Tell Fire to the Mountain (there is no CD release stateside thus far, so I'd have to buy it digitally anyway, and you can't beat this price) and Girls' Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. I haven't really been able to get into Girls based on the samples I've heard, but they get rave reviews from pretty much everyone, so maybe it's worth $5 to give their songs a full listen. My only hesitation is that if I do end up loving the record, I'm going to feel compelled to buy the physical copy.

10.17.11
It's the 8th anniversary of this site today, and although I finally finished up the 1988 mixtape, I'm a lot farther behind with compiling and writing those than I guessed I would be at this point——I thought I'd easily get through at least one a year, and I figured it would be more like 1 1/2 or 2, so at some point I'd catch up to my five year window (I won't do an offical year mixtape for a year more recent than that).

The 1988 edition was where I really slowed down. I started writing that one in late 2005 (I actually posted the tracklist for it on the second anniversary of this site), and I didn't finish it until just a couple of weeks ago. If I keep up this pace, I'll be dead long before I make it out of the 90s.

So I'm going to try to finish at least two over the next year, and if I can do that, then try to keep that pace as much as I can until I start to catch up to my five year zone. And since the last mixtape had its tracklist posted on a site anniversary, this seems like a good time to reveal the 1989 mixtape track listing, along with a little prayer that it won't take me six years to get through this one:

1. "Love Crushing"
   Monster
   Fetchin' Bones
   
   
2. "Club Mekon"
   Rock 'n' Roll
   The Mekons
   
   
3. "5 More Minutes"
   Spin The World
   Royal Crescent Mob
   
   
4. "Latifah's Law"
   All Hail The Queen
   Queen Latifah
   
   
5. "Waterfall"
   The Stone Roses
   The Stone Roses
   
   
6. "You're The One Lee"
   Me And Mr. Ray
   Miracle Legion
   
   
7. "You Keep It All In"
   Welcome To The Beautiful South
   The Beautiful South
   
   
8. "The Mayor Of Simpleton"
   Oranges & Lemons
   XTC
   
   
9. "Always Saturday"
   Flip-Flop
   Guadalcanal Diary
   
   
10. "End of the Day"
    End of the Day
    The Reivers
    
    
11. "Broken Bones"
    Tantilla
    House Of Freaks
    
    
12. "Down All The Days"
    Peace And Love
    The Pogues
    
    
13. "Pictures of You"
    Disintegration
    The Cure
    
    
14. "Terrible Lie"
    Pretty Hate Machine
    Nine Inch Nails
    
    
15. "Hands All Over"
    Louder Than Love
    Soundgarden
    
    
16. "Wave Of Mutilation"
    Doolittle
    The Pixies
    
    
17. "See A Little Light"
    Workbook
    Bob Mould
    
    
18. "June"
    Key Lime Pie
    Camper Van Beethoven
    
    
19. "Sleepwalk"
    Earthquake Weather
    Joe Strummer

10.18.11
I don't really have anything to add about Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore that hasn't already been said in more elegant ways, but it does truly suck in some ineffable, unexplainable way. Their relationship was something you could point to and say, "See, not everything eventually goes bad. Sometimes stuff works the way we believe it should."

10.19.11
And in a completely unexpected turn of events, Beirut's The Rip Tide is turning out to be one of my favorite releases so far this year.

10.20.11
Finally pulled the trigger on the $5 MP3 version of Wu Lyf's Go Tell Fire to the Mountain, and also the latest Wavves' EP, Life Sux. I almost got Girls' Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, but the price for the physical CD is only a couple of dollars more, and if I end up really liking that one, I'll regret only owning it digitally.

10.21.11
For christ's sake, will someone please tell Nathan Williams to turn down his fucking levels? King of the Beach is mostly normal, but with Wavvves and now Life Sux, whenever I have come across one of those songs in a shuffle playlist, it's several volume levels higher than everything else, and I end up being annoyed when one of his songs comes on rather than happy.

Also: his track with Fucked Up quickly goes from kinda boring to really irritating. Other than that, though, the EP isn't terrible, and has a couple of good tracks.

10.24.11
The Wave Pictures are maddeningly inconsistent——there are moments of true genius, and moments of tediousness (espeically when they do their extended solos), sometimes within the same song. But I think I'm starting to love them as much for their poor decisionmaking and horrendous wrong turns as I am for the stuff the get absolutely perfect. It gives them a damaged, imperfect feel that makes you want to root for them even as you wish they'd just get a decent producer who knew how to get them to edit out the useless stuff.

10.25.11
Finally, some new Surfer Blood. They released a four song EP today, Tarot Classics, their first new music since their debut album was relased back in January 2010. That record, Astro Coast, was one of my favorite releases from that year, and I hope that this is just a prelude to a full length coming sometime in the near future.

I thought for a second about buying the deluxe edition from iTunes, because it comes with seven extra remixes for only $4 extra, but I don't really care for remixes, so I stuck with the basic set of four tracks for $4. Still a download, though——I've gotten to the point where I don't buy EPs in physical formats anymore, despite my continued insistence on buying most albums on CD.

10.26.11
Got a few new CDs from Amazon yesterday: M83's double album Hurry Up, We're Dreaming, Girls' Father, Son, Holy Ghost, and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah's Hysterical. I thought I had also ordered Tom Waits' Bad As Me, but I think I was waiting to see if you could buy the bonus tracks as individual downloads on iTunes so I could save $7 by buying the normal CD instead of the deluxe version (you can, by the way).

10.27.11
Surfer Blood still sounds like Surfer Blood. Some will complain about a lack of evolution, etc., but not me——I can take a few more records full of songs like this before I start to get bored. "Voyager Reprise" puts a little bit of a different twist on their sound, but it's still unmistakably them.

10.28.11
I've just started to dive into the new M83 record, but I think this one's going to be a keeper. A double album with lots of instrumentals can start to feel bloated awful quickly, but this is seeming like one of those increasingly rare records that was designed to be (and deserves to be) heard in one sitting in the same order that the artist sequenced it. There are some great singles, too, but this is a continuous experience that really works in its original format.

10.31.11
There's some stuff I'm loving on the new Girls CD, and there's some stuff I'm really not. I can wrap my head around feeling good about an album if it has some really great stuff mixed with middling material, but no matter how great some individual tracks might be, if there are a decent number that I hate rather than just feel kind of indifferent about, I don't know how I'll ever convince myself to think that overall it's a great record.