It’s the time of the year for lists. All of the good music sites have been rolling out best new music lists, but my list is best new to me music. As Zoolander would say, “which is more meaningful, I think.”

I’ve been working on this list in my head for a few weeks now, and I think there are two funny things about it: 1) there are a lot of pre-2009 records on here, and 2) several of them are so well-known that it’s beyond me why I’ve just now discovered them.

Anyway, here’s the list, in no particular order. By the way, this is a list of best albums, not best music. I’m a huge fan of the album. I know some people think it’s on its way out, but I don’t, or at least I very much hope they’re wrong. Here goes:

Angus and Julia Stone – A Book Like This
Apples in Stereo – Fun Trick Noisemaker
Electrelane – No Shouts, No Calls
The Flaming Lips – Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots and Soft Bulletin
Girl Talk – Feed the Animals (Parental Advisory!)
Matt & Kim – Matt & Kim
The National – Boxer (Parental Advisory!)
The Notwist – Neon Golden
The Rural Alberta Advantage – Hometowns
Sister Suvi – Now I am Champion
Thao with the Get Down Stay Down – We Brave Bee Stings and All (better than her new album, IMHO)
Yo La Tengo – Popular Songs

The two most disappointing new releases of the year were Throw Me the Statue’s Creaturesque and Fanfarlo’s Reservoir, although for different reasons – the TMtS album was horrible, and the Fanfarlo album was just weak when I expected it to be amazing.

So there you go.

I hope.

As most of you should know from reading Katie’s blog, it’s been crazy at our house lately. It’s indicative of the problem, though, that Katie has been able to keep up the blogging while I’ve been too physically and mentally taxed.

Anyway, I’m digging this video from one of my favorites, Thao (with some strong language, btw), so I thought I’d share. Enjoy.

And the slightly more silly (and with uke):

I’m <insert excuse here> today, so I’m going to have to be lazy.

Add Matt and Kim to my list of “bands I’d like to see.” And if you like this video, be sure to watch this one, too.

If you know nothing about the Burning Hell, let me tell you: they’re a quirky little group that mostly consists of this guy (Mathias Kom) who is a history teacher in his spare time and whoever he can get to play with him (and his ukulele). It’s technically country music (although I see they are described as “quirky, sardonic, parlour pop” on last.fm), although I’m not sure that it can be so easily categorized. Anyway, if you’ve never heard them, you should check them out.

And if you have heard them, you will enjoy the “hidden” track on their newest album:

So I saw this band last night. The Unknown Hinson (“Unknown” because he was named after his father, and on his birth certificate it said “Father: Unknown).  I thought the show would be fun, but I had no clue just how awesome it would be. Basically, I’d recommend it to anyone but my mom, who still thinks “butt” is a bad word when referring to the butt of a gun. It was flat out amazing, and I couldn’t believe the talent that guy’s got in his little pinky finger alone. Plus it was quite entertaining. Only Hendrix could play Hendrix better than Unknown played him last night, and his own material is damn good, too.

Before and after the show, I noticed a throng of people gathered at the merchandise booth, and I thought that was rather odd. I did see quite a lot of people wearing Unknown Hinson shirts (I thought everyone knew not to be that guy!), so I just figured there were a lot of “special” people in the crowd. I figured I’d just download an album when I got home.

I can’t tell you how surprised I am to find that you simply cannot download Unknown Hinson albums. Anywhere. Not on amazonmp3.com, not on itunes, not on amiestreet.com, not on lala.com, and not on emusic.com. Nowhere. Hell, I even looked on Rhapsody. Not only is that bizarre, but I’m also kicking myself for not buying an album when it was easy last night (or at 1 this morning when we were leaving). You can buy one disc on amazon or at the disc exchange, but you can’t buy a download. And he only has one album still in print!

Who’s ever heard of such a thing?

I was talking to a friend Saturday night while making some hot wings. We were listening to one of my current favorite albums, by Thao and the Get Down Stay Down. It’s an album that in many ways does not match my image of what I listen to, but I am somewhat obsessed with it.

Coincidentally, I got the impression that my friend, Knox, also liked the album somewhat in spite of himself. According to him, he tends more towards brooding albums, although he doesn’t seem like much of a brooder (he’s much more positive than I am, really). I avoid brooding albums in favor of music that moves and doesn’t make me feel depressed.

But both of us like the Burning Hell, a group that both broods and moves, although I tend to skip over the slow songs. I like that album because it’s quirky and fun. Knox says he is drawn to are the lyrics. He tends to eschew bands with empty lyrics.

I remember discussing lyrics in college, presumably during late night trips to WaHo. The “deep” question is whether you favor music or lyrics in your favorite songs, and I think the assumption is that most of us would want to favor lyrics but tend to favor the music. I do remember noting that my long-time favorite songs are ones that are lyrically meaningful, but the truth is there are few songs in that category for me.

After the Thao album ended Saturday night, I switched to another of my current favorite albums, by the much less accessible Sister Suvi. I’ve been obsessed by this album for weeks, listening to it almost every time I get in the car and generally rocking out, especially to the soulful songs by the extremely esoteric Merrill Garbus of tUnE-yArDs fame (click at your own discretion). Looking up the lyrics this morning, I am neither surprised nor impressed to read the lyrics of my favorite song on the album, a love/breakup song called “American,” which manages to rhyme “tushy” with “cushy, “mushy,” and “squishy,” which is nothing compared to “You stink you stink like a poo/ And that is why I’m leaving you.”

But I still love it. I just wonder if its lack of deep lyrics will lead me to remember it at all a year from now. After all, I have liked Deerhunter for a while, and one of my favorite Deerhunter songs has this as its chorus:

come for me
you come for me
come for me
comfortably
you cover me
cover me
comfortably
comfortably

Deep, right?

Agoraphobia – Deerhunter

Monday is the day I reserve for finding new music for the week, although I’m still basking in the glow of last week’s picks and the new Wilco album. So far today, though, I have no luck. Anybody have any suggestions?

Last night we ended up having a neighborhood bash on our front porch, complete with homemade ribs and PBR. Three neighbor families came over and stayed until nearly midnight. Friday night we had some different neighbor families over for ghost stories and some tasty Sweetwater. Why that party ended earlier than last night’s is a mystery to me. But I am thoroughly enjoying our neighborhood right now. Like any neighborhood, there are pros and cons, but you have to have good folks nearby, and we are definitely blessed in that regard.

Now I’ve got to get back into the work groove. I spent last Thursday and Friday reformatting the hard drive on my computer and reverting to Windows XP (I have to use Windows for business). I’d been having problems with this thing since I bought it last fall, and I can’t tell you how nice it is to have a well-running computer for the first time in six months. But I haven’t done a lot of real work in nearly a week, so I’m having trouble focusing today. I guess writing about it isn’t doing me any favors, though, so back to work for me.

and

On facebook a few weeks ago a friend asked what band you never skip over when you put your ipod on random. Her answer was Guster, a band for whom she’s been proselytizing since before I met her more than ten years ago.

My answer was the New Pornographers.

In reality, there are a number of bands I really love – the New Pornographers, obviously, as well as at least a dozen more.  But while I love many, many albums, I can’t off the top of my head think of a single album by any band where I don’t occasionally hit “skip.” Often, it’s because I’m just not in the mood, but maybe more often it’s because loving the album doesn’t mean loving every track.

Because, you know, I can’t stand the Dan Bejar tracks on New Pornographer albums. They just don’t do it for me. And that’s nearly a third of their songs.

Do you have any bands you never pass on?