Throw Some Ds

Parson

Do you dubstep? Last week, amongst a lot of old favorites (Death Cab for Cutie, N*E*R*D) was a cavalcade of dubstep artists in my weekly recommendations so I spent most of my eMusic dollars getting familiar. Amazon had been heavily recommending 200 and 10 Tons Heavy ever since I lost my mind over Burial and they were both available on the E, so this is where we are. Much like my affair with UK Garage in the early part of this century, it's an instant attraction. I may not be down with British films but I dig me some London club bangers.

Top Artists for the Week:

▲ 6	1		Jazzanova	37
▲	2		wale	34
▲	3		N*E*R*D	27
▲	4		Notorious B.I.G.	25
▲ 32	5		MF DOOM	22
▲	6		Nina Simone	19
▲ 3	7		Feist	11
▲ 39	7		Death Cab for Cutie	11
▲ 6	9		De La Soul	10
▼ 6	10		Björk	9

Top track of the week was Jazzanova's Theme from Belle et Fou - "The Bows" but I've already posted from that album so I'll give you Ten Cent Blues by Eisley. Eisley's sophomore full-length, Combinations, underwhelmed in 2007 but this track is nice.

Ten Cent Blues

Eisley

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Archangel

Burial

if it's the reclusive life that Burial seeks, he might just be his own worst enemy, because his new album, Untrue, bests Burial's fans' wildest hopes for the followup. Burial was a worthy, sometimes thrilling record-- an impressive debut-- but it sometimes lost focus, particularly when it attempted to carve out something closer to "proper," clubwise dubstep. But Untrue maintains the style and the vibe of the first album and yet does it better. It's a deeper album-- richer, more complex, more enveloping. The irony is that almost nothing has changed. Burial still makes his beats (at least, so he claims) with relatively lo-fi audio editing software, eschewing the comfort of sequencers and MIDI clocks. His string sounds, which on Burial let many a critic to call his music "cinematic," sound as unabashedly canned as they did last time, and his manipulated vocals-- warped, time-stretched, pitch-corrected-- are just as unabashedly emotive.

-Pitchfork Record Review (8.4/10), 11.13.07

I've only had this album for a week so I'm not ready to call it "Album of the Year" but it just might be. It's haunted me since the day I bought it (8.99 in the Amazon mp3 store, also available on eMusic) and I find my mind constantly returning to its complicated rhythms. Right now, it falls as #3 on my 2007 album chart.

It's just that good. When listening to this track, I want to sing along. I randomly break out in dance. I head nod. I listen intently. I listen casually. I listen all the time.

I haven't sat with the album enough to form a compelling review and maybe I'll get to that later. For now, I just want you to enjoy as I am.

Ghost Hardware

Burial

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Lay Your Head Down

Keren Ann

I've noted -- probably on twitter since I rarely post things longer than 140 characters these days -- that I have way more music released this year than I have in years past. With podcasts, music blogs, my emusic subscription, amazon.com mp3 downloads and monthly amoeba runs, I'm awash in music. Hell, I even tested out urge for 6 months this year. As I do chores this morning, I'm listening to my Best of 2007 playlist in preparation for my end of the year music posts (yes, I might actually write things here in full interesting sentences that you may even care about). These two finds, Keren Ann, above, and Big Sir, below, were both random podcast finds. I'd never heard of either artist before and, in truth, I haven't sought out other music of theirs since but, today, I was reminded why I gave each 5 stars.

Blutrausch (Smooth Interlude)

Big Sir

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So iTunes sales appear healthy, fueled by sales of new iPods.  However, once that growth slows, Apple will need to do a better job of selling more songs to existing iPod owners.  The inability to play those songs on non-iPod devices in the future and the fear of losing your music collection once you exceed the five authorized computers you can share your iTunes songs on might have something to do with the lack of enthusiasm once the initial novelty wears off.

- iTunes Sales are Just Fine, Thank You by Erik Schonfeld, The.next.net, 12.14.06

I've gone back on my claim last year that I was switching to strictly digital music and am now purchasing CDs again (as well as downloading un-DRMed music from services like eMusic, subscription stuff from URGE and the freebies from napster and iTunes). There are several reasons, vox being one of them. I music blog here pretty consistently and want my tracks to be tagged the way I want them and to have the artwork included and to be playable. Apple's m4p files are out of the question and their m4a recommended file import format doesn't tag in the smart ways that mp3 files do. I want to share my music and I want it portable, neither of which is something I can get out of the iTunes store.

Also, I miss album inserts and going to the record store. I used to be at Amoeba or other record joints at least once a month, now it's like once a season. That's not right. It means I don't catch music out of the corner of my eye. I've been driven by internet zeitgeist all year and that isn't enough.

So, back to CDs for me.

I'm so old school.

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After Santa's Little Helpers last night, I'm completely in the spirit of the season. While these are both unapologetically Christmas songs, I hope their grooves support whatever winter holiday endeavors you're participating in. We're making spirits rise, people!

Feels Like Christmas

Al Green

Come on! Let's Boogey to the Elf Dance!

Sufjan Stevens

That Sufjan joint (and a bazillion others) are available via eMusic on the cheap.

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