I don’t usually post tour dates on the blog, but I figured a lot of you might be interested in what cool shows have been announced in your area for the near future. I know I usually rummage the internet for such information.
Here is this the touring news for the week ending 10/23, including dates for JUSTICE, Arctic Monkeys, Wilco, Julian Casablancas, Weezer, The Antlers, Neko Case, Andrew Bird, Free Energy, The Drums and These United States. Continue reading →
It’s not easy to pick the best album of a particular year. Music is the soundtrack to our lives, and it means different things to individuals depending on where they’re at when an album is released. Over the next few months I’m gonna tell you what albums we liked each year over the past ten years and I’ll also talk about your collective choice for best album each year. Anytime you narrow down entire years music down to 10 choices, you’re gonna miss some great music, and I know some of you think these types of articles are a waste of time. To you I say this:
I hope you enjoy this segment while it lasts, and get into the dialogue. We’ll probably nail some of your favorites and dreadfully miss others. Let us know what you think of the choices in the comments, and tell us what changes you’d make.
In the meantime, here are the winners for The Best Album of 2002. Enjoy! Continue reading →
Best Albums of 00 | 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09
Continuing in our quest to find the best albums of the 2000s, we look at the greatest albums released in 2002. A very fine year in music. As always, we depend on your votes to help us come closer to our verdict of the best album of the last 10 years, in the mean time, we will outline your favorite and our favorite albums of each year.
For 2002’s list, I turned to the Village Voice and their righteous Pazz & Jop Poll, surveying nearly 700 critics. I also went through a few Year-end lists presented by The Onion’s AV Club.
Please vote for the album you think was the best in 2002. If your choice isn’t on here, we’d love to see it in the comments section (though, we’d appreciate if you’d vote for your favorite on the list anyway). Here are 2002’s finalists:
A. The Streets: Original Pirate Material
B. Coldplay: A Rush Of Blood To The Head
C. Missy Elliott: Under Construction
D. Wilco: Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
E. Beck: Sea Change
F. Sigur Rós: ()
G. The Roots: Phrenology
H. Queens of the Stone Age: Songs for the Deaf
I. Spoon: Kill The Moonlight
J. Iron & Wine: The Creek Drank The Cradle
Also, someone stole my laptop on a trip (along with my iPod, clothes, shoes and other personal items), so boo on you whoever did that. While I do have a backup laptop, it’s not entirely equipped for the job. So we’ll see how that affects posting.
Oh and it seems that this last weekend was particularly busy in terms of new music poppin’ up. So I am going to have to get cracking on those all morning. For now, here are a handful of tunes I have been planning on sharing. But because I’m so behind (and particularly busy in my personal life), I’m just going to give them all to you now. No strings, except for the invisible ones that permeate throughout the PMA infrastructure. Anywho… go and get ‘em! Continue reading →
There are many reasons why I feel that summertime is the best time of the year, and most of them are here on this playlist. Spanning thirty-six songs (!!), this 16th pmaCAST — and our longest podcast ever, clocking in at over 2 hours and 10 minutes — is all about the tunes that make a perfect summertime listen. Download this here or on iTunes (via the links above), put it on your iPod, put it on a mixtape-shaped flash-drive (seriously, buy one) and give it to your friends, play it at a beach party — do something with it!
pmaCAST #16 The “For Summer Only” Episode Tracklist
Continue reading →
Oh how I love summer. I love the beach, the sun, sunglasses (really, I love ‘em), barbecues, daily trips to Pinkberry and, of course, flexin’ my summer playlist skills. As you may know, a summer playlist is nothing without those luscious, almost eatable summer songs. You know the type — they fill the time between Memorial Day and Labor Day, scoring every ice cream cone, beach party, bon fire, and that afternoon hammock nap that you’re planning on taking later today.
Is anyone wondering why “Sonny Feeling,” in its bopping, joyous glory, would be categorized as such?
Off Wilco’s remarkably enjoyable new album, amusingly titled Wilco (The Album), “Sonny Feeling” nearly-closes the record (that honor is reserved for haunting “Everlasting”) on a high note. I have only had this song for a few weeks and it has already proven that it can easily turn a dull moment on its head. Sometimes literally (more on that on my X-Rated blog, LuisGoneWild.com… I kid).
I won’t try to turn the beautiful array of summer songs we already have this year into some kind of contest by ranking them, but if I were inclined to do so… “Sonny Feeling” would not be far from the top. 
Listen to “Sonny Feeling” here Continue reading →
Wilco
Wilco (The Album)
Nonesuch
out June 30th
[75]
[Rating Scale]
[rating:75/100]
It’s easy to give an album a 75/100. It is. People that love the album are okay with it, because your glass is ¾ full. People that hated the record are okay with it because you haven’t been overtly generous. People get worked up over extremes, and 75 is neither altogether here nor there. It requires little commitment from the author. You give an album a 90, or (conversely) a 20 you’re committed to your decision. You loved it or hated it, and you’re on the hook for that. Still, when I listen to Wilco (The Album) it just feels like a 75. The record is very good, but in aggregate never achieves the greatness of Jeff Tweedy & the boys’ previous work. There are moments (though few and far between) throughout the album where you get anxious for something new, and for that it gets a wishy-wash 75.
Continue reading →
I was going to do a Sunday Links thing every Sunday, but why should I discriminate against the other perfectly capable days of the week? Oh yes, I went there.
So to the question of when these will happen will be subject to my personal discretion, or sometimes based on impulse or caprice (or in other words, whenever I want to). Here are your Friday Links, I expect you to click them all, because they’re all pretty much amazing.
Frank(ie) Ramz posted this fantastic video on Pigeons & Planes. If you sort of like Asher Roth, or even sort of hate him, you might enjoy this. “I Hate High School.”
MGMT cover Nine Inch Nail’s “Closer.” Not sure how old this is, but I like it. Saw it at Rollo & Grady via Bleakey. I wanna fuck you like a DINOSAUR!
Stereogum told us that Radiohead are fast at work on an In Rainbows follow-up. Mass hysteria ensues.
Soulwax & Au Revoir Simone involved in the making of the Aeroplane album! – via Ohh Crapp
Jay-Z confirms split with Def Jam.
I <3 Green Day’s “21 Guns”
The Sounds, Wilco and Sunset Rubdown albums leaked.
Just incase you missed it: here is the first battle of The Genius Playlist Blog Wars. Refer to that post if you don’t know what’s going on.
On the first battle, Sheena Beaston and Pigeons & Planes went head to head and fought for your votes. The final verdict: Sheena Beaston takes a whopping 65% of the votes. Sorry Pigeons, but you’re out.
On today’s Blog War battle, we’re pinning up The Music Slut and We All Want Someone… together. Both participants had to create Genius Playlists starring Radiohead’s “Bodysnatchers.” This time it’s going to be a tad bit more difficult to decide on who to vote for because iTunes’ Genius selected songs that appeared on both of the lists. It’s going to be interesting to see which few songs prevail and snag your vote.
The Music Slut and WAWSTSF duke it out with Radiohead and co. as their ammo. Vote or Die!
Continue reading →
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