Blog

About You
So what's your weird name? Trouble; Ray LaMontagne
Who are you? Honey Honey - Terminal Disease; Operator Please
Who do you feel like? Live Like Music; Kyle Riabko
What do you feel like doing? No Sex For Ben; The Rapture
What is your biggest guilty pleasure? Cosmic Love; Florence + The Machine
What do people call you? Slippery Dick; Peaches
How's the weather? Hey Me, Hey Mama; Ray LaMontagne
What are you feeling? You Got the Style; Athlete
What are you craving? Gravity; John Mayer
What are you thinking? Chores; Animal Collective
Where are you? Nolita Fairytale; Vanessa Carlton
What should you be doing? I Live With You; Grizzly Bear
How is your day? The World We Live In; The Killers
What do you look like? Click Click (feat. E-40); MSTRKRFT

Your Random Thoughts On
Life: Body Control; Leighton Meester
Family: One of The Boys; Katy Perry
Parents: She Wolf; Shakira
Siblings: Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat; Beck
Grandparents: Pavement; Cassie Steele
Love: Done All Wrong; Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
Friends: Ruby, Don't Take Your Love To Town; The Killers
Career: L'Via L'Viaquez - The Mars Volta
Food: When the Day Met the Night; Panic at the Disco
Celebrities: Hot Mess; Cobra Starship
The President: Bad Reputation; Joan Jett & The Blackhearts
Politics: Weeping Willow; The Hush Sound
Death: When the Night Comes; Dan Auerbach

Random Stuff
Personal Motto: Listen To Your Body Tonight; Black Kids
Goal in life: Panic And Geo-Primaries; Falling Up
What you're thinking of: Pursuit Of Happiness (feat. MGMT & Ratatat); Kid Cudi
What you want to be: Born for This; Paramore
What you're most proud of: In Repair; John Mayer
What you're least proud of: Narrow Escape; Ray LaMontagne

Your soundtrack
Opening credits: 24 Hours; Alexz Johnson
Theme song: I Can't Stay; The Killers
Waking up: Tell It To The Volcano; Miniature Tigers
School: Walking the Dog; fun.
First love: From A Mountain In The Middle Of The Cabins; Panic at the Disco
Childhood: All the Pretty Girls; fun.
Teen years: The War; Angels & Airwaves
Wedding: Message in a Bottle; John Mayer
Scary moments: The Youth; MGMT
Dancing: Far Away; Wolfmother
Funeral: Hearing Damage; Thom Yorke
Closing credits: I've Underestimated My Charm (Again); Black Kids

Finish the sentence...
I wish... Holland, 1945; Neutral Milk Hotel
I want... New Moon Rising; Wolfmother
I am... City Traffic Puzzle; The Hush Sound
My best feature is... Cassius; Foals
You should... Little Secrets; Passion Pit

NS's HOT 20 - - -
1. (-|1|1) Guns + Horses - Ellie Goulding
2. (2|6|1) Epic Last Song - Does It Offend You, Yeah?
3. (1|2|1) New Goodbye - Hey Rosetta!
4. (-|1|4) Heartbreaker featuring John Legend - MSTRKRFT
5. (4|5|2) Dawn of the Dead - Does It Offend You, Yeah?
6. (-|1|6) Satellite Heart - Anya Marina
7. (20|3|7) Fireflies - Owl City
8. (6|4|4) Sticks 'n' Stones - Jamie T
9. (-|1|9) Supernova featuring Kanye West - Mr Hudson
10. (5|4|1) Heartbreak - Magistrates
11. (11|3|8) We Made a Pact - Hey Rosetta!
12. (3|3|3) Always Like This - Bombay Bicycle Club
13. (8|3|8) Pogo - Digitalism
14. (9|2|9) Gangsta Luv featuring The-Dream - Snoop Dogg
15. (12|6|1) Wonder - Dan Black
16. (-|1|16) Love Long Distance - Gossip
17. (13|7|1) Burial - Miike Snow
18. (16|7|3) Life Slash Dreams - Dan Black
19. (18|6|2) The Listening - Lights
20. (14|2|14) Liztomania - Phoenix

OUT THIS WEEK - - -
(7|3|3) Sheila - Jamie T
(10|2|10) Replay - IYAZ
(15|1|15) A Thing for Me - Metronomy
(17|5|6) Silvia - Miike Snow
(19|5|9) Feelings Gone featuring Sam Sparro - Basement Jaxx


**Legend - - -
(LW|WC|PP)
LW : Last week's position
WC : Weeks on chart
PP : Peak Position


NS's WEEKLY PLAYLIST72 playlisted tracks (including new entries)

NEW ENTRIES - - -
Anya Marina - Satellite Heart
Gossip - Love Long Distance
Interpol - Evil
José González - Heartbeats
Madonna - Hot Revolver
Matt & Kim - Daylight
Matt & Kim - Don't Slow Down
Misstress Barbara - four on the floor
MPHO - Box N Locks
MSTRKRFT - Heartbreaker Featuring John Legend
R. Kelly - The World's Greatest
Sam Roberts - Brother Down
Tegan and Sara - Don't Rush
Tina Parol - Who's Got Your Money
We Have Band - Hear It In The Cans (DiY version)
30 Seconds to Mars - Kings and Queens


PLAYLISTED TRACKS - - -
(2|4) Amanda Blank - DJ
(1|4|*) Anya Marina - Satellite Heart
(7|4) Basement Jaxx - Feelings Gone featuring Sam Sparro
(3|5) Bombay Bicycle Club - Always Like This
(4|4) Boy Crisis - Dressed to Digress
(5|4) Cajun Dance Party - Amylase
(2|4) Calvin Harris - Flashback
(3|4) Cute Is What We Aim For - Newport Living
(7|5) Dan Black - Wonder
(8|5) Dan Black - Life Slash Dreams
(8|5) David Guetta - Memories featuring Kid Cudi
(5|4) Death Cab for Cutie - Cath...
(5|4) Death Cab for Cutie - Soul Meets Body
(3|4) Digitalism - Pogo
(5|5) Does It Offend You, Yeah? - Dawn of the Dead
(6|5) Does It Offend You, Yeah? - Epic Last Song
(7|4) Drake - Best I Ever Had
(5|5|*) Ellie Goulding - Guns + Horses
(5|4) Empire of the Sun - We Are the People
(3|4) Filthy Dukes - Tupac Robot Club Rock
(2|4) Friendly Fires - Jump in the Pool
(1|4|*) Gossip - Love Long Distance
(2|5|*) Hey Rosetta! - New Goodbye
(2|4) Hey Rosetta! - We Made a Pact
(3|4) Hockey - Song Away
(1|4|*) Interpol - Evil
(3|4) IYAZ - Replay
(4|5) Jamie T - Sticks 'n' Stones
(4|5) Jamie T - Chaka Demus
(4|5) Jamie T - Sheila
(6|5) Jason DeRulo - Watcha Say
(1|5|*) José González - Heartbeats
(4|4) Joseph Arthur - In the Sun
(2|4) K'naan - Take a Minute
(5|4) The Kooks - She Moves in Her Own Way
(3|4) Late of the Pier - Broken
(6|5) Lights - The Listening
(1|4) Madonna - Hot Revolver
(4|5) Magistrates - Heartbreak
(4|4) Magistrates - The Inbetweens
(1|4) Matt & Kim - Daylight
(1|4) Matt & Kim - Don't Slow Down
(3|4) Matt Costa - Astair
(4|4) Meiko - How Lucky We Are
(7|4) Metric - Gimme Sympathy
(2|4) Metronomy - A Thing for Me
(6|4) Miike Snow - Animal
(8|5) Miike Snow - Burial
(6|5) Miike Snow - Silvia
(4|4) Miike Snow - Black & Blue
(1|4) Misstress Barbara - Four on the Floor
(1|4) MPHO - Box N Locks
(3|5|*) Mr Hudson - Supernova featuring Kanye West
(1|5|*) MSTRKRFT - Heartbreaker featuring John Legend
(3|4) Noisettes - Every Now and Then
(2|4) OneRepublic - All the Right Moves
(4|4|*) Owl City - Fireflies
(2|4) Phoenix - Liztomania
(3|4) The Postal Service - Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)
(1|4) R. Kelly - The World's Greatest
(1|4) Sam Roberts - Brother Down
(6|4) Sam Sparro - Black and Gold
(5|4) The Servant - I Can Walk in Your Mind
(2|4) Slow Club - It Doesn't Have to Be Beautiful
(2|4|*) Snoop Dogg - Gangsta Luv featuring The-Dream
(3|4) Stereos - Get With You
(1|4|*) Tegan and Sara - Don't Rush
(1|4) Tina Parol - Who's Got Your Money
(2|4) Vampire Weekend - Horchata
(3|4) VV Brown - Shark in the Water
(1|4) We Have Band - Hear It in the Cans (DIY Version)
(1|4) 30 Seconds to Mars - Kings and Queens


OFF THE PLAYLIST - - -
(1|4) Asher Roth - Sour Patch Kids
(1|4) Bombay Bicycle Club - Evening/Morning
(3|4) Dan Black - Yours
(2|4) Dead Man's Bones - My Body's a Zombie for You
(3|4) The Faint - Southern Belles in London Sing
(3|4) Fleet Foxes - White Winter Hymnal
(5|5) Florence + The Machine - Howl
(3|4) Jack's Mannequin - The Resolution
(3|5) Jamie T - If You Got the Money
(7|5) Just Jack - The Day I Died
(3|4) La Roux - Fascination
(3|4) Magistrates - Make This Work
(2|4) Maino - All of the Above featuring T-Pain
(4|4) The Servant - Liquefy
(5|4) Tiësto - You Are My Diamond featuring Kianna
(2|4) Two Door Cinema Club - Cigarettes in the Theatre
(3|4) Two Door Cinema Club - Something Good Can Work


**Legend - - -
(WP|RA|*)
WP: Weeks on playlist
RA: Rating out of 5 stars (i.e. 4 = 4/5 stars)
*: Powerplay this week

In an effort to organize myself for the arduous task of compiling a “Best of 2009” list or two (Albums? Tracks?) I have, here, a list of all the albums released in 2009 that I have listened to.

Without further ado, in reverse alphabetical order:

Yuksek - Away from the Sea
Yo La Tengo - Popular Songs
Various Artists - Dark Was the Night
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It’s Blitz!
YACHT - See Mystery Lights
xx - The XX
Woods - Songs of Shame
Wooden Shjips - Dos
Wild Light- Adult Nights
Wild Beasts - Two Dancers
Wilco - Wilco (The Album)
WhoMadeWho - The Plot
Whitest Boy Alive - The Rules
White Rabbits - It’s Frightening
White Lies - To Lose My Life
The Warlocks - Mirror Explodes
The Veils- Sun Gangs
Thomas Function - In the Valley of Sickness
Therapy? - Crooked Timber
The Temper Trap - Conditions
Sweet Billy Pilgrim - Twice Born Men
Swan Lake - Enemy Mine
Superdrag - Industry Giants
Super Furry Animals - Dark Days/Light Years
Sunset Rubdown - Dragonslayer
St. Vincent - The Actor
Sondre Lerche - Heartbeat Radio
Soap & Skin - Lovetune for Vacuum
The Snake the Cross the Crown - On A Carousel of Sound, We Go Round
Sky Larkin - The Golden Spike
Röyksopp - Junior
The Rifles - The Great Escape
Richard Hawley - True Love’s Gutter
The Raveonettes - In and out of Control
A Place to Bury Strangers - Exploding Head
PJ Harvey & John Parrish - A Woman A Man Walked By
Pink Mountaintops - Outside Love
Phoenix- Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
Peter Bjorn and John - Living Thing
Pet Shop Boys - Yes
Patrick Wolf - The Bachelor
Patrick Watson - Wooden Arms
ThePains of Being Pure at Heart - S/T
Nouvelle Vague - 3
Neon Indian - Psychic Charms
Neko Case - Middle Cyclone
My Latest Novel - Deaths and Entrances
Muse- The Resistance
múm - Sing Along to Songs You Don’t Know
MSTRKRFT - Fist of God
Mr. Lif - I Heard it Today
Morrissey - Years of Refusal
Monsters of Folk- S/T
Modest Mouse - No One’s First, And You’re Next
Moderat - S/T
Miike Snow - S/T
Metric - Fantasies
Maxïmo Park/artist] - Quicken the Heart
Manic Street Preachers - Journal for Plague Lovers
Mando Diao - Give Me Fire
The Maccabees - Wall of Arms
M. Ward - Hold Time
Lucky Fonz III - A Family Like Yours
The Legends - Over and Over
La Roux - S/T
Kurt Vile - Childish Prodigy
Kasabian - West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum
Julian Plenti - Julian Plenti….Is Skyscraper
JJ - jj N° 2
Jónsi & Alex - Riceboy Sleeps
Joker’s Daughter - The Last Laugh
Jarvis Cocker- Further Complications
Japandroids - Post-Nothing
Jack Peñate - Everything Is New
J Dilla - Jay Stay Paid
It Hugs Back - Inside Your Guitar
Islands- Vapours
Idlewild - Post Electric Blues
Heartless Bastards - The Mountain
Grizzly Bear- Veckatimest
Great Lake Swimmers - Lost Channels
Graham Coxon - The Spinning Top
God Help The Girl- S/T
Girls - Album
Generationals - Con Law
Ganglians - S/T
Fuck Buttons - Tarot Sport
Fruit Bats - The Ruminant Band
Florence + The Machine - Lungs
The Flaming Lips - Embryonic
The Field - Yesterday and Today
Fever Ray - Fever Ray
The Felice Brothers - Yonder is the Clock
Engineers - Three Fact Fader
Elephant Stone - The Seven Seas
Eels- Hombre Lobo
The Drums - Summertime!
Doves- Kingdom of Rust
Doom - Born Like This
The Dodos - Time to Die
Dinosaur Jr. - Farm
Depeche Mode - Sounds of the Universe
Dead Weather- Horehound
Dead Man’s Bones - S/T
Darker My Love - 2
Danger Mouse & Sparklehorse - Dark Night of the Soul
Dan Auerbach - Keep it Hid
Cymbals Eat Guitars - Why There Are Mountains
CondoFucks- Fuckbook
The Clues - Clues
The Cave Singers- Welcome Joy
Camera Obscura - My Maudlin Career
Burning Hearts - Aboa Sleeping
Burial and Four Tet - Wolf Cub & Moth
Brendan Benson - My Old, Familiar Friend
The Boxer Rebellion - Union
Bombay Bicycle Club - I Had the Blues But I Shook Them Loose
Black Moth Super Rainbow - Eating Us
Bill Callahan - Sometimes I Wish I Were an Eagle
The Big Pink - A Brief History of Love
Bibio - Ambivalence Avenue
Beck - The Velvet Underground & Nico (Record Club Recording)
Bat for Lashes - Two Suns
Arctic Monkeys - Humbug
Antony and the Johnsons- The Crying Light
Antlers - Hospice
Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavillion
Alec Ounsworth - Mo Beaty
Akron/Family- Set ‘Em Wild, Set ‘Em Free
A.A. Bondy - When the Devil’s Loose


In the same fashion I went about doing this last year I will do a Top Ten Albums countdown beginning 10 days before the end of the year. I am also thinking that I will do a Top Ten Tracks of 2009 that will begin 20 days before that. I better get to work on this quick like.

Did I miss anything particularly noteworthy? Please let me know if I did so I do not forget to check something or another that might be awesome but forgotten out!

2009 has been such a good year for music. When I look at how dodgy 2008 was, I'm so happy that 2009 has actually delivered. I think, in terms of favourite albums, this year has been the hardest to hand-pick my top 10, as there have been so many outstanding artists. However, just in case you're interested, my top 10 are as follows:


10. Passion Pit - Manners

9. The Dead Weather - Horehound

8. Yves Klein Blue - Ragged And Ecstatic

7. Friendly Fires - Friendly Fires

6. The Decemberists - The Hazards of Love

5. Sugar Army - The Parallels Amongst Ourselves

4. The xx - xx

3. Girls - Album

2. Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

1. Silversun Pickups - Swoon


Other artists that deserve a mention (In no particular order):

Kasabian - West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum

The Black Lips - 200 Million Thousand

Dananananaykroyd - Hey Everyone

Sarah Blasko - As Day Follows Night

Peter Bjorn and John - Living Thing

MSTRKRFT - Fist Of God

Manchester Orchestra - Mean Everything To Nothing

The Last Shadow Puppets - The Age of the Understatement

Iron & Wine - Around the Well

Metric - Fantasies

Bat for Lashes - Two Suns

Red Riders - Drown In Colour

Eddy Current Suppression Ring - Primary Colours / Eddy Current Suppression Ring

Eels - Hombre Lobo

The Horrors - Primary Colours

1. How did you get into 31? Midnight Juggernauts. I have no idea. No, seriously, I don't remember! :S

2. What was the first song you ever heard by 22? Goose. 'Black Gloves'

3. What's your favourite lyric by 29? Tiga. "One word can break your heart, but one kiss can make it right"

4. What is your favourite album by 49? Yuksek. 'Away From The Sea'

5. How many albums by 13 do you own? Zero 7. Two

6. What is your favourite song by 50? Peter Bjorn and John. 'Young Folks'

7. Is there a song by 4 that makes you sad? Röyksopp. Nooo! These guys always make me smile

8. What is your favourite song by 15? Queens of the Stone Age. Dunno, they have plenty of songs I like

9. What is your favourite song by 5? Dub FX. 'Love Someone'

10. Is there a song by 6 that makes you happy? Kasabian. 'Fire'

11. What is your favourite album by 40? AGF/Delay. 'Symptoms'

12. What is your favourite song by 10? MSTRKRFT. 'Heartbreaker'

13. What is a good memory you have involving 33? Modeselektor. Umm, there isn't such, or at least I just don't remember

14. What is your favourite song by 37? Booka Shade. 'Dusty Boots'

15. Is there a song by 19 that makes you happy? Fink. Not really. I just feel very calm while listening to him.

16. How many times have you seen 24 live? Datarock. Zero

17. What is the first song you ever heard by 23? Ellen Allien & Apparat. 'Way Out'

18. What is your favourite album by 11? Bashy. 'Catch Me If You Can'

19. Who is a favourite member of 1? Tricky. Oh well, Tricky himself!

20. Have you ever seen 14 live? Groove Armada. Nope

21. What is a good memory involving 45? MGMT. Lemme think.. No, there isn't such

22. What is your favourite song by 16? The Presets. 'My People'

23. What is the first song you ever heard by 47? Death From Above 1979. 'Blood On Our Hands'

24. What is your favourite album by 21? Fischerspooner. 'Odyssey'

25. What is your favourite song by 18? Telefon Tel Aviv. 'Your Mouth' ♥

26. What is the first song you ever heard by 38? 80kidz. 'Frankie'

27. What is your favourite lyric by 3? UNKLE. Hmm.. Honestly, nothing comes to my mind now :S

28. What is you favourite song by 2? Air. 'Sexy Boy'

29. What was the first song you ever heard by 32? Télépopmusik. 'Breathe'

30. What is you favourite song by 8? Burial. 'Archangel' ♥

31. How many times have you seen 17 live? Justice. Zero

32. Is there a song by 44 that makes you happy? Amish82. Nope, the effect is similar to Fink - the songs are very soothing

33. What is you favourite album by 12? Wax Tailor. 'Tales Of The Forgotten Melodies'

34. What is the worst song by 46? Bonobo. :S What a silly question. From all that I have heard so far - NONE.

35. What was the first song you ever heard by 34? Mylo. ' Paris Four Hundred'

36. What is you favourite album by 42? Moderat. Self-titled, like, TOTALLY ♥

37. How many times have you seen 39 live? Kleerup. Zero

38. What is your favourite album by 36? Portishead. 'Third'

39. What was the first song you ever heard by 28? I Monster. 'Daydream in Blue'

40. What is you favourite album by 7? The Killers. The very first one, 'Hot Fuss'

Sat 17 Oct – Treasure Island Music Festival

We got to the island early by taking the 108 from the Transbay Terminal, unlike those tools taking shuttles. Before we went in my friends transferred all their weed and flasks into tampon boxes. This worked, but one of them had their pepper spray confiscated.

None of us cared for any of the opening acts, so we got face-painted and ate churros and watched movies in the Kinostan tent for a couple hours. Murs was cool but occasionally contradictory. He encouraged us to take pills at sunset, but then told us not to leave on a stretcher. He bragged about not rapping about murder, then had to apologize after ending one of his songs with the lyric "Bitch, I'll kill you." Bizarrely, he thanked Spike Jonze (not present) for making Where the Wild Things Are.

We camped out for Passion Pit, who were not as cool as all my drunk and high friends seemed to think, but it was pretty dancy stuff. The schedule's description of their music said they were "Brian Wilson"-esque. That is stupid.

I left P. Pit early to get to the tunnel stage, where Dan Deacon rocked the fuck out, with his band! Apparently it was the first time this tour he'd gotten the ensemble together. THIS was a show: Deacon makes you wonder why more performers don't break down the barrier between the stage and the audience. He had us form a circle for an interpretive dance contest, twice, and then crafted the audience into two great tunnels, weaving from the stage to the ferris wheel. It was good shit.

After his set most of my friends were napping off the pot brownies they'd eaten. I went to listen to The Streets for a bit. The main dude was pissed (in both senses) and failing to get girls in the front row to strip for him. He kept saying "San Frandisco" as if he was the first person to come up with that joke. He's a tool.

The next two acts, Brazilian Girls and DJ Krush, made me realize that you have to be retarded to appreciate most of Treasure Island's Saturday line-up. The lyrics to the first Brazilian Girls tune went something like "Are you going to have a good time? Tonight! Are you going to have a good time! Tonight!" During the instrumental break, the singer walked to the edge of the stage and asked: "Are you going to have a good time, tonight!" Everyone responded, yes! We are going to have a good time tonight. When they started up their last number, the "Pussy Marijuana" song people in my house keep blasting, I knew for sure that I was woefully unretarded for this kind of shit.

I think during MC Conrad and MSTRKRFT we were all just sitting around the cove and wishing that we weren't there. Or at least I was. Maybe my friends were sitting around feeling like they'd gotten their money's worth. MSTRKRFT ended their set by playing Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody - not making it their own in any way, just playing it. People went nuts.

Girl Talk brought me out of my vicodin-induced moping. Depending on who you talk to, Girl Talk is either a mash-up wizard, or the first guy to figure out you can make tons of money by selling the shit you put together in Ableton when you're bored. But this guy throws a party: tons of fans are brought on-stage, TP-ing devices decorate the stage and the crowd, and giant inflatable snakes wriggle across the audience, until assholes pop them with their keys. It wasn't Dan Deacon's kindergarten party but at least it had a party in mind.

Finally, the headliner: MGMT was pretty tight. I'd seen them before in Mountain View, before they got big worldwide. Back then I thought they sucked, but now that I've been adequately conditioned I realize how much they rock. Since it was apparently their last show of the tour, they decided to play their first album from front to back. I assume, though, given that they only have one album, this was not terribly unusual.

The album is frontloaded with the hits, so people started leaving as soon as Kids ended. Then people left in droves before the encore. By the time they finished up the encore of new songs, none of which were particularly memorable, my friends and I were the only people left on the island.

We tried to be clever again and take the 108 back to SF. DON'T TRY THAT, it causes nothing but grief. It turns out the best escape route is the one they set up with the shuttles, so get ready to be a fuckin' tool if you ever go.

@@@@@@@@@@@

Woke up at 11 the next morning and didn't make it to the island until around 1:30. Kinda bummed I missed Sleepy Sun, cuz everyone was buzzing about them all day. Thao Nguyen is the female Jack Johnson.

We watched Spiral Stairs until it got too depressing to watch Spiral Stairs, and went to the Kino tent to watch the Dan Deacon movie, which consisted of slow-motion acid-filtered clips from Arnold Schwarzenneger films. This was more or less what I expected a Dan Deacon movie to be.

Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeroes were way more fun than I expected. I don't know what I expected, actually. These Paraguayans were unbelievably, unbelievably cute. The hippie dude who was their lead singer, likely Edward Sharpe himself, had some just heartwarming moments with the female singer, a blonde wearing a trenchcoat and pixie haircut. They played folky jams and I wanted to marry all of them.

Next was the main event, for me anyway: Grizzly Bear. Grizzly Bear is some talented motherfuckers. They played ten songs, three from Yellow House, and were nothing short of magical. They do not miss a beat, these guys. It was windiest during their set, and the sun would occasionally poke through the clouds onto the stage and light up all their instruments, and theirs was the only music that felt deserving of these accidents.

Beirut sucked, they only played one song.

I don't listen to The Decemberists, but I'd read that they've been playing their latest album, a rock opera, in full at all of their stops. I was hoping this wouldn't be the case at a festival but they are some committed fools. I had no idea what was happening story-wise, but the visuals were pretty, and they had some surprisingly grungey bits in there. It at least made me want to torrent that album.

And lastly, The Flaming Lips. Nothing short of spectacular. The band came out onto the stage from a giant pulsating vagina; Coyne rolled out in his hamster ball onto the audience; dancing snow monsters and sea monsters and confetti cannons and balloons and strobe lights and crowd surfing. It made me feel really good about everything.

I don't know if I needed to go to the Saturday show, but Sunday was pretty exceptional, at least when Beirut wasn't playing. Grizzly Bear rocks the shit, and the Flaming Lips are not to be missed.

seen on the profile of ashura-chan

First, make a list of your top-20 artists overall. Then, for each of these artists, add the 8 most similar artists to your list. Delete any duplicates, count up the number of entries on your list and this will give you some idea of how eclectic your listening habits are. A score of 9 represents an extremely unvaried musical taste while a 160 represents an extremely varied one.

01. Tocotronic

- Die Sterne
- Tomte
- Phantom/Ghost
- ClickClickDecker
- Blumfeld
- Kante
- Arne Zank
- Kettcar

8

02. Arctic Monkeys

- The Last Shadow Puppets
- The Rascals
- The Strokes
- The Kooks
- Milburn
- Franz Ferdinand
- Kasabian
- The Fratellis

8

03. MIA.

-Klee
-Chapeau Claque
-Wir sind Helden
-mia
-Paula
-Tele
-2raumwohnung
-Virginia Jetzt!

8

04. Lily Allen

-Kate Nash
-Katy Perry
-Lady GaGa
-The Ting Tings
-Girls Aloud
-Little Boots
-Pixie Lott
-Adele

8

05. Stereo Total

-Prototypes
-Viva La Fête
-Electrocute
-April March
-Jeans Team
-Darkel
-Yelle
-Brigitte Bardot

8

06. La Roux

-Frankmusik
-Florence + The Machine
-Ladyhawke
-VV Brown
-Marina & the Diamonds
-Dan Black
-Miike Snow

7

07. Kilians

-Fotos
-Bosse
-Mando Diao
-Ghost of Tom Joad
-Sugarplum Fairy
-Madsen
-Auletta

7

08. Fotos

-Hund am Strand
-Dorfdisko
-Fertig, Los!
-Kilians
-Anajo

5

09. The Fratellis

-Kaiser Chiefs
-Dirty Pretty Things
-The Pigeon Detectives
-Arctic Monkeys
-The Wombats
-The Zutons

6

10. Mando Diao

-Molotov Jive
-Johnossi
-The Hives
-Moneybrother
-Razorlight
-The Films

6

11. Three Days Grace

-Breaking Benjamin
-Skillet
-Papa Roach
-Crossfade
-Seether
-Red
-Trapt
-Hinder

8

12. Babyshambles

-The Libertines
-Peter Doherty
-Yeti
-The Paddingtons
-The View
-Littl'ans
-The Cribs

7

13. Jennifer Rostock

-Fräulein Wunder
-Itchy Poopzkid
-paulsrekorder
-Silbermond
-Karpatenhund

5

14. Clueso

-Max Herre
-Blumentopf
-Philipp Poisel
-Freundeskreis
-Pohlmann
-Curse
-Pohlmann.
-Fettes Brot

8

15. Bring Me the Horizon

-Suicide Silence
-The Devil Wears Prada
-Blessthefall
-Drop Dead, Gorgeous
-As Blood Runs Black
-Parkway Drive
-Escape the Fate
-I Killed the Prom Queen

8

16. The Kooks

-Cajun Dance Party
-The Subways

2

17. Alexisonfire

-Dance Gavin Dance
-A Day to Remember
-Saosin
-Emarosa
-Thrice
-Enter Shikari
-Underoath
-[artistCancer Bats]

8

18. Sugarplum Fairy

-Timo Räisänen
-Laakso

2

19. Escape the Fate

-Alesana
-The Word Alive
-Silverstein
-LoveHateHero
-A Skylit Drive
-From First to Last
-Bring Me the Horizon

7

20. Death From Above 1979

-Sebastian Grainger
-MSTRKRFT
-Test Icicles
-Tokyo Police Club
-!!!
-The Rapture
-The Faint
-Moving Units

8

Result: 134

I learned a decade ago sitting in the college comp lab through trial and error how to find some of the best remixes of songs I loved long before I even knew how to define in layman's terms what a 'remix' is exactly. But countless hours in front of a high speed internet connection coupled with the kind of boredom only achievable by the majority of the world population if they make enough effort to get there.

And with more hours than I'd even enjoy trying to guess at and a passion for music in nearly all it's different forms, I can pass my own findings to you and I only want one thing in return. Whatever kind of person you are normally when sampling new music, put that person far behind you before you even attempt to check out what I have spent countless hours researching and gathering. So...without further ado: (Important Note: You have no idea how tough this actually became once I had to put them in order from best on the list, to still badass but not better than those before it. Enjoy and if you can't or need to complain, just message me through Yahoo so I can avoid looking foolish in front of my clientele)

1. Mylo - He has a Midas Touch when he plays with other people's music, and a success rate that , if not immaculate and perfect, is pretty damn near. His own album

2. royksopp - Not only geniuses producing their own art, but they are like the American stereotype of the Japanese. In other words, they can take anything you give them and within a surprisingly short amount of time you get back a highly improved product. If you need an example, Kings of Convenience made a song called 'I Don't Know What I Can Save You From" and other than it being 100 percent acoustic was pretty damn good. But Royksopp 'turnt it up' to quote Lil Mama.

3. Tiefschwarz - This artist is fairly new to me stil, but this changes nothing where remixing talent arrives and begins to steal dinner rolls and non-fingerfood snacks as if to challenge the Man Himself while flipping off the government. But I ramble. Here is a song or two to get started with:

Listen to any you find easily, but keep an eye out for remixes for groups like M.A.N.D.Y. and Fischerspooner to name as few as I can to save room while trying to paint you a picture you get with little or no guidance.

4. Hot Chip - While they take a very unorthodox approach to the whole remixing process, they make quite a few authentic gems with only minimal casualties getting there. They mix synthesizers with natural and completely unexpected methods like clapping slightly off and throwing in some instruments I haven't seen since I was in Middle School Band. If you need to experience before you leap all willy nillly into the middle of this, find their remix of <i>Kids With Guns</i> - Gorillaz. Or how bout how they have their hands in other random songs with styles so different that I personally would shit a brick trying to close even one account.

5. MSTRKRFT - Of course. Could I leave them out? In fact, they deserve to be higher up, but I had a hard time deciding between them and Justice and ended up deciding that they kinda tie but the former wins because of the songs they chose to remix.

There are many many others. Too many to list. So I won't.