You know autumn is on its way when reverb and ambient textures start to float back into the soundscape, especially in the form of Neko Case, Fleet Foxes and This Will Destroy You. This year they’re accentuated with some of those warm, 80s-esque synths that M83 and MGMT bring to the table.

Autumn has finally become a season that I can appreciate. Now that I’m beyond school and life is fairly constant aside from the natural seasons, I’m able to enjoy what each season brings, in both the emotional and natural senses. I look forward to the sense of calm darkness and satisfied sadness that reminds me to take comfort as I sit back and watch a year come to a close.

1. Stars of the Lid - “Apreludes (in C sharp major)” (and Their Refinement of the Decline)
2. Spain - “Our Love is Going to Live Forever” (She Haunts My Dreams)
3. Norma Jean - “Death of the Anti Mother” (The Anti Mother)
4. Ponytail - “Celebrate the Body Electric (It Came From an Angel)” (Ice Cream Spiritual)
5. Santogold - “Creator” (Santogold)
6. The Faint - “The Geeks Were Right” (Fasciinatiion)
7. edIT - “Laundry” (Crying Over Pros For No Reason)
8. The Cool Kids - “A Little Bit Cooler” (The Bake Sale)
9. M83 - “Midnight Souls Still Remain” (Saturdays = Youth)
10. Anathallo - “Dokkoise House (With Face Covered)” (Floating World)
11. MGMT - “Time to Pretend” (Oracular Spectacular)
12. This Will Destroy You - “A Three-Legged Workhorse” (This Will Destroy You)
13. Fleet Foxes - “White Winter Hymnal” (Fleet Foxes)
14. Neko Case - “Maybe Sparrow” (Fox Confessor Brings the Flood)
15. Delta Spirit - “People, Turn Around” (Ode to Sunshine)
16. Lil Wayne - “Got Money” (Tha Carter III)

Oh, July. Another stressful month that I was hoping wouldn’t be. I moved to a new house, my job got busier than ever and I had hardly any time for musical discovery. Surprising how much new stuff ended up on the list despite all that.

A lot of people didn’t like the new M83. Neither did I. Keep listening. It gets much better with time.

And do yourself a favor and listen to the new Avett Brothers EP. It will make you reexamine your life.

1. Ratatat - “Mirando” (LP3)
2. Alkaline Trio - “Time to Waste” (Crimson)
3. M83 - “Skin of the Night” (Saturdays = Youth)
4. The Monkees - “Whole Wide World” (Pool It)
5. Lykke Li - “Dance Dance Dance” (Little Bit EP)
6. Stars of the Lid - “Apreludes (in C sharp major)” (and Their Refinement of the Decline)
7. Benji Hughes - “Baby, It’s Your Life” (A Love Extreme)
8. John Mayer - “In Your Atmosphere” (Where the Light Is: John Mayer Live in Los Angeles)
9. M83 - “Graveyard Girl” (Saturdays = Youth)
10. My Brightest Diamond - “Inside a Boy” (A Thousand Shark’s Teeth)
11. The Avett Brothers - “Tear Down the House” (The Second Gleam EP)
12. Opeth - “Heir Apparent” (Watershed)

June was an interesting month. Friends graduating college and moving away, a road trip to Colorado, Adele exploding on the scene and doing anything I could to take a chill pill due to a lot of stress. Little did I know what July would bring… dun dun DUNNNNN!

1. Black Sabbath - “Black Sabbath” (Black Sabbath)
2. Devin the Dude - “She Want That Money” (Waitin’ to Inhale)
3. Jakob - “Everything All of the Time” (Solace)
4. Adele - “Crazy For You” (19)
5. N.E.R.D. - “Spaz” (Seeing Sounds)
6. Coldplay - “Violet Hill” (Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends)
7. Sigur Rós - “Gobbledigook” (Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust)
8. Of Montreal - “Gronlandic Edit” (Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?)
9. Bob Marley - “No Woman No Cry (Live)” (Legend)
10. The Wombats - “Let’s Dance to Joy Division” (Let’s Dance to Joy Division)
11. Adele - “Daydreamer” (19)
12. Bob Marley - “Stir It Up” (Legend)
13. Dub Trio - “Awakening Dub (Live)” (Exploring the Dangers of)
14. The Snake the Cross the Crown - “Electronic Dream Plant” (Cotton Teeth)
15. Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds - “Bartender” (Live at Radio City)
16. The Mountain Goats - “Love Love Love” (The Sunset Tree)

May? What happened to April? I guess I’ve been busy or something.

April was a month of playing artists on repeat: Bon Iver; Jimmy Eat World; Foals; Does It Offend You, Yeah?; Portishead; Grizzly Bear. There was also some Coachella reminiscing and a healthy scoop of bitterness towards Western evangelical culture (check out the Chris Thile song), but those are rants for another time.

1. Grizzly Bear - “Alligator (Choir Version)” (Friend EP)
2. Does It Offend You, Yeah? - “Let’s Make Out” (You Have No Idea What You’re Getting Yourself Into)
3. Jimmy Eat World - “Firefight” (Chase This Light)
4. Grizzly Bear - “Little Brother (Electric)” (Friend EP)
5. Foals - “Two Steps, Twice” (Antidotes)
6. Does It Offend You, Yeah? - “We Are Rockstars” (You Have No Idea What You’re Getting Yourself Into)
7. Jimmy Eat World - “Kill” (Futures)
8. Bon Iver - “Skinny Love” (For Emma, Forever Ago)
9. Bon Iver - “re: Stacks” (For Emma, Forever Ago)
10. Chris Thile - “The Believer” (Deceiver)
11. mewithoutYou - “The Sun and the Moon” (Brother, Sister)
12. Bon Iver - “The Wolves (Act I and II)” (For Emma, Forever Ago)
13. Vampire Weekend - “Mansard Roof” (Vampire Weekend)
14. Portishead - “Machine Gun” (Third)
15. International Superheroes of Hardcore - “Dirty Mouth” (Tip Of The Iceberg/Takin’ It Ova!)
16. Man Man - “The Ballad of Butter Beans” (Rabbit Habits)
17. Les Savy Fav - “The Sweat Descends” (Inches)

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to get back to working 24/7 and getting the life sucked out of me by tactless people that I still try hard to love.

Oh hey, it’s April. Time flies when you’re having… a busy month. Or something.

So for those of you that don’t read Buzzgrinder — which, according to my highly-detailed traffic metrics, is 100% of all two of you — it might be worth noting that I didn’t get Radiohead tickets despite staying up all night for that sole reason. Still looking for an outlet for my anger. Someone buy me a punching bag. Or, even better, Radiohead tickets. (Preferably ones where I can actually, you know, see the band without binoculars.)

March was more dub, a few ambient discoveries and rediscoveries (Stars of the Lid and Brian Eno, respectively) and remembering a bunch of stuff was good that I hadn’t listened to in a while. Oh, and sometimes watching TV influences my music listening, oddly enough. That’s where Yael Naïm and José Gonzalez came from.

1. Marilyn Manson - “The Reflecting God” (Antichrist Superstar)
2. Dub Trio - “Awakening Dub” (Exploring the Dangers Of)
3. Envy - “A Will Remains In The Ashes” (A Dead Sinking Story)
4. Brian Eno - “1/1″ (Ambient 1: Music for Airports)
5. Bloc Party - “Banquet” (Silent Alarm)
6. Gorillaz - “Dracula” (Gorillaz)
7. Boys Like Girls - “The Great Escape” (Boys Like Girls)
8. Nickel Creek - “Doubting Thomas” (Why Should the Fire Die?)
9. He Is Legend - “(((louds” (Suck Out the Poison)
10. Public Enemy - “Son of a Bush” (Body Of War: Songs That Inspired An Iraq War Veteran)
11. Bright Eyes - “When the President Talks To God” (Body Of War: Songs That Inspired An Iraq War Veteran)
12. Yael Naïm - “New Soul” (Yael Naïm)
13. Rogue Wave - “California” (Descended Like Vultures)
14. Stars of the Lid - “Even If You’re Never Awake” (and Their Refinement of the Decline)
15. José Gonzalez - “Killing For Love” (In Our Nature)
16. José Gonzalez - “Teardrop” (In Our Nature)

I just noticed that my last entry was my 100th post. Sweet deal.

Here’s my playlist for February. Lots of familiar favorites because I wasn’t in so much of a discovery mood for a few weeks. Then there’s the obvious hey-I-finally-saw-Once inclusions from Glen Hansard. And the only really good song from Across the Universe that I recalled when I saw it for a second time (and then heard again when I tortured myself with an hour of the Grammys). Sublime showed up when it was raining, to remind me that the sun does actually exist. That spun me into a warm little pool of reggae and dub that will undoubtedly show up on the March playlist.

Also, no links. I’m lazy (sick again, actually) and there was no indication that anybody but me actually cared about them. I’m convinced these lists are mostly for me anyway.

1. Ryan Adams - “The Shadowlands” (Love Is Hell)
2. Radiohead - “How To Disappear Completely” (Kid A)
3. The Mars Volta - “Ilyena” (The Bedlam in Goliath)
4. Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova - “Falling Slowly” (Once Soundtrack)
5. Glen Hansard - “Say It To Me Now” (Once Soundtrack)
6. Carol Woods - “Let It Be” (Across The Universe Soundtrack)
7. Tom Waits - “Putnam County” (Nighthawks At the Diner)
8. Ryan Adams - “New York, New York” (Gold)
9. Bright Eyes - “Poison Oak” (I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning)
10. Bright Eyes - “Road To Joy” (I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning)
11. Ryan Adams - “La Cienega Just Smiled” (Gold)
12. Balmorhea - “Divisadero” (Rivers Arms)
13. Sublime - “Badfish” (40 Oz. To Freedom)
14. The Used - “Dark Days” (Shallow Believer)
15. Vampire Weekend - “The Kids Don’t Stand A Chance” (Vampire Weekend)
16. MF Doom - “Vomitspit” (Mm.. Food)
17. The Velvet Underground - “All Tomorrow’s Parties” (The Velvet Underground & Nico)
18. Radiohead - “Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors” (Amnesiac)

This one is late for good reason. I’ve been sick all week and am just now beginning to see the end. Not only have I been busy resting, watching the entire Freaks & Geeks series, as well as several episodes of Six Feet Under, but the doc I went to looked at my ear, which is highly prone to infection after colds, and said I had a major tear halfway across my ear drum. Closer inspection indicated that wasn’t the case (whew) but neither of the doctors could figure out what was going on. “Cool ear,” one of them told me on his way out. Uhh… thanks?

Anyway, on to the music (which will be slightly garbled to me until I finish this course of double-strength antibiotics). Last month I finally started catching on to This Will Destroy You’s new one, I continued to fall in love with The Snake The Cross The Crown, I saw Ryan Adams live for the first time (yay, bootlegs!) and discovered Modeselektor thanks to Radiohead guest-DJing some BBC radio show I’d never heard of. Enjoy some tunes.

1. This Will Destroy You - “They Move On Tracks of Never-Ending Light” (This Will Destroy You)
2. The Snake The Cross The Crown - “Gypsy Melodies” (Cotton Teeth)
3. M.I.A. - “Hussel” (Kala)
4. The Snake The Cross The Crown - “Maps” (Cotton Teeth)
5. Michael Cera & Ellen Page - “Anyone Else But You” (Juno soundtrack)
6. Sigur Rós - “Hafsól” (Hvarf/Heim)
7. The Magnetic Fields - “California Girls” (Distortion)
8. M.I.A. - “20 Dollar” (Kala)
9. Circa Survive - “In The Morning And Amazing…” (On Letting Go)
10. Ryan Adams - “Shakedown On 9th Street” (Heartbreaker)
11. Collections Of Colonies Of Bees - “Flocks III” (Collections Of Colonies Of Bees)
12. Modeselektor - “The Dark Side Of The Sun (feat. Puppetmastaz)” (Happy Birthday!)
13. Modeselektor - “The White Flash (feat. Thom Yorke)” (Happy Birthday!)
14. Burial - “Prayer” (Burial)
15. Vampire Weekend - “Walcott” (Vampire Weekend)
16. Vampire Weekend - “Oxford Comma” (Vampire Weekend)

This is just a test to see how Mixaloo actually works in the wild. Of course, if you pay for this playlist, I could tell people I was making money as a music blogger.

(And check out my awesome Photoshop skills! Cropping an image and adding text! I could totally put “Photoshop skills” on my resume.)

I was talking with a friend the other day and when I realized the new year was here, I said something along the lines of, “Dang, that means the gym is gonna be crowded for a few weeks.” He asked, “A few weeks?” before the light bulb went on and he laughed and nodded in understanding.

I would say that 95% of the people who resolve to lose weight (the most common of resolutions, I’d imagine) give up by the end of the first month. Or maybe they forget. The problem, as I see it, is that people aren’t planning their goals well. Actually, it’s not just as I see it. Otherwise this whole concept of S.M.A.R.T. goals that so many people talk about wouldn’t exist.

Normally I don’t make resolutions because I know they won’t hold up. But this year, I’m calling them goals, making them S.M.A.R.T. and keeping people updated on them as a means of accountability. I’ll stop yammering. Here they are:

Write and record a song every other week

The point: Increase creative output so I’m practiced and more familiar with the process.

Other details and rules:

• At least half must have lyrics.
• Each song must be at least two minutes long.
• Remixes and mashups are allowed, but they fall under the “no lyrics” category and they must show a reasonable amount of effort on my part.
• I’ll be posting each song online and asking for feedback from you (whoever you are).

Draw something every other week

The point: Again, to increase creative output. Also, to get back in the habit of drawing like I used to when I was younger.

Other details and rules:

• Drawings will be scanned and posted online so I can get your feedback.
• Each drawing must show a significant amount of effort. Nothing half-assed just to meet the goal.
• Many will probably end up being comic-ish because that tends to be my style. I might take some influence from John Campbell, so it could end up being how well I execute the idea more so than how well I draw it.

Read 15 books

Fifteen was an arbitrary number. It just happened to be the number of books that I already own that remain unread which I have a desire to read.

The list:

• G.K. Chesterton - Orthodoxy
• Mark Ferem - Bathroom Graffiti
• Nic Harcourt - Music Lust
• Stephen Colbert - I Am America (And So Can You!)
• Jeff Fischer - Investing Without A Silver Spoon
• Mark Frauenfelder - Rule the Web
• Paul Harrison - All the Clever Words on Pages
• Tosca Lee - Demon: A Memoir
• Hugh Ross - The Creator and the Cosmos
• Malcolm Gladwell - Blink
• O’Reilly - Programming PHP
• The Art and Writing of WFMU
• Haruki Murakami - The Elephant Vanishes
• Daniel J. Levitin - This Is Your Brain On Music
• Francis A. Schaeffer - Art and the Bible

Create a personal, dynamic website

The point: I’ve become curious about the possibility of doing freelance web development and I come up with more and more reasons why my own website (not just a blog) would be useful for me.

Other details and rules:

• Must be developed with PHP and MySQL (technologies I don’t know but would need to know to increase my value and open up more freelance options for me).
• Must include a blog (which means this one will be moving eventually).
• Set up a permanent email address so I never have to change it again.

Get my passport

The point: I intend to travel someday. (One more reason why freelancing is attractive.) I figure having my passport will lower the barrier and encourage me to look into it.

Refurnish my bedroom

The point: All my furniture has been inherited from several places and there was a reason people were getting rid of it. Plus, I can’t stand sleeping on a twin mattress any more. Oh, and having a multi-purpose bookshelf will help me to stay more organized (see my next goal).

Details:

• New bed and mattress (queen, minimum) by April.
• New desk & office chair by August.
• A CD/DVD/book shelf by December.

Organize, clean and throw away stuff

The point: I hate that I have so much stuff. I don’t want it to rule me. I figure the less stuff I have, the easier it will be to organize and keep clean.

Start investing

The point: Putting money into savings is great, but making wise investments that generate more interest is even better. It’s not that scary once you’ve read a book or two about it(the Motley Fool is awesome).

So those are it. It’s probably too much, but I’ve set up a Remember The Milk account to keep my tasks in order so I know exactly what’s up. I’ll also be trying to make regular updates here so that others can be aware of the status of things.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a drawing to finish by the end of the day and plenty of reading to do.

I’m only a few days late. This was a month of making the best Christmas mix CD ever (exclusively in the hands of my closest friends), listening to countless best-of-2007 lists (hence the recurrence of M.I.A. and The Snake The Cross The Crown), a new This Will Destroy You record (not as good as Young Mountain, but still not a waste of money if you make it to the last few songs), discovering only a few years too late how great I’m Wide Awake It’s Morning is and realizing that Sam Beam has probably been listening to dub music.

Coming up: my personal goals for 2008, which explains how this here blog will finally be put to greater use than monthly playlists and the occasional rant.

1. The Knife - “We Share Our Mothers’ Health” (Silent Shout)
2. Daft Punk - “Robot Rock / Oh Yeah” (Alive 2007)
3. Holy Fuck - “Echo Sam” (LP)
4. Thom Yorke - “Harrowdown Hill” (The Eraser)
5. Sufjan Stevens - “O Come O Come Emmanuel” (Songs For Christmas)
6. Vince Guaraldi - “Christmastime Is Here (Vocal)” (A Charlie Brown Christmas)
7. Rihanna - “Umbrella” (Good Girl Gone Bad)
8. A Fine Frenzy - “Fever” (Dan In Real Life Soundtrack)
9. Bright Eyes - “Poison Oak” (I’m Wide Awake It’s Morning)
10. Bright Eyes - “Road To Joy” (I’m Wide Awake It’s Morning)
11. This Will Destroy You - “The Mighty Rio Grande” (This Will Destroy You)
12. Mindy Smith - “Santa Will Find You” (My Holiday)
13. The Snake The Cross The Crown - “Cakewalk” (Cotton Teeth)
14. M.I.A. - “Mango Pickle Down River” (Kala)
15. The Snake The Cross The Crown - “Electronic Dream Plant” (Cotton Teeth)
16. M.I.A. - “Paper Planes” (Kala)
17. Iron & Wine - “Wolves (Song of the Shepherd’s Dog)” (The Shepherd’s Dog)
18. This Will Destroy You - “They Move On Tracks Of Never-Ending Light” (This Will Destroy You)