Lots of great releases in October (Ray LaMontagne, Ingrid Michaelson, Ryan Adams & the Cardinals, etc.) and plenty of reason to be listening to calm music, even when life isn’t always so calm (and maybe especially so in that case). Seeing Sigur Rós was a great way to start things off, and seeing Death Cab for Cutie last week was a great way to end it.

And, just for the record, “Swagga Like Us” may be the best hip hop song ever recorded. M.I.A., Kanye West, Jay-Z, Lil Wayne and T.I. all on one track. My mind is blown.

1. Earth - “Omens and Portents 1: The Driver” (The Bees Made Honey in the Lion’s Skull)
2. TV on the Radio - “Halfway Home” (Dear Science)
3. T.I. - “Swagga Like Us” (Paper Trail)
4. Dan le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip - “Thou Shalt Always Kill” (Angles)
5. Ray LaMontagne - “Meg White” (Gossip in the Grain)
6. Ryan Adams & the Cardinals - “My Love for You is Real” (Follow the Lights)
7. Ray LaMontagne - “You Are the Best Thing” (Gossip in the Grain)
8. Ingrid Michaelson - “Can’t Help Falling In Love” (Be OK)
9. Todd Snider - “Is This Thing Working?” (Peace Queer)
10. Brett Dennen - “Make You Crazy” (Hope for the Hopeless)
11. Ryan Adams & the Cardinals - “Magick” (Cardinology)
12. TV on the Radio - “DLZ” (Dear Science)
13. Bloc Party - “Ares” (Intimacy)
14. mewithoutYou - “Son of a Window” (Catch for Us the Foxes)
15. Death Cab for Cutie - “Transatlanticism” (Transatlanticism)
16. Marnie Stern - “Clone Cycle” (This Is It and I Am It and You Are It and So Is That and He Is It and She Is It and It Is It and That Is That)

On Friday night, Craig and I got to see Sigur Rós at UC Berkeley’s Greek Theater. It’s an outdoor venue and rain was in the forecast. I hoped it would hold off, but I never could have expected what actually happened.

We stayed dry for the entire show and were thankful, and the band came out to do a final song for the encore: Untitled 8 (aka Popplagið). One of their most popular songs, and definitely one of the grandest and most epic songs I’ve ever heard. As the song started to build to its climax, a mist started to form over the crowd, and as the song progressed the rain began to pour harder and harder.

Watch this video that someone got of the song. It’s hard to see the rain in the video, but when the crowd starts to cheer a couple minutes in, that’s when it started to come down.

Craig said I looked happier than I’ve been in a long time in those few minutes. It’s true. I might sound like a complete sap, but it was one of the most worshipful, beautiful moments in my life thus far. I still get goosebumps thinking about it.

I love Lykke Li and I love Bon Iver. This video only increases that love. So good.

Yep. Fall is here. Gone are the sunny pop songs of spring and summer. In come the introspective, calm-but-questioning sounds of autumn.

Change is afoot.

1. Jakob - “Pneumonic” (Solace)
2. The Velvet Underground - “Who Loves the Sun” (Loaded)
3. Radiohead - “There There” (Hail to the Thief)
4. M83 - “Lower Your Eyelids to Die With the Sun” (Before the Dawn Heals Us)
5. The New Pornographers - “These Are the Fables” (Twin Cinema)
6. Joshua James - “Today” (The Sun Is Always Brighter)
7. dan le sac vs. Scroobius Pip - “Letter from God to Man” (Angles)
8. Neko Case - “Look For Me (I’ll Be Around)” (Blacklisted)
9. Joshua James - “Winter Storm” (The Sun Is Always Brighter)
10. Neko Case - “I Wish I Was the Moon” (Blacklisted)
11. mewithoutYou - “Carousels” (Catch For Us the Foxes)
12. TV On the Radio - “Crying” (Dear Science)
13. Jay-Z - “Renegade” (The Blueprint)
14. Hammock - “We Will Say Goodbye to Everyone” (Maybe They Will Sing For Us Tomorrow)
15. Ingrid Michaelson - “The Way I Am” (Girls and Boys)
16. Edgar Meyer and Chris Thile - “The Farmer and the Duck” (Edgar Meyer and Chris Thile)

P.S. If you get a chance to, go see Edgar Meyer and Chris Thile live. I saw them last weekend in Irvine and was thoroughly impressed. It’s a beautiful thing to see modern legends collaborate so well with each other. And if you don’t get a chance, at least pick up a copy of the album.

Sample of Radiohead’s Planet Telex? Check.
Catchy glitch-pop melody? Check.
Social/religious commentary? Check.
Cute kid in a dinosaur costume? Check.

I think we’ve got all the bases covered.

I had my first experience with podcasting over the weekend. Dan, Ben and I are starting the Buzzgrinder podcast back up after a couple years of silence. We posted our first attempt yesterday evening. (Yeah, yeah, shameless self-promotion.)

It was a bit rocky at first while we were figuring out how to get three guys to banter with an Internet delay between each of us. After a little while it picked up, though, and I’d say we were fairly successful at what we were trying to do.

I know that “podcast” link up at the top of the page doesn’t go anywhere yet, but now that I have a better idea of how it might work, I think I’m going to get started on a monthly music podcast here, at least as an experiment at first. To keep things simple, it will probably be based off of my monthly playlists. Stay tuned.

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)

Tonight is the night I see Radiohead. (And Liars!) It’s also the night I get to hang out with Leah and commemorate what would be the birthday of JD Rhea. We’ll both have goosebumps and tears for more reasons than can be counted.

The best part of all this, aside from having the potential to be the most memorable night in recent years, is that there’s a rumor buzzing that video of the show is going to be broadcast online. That means that, by next week, I’ll be able to find a professionally-shot video of the most significant concert I’ve ever attended that I’ll be able to keep forever. Now that’s cool.

If you care to get a play-by-play, you can be watching my Twitter for updates.

This is shaping up to be a wonderful day.

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)