It’s a sad realization when I get on here and see that my last post was a monthly playlist. Maybe one of my goals for next year should be to write more often. It’s not so much a lack of content as it is a lack of time. So maybe my other goal should be to not have so many goals.

Adam Pasion’s new album is worth checking out and listening to ten times. Do it. And Matthew Robert Cooper is a “side project” for one-man band Eluvium who you already know I love. Check him out too. And all the rest of the songs, of course.

Also, if you can get your hands on Aphex Twin’s bootleg from Coachella 2008, listen to that ten times too.

1. Adam Pasion - “Run By Faith” (O Hear the Rattling)
2. Joshua James - “Dangerous” (The Sun is Always Brighter)
3. Adam Pasion - “Awake” (O Hear the Rattling)
4. Calexico - “Crumble” (Feast of Wire)
5. Danielson - “Don’t You Be the Judge (live version)” (Trying Hartz)
6. DJ Rupture - “Mass Dampers: Ekstrak” (Uproot)
7. Tobacco - “Dirt (feat. Aesop Rock)” (Fucked Up Friends)
8. Kings Of Leon - “Use Somebody” (Only by The Night)
9. Joshua James - “Lovers Without Love” (The Sun is Always Brighter)
10. Sufjan Stevens - “Oh God Where Are You Now? (In Pickerel Lake? Pigeon? Marquette? Mackinaw?)” (Michigan)
11. Sufjan Stevens - “Redford (for Yia-Yia and Pappou)” (Michigan)
12. Matthew Robert Cooper - “Miniature 7″ (Miniatures)
13. Matthew Robert Cooper - “Miniature 9″ (Miniatures)
14. M83 - “Lower Your Eyelids To Die With The Sun” (Before the Dawn Heals Us)
15. The Snake The Cross The Crown - “Electronic Dream Plant” (Cotton Teeth)
16. Aphex Twin - “Nannou 2″ (Drukqs)
17. Port O’Brien - “I Woke Up Today” (All We Could Do Was Sing)

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)

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.

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)

June is here. It’s the busy time of year. Graduations, going-away parties, weddings, vacations. No time for posting on blogs that nobody reads anyway.

May went by in a blur, leaving me just enough time to reminisce about music I used to love (Killswitch Engage, The Used, Eels, Death Cab For Cutie) and wish for half a minute that I had good music taste during the 90s (Pavement, Oasis, The Magnetic Fields). Then I went with Matt down to Irvine last weekend to experience the face melting metal of Iron Maiden and Anthrax live. It’s impressive that old guys are still capable of tearing it up like that.

1. Jimmy Eat World - “Here It Goes” (Chase This Light)
2. Hammock - “City in the Dust on My Window” (Maybe They Will Sing For Us Tomorrow)
3. 16 Horsepower - “Splinters” (Live: March 2001)
4. Eels - “Railroad Man” (Blinking Lights and Other Revelations)
5. Eels - “The Other Shoe” (Blinking Lights and Other Revelations)
6. Killswitch Engage - “Take This Oath” (The End of Heartache)
7. The Used - “Let It Bleed” (In Love and Death)
8. Death Cab For Cutie - “Transatlanticism” (Transatlanticism)
9. Duffy - “Mercy” (Rockferry)
10. Moving Mountains - “Grow On, Grow Up, Grow Out” (Pneuma)
11. The Appleseed Cast - “The Clock and the Storm” (Peregrine)
12. Pavement - “Unfair” (Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain)
13. Oasis - “Champagne Supernova” (What’s The Story, Morning Glory?)
14. The Magnetic Fields - “Busby Berkeley Dreams” (69 Love Songs)
15. Bon Iver - “Skinny Love” (For Emma, Forever Ago)
16. Iron Maiden - “Run to the Hills” (Number of the Beast)
17. Anthrax - “Madhouse” (Spreading the Disease)

I’ve become a bootleg fiend as of late. I got a whole bunch of Coachella recordings, other random shows I was at and a few I wish I was at. Maybe I should start posting a few samples for your enjoyment. I’m at the brink of filling up my laptop’s hard drive. It’s about time for a new computer anyway.

You probably won’t hear much more from me this month (as if that were unusual). I’m road-tripping to Colorado to see the fam for a week, and then I’ll be start cleaning and packing to prepare to move into a new place that I just confirmed late last night. Exciting times. Peace.

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)