Oops. Forgetting to blog again. Still trying to get in the habit again, apparently. Just in time for me to take off in a few weeks for another international adventure, this time in Australia!

July was the month of the Dead Weather, As Cities Burn breaking up (for a second time), a visit from my girl (hence the Bruce Springsteen and Tom Waits, her favorite classic artist and mine, respectively) and a lot of randoms for this and that reason. As always, they’re all well worth checking out.

1. The Gossip – “Heavy Cross” (Music for Men)
2. Cage – “I Never Knew You” (Depart From Me)
3. The Dead Weather – “New Pony” (Horehound)
4. Silversun Pickups – “Common Reactor” (Carnavas)
5. Owen – “I’m Not Seventeen” (The Seaside EP)
6. The Dead Weather – “Hang You From The Heavens” (Horehound)
7. Dirty Projectors – “Stillness is the Move” (Bitte Orca)
8. As Cities Burn – “Love Jealous One, Love” (Son, I Love You at Your Darkest)
9. Riceboy Sleeps – “Boy 1904″ (Riceboy Sleeps)
10. The Dead Weather – “60 Feet Tall” (Horehound)
11. Floating Action – “So Vapor” (Floating Action)
12. Wheat – “El Sincero” (White Ink, Black Ink)
13. Wheat – “Living to Die” (White Ink, Black Ink)
14. Tom Waits – “Ol’ ’55″ (Closing Time)
15. Brett Dennen – “Ain’t Gonna Lose You” (Hope for the Hopeless)
16. Bruce Springsteen – “Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)” (The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle)
17. The American Dollar – “Bump” (A Memory Stream)
18. My Bloody Valentine – “Only Shallow” (Loveless)

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)

1. Bjork – “It’s Oh So Quiet” (Post)
2. Bjork – “Hyper-Ballad” (Post)
3. Godspeed You! Black Emperor – “Storm” (Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven)
4. Akon – “I Wanna Love You” (Konvicted)
5. Calexico and Iron & Wine – “He Lays In The Reins” (In The Reins)
6. Plan B – “Sick 2 Def” (Time For Plan B)
7. Van Morrison – “Gloria” (At The Movies)
8. !!! – “Heart Of Hearts” (Myth Takes)
9. Brand New – “Jesus Christ” (The Devil And God Are Raging Inside Me)
10. Brett Dennen – “When I Go” (Brett Dennen)
11. Brett Dennen – “Ain’t No Reason” (So Much More)
12. Brett Dennen – “Darlin’ Do Not Fear” (So Much More)
13. Autechre – “Vletrmx21″ (Warp 10 Vol. 3: Remixes)
14. Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore – “Way Back Into Love (Demo Version)” (Music & Lyrics Soundtrack)
15. The Sounds – “Tony The Beat” (Dying To Say This To You)
16. Explosions In The Sky – “What Do You Go Home To?” (All Of A Sudden I Miss Everyone)
17. Eluvium – “Taken” (Talk Amongst The Trees)
18. The Mountain Goats – “No Children” (Tallahassee)
19. Eluvium – “As I Drift Off” (When I Live By The Garden And The Sea)
20. Explosions In The Sky – “The Birth And Death Of The Day” (All Of A Sudden I Miss Everyone)
21. Johann Johannsson – “Part I” (IBM 1401 A User’s Manual)
22. Mika – “Grace Kelly” (Grace Kelly Single)
23. Rhymefest – “Fever (Dirty)” (Blue Collar)
24. Eluvium – “Prelude For Time Feelers” (Copia)