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)

Due to the lateness of getting this done, I did the vocals quickly. And then I realized that I’m using a really cheap vocal microphone, so this isn’t going to get much better, other than me hitting the rhythm better and not missing as many notes, until I get a new mic. But still, it’s painful for me to listen to myself from the moment I open my mouth. But I’m practicing not being a perfectionist, so this is what you get.

I worked really hard on the melody and lyrics for this one, though. I’m actually pretty happy with those, save a line or two.

Josh Mock – Room For Joy

There was some major inspiration from Bright Eyes and Once/Glen Hansard/The Frames, in case that isn’t blatantly obvious. I’ve been listening to both a lot over the past few weeks.

Oh, and if you ever wonder why people drown stuff in reverb like I did there, it’s to cover up the mistakes. That’s the same reason why bad guitarists love distortion. Audio effects are lifesavers and yet far too often a crutch.

As always, the comments are there for you to criticize my work. That’s a big part of why I’m doing this. I can’t get better if I don’t know what I’m doing wrong.

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’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)

I’ve been lazy with the blogging as of late. It’s more fulfilling to post stuff like that on Buzzgrinder because people actually comment on it. So I’ll just link you to my top 10 list there and give you (who is “you” anyway?) 11 through 20 with no descriptions:

20. Panda Bear – Person Pitch
19. Eluvium – Copia
18. The Dillinger Escape Plan – Ire Works
17. Bright Eyes – Cassadaga
16. The Snake The Cross The Crown – Cotton Teeth
15. Band Of Horses – Cease To Begin
14. M.I.A. – Kala
13. Iron & Wine – The Shepherd’s Dog
12. Of Montreal – Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?
11. Daft Punk – Alive 2007

Here’s the breakdown of what I listened to last month that made me happy. Songza made linking ridiculously easy.

Also, December is going to be a dead month for new music. Guess what that means? More meaningless end-of-year lists! Hooray! Expect several of these from me, just like last year.

1. Sigur Rós – “Í Gær” (Hvarf/Heim)
2. Ray Charles – “What’d I Say” (20 Golden Classics)
3. Bright Eyes – “If The Brakeman Turns My Way” (Cassadaga)
4. Neko Case – “Hold On, Hold On” (Fox Confessor Brings The Flood)
5. Alison Krauss & Union Station – “New Favorite” (New Favorite)
6. Jóhann Jóhannsson – “Part 1 – IBM 1401 Processing Unit” (IBM 1401, a User’s Manual)
7. Damien Rice – “Eskimo” (O)
8. Stars – “Your Ex-Lover Is Dead” (Set Yourself On Fire)
9. Stars – “Set Yourself On Fire” (Set Yourself On Fire)
10. The Dillinger Escape Plan – “Nong Eye Gong” (Ire Works)
11. Opeth – “Ghost Of Perdition” (Ghost Reveries)
12. Jakob – “Pneumonic” (Solace)
13. Daft Punk – “Around The World / Harder Better Faster Stronger” (Alive 2007)
14. Feist – “My Moon My Man” (The Reminder)
15. Burial – “Archangel” (Untrue)
16. Bright Eyes – “Lua” (I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning)
17. Regina Spektor – “Music Box” (Begin To Hope)
18. Ryan Adams – “Pearls On A String” (Easy Tiger)

I know it seems like an empty promise, but I’m still working on stuff to write here. It’s just… really big. So it’s taking a while to process and organize my thoughts, especially when so much other stuff is going on in my life at the same time. In the meantime, here’s my monthly playlist for June:

1. Björk – “Hyperballad” (Post)
2. Solarstone – “Seven Cities (Atlantis Mix)” (Ibiza Euphoria 2)
3. Björk – “It’s Oh So Quiet” (Post)
4. The Dillinger Escape Plan – “Sugar Coated Sour” (Calculating Infinity)
5. Scorpions – “No One Like You” (Blackout)
6. Rhymefest – “Fever (Dirty)” (Blue Collar)
7. Cary Brothers – “All The Rage” (Who You Are)
8. Panda Bear – “Comfy In Nautica” (Person Pitch)
9. Interpol – “Not Even Jail” (Antics)
10. Fridge – “Harmonics” (Happiness)
11. Ion Dissonance – “The Surge” (Minus The Herd)
12. Bright Eyes – “First Day Of My Life” (I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning)
13. Ryan Adams – “Come Pick Me Up” (Heartbreaker)
14. Eightball – “Drama In My Life” (Lost – Chopped And Screwed)
15. Incubus – “Dig” (Light Grenades)