Time, once again, for the monthly playlist. Time seems to be flying by. Also, I’ll be writing a lot about Coachella very soon. Just you wait.

There’s a lot of Kings Of Leon and P.O.S. on this one. Kings Of Leon was because of the release of their new album Because Of The Times, which is amazing, combined with my excitement to see them at Coachella. And P.O.S. was because P.O.S. is awesome.

1. Kings Of Leon – “Knocked Up” (Because Of The Times)
2. The Chariot – “And Shot Each Other” (The Fiancée)
3. Kings Of Leon – “Four Kicks” (Aha Shake Heartbreak)
4. Ladysmith Black Mambazo – “Amazing Grace” (Journey Of Dreams)
5. Portishead – “Glory Box” (Roseland NYC Live)
6. Ray LaMontagne – “Gone Away From Me” (Till The Sun Turns Black)
7. Kings Of Leon – “On Call” (Because Of The Times)
8. Regina Spektor – “Samson” (Begin To Hope)
9. TV On The Radio – “Hours” (Return To Cookie Mountain)
10. CocoRosie – “Japan” (The Adventures Of Ghosthorse and Stillborn)
11. Kings Of Leon – “McFearless” (Because Of The Times)
12. The Dillinger Escape Plan – “Weekend Sex Change” (Calculating Infinity)
13. P.O.S. – “De La Souls” (Audition)
14. The Appleseed Cast – “Rooms And Gardens” (Low Level Owl: Volume 2)
15. P.O.S. – “Safety In Speed (Heavy Metal)” (Audition)
16. P.O.S. – “P.O.S. Is Ruining My Life” (Audition)
17. Sigur Ros – “Milano” (Takk…)
18. Caspian – “Some Are White Light” (The Four Trees)
19. Cloud Cult – “Chain Reaction” (The Meaning Of
20. Saul Williams – “Act III, Scene 2 (Shakespeare)” (Saul Williams)
21. Pedro The Lion – “Foregone Conclusions” (Achilles’ Heel)
22. !!! – “Heart Of Hearts” (Myth Takes)

A while back my best friend started keeping a monthly playlist. Any particular song that she felt was a favorite or most-played item was added to this list. The idea is that, at some undefined point in the future, she’ll appreciate being able to go back and see what she was listening to at a particular era of time.

I took the idea and changed the rules to fit me a little better. I create a monthly playlist but it not only contains favorites of the time, but any song that caught my attention (in a good way) during the month, whether or not I really listened to it a huge amount.

So now I’m going to post these on my blog at the end of each month. For this introductory post I’ll post January’s because it’s the first playlist and I need to catch up. February is soon to follow. Oh, a little disclaimer: the songs aren’t sorted in any order other than whatever order they went on the list.

Monthly Playlist – January 2007

1. Band Of Horses – “The Funeral” (Everything All The Time)
2. The Black Keys – “Thickfreakness” (Thickfreakness)
3. Brand New – “Sowing Season (Yeah)” (The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me)
4. Calexico and Iron & Wine – “He Lays In The Reins” (In The Reins)
5. Calexico and Iron & Wine – “Sixteen, Maybe Less” (In The Reins)
6. DragonForce – “Through The Fire And Flames” (Inhuman Rampage)
7. Eluvium – “The Well-Meaning Professor” (An Accidental Memory In The Case Of Death)
8. Fujiya & Miyagi – “Ankle Injuries” (Transparent Things)
9. Fujiya & Miyagi – “Collarbone” (Transparent Things)
10. Gomez – “See The World” (How We Operate)
11. Jeremy Enigk – “Been Here Before” (World Waits)
12. John Mayer – “Slow Dancing In A Burning Room” (Continuum)
13. John Mayer – “Bold As Love” (Continuum)
14. Birdman & Lil Wayne – “Stuntin’ Like My Daddy (Street)” (Like Father Like Son)
15. Neko Case – “Star Witness” (Fox Confessor Brings The Flood)
16. Ratatat – “Wildcat” (Classics)
17. Ray LaMontagne – “Be Here Now” (Till The Sun Turns Black)
18. Regina Spektor – “Fidelity” (Begin To Hope)
19. Ryan Adams – “The Shadowlands” (Love Is Hell)
20. The Crystal Method – “High Roller” (Vegas)
21. The Decemberists – “The Perfect Crime #2″ (The Crane Wife)
22. The Shins – “Phantom Limb” (Wincing The Night Away)
23. Damien Rice – “9 Crimes” (9)
24. Caspian – “Quovis” (You Are The Conductor)
25. Caspian – “Further Up” (You Are The Conductor)
26. Portishead – “Glory Box” (Roseland NYC Live)
27. mewithoutYou – “Carousels” (Catch For Us The Foxes)
28. Explosions In The Sky – “The Only Moment We Were Alone” (The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place)

Funny how it takes a comment from a local acquaintance to get me posting here again…

Anyway, I’ve decided to just have this be my blog for music musings. Kind of how I originally intended, except without any expectation for it to gain any popularity, and I don’t think I’ll do any formal album reviews or anything.

That said, here are my favorite discoveries in recent months/days as well as some older favorites that are now full-on addictions:

• This Will Destroy You – (instrumental/post rock)
• Joshua Radin – (Simon & Garfunkel-esque acoustic folk)
• Caspian – (instrumental/post rock)
• Pelican – (instrumental/heavy post rock)
• The Appleseed Cast – (indie/post rock)
• Band Of Horses – (indie rock)
• This Is Your Captain Speaking – (instrumental/post rock)
• Baaba Maal – (world/African)
• Explosions In The Sky – (instrumental/post rock)
• Mono – (Japanese post rock)

As you can see, a lot of post rock. Duh. I can’t get enough of it. It’s got this great soundtrack-ish feel to it. In fact, Explosions In The Sky can be credited for the soundtrack to the movie Friday Night Lights. So there.

In other news:

Norma Jean has two new tracks posted on their PureVolume page from their upcoming release, Redeemer, which releases September 12. Absolutely brutal. I can’t wait.

mewithoutYou has a new track from their upcoming September 26 release, Brother, Sister, posted on their Myspace. And, in case you missed it, they performed another of their new songs at Cornerstone, and the video has made its way to YouTube.

It was just officially announced yesterday via their website that Death From Above 1979 has broken up. Far too soon, if you ask me, but apparently it’s been speculated for the last year or so. Rest in peace.

Random thought: maybe I should start a podcast. But would anyone listen?