I have a problem with musicians that are 100% anti-Auto-Tune. (It looks like Death Cab For Cutie is now among them; no, I’m not just bitter with Ben Gibbard for proposing to Zooey Deschanel.)

For those that aren’t complete music geeks like me, Auto-Tune is the tool that studios use to adjust the pitch of vocals to the correct note. It has also been used as an effect by everyone from Cher to Kanye West to create that “robotic” warbly electronic vocal sound.

Now, don’t get me wrong: I am all for stopping vocalists from using the tool to fix bad vocals when doing another take would not only suffice but actually sound more natural and thus better. My beef is when people whine when Auto-Tune is used as a creative effect to build the tone and style of a song. It’s just another tool at a musician’s disposal to make a song sound how they want. Taking it away makes as much sense as taking away a guitarist’s distortion pedal.

Alright, rant over. I needed to get that out.

Are there only twenty good Christmas songs? I’m starting to get that idea.

Last year I made a Christmas mix for my friends that included all the tracks below. This year I’m trying to turn it into a tradition, but I’m having trouble finding good Christmas music that I haven’t already used. At least not without tapping further into Sufjan’s and Mindy Smith’s Christmas albums than I already have. That would be a bit lopsided a mix, don’t you think?

Maybe I should have saved a few for this year. Anyone know any good Christmas songs on par with these ones?

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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)

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.