I wrote a long rant-fest on Buzzgrinder about the Joshua Radin show I went to on Friday, so I am excusing myself from blogging for a day.

Enjoy that little slice of my smart-ass persona. It comes in handy when writing about music.

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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The final part of my four-part series. The list to end all lists. I present to you the best new albums in 2006.

1. mewithoutYou – Brother, Sister
2. This Will Destroy You – Young Mountain
3. Mew – And The Glass Handed Kites
4. Jeremy Enigk – World Waits
5. Joshua Radin – We Were Here
6. Malajube – Trompe-L’Oeil (US Release)
7. Band Of Horses – Everything All The Time
8. John Mayer – Continuum
9. P.O.S. – Audition
10. Norma Jean – Redeemer
11. Thom Yorke – The Eraser
12. Neko Case – Fox Confessor Brings The Flood
13. Sufjan Stevens – The Avalanche
14. The Decemberists – The Crane Wife
15. The Appleseed Cast – Peregrine
16. Damien Rice – 9
17. The Knife – Silent Shout
18. Underoath – Define The Great Line
19. Angels & Airwaves – We Don’t Need To Whisper
20. Muse – Black Holes And Revelations

Well, that’s all folks. I had fun making these lists and you probably hated reading them. Or maybe you found something new to love. If that’s the case, my goal has been met.

Have a merry Christmas and a happy new year. Keep on discovering.

Part three of four. Of all the music I listened to that was released this year, these are the ones that mattered most.

1. This Will Destroy You – Quiet
2. Jeremy Enigk – Been Here Before
3. mewithoutYou – O, Porcupine
4. This Will Destroy You – The World Is Our ____
5. Mew – An Envoy To The Open Fields
6. mewithoutYou – In A Sweater Poorly Knit
7. Joshua Radin – Sundrenched World
8. mewithoutYou – C-Minor
9. Band Of Horses – The Funeral
10. Sufjan Stevens – Chicago (Acoustic Version)
11. Mew – The Zookeeper’s Boy
12. Thom Yorke – Harrowdown Hill
13. P.O.S. – Half-Cocked Concepts
14. Norma Jean – The End Of All Things Will Be Televised
15. Malajube – Montréal-40ºC
16. Mew – Special
17. The Mars Volta – Viscera Eyes
18. Malajube – Casse-cou
19. P.O.S. – P.O.S. Is Ruining My Life
20. Angels and Airwaves – The Adventure
21. Sufjan Stevens – The Avalanche
22. The Knife – Silent Shout
23. Jay-Z – Show Me What You Got
24. Angels and Airwaves – Valkyrie Missile
25. John Mayer – Bold As Love
26. Underoath – A Moment Suspended In Time
27. Joshua Radin – Star Mile

And, if by some random chance you happen to have Rhapsody, you can listen to this playlist there.

Part two of four of my evil list-making scheme.

1. Sufjan Stevens
2. Explosions in the Sky
3. mewithoutYou
4. Radiohead
5. The Appleseed Cast
6. Nickel Creek
7. The Dillinger Escape Plan
8. Godspeed You! Black Emperor
9. The Mars Volta
10. A Perfect Circle
11. Andrew Bird
12. MxPx
13. AFI
14. Alison Krauss
15. Project 86
16. Tom Waits
17. Sigur Rós
18. The Faint
19. Chris Thile
20. This Will Destroy You
21. Mew
22. Iron & Wine
23. Coldplay
24. Cloud Cult
25. John Mayer
26. Opeth
27. Joshua Radin
28. Killswitch Engage
29. Incubus
30. Ryan Adams
31. Norma Jean
32. Robert Johnson
33. The Black Keys

Once again, thanks to Last.fm for making this list possible.

Part one of four in my 2006-list-making extravaganza.

1. This Will Destroy You – Young Mountain
2. Cloud Cult – Advice from the Happy Hippopotamus
3. Mew – And The Glass Handed Kites
4. Joshua Radin – We Were Here
5. mewithoutYou – Catch for Us the Foxes
6. Ryan Adams – Love Is Hell
7. Explosions in the Sky – The Earth Is Not a Cold Dead Place
8. The Three Sounds – Live at the Lighthouse
9. Explosions in the Sky – Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Die, Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Live
10. Jay-Z – The Black Album
11. Band of Horses – Everything All the Time
12. Nickel Creek – Nickel Creek
13. Chasing Victory – I Call This Abandonment
14. Nickel Creek – Why Should the Fire Die?
15. Thom Yorke – The Eraser

Thanks to Last.fm for making this list possible.

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?