Oh, July. Another stressful month that I was hoping wouldn’t be. I moved to a new house, my job got busier than ever and I had hardly any time for musical discovery. Surprising how much new stuff ended up on the list despite all that.

A lot of people didn’t like the new M83. Neither did I. Keep listening. It gets much better with time.

And do yourself a favor and listen to the new Avett Brothers EP. It will make you reexamine your life.

1. Ratatat – “Mirando” (LP3)
2. Alkaline Trio – “Time to Waste” (Crimson)
3. M83 – “Skin of the Night” (Saturdays = Youth)
4. The Monkees – “Whole Wide World” (Pool It)
5. Lykke Li – “Dance Dance Dance” (Little Bit EP)
6. Stars of the Lid – “Apreludes (in C sharp major)” (and Their Refinement of the Decline)
7. Benji Hughes – “Baby, It’s Your Life” (A Love Extreme)
8. John Mayer – “In Your Atmosphere” (Where the Light Is: John Mayer Live in Los Angeles)
9. M83 – “Graveyard Girl” (Saturdays = Youth)
10. My Brightest Diamond – “Inside a Boy” (A Thousand Shark’s Teeth)
11. The Avett Brothers – “Tear Down the House” (The Second Gleam EP)
12. Opeth – “Heir Apparent” (Watershed)

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)

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.