Music map.

This website does a pretty decent job of recommending music. Just enter one artist or band, and the site will draw up a "cloud" of music, based on other people's preferences. The closer a band hovers to yours inside the cloud, the more likely it is that you'll enjoy their music, or so the theory goes.

Addictive songs.

Ok, so I'm creating a playlist of the most addictive, get one line stuck in your head pop songs ever. You know them. They're so addictive it's just downright creepy. I need some serious feedback on this, so I'll be asking everyone I know. If you have an addicting song for the list, let me know by commenting this post, or by e-mailing me at my hotmail account.

So far, I have these songs on the list:

• 'Not an Addict', by K's Choice
  
• 'Tom's Diner', by Suzzanne Vega
• 'La Isla Bonita', by Madonna
  

My top uh... 11 albums in 2k5. ( Part 4 )

Drumroll, please.

The number one album for me in 2k5 was...

• 01. Elliott Smith - From a Basement on a Hill (2004)
  
  Ok, I won't lie. I had this pre-ordered in October of last year, so it really shouldn't be on this list. Still, there isn't any other album that I've listened to this year as often as I've listened to this. I've been an Elliott Smith fan since the mid-nineties when he released XO, and I love every single album he's ever done. His death in 2003 was the only time I've ever been genuinely affected by the death of another human being. This, his final posthumous release, is among his best albums and is certainly his most complex and his most direct, both lyrically and musically. Put simply, I love this album.
  
  Key Tracks: 'Pretty Ugly Before', 'King's Crossing' and 'A Distorted Reality is now a Necessity to be Free'
  
  

My top uh... 11 albums in 2k5. ( Part 3 )

So now we're getting to the heart of the matter. These are the discs which surprised me, blew my mind and left me begging for more like a true music junkie.

• 04. Tiger Army - Tiger Army (1999)
  
  Just when I'd about given up hope on ever hearing kick ass rock and roll again, a couple of my friends introduced me to the wide world of Psychobilly. Mad Sin, the Meteors, Los Gatos Locos and others have kicked an ailing rock and roll in the face and knocked out a couple of teeth. Tiger Army is the most pop of these groups, but my favorite none the less, especially here on their first album. I intend to fully explore this genre and I'll bet a few more of these albums will be making my list next year.
  
  Key Track: 'Never Die'.
  Good Tracks: 90%
  
  
• 03. The Dresden Dolls - The Dresden Dolls (2005)
  
  Definitely some of the most original music I've heard in recent memory. The Dresden Dolls hit spots I've never felt before. Labeled Punk Cabaret, The Dolls offer up a blend of Punk Rock, Mock Goth and, well, Cabaret. Undeniably energetic and charismatic, this NYC based duo sound liver than live with just a piano and a drum set on most tracks, and at their best they will absolutely knock your socks off. A brilliant freshman attempt.
  
  Key Track: 'Girl Anachronism'.
  Good Tracks: 75%
  
  
• 02. Philip Glass - Symphony No. 3 (2000)
  
  Philip Glass has worked with Ravi Shankar, Vangelis, Brian Eno and David Bowie. Composing since the 1950s, Glass should be credited with introducing the precise, technologically repetitive forms now found in hip-hop and techno as well as rock and roll into the palate of popular music. His third symphony is a thing which I can listen to for hours on end at the cost of my sanity.
  
  Key Movement: 'III'.
  Good Movements: 100%.
  
  

alt.labels

Although the effect is almost certainly temporary, this is good news for the world of music. Perhaps the major labels will start changing their tune and stop trying to control the scene.

My top uh... 11 albums in 2k5. ( Part 2 )

In my last post I dropped three great albums that I discovered this year. Oddly, none of them were released in 2k5. As we move up the list we start to see a few more contemporary albums.

• 08. Iron and Wine - Woman King (2005)
  
  Gentle, but highly sophisticated folk textures underscore lyrics which demonstrate a keen eye for the observation of human behavior. This album is the epitome of intellectual sad bastard music. Sweet, sad and very affecting. It'll make you tired just listening to it.
  
  Key Track: 'Jezebel'.
  Good Tracks: 100%.
  
  
• 07. Mos Def - The New Danger (2005)
  
  Genre bending street level hip hop, great beats, guitar riffs by Black Jack Johnson and a genuine sense of honesty, all of which help make this album my favorite rap/hip-hop/r&b album of the year by far.
  
  Key Track: 'Boogie Man Song'.
  Good Tracks: 90%.
  
  
• 06. Sex Pistols - Never Mind the Bollocks, it's the Sex Pistols (1977)
  
  The original punk rock revolution. There is so much hype around this album it isn't even funny, but let me tell you... the hype is true. Punk didn't come into the world a helpless, whining little pink thing. It came into the world a full grown beast, ready to eat your brains.
  
  Key Track: 'Bodies'.
  Good Tracks: 90%.
  
  
• 05. Ani DiFranco - Knuckle Down (2005)
  
  Ani never fails to impress me. Her sound has become increasingly sophisticated over the years. This isn't the bitchy crooner of albums long past, or the misguided voice of pent up frustration. This is a woman who sees what's wrong with the world and with her life, and is helpless to control it. She is still angry and unapologetic, but more humble than she once was. Her lyrics are under ever tighter control, and man oh man, what a voice. Ani's voice has gone from raspy three note trumpet to a full range choral orchestra. What a great album.
  
  Key Track: 'Callous'.
  Good Tracks: 100%.
  

My top uh... 11 albums in 2k5. ( Part 1 )

So much great music has passed my way this year. In fact, this has been one of the better years in recent memory for music. It may have been kind of hard to find, but still, I've managed to discover a lot of great stuff this year. Here's a list of the top eleven CD's that affected me:

• 11. Spoon - Kill the Moonlight (2002)
  
  These guys could have just cashed in on the brief retro-dance rock movement ushered in by Franz Ferdinand, but instead they're actually evolving, which is refreshing to see in a pop rock band. Their most recent release, 'Gimme Fiction', is a huge departure from their earlier stuff, and it's really very good... But this is the album I couldn't get out of my brain for six months.
  
  Key Track: 'The Way We Get By'.
  Good Tracks: 85%.
  
  
• 10. David Bowie - Buddha of Suburbia (1993)
  
  A British import TV soundtrack from 93', just before Bowie became a demented electronic high-priest with 'Outside' ( still my very favorite Bowie album ), this album shows Bowie at the top of his form: Political, sexual, mysterious and catchy.
  
  Key Track: 'Sex and the Church'.
  Good Tracks: 80%.
  
  
• 09. King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King (1969)
  
  These were the guys who created the shape of Prog rock for the next thirty plus years. It's too bad I didn't discover this album until this year.
  
  Key Track: 'The Court of the Crimson King'. ( duh )
  Good Tracks: 60%.
  
  

Music!

This blog will contain my thoughts on music. Mostly, it will have posts about new bands or artists that I'm listening to at the moment, or a recent playlist that I may have created. The intention here is to prevent me from rattling on about music on my main blog.