watching expired appliances align

dan, i just want to proclaim how wholeheartedly i agree with your assessment of the shins v. beulah. i love the coast is never clear and chutes too narrow so so much. yoko makes me sad.

let the record state that I have no problem letting huey lewis into my, i mean our collection.

Unfortunately, I am not familiar with most of this music, but certainly enjoyed reading about it anyway. I do however LOVE "Hey, ya", especially watching them perform it. I have not heard the rest of the album, but would probably love the other songs also. Amy thinks it's weird how much I love Outkast *weird for a mom anyway) And yes, you are a lucky man!

What's up, Nick Hornby

"The Chris Mars of his generation"? There's so much that unsettles me about that phrase.

My Morning Jacket was playing thru my computer speakers as I read your list. It's like honey golden grahams. Yum.

By the way, I (perhaps, predictably) love the Thrills, but am put off by their Abercrombie & Fitch image and bizzare infatuation with SoCal. But them tunes is wots good. How do you reconcile?

Jack,

No one ever gave Raygun Theatre grief for the June '95 Spin cover you guys were on.

it's amazing how much the dan of 2003 agrees with the rishi of 2002.

I too argued against the muddy sounds of 'oh inverted world' but grew to love it for its lyric metaphors.  In fact, I now appreciate the production as a metaphor itself, a fog over objective hi-fi.  How can you not love an album that contains the words "your lips when we speak are the valleys and peaks of a montain range on fire."  That's good shit dan!  The best song on chutes too narrow, so says I, sounds like it should be on this album.

You may be right about the strokes, but your argument loses credibilty when you mention their boarding school status, as if Jack White is some top hatted man of the people.  Get over it.  The strokes are about singing along while the white stripes are about rocking along.  It is useless to compare the two.

The decemberists sound ALOT like neutral milk hotel.

You're right about malkmus/bachmann, though I don't find malkmus' later work to be nearly as offending.

I completely agree with jeremy about the easy listening sheen to the new belle and sebastian.  I haven't been able to get past it yet.  In fact, it took me months and months of rhetoric to get a friend to listen to "if you're feeling sinister" after he had written off the band upon hearing "dear catostrophe waitress."  It's just way too much.

Have I told you about dell and the faction?  It's a b&s fast and loud cover band featuring a keytarist and me on drums.  One performance only this spring! 

anyway, i have some more to say but it's bedtime now.

spin is the penthouse to rolling stone's playboy.

Rishi,

I do like the first Shins record, just not as much as most other people that I know.

I mentioned the boarding school aspect of the Strokes as a joke. If it didn't bother me in 2002, why would it bother me in 2003? I know they are very different bands but they are linked forever in my mind after our big argument two years ago.

I like Malkmus, I just think he hasn't put out anything truly great since 1995.

When and where is Dell and the Faction playing?

Nice site; dunno if you heard it yet, but I'd recommend the Wrens' "The Meadowlands." Kinda angsty, but good songs and good guitars make it really excellent.
-n

I went to school with Sufjan Stevens! That's so cool that he was cool enough to make Dan's list! I haven't heard his solo stuff, but his original band Marzuki was awesome. They were a very talented, diverse group - if you want a listen, let me know.

What does Marzuki sound like? Do you have his other records?

"malkmus' limitless ego." yowza. he seems to happy to be lazy and it's
depressing while spiral stairs seems to be happy to be mediocre. not
as
depressing but still a bit sad.

"This is the Cat Power album that your mother will like." my mom loves
songs
about child abuse!

the strokes album is a bit boring eh? that damn riff in reptilia is
kick ass
though. hotcha!

in re: outkast. i like rap and hip hop but the radio and mtv seem to
fulfill
my desire for it. i have a few rap albums but they bear testament to
the age
i grew up. de la soul, tribe called quest, old public enemy. all
pre-1993.
i'm an old man when it comes to the beats i guess.

i heard the thrills on the radio yesterday. goddam it was so sweet

in re: four tet. burning music for your students? aren't you just the
pillar
of the community

lots of bands seem to be putting out albums of lesser returns on old
formulas (mogwai, grandaddy) and it makes me feel like my lack of
buying new
records isn't so lame.

i like that you call broken social scene "listenable" that there is a
high
compliment that any musician struggles to achieve. way to go broken
social
scene!

you liking deerhoof may mean you don't need a nursing home but it may
also
mean you could use a stop at bellevue because they are completely
fucking
insane

"The band seems to exist in a hyper reality melding of "Oliver Twist",
"McSweeney's", and Donovan." i think you got that exactly right

people are starved for 1996 these days. i just read in entertainment
weekly
(my source) that there are some radio stations starting up playing
golden
oldies of alternative/indie. like mid nineties buffalo tom and shit
with
some new sleepy jackson and wrens thrown in. sad sad. looking backwards
is
fun for an afternoon but let's not make a habit out of it, okay kids?

you wrote portastatic as portastic, a much better band name in my
opinion.
thats it...boss is here gotta run
jeremy